On October 1st, the 2017 United States Parachute Associations National Championship came to a close. For two weeks, Skydive Perris in California was home to over 500 competitors from all over the United States and abroad. Each day parachutes filled the sky, competing for the title of national champion in several events. For the first time since 2005 Skydive Perris hosted the event featuring competitions in wingsuit flying, artistic free-flying and freestyle, formation skydiving, vertical and mixed formation skydiving, and speed skydiving.
The final events were the always exciting 16-way and 10-way formation skydiving. GKXP took the gold in the 16-way event with a total score of 56 and an average score of 9.33. Arizona Airspeed took the second spot scoring a total of 44, and an average of 7.33 and Lite 350 Monster Mash won the bronze with a total score of 30, and an average score of 5.00.
Arizona Airspeed took the top spot in the 10-way event, with a total score of 79.32 and an average score of 13.22. The U.S. Army Parachute Team, better known as The Golden Knights took the silver with a total score of 9.54 and an average of 16.59. Third place went to Rhinoceros Kisses and Dirty Di who received a total score of 107.53 with an average of 17.92.
In the 8-way intermediate, AF Rodisiac took first with a total of 82 and an average of 8.2. SDMW Salty Margar8as came in second with a 64 total, an average of 6.4 and third place went to Taking Care of Business with a score of 60, averaging 6.0.
In the 8-Way Open, The Golden Knights won the gold. scoring 202 points, silver went to Fly-In Machine44, scoring 185 and Qatar 8 won the bronze with a score of 149.
The French 8-way Team won The 8-Way Advanced event scoring a total of 95, averaging a 9.5, with second place going to Blocksmiths XP with a total score of 85 and an average of 8.5. The bronze in this event went to the local Perris Air Sharks with a score of 82, averaging 8.2.
An interesting side note to this event was participation of Perris Air Sharks team member, Jack Ronalter. At 71 years of age, Ronalter is an engineer with over 6,500 jumps.
For complete final results of the 2017, USPA National Championship click here.
