FALLING FOR THE GOLD COAST AT WORLD TITLES
THE World Parachuting Championships are off to a flying start this week on the Gold Coast as hundreds of jumpers compete for aerial excellence.
After the opening ceremony and a weekend of practise jumps, competitors are ready to dive head first in to the tournament, hoping to be crowned the best in the world.
World Parachuting Championships’ MC Peter “Irish” Sutton said the conditions had been getting better every day.
“Conditions for training rounds were good, then it started to get a little bit cloudy, but it’s cleared up perfectly,” he said.
“The weather gods have been good to us.”
Despite a mishap involving two parachuters becoming entangled on Saturday afternoon, Mr Sutton said the opening ceremony had been a success and that the event was running smoothly.
A plan to break a world record with 30 skydivers jumping from one of the biggest aircraft in the world – an RAAF C17 Globemaster – was foiled by bad weather, but Mr Sutton said the group still put on an exciting show.
Two groups of 15 jumped from the C17 as part of the opening.
Mr Sutton said the Australian team was in excellent form and looking to score highly when the competition heats up later this week.
“We’ve got the free fly starting tomorrow, dancing in the sky with gymnastics,” he said. “We’ll be seeing free fall speeds up to 250km/h.”
Spectators are welcome at the Runaway Bay Sports Centre to watch the jumpers land, as well as watching freefalls live on big screens.