darrenspooner

Why?

bubblewrap

I'm no authority to comment on this, but I did 50 jumps on a sabre2 150, and ended getting rid of it. Did quite a few demos then on pilot 150 and safire 2, and chose the safire 2. Main reason - my s2 openings were horrendous, all over the place, hard diving openings. There was nothing wrong with the canopy, it was all my inexperience. I even had PD check it out. They were great, the canopy was fine. But on opening it just wasn't forgiving of bad body position. In fact, it seemed extemely sensitive to body position, where the other canoies weren't. Ended up with a mal and it freaked me. Pilot was nice, very quick turns, similar flight characteristics, great openings. But the safire 2 just seemed better for me. Slightly less zippy but rock solid from pulling the pud to picking it up off the ground once I landed.

I'm having a holiday in Oz in May next year, and taking my gear with me. I'll be in Brisbane for two weeks, so was wondering which DZ in that part of the world (Byron Bay to Hervey Bay) would give me the warmest welcome and the best chance of jumping my arse off and having fun. Who's had good experiences there?

I just did my first tunnel time yesterday and my cheeks really hurt today, I presume from flapping around (I'm not anorexic by any stretch of the imagination!). Is this normal?

Hey, I got 180 jumps and did my first tunnel time today (17 1/2 minutes). I'm bruised all over, aching like I've been run over, and feel more crap at RW than I did before. Having said that, I did all my time in 2.5 minutes on 2.5 minutes off rotations, so by the time the fifth one started I could barely hold an arch I was so fucked.

"shamefully embarrassing landing. Hit the cross, three cartwheels, finally stood up tangled in lines and staggering, happened to be at the feet of tandem crowd, one of whom was a patient of mine". I'm a psychologist! Perfect representation of humility

My wife once said "I have no interest in expensive and dangerous sports thank you very much". It just so happens that I love my wife more than I love skydiving, so no biggie!

I found this very useful - http://www.brentfinley.com/packing2.htm

and who got the job of cleaning the leg straps?

I have 170 jumps but only just started getting ready for FS1. Went through dirt dive and it confused the crap out of me - I mean, I can get around and keep my station and get grips, but the formations were very confusing. I didn't know what the formations looked like from above, and I didn't know what bits to grip. So I was wondering two things - is there a resource anywhere that would help me to understand 4-way formations, and would anyone else benefit from a specific forum for novices/intermediates?

Individuals need to accept risk and take responsibility

In fairness, what I should say is that the second Hornet 150 I borrowed was completely tamed after I started shoving the nose in towards the back on the pack job. First few jumps it spanked me, after that a beauty. The first one I had was just a dog!

My Father said "well, I just think you're a fucking idiot". You know what? He's a fucking idiot!

My two-pence worth is get an experienced friend or instructor to jump it a few times with your packing and their packing. That way you get to rule out whether its you or your packing that's causing the problem.

My (very limited) experience is that its much better to check it in than take it as hand luggage. If you take it on the plane with you then they will x-ray it and this makes it more likely they will be bothered by what's in it (ie, AAD). Stick it in the hold.

What's the big deal dude? Its just a piece of metal. Get a new one. If your marriage hinges on a piece of metal then I'd suggest you think about the marriage and not your skydiving.

It almost seems like an insult for a newbie tosser giving a skygod info, but I had a spin up and a cutaway last year on a Sabre 2. From talking about it to others that have had high speed spinning mals, the longer it takes to cutaway the harder it gets because of G. I ended up using 2 hands too. But literally the instant I cut away the RSL got my reserve out before I even got my hands up to it. I was spat out of the spin and my reserve opened bang on heading. Note to self - keep the RSL!

That's easy, just do this, sit down, close your eyes, and imagine that you are up in the sky looking down on yourself having the perfect day. What would your perfect day look like? If skydiving is the first thing you'd do, or the thing you'd do most of, then make that your priority. If having a career is most important, do that. If getting hammered and waking up with a biffa in your bed the next morning is a priority, then do that. I love skydiving. I'd skydive every day if I could. But I love my wife and kids more, so I do that first and skydive when I can.

Nice chair dude

This is a question that is best asked of your psychologist or psychiatrist if you have one. You need to be sure that you have achieved complete remission from your PTSD. Two main concerns here, if you're still re-experiencing your trauma by way of flashbacks or nightmares, then doing something dangerous like skydiving might be a trigger. Secondly, and more importantly, if you are still hyperaroused and hypervigilant, then you might be outside of the range of comfortable performance from a physiological perspective. In other words, if you are over-aroused or panicking you're ability to respond in an emergency will be compromised. You would also be hypersensitive to potential danger and you might react accordingly. If you PTSD consisted of dissociation, and this got triggered while skydiving, you would probably not be able to respond well in the plane or in the air. Also, if you continue to take medication then consider the effect of that, especially if its something like mirtazapine or older style antidepressants like dothiepin. They are sedating and will leave you feeling washed out or hungover. If you have comfortably overcome your PTSD, then break into it as gently as you can. Perhaps even consider doing a tandem. Good luck

Hey, thanks for being brave enough to post this, complete with video. No authoritative comments other than to say that it looks like a freak unpredictabl gust. If it was a hot daythen thermals and winds can combine to make it totally unpredictable. From seeing the video you didn;t seem to do anything that could cause such a radical shear. Another way to see that there are uncontrollable and unpredictable variables in this sport

My AFF Level 1 jump was from the caravan at Langar, which has music. The song "someday we're gonna get so high" by The Lighthouse Family is burned into my brain from that jump. Now though, I listen to pump up music on the way to the DZ (Greenday, Chilli's etc) and Radio 3 or Classic FM on the way back. I'm in a dream zone then.

I bought a bonehead helmet a while back, and even with import duties it was still a good deal better. I've also heard that some US dealers that visit UK will chance it for you as hand luggage for a small throw. What are you buying, because I just got a new canopy in the UK as cheap as I could of got it in USA. Try Jess at The Jump Shop a UK Parachuting, Norfolk.

Was it stored in a warm place? I read some stuff on here a while back about ZP canopies being next to heaters and the fabric coating melting or something.