The IPC Subcommittee Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing lived its third year of existence. This third year witnessed the 1st World Championships Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing during the 1st World Air Games. Together with the World Games 1997 this was an exceptionally busy year. Here under you will find a list of the activities.

Proposed changes to the competition rules 1996 were discussed and accepted at the IPC General Meeting 1997 in Nairobi, Kenya. The issue of international teams was handled by letting them represent the FAI. Furthermore, a special entry procedure for international teams was established.

The Subcommittee proposed and staged an IPC judging course in the Netherlands, March 20 through 23. Evaluator was dr. Roger Flinn. Six people entered the course, three from the Netherlands, two from Germany and one from Portugal. Entry fees were low at 100 $. All entrants except one passed the evaluation. Furthermore a judging course was held in Evian, France, June 13-15. 7 people attended the course. Evaluator again was dr. Roger Flinn.

Freestyle Skydiving was one of the three parachuting disciplines at the World Games in Lahti, Finland from August 7 through 12. This competition proved to be highly covered by the media. Unfortunately, due to aircraft restrictions working time was reduced and the competition rules adapted. A new electronic judging system "Pegasus" was devised for Freestyle Skydiving and Skysurfing by Ted Wagner from Omnilink. This system proved highly time effective. Six top teams for the male and female classification entered the event. These teams had been selected on basis of standings of the World Cup 1996. Entry fees were low. This competition served as showcase for parachuting in general. As such, parachuting will be part of the World Games 2001 in Akita, Japan.

The 1st World Championships of Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing was organised by the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) at Efes, Turkey September 7 through 12. This WPC was part of the 1st World Air Games. A record attendance of 33 Freestyle teams (17 male, 16 female) and 24 Skysurf teams (20 male, 4 female).
The competition was carried out with only a few organisational problems. Aircraft and pilot requirements proved to be the most difficult problem. Due to this the Skysurfing event had to be conducted from the CASA and not from the Cessna 208 Caravan as stated in the information bulletins. However, THK spared no effort solving any problems during the competition. I would like to express my thanks to THK for their work and wish them good luck with the organisation of the 1st World Championships Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing 1997.
Patrice Girardin again did a tremendous job running this 1st World Championships.
No live air-to-ground judging was available as there were no transmission systems for this discipline. However, due to aircraft idiosyncrasies the system proved no suitable either for Formation Skydiving. The Subcommittee will evaluate the use of these systems for future competitions.
TRT Turkish television was present and aired a live programs. Furthermore, Eurosport had a ½ hour program every day during the competition.

The Subcommittee conducted an open meeting during the WAG with the competitors, judges, the meet director and the possible organiser of the 2nd World Cup. The Subcommittee discussed several topics like the concept of the compulsory moves, criteria for assessing difficulty and judging. In general the competitors decided to stay within the existing frame of competition rules. The recommendations can be found separately in the report of the Open Meeting.

The Subcommittee is awaiting a bid from Portugal to hold the 2nd World Cup / European Championships in Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing at Évora, September 19 through 27, 1998. This competition will be held together with the World Cup / European Championships in Formation Skydiving.
The Subcommittee invites NAC's to enter the bidding process for the 2nd World Championships of Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing 1999 at the IPC Plenary Meeting 1998 in Portugal. At present there is no such bid known to the Subcommittee.

The first World Nature Games were held at several locations in Paraná state, Brazil from September 27 till October 3. WNG consisted of 13 sports in close contact with the natural environment. The sports of ballooning and parachuting, Skysurfing event were to form the part in the air. This competition was given IPC recognition at the IPC meeting in Kenya.
The event was of invitational character. Airfares, food and lodging and competition jumps were paid by the organiser. Furthermore, a total of 22.500 USD prize money was available. This circumstance made it the best paid parachuting competition in history.
A total of 11 teams were invited according to current world standing and geographical distribution. The only downside of the competition was unusual bad weather (6 out of 10 competition rounds were completed) and aircraft problems. Also, the live air-to-ground system did not work properly. However, the electronic judging system Pegasus worked flawlessly and was again highly appreciated by the judging panel.

My full appreciation is extended to the members and advisors of the Subcommittee Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing for their hard work and input in this year. These members are Markus Willi (Switzerland), Jorge Derviche (Brazil) and Avi Saba (Israel) Advisors are Roger Flinn (UK), Ray Williams (Australia) and Phillipe Baldewijns (Belgium). I hope that all members and advisors liked the work on this Subcommittee so they will continue doing so in the next years.

The Hague, October 24, 1997.
Ronald Overdijk
Chairman IPC Committee Freestyle Skydiving, Skysurfing & Freeflying