General
The biggest demo CF jump was done in Houston, TX. Diamond Quest jumpers built a 25-way diamond on August 24 using Prodigy mains.
Kevin Vetter, a US jumper, saved his team mate’s life. Kevin made a top dock on a spinning canopy of an unconscious jumper. They landed together. Kevin Vetter was selected the ”Skydiver of the Year” in the USA.
Records and events
In January there was a 50-way CRW Boogie in Zephyrhills, FL. There were 48 jumpers from seven different countries. All used Lightning mains and they made only one unofficial 48-way jewel attempt. It funneled when 27 jumpers were in.
POPS jumpers made a 12-way kite formation in Raeford, NC on April 14. Mike Lewis was organizing and all jumpers used Lightning mains.
A multinational group of CF jumpers came to Kassel, Germany in September. In CReW Challenge they made a 50-way diamond on the first record attempt on September 4. An unofficial 56-way was built the next day, and a day after that (September 6th) they set a new world record, a 53-way diamond. All jumpers used Lightning mains and Stephan Heuser (Switzerland), Mike Lewis ((USA) and Peter Schafer (Germany) were organizing. They held the formation for 17.4 seconds on the 50-way and 5.6 seconds on the 53-way. The unofficial 56-way was complete for less than three seconds. The rules required five seconds holding time.
Competitions
The 6th World Championships in CF were held in Lido Lake, Indonesia from June 14th to June 24th and they used a Pilatus Porter plane in the competition. France was again the best country and this time they won all the events! Also for the first time, organization had prize money for the medalists. The winning team got $2.000.
The French team set two world records on their road to gold: In rotation they scored 22 points in two minutes, and in 8-speed they built the kite in 27.46″ and then the plane in 27.39″. The team used Rubis 140 mains.