Call it an air show, call it a boogie, call it a competition. Call it all of the above. For the fifth straight year, SkyQuest brought together highly skilled jumpers in multiple skydiving disciplines for one of the biggest extravaganzas in the sport. With four major events happening simultaneously, Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida was transformed into a drop zone for one week in November to host what has become a skydiving air show. Conceived by Kurt Gaebel five years ago, SkyQuest includes big way skydives, four-way competition, and a spectacular swooping contest for the enjoyment of not only the jumpers themselves, but a visiting audience as well. In Kurt’s words, it is a “spectator friendly event,” that acts as a “bridge between the public and the skydiving community.” And spectator friendly it was, with an average of 2-3 parachutes open in the air at any given time, there was always something to see.

Four Events, One Venue

Fantasy of Flight is a museum, an airport, and a tourist attraction geared around the history of aviation. And for one week a year since 2000, Fantasy of Flight becomes a drop zone. With three large hangers surrounding two grass runways, two long swoop ponds and a large grass landing area, it is a perfect venue for hosting four concurrent skydiving events. This year, the show included the Kaleidoscope 105-way skydives organized by B.J. Worth, the Team Elite 42-way sequential dives organized by Guy Wright and Lou Tommaso, the National Skydive League 4-way championships, and a “Fantasy Swoop” contest with some of the best canopy pilots in the world.

The four-way competition was run out of the main hanger, with judging, scoreboards, and packing happening right at the feet of the museum visitors. The swoop ponds were arranged at right angles to one another, paralleling the two runways. And this year a brand new hanger across the runway from the museum housed the Kaleidoscope jumpers and Team Elite. With a large concrete taxiway outside of this hanger, jumpers could go from packing, to large dirt dives, to boarding a plane in just a few steps. Although some of the big-way jumpers regretted not being able to be close to the other events, the spectators at Fantasy of Flight could follow a walkway around the runway to move back and forth between the venues. Few drop zones in the world offer skydivers so much in the way of buildings and infrastructure.

Big-ways with Big Goals

The Kaleidoscope jumps always attract some of the best big-way participants to test their group and individual skills building complex, and eye-catching, 100-plus person formations. This year the Kaleidoscope dives took on extra significance as many of the skydivers would be going to Thailand with the World Team in February to attempt to set a new world record for the largest skydiving formation. B.J. Worth, the organizer for the World Team, liked the Fantasy of Flight Venue because it was “not anyone’s home DZ,” so it was neutral territory for everyone. The first day of SkyQuest opened with a presentation by two high-ranking Generals in the Royal Thai Air Force. Four-star Air Chief Marshall Sommai and Three-star Air Marshall Bunchuay talked to the Kaleidoscope group—ninety-five of whom will be travelling to Thailand in a couple of months—regarding the upcoming record attempts.

For the second year in a row, Team Elite joined SkyQuest bringing together an additional group of big-way jumpers performing slightly smaller, but very challenging, 42-way formations. These dives included outfacing slots, donuts, and cats—maneuvers that you don’t typically see in bigger formations. With one big-way group dirt diving while the other was in the air, there was a continual flow of jumpers and aircraft. And all the while a backdrop of antique radial engine aircraft, including B-17 bombers, and biplanes, inspired awe in the eyes of spectators and jumpers alike.

With weather more of an issue this year than previous years, the big way groups were limited to two jumps each on the first day of jumping, but skills were refined in the air and on the ground as both groups prepared for the upcoming jumps.

National Skydiving League (NSL) Championships

Meanwhile, the NSL’s 4-way competition was under way across the airfield. The NSL championships are more relaxed and casual than most competitions. For many teams, the main competition season was either over or winding down after the USPA’s National Championships in Perris, California, and the World Cup in Eloy, Arizona. But here in Florida, the teams could compete in a very public venue and show the non-jumping community what skydiving competition is all about. The Jump Institute, owned by Fastrax member John Hart, put up prize money for the first time in the NSL Championship’s history, with a total purse of $4000.

Team Sinapsi attended from Italy after just recently being qualified to represent that nation at the upcoming world championships in Germany in 2006. Team member Peter Allum—who previously had represented Great Britain in world competition—cleared up his eligibility for the Italian national team just before arriving.

Although Team Sinapsi was a guest team for this event, they are now considered contenders for the world championships. And after a few rounds of competition it became clear why. Sinapsi established a solid point lead early on in the AAA class, and even scored an amazing 30-point dive in round four. Meanwhile, team Teiwa Z-Hills pounded out a 15.6-point average for the second place slot. The U.S. Airforce Team Prodigy dominated the AA division. Even after leaving early after the eight round, and taking two zero scores as a result, they still walked away with a first place finish.

Canopies, Competition and Clouds

On Friday, clouds frequently covered the drop zone, but there were enough openings for the Fantasy Swoop competition to begin. The Fantasy Swoop competition was slightly different from the Pro Swoop tour, with more emphasis on water contact to keep it exciting for the spectators. Karine Leblond was the chief judge, with additional judging staff of Jennifer Leiras, Kolla Kolbeinsdottir and Robin Miller. With almost $3,000 in prize money, the competition and show was on. The contest consisted of two rounds each in in-lane, zig-zag, carving accuracy, freestyle, and team distance. Spectators lined the fence as Jim Slaten acted as Master of Ceremonies—explaining the competition to the visitors, and drawing attention to the other skydiving events as well.

Across the airfield, the big-way groups were dirt diving new and challenging jumps. Team Elite was able to complete four jumps on Friday, including a three point 42-way dive with cat grips all the way around. One of the Kaleidoscope 105-way dives completed on the first attempt, and was very encouraging for the upcoming world record jumpers. Many of the Kaleidoscope skydives were planned as practice for the world record—with lines forming abreast, good stop and grip discipline, and 7,000-foot break-offs. With the bigger group size, higher break-off altitudes and longer tracks, the Kaleidoscope group could only safely do two skydives given the weather throughout the day. Roger Ponce was in charge of safety and spotting for the group, and everyone seemed quite content to wait for better conditions when necessary. But each time they did jump, the sound and sight of 100-plus canopies opening overhead, drew cheers from the spectators.

Weather or not, we’re here to jump

Saturday came with more clouds and wind, but with enough weather openings to allow each group to get some loads up. In the Fantasy Swoop event, the winds proved challenging as they blew over the hanger, and crosswind on the swoop pond. But the competitors were up to the task, and ended up completing eight of the ten planned rounds for the event. The Performance Designs Factory team came out on top, with Ian Bobo taking the $1500 first place purse. On one of the freestyle rounds, Shannon Pilcher pre-declared a series of tough maneuvers. When he ran out of pond before his maneuvers were completed, he had to perform his last move, a switchblade, over land. Even after suffering a sprained ankle, he was able to finish in second place overall in the competition. Marat Meiras claimed the third place slot, out of a field of fifteen swoopers.

While Team Elite managed to get five jumps in on Saturday—including a 3-point 42-way dive—the Kaleidoscope group was again limited to two jumps due to varying weather throughout the day. In the NSL championships, several four-way teams never showed up at the event due to the weather forecasts. But the competition was able to keep plugging along as long as holes in the sky could be found—with Team Sinapsi and Air Force Prodigy maintaining their leads in the top two divisions. Team Zero Tolerance from the Florida Skydiving League was all alone in the “A” division. For the first year at the NSL championships, there was also a Rookie division at the finals, with Team America from the Texas Skydiving League representing the class.

All the while, the Fayard fleet of flying machines was ready for whatever skydiving group was on deck. The pilots did a great job, as always, and the entire event was relatively incident free—with just a few, safe, off-field landings.

While the spectators were treated to amazing aerial displays by the skydivers, the skydivers were also able to enjoy fly-overs by a B-17, B-29, and various vintage bi-planes. The collection of aircraft was so overwhelming, that sometimes even the jumpers had to take a step back and realize they were packing next to a one-of-a-kind, or rare historical airplane. For 2005, The Fantasy of Flight PR campaign also netted the highest spectator turnout in the history of SkyQuest! In addition to the spectators in attendance, video crews from Adrenaline TV (Fox Sports), a South Florida PBS station, and a local cable station were on hand producing shows for future broadcast.

On Sunday, the weather became too dicey for either of the big-way teams to jump in their entirety, but Guy Wright organized a few jumpers from each group into a of couple smaller formation jumps. By mid-afternoon, most of the skydivers were packing up and heading off. Only the NSL four-way competition was able to find enough clear sky to complete all ten rounds of the championship. As the crowd watched on the final judging was completed, the teams were awarded medals, and the show finally had to come to a close. But what a show it was—for spectators and participants alike. Kurt Gaebel felt it was very important to present this as a safe sport to the non-skydiving public, and credits B.J. Worth and Guy Wright for recruiting safe skydivers to their teams. With thousands of skydives in four days, there were no serious injuries, and only one cutaway. The fifth annual SkyQuest event proved once again that a skydiving air show can attract top talent and tourists alike, and give the public a taste of what skydiving is all about.