The IPC Committee Freestyle Skydiving, Skysurfing & Freeflying had this year working several activities which you will find here under.

Proposed changes to the competition rules 2000 were discussed and accepted at the IPC General Meeting 2001 in San Diego, USA. The Committee would like to thank USPA for hosting the Meeting. All proposed changes at the Plenary were accepted. The competition rules as a result were changed only slightly: a mistake in the scoring calculation section and more explicit description of some compulsory moves. One freestyle skydiving move (nr. 9) was changed entirely. Discussion was held as to incorporate changes in line with the IPC Mission Plan, Task Force "Format Synchronisation". Most criteria are already met within the 2001 rules. The lacking changes will be proposed for the 2002 rules.

Freeflying was accepted as an official IPC event in 2000, with the 1st World Cup held in Eloy, USA. The 1st WPC of freeflying was held during the 2nd WAG, Granada, Spain. A total of 22 teams entered the competition, which by the number of teams entered can be regarded a success. Teams and judges alike were anxious about the quality of judging as it was the first WPC. This however proved to be addressed adequately.
The freefly judging teams consisted of the teams of freestyle and skysurfing judging rounds alternately, with the final 7th round judged by a team decided by draw. The composition of judging panels for the 3 events needs to be evaluated in line with current requirements and the IPC Mission Plan.

The 3rd WPC Freestyle Skydiving & Skysurfing and 1st WPC Freeflying were held during WAG. Unfortunately the Spanish organisers did not fulfil even the already lowered expectations of the IPC. The report of the IPC president will surely elaborate on this matter.
The numbers of entered teams are as follows: freestyle skydiving male 13, female 18, skysurfing male 15, female 6 and freeflying 22. As there is no gender distinction in freeflying comparing the totals of respectively 31, 21 and 22 is revealing. Freestyle skydiving still is the largest event, skysurfing seems to be a niche event due to the technical aspects while freeflying is growing strongly. The gender issue however is subject of debate in the field. IPC as a whole needs to take a decision on this matter, in the not so far away future.
The committee sees some developments for the future: freestyle skydiving might merge with freeflying, while the future for skysurfing could be uncertain. Skysurfing is a highly technical discipline, dependant on extra material to be taken in freefall by the competitor. However, for the time being the committee will not active interfere with events but follow what is happening in the field with natural developments (e.g. initiated by competitors) of the events.

The Committee held her open meeting during WAG. Subjects discussed were: scoring, video format, composition of delegation, judging panel composition, addendum B, new compulsories for 2002. A freeflying idea about having 2 different compulsory routines, one for control and one for speed, was discussed. Some ideas will surface in the proposals for 2002.

Unfortunately no judging course was conducted by the organisers. The video co-ordinator of WAG, Mr. Gustavo Cabana however produced copies for sale of all competition jumps of all events with the scoring sheets as provided by Omniskore. These tapes however are not official IPC judges evaluation tapes.

The World Games (WG) were held august 14 - 22, 2001 and parachuting is one of the official sports. 5 male and 5 female teams competed for Freestyle Skydiving. Unfortunately in both events 2 teams cancelled during the year and had to be replaced at short notice, leading to a lot of last moment work, including for Mr. Roland Hilfiker, IPC-IOC liaison. This cancellations will be evaluated by the committee for the World Games 2005 Duisburg, Germany. Mr. Hilfikers report on this event will give more details.

In short, the Japanese organisers did a fantastic job, helped by superb weather! All events were completed in time. The media were very present resulting in extensive coverage. Freestyle skydiving got good coverage because one of the medal winners was Yoko Okazaki from Japan. Parachuting itself got excellent exposure due to a team landing demonstration of 6 FS-4 teams during the official WG opening ceremony. Several IOC members and WG officials visited the parachuting venue. All details about the 3 events were explained and several participants were introduced. Parachuting was presented on site with a giant TV presentation screen while Mr. Hilfiker did live comment on jumps for the public. Parachuting had the highest number of visitors. All in all this was the best opportunity so far to realise the Olympic goals of IPC and FAI.

Florian Ebner, experienced IPC judge conducted an IPC judging course for the 3 events in October 26 through 28, Munich, Germany. A total of 11 people entered the course who all passed. The committee would like to see the new judges acquiring more experience on national and international level. We are confident the new judges will judge at upcoming events.

These events will be held in Pôrto Santo island, Portugal, October 5 through 9, 2002. The committee will work with the organisers to ensure this will be a good competition. The Portuguese have proven themselves as good organisers for the worldcups and EPC’s 1998 and as such the committee is confident.

These 3 WPC’s will be held during the 1st Mondial in Gap - Tallard, France, September 2003. The committee will work with the organisers to make sure this competition will be a success.

At present the Committee is not aware of any bids for the mentioned events. The Committee urges all NAC’s to consider such a bid.

The new IPC President, B.J. Worth initiated a Mission Plan (MP) for changing IPC policy, especially towards media. I am at present chair of the Task Force "Format Synchronisation". You will find my work report and initiatives / proposals in a separate chapter.

My appreciation goes to the members and advisers of the committee Freestyle Skydiving, Skysurfing & Freefling for their time and work. Members are Markus Willi (Switzerland) and Carlos Marques (Portugal), advisers are Roger Flinn (UK), Ray Williams (Australia), Jorge Derviche (Brazil), Omar Alhegelan (USA) and Ashley Crick (Australia). I hope to continue working with them in the future.

The Hague, November 8, 2001.
Ronald Overdijk
Chairman IPC Committee Freestyle Skydiving, Skysurfing & Freeflying