brabzzz

Yeah, fair point. No 'durhhhhhh-didn't-ya-know-that!!' intended. Indeed, i bought my first rig new from the UK. My reasons were that i couldn't find used gear i liked and needed a rig within 5 weeks. Only buying new could solve that. With a bit of planning i could have had a better rig for less. Indeed, in hindsight, i should have waited despite the short term hire fees involved with not having a rig... --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

£3.5k? Phaaa. Too high. I can see why they want so much for it - it sucks to lose money on anything. What I can't see why they paid so much for it in the first place. a) Either they're quoting RRP and not what they actually paid. b) They actually paid RRP. For about £3k you can get a fully loaded rig with a 'more expensive/better' container if you buy in the US and either fly out and get it or get someone to bring it back for you. There really is no need to pay UK prices... I struggle to understand why people would ever buy gear in the UK. As for used ones, it had better be 'amazing' at 2.5k and pack itself for 3.5k. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Left engine spluttering, right engine on fire...and there my skydiving career began... Well, no. But it would make a cool 'first jump story'. Tried to find the paragliding club at uni as that's what i really 'wanted' to do - Upon discovering there wasn't one, the skydiving club talked me out of paragliding and into skydiving - within the hour i'd signed up for a fjc. Happy days.

Without going into the realm of dslr and the associated pie in the sky prices, I like my Fuji f10. It's pretty quick. From what i hear, the new Fuji (the really small flat one) is very fast. You milage will vary, especially in low light - most non-slrs focus slow in low light. You might also want to give pre-focusing a go. Focus on your mate before he exits by pressing the shutter half way. Then, when you press it all the way, it'll be instant. not sure if that helsp on answers yer question, butn hey! --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I've screamed in some downwiders (I've got issues with reading windsocks...) that resulted in roll after roll after roll, a shredded poptop and a scratched helmet. I do them exactly once a year, on the windiest of days when the most people happen to be watching. Nothing more than a bruised ego. I could perhaps do a hardcore PLF - but there's always that temptation to think you can run it off! Still, I resist the temptation to turn low. Anything but a low turn. As has been said, look at the incident reports! You can scream in a downwinder leaving a dust cloud behind you like a bomber coming in to land...but you'll probably walk away. It's all well and good to say 'do a flat turn', but once you're at a certain altitude on a really windy day, i'm not gonna even attemt a flat turn that i know i can do on a less windy day. It might work fine. Or I might go from 'bruised ego' to 'dead' by screwing it up. Sooooooooo not worth it! --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Yeah, same here! . I can't wait to take wingsuit out on a partly cloudy day. Clouds are cool, but i always go through them too fast and never have time to look around when in ff! --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

- There might be planes in it. - There might be a mountain under it. - The GPS might be screwed and you're now above France without knowing it. - You might be tracking into someone from the previous/next group, hurtling into a prematurely opened canopy or, if you deploy in it, fly into someone or something! Still, I've gotten out without seeing an inch of green (well, except the light). Big sky theory has failed, and quiet spectacularly - 4 ways hitting gliders etc.... --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Oops - sorry! Didn't realise that the detail i posted was the spoiler! --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I've got a spare mint condition Hawkeye chincup in black. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

It is funny. Probably not sensible nor safe, but the video is funny. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

As far as i can gather, a Viper is just a slightly pimped up TSE Teardop SF. They also make the normal SF, the Zerox and probably the classic TD too. Paratec make the Next, which is to all extents an purposes a Zerox . There is some partnership between the two companies but i'm not sure of its nature. edited to add: there, all on 1 page... http://www.my-skyworld.de/catalog/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=390b0e3a6451d8555efe2c331399ea6a --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Again, i'm also 6'3 and a beanpole. Submitted an order form for a Matter ProConcept suit last Friday - they look the business and like Sonics can be 'tight' to help with the fallrate. They're also European if that's an issue. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

F*ck. I forgot about the fact their carry on weight is going down. That's a pain in the arse. Will need to insure the rig with HB again. Sh*t. Anyone know whether a main, reserve and cypres count as 3 indiviudal items within one bag 'container' for insurance purposes? I can just imagine insurers going 'yeah right' as i explain each item was worth £600...as was the 'bag' they were in! LOL. Can you not just give the rig to a mate, check the rest, go away from checkin and take the rig back...and off through customs/security and onto the plane? It looks small and last time i looked nobody was weighing stuff apart from at checkin? --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I've gotta say the novelty of answering the question does wear off. Especially when you're working with new clients/coworkers every week or two. I've taken to making up 'normal' weekend activities as saying shopping/paintball/cycling gets the "what ya doin this weeknd/how was it" BS smalltalk out the way faster. Wheras 'skydiving' inititates the same predictable conversation that i find i can no longer be arsed to have. Cos it's fun and a compete 'head clearer' (in that you're focused on the jump and nothing else) would be a truthful answer. But they don't want to hear that, they want to hear about the adrenaline junkie madman daredevil side. Hence i don't bother. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Talk about digging up a dead thread.... It's basically the post qualification void. You've had an intense learning experience, have been pushed lots for several tens of jumps and learnt a lot. Now, after a few 'heyyyy, no instructor' jumps, yer bored! Which is understandable as once the 'WFT' factor wears off, it's like getting of a bus. Decide what you want to go into next (FS? FreeFly?) and pay for good coaching. Yep, more money... that way you'll keep pushing yourself as you did during intitial traning until you're good enough for fellow jumpers (and you!) to keep pushing yourself and developing. I started dabbling in freefly and wasn't particularly impressed or amused by the whole thing. All of a sudden i would up at a boogie doing organised 8 ways (yeah, no FF1 ) and the end of week 2-plane-25-way was mindblowing and put those first jump jitters right back into me! Now, i'm ever so slightly very hooked on it. But without trying to get into those situations, you won't get into them, and will get into a cycle of solos, crap jumps and dives that require no effort at pusing yourself further will go on forever, until you quit. Or take up base! (stupid idea by the way, if that's the motivation). --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Last time the DZ called our max lift down to 4k (as they couldn't see us) we had to eat the cost difference between a hop'n'pop and max (not getting out a 4k would burn the ticket regardless). Seems bit tight. EDITed to add: I really couldn't see my dz not burning my ticket if i pitched up on flightline and said 'it looks too cloudy, i'm off', so the 'you shouldn't have got on it' view is invalid. Having said that, i'll second the storm jumping motion. Big sky theory suits me fine, i'd happily get out without seeing an inch of ground ...until a bad experince changes my view on that. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

The day that happens i'll put the rig on and get comfotable in he aise. That, and god knows what other corners they're cutting...fuel? --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I don't do it (a mate does) - check the yellow things are really through the stingy things after opening. I suppose it makes sense - you don't want to find out they are, but only just, at 500ft... --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

F*ck. If my FJC wasn't in July i'd go in a flash! Seriosuly dude, it sounds like an amazing trip - hope ya find some fellow nutters to join you. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Pretty small. Maybe 8mm long? If you we're having the stamps made, i suppose you could have them whatever size you wanted - if you only do 1 point 4 ways, they could be huge! --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

http://www.my-skyworld.de/catalog/index.php?cPath=68_94 I'm sure i remember seeing them elsewhere too but they all seem to have disappeared! I used to have a self inking one with a lid. Unless you do a bulk order, i imagine postage at that side will dwarf the order... Mike --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I used to log'em, use the FS-stampy-man, draw stuff, stick in photos and write long detailed descriptions. That slowly tailed off to just "FF 2 way w/XXXXX" with several tens of jumps still unsigned. I don't put more in unless something really memorable happended (shoes fell off etc) to help jog the memory! I can't see myself not loggin jumps (give it a decade...) but my next logbook will have one line per jump, not 4 to a double page! The novelty has kinda worn off. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I've got a speed reserve. It was the cheapest reserve at the time. And as I've yet to use it, I've got absolutely no idea what it's like! They do pack smaller than the equivalently sized competiton, if thats an issue. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

Don't quote me on this at all, but i recall it being about VAT+5% to the UK. That could quiet probably be wrong as the system is so stupidly complicated i didn't really get it (and nor did the guy on the other end of the phone...). Get someone to bring it back for ya. Or go and collect it. It's probably a lot simpler (and certainly cheaper). --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com

I also did the whole losing alti awareness thing during AFF. On L2, with the same consequences. Made me paranoid and altitude obsessed for quiet a while, which is a lot better than becoming dytter dependent... ...like I am now.... The whole internal clock thing works pretty well too after a while - there's that 'feeling' at about 5/6k that playtimes coming to an end soon. --------------------------------------- Ex-University of Bristol Skydiving Club www.skydivebristoluni.com