vt1977

Sweden is absolutely beautiful - I got here a day early and spent a very relaxing afternoon on Friday paddling and sunbathing on the beach by the nearby lake.

They lose stuff, forget stuff... it's really irritating! Vicki

Hmmm... I get the feeling you and I are talking about the same sort of thing... Vicki

They can't be trusted to organise anything! Vicki

Hey Craig - see you there!

We will NOT be sucking in Sweden! Vicki

My flight to Sweden leaves in the morning and I am SO excited! This is a boogie I’ve been wanting to make it to for years!

That's harsh! But no, my experience suggests that you really are all that bad! Vicki

Men?! Pah! Maybe so... ... but gremlin is never ever organising any part of a holiday ever again! Vicki

Sorry to have wussed out on you guys… will definitely be there next time!

Will be happy to join you for more beers in early August in between returning from the Herc Boogie and leaving for the 8-way Nationals! Vicki

Not sure I can make it tonight after all Gremlin has to work and neither of us has even started to pack for Sweden yet and we leave for the airport straight after work tomorrow!

Just curious... The DZ bar at Netheravon charges £1.50 for a pint or a bottle - that's approx $2.70 (and that is pretty cheap by UK standards!) Vicki

:5:0 Crappy, crappy weather here in the UK again this weekend. What is with this shitty weather and where is the summer??? At least the jumps were half price this weekend! Managed 5 jumps inbetween weather holds. 3 on Saturday including a 4-way with Caz, a 6-way with Spike and a hop and pop at the end of the day! 2 jumps on Sunday - a 2-way with Gremlin and a coach jump with VampireGirl!

I would be perfectly happy with a 12 moth re-pack cycle. It is 6 months in the UK which is admittendly better than some places... but 12 months would be even better still as far as I'm concerned.

I've never been to Aerograd but I have been to Empuria in August... weather was great but the town was absolutely packed with German tourists, the accommodation was at least double the normal price and it was a complete nightmare finding anywhere to stay in the first place! Vicki

The results are now up on the BPA website.

Empuriabrava is in north eastern Spain, near Girona. I don't know of any DZs in the north west of Spain. Vicki

No scores up on the BPA website yet… however I hear that our very own Spike and his team kicked some ass and won silver in the juniors! Congratulations Colin and Aspect!

After far too long suffering with slightly dodgy ears keeping me grounded on and off, I finally went to see my doctor about the problem. He was extremely helpful and recommended that I use Beconase nasal spray. I have been using it since and (knock on wood!) my ears and general congestion issues have been significantly better.

First off - what do your instructors think? A heatwave is an elliptical canopy - never jumped one, but from what I have heard of it, not too different from a Stiletto. When you say you weigh 180lbs, is that your body weight or exit weight? For exit weight, add another 25lbs. IMHO at 65 jumps you would be wise staying with the Clipper for quite a while yet (AFAIK a Clipper is actually a 194) Assuming an exit weight of 180, you would be loading the Heatwave at 1.06... at an exit weight of 205lbs the wing loading would be 1.21. IMHO this would not be a sensible progression for someone of your experience. You would be downsizing AND changing canopy type in one step and flying at an aggressive wingloading for your experience level. My advice for what it's worth would be to try to spend some time with a canopy coach and get them to show you how to get the most from your current canopy. If you really want to get something new, you could consider some less radical designs such as the Spectre, Pilot, Sabre, Triathlon... etc. Vicki

:5:0 1 jump on Saturday before the rain/hail started. Damn glad I was on the first load and not the second… 4 jumps on Sunday – a nice 2-way, a fun 4-way launch on a cloud base load and 2 nice 3-ways. Are we going to get a summer in the UK this year? Or has it already been and gone??? Roll on the Herc Boogie! Vicki 17 to go...

Since they are holding a competition this weekend I would strongly advise calling them to find out whether they anticipate there being slots on the aircraft for fun jumping. The number is 01622 890862. Vicki

In the winter mulled wine goes down exceptionally well! Vicki