yoink

If your uncle doesn't jump he won't know what's 'cool' and what isn't. To him, the fact that you're jumping out of an aeroplane and flying a parachute will be good fun to watch... Really don't' try and push anything just for the camera - people get hurt doing that. Talk to a videot, tell them what you're after and see what they recommend. As Kris said - I'd get some nice exit footage, some deployment stuff, a shot of you tracking into the sun is always nice, and some decent landings. If you can get a group of people geeking the camera in freefall, then that's just a bonus.

Your doctor can prescribe you a cream to get rid of those. Damn scruples.

what in the hell has this place come to??? ah... this brings back Talkback memories!

It's nice to be able to get off the DZ on a holiday - sometimes you can just have too much skydiving! Chances are that anyone with less than a couple of years in the sport will be going 'Bullshit!' right after that last sentence. Cheers Lori, will do.

Hey all, I'll be making my first trip to Perris over Easter (!) with a friend. We were planning on staying at Anne Helliwell's house, but unfortunately it's not available when we're around. Does any one local know of similar off-DZ accomodation that I can contact? Cheers!

Interesting read - as you say, not a lot of new knowledge there, but it's good to see it being pulled together in a single place. My only critisism is that you seem to lose the professional and impersonal feel that the paper has for the majority of it from "Suggestions for dealing with the reality of skydiving in the 21st Century" onwards. It's probably a reflection of using 'you' a lot more. Thanks for the read though!

ding ding ding!

LMFAO!

Anyone know any specifics about the Easter boogie at Perris? I'm toying with the idea of making a trip Stateside for the first time.

So? Did anything interesting happen in the explanation at the AGM or do the council have carte blanche?

I can't believe that there isn't a simple internet based way of voting that links to a database. Hell, you could even do it in Excel. You'd need some way of writing membership number and vote to a database and then using a LOOKUP function to check the member ID against the BPA's database of issued memberships... That'd stop any fake or lapsed numbers being used for a vote. A macro that deletes any entries with duplicate member IDs would leave you with registered member votes, of 1 vote per member. It's not that difficult to write. At the very worst some time would have to be spent manually putting the vote and membership number of each reply (be it e-mail or any other way) into a database... How many people are we expecting to vote at the AGM? 1000? Less? There's a whole lot of man-hours in 1200 quid... It's unfortunate, but it's a very similar scenario to the AGM where people voted against the increase in membership fee... if memory serves the reply was along the lines of "well, there's no other option so vote again, and this time vote for the proposition, or you won't skydive..."

Scary stuff. Glad you're OK. The best way to learn to track, as with any discipline is to get some coaching first. Lots of people seem think that a solo tracking dive is fine, even with no experience, but there's still a lot of potential for things to go wrong. We tell newbies not to try head down on their own due to the potential to move up and down the jump run, but seem to be OK with people trying tracking for the first time... Simply getting 1 jump in with an experienced tracker who can video and debrief you will give you a great basis to develop on your own from. If you really want to learn to track on your own, make sure you absolutely understand where the jump run is, and get a solid reference point to track off it. Using the sun is a personal favourite. Do a standard belly to earth exit, not a tracking one and when you're stable turn to your reference point. From there you can gradually put on some speed in a track. Doing it this way will ensure that you don't disorientate yourself if you blow the exit. Practice flaring out of a track several times on your way down. There's no need to track all the way - you're not going for any distance records and you'll be better served by getting practice at the fundamentals. It's unlucky you got hurt on the landing, but when it gets low enough that it's a case of a fence or a low turn, you made the right choice I think. It's definately worth asking an instructor about how to flat turn your canopy though. A search on here will turn up lots of info too. Next time, don't let it get that low!

saw this again and it reminded me of GFD. For anyone that hasn't seen it: http://dumpalink.com/media/1151315452/Jack_Jack_Attack

Someone's already pointed out the benefit of getting a good grounding in belly flying before doing some freeflying, but if you really want to continue to freefly, it's worth paying for some coaching rather than going out and learning bad habits on your own that you'll only need to unlearn later. While I'm sure it felt like you were in a stable stand position, you might well have been shifting all over the sky without knowing it - there's a lot of possibility for moving up and down the jump run when you're learning without a frame of reference. Slow down and get the basics nailed first - it'll make you an even better skydiver.

Is it possible that some of the other low number jumpers that you were referring to have their FS1? I had mine before I had 50 jumps which would have allowed me to jump with your DMW in that situation. A Solo tracking dive isn't that much of a problem as long as he gets out (preferable last) and tracks off jump run. This is easy enough for the jumpmaster to explain on the plane ride to altitude... Honestly dude, make sure you're not making a mountain out of a molehill - it's a small community and it's not worth annoying people by going apeshit at them when you're not 100% sure of absolutely everything. You could do far worse than taking your concerns to the CCI - he'll be able to address them without giving you attitude.

Baglock occurs at line stretch - the bag is 15 feet above you but not releasing the canopy for whatever reason. I've seen video of older student gear using ripcord PCs have the bag get stuck briefly in the container and requiring a quick knock on the side to release them, but I've never heard of a bag being caught in a burble... Either way, getting your hands near a load of deploying lines behind your back sounds like bad ju-ju to me. Congrats on not losing an arm!

It's probably flyable I'd have thought. I've never tried it though and I certainly wouldn't suggest it to someone with little experience landing on rears, hence me not mentioning it to Chris. I might have a play with it next time I'm in the air though... I guess it comes down to what you think you can fly and land safely.

No - The right toggle was still stowed in a half-brakes configuration. Simply putting the left toggle up to a full drive position would send the canopy into a right hand turn because that's the side with brakes still applied. You're right that you can use the rear risers to steer and land the canopy, but it should be flying straight to do that - what the original poster needed was a way of holding the left toggle down about halfway to stop the turn and then somehow flying on rears... another arm might have been useful! Additionally, a canopy is much easier to stall on rear risers and even more so when flying on rears in a braked configuration.

That's a particularly unhelpful reply... Students have been making sucessfull SL exits out of all sorts of planes for years using a sitting exit - Sure, hanging from a strut may make it easier for some, but it's sure as hell not the only way of doing it. I've done SL from many different types of plane, including the strut of a 182, and the easiest one I found was simply dropping backwards out of the tail of a skyvan and arching... easy. Unfortunately that doesn't mean that every dz should get a Skyvan! I've seen students soar through SL using sitting exits and I've seen people struggle using hanging ones. Saying that 'you need to find another dz that knows what it's doing' is completely uncalled for.

I'd be interested in hearing Brian's opinon on the design of the Patatec RAGE canopy, particularly in relation to the 'dual airlock' portion that looks like an evolution of Brians own design.

Loads of little bits make a good SL exit. Bits that I tried to remember while going through SL include: Look up at the top corner of the door, and keep looking there all through your deployment. Use your whole head, not just your eyes. Your forward hand needs to be as close to your forward knee as possible - give a really good push off with this hand at 90 degrees to the door and push your chest forward at the same time. Kick your back leg out as you do! Remember, the exit is a hugely positive move - don't just slide off the door. and finally, get video if possible! My SL exits improved dramatically when the despatching instructor started videoing them. hope these help.

Bingo, it sounds as simple as a jumper rented a rig, got it packed by a packer and had a mal. If that's true, then the gear wasn't unfit to jump when it was rented. You want to reduce the chance of this sort of thing happening? Learn to pack.

Jumps : 79 No offence, but before making such definitive statements, hang around a bit more... OK. I have a Sabre 135 and it's never spanked me. I've jumped ones that have, but mine's fine. That reply was a bit harsh Rem - there are good Sabres and bad Sabres. It is true however, the Sabre does seem to be less forgiving than a majority of other canopies when it comes to packing. I make absolutely certain the slider is to the stops and then roll the tail a few times more than I would on another canopy. Other than that, it's as normal... I'm a little worried about changing the slider, but I'm getting a removable one soon, so we'll see what difference it makes.

I've fucked up coached jumps before doing stuff that's easy on solos or with friends... Sometimes the added pressure you put on yourself to perform has a detremental effect - you tense up and stop skydiving well. If it happens, take a big breath, let it out and smile... Relax... Remember it's still supposed to be a fun jump!