Iezyka

s/l, i didn´t know of anything else I think it was a great feeling to do the jumps all by myself... but on the other hand it was rather inefficient and sometimes really boring to do all the packing, briefing and waiting and then only get a short freefall to practise on. I got video on some freefall jumps, that was great for both learning and motivation. If I would forget everything about skydiving and have to do s/l again, I would try to get more video debriefing.

yes, and you also forgot E and F cup. If I ever would have a girlfriend, I think I´d prefer that size because it feels good to touch. But on myself I would prefer A or B since it would make sporting easier. Happy new year everyone!!

Actually I don´t get the point in insulting a girlfriend or boyfriend, at anytime, but to do that in a public forum...? I guess nobody would use his/her real name, but still I don´t understand why some people choose to show their partners such lack of respect.

I have lived at a dropzone for 9 months, in a room with four beds. I think it´s like the noise from the airplanes, birds running on the roof or the sound of my alarm clock; in the beginning it woke me up all the time, but after a while I got used to it and don´t bother.

I´ve done about 370, that is more then twice as much as I did -01, and that year I did more then twice as much as I did -00. So I hope I´ll be able to do at least 740 jumps next year!

Welcome, to the forum!

You read my mind, I was going to ask this question as well to hear how you guys out there handle the cold and get some good advise. I enjoy jumping in the winter too! But I wouldn´t jump if it´s colder than 25 degrees celsius. Except for some things that have already been written, there´s a couple of things I think about when I go to the dropzone in the winter. I´m no instructor though, these things are only my experiences. Landings in snow are great! And in the end of the day one could see who made the longest swoop, who made the biggest hole, and it´s easy to make sport precision competitions for fun. The snow is the judge! One time I found the landing really scary though. The sun was shining in such a way that that the snow reflected it as a mirror. It made it very difficult to see the ground and I´m glad I didn´t hurt myself. I would think twice before jumping if I see that the snow is reflecting the sun very much. I want to be warm… …in the airplane Sometimes my hands get real cold in the airplane if there´s no heat. It´s terrible to open the door when I´m already frozen. To avoid that I like to have a pair of real big gloves waiting for me in the airplane, to make me warm on the way up if I need to. I like to bring warm friends too, so I can hug them. No waste of energi …in the air I choose not to wear a helmet with visor. I prefer a open-face helmet for winter jumps. Still I´ll make sure I protect my cheeks, my nose and my forehead. And if it´s really cold I might want something on my head and ears, since the helmet sometimes fail to stop the air from coming in.. There are many different kinds of things to protect the face. I think depends on helmet model and taste when it comes to what is most safe and comfortable …on the ground Warm clothes while waiting for the next load =) Sometimes my shoes, my socks and then also my feet get wet from walking in the snow. Or sometimes, even if it´s pretty cold, there could be water under the thick snow- a small hidden lake as cold as ice. Extra socks and shoes is rather nice to have if this happens and I want to do some more jumps. It´s nice to know how the dz looks without snow…the snow could be hiding something I don´t want to land on. I´d like to make sure some areas on my rig is not wet when I go up in cold air. Sometimes it has been moist in the air, or snow which has melted when I have taken my rig into the packing area, so I do some extra checks on my rig before packing. I don´t know the actual risk, but for example want metal on the leg and chest straps to be dry. And I just don´t want to worry about the three-ring-system being wet in –20 celsius in 250 km/h, and maybe frozen to ice when I want to cut away.

Also one would need to hold it for more than 20 seconds, then I think the protrack would tell the maximum speed. For these 7-20 seconds "freefalls" all I got was the "freefall time" and altitudes. Would be interesting to know

I´ve seen some very intelligent posts in this thread which I fully agree with. I want to clear one thing out about. Somehow I failed to explain that I meant "check your handles carefully". It turned in to something like "be cool and don´t check your gear", which wasn´t my intention since this is something I fully disagree with. I really hope my post doesn´t encourage that behaviour, but if it do so, it is my wish to have this thread removed from this forum. The word multichecking is just something I made up, and in my definition that is mindless and planless checking of your gear, a lack of routine. And what most of you have explained to me are the opposite- your routines, which you have designed by thinking carefully about what your doing. And that is nothing I meant to critizise. I apologize if I offended anyone. If I explained my thoughts in such a bad way that you misunderstood me, I´m sorry for that. But if you really do disagree with me, I´d be more than glad if you would like to help me out by a more serious discussion. My opinions are based on my experiences and conclusions. If you got the time to send me a PM to share some of your experiences, please do so. It would probably help me to make better conclusions and choices, and I´m always open for that. And yes, I´ll be more careful about what I write next time. /Jessica

What scares me is when checking become a mindless routine, done over and over again with poor quality, creating an illusion of safety. Has no one else seen seen this happen, during packing, in the airplane or anywhere else? /Jessica

I´ve read a lot of "I check all handles about 47 million times "-posts in this forum. It scares me everytime. When I see people in the airplane who check their things over and over again I get nervous. If this person doesn´t trust himself enough to do simple checks, how could I trust him in the air when he might have to make difficult decisions? The one thing that makes skydiving different then most other sports is that you have to be sure about what you´re doing. Find out what you want to check, how, why, and when to do it. Do it, once, carefully, put some thoughts into it. Is my chest strap correctly attached? a) no - well fix it, or ask someone to fix it. check again. b)Don´t know. - ask someone. understand and learn how to do it or ask someone else to help you. c)yes - fine. You have no doubts. Check is fished. Start with the next check. Realize how little it take to be absolutely sure. Concentrate on what to do on your cool jump instead of wasting all your energie on worthless multichecking. /Jessica

Why not wave off on solos? Waving off before pulling is the last chance for your friend to save his life if you or him have done something wrong. If you want to take risks, go ahead, but don´t take risks when you might hurt or kill others. It takes only 100 meters of your freefall, and the last 100 meters on my solos I don´t do that much anyway. I´m more scared to crash into the people I don´t jump with since I don´t have visual contact with these during the jump. On solos you have no references, maybe you´re sliding into someone elses airspace without noticing. Distances are closed pretty soon if you´re both sliding towards eachother. If you change your fall-rate during the jump, there is also a risk that your vertical separation could be small as well. Of course I´m careful about not jumping off too close to the skydiver before me, and of course I get a heading 90 degrees from line-of-flight. But since I´m not sure what the person after me are going to do, and having in mind I could fuck up as well, I always check the airspace above me and wave off before pulling my parachute even on solos. Maybe I overdo it, but it makes me feel more comfortable to look for the group before me when the freeflying part is over and I´m on my belly slowing down to pull. That should be time for them to pull their parachutes. I don´t want to be above them at that point. And if they are somewhere I didn´t expect, for example too far away, I´ve probably moved, and I would look extra careful for the person jumping after me before I pull. I think the risk of getting too close to other groups, solos or whatever, are sometimes not payed attention to at all. I try to make sure I know line-of-flight for every load, and take as much distance between me and the skydiver before me, so both of us feel comfortable about it. /Jessica

AAaaaah I think I have to quit reading all these we-are-going-to-Eloy messages! Drives me crazy, I want to go there too! On my vacation in Eloy this autumm I did some of my nicest jumps ever , thanks to these two guys Jeremy and Steve who came up with a lot of good ideas and advise for me and my friends. Great organizers. Everybody out there going to Eloy, if you not already have done so; check these guys out if you want too do some cool freeflyjumps.. /Jessica

How fast could a downplane be then? Anyone who knows? Is it really impossible to reach 78 mph as maximum speed? /Jessica

then.. why have a picture, we´re all beatuiful inside, why write the number of jumps, it´s what kind of experience you have achieved that´s important when you give advise, why tell people where you from, we´re all citizens of the same wonderful world, and so on.. Why not have age in the public profil? It´s still your choice if you´d like to tell people.

Hi! Is there any windtunnel I could practise freeflying wearing my usual jumpsiut and the same head-up/head down positions I want to use in the air? If there is, has anyone of you out there tried it? Do you recommend it for basic skill practise?

you must have been a real good boy if santa bought you a new rig!

Hi Never thought about this forum before, I think it´s about time to check it out!