Official Results are in!

Final photo is of Aussie Top POP, Robbo pictured above running desperately towards the Hit and Rock chair!

All the final results of the 2010 POPS are now on line at the POPS2010 website (click to view). The results can be viewed via a series of pdf documents at this site. Thanks go to the Italian Top POP Lamberto for posting these results.

Also, if any particiants would like full versions of any of the photos at this Aussie POPS blog, just email Lynda at samsaralynda@gmail.com

Winners of Sports Accuracy and also Hit and Rock

The first photo shows Sports Accuracy winner Gary Cullen of New Zealand. Second place went to Aussie Graeme Windsor and third to Pat Morehead of USA.

The second photo is of the Hit and Rock winners - first place to John Wolf of USA and runners up were from Russia.

Aussies gain medals

Aussie POPS team came second! Aussie SOS teams also did well and many Aussies scored medals as part of the 8 Way Speed Star teams.

The Closing Ceremony dinner

Host Italian Top POP Lamberto Scrrenelli gave over control of the POPS event to new World Top POP Ronald van Rijn of Netherlands. Netherlands will host the next POPS World meet in June 2012.

American jumper Alicia gave her symbolic leather jacket to Volker Cornils from Germany!

Closing Ceremony Saturday night

A few social photos from the banquet last night....

The manifest girl remembered some of the Aussies! John and Jane, Gwen and Les, Adrienne and Jeanette.

Gordon rocks

Gordon sustained a leg injury on the plane on the way over here and subsequently could not jump in this POPS meet. But he kept smiling and enjoyed the social event anyway! He looked the part as he lounged in the rocking chair before the Hit and Rock event. Watch out for that stick!

More hit and rock

The hit and rock event gave opportunity for some great photos ... Steve Pandelus, Pete McKenzie and Steve can still run fast!

Saturday's Hit and Rock

The hit and rock is a novelty event where jumpers must land close to a mark, remove their rig and run to firstly touch the mark and then rock in the rocking chair. The intention is do all of this in the shortest possible time. Judges count the seconds and everyone gathers to watch, cheer and call out encouragement such as "Get your gear off!!" Ross from Gilgandra shows how it is done - an excellent performance, Ross!

Big Ways on Friday

Photos are shown from two separate big ways on Friday. Dave Brown did the aerial photos for the second jump. Photos show the great jumping conditions over beautiful Italy!

The first big way was organised by Jim the American – many countries participated including two California girls Alicia and Renata (pictured). Aussie jumpers included in this formation load were Al White, Les Facer, Greg Hill, Don Biggins, Dave Brown, Robbo and Dick. Much preparation or dirt diving was done but unfortunately some flyers went low on the actual jump. But it’s all experience!

Classic Accuracy

The object of this event is to land as close as possible to the mark. John Paul from Brisbane (white parachute with blue and red) jumped in this event and scored 16 cm with this jump - just missed it by that much!

Graham Windsor (grey parachute) also did the Classic Accuracy jumps - this jump was a good performance as he scored 4cm! Overall scores for this event shows Graham in the top performers. Graham, aged 61, is from Canberra and has been jumping for many years. He was past CEO of the Australian Parachute Federation and currently holds a role with IPC or International Parachute Commission. The photo of the two preparing for the jump shows Graham on the left and John Paul on the right.

Around the Dropzone.....

Pictured are our lovely Aussie supporters Nelly and Deb in front of the Aussie POPS flag! Also shown are flags from around the world at one of the camping areas. And finally some local talent in front of the Pilatus plane! (These guys are NOT POPS!)

POPs go to Venice

A day off skydiving was declared and everyone (three bus loads or about 150 people) all went to Venice for the day. The buses dropped us at our boat at Chioggia, a port near Venice and we transferred into a ferry. We then arrived by boat at Venice's St Mark's square!

Souvenirs such as glassware, fans, parasols and clothes were purchased....lunch was enjoyed and just a few photos were taken!

Torrechiara Abbey and Castle visit

POPs partners or non jumpers visited two historic sites in the local area today. Our tour took us firstly to the Badia di Torrechiara or Abbey of Santa Maria of Snow. This Abbey, just south of Parma, was built in 15th Century by Pier Maria Rossi after approval was granted by the Pope. During Napoleon's occupation the Abbey was home to 800 soldiers. During World War 1 it was also occupied by troops. During World War 2 it was used to store valuable books and manuscripts safely away from bombardments in Emilia area.

Recently the Abbey's original frescoes or religious paintings of the 16th century have been carefully uncovered. The current resident monks and nuns have returned and keep the working Abbey in excellent condition.

No photos could be taken of the equally impressive original frescoes at the nearby castle - our second stop. But POPS Partners were able to wander throughout the Castle for an hour, admiring the rooms and enjoying the views of the Parma River Valley.

8 Way Speed Star Results

The object of the 8 Way Speed Star Event is to build a star formation of 8 skydivers in the shortest possible time (max working time 45 seconds).

Teams comprised participants from different countries - 13 teams competed.

Australians in the three placed teams were:

1st Place - Don Biggins,

2nd Place - Alan white, Les Facer, Elvon King

3rd Place - Geoff Gordon

Double click on photo to view the scores.

Tuesday afternoon jumps

Pictured are Steve Pandelus looking pleased with his last jump and also Volker Cornils (Top POP Germany) and John Kinton discussing tactics ahead of their 8 way speedstar jump.

Tuesday 8 Way Speed Stars

Eight way Speed Star teams are made up of various nationalities. This team pictured is made up of Aussies Dave, Pete and Steve - and also three Frenchmen, one German and one Swiss jumper. Good luck guys!

SOS and POPs Score updates on Tuesday

Double click on these photos to read the results for SOS and POPS teams taken Tuesday 8 June.

Australia SOS team 1 - Don Biggins, Graeme Windsor, Les Facer, Elvin King.
Australia SOS team 2 - Alan White, Ian Robertson, Greg Hill, Steve Pandelus

Australia SOS team 3 - Peter Hanaford, Norm Hocking, John Kinton, Geoff Gordon

SOS stands for Skydivers over Sixty.

POPS team - John McMahon, Jane Jones, Peter McKenzie and Brian Edgerton

Parmesan Cheese Factory tour

Non jumpers toured the local cheese factory today. We saw the cheese makers divide the curds from the whey in big copper lined vats. We also saw the brine room where the rounds are soaked in salt water for 20 days. Finally we tasted the cheese - we got a bite of both 1 year old cheese and also 26 month old cheese - there was a difference!