rhys

we had a guy pull into our DZ in NZ a couple of years ago with plans to land a wing suit. He had 600 jumps total and 300 wingsuit jumps. He need someone to sign his gear off but no one was willing to put thier name on his card. he had it all lined up with his landing slope and everything. his plan was to tuck into a ball upon landing, we all laughed at him and we never saw him again!!! Gee i wonder why. I would think it would be possible if you had ski jumping skis attached somehow or another but it would take some serious balls for the firs attempt. Bags not!!!! "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Hi, You will find the any zero p canopy will give you softer landings then your F111 canopy. you would probably like to downize to a 150 and that would be appropriate at your level. A safire 2 150 would be perfect for your needs. or if you like a docile canopy then an Omni or omega would be good. do not buy a brand ne canopy at this stage because you will be likely to downsize again in another 100-200 jumps. save you money for jump tickets. There should be plenty of canopies available in that size range. be safe and have fun, Rhys "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

No way, every body gets a clean slate when I meet them. Some people are simply being cheeky or are fishing for a reply (positive or negative) on the internet. In real life people tend to be much more reserved with what they say and everyone has the right to think their own way. eg. I think religon is the cause of many of the worlds problems but I cannot and do not blame individuals for these problems. I have friends that are christian and a housemate that is a Muslim.... We all get on like a house on fire and have a good laugh together. The speakers corner is generally about debate and we all pull out the big guns every now and then. The world is too small to hold grudges with people with different opinions. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

That is a very ignorant and bullshit comment. If you have ever been to Dubai you will find that they are very very good at busines there, that city is probably the most modern and impessive city in the world and just because believe in a different god to you, doesn't mean they want to kill you. I only use Emirates airlines because they offer the best service and if they fuck up your flight for any reason (including weather) you will be put up in a hotel and tranfered to your destination free of charge. (sarcasm) If I Buy something that is made in the USA does that mean a portion of the money goes into bombing the fuck out of a country and killing innocent civilans including elderly, woman and children/terrorism. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I tried to look up the Talon FX on the rigging innovations website and there was no information at all about it. I remeber watching the short clip about it that you uploaded to youtube from the PIA. is there any further information about the differences etc? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

That makes sense but having the National championships soon after World Competions seems silly. World Meets are always in early August are they not? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Oh, but aren't national competitions, preparation for world competitions? I know the world championships is the premiere event but the World Cup would have to be the second. Does the Malevsky meet have prize money for non European countries? If it does then that would explain it. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

As was said before, what a wonderful question. I believe this issue is great contributor to the amount of deaths and injuries in skydiving today. I went through the static line progression and 80% of the focus was on canopy control. With AFF it is common to pass the free fall and fail the canopy control. There is no reason to repeat the free fall if it was really good. A student SHOULD NOT GRADUATE AFF IF THEY CANNOT LAND THEIR PARACHUTE 'SAFELY' BY THEMSELVES. Skymonkey's system using tandem jumps for the start of the training seem to be the best Idea to me. It seem silly that a student spends 6 hours OVER LEARNING in a classroom and is expected to remember everything when the parachute opens. If they have been having trouble with some aspect of their freefall, all the focus shifts to there and then they are bewildered when the parachute opens. I have seen this happen before. Nothing beats hands on instruction and a tandem is the perfect way for that to happen. The instructor can explain in detail what is happening and why, while it is actually happening and the student can experience it without having to imagine and without the fear of fucking up. IMHO this tandem jump should be performed BEFORE the classroom instruction so the student can fathom what it is the instructor is actually talking about. As experienced skydivers it is very easy for us to forget that simple things may not make sense to first time jumpers. Especially if they are 'Peaking out' about jumping from a plane for the first time. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I am not saying this should be done or anything but as long as you have a visual reference what is the problem? Canopy collisions etc. can be avoided by using adequate separation, collision with other aircraft can be avoided by the control tower..... In queenstown we used to jump(and they still do) with a solid layer of cloud if it is not too wet or thick. we did have visual references though as the surrounding mountains are up to 6000' above ground level. these are only a few miles from the dropzone and 80% of the staff have 1000's of jumps at the dropzone. in Christchurch there is no mountains so they were allowed to jump in solid cloud if they had a wrist mounted GPS unit on each jumper. but that DZ has moved to the mountains also now. I am talking about tandem factories in New Zealand not your average sport skydivers dropzone. Using such techniques for sport skydivers would be too much of a risk. I'm not saying what is done there is safe either but it 'is' how it is. Small scattered cumulus pose very little risk and not being able to jump when there is consistently less than 2/8's of cloud and only about 500 ft thick is pure bullshit. If you can see the spot and will not have to enter cloud then it will be O.K. I pity those that cannot do cloud kick on their canopies, carving around a TQ is possibly one of my favorite things in skydiving. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I have just received the official list of competitors for the World Cup this year in Russia. I was really surprised to find that the only team from the USA is a female freestyle team. Is this a misprint?????Where is Airspeed, Deland fire etc. It is always exciting to watch the top teams (especially in 4 way) battling it out for the gold medal. Is this a financial or political thing? It truly is quite bizarre. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I have the official list of teams attending. From the above post and experience from last years world champs 1 or two teams are likely not to turn up but for artistic events the teams are as follows the number indicates the number of teams attending from that country. Freefly; Russia 1 U.K. 3 Norway 2 France 2 Switzerland 1 Israel 1 Netherlands 1 Freestyle Female; Russia 1 Italy 2 U.K. 1 France 3 Finland 1 USA 1 New Zealand 1 () Switzerland 1 Czech Republic 1. Freestyle male; Italy 1 France 2 Skysurf; Russia 1 France 3. The competition also doubles as the European championship that has good prize money. It really surprises me that the USA do not have even one formation skydiving team attending the competition????? That leaves the USA tent to only one freestyle team. I'm gonna post a thread in the formation skydiving forum to see whats up? surely it is not a political agenda? If so that is very sad indeed. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Hi, I have a PC 350 and I have a Rawa helmet. It would be impossible to make a more fitting box for a PC350. Out of the two you chose, cookies would have to be the best hands down. Not sure if the bonehead box is still the same but not too much thought went into the bone head box that i saw...too bulky, over engineered and the closing system was kinda silly. what is the point of using all that metal? It seems they cannot be bothered making a separate box for separate cameras either but that is just assumption from what I have seen. Rawa and Cookie boxes are really sleek and fit your camera perfect as well as looking good. I can recommend Rawa's for security too. Good Luck. Rhys "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Hi All, Just wondering if anyone else on here is going to the world cup in Russia? Leigh and I are off in only 9 more sleeps . The list of competitors is not up on the website yet www.worldmeet2007.com how about you Avalore Freefly guys? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Do you realise there how many cattle ther are in New Zealand? From your comments i am assuming you don't there are 'Shit loads' methane from cattle is by far the largest contributer to the dessemation of our atmosphere from New Zealand. I could say "at least we give a shit" oops did i just say that? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Reducing the effects of human development on the environment should be the primary focus of every country. Do you take pharmaceuticals? there are plenty of those that work and plenty that don't, what is the difference here? What is your countries primary industry? And what is your country doing to reduce the negative impacts that industry has on the planet? "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Right you are, agriculture is New Zealand's primary source of income. second is tourism. Dairy farming is growing rapidly, heck I drink New Zealand milk and eat New Zealand butter and cheese here in east Africa and it is the same price as local product and a shit load better . "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

Now there is a good example and I will back it up with an experience. A friend of mine was busted for growing a dozen herb plants, he was put in jail for 9 months and was a middle classed pretty well good boy that smoked a bit of weed. In the 9 months in Jail he learned how to break into a house and a car, how to make met amphetamines, had the shit kicked out of him all his stuff stolen. meanwhile passing many joints around that had been smuggled into the (minimum security) prison. What lesson was learned from attending his term in Jail? Going back to the original post, I am in the opinion that the free availability of firearms and in particular hand guns increases the likelihood of gun crimes, illegal prostitution makes rape more likely, illegal drugs makes Gangs shit loads of cash and funds more violent crimes. As was mentioned before, illegal drugs also push up the price of the said drugs and creates violent crimes to satisfy the drug addicts needs. another example; Someone I knew wanted to score an ounce of weed a few years ago and the cops had just spent a fortune busting and raiding all the cannabis supplies. New Zealand was dry so to speak. He drove the length of the country to source all his contacts but as the cops had done such a good job getting all the cannabis suppliers he was unable to get an ounce of weed but he was offered by almost everyone some met amphetamines!!!!!! Now for some reason GEE I DON'T KNOW WHY? met amphetamines are a huge problem in New Zealand now. Luckily he was not into that shit and just wanted some weed. he got his ounce in the end but had to pay as much as an ounce of gold for some hydroponic cannabis $400 an ounce!!!. so therefore drug control actually created another drug (met amphetamine) problem and is also a form of alchemy! This was all about 6 years ago! "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

We have a new instructor that is also a rigger, He is already here, will be doing tandems as well but he is packing our reserves as well. so considering he will not be packing more than 4 tandem and 2 sport reserves for his stay here, and has bought all his own tools etc, what is a fair price to pay him. He usually packs 20 or so reserves a week and does a 'very' good job. I should have been more specific. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I have a Schumacher, it is awesome. If you have an open face low profile helmet they really help. When the canopy opens you can get the thing out of your way and they come with the nylon screws to help you out in the event of an entanglement. Not having one is more of an encumbrance. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I know there are plenty of discussions about this and I have searched. I found most of the threads to be dated. How much do you charge/would you charge for a tandem reserve repack on a Sigma if you have never seen the gear before and you supply all your own tools and Cypres loops etc? variables to consider; The gear is jumped in dusty conditions, low frequency; only 4 rigs to pack each 6 months. Having to bring all your gear/tools to Africa for only 4 repacks, new gear, thanks for any info, Rhys "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

By you guys do you mean the rest of the world? (bar Venezuela and Iran etc.) Look at the gas prices around the world and count yourself very lucky. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

If you were in any way educated you would know that; A, I'm not slamming a whole country. B, there is no 'z' in realise (unless you come from the states) C, Litre is spelled litre not liter unless you come from the states that decided not to adopt the metric system anyway. I apologise profusely for missing a 's' in the last sentence. I will strive for perfection next time. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

I am the operations manager for Skydive Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, we are a small tandem DZ but getting busier. We will expect to be a turbine dz within a year or two at the rate we are growing but what you say is not true, if indeed it is Tanzania you are talking about. we are the only full time DZ in East Africa! Our sister company is Serengeti balloon safaris and they have been around for 15 years, we have very close ties with the TCAA. There is no way such a project would be underway without us knowing about it. I would welcome such a project with open arms but unfortunately you are mistaken. Blue skies, Rhys "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

It is quite annoying that US citizens don't realise how good they have it! You try paying $2 per litre of gas and $30 for a jump ticket. sheesh. oh yeah and stop driving behemoth vehicle "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

New Zealand was declared a nuclear fee zone around the same time. The Us threatened by canceling the ANZUS agreement. New Zealand's reaction; "you can fuck off with your nuclear bullshit" why should anyone run the risk of a disaster when they themselves are not prepared to take the risk. if someone were to demand to examine the nuclear powered machines before they can enter then they would promptly be told to "fuck off". The American military is so fucking arrogant and stupid to boot! I don't blame the Canadian Mayor although it sounds as though he didn't have the Balls to stick to his word. Unlike David Lange, he was 'da man!' "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix