RossDagley

Thanks. Lots of reasons to move, and very little experience make it tricky I was thinking of langar although its a bit far (probably an hour and a half to two hours away) Chatteris was the Cambs one I was thinking of, or London Parachute School in Hazlemere, but that looks quite small. Have you jumped at either?

I'm aiming for October for a revisit, so I hope you'll be about then

I'm looking for somewhere to jump in the UK. I'd rather drive a little further and have a good atmosphere than be closer and have a bad one. Currently consider Hinton my home, but want to leave. Looking for suggestions please

I've done about 30 minutes of freefly coaching in the tunnel and I still suck I cant backfly well (read at all) because anything over a few minutes on my back gives my dodgy shoulder jip, but i'm sure it'll come with practice. My sitfly is stable-ish, but if i move even a fraction more than very gently, I tumble. I'd like to practice this in the air rather than the tunnel, with no walls to hit Interesting to note that sit flying is banned at my home DZ (Hinton, UK) until a minimum of FS1 and 100 jumps. So I can do it, but I can't. If you see what I mean.

Thanks Tonto, that means a lot especially after all the help you gave me in PM. When I'm over your way, I'll deffo be bringing my rig and we'll go jump

Anyone who remember my posts originally about not being able to jump in the UK can now sleep soundly in their beds that as of last week, I now can DeLand. I'd like to thank Pine and Bob for all the effort they put into me - I know I was hard work especially as I required 1-on-1 instruction and attention. It was an honour to be taught by Pine. His motivation and enthusasm are simply unheard of over here in the UK. The whole DZ was very accomidating towards me, with every single instructor being very open and helpful (except one, but I'll not let that tarnish my memory!) My new gear is simply perfect - everything arrived exactly on schedule (thanks Aerodyne, Alti-2, and Merlin) - my RW pro-comp suit fitted perfectly first time and looks the dogs danglies, even my custom alti turned out rather fappin great Photos to follow! Total of 2.5 hours in the tunnel in that fortnight and I'd like to thank Chris, Randy and Bowen from Skyventure for all their coaching. Specific details below for the bored -at-work.. 26th June to 8th July was spent in Orlando, and a large part of that at DeLand. The weekend of arrival (Sunday) I visited to make sure they were ready for me (because of my custom student rig requirements) and both Bob and Pine took time out of their busy days to come talk to me for a while, show me my gear and go through what we were going to be getting up to. Monday saw 30 minutes in the tunnel, and that was the best investment I think I've ever made. The first 15 minutes made all the difference to my stability and general freefall skills. Tuesday, and up at DeLand. I'm taught 1-to-1 with Pine as we need to keep my gear (and hence me) seperate from the rest of the students. I'd already say ground school in the UK about 3 weeks previous, so Pine and I went over plenty until he was happy with my knowledge. He watched some clips of me in the tunnel, and decided I'd be good to go in at AFF level 4. Mock exits, drills and some more chatting, until the weather turned sour. Wednesday and arrival at 8am. By 8:30, I'm in the RocketVan and heading to 13k. Jump went good. Pine released me within 10 seconds, and I'm on my own. Odd to see him in front of me and knowing I'm on my own! Couple of practice pulls, lots of reminders for altitude awareness (damn that tunnel and its 2.5 minute blocks) until 5.5k. Under canopy and oh dear, I'm on my own. No tandem instructor to do the hard work Radio very confusing as theres 6 other students on the load, all Arabic, so Tim (the radio guy) is talking Arabic mostly. Luckly, he prepended most of my stuff with "ROSS!..." Landed ok, on my bum (apparently that kinda happens when you dont bother flaring ) Debrief with Pine was very through. Exit and jump very good, canopy control needs work. This is set to be the theme for my time in Deland... AFF 5 same day, passed no problems - same comments. Jump good, canopy control could be better. I'm jumping with the other AFF students and wondering why they're so much more accurate than me - turns out they've 10+ more landings than me to get to AFF 5. Next day, AFF 6. Take one stable belly flyer and put him on his back (backflips). Ok, that didn't work out. Getting stable is a new one on me My only retake, but did it the following day and nailed it. Canopy control needs work. Third jump, first standup landing. They all are from this point forward. Day after, AFF 7 and oh my god, its a dive exit for my checkout dive! The girlfriend secretly phoned DeLand and paid for a videographer to film that jump - i didn't know why he was filming me until afterwards Dive exit unstable (give me a break, first time!) but recovered quickly. All moves performed (although the track was more of a delta), Pine passed me as good to jump on my own. Flight plan still needs work. Result. Serious feelings of elation. Here was the hardest part - now what. Spoke to Pine. what do I do now?? Go jump and enjoy the view was the answer - do nothing but fall on your belly. Look around. Enjoy. Okay Still on radio because of my low jump numbers and my flight plans still aren't all that hot, but now I'm at the back of the Van waiting for someone to checkout to. Pines not there. Moment of panic! Someone gives me a thumbs up and I just return it and give in - small hop backwards and theres the plane. Probably the most memorable jump I've done so far that one - seemed to take an eternity with no moves to perform and no-one watching me. Belly to earth, enjoying the view. And WHAT a view. Landing better too. Couple of days off (more tunnel time) until Scott Millers Course on the Tuesday. Only me and Bowen who I knew from the tunnel, so we're all mates. The course itself is pretty intense. 10 non-stop hours with 5 hop-and-pops. These were of course my first hop and pops, so when the time came to get out (now from the porter, not the van) I had a brief moment of "fuck THAT" but it quickly passed, and all was good. The canopy stalls are mental - very frightening to watch on video then told "now you go do that" but it turned out out. Line twists as a result of the brake stalls, but nothing that wasn't easy to deal with. My landing improved dramatically with Scott although he said the landing part was good-as, just my approach needed work. I think I'm now getting the hang of that, as I can consistantly get within about 100ft now! No radio for this lot too - forgot to say. The long spot was a bitch - Scott actually said it was more like 2 miles and not the 1.5 miles it should have been, and with my HUGE canopy and weak shoulder, plus an airport on the horizon I did wonder if I'd make it back! But I did, and learnt a fair bit about glide paths in the process. All in all, a very very good time. To summise, its basically the complete opposite of the UK in DeLand (at least my experience). You want it? You got it. Everyone goes out of their way to help. Everyone goes out of their way to be kind. Its not even concious, its just a given. They're there to help, not hinder like in the UK. Thank you SO MUCH DeLand for everything. I'll be back - as soon as I possibly can. I promise.

I just did 2.5 hours in the tunnel over the last two weeks - i was wondering where to log it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The fun soon pales. My last couple of tandem reserve rides in Hemet, California were with tandem level two students. "You see that broken line on the right side? We don't want to land this. (laying cutaway handle on his right shoulder) pull this red handle and arch some more." I appreciate theres something educational about that situation, but as the saying goes... rather you than me I remember someone (Tonto? AggieDave) saying they didn't do tandems anymore after 3 basically back to back cutaways... Forgive me if I've got the names muddled.

Indeed - one that got my attention was Mike Gruwell with 5 reserve rides in 6 months, two on a tandem two weeks apart. Thats gotta stop being fun after a point...

I place high value on your opinions (specifically with regard to wing loading) after reading several of your previous (and lengthy!) posts. By coincidence, I've emailed Scott Miller today asking some questions about his canopy control course, and where coming right off AFF right onto one of his courses is appropiate and so forth. My safety is my absolute number one concern. If I dont feel comfortable, or even if I'm unsure about ANY circumstance, I will not be getting out the door. Maybe right now I'm just nice and neive. I dont WANT to go faster/harder. I can see real and quantifiable risks in inreasing my wingloading at a low level of experience - you've only got to read the incidents forum for that - I guess the original post was asking why other people dont always see it the same way.

Just to add, I'm having to sign the Skyventure Orlando waiver next week for my tunnel time. I acually took the time to read it. Damn if I've never seen anyone cover their ass so much! But I'm from the UK, so I guess this is normal over the pond... http://www.skyventureorlando.com/downloads/SV_Release_Waiver.pdf Basically, if something goes wrong, say mechanically, as a direct result of neglegence of Skyventure (forgot to oil the fans etc ), and you end up as mincemeat its your problem. You cant hold them liable. If you're in with an instructor, and are injured as a result of his actions or inactions, you can sue neither him, nor Skyventure. I understand the sue-culture, but it seemed a little extreme to me Even Lara (bless her) from Alti-2 said I'd have to sign a waiver when I pick up my altimeter. I haven't read it yet, but can only presume it says when I bounce because I didn't read it right, I wont sue them Edit for spelling.

Then you're ignoring 1/2 of skydiving. Granted I am at the moment! I know there are many avenues of skydiving to explore. Time will tell as always what path I take. Once I'm off student status, I guess I'll have more time to 'play'! am i the only one that sees a contradiction here? I think you're misreading what I wrote. I just bought a new main. If I go two main sizes smaller, I'd need a new container. IE, my 190 fits in my icon I6, as would a 175. If I dropped below a 175, I'd need an I5. I'm in no rush to require a new container when I've just shelled for a brand new one. So why'd you downsize from your monster student main? Welcome to the "pushthenvelopetryingtokillmyselfisn'tcooljustplaindumb" club. Huh? I'll be completing my AFF at Deland next week. (because of some other factors) Pine is suggesting I jump my new rig right from the off rather than their student gear. No monster student main involved at all. Although it may turn out I jump their 210 when we decide, but that means modding their gear. Pine is yet to decide.

I'm gaining weight - I *will* turn this 190 into a HP canopy at this rate Maybe thats it - just lack of experience. I guess whats made me think about it is I see a few accuracy jumpers at my DZ. And no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wring here, but I don't recall reading about an accuracy jumper burning in under a good canopy... Big, slow canopies. Soft landings. Yep. That'll do Combine that with reading one too many incidents of "indestructable" people doing stupid things i guess I got thinking. The impression I have is the 100-300 jump numbers are the danger zones - where I become indestructable etc. Im presuming I wont see it coming either, it'll just sneak up on me, one complacency at a time...

Is it really that simple?

I'm new. I've got got my first rig ordered. Right now, I'm pretty much only interested in the freefall section of my skydives - the canopy is a method of delivering me to the ground safely and not a lot more. Am I in the minority for having no desire whatsoever to rush downsizing? What IS the rush? Its risk versus reward. Granted, it means a smaller pack volume and a smaller rig, but hell - I just bought this one - two sizes smaller and i'd need a new container. No thanks. This one was expensive enough. I've only been on dz.com a few months (and my training is slow because of other factors) but I'm getting bored already with reading posts of people doing stupid things under canopies where wing loading was a factor. In another post - I honestly dont see it. Some desire to 'push the envelope'? Increasing the odds of killing myself isn't 'cool' in my book, its just plain dumb. sorry for banging on. Frustrated.

good man. They're beautiful. I knew i got into this for a reason

Its now tomorrow. Of course, we'll need photographic evidence...

or rather they do, but babelfish doesn't always get it right

Thanks John for the very informative post

Thanks you all for your suggestions. As I touched on above, I'll be discussing this with my instructor when I'm next at the DZ. I wasn't looking for 'specifics' as in, "do this, then do that" I was more looking for general "when that happened to me, i did this and that happened" - I do appreciate that some people take whats said on here as gospel and run off and do it - I'm not one of those sheep It was simply an area I'd read a reasonable bit about, and wanted to know more - knowledge is power, or in my case, knowledge overcomes fear. I'd rather be knowledgeable and in the shit than fearful and in the shit! Thanks again guys for all the help

As I said above...

It was a train of thought I had last night, and I'm not at the DZ for a couple of weeks unfortunately, so I cant ask there. I sorta figured there was a 'standard' way of dealing with this situation, and was looking for other peoples input and experiences. I appreciate the 'talk to your instructors' line, but that could in theory be the answer to everything - I'm after a broader range of 'generalisation' than a specific instructor (whether mine or anyone elses) would give. Thanks though

Forgive my noob-ness, but wouldn't it be the other way round thats the issue? strong winds (say 20 mph) then nothing (5mph say) just as your at 75ft or whatever?

I've read that in a two out situation, its possible to land the pair under certain circumstances such as when they're in a bi-plane and you control the dominant canopy and leave the other canopies brakes stowed. I also read that the dominant canopy is usually the larger of the two. This raised an interesting train of thought, so I fugured I'd ask here to see if you guys have any advice. Presuming my main is a 188, and my reserve is a 190, is the difference enough between the two to presume the reserve will 'nearly always' be the dominant canopy, and if so, what are the risks Vs rewards of flying the smaller shute (IE the main) if it doesn't work out that way, and again, whats the risks involved in cutting away the main (presuming the dominant canopy is indeed the reserve) Hope you followed that! Thanks in advance. Ross

Lara just finished my first alti - naturally with a custom face. Mine wont be gold, but this is the pic she just sent me to show me it made up...