rhys

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Everything posted by rhys

  1. It sure isn't. it is a human phenomenon. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  2. We ave established that the USPA reccomendations are somewhat different to the NZ rules. that is clear. What is forgotten is the Australians, South Africans, Canadians, Russians, Ukranians, and whoever else has different rules for jumping a camera, deserve a voice too. My point that seemed to be missed, is that even though the USA has a much higher proportion of jumpers than probably every other country in the world, those other countires as a whole represent much more of the global skydiving comunity than the USA ever will. These people should be included here and and if they were, we would probably see more traffic from them in the future. In reality, if someone that experiences a plethora of posts that contradict what they experience in their own country then they are not likely to take what they read here seriously. Such as myself. That is a shame. When they explain that things are different and then go on to be ridiculed and insulted by americans that seem to misunderstand that america does not represent the world and that many many thousands of people have, and continue to go through progressions that include jumping cameras from about 100 jumps, for example. Then we end up with a conversation like this. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  3. And not the oposng attitude that the US way is the best and only way that has been around the longest as america has contributed so much for the sport, and our world and our culture and has never overstepped the boundries. I know all americans are not like that, I have many american friends, and in general americans have great personalities and morals. Unfortunately however a few have decided that america is elite and anything less than the US standard is inadequate, unsafe and foolosh. This pisses me off, and I may have overreacted a little but hey, I am allowed, am I not? I'm sure if you met me in person you would have better first impression, it seems I am constantly being bombarded by bigotry here, and as much as it anoys me and leads to a reaction, I learn alot from these conversations, and I am sure I am not the only one. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  4. Actually , I am merley pointing out that myself and many thousands of other skydiver from around the world are subject to different rules and regulations to america. The arrogance an ignorance of americans on this website that think americans make up the larger proportion of skydivers in the world because a few dozen post whores form america make up the majority of the posts on this website, astounds me. Yes there are alot of jumpers in the USA and there are a high proportion of americans on this website, but that does not mean the rest of the world should be excluded. There are a couple of hundred more DZ's in europe alone as there are in the USA. Remember that. This is an international website. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  5. You americans really need to get over yourselves. There may not be many sport skydivers in NZ. There are only 4 million people citizens in total here. Who the fuck cares, and what the fuck does all that have to do with this thread and jumping camera. You will find Australia is much, much 'looser' ( with what really happens) in regards to the number of jumps you will see people jumping with cameras, tandems etc. etc. NZ has some of the strictest regulations generally speaking but with camera our laws are not ruled by litigation, we are not afraid of litigation here as you will find the; "I'll sue the crap out of you" attitude does not really happen here. You can still sue others byt you will not see multi million dollar lawsuits ove some menial crap. Our skydiving regulations are rules, yours are reccomendations. Big difference. Our DZSO has the power to stop someone doing soemthing, a S & TA is an advisor.. big difference. Yes we have a small population and yes we have lots of tourists. We have more tourists coming through every 2 years than we have people in our population. Many of them want to skydive. Our country is completly different to the USA, we have different rules, as we have differnt rules to Australia, South Africa, Canada and every other country in the world. many of these have different regulations to you, and allow jumoers to jumo with camera and tandems at much less experience that is required in the states. ( I really cannot believe I have to explain this again) I am just saying how it works here, it has worked here that way since well before I started jumping and will continue for time to come. We will be leading the way with the Part 115 adventure aviation standards this year. Skydiving aviation will offficially be a commercial 'adventure' activity, and will be somewhere between part 149 'sport aviation' and part 135 air transport. The ratio of sport and commercial skydiving here is completely different to the USA. Yes we do shitloads of tandems, yes there are not that many sport skydivers and not all of them work in the industry. There are about 100,000 tandems performed here annually give or take, most likely more these days (the growth is not slowing any). So that allows 100 tandem masters and about 50 camera people to do 1000 jumps a year. But that it not exactly how it works, some will do 500 and other 1500. NZ - 4millon people / 100,000 tandems = I tandem for every 40 citizens America to have the same ratio would have to do; 307 million / 40 = 7,675,000 Would any of you say there is 7.5 million tandems in the US per annum? I would say not, so that would tell us that NZ is actually proportionally much, much larger for tandem skydiving and hence the ratio of people here performing a steeper curve of total jump numbers. I sure wish sport skydiving was stronger and I plan to help make that heppen but it would be impossible for us to have a proportionally similar amount of sport jumper to tandems as the USA a our population and the amount of tourists here simply does not allow for that. It is simply different here, the seppo attitude that we should have to do everything the same as the americans because we are using american gear is simply arrogant, . I have been to DZ's around america, I know many people that have worked and jumped at many more, and I have heard many many stories. Do not pretend for a minute that the operations in the USA are all squeaky clean and all of your own DZ's follow the rules to the last full stop. We have rules that accomodate the reality. You have rules determined by litigation, not common sense. No matter what any of you say, Bills mates down at his old home DZ (and many other operations) breaking the rules and reccomendations in you country, by manufacturers in your country along with the many, many others with the same type of conduct, pose much more of a risk to the manufacturers, legally, finacially, logistically... than a bunch of dz's in different countries south of the equator with separate laws and legal systems. It is a shame each thread I add input to, that somehow conflicts with the USPA or USA rules and reccomendations becoames a bitch fest of ostentatious posts from super_on_line_good_guys that pretend to live in some type of perfect utopia. What a fucking joke. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  6. Not that i am aware of, that is not what I meant, bill knows what I mean. There is no need for a tangent on the appropriate use of tandem equipment in a camera flying thread. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  7. Depends if the operations regulations specifies that the manufacturers recommendations must be met or not. At present this is not the case so it comes down to what the part 149 holder specifies. This year the rules are changing in NZ, but I can imagine it will be similar to what it is now. Who knows what will happen when prt 115 comes in. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  8. Maybe they could start in San Diego? talk to the S & TA there... "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  9. Great, they should be aware of how things work in different places. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  10. It is pretty normal around here.
  11. Hey Vimes, Thanks for the info, I can't wait to try one. Would you say the velo gets alot more glide than the JFX? or similar. say coming back fom a long spot... The difference in dive could be made up in a turn. Velos dive more than JVX's but extra lift will pull you out of a dive sooner also. I am very interested in the performance differences between the JFX and the velo as they are quite a comparable canopy... I don't see why your buddy would not want a JVX as a work canopy? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  12. Are you talking about flying with a camera or flying camera for a job? Usually it will take another 100 jumps (or more) after the course for a student to be ready for work as a camera person, but they can pack and edit and do other duties around the DZ while in training. Most should be ready to jump with a tandem at 200 jumps and have the understanding and relative skill to be safe in doing so. I did my first paid Jump at 270 jumps, I am training up another right now that has the same number, I would say those with good aptitude from the course will be ready at around 300 jumps to be a commercial camera guy 'if they put thier energy into it', some are never ready. Our latest student will be ready in a few jumps and has sold some of his footage already because it was in frame the whole time and he made a complete document of the customers experience, including great still shots. The diploma itself is a worthless peice of paper, it is the experience behind the diploma that counts. A NZSS student at your DZ would have to wait until they have 500 jumps before they can jump with a tandem would they not? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  13. When I attended a P3 big way camp in 2009, the price was similar. I found it to be great value. These were not just your regular skydive, they were well planned, well thought out, well prepared, (usually) well executed skydives with thourough debeifs and video analysis. One would learn more in one jump at a P3 camp than multipule jumps with some buddies that pretend to be experts. I wish I stayed for the 100 way camp afterwards but our schedule did not allow for it. My wife had to attend to prove her worth for JFTC and I decided to participate myself for the experience. Worth every cent IMHO. I plan on attending more in the future. It is amazing how somebody with that experience can simply explain something and make your life that much easier. It may well have taken that coach many jumps to work out that tactic they explain to you in a few sentences. My first formation skyvan exit was the slot just behind the base, a quick breif from the team leader had me in slot and next to the base first time and docking very quickly (yet smooth and stable). If I had not have had the detailed explanation of exactly how I should have exited, I would not have been in he same place and the people behind me would have had to wait longer also and less liklihood of the formation being built These camps make the records possible. There is no substitute for experience. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  14. You probably misunderstand what the commercial skydiving diploma course I attended has to offer. At 50 jumps we were practcing filming each other (without cameras) by pairing up. One flys around the other, while the other simply sits in place (at first) then the jumps become more dynamic. At 100 jumps we put a camera on while under dircect supervision of an instructor, we paractice and practice and have assignments in video and stills, and by 200 jumps we were ready to jump with a tandem and shortly after we begin filming them at a commercial dropzone. We were specifically trained from scratch to do that. Only one person that was on my course of 16 people had a skydiving license before starting the course. We very much pick something (camera jumping) and focus on it, we train and get coaching and train and do assignments and train and jump more than 5 times every day, 7 days a week weather permitting. Doing your first 170 jumps in 5 months is very current, and quite different to what most people experience. The course is a government sponsored and accredited tertiary commercial sydiving diploma that specifically trains camera flyers from scratch. The focus is on training for camera from before your very first jump. Students do written assignements on safety, risk and crisis management, airspace, professionalism among other subjects. There is constant coaching on offer and the focus is on camera, not freefly or wingsuiting or crw or formation skydiving, camera is the focus from a very early level. It was not until I had about 350 jumps and working as a camera guy that I could affod to make fun jumps doing what I wanted like freefly etc. I was very focused. I seriously doubt you have seen anyone go through a similar progression as there is not another training organisation in the world that offers such a course (as far as I am aware). The reason our country has these type of schools (for various indusries) is that toursim is the second largest income for our country, adventure tourism is very important to our economy. There are similar training courses for many other adventure sports and activities that are on offer in NZ as tourism businesses account for 10% of the workforce in the country and a higher proportion of the GDP. Without training courses such as these, we would be stuck with random scruffy sport skydivers from around the globe that have no background in the tourism sector. Our DZ's are significantly different to yours, and that is probably why many on here are having trouble grasping the difference. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  15. If you came to a NZ DZ you could do all that in one hit. A vector rating is a sigma rating and they never expire... Though a proficiency check is required every 2 years. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  16. Stay alive and well. Get my swoop on. Do less tandems Do more camera "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  17. Knowing that is your forte, that information assures me considerably about the future of energy recources. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  18. I would say it is a typo, 10 million is a lot to return from a 49% share in a skydiving company with one caravan. 20 tandem rigs is a substancial investment. my guess is it is supposed to say 1,000,000. 10,000,000 is far too much for less than half of that stuff, you could buy it all brand new and spend 3 million on marketing and still have change left over for another turbine. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  19. Gee, you are a big boy? Commenting on your earlier post about the steeper trim, I did a bunch of jumps on an older alpha 110 with extra links added to the rear risers. It performed really well. I removed them and there was a significant difference in flight performance, less agressive and more glide... I was considering adding links to the front of my speed flying canopy which is an old 'Jyro' (brand) Icarus (model) 105 from 1993, it has an incredibly steep trim and is a very agressive canopy for its size and age. I didn't mind jumping the alpha as I could check it performance up high with riser input etc. but speed flying is not a place to do this. I guess I have to borow a bigger container and chack how the Gyro Icarus ( gets confusing I know) performs with a flatter trim. I have to agree with Ian that playing with the trim can be a bad idea, but this is how development occurs, eh. I have asked pilots of speed flying wings (bullet, nano etc.) how they respond to front riser input, I am yet to meet one that has tried, instead they do quick rotations to keep proximity to the ground that freaks the shit out of me... Anyhoo, I can't wait to see/try new JFX will be interesting to see how they perform compared to a Velocity. There was always the argument that the extra 2 cells of a VX/JVX etc. was outweighed by the extra drag of extra lines... it will take time for pilots to master this canopy though. In your experienced opinion, is a JFX similar construction to a JVX with less cells, or is it more like a crossbraced crossfire? I would say he latter from looking at your photo. Exciting news, well done Jyro and crew. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  20. sweet thats what we want to hear, they will control the lithium and the elecricty too though won't they? Any news on those spherical solar power generators they were working on in your regon a year or so back? I guess nuclear is the short term answer, We are nuclear free and all hydro power in my island but from time to time, we run low on water in the dams..... i guess the oil companies will be strategicly working towards control of the main grid? My deisel car uses less tna 10 litres per 100km. Diesel is $1.40 per litre here + you pay $0.40 per litre (in my car) for road user charges. You also get accident insurance in that however. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  21. I made my own go pro glove there are heaps of different ones now they all work, and use realxtream editing system. In 5 minutes I can have 2 or 3 dvd's producing (the load), and in 30 mins (while the load is up)can have 3 completed dvd's. Once ques up everything is automated exept for putting a new disk in the slot. No need for a dedicated editor. or to be pissing around for 10-15 mins per dvd. The DVD's come with royalty free music, have slowmotion of the freefall after the jump is over, runs the ext 3 times one in slow motion, and uploads the video to the. The RXT system will be compatable with avchd and .mov very soon too so will be great for everybody but for now it is limited to MP4 and MPG. it is still in Beta but will be complete very soon, you can trial it for free on the website, www.realxstream.com "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  22. To clarify it is the parent or legal guardian that signs the waiver. I understand clearly the situation in the united states now, it is sad but it is the reality. If I was an operator in the US I would not take minors. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  23. If they sign the form, then unless there is neglegence, I am covered, if I was neglegent, maybe I deserve aq lawsuit... whats the biggie. No need to stop doing everything because of fear of something going wrong. Might as well stop doing everything with any risk then... "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  24. Blah blah blah blah, you sur do have your titties in a tangle don't you. Get over yourself. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix
  25. I'm hearing you Des. Some just don't get it, can't say I didn't try... "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix