Joellercoaster

Hey now! We all agreed that swooping needs to be seperated in time and space! At least you hold yours in the same country! The BPA, not so much. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I love the fact that Douggs, the most tattooed, pierced, BASE jumping all around loose unit in the box, is a 4-way champion and former national 8-way team member with thousands of flat jumps :) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

VB, you sound like a more than decent guy. I'm sure we'd get along, and, it being a very small world, I look forward to meeting you one day. But you should read what you just wrote, in the context of the whole world of discussion you've been a part of here. "The problems I had are not my fault, and certainly not a product of the bad decisions I make. Experienced people telling me different, even ones who have seen me fly, are wrong." Sound familiar? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yeah, yeah, now tell us about your Mad Skilzz. I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, Sangi. They are judged by the laws of physics. The old, the new, the cool and uncool, on a bad day, they all hit the ground at the same speed, with pretty much the same results. Yoink. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I've been thinking about this point, and it's interesting, but in the end I have to admit I don't buy it. These guys (and they are all guys) aren't really unafraid of death. Not even Sangi, who claimed he's not scared of death. They just really do genuinely believe it won't happen to them. It's hard to be frightened of something that just happens to other people, maybe people less talented or quick on the draw. People they don't even know - guys on the internet, people who died or maimed themselves in some abstract other place. A lot of them don't even know what death or horrible injury is, not in a real way. I fear changing the message it to "horrific injury" won't change the end result. The trick is not describing consequences they're going to be scared of, it's somehow convincing them that they're not immune in the first place. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Ha yeah, I have two of those! Acquired at different times years ago on opposite sides of my sternum but not the same rib number... weird injury for sure. On topic, I fractured my finger on exit once. Jumped again once that day, then had a couple of weeks off when the pain really set in -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

One thing I've learned in my not-many years in skydiving: There is no idea so boneheaded you can't find at least one super-experienced DSZO/CCI/whatever who will tell you you'll be fine. Hopefully they're right and all the (many, many) other super-experienced people are wrong, and you will be fine. Hearing what happened to Sangi this week made me sick... I never met him but I remember him from his early days on UKS, and nobody deserves that. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Just worth adding that in the UK, B certificate includes your license to pack for yourself (even without a packing cert). In the US, I think you can pack your own parachute, no matter what. Have I been misinformed? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I've been listening to it since I (and it) started. Loved it then, love it now. Definitely something for everyone! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I'm not saying shut up and colour - people are entitled to grumble (hey I do), and there are sometimes even constructive suggestions (in the linked discussion on UKS, I think there were some). I'm just calling bullshit on the idea that it's some money-making conspiracy by the DZOs, which is probably the stupidest thing I will read today. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

If you think the FS1 scheme results in money to DZOs, then you have even less idea of how skydiving works than I thought. Tandems. AFF. These are the things that make money. Fun jumpers are worth a lot less, sometimes even costing money. But just assume that some of your 20 quid jump ticket does somehow end up in the DZO's pocket: Experienced jumpers taking time to brief newbies, causes them to jump less. This means less money. Extending the time that A license people are in a position of dependence (pre-FS1) causes them to jump less. This means less money. Plenty of dropzones subsidise coach tickets. This means - wait for it - less money. Add to that coaches spending their own money to get to the DZ, to do the same jump over and over (and over and over) instead of ripping it up on the fun ones? That's a pretty substantial outlay by a lot of people to make the FS1 scheme work. The fact that you would see all this as some kind of conspiracy on the part of people who are sacrificing a fair bit in order to help you, makes me wonder about other situations you claim to have been the victim in. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Tate. What are you talking about? I'm not affiliated with the BPA any more than you are,but I've done most of my jumping here, and I have literally no idea what you mean by this. Care to fill us in? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Bet you'll be pissed at your CYPRES if you lose altitude awareness and it saves you anyway. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Kinda drifting OT here, but: have you seen how much it costs to jump in Australia? Crikey. The US has gloriously cheap jump tickets, that's one lesson from this thread. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

You have a Vigil with a cutter manufactured in October 2007? And so do all the kit hire rigs? Wow. That sounds... particularly unfortunate. Also, when you say all the DZs require an AAD, I presume you have now moved out of the United Kingdom and live in a different country, maybe because of the UK Jumping Sucks thread - a small minority of UK dropzones require an AAD for B-licence jumpers but most figure it's up to you. Perhaps you should come back! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Clearly, you have never been to Hibaldstow :P Oh how I wish I were in new Zealand, with its tandem mills, crazy politics and total lack of sport skydiving scene instead. Wait, sorry, that's an ill-informed stereotype from the past - and those are stupid. I take it back. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Please don't take this the wrong way (I'm not flaming you, just offering a realistic perspective), but at 75 or 100 jumps, you don't know how often you jump yet. There just aren't enough accumulated statistics to tell you. You feel like you have some experience, but in the canopy time stakes, you have maybe a couple of hours tops and perhaps a whole minute or two of doing landings. 15 jumps that went OK on a 190 is the same as "no jumps on a 190". That I can help with. In the UK, the Safe Flight School, Wing Tips and HEAT all regularly tour dropzones offering courses. The Safe Flight School also do courses at Empuriabrava, if the UK is not your thing. I can recommend them all! Right. But the guy with 13000 jumps can use his 13000 landings, good and bad, to turn "potentially horrible situation" into "eating some grass". The thing we're trying to avoid here is not "failing to stand up a landing", it's "getting maimed or killed when something goes wrong". We don't care (well, I don't) if you twist your ankle. We care a lot though, if some idiot cuts you off on final, you are startled, and your instinctive reaction causes your smaller canopy to break your leg because it reacts quicker than you can recover from. Having been taken by surprise by a canopy that was only a little ahead of my curve, and narrowly gotten away unscathed, I can tell you it's not a pleasant feeling. This was when I had 700 jumps and had done 200 of them in the year leading up to that, by the way! [edit: speling] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Interesting that you see it that way, as something negative the girls are doing... From where I sit, the girls aren't deliberately taking short-cuts. The experienced guys are dangling cool jumps in front of them in order to get into their pants, and low-time girls (like anyone would be) are flattered by the attention and excited to do the fun stuff quickly. To the OP: if you're looking at the sociology of skydiving, you could do worse than a quick trawl through the Women Only forum. While mostly from a female perspective, you see a lot of explicit discussion of social forces and (for want of a better word) phenomena in there. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I have always liked that. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

If 165 is your bodyweight and not your exit weight with gear, then: seriously consider a 190. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

This is actually topical. In the latest(?) Skydive Radio, they were talking to a tunnel instructor who had only recently got his A license. He and a colleague had just gone through a USPA AFFI course - obviously it was just an experiment, they were ineligible for the ratings due to time in sport and freefall-from-a-plane-time restrictions, but it sure was interesting to hear about how they got on. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Not to put to fine a point on it, but they're not known as the third world. They are, in fact, the very definition of the Second World. But whatever. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good expression of righteous indignation eh. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I bet you really could. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

OK, apart from the fact that it's not real, that's not a monkey. Chimpanzees are apes -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Heh. I also quite liked the "I don't like canopy X because their ribs are not fully ZP, so I have canopy Y" comment that got made in this forum a while back. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?