Swooping or Canopy piloting as it's technically called involves a new form of skydiving. The canopy pilot deploying their canopy at 5000 ft, piloting their canopy to an "execution" point over the swoop course, then turning into a rotating dive dramatically increasing the canopy's speed. The canopy pilot stops the canopy's rotation on the proper course heading, while at the correct altitude allowing their canopy to recover from the dive and level out with maximum speed before entering the course, Maximum speeds regularly reaching in excess of 90 mph. Essentially, swooping is using a much smaller parachute to increase the speed of the descent so that you can skim at speeds of 90 mph over a prepared course on water.
This new skydiving discipline now has a Pro Swooping Tour for hardcore enthusiasts to test their swooping skills against other competitors. I saw this on TV the other day and saw them swoop over tree canopies, glaciers and rocky terrain at high speed. I am sure that swooping will be in the Philippines very soon and I can suggest a swooping course for them - CAMSUR. You heard it here first.
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