Weather continues to interrupt parachuting c'ship

Weather continues to interrupt parachuting c'ship

By Primastuti Handayani

LIDO, West Java (JP): Hazy weather and strong wind continue to
disrupt the programs at the Sixth World Parachuting Championships
on Canopy Formation here.

The organizer has had to halt the competition a number or
times due to recurring bad weather since the first day of the
championship, which started on Sunday.

However, the organizer is optimistic that the championships
will finish on schedule. The competition features four-way canopy
rotation, four-way sequential and eight-way speed formation.

"We can finish all the events before the closing ceremony on
Sunday," Ahmed Solihin, the organizer's program coordinator, said
yesterday.

"We'll boost the competition early in the morning every day to
finish all the scheduled events," he added.

By international rules each participant's points are valid if
each team has jumped five times, which is 60 percent of the eight
jumps.

"We only need to execute the last jump for four-way sequential
and two more jumps for the eight-way speed formation. We'll
continue with the three jumps for all events if the weather
permits," Ahmed said.

The natural disruption has begun daily at midday and lasted
until before sunset.

Yesterday, three jumps in the four-way sequential event were
completed.

Indonesia, which failed to display a formation in its first
jump on Tuesday, improved by making two formations twice in its
second and fourth jumps yesterday.

Unfortunately, the team, members of the Aves Club in Bandung,
West Java, was only able to display one formation in its third
jump.

The host team, which only had one month's preparation, is
likely to come in at last position because of the tight
competition.

Defending champion, the United States, has completed five jumps.
The team became holder of the world record when it produced 16
formations in three minutes in Australia in 1994,

But the team, which placed second after displaying 11, 10, 10
and 10 formations, failed to beat the high-riding French who had
only performed four jumps.

The French team, which dominates the championships, still has
one more chance to complete the event. The team displayed 13, 12
and 10 formations in its second, third and fourth jumps
yesterday.

France, which displayed 10 formations in its first jump on
Tuesday, will take the lead if it can feature at least six
formations in its last jump.

Switzerland and Canada shared third position yesterday as both
teams produced average formations of eight.

Switzerland, which displayed seven formations in the first
jump, featured 10, eight and eight formations in the second,
third and fourth jumps.

While Canada, the 2,000-crowd favorite, displayed 11
formations in the second jump. But the team failed to repeat its
performance and was only able to display six and two formations
in the third and fourth jumps.

South Africa finished its fifth jump by displaying two
formations in the first to fourth jumps. The team successfully
improved by displaying three formation in the final jump
yesterday.