vt1977

Yup - Herc Boogie is in Sweden end of this month Nethers have promised us a foam party for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Last year's foam party was AWESOME! Vicki

Sadly (!) not - the weekend of the 4-way Nationals I will be in lovely Sweden jumping the Herc! I'll be there the following weekend for the 8-way Nationals though!

No way! Wouldn't miss the Nethers Speed 8 and foam party!!! I'm off to Empuria for the Big Way Camp in October - anyone else gonna be there then? Vicki

Skydiving much around London midweek could be tricky… you could try Headcorn but as with a lot of UK DZs mid-week a lot will depend on how many tandems they have booked in. If you want a great vibe and a pretty cool party, you could drive up to Hibaldstow – it will take you 3 to 4 hours. The 4-way Nationals is on that weekend and finishes on Monday 2nd. The party would be worth it alone! The 8-way and Artistic Nationals is the following weekend and I daresay there’ll be quite a few people around in the week between the two.

Yeah, I spotted that trailer too. No-one I've spoken to knew anything about it being filmed there though. Anyone else seen or heard anything? Vicki

My advice for what it’s worth would be to call the DZ you hope to jump with and have a talk with the Chief Instructor. Spend a few hours on the ground with an instructor reviewing all your emergency procedures and generally refreshing your knowledge. Depending on your feelings and those of the instructor who refreshes you, you may want/need to pay a little extra and jump with an instructor for your first jump back. As for canopies – my advice would be to go with what you are comfortable with AND seek advice from the instructor who refreshes you. My guess is that you will be advised to re-start initially on the 200 canopy. This would seem wise because you would be best off on something docile and familiar for that first jump back. Your first jump after a long lay off is NOT the time to be learning to fly a much smaller and more highly loaded canopy. In a nutshell, seek advice, stay safe and have fun!

Try posting your query to: www.employment-solicitors.co.uk They will forward your query to a local Solicitor who specialises in Employment Law who will then get in touch with you. I hope this is helpful. Vicki

It should be pretty easy and inexpensive to have that rig converted from leg strap throwaway to BOC deployment – ask your rigger but this should not be a problem. I would say go with BOC. Leg strap throwaway is old fashioned and the amount of exposed bridle, IMHO, is just not a good idea! Also you will NOT be able to freefly in a rig with leg strap throwaway – although a rig old enough to have this deployment system may not be freefly friendly anyway. Get you rigger to take a look at it and discuss it with him/her! hth!

Try Harrison Beaumont. They are not cheap, but they will cover it. You could also try getting it added onto your home contents policy. That may work out cheaper. hth!

Some coached tunnel time would be awesome… am I right in thinking the new wind tunnel should be up and running by then? Vicki

Boo hiss! Want weekend with blue skies and sun! Need to get in the air! btw all - and especially you Macca - I've seen one of the pics! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Vicki

Bored, tired, hacked off generally... need to jump.

Post them! Pleeeeeeeaaaaaase! Vicki

No idea what pics these are but if they're of Macca they're bound to be funny... post, post post! Vicki

OMG! That is without a doubt the time I have ever been able to see those things. They're cool! I always thought they were some kind of joke on me but now I've seen them! Vicki

Caz - come to Nethers and jump with me!

:6:probably some ... - boyfriend working all weekend 6 - 6 lovely 8 way competition dives

Are you based in the UK? If so you could consider doing an AFF course in Spain (do a search, this has been discussed a few times) either at a Spanish DZ or various British AFF instructors take courses abroad which are run to the BPA structure. Vicki

Caz - count Adam (gremlin) and I in if you manage to get anything sorted!

That hasn’t happened to me for a while – mainly because I don’t mention the fact I skydive much. Guess I just got sick of the same old whuffo questions… What gets up my nose in a BIG way is when my boyfriend mentions to a new acquaintance that he skydives… and they then turn to me and ask if he’s “taught” me yet . Yeah right! I’ve been jumping twice as long as him and have double his jump numbers! I just laugh at it now but at first it used to bug the hell out of me as it just seems so sexist – because I’m small and female the fact that I skydive MUST be down to my boyfriend! Vicki

A fairly good rule of thumb (for flat flying at least) for working out freefall time on a given jump is: 10 seconds for the first 1,000 feet and 5 seconds for every subsequent thousand feet. (I hope I don’t need to say that this is obviously from exit altitude to deployment altitude! ) Vicki

Ok, so this may be seen by some as a rant… but I don’t care. It is high time that skydivers in general (and particularly those in the 100-300 jumps bracket) realise that it is NOT the canopy that makes a cool landing. It is the pilot. I wish that those same jumpers (normally male, normally at around 100-300 jumps) would wake up and smell the coffee, stop investing in the latest tiny pocket rocket and instead start investing in some much needed canopy coaching to learn the skills needed to get a great landing from anything. Something needs to be done. The problem with canopy coaching being optional as at present, is that the people who really need it, the ones I expect to be reading about in the incidents forum at some point in the future do not seek it! I did a basic canopy control course earlier this season and, with just under 1,000 jumps, was the most experienced participant on the course, one of only 3 with over 200 jumps and most of the others had under 100 jumps! wtf? Do people really believe that having survived 200 jumps means they have nothing more to learn about their canopies? Or do they think they are exceptional and better than everyone else? And as for those that want to downsize because they are “bored” under canopy… don’t even get me started! A canopy coach will teach you a load of stuff to try on your current canopy which will keep you from being “bored” for a long time. If you can’t be bothered to get the coaching and learn how to REALLY fly your current canopy, then maybe being “bored” under canopy is the least of your problems… If you want to look good – please – invest in upsizing your skills rather than downsizing your canopy. Rant over! Vicki

Just my very humble opinion here but if jumpers with around 200 jumps (required for C licence) cannot hit a target on a canopy loaded at 1.3, then perhaps they would be wise to consider upsizing and learning to walk before trying to run! Vicki

I'd love to... but it's that nasty thing called a job... I'm hoping to be jumping at Nethers on the 1st August and will be up at Hibblestow 6-9 August. See you in Sweden! Vicki

Any gear store anywhere should be able to sell you one. You could try The Kit Store (based at Headcorn - telephone 01622 890967) or DZ Sports for mail order or any DZ shop should have them in stock. Once you get you knife look after it and be wary of lending it out - they have a habit of disappearing! Vicki