Adriandavies

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the the things with a dropzones control which can be improved to increase retention. Some DZ's have a snotty attitude which can put people off, especially static line students. I've seen loads do 3 or 4 S/L jumps and have the intention of carrying on but they get ignored especially when the wind limit is broken, they sit on a bench on their own with no one taking much interest in them, they wear a boiler suit which makes them stand out from the regular skydivers, they come week in week out to jump, they lose currency, they get discouraged, they disappear.... I don't know how much it 'costs' to recruit a prospective skydiver (peer pressure, film/tv clip, tamden jump for charity, local press advert etc), but it must be cheaper to keep someone in the sport by making a little bit of effort than to continuously recruit new participants. Free or cheap recurrency training, a more welcoming attitude, a more can do attitude to jumping all would go a long way to retaining students. Compare S/L with AFF. With AFF you basically get your own instructor who pretty much can concentrate on you. The progression is much faster with less breaks due to weather holds, you look like a skydiver from jump one (wearing a jump suit rather than a bolier suit helps), the financial outlay up front is also greater meaning that people are more likely to stick with it until at least they have their A. I'd love to see someone doing some serious research into retention rates and how to improve them. I'm sure that all DZ's would benefit by keeping more of their 1st jump S/L or even AFF students by improving the conditions within the DZ's control.

...and Milton keynes makes perfect sense. It is central so it has a large catchment area, its population is expanding as well as being very young with a high disposable income, there are synergys with the Snowdome (similar market for a start), and Skyventure can get its power supply at a discount rate. Also if you read the prospectus you'll see that Skyventure UK have expansion plans to site up to 6 tunnels in the UK but they envisage the other ones being of a smaller diametre and therefore less suited to full on skydivers, meaning that these will be targeted even more at wuffos. And as for skydivers most Southern counties and Midlands skydivers will be between one and two hours away. For European or even Scottish skydivers Luton airport and its low cost carriers are also only 30 minutes away. A windtunnel would not survive if it relied on the 4-5000 regular skydivers in the UK. To survive and to make a profit it has to attract wuffos. Having said that the start up costs of Bodyflight Bedford are much lower than for Skyventure so they may not have to rely on wuffos as much as Skyventure will.

Have a look at www.skyventure.co.uk where you can find a link to their investment prospectus. If you look at that you can see where they expect to get their business from. A lot of time has already been pre 'booked' by tunnel camps and the army. Without wuffos though it will never make money.

It sounds like you actually know what you are talking about and I was taking a widely optimistic stab in the dark. Its still good news that they have got the cash and that they can start to build the thing. I got two emails last night. The first was from Paul at BodyFlight Bedford saying 'Just going through my list of enquirers, and keeping people posted as to progress..... I can now confirm that we have partnered with a European operator of tunnel sites (been in the business for over 14 years, and commissioned many sites) With our new partner we have agreed funding, received bank approval... and are in the ordering process for kit (our hub is already under manufacture!) So, we should be proceeding shortly with publicity / live webcams for site progress & marketing. Our opening date will be confirmed in the next 4 weeks when we have signed with our suppliers etc. I will endeavour to send out regular updates as we go through this busy stage! Kind regards Following that I got this from Simon Ward at Skyventure UK saying 'I am delighted to report a hugely successful completion to the fundraising. You will recall that we were aiming to raise a minimum of £425k by November 1st, well, this has been surpassed and by the close at 3pm today we had £640k funds in the bank account or waiting to clear. In addition we have the first round finance of £470k and the Directors’ guarantee for outstanding funds required up to £800k. Such has been the success and because we know there is still investor appetite for the project, the directors have decided to keep the offer open through until 31st December 2004. This means that whilst our tunnel is being built and we commence works, we are still able to invite new investors to join us, but they really won’t have an opportunity like this after then. I am particularly keen to increase our Founder Members Club and skydiver investor base. In our view, the more skydivers involved the better; Skydivers will make up a large part of the business, they will promote their company to other skydivers, it gives the UK skydiver membership a very good opportunity to increase their skills level in preparation for national and international competition and it gives us a tremendous opportunity to attract more people into Skydiving in the UK, which in turn helps our business at SkyVenture. During this week, we shall be ordering our new wind tunnel. As always, thank you for your support and I will be in contact to advise you of progress on a regular basis. In the meantime we will issue the share certificates in the next couple of weeks and you are at liberty to promote your business to other potential investors through the prospectus up until the end of the year. Regards Simon

They have a design, they have a contractor, they have planning permission, so I guess what they need is the actual meccano set/fans/control systems etc which I'm assuming all have to come over from the US.

...well isn't anyone else excited about the prospect of at least one tunnel opening up? Or are we too used to people crying wolf that we've got so cynical that we'll only believe it when we see it?

Good question...if you look at the www.skyventureaz.com Skydive Arizona started theirs on 7 September and are now predicting that it will be finished in another 78 days ie by 14 Jan, so just about 4 1/2 months from start to finish of construction. I guess after that you have to add fabrication and shipping time. Maybe we should start a sweep stake for dates from April onwards....

Latest news posted on their website on 27/10 is: WE ARE THERE!!! Enough money now raised Tunnel being ordered next week Watch this space Thanks to all supporters www.skyventure.co.uk According to an earlier news letter the second tunnel will probably be in Glasgow and will be an integral part of a brand new Escape Snowdome being planned.

Where do you jump? If you are based in the UK just go and talk to your club chief instructor and see what he or she suggests. All you'll probably need is one jump with an instructor before you start jumping regularly. British weather can be bad but it doesn't stop my DZ (Langar) being open all year round. You often get less cloud in winter than during our so called summer so don't worry too much about low cloud ceilings.

Skyventure UK also now is saying that it has almost got its funding and that they are now close to building not one but TWO windtunnels. Have a look at www.skyventure.co.uk for their latest update. The second tunnel is going to be at the other Escape snowdome in Leeds.

I don't know how it will work exactly here but in Iran YOU have to deposit money with the bank for a set amount of time after which you get the original money back plus X amount more. Despite being married to an Iranian lady I still don't know exactly how this sytem works, suffice it to say it works well enough for my inlaws to have nice cars and lovely homes.

Europe has a history of appeasing dictators and murderers and the U.S. has a history of going to bat for those appeasers when theire asses are against the wall, thanklessly ridding them of the dictators. When a U.S. president does this, he makes the powermongers of European politics look like a bunch of pansy cowards, and so they hate him and criticize him viciously and endlessly in order to deflect attention from their own pathetic failings. At least, that's how it seems to me. Blue skies, -Jeffrey So just remind me exactly which country set up or at least nurtured such shining examples of fairness, democracy and free government as Saddam Hussein, General Pinochet and Noriega?

Hopefully Skyventure is gradually getting closer to getting the money needed as you can see... .... I promised to keep you updated as and when news came in. We have now seen documentation showing that our potential investors have access to funds and a schedule of when they maybe available to their investments. At the moment we expect to meet with them w/c 13th September with a view to agreeing final terms. The funds should become available around 30th September if all goes to plan. I will keep you informed…… could this be the final funding furlong? Regards Simon Simon Ward 01793 771037 or mobile on 07074 746669 [for sms txt, use 07970 226180]. All UK numbers, prefix +44 Visit www.skyventure.co.uk for news on the UK's first vertical wind tunnel, the home of indoor skydiving See adventure and other photos at www.clubphoto.com then type in sward to access albums

BPS Langar is hosting its Boogie Two from 28 August - 5 September. A Skyvan will be there for the entire period as well as the two regular Caravans. In addition they will have a Let 410 28-30th August and a Dornier G92 3-5th September. The icing on the cake is a helicopter for 2nd and 3rd September. At least two record attempts will be made. First the Brit Chicks are going for a 60 way (I think?), followed by a 2 point 50 way which I guess will be a British record. Lastly I think the POPS may get chance to increase their record as well. There will also be plenty of freeflying including the Atmonauti boys over from Italy, as well as the regular Bullet freefly school and George Pilkington.

Macy Gray at the moment....Scissor Sisters 10 minutes ago....Chilli Peppers when the started this morning...Rage Against the Machine when all the punters have gone home....

Hi Mik. The only DZ I have experience of in Portugal is Skydive Portugal in Proenca a Nova in central Portugal...but I've just looked at its website and found that it is shut until October. which I think is to the local fire service taking over the run way for fire fighting exercises. www.skydive-portugal.com tel +351 274 672089

Yep...nothing at all has changed on the website since I first saw it maybe 6 months ago. You would have thought that if work was progressing well they would be shouting it from the rooftops. Alternatively if little or no progress has been made wouldn't it be a good idea to remove the opening in August banner? In the absence of any new info and the fact that they do not reply to emails it looks like bad news. You quite often read critisism of skydive companies on these pagers but you almost always get someone from that company posting back to defend themselves or to explain the situation. As yet that hasn't happened with Extreme Bodyflight. By way of contrast Simon Ward from Skyventure UK seems to read dropzone and does reply to posts. He also puts updates on his website even when the news isn't good and he replies to personal emails. I only hope that if Extreme Bodyflight doesn't take off that we still end up with Skyventure being built. They are still looking for money but at least they seem a lot more professional and proactive in their whole approach to the business.

N/A

Swifty and Al are two amazing skydivers who just prove that serious problems don't have to get in the way of skydiving. Thanks for the info about the Iranians in Germany. One day I'll find a way of getting some skydives in there when I visit.

I jump at Langar which is in the Midlands of the UK. Its close to Leicester which has about 40% Asian population, but despite that very few Asians of any ethnic origin (broadly speaking around here by Asian I mean Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan) jump. A steady stream come along for tandems, but even these numbers don't reflect the actual make up of the local catchment area. Its the same with black skydivers, as again there are very few. Its a shame really for skydiving but it is not unusual as this trend it is reflected in most sports and pastimes except maybe cricket.

Does anyone know when the Extreme Bodyflight site in the UK is due to open? Their website www.extremebodyflight.co.uk hasn't changed since I started looking at it and still mentions opening in August. They haven't replied to any email enquiries about a specific date. Added to that they haven't actually done any marketing of the project in the UK, unlike Skyventure which has regular mentions in the BPA Skydive magazine. Any ideas or news?

Hi Sebastian. Have a look at the BPA website for the waiver form all under 40 year olds have to fill in. It is the solo student declaration of fitness and can be found on the BPA Office menu Documents on line. www.bpa.org.uk Sorry but I don't know how to make the link clicky. As you will see it is a self declaration basically saying that you don't have any mental or heart problems and that you don't take drugs. Over 40 year olds have to take a medical which includes checks on their heart.

Nataly. If you are under 26 you should maybe think about an Interrail pass (£295 for a one month all zones pass), they are only available in Europe and you can't use it in the country where you buy it. Otherwise for expensive countries buy a Eurodomino pass. I'm a travel agent so PM me for more details. Aprt from that low cost carriers like Ryanair are the way to go.

What new Skydiving magazine? Any details or a website to look at?

Canopy control, particularly low turns, seems to be a big factor in accidents. The USPA seems to have reflected this in their requirements for the A licence as this now requires braked turns amongst other things. Some of these requirements are the same as the BPA IC1 but they have to be demonstrated before getting the A licence. IC1 has to be passed before getting a British B licence but there is no time limit on the time taken to get it ie you can have your A licence and be jumping with just the basic AFF canopy tuition even if you have a 100 or more jumps. Does anyone know how effective the changes to the USPA licence have been in reducing accidents under canopy? Do British skydivers think similar changes should be made in the UK?