alvor2019

April 7th 2019: 15 competitors registered for the season opener. 13 competitors from 10 countries showed up to compete. Perfect weather conditions on arrival and training day. Just in time a front with rain and high winds hit the Alvor area. Weather hold all friday long, no jump. On saturday morning a short window with blue sky and wind in the limits made it possible to complete two rounds ... after that weather hold again. On saturday evening Eduardo Manuel Rodrigues, President of the Portuguese Parachuting Federation, invited competitors and staff to an official dinner, were delicious portuguese wines and great local food was served. After this nice evening everybody was looking forward to do some more rounds on sunday. Unfortunately the bad weather did not turn better and the competiton ended on sunday noon with two rounds completed.

For competitors and judges it was the first time to use the new measurement system und rules. Even if just two rounds were done, competitors and judges got a good impression about the new system and procedures. Most of the well known favorites were in front again. For some of the competitors the new GPS based system worked better then the old barometric one. Marco Hepp from Germany celebrated his first victory on the ISSA tour. Henrik Raimer from Sweden finished on second and Luc Maisin from Belgium on third place.

Many thanks to the organizers Manuel Almeida and Paulo Alves, the Portuguese Parachuting Federetion and the Skydive Algarve staff for hosting tfhis event on the beautiful Algarve coast. The weather ist the weather ... but organizers and staff made it a very good and friendly competition again.

Podium 1st Event ISSA World Series 2019: