posted Jun 11th, 2004 - The 2004 South African Skydiving National Championships took place in Margate from 1 - 4 June 2004. The training camp for Nationals ran from 22 May until 31 May with all jumps being from 14 000ft. Margate is a fantastic jumping venue on the South African coast with awesome views of the sea and beach landings optional. Solly Williams from Deland Majik was coaching for the whole training period. The Formation Skydiving competition at Nationals was by far the biggest section of the meet. Eleven 4-way teams, two 8-way teams, and fourteen 2-way teams took part in the event. Most clubs in the country entered FS teams. The standard of Formation Skydiving in this country is really improving every year with the result that many of the competitions were very close.

The 2-way competition has become very popular with nine teams in the Junior 2-way (both performers with less than 350 jumps) and five teams in the Intermediate 2-way (one performer with less than 350 jumps). The competition in the Junior 2-way was fierce and a jump-off took place between Team Stuge and Team Pride for first place (they both averaged 13.8). Team Pride experienced some camera difficulties which resulted in taking second place. Team Pride showed very consistent and good jumping so we are looking forward to seeing them in the 4-way competition next year. Team Stuge put some exceptional scores on the board (both members were part of the winning 4 way junior team too). Crazie boyz took the Bronze medal with a very solid 10.1 average.In the 2-way Intermediate competition two girls teams won medals. Girl Power!! Team Angel Spark burned the competition for Gold with a 21.8 average. Amadiver (CFS experts - who managed to restrain themselves from opening their parachutes on exit) showed a very strong performance for Silver with a 13 average. Team Reigning Girls had a good meet and won the bronze medal with 10.3 average. In the 4-way Junior Competition teams do six rounds of three random formations from the whole random pool. A junior team must consist of at least three members with less than 350 skydives each. Team Project X did some great skydives and won gold with an 8.0 average, the team has done approx 50 jumps together. Chaos.com got together just before the meet and consists of 4 junior skydivers. They had lots of fun and took home the Silver medals.

The 4-way Intermediate competition was another very close competition. The draw for the Intermediates is six rounds of four or five formations, including all the random formations and eight of the blocks (2,4,6,7,9,15,19,21). This was the first year that the jump limit has been removed from Intermediates, therefore teams of any experience level can enter it. There were three teams competing in this category that would normally have had to enter seniors. They had much more fun doing the Intermediate draw. The two true Intermediate teams (less than 750 jumps) took Gold and Bronze medals. Team G4B, who were only able to start their jumps on the third day due to weather, won the meet with a very solid 9.2 average. There was a draw for second place between the Fabulous Uniots and U-No-Hoo. A jump off should have taken place but members of the FU's had to leave early and therefore U-No-Hoo took the Silver medal due to scoring higher in round six. Both teams had a 7.7 average. I am sure we will be seeing some of these teams moving to Senior 4-way next year!In the 4-way Ladies event Team AngelFire earned gold medals with a great 10.3 average. As this is a National event the team is now eligible to represent South Africa at the World Skydiving Championships in Croatia in September. Apart from great skydiving they make a beautiful addition to any drop zone... as their slogan goes " Team AngelFire, making skydiving look good". The team consists of Linda Holland, Amy Kirtland, Beverly Cosslett, Jackie Mulder, Johan Mulder (Cam) and Vana Gulliver (Coach).

In the 4-way senior event Team Aerodyne won the Gold medal with an exceptional 13.7 average. This is the highest 4-way average since Team Equanimity (of which Solly Williams was a member) in 1997. The team replaced two members earlier this year and has done about 200 jumps together. They will be representing SA at the World Championships later this year. Team Aerodyne consists of Vana Gulliver, Colin Rothman, Dave Sumter, Thiago Muradas and Peter Kalamaras (Cam). Bailey 5 won the Silver medal, unfortunately they were only able to complete eight rounds of the competition. Bailey Edmunds and Dennis Parker stepped down from the main 4-way team last year to give some young and enthusiastic skydivers a chance. The huge support they have given the sport definitely needs mentioning. Team Wing Span, could only complete two rounds of the competition due to work commitments, and so they took the bronze medal. Team Wing Span will be taking part in the US Nationals again this year.Team Geri-8-Trix won the 8-way Senior event with a 10.0 average. As the name suggests the team consists of some of the most "experienced" skydivers in the country. It was great to see them jumping and the jumps were awesome to watch! They will also be representing SA at the World Champs. Team AeroAngels (which consisted of Aerodyne and AngelFire) took the silver medal with a 5 average after three rounds. Solly Williams (from the US National 4-way team) was available for coaching for the whole two weeks of training and competition. In addition to briefing and debriefing individuals and teams he also ran a couple of seminars and assisted with the judging. Every single South African formation skydiver came away having learnt something from him. He is an inspiration to all FS skydivers and made a huge difference to the 2004 Nationals!There were so many other FS teams and skydivers jumping in the competition that have not been mentioned above. Every single one deserves a mention for giving up their time, money and energy to come to Nationals. We are looking forward to seeing even more of you at next years competition. The event is open to international teams and individuals.Meet report and team pictures provided by Vana Gulliver