'Tunnel Vision Of The Broadest Kind'

“Tunnel Vision of the Broadest Kind” is the tagline for this first encounter between a leisure industry and air sports' world governing body. After indoor skydiving's bid for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games lost out to events in four other sports, the stakeholders in this young air sport discipline meet on the northern Costa Brava to make adjustments to their shared vision for the Olympic cycle through Los Angeles 2028.

The World Air Sports Federation, FAI, the FAI Parachuting Commission, IPC, and Support Air International, SAI, are the organizers of Indoor Skydiving 2020 | First Global Summit by FAI. They launch the countdown to their event today, with exactly 170 days to go until it gets underway.

From 1 to 3 February 2020, an estimated 200 summiteers will descend on the Bay of Roses | Land of the Sky | Home to the Wind in Catalonia, Spain, for two days of deliberations on the nature, the current scope and the future development of indoor skydiving.

The resort towns of Castelló d’Empúries/Empúriabrava and Roses are the most appropriate venues for this summit as there is hardly another location in the world quite as steeped in the history of competitive human flight. They were hosts to numerous FAI World Championships and World Cups in Skydiving since 1989 – as well as perennial host to The Wind Games in Indoor Skydiving since 2014.

In regular and breakout sessions, in panel discussions and workshops held over the two days, the summit will cover a wide range of topics. To name but a few:

• Indoor Skydiving Brand Development and Positioning
• Nomenclature
• Competition Formats
• Synergies between Indoor and Outdoor
• International Promotion, Reporting, Technical Standards, Policies, Records Management. Health, Insurance, etc.

The ultimate goal is to have the participants in the summit draft and adopt the 2020 IndoorSkydiving.Vision, the statement establishing the parameters for future collaboration between the stakeholders in the continued advancement of the young air sport discipline.

FAI President Robert Henderson expresses his gratitude towards those who had the idea, "I congratulate the IPC for their initiative in creating this opportunity for different stakeholders to join in pursuit of a common goal, to share ideas and to develop this fledgling discipline further."

"It has something for everyone," says IPC President Gillian Rayner, "for tunnel owner/operators, for coaches/instructors, for athletes and for providers of equipment. The Bay of Roses will be the place to exchange and to learn."

"The Bay of Roses is a truly extraordinary location for skydiving," says Roland Hilfiker, the CEO of SAI and a resident of the area. "That is what brought me here in the first place, when I came from far to hang up the shingle on what has since become Skydive Empuriabrava."

(Source: FAI news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.indoorskydivingsummit.com