freeflysteve

Neat photo,and yes they do look relaxed. Cool on the outside and a 100c on the inside!! Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Check out the thread on the forums regarding PLF's some people with 300 + jumps still using PLF as there first choice of landing. thats a lot scarier than my wingloading ------------------------------------------------------------ Funny that, on my last canopy course with Scott Miller in Deland we all had to show we could do a PLF irrespective of jump numbers even though jumpers on the course had a 1000 jumps or more!!. The fact you have landed on different wings such as kite surfing i do not think is really relevant to a parachute landing. Have you tried the wind tunnel yet?? Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

A blind man goes to a bar and while standing at the bar ordering his drink asks the barmaid if she would like to hear a blonde joke. The barmaid says to the blind man before you tell your joke you must know that I am blonde,the woman to your right is blonde,the woman to your left is blonde and the woman behind you playing the slot machine is blonde. The blind man replies "well if i have got to explain it 4 times then i wont tell it".

Well sorry to say I do not agree with you in the slightest. If your profile is correct and you are loading a 190 at 1.56 then stay away from wind tunnels do loads of hop and pops and practise your landings. WHO recommended such a high wing loading at 60 jumps, I am for one thing sure it wasn't a tunnel rat!! Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Yep,deleted all internet files cookies etc and then it was ok. Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Well as you know Nethers shuts this Sunday 9th Dec and re opens i think Saturday 26th January. So if you can afford the course and you want to go to NZ then just go and do it. Doesnt really matter if it doesnt fulfil all your needs it might be just later on you wish you had gone so theres no time like the present. I am sure most of the fun will be the people you meet and the travelling you do. Best of luck. Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

50 views,can't be many Brits going! Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 45 degree rule lives on -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It does. The largest DZ in Europe generally uses it as their guide for exit seperation... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NO IT DOES NOT WORK, Just cos a DZ says use it or an instructor, does not mean it works,it is an aid only to be used in conjuction with making sure you actually look to see jumpers who have exited before you whilst you are counting the relevant time away depending on ground speed of aircraft and different jumper group FF or RW for example who went before you,etc etc. Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Must be bloody strong to pull in pilot chute.!! Must have dumped out high cos the time it took to sort that shit out and on his back with no ground visuals could have left a big dent in the ground at normal pull height. Also and only guessing nobody was stupid enough to have done this just for the video,were they!? Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Depending on where in the UK you will be flying from to get to Spain. Cheap airlines from UK to Spain or France are Easyjet and Ryanair. Easyjet flys to Barcelona which is approx 2 hour drive to Empuria and Ryanair flys to Perpignan(France) approx 1 hour drive to Empuria and also Girona(Spain) about 40 minutes drive to Empuria. Flights generally cheapest midweek to midweek flights but of course getting near to xmas you are gonna get ripped off so book as early as you can. If you are hiring a car then check car pickup is at airport cos not all of them are. If you want to get picked up then ring DZ and there may be a friendly/starving hungry skydiver who will pick you up from airport cheaper than a local taxi firm. At Girona there is the bus which drops you off not far from the DZ. Email Regan at the DZ for loads of good advice and jokes,he is the load organiser for belly stuff amongst other things. Whatever you do have loads of fun Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Loads of Netheravon skydivers are going and Caroline(Hughes) will be load organising for bigways all with video (by me!). Should be good let us know if you are going. Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Just over 10years ago my best friend committed suicide,NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY. Was at the time the saddest day of my life. I feel your pain and hope your friend did not suffer. My Mum passed away at age 69 on Easter Sunday this year, I was at the skydive centre and was told over the phone,she had heart failure and probably according to the coroner had a very peaceful death her heart just stopping as she fell asleep,the blessing is she never suffered,its gonna be a quiet xmas this year. Chin up. Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

A zoo dive is as far as i am aware one you are glad you didnt join in or if you did you got out alive. Bit like jumping in the lions pen probably seemed like a good idea but once you are there you realise its not. Basically a clusterfuck!!! As for the numbers well that gets me i think its the numbers achieved say for friday,saturday and sunday in that order. Enjoy your jumping and leave the zoos for the animals! Blue skies Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

If everybody stopped replying to THE POSTS then THE POSTER would achieve nothing and hopefully get bored. By responding you are only helping THE POSTER. In the UK there are companies advertising skydiving purely for so called charity jumps that IMHO serve nothing for charities but do provide one off jumpers.The extras charged out of money supposedly raised for charity are i believe extortionate and if one wants to do a charity jump then one should pay for ones jump out of ones own pocket. Only 2 weeks ago i had 11 people from my local pub do a charity static line one jump course they ALL paid for their own jump and raised over £2500.00 between them for two local charities.

Such a shame cos that game was good fun. Only you and Skymama know who the third person is!! A totally inoffensive bit of fun. Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

If as seems to be general opinion that a bag lock speeds you up on the basis it stands you up or at least could would a piloy chute in tow speed you up or slow you down. My feelings are the pilot chute in tow because of its placement would slow you down similar to a tandem drogue. Probably should be a question in gear and rigging but thought i would ask anyway. Doubt we will ever know what did happen all we can pray for is for Scotts family and the hope he didnt suffer for too long. Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

I think i just died and went to heaven. Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Thanks Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Apparently from a thread in the bonfire a guy called "Fish" found out who D B Cooper was but they don't give a name. One helluva story link is here http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-15/news/crazy-fish-story sorry don't know how to make it clicky Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Hi If your profile is correct and you are doing less than 40 jumps a year IMHO i think it is too big a downsize. On the other thread "rapid downsizing"there is a real slagging match going on and relatively speaking the same wing loading is being achieved as you are aiming for,yes that person has less jumps than you but relatively speaking is as current. I am not an instructor but i think i am reasonably current and keep up to date with the sport,i think others who have already suggested a progression to the canopy size you are aiming for know what they are talking about and it seems quite sensible irrespective of the make of canopy.Personaly i reallly like spectres and think for my goals they are a super well tried and tested canopy. Good luck whichever way you proceed. Steve

Thanks,will try that. steve

Hi The katana 97 didn't actually go into line twists it after opening just went into a fast downward spiral which took me totally by surprise because there were no twists. Brian Vacher my canopy coach from safe flight school in empuria explained the Katana was very different to the sabre2(i dont want here to detail but suffice to say much more of a ground hungry canopy) and that it was very sensitive to inputs from bad body position to say one leg strap slightly longer than the other. Wingloading in itself i do not think was the issue more so my experience with very high performance canopies. For the record i still have my original spectre 150 and sabre 2 135 and still jump them more than i do my 97. Thanks steve

Everybody here seems to be concentraring on the landings with little parachutes with high wing loadings. MALFUNCTIONS happen much faster and what could be a simple line twist say on a spectre loaded at 1:1 or a student manta loaded at say1:.65 would be totally different on a highly loaded eliptical. My katana 97 is so ground hungry just a turn on opening as a result of probably bad body position dropped me nearly a 1000ft before i could stop it on rear risers,suffice to say its back in its bag till i get more jumps under my belt with my spectre 107 and sabre2 97. I did way over 600 jumps on my spectre150 before i even considered downsizing and that downsize was to a sabre2 135,didnt like the openings too much cos i felt with that canopy the slightly lower wingloadings tended to result in a lot of off heading openings which i dont get on the sabre2 97. My five pennies worth. Blue ones Steve Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!

Where did you do your static line course(jumps)? Was it Netheravon? If so just go back there when you have completed aff and finish your consuls there if you havent done them abroad. Take your log book with you and aff video if you are getting that included in your aff course. I cant see you having any problems,at the worst it could mean paying for a checkout jump and then you can just show them how good you are Whatever just have fun. Stephan Reynolds Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!