vonSanta

28:0, I like this ratio Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Thanks for the advice :) Yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my mind. I check the canopy and then handles (too see that non of 'em have come loose) and they were visible, but a panicky grab might have emant grabbing hold of handle and the jacket, which is bad news. Never had that problem before, but enver actually managed to get into a sit position either. Will definitely wear something else when I jump later today (wooh, sunshine, Danish Championships at a DZ 3km from where I live, fun jump possibilities til Sunday, every day ). Everyone tells me packing gets easier with experience. I use full force and cannot get the closing loop through the flaps all the times. My sis, much weaker than me, then tries it and whoopd in a matter of seconds she has done it. Really frustrating to me that packing requires so much effort. Guess I'll just have to keep doing it. Thanks for link. Need to be more throughout in my search of the forum in the future. Must say it wasn't *exactly* what i was looking for though Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

What about mosquitos? They fly. And breed. And suck enough blood to keep a host of vampires in reserve, should they need 'em. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Completed AFF Level 9-10 in a combined jump two days ago and ahve been out having a blast, enjoying myself and generally tumbling through the air. Before my last jump I got some tips from my sister who's got a couple fo hudnred jumps on sit flying, so i decided to try them out. Slid around to tortoise position, tucked legs in and pushed down while extending arms out to the sides, slightly curved WHOOOF. My nice jeans were up around the knees and the baggy sports jacket were flopping around my face. Dinnae hold the position for long, maybe 5 seconds, but the zipper on that jacket managed to leave marks on my rather prominent nose. After I deployed and hung in my chute I couldn't understand why it was chilly around my mid section - looked down and the bottom of the jacket was sorta up at the chest strap. Anyway, just got an altimeter, so no cash for those expensive suits. What are the alternatives - make 'em yourself? Convert some other clothes for the purpose? Any help will be appreciated, coz my sis gets really cranky when I 'borrow' her stuff . And oh, packing 0-p chutes is a MAJOR pain in the arse. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Lots of good points made here by others, I'll just add my $.002. Most of the skydiving disciplines aren't very audience friendly. For FS, you need to find that plane high up in the sky by moving your neck into an uncomfortable position, try to not look directly into the sun and then spot a little blob that at first appear to be falling slowly. Gradually it gets a little bigger and appears to move faster and faster. When you finally are able to distinguish legs and arms of the skydivers, the formation is broken up, they track away and deploy their chutes. Accuracy competitions aren't really that fun looking at, as for a layman it's very repetitive and they aren't able to see the subtle techniques used, so that won't draw huge crowds. The main problem however is that people have no frame of reference, really. Indycar and F1 etc is about driving, and they know what that feels like and what the challenges are, at least to a degree. Freefalling however is not something you can semi-approximate by every day stuff. Bungy jumping etc is far from the same thing as there isn't really that much of control in the air of it. You don't manipulate the air flow around your body very much. Without a frame of reference it's very hard for non skydivers to *understand* what it's about and how it feels. I went from static line to AFF after about 15 jumps and my first AFF jump was a very different experience from the static line auto deployment and even the first static line jump is skydiving, sort of. Or parachuting at least. If I try to explain to my friends, say, just how cool it is to freefall and actually control your position in the air they just look at me as if I was an idiot. Being very excited about doing 360s and backloops for the first time gets the same response. It's very hard to have a thing one feels so passionately about, yet one is unable to talk about it with friends because they get really bored or think one is bragging or whatever. If you can't get a close friend to really pay attention, imagine the problem of getting a bunch of strangers interested. I mean trying to explain the feeling of freefalling is much the same as trying to explain a sunset to a colourblind person. You just have to do it. Unless we find a way to create a frame of reference for people I don't see skydiving being as popular on TV as skateboarding or other 'extreme sports' for many oof the reasons posted by others (mostly economy) but also because it's too hard to relate to. Might not be a bad thing though. Just look at how the skateboardign world is, full of pretentious idiots and wannabes and has become more of an image statement and fashion show for many. Don't want that for skydiving. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

You AFF instructors are an odd lot. You have to deal with insaely dangerous students doing dangerous things and generally being out of control. You have to go through briefings and debriefings, going over stuff that's trivial to you and that you have done n times. Answer same questions. Yet remain positive and optimistic, always be in a good mood and motivate scared students. And all you want in return is beer. You do it for the smiles? Heh, am glad you do and I'm definitely buying beer for my AFF instructors who have to endure and cope with me :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Ah, you also get the nervous yet IWANNADOTHIS feeling? Thought I was the only one, as everyone else appear so relaxed. And thanks for the welcome chaps :). Wish I could go skydiving today, but I got two 18h work days ahead of me - that's what I get for staying at the DZ instead of working. Well worth it though. And aye, it is FM Blahr Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I'm a newbie, so please excuse some silly questions. What is the advantage of the SOS system? Sure you only need to do one action, but you lose a lot of flexibility in the process. It appears to me that skydiving is very dynamic and very odd problems can arise, so wouldn't you want as much flexibility as you can when it comes to solving malfunctions? Second question; had a discussion with a guy who got certified not long ago. He's had two malfunctions in less than 70 jumps - the latter being an FXC shooting due to him deploying the main too low. Anyhow, talked to him about the emergency procedure and asked him whether the handles were hard to pull. he said 'oh only pulled the cutaway, the lanyard'll deploy the reserve. So I thought about that for a bit. And am I totally wrong, or isn't there one scenario where a lanyard line will NOT pull the reserve? If, for some reason, you cannot pull out the pin from the loop or the whole package locks up and the main doesn't come out, it seems to me that then tehre'd be nothing to pull the lanyard and then the reserve won't come out automatically despite having a lanyard. Am I wrong here? I don't know the exact circumstances during his malfunctions, but wouldn't it be prudent to just pull both handles in the correct order instead of rationalizing 'oh is the main out or not, if it is then no need to pull the reserve handle?'. Maybe yer too scared to think about that, and isn't it common sense to just practise one thing til it's ingrained and close to instinctual? This is what I believe and practise, but am I overseeing something? Forgot to ask my instructor about this today but I from what I've heard during theory it seems they strongly implied 'one procedure, same procedure, always' with regards to the handles. Clarification will be appreciated. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Just wanted to say I think it's great that you don't let your size stop you from pursuing skydiving. Hope you find a workable solution. :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Started off in 2000 with static line program - was scared shiteless every time I went up in a plane and sorta took a break after doing 15 jumps, even though I got some freefall time. The jumps were fun but the preparation and ride up terrible, My sister, being more courageous, moved on and got a certificate and whatnot and eventually poked me enough to get me started again a good three years later. By this time of course she pretty much kicked arse with regards to skydiving, at least to my mind. Only this time I did only one static line jump before moving over to AFF. And, I've been semi-white with apprehension and whatnot from the start, but there appears to be a transition from thinking about 'this might be the last day I live' to 'don't f@rk up the exit'. Had my 6th AFF jump today, and it was AFF level 6. The fear had started to subside and looking down on the ground didn't make me want to hit the pilot hard on the head with a frozen chicken for letting me on the plane and my instructor with a small nuclear device for a) encouraging me to go up and b) smiling/sleeping/generally being totally relaxed in the plane. I still get a little more nervous when the door opens, but it's manageable. Nowadays I even ask if I can spot with those strange people who seem to enjoy the whole deal. Anyway, it started getting fun after I got to do some turns on my own . to experience that *I* was in control of things. Being in control by myself opened my eyes somehow. I've since seen the video of my level 5 jump and true enough, I have a big grin all the way through. Now with level 6 succesfulyl completed behind me, I begin to feel this...yearning. I was doing backloops and laughing. Had plenty of time after doing three of 'um, so I decided to play follow the leader with my instructor for a while, turning to face him and generally ignoring his signals for 'do another!' and focusing on grinning very widely for some stupid reason. Then I tried out tracking when I noticed I was at around 6000 feet. Wooh, that is FUN. I've always wanted to fly a WWII plane; now I can be one. And bloody 'ell; looks good on video too! It's just amazingly FUN. Like distilled life. It's uncomplicated, there's no hidden agenda, it's the kind of fun I had as a child. All pretenses are stripped away. There's no awkward 'social rules' and you don't have to pretend to be interested or whatever like in most other situations in life. Everyone is just having fun and it is clear that it is *genuine* fun, not forced in any way. Sure, before every skydive I'm nervous - perhaps a lot of it is performance anxiety - remembering the program, worrying about the exit, don't screw up etc. But once out there in the air I cannot stop grinning. My mouth get all dried up and my saliva production gets set back a couple of years. I probably shouldn't be grinning after 'practising forward movement' and overdoing it so much that my instructor has to duck beneath me as I come charging forward like a freighttrain with little thought about actually slowing down. Oh, I thought about slowing down AFTER I passed above him. And the burble above himwas VERY interesting to experience first hand. And turning around to face him again. But I was still grinning. Heh. It is very possible I've found that missing thing - that item everyone needs. Something to feel passionate about, something that generates genuine excitement, something to look forward to. During and after a skydive, hell, the whole time spent at the dropzone, well during that time all other problems just seem to melt away. And the people I've been around have been very non judgemental, open, humorous, helpful and beer afficionados. My kind of people. I could find a home in this environment. Oh yay, got my first skydive outta a big plane. An Antononv-28 or somesuch - room for 18 skydivers with a big door. Previously all I'd done was Cessna-182's and -206's. Ooh, and