darrenspooner

My wife slapped me when I ordered a new rig earlier this year. Other than that a few bruises from spanking openings, which is why I bought a new rig. Not sure which hurt most!***Die with your boots on

It sounds really scary, but it also sounds like you did real good. I think one of the most terrifying things for newbies is the fear of instability. You know, I was scared shitless all through aff and then for about my first 7 consols. I was freefalling the same way as if I was driving my car on ice. And you know what, my confidence never grew at all. Until I deliberately rolled out the door backwards and allowed myself to become completely unstable. Recovering from it was like flicking a switch. I instantly knew that no matter what my body was doing as I approached pull time, I could easily get stable. No matter what your body is doing, if you arch hard you will recover in literally a couple seconds. You need to get back in the saddle again. If your aff instructors will allow you to go unstable then I think its a great thing to do. Rehearse with them what you are going to do so that they can stick with you for reassurance. Other than that, this is something that I think most people experience. You will get stable if you arch hard. Good luck. ***Die with your boots on

I jump at Old Buckenham, and it gets better and better. You can do AFF there with Tomo, Grant, Chris and Tex. They're good guys and they work hard. Its your closest DZ, and guess what, you might see me in the plane grinning at you as you get ready for Level 1. ***Die with your boots on

The panic theory (at least one of them) is called the False Alarm hypothesis. All it really means is that people catastrophically misinterpret normal bodily sensations or events. In freefall many people experience a change in the breathing experience. When you've got 120mph racing into an open mouth it gives a sensation of breathlessness. Then, people start to worry that the breathlessness actually means they won't be able to breath. Then they get more fearful, then they get more anxiety symptoms such as chest tightness, hyperventilation, dizziness. Add into all this the usual sensations of sensory overload and people get to a point of feeling physiologically out of control and being dangerously out of breath, hence full on panic attack. We know the theory fits for most panickers, regardless of the situation. But my only real question with this paper is that it suggests real panic is common in novice skydivers and occurs as a result of not being able to breath in freefall. Lots of people have the sensation of not being able to breath, but unless they misinterpret that as somehow being dangerous then they are not going to panic. So, if you think you can't breath in freefall, close your mouth and breath through your nose and try to just see the sensation as resulting from rapid airflow into the mouth and a tight chest strap, rather than seeing it as a catastrophic shortage of air. ***Die with your boots on

I posted about this last week regarding my brand new sabre 2. Like trying to get a wolverine into a crips packet, as I heard someone say once. Anyway, lots of people posted lots of suggestions and I tried them all. But the best piece of advice that I got was from a chap at my DZ. Now, after only 4 jumps on it, I can get it in the bag clean and tidy without losing lots of sweat. Okay, so when you lay it on the floor hold the slider end onto the floor tightly with both knees. Then, instead of getting into the mentality of trying to get all the air out of the whole thing, try to control the canopy in two portions. Some people suggested putting in the 2nd s-fold first and then putting it in the bag in order to control it, then doing the 1st s-fold and stuffing it in after. I tried that, but the tail just carried on unwrapping around the lines and it got all messy and slippery. So, with the slider end held firmly against the floor and between both knees, work the air upwards and just get the material under control up to the first s-fold. Get it as small as you can, smaller than the d-bag width. Then grab it, s-fol it, and again pin it all to the floor with both knees and the s-fold sort of in control between your knees. Once its completely in control you can put all your effort into getting the second half under control with both your hands. The it all becomes much easier to fold up together, get both knees on top of the whole thing, then get the bag around it. Good luck. ***Die with your boots on

I just got asked to review an academic paper for a psychology journal concerned with a theory relating the onset of panic disorder to choking experiences. One of the themes in the paper was about newbie skydivers panicking because they believe they can't breath. Does anyone know of anyone that this happened to? I know some of the tandem students I've been in the plane with have complained that they couldn't breath properly (usually because they have their mouths open screaming), but never met a tandem student yet that had a full on panic attack. One reference in the paper suggests its a reasonably common experience. ***Die with your boots on

In the UK, well, at least as far as my experience goes, you don't need to pack to get an A license. You need to get IC1 (Individual Canopy 1) to get a B License, and being checked off for packing is part of that. What I did was watch the Pack Like a Pro video a million times, watch people packing a million times, practice at home a million times, then I paid a packer to watch me pack it myself in exchange for the packing fee (with three different packers), then I just got someone to sign me off. Just don't be afraid to play with your own canpy at home, but clearly don't jump it without getting signed off.

Thanks folks. I'll try all of those things.

Well, at least this means I'm relatively normal in my struggles. I'm also warmed b the fact that my one pack job on it so far was the shitiest looking crapfight of a mess, and it still opened beautifully and on heading (compared to my Hornet which nearly split me in half every jump, even if I spent an hour doing it meticulously.

Got my new rig, did one jump, then had 4 goes before I got it in the bag. Has anyone got any tips for keeping it all in place?

Had the same problem on my old rig. My rigger put some tensioners on the buckles. Just like little spring things that you can barely see. They worked fine.

Just got my lovely new rig (Javelin Odessey, Sabre 2 150, PD reserve). Did my first jump. Superb, but interesting to pack. Banal question but my rigger forgot to put a hook knife on the rig when he changed my Cypres over. Where is the best place to put it and are there any really neat knives out there that are better than the little plastic crappy ones? ***Die with your boots on

Fantastic. When I was on about my 30th jump I thought I had a mal. With more exprience I know that I just had a huge sniveller, caused by a packer rolling my nose (never let anyone touch my rig since). Anyway, I pulled and looked up and there's just a candle-looking thing...5000, 6000, 7000...shit, better do something. And you know, it just all slowed down and I had total clarity of thought. Grabbed my handles, peeled up the cutaway, and then poof, main open, cutaway now loose on the cable. So, I just stowed it back again and got on with the rest of the jump. But the moral of my story is, when it came to it I felt instantly calm and knew what to do. But I always thought I'd freak out. ***Die with yer boots on

Thanks. Been double stowing the lines for a while, but by this I mean using two rubber bands each time. I think I might get filmed and see if there's anything obvious about what I'm doing during the actual deployment.

I'm 195 out the door. Haven't thought about line trim, but its never opened soft. I might think about a bigger slider or slider pocket. Maybe I'll just put up with it til my new one gets here. As for stopping the track, well, it happens when I do solo and go straight down the tube. My protrack says I'm not going too fast. I can only think its the canopy/slider rather than something I'm doing or not doing. Any more suggestions greatly appreciated.

I've been reading a bit over the past few months about how body position affects opening. I've been getting spanked by my Hornet 150 (1:1.3). I've tried every packing suggestion and its variable. Tried doing it how the manual says, plus just about everything else. The best it gets is that it doesn't hurt. A lot of the time it bruises me. My new rig is coming soon (Sabre2 150 and Javelin Odyssey), but for now I have to persevere. Any tips on how my body position might be contributing towards this problem?

I jumped a Navajo about 2 years ago in Byron Bay, Australia. Don't know if they still use it.

I kept doing right spins during AFF and my instructor told me to go straight into a track for a few seconds then go stable again. It corrected the problem straight away.***Die with yer boots on

Jump with a coat hanger in your mouth!***Die with yer boots on

I was coming in to land, right on the cross on a no-wind day. There was a group of tandem student's relatives about 3 yards from where I was headed. Toes, knees, face, toes, knees, face, toes, knees, face. Tangled in lines, grass in my teeth. Stood up, smiled at them all, and one of them was a patient of mine (I'm a psychologist).Die with yer boots on. Beeeeeer!

just spend a day packing and unpacking, over and over. It does get easier I promise you. ***Die with yer boots on

I was int he same quandry when I bought a second hand Hornet 150. It was spanking me real bad, so the lovely man from Aerodyne dug out a manual and sent it to me, along with a price list for their new stuff. I personally roll the whole nose really tightly 3 times and stuff it in towards the back, with half the slider sticking out the front. Its about the best solution I came up with, but still opens too hard.***Die with yer boots on

Hi Thought I’d do this personally as well as posting on the forum. I’m a clinical psychologist and work with adults with mental health problems, including depression and anxiety. Many many people take antidepressants these days. Its not necessarily a great cause for concern. The fact that your student told you about this is a positive aspect. There are 4 main types of antidepressants – tricyclics (older, sometimes sedative drugs), SSRIs (newer, non-sedating, no obvious side effects that would impair judgement or alertness), MAOIs (mono-amine oxidase inhibitors, just in case you are interested, seldom used these days) and atypical antidepressants (often used when other drugs fail, or for a chronic problem). Antidepressants are also used for the treatment of other psychiatric conditions such as anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome and so on. With regard to suicidality or fitness to jump, I’d suggest getting your student to get a doctors note. Not everyone that gets depressed is suicidal, and lots of people retain the ability to function perfectly. Additionally, some people are prescribed antidepressants even though they are not depressed or significantly ill. I’d suggest you just get the all clear from the student’s doctor, and perhaps than the student for being brave enough to be honest with you. ***die with yer boots on

Do you agree with seatbelts in cars? I personally agree with the BPS wholeheatedly,and would actually advocate AADs for all jumpers. If someone doesn't have one and goes in, skydiving suffers because it makes the news and puts newbies off, and DZs are the ones that suffer because they are trying to run a business. I think the sport needs to be as safe as it can without impairing enjoyment. Fatalities that could be prevented with AADs are completely unnecessary and only serve to cause damage. As for insurance, well, £50 a year sounds like the BPS have done a good deal to me. For anyone that can afford to skydive, £50 is not a lot of money. I got no problem with that.

Fantastic.