plastic

As i was in russia with martin, i will second that. Be clear ther is a difference between a diaper and a tail pocket. A diaper folds around the base of the canopy to hold it closed with the first stow, with a tail pocket, this is used just to stow the lines on the tail of the canopy. the tail pocket is the preferred method of deployment, especially for competetion jumpers. while off heading openings are not uncommon (usually caused by bad body position, although a sloppy pack job will not help) twists are extremely rare (usually caused by a REALLY bad body position) whereas twist are more common with a bag which can be caused by a bag spinning in the slipstream. twist are very dangerous on crw exits because until you get the twists out you have no control over the canopy, whereas with an off heading (even a 180) you can quickly get the canopy under control, hopefully before you hit anybody. yes, i am aware that some members of the us teams have and continue to jump with a bag, but when you have that level of experience you know enough to jump what you like, but competition jumpers who use a bag are very much in the minority. for those who want to use a bag one thing to watch , when putting the canopy in the bag make sure that the rings on the retract are totally clear of the canopy. i have seen many canopies damaged over the years when material has got trapped between the rings on deployment. one advantage to using a bag though, if you have a large grommet (recommended, probably a #8 although i am not a rigger) then the bag should slide over the base of the pilot chute and deflate it which removes the necessity for a kill cone. this is more relevant for those who prefer doing large formation. just to be clear, my choice tail pocket, always. plastic

When indeed would we have an 8-way team training out of a casa. Not much difference between a 4-way exit and and 8-way exit, probably 4 people if my working out is correct.

What british 8-way team do you mean? plastic

I visited kolomna with an 8-way crw team in june 2005. Despite the fact that we wanted to exit at 7000ft and then fly across the dz building canopy formations this seemed to cause no inconvenience to the dropzone due to the very professional staff that run the dz control and on the busiest day they still did 58 loads and were still jumping when we left the dz. Kolomna was operating an MI-8, let-410 and an AN28. Even at the busiest time we had no more than 30 minutes between manifesting and jumping but 10-15 minutes was more normal. This dropzone is rapidly becoming one of the best in the world and offers excellent facilities with all buildings being very modern and well maintained. The recently completed toilet and shower block is as good as you would find on a dz anywhere, and accommodation is also rapidly being completed on the dropzone. There are two large covered packing areas, good catering facilities and the dropzone is large and hazard free. I would recommend this dropzone to anybody but it may be worth making the effort to learn a little russian before you go, however if this is not possible you will get by without too much trouble as the staff and local jumpers are all very friendly and helpful with a few of them speaking good english. Would i return, definately. Enjoy.

I took my 8-way crw team out there for a 1 week training camp two weeks ago. This is a great dz, run in a very professional manner. They have an mi-8 a let-410 and an an-28. When they are busy they will be using all 3 but during the week if they are not so busy they will use 1 plane until the people are there to start using more. The busiest day we were there they had done 58 lifts and were still jumping when we left the dz. However regardless of how busy they were when we manifested we never had more than a 30 min wait for a lift but 10-20 mins was more normal, and you will get in as many jumps as you want. There are people around who speak some english but once you leave the dz it is russian only, with a couple of exceptions, we stayed at the hotel kolomna which is very cheap, very basic but very clean and some of the reception staff speak english. Also most nights we ate at viva pizza which has an english menu (i mean written in english) and some of the staff speak a little english. there is also a cash machine very close to here. russian roubles are the currency here not US dollars, the hotel we also had to pay in cash, the dz will take mastercard/visa for jumps. The toilet and showerblock are new, good and clean. Food and drink is available on the dz all day. They also expect to see a seal on your reserve, which was a problem for us as some of us pack our own, but they got around this by using temporary seals which we signed. We also had a cypress exception as we were doing crw but we had cleared this with the dz owner beforehand, but otherwise cypress (sorry aad) is mandatory. As is normal you will get a dz brief and help with all the paperwork when you arrive. Enjoy! Regards Plastic p.s. any specific questions feel free to pm me.

Thanks for that comment about the hotel. I am taking a group there in two weeks, was an 8-way team until last weekend when one team member broke her leg, now 7 way. Andrew has booked us into this hotel, problem is i am taking my wife with us - non-jumper - and i have told her it is really nice (anything to get to go to russia) so i am guessing that i am going to be in for a week of earhole bending when she gets there. oh well such is life, will have to keep her sedated with cheap vodka!

I have some training footage of the russian 8-way team training on triathlons, they are also world champions in 8-way as well as rotations. however the lightning is still my canopy of choice. plastic

how many of you are going?

I cannot vote in the poll yet but i am taking my 8-way crw team to kolomna to train from 11-19th june. I have been in touch with andrew at the dz who has said he will arrange hotel accomodation, he has not booked it yet but has promised he will not forget. As his english is far better than my russian i will trust him, i mean how bad can it be! A little uncertainty adds to the adventure right. maybe see you there? plastic

When you get to my age you walk slow. sadly i will not be in spain. I am doing a 16-way weekend at langar the first weekend and then we are off to russia 8-way training from 11-19 of june and of course i only recently got back from las vegas. I will have to try and catch up with you and danny later this year. plastic

Baggage allowance flying ryanair is 15kgs, they dont always weigh going out of england, depending on the airport but they always weigh in spain and you do get charged if you are over although you can pre-book unlimited sports baggage which i believe is about £18 ($35 approx) each way, but you must pre book this. hotel castell blanc is excellent and 5 minutes walk from the dz but book early as it does get full, they also have a very good bunkhouse very recently built, rooms sleep 4, again pre-booking advised. from the airport at girona its about 40 minutes drive 40km, 90+ minutes from barcelona. also walk along the main road into town about 10 minutes or so on the left hand side you will find the el-dorado steakhouse great t-bones and mixed grills. enjoy! plastic

get one with hip rings, more comfortable to move around in and also has less effect on the way the canopy flies when using the legs to pick up grips, which is especially noticable when doing sequential. However i personally would not have chest rings as they only seem to manage to give you bruises if you get hard openings, with no obvious benefit. The most important thing, get measured properly and make sure it fits.

I have also heard people say the same thing when they have visited perris. If you are on your own and need a gear check ask an experienced local jumper, maybe an instructor if possible, no self respecting experienced jumper should ever refuse to help with a flight line check, if they are local and do not want to take the responsibility then they should at least point you in the direction of somebody who can help. We do have at least a moral obligation to try and help each other stay alive.

"the brits have a sign off system after one of their guys sbaotaged his equipment and it hasn't stopped anybody from dying" At my dz in the uk we already had the sign off system when i started in 1991, these checks have from time to time resulted in people who had put on their gear incorrectly being given the chance to rectify the situation on the groud rather than hoping somebody spots it in the plane. Nothing is foolproof but if it helps to reduce the number of incidents then it has to be worth doing. I have seen people being pulled up for incorrectly routing the chest strap 3 times, twice abroad (1 in usa 1 in spain) as they were getting into the aircraft and one in england when they were being checked out on the flightline. On this occasion the jumper in question had just returned from 3 months jumping in the usa and earlier had complained to us about the flightline check being a "silly waste of time" This may also be a wake up call for anybody who has a cypres and thinks that will guarantee them a canopy before impact. The cypres has indeed saved a lot of lives but the best method is still to stay altitude aware and deploy the canopy yourself at a safe height. still, condolences to friends and family of the deceased.

Hi andre, after eloy two guys left, graham and ez (ez unfortuanetly died last year doing a head down jump, graham is no longer jumping and has two kids) we got two new guys for spain 2001 and then i left immediately afterwards. The team is still going with the other 4 people (ian, alan, ali and nick) but dont train much as alan now lives in france and has 3 kids. After spain I had a year not jumping much and then started coaching some new people at my local dz and we now have an 8-way speed team (5 guys and three women), we won our nationals last year and are hoping to go to russia for 2006. I gather you aren't jumping much now you are out in the desert? regards mark

hi andre, we met in eloy 1998, i was on uk sequential team. is graham field still jumping and the other guy i think his name was johan but yo called him dupi or something like that. a couple of years later i saw graham on tv doing a stunt flying his canopy into a rope ladder hanging from a baloon, wild guy! regards mark weaver

may onwards in florida gets very hot and humid, most afternoons you will get big build ups of cloud and heavy rain. i went once beginning of may and jumping 07.30 till 11.30 ish and the maybe 15.30 onwards until dark but was very humid and unpleasant and rained almost every afternoon for two weeks. go to california instead, or better still leave the kit at home and go to las vegas. regards plastic

sounds like you have been there, is it as good as people say? plastic

I have been trying to contact kolomna dropzone by e-mail but the mails keep getting bounced back for a variety of reasons. This seems to have happened since they had their web site re-vamped. I am thinking of taking an 8way crw team there to train in june but want to contact them first, i could try the old fashioned telephone but i only know a little russian. just wondering if any of the local jumpers read these forums and i can make contact that way. regards plastic

you earned the right to laugh, as you were the only one to chop as a result. plastic

To clear up some confusion about an earlier post. In this i made a comment and mentioned chris gay by name, this was a light hearted comment but it has been pointed out to me that this could be taken the wrong way. This comment was in no way intended as an insult or having a dig at chris and i apologise if it seems that way. I have and continue to have the utmost respect for chris as a crw jumper, he is also a good guy as well. In future i shall refrain from making comments about people by name. regards mark

Of course there is a lot of flying skill required but mostly being part of a big formations is about discipline (like don't reel in a locker when you are a wing ). point taken, be sure to pass that comment to chris gay next time you see him! regards plastic

Thought this was an invitation only event.

I agree give dave morris a call, i did aff with dave 13 years ago. no one better for getting you through aff. As regards the states i went to vegas 3 weeks ago and the fingerprint stuff is over exaggerated it took us no longer to get through immigation than before, unless you have something to hide. good luck

More dead swoopers than dead crw jumpers, its your life and you have the right to choose how to end it. On a lighter note as with all "Risk sports" if you learn them properly and use the right equipment and progress at a pace that you are comfortable with you can reduce the risks to almost zero. Just remember when we do crw we have loads of altitude to recover if we make mistakes, when you are swooping if you make a mistake you have no altitude to recover. CRW is not dangerous but some people that have done crw are. If you decide to do crw jump with someone who knows what they are doing and you will have some real good fun, that is the best summary that i can come up with.