posted Jul 26th, 2005 - The MidAtlantic Skydiving League hosted the 4th annual Karp Cup at Cross Keys last Saturday in honor of former Jetstream member Seth Karp who lost his life in a landing accident in 2002. The MidAtlantic Skydiving League and Skydive Cross Keys joined forces in 2003 to create a larger East Coast 4-way event similar to the Shamrock Showdown of the Florida Skydiving League in DeLand and the Valentine's Meet of the Southwest Skydiving League in Eloy. The Karp Cup has always been open to all 4-way teams and competitors ever since the launch of the event. The 4-way event honors the legacy of Seth Karp, a former member of MASL team Jetstream. This meet story covers the 2005 event last weekend.

On Saturday, July 23, Cross Keys and the Mid Atlantic Skydiving League hosted the 4th annual Karp Cup of Formation Skydiving in honor of Seth Karp, a former Jetstream member, who died in a landing accident resulting from a trapped steering toggle. A total of six teams attended the 2005 event.

Four of the six teams were home-grown, one team visited from Chambersburg, PA, and another team traveled from Gardiner, NY, to compete in the biggest Formation Skydiving competition in the northeast. Four of the teams competed in the AA Class, one team in the A Class and another one in the Rookie Class.

After completing the registration of the teams, former Jetstream member Scott Macario spoke to the group of teams and competitors about Seth Karp’s life and his love of competition, followed by a reminder encouraging the competitors to set an example on the drop zone for safety.

The first load left the ground at 9:00 am. The line-up for AA Class teams included Air Pollution, Ranch Fusion, Controlled Descent and Cross Keys. Off Contantly was the team to beat in the A Class, as was the team from Chambersburg, C5, in the Rookie Class.

Round one in the AA Class was a tough round with Block 18 and Block 2 in the sequence, and the scores ranged between 7 and 9 points. As the day progressed and the AA Class teams battled it out, A Class team Off Constantly showed some good scores with the highest score of 9 points in round six for a 6.0 average, while Rookie Class team C5 showed steady improvement with the highest score of 7 points in round five and a 4.8 meet average.

The highest score of the whole meet was posted by pickup team Cross Keys with 13 points in round four. The same team won the AA Class competition at the end of the day with a 10.3 average, followed by Air Pollution with an 8.3 meet average after six rounds. Ranch Fusion was in third place with a 7.2 average, and Controlled Descent finished two points behind with a 6.8 meet average.

After the meet, the competitors sat down for a delicious dinner prepared by the DZ manager’s spouse followed with an award ceremony for the winning teams. The medals were presented to the competitors by MASL Directors Cherie Schuch and Mike Minicozzi. The presentation of the medals was followed by a prize giving ceremony.

The Karp Cup hosts had a list of generous sponsors that included Bev Suits, Sunpath Products, Wings Containers, Mirage Systems, SkyVenture Orlando, Tony Suits, Vigil AAD, Infinity Container, GOWEAR, Icarus, Performance Designs, Altimaster, and Square 3. It was very inspiring for the participants to have these companies supporting the 4-way competition, and all competitors expressed their gratitude.

As the sun set over the landing area, and the beer-induced haze settled over the party, the conversations reflected back over the events of the day, as stories of heroism in the sky were told and retold by the warriors of the MASL. These stories included a recent accident report.

MASL competitor, director and O2 Project member Karl Schuch was unable to compete in the Karp Cup 2005 and participated only by judging the meet. He had a mountain biking accident the week before the meet, which left him with some titanium plates in his face. He received his very own set of pink training wheels as a gift from his friends of Controlled Descent, Scott Macario, Bob Barnes, Sue Sweetman, and Jack Renaulta. The NSL wishes Karl Schuch good and quick recovery.