Joellercoaster

Reopened under completely new management, this is a little weekend DZ on a little airfield in a little field in Swindon. I love it. There's not much in the way of facilities - a plane (Airvan (piston 8-seater) in Summer, 206 at other times), a hamburger stand (with connections to the local organic butcher - oh yes), a hangar and a bunch of picnic tables. But that's not the point. It's a new place, so it seems like experienced jumpers are only just starting to trickle in, and Geordie and Brucie and co are working hard to make it into somewhere lots of people will want to jump. I turned up there with 40-odd jumps to my name and was pretty quickly taken in; the locals are welcoming and keen to impart skydiving wisdom to the fledgling jumpers there (of which they're getting quite a collection now). You have to love a DZ with little kids running the canteen. The one thing I would change if I could is the altitude restriction. Jumps are from 10 grand for air traffic reasons, maybe a little higher on a good day. I realise this is how a lot of people do all their jumping, so I suck it up and don't really mind that much. There's a few AFF students floating around, but the majority of people coming through the DZ seem to be static-line students. For some reason, this gives the place an old-skool feel that I really like too, despite being a turbine AFF brat. So. Come for the atmosphere. Eat a lamb and mint burger. Drink a lot of tea. Come back the next week and find you're a regular :)

Oh, I know. I'm not complaining particularly... I know the reasons for it, and it is indeed up to the CCI to adjust behaviour at his DZ to his own personal comfort level. I was more just pointing out that you were right

I have to agree with the various people saying "psycho pack". I'm a newbie jumper, also having serious packing issues, and also owning a brand-new ZP canopy. Two things have changed since I first got it: One, it has about 20 pack jobs by packers, which has made life a tiny bit easier. The second is that I've become happier with psycho packing, which makes the snotmaterial an order of magnitude easier to control when you're bagging it. Get someone to explain it from the point of view of a normal pro-pack. -- "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?

Technically this is the BPA rule However, my DZ doesn't allow me to jump with A licenses anyway despite my FS1, and still requires the presence of a coach. Dunno how strict other places are about that one, but this *is* a very conservative country. Your original statement, for a lot of us, was true. -- "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?

Much sympathy - I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago. That was the second jump with the new Optima... not happy at all. My new helmet is so shaped to my head I don't think it could come off... but let's face it, I'm never going to forget my chinstrap again. Right? -- "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?

Nice work BG, on both counts. Hopefully catch you at the DZ this weekend and share that delicious first-chop . Oh and the A-license . And a bunch of other , for no better reason than "because", and it's great to be alive. -- "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?

Definitely agree with all the people saying "demo them!" As a fellow beginner, I don't think one style of canopy is necessarily easier to learn to land than the other - it seems to vary completely from person to person. I tried seven- and nine-cell canopies in similar sizes a little bit, and found nine-cells much easier to judge the landings on (shallower glide angle). Your mileage will almost certainly vary from mine and everyone else's, so go try stuff! Besides, demoing things is fun. -- "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?

:14:4 Crammed too much FS1 training into too small a time - brain hurty now. Beer violations? FS1 passed, first jump on own packjob (yeah, I know, I am a wuss and a slacker), lost helmet in freefall (yeah, I know, I am a dumbass - and it had my brand-new Optima in it too), and then capped it off by forgetting where the damn beer line at SD Spain is. Awesome weekend though. 4-way is a revelation! -- "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?

Nah, is Apache error message. Their end, not your problem - except that they've made it yours. It's not Apache's fault necessarily, but (almost) certainly, something they've got running from under there that is b0rked. The web sucks anyway - do something else with your time. -- "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?

Yah, but it looks like the Viso doesn't have the log memory. Although if all you want is the last jump in memory to write stuff in your logbook, and I do, that's fine. Cool, decision made. Will order an Optima today. Thanks! [edit: Hang on. I am misinformed. Viso does better logging... nice.] -- "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?

Hmm. Wishlist: Audible with freefall and canopy alarms, freefall logbook, visible altimeter. As far as I can tell, a Neptune plus a standard analog altimeter is the cheapest way to go, with the least redundancy (the Neptune's visible display). If I want to get the audible first because I don't care so much about the logging, then an Optima wins. And right now that's true. But after that, if I want a logger at some point, then anything I buy will give me multiple audibles. Hang on, that's no bad thing - is it still true that BPA require two audibles for anyone doing head-down? Hang on again, if I'm still in the UK by the time I'm doing HD, I have bigger problems. Sod it, I'll buy a Neptune. I think -- "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 may or may not have done something similar already -- "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?

4 in three countries - and I still don't have mine -- "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. What would you like me to bring instead? (Australian, also living in the UK... *sigh*) -- "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?

Check. -- "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?

Hey man, you're right. How many people live in India and Pakistan? Tiny populations playing cricket worldwide, no wonder it's never on TV. /Joel, singlehandedly bringing cricket to the WFFC now if it kills me -- "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 loved trance before skydiving. Still do, though back then it was hard trance and I've sort of drifted over to psy in recent years... But watching skydiving (in particular, tandem) videos does occasionally remind me of just how much really awful trance there is out there! "Tell me why Do we make castles in the sky? Oh tell me why..." Oh dear Lord, the humanity -- "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 jump in a warm 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?

25 (cigarettes):5:1-2* Patchy weather, sleeping in hangars to try and catch the blue sky in the morning (followed by feeling like idiots because the pilot wasn't coming until 10, going on 11 anyway, hangovers make waiting less boring )... spent a lot of time smoking and theorising about weather. But got some jumps in, even if one was a hop-n-pop from cloud base. *First jump in the UK - also my first jump out of a Cessna, but if it's all on the same jump it's only one beer fine, right? Also managed to get a telling-off from two different instructors about the same incident. Next time, pull head out of ass, then commence downwind leg. May swoop the hedge again in the future, though perhaps on purpose this time. Got to stop smoking, even though I only do it on the DZ. -- "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?

Oh crap, I completely forgot I was going to do this. Then I got drunk, and totally forgot how I totally forgot. And so on... now I'm remembering, and the recursive unforgettings are doing my head 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?

More to the point - do you know a guy who would find this useful? If so... he probably has a custom RW suit -- "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?

Best music in a skydiving video ever. Definitely no sign of dodgy eurotrance (or Free Falling for that matter ) here. -- "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?

Hey, I feel fine already

Absolutely - I wasn't complaining! It was easily the most economical way to get my rig, and I took it

Something I just realised. Being a bigger, oddly-shaped person, I was initially annoyed because I pretty much had to buy a new container first up. I got a new main because new mains in my size sell, as someone said, without even advertising them and I thought, hey, I might as well get one that matches my other stuff. Something else mitigates it a little though, as I've just realised: the bigger you are, the more performance you'll get from a downsize: 'x' square feet down for someone weighing 150 pounds is a 33% bigger increase in wingloading for someone who weighs 200 pounds. So, in theory, even though we have to buy a new container to start, we should expect to downsize less frequently. So my one-downsize-potential container choice should last me longer, even though I had to pay more for it. Or am I just trying desperately to make myself feel better? -- "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?