Canopy Formation Skydiving (formerly known as CRW, or Canopy Relative
Work) is the sport of flying perfectly good parachutes together to form a variety of
formations in a variety of ways. There are three competition events in this type of
skydiving: 4-Way Rotations, 4-Way Sequential, and 8-Way Speed4-Way RotationsIn this event, four jumpers "stack" their parachutes, one one top of each other, using their feet to grip the canopy below. When the formation has built to 4 parachutes, the top canopy "rotates," or releases from the top and flies to the bottom of the formation, again building a 4-way "stack." The process is repeated as many times as possible until the working time of 2 minutes has expired. The team with the most rotations after 8 rounds, discarding the teams' worst performance, is the winning team. The current world record is 19, by the Italian team in1997. 4-Way SequentialA more intricate type of canopy flying, 4-way Sequential is the sport of building a sequence of different formations in an aerial ballet of parachutes. A "dive pool" is used to determine the order of formations, and the team builds as many formations as possible in the working time of 2:30. The team with the most formations after eight rounds, after discarding the teams' worst performance, is the winning team. The current world record is 11 formations by the French team in 1997. 8-Way Speed8-way Speed is a contest to build a certain formation (one of four in the dive pool) as quickly as possible against the clock. The clock begins when the first person exits the airplane and stops when the formation has completed. The current world record is 27.39 seconds by the French team in 1996. |