posted Jan 13th, 2011 - There was obviously not much jumping on Thursday at the Dubai Championship 2011. The leaderboards are completely unchanged in all events.

The strong wind was still the main obstacle. It may have been possible for the 4-way teams to find a few windows of reasonable conditions at a different location. The landing area for 4-way is still out on the top of the palm tree, while the swooping pond is on the shore line.

The wind conditions are different at both locations, and the more wind sensitive events under open parachute take place at the better protected place. The host decided to maintain the option of running Canopy Piloting and Accuracy and did not let the 4-way teams land at the swooping pond.

The canopy events still have more work to do and rounds to complete than the 4-way teams, and the decision is understandable, even if the conditions for Formation Skydiving competition were jumpable. The 4-way teams still have plenty of time to complete the one missing round.

Chief Judge Dr. Rainer "EXI" Hoenle said that the weather conditions will be much better on Friday. The wind is expected to slow down below 7 m/s, which would surely allow the 4-way competition to continue at any location. The weather forecast has been quite accurate so far.

The participants in Dubai were compensated for their patience on Thursday evening. The host organized a trip for teams, competitors, officials and staff to the Heritage Village in Dubai's historical district.

Teams and competitors have been doing many different things to kill the ground time. NMP-PCH Hayabusa's new Point Dennis Praet had his own special project and got creative.

He is not only very talented as a 4-way competitor, he also knows well how to edit video footage. He produced a clip of the Hayabusa experience in Dubai, and it came out really nice.

He got some camera help from Hayabusa videographer Danny Jacobs, and he used his own footage from a small helmet camera that provides views from inside the formation. The clip is of high quality and very entertaining. It can be viewed by clicking here. Morning is coming soon in Dubai, and Friday's coverage will hopefully bring some new and final scores.