RandomLemming

Well, the 6 month thing actually doesn't worry me that much... I've been contracting for 4 years now on a 3 month contract. Every 9 - 12 months I end up moving somewhere else, and I can't stay anywhere for more than 2 years anyway with the IR35 law in the UK. But my commitment from the employer of the moment has only been for the next 3 months. Because my pension plan is self funded, and I have no benefits accrued from service, this is really just more of the same. 6 months is actually double my current commitment that I go in on, so I have _more_ security than I do now :D At the bank at the moment, I'd rather remain a contractor, but they're trying to move to permanent staff, hence their offer. They're looking for more continuity and knowledge retention than they get with contractors, but the contracting market here is pretty strong still and I've not completely decided to become a wage slave again. For one thing, you don't get paid overtime. So whereas now, the weekends that I'm currently not able to skydiving because of work make me money, if I go perm, those weekends are just lost time with nothing extra to show for them.

I'm still not sure how to read that myself :D I'd be taking a pay cut, yes, but the take-home amount would still cover all of my outgoings including life insurance, medical, etc. On the flip side, I'd be spending less and pocketing some of my allowance because I don't really live an extravagant lifestyle outside of geek toys and skydiving. Not arguing that for a microsecond - for the companies involved, there is BIG money at stake here. We're talking comms into areas that were previously deemed too unprofitable to serve back in the days when you had to run copper. We're talking about offering phones to people who used to send the village elect 20kms to the nearest pay-phone bank to make all of the required calls and get all the news. And we're talking about doing it at a price point that everyone will want a piece of this. So yeah, there's big money. There might even be some money in it for me in the long term, but I've always struggled to focus on money. I figure I find some when I need it. You'll also note the point about the discrepancy between my outgoings and my take-home at the moment - that gets piled into various savings accounts and bled for vacations and home improvements :D My wife says that if this is something I want to do, I should go for it. And she probably means it too - I've never met anyone like her when it comes to supporting me. I'm just not sure the marriage will survive though. We've never spent more than the odd week here or there for business apart and even then she's sometimes come with me. Will she meet someone normal while I'm on the road and realise that life doesn't have to be as weird as it is with me? Will she find someone that is more focussed on seeing museums and having a nice tidy home and garden? Will she just realise that she doesn't really need me or that the place is tidier and quieter without me? Yeah, I jump out of planes. That doesn't mean I have any self esteem or confidence, alright ? How do you mean the plan? With regards to why 6 months, that's what they can guarantee to pay me and fund my flights for right now. I've worked with this guy before, and he's really good that way - he won't make an offer unless he knows he can fund the whole thing, end to end. Initially, it would be fly back to SA for training and introduction to the product. Then I'd fly out to the first site and start the install. 2 weeks after leaving, I'd fly back to London for 4 days because I've promised my wife and her parents to take them to Fairford. I'd then fly back to site, finish the first install, then back to London for a week and off from there. From then on it would be 2 weeks on a site, then 1 week back in London for 4 - 6 months, except for August. In August I'm taking my wife to NY for her 0x21 (33rd) birthday. They're being pretty cool with the dates that I already have commitments for and they're re-structuring the roll-out schedule around that.

Well, everyone I've tried to speak to about this so far just says I'm crazy, so I thought I'd throw myself upon the tender mercies of the DZ commers :) I have a pretty good life in the UK. I currently contract for a large investment bank, although they're trying to convince me to go perm. I have an OK house, a wife who tolerates me and overall a pretty easy life. I even get two weekends off a month to jump or do other stuff around the house. But I'm bored. Work's just a routine... It's something I get up every day and go and do because I have bills to pay. Yesterday an old boss called me. I left the company on amicable terms 8 years ago to move to the UK. He's looking for someone to run around Africa like a blue arsed fly rolling out some technology stuff into various cellular (mobile for my current hosts) operator's systems. I'd be on the road 3 weeks out of 4 for the first 6 months, and the money he's offering would put me half way between my current monthly outgoings and my current monthly earnings. I'd be staying in OK hotels, and I'd have the time to learn Spanish in the evenings and finish off the studying for the certifications I'm currently trying to achieve. But I'd still be in deep dark Africa... Kenya, Burkina Faso, Niger, etc. Most of these places have had coups and other military activity in recent years, and they're not exactly peace and stability models. But I'd be doing something interesting. I have NO idea about half of the tech involved, I don't know the systems and I don't know half of what I need to to get the job done. I'd be challeged daily, I'd be working my ass off from early to late to get the work done. On the weekends that I don't get to fly back to London, I'd be thousands of miles away from my wife, my dog and my cat. I'd be alone, something I'm traditionally not good at, and I'd be a long way from anything that currently makes me happy or comfortable. I'd be walking away from an easy life and the possibility of a career with one of the most successful investment banks on the scene at the moment. I'd be REALLY pissing my boss off seeing as he talked me into staying when I wanted to resign two weeks ago. On the plus sides, I'd get to jump at JSC on the occasional weekend that I'm in jo'burg which is always a plus. I'd be challenged and I'd be doing something more valuable to the world than making another bank even richer. I'd be helping people in some of the most remote parts of the world communicate with people outside of their immediate communities. From a selfish perspective, I'd almost be picking up an entire new career and I'd learn GSM systems inside out. I'd be experiencing parts of the world that many people never see. And I'd have the opportunity to carve a chunk of a startup company for myself. The initial contract would be for 6 months after which I can walk away, but what would I be walking back to ? Would I still have a family to come home to? Can I really ask that much of a person, to wait for me for so long ? This all looked a lot clearer and easier in the cold light of day, but as the day draws on, I get more and more confused and concerned. So what would you do?

Ah - that makes sense. I guess most US dropzones have more space than average UK / European DZs ? We don't have the luxury of luck here - we have to predeclare the landing as an accuracy landing. We have to get 5 out of 10 or start over again. So if you have 4 'hits' on your 10th predeclared landing and you miss, you start from 0 again. That's why I'm trying to get it right before predeclaring :D

I thought it was 15ft from the centre, 5 times out of 10? I took that from the fact that it is within a 30ft diameter, so that only gives you 5 metres from it.

That definitely sounds like a plan. I'll go and scavenge something from next to a road on the way home... We use too many cones here anyway :D What also seems like a useful idea is to move my home DZ to Netherhavon for a while - from what I've been told, they will actually do low passes, which gives me more practice and I'll get more jumps in to practice in a day, which will hopefully build up the muscle memory :)

I'm not too bad at picking my own landing point, but it's hard to describe that to whoever is supposed to be observing my declared landing. I tried once... That tuft of grass where it's kinda white around it about 15 meters east of the arrow. If it was an instructor observing every landing, I could probably walk them out and show them, but they normally have the JM or some other experienced jumper on the load do the observation, so you're 'training' a new person every jump. The circle and the arrow at headcorn are at least known points, but that means other people go for them as well. I'd try for the accuracy tuffet, but I had a bad experience with that at Empuria - I aimed for the blue target... and hit it... and then bounced off and face planted. Now I know that they're bouncy ;)

heh - that is my first priority, which is one of the reasons I never hit the circle. But at some point I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start hitting that circle to get my B. I'm terrified of this point because I like landing slightly by myself, out of the crush of people. At least the way I do it, I know that the only person I can hurt is me. Going for that circle puts me in the middle of other people, and I don't want to hurt anyone else.

I'm jumping a Pilot 190 loaded at 0.96:1. I don't think canopy sizes and loadings are even considered when they arrange the exit order at any of the DZs I've been at. It's all been done based on freefall dive plan. So if I'm in a 4-way (yeah, right - should be so lucky!), there's a good chance I'll be in the first group out the door. But a solo going out 4th, pulling at 3.5k might have a much smaller or higher loaded canopy than me. A freeflier going out 6th could be on an even smaller canopy than him, but if this particular DZ puts out flat first then freefliers, he's going to be going out 6th. I do always tend to open fairly high if I know I'm the 'boat' on the load (which is most of the time :D unless there are students) but even so, I could be open a good 15 - 30 seconds before the guy with the 120 at 1.8:1 just based on our freefall dive plans.

I'm definitely thinking about the spot I want to hit, but I've had a friendly chat with a CCI already about cutting people up in the air, and I'd rather avoid another of those 'constructive' discussions. The only real tools I have for my landings are my pattern (downwind at about 1000, crosswind at about 800 - 600, then final between 400 and 200 all depending on wind) and the accuracy trick (brakes if needed down to 100ft). From 100 on, I just fly straight and level. As long as I have the space to fly that, I do ok. Not great... 10 metres instead of 15 feet, but still not too bad, and it gets better as the day goes on. Where I suffer is if there's someone below and in front me, but I seem to be passing them. Even with my brakes just before my stall point, I often still seem to be passing, so I choose another place to land and keep out of their way. The other one that gets me is people that move from being above me to being below me just before or during my pattern - that throws me right out. I have tried seeking instruction, but as long as it's a jumping day, I've struggled to find time with either of the two instructors I can speak to at Headcorn. I can't blame them - they're running an entire DZ for the most part, and I understand where they're coming from. I've got my eyes open for the next canopy course at Empuria because my landings were stellar there, even on a new canopy. I hope it comes soon though :(

Apparently you can jump a full face in SA without a B, but it's all a bit weird here. To be honest, that is my sole motivation for wanting to get my B, so maybe it is a good thing. It's just a pity the B is so hard to get at most DZs. Horrific as this may sound, I have a lot of other things that I have to do besides skydiving. I work 1 - 2 weekends a month and I still have a house to maintain, so I can't really spend that much bad weather time at the DZ - I need that time for gardening, DIY, work, etc. I prefer to be there for the good weather days, but that's not the time to be trying to get people's undivided attention.

That sounds like Headcorn. To be fair, I see their point. And anything to get my full face would be great because my prescription goggles are starting to fall apart. I just wish they did more to help us get our Bs... like low passes on a regular basis or something similar. The 2 JM sessions this year were great, but there's not been a lot since, and when there is jumping happening, they don't really have people to spare for JM instruction, spotting practice or packing checking. Ah well... these things happen :)

On my first injury, all I could think of was 'How the hell am I going to tell people about this _and_ retain some sense of dignity and mystique?' I had an off landing one field over from the DZ. Getting back to the DZ, I fell while climbing a fence and did my ankle in but good!

I'm really struggling with accuracy here in the UK - it's the main reason I'm going to have to freeze through winter. which is funny seeing as the full face helmet I tried on had _better_ visibility than my prescription goggles I believe my requirement is 5 nominated landings out of 10 within 30 feet diameter (so maximum 15ft from the target). My problem seems to be 3 fold 1. I'm a coward. As soon as I see anyone even remotely in my airspace, I change where I'm going to land. As long as I fly my pattern from one end to the other, I am fine, but any avoidance moves me off the target and I don't know how to fix this. 2. I get it mostly there towards the end of the day if I get around 5 jumps in. My last jump or two are normally within the target range. But I never get 5 jumps in in the UK, even now that it's summer. That would mean being on every 3rd load where I normally jump and that just doesn't happen. 3. Pattern. This is kinda related to 1, but if everyone is flying the same pattern and I can slot into it, my landings get better and more accurate. If there is no pattern, just an agreed landing direction, I am 100% focussed on dodging people and my landings aren't where I need them to be to get my B. That's a bit of a bummer because my 2 favourite DZs here don't enforce patterns, just landing direction most of the time. I know that Empuriabrava, within 5 jumps, I'm landing within 10 metres of the target (still too far for my B, but much better). I've been able to do that from 40 jumps onwards because it's a big focus for me, getting my B. I think more DZs offering low pass days on a regular basis would help put more focus on canopy work and landings, but not very many seem to do this. I'm guessing it's a demand issue - I seem to be the only person I know who looks forward to getting out at 3.5k. Heck, some of the regulars at JSC thought I was nuts when I got all excited that they offer low passes and started getting out early

Thank gods it's not just me ! I have no answer for when people ask why I jump. But my wife insists that I do if I go three weeks without a lift because I become impossible to live with.

Thanks for the offer - Where's Old Bucky ?

Amen! I can only jump 1 or two days a month because of work, so every weekend at the DZ, I struggle to find someone to jump with. Then I fly 9000kms back to SA and find true hospitality and friendliness. Tonto jumps with me on my first load. Then he organises another 3 days of jumps with people and they are all great - they don't mind that I suck, and on my last jump we actually turn 6 points. I learnt more with this crew than I have at home in months, because of their relaxed attitude at ethos. Not a lot of AFF schools seem to care about retention or keeping skydivers in the sport. Some instructors I've met do care about keeping students around until they become proper skydivers with their own network of people, but they seem to be the exception and not the norm. I've had some great experiences with people in this sport, but had I not met people like Ed and Tonto, my view would be a lot more jaded and I'm not sure I would have even stuck it out this far, let alone continued much further. Just that one jump every couple of months where some random person walks up to you and invites you to jump makes it all worth while for me!

We got back from South Africa about a week ago, but it's been that kind of week, so I've not had time to post here :) I planned a trip (or 2) to JSC to get some jumps in while I was out there, and Tonto on here was beyond helpful in setting everything up for me. It was really awesome to show up 9000 kms from home and have people to jump with and fun to have. JSC is definitely in my top 2 dropzones that I've been at to date. Organised, friendly, lots and lots of bugger all to land on, brilliant packers and a nice sized TV to watch SA put two teams into the Super 14 finals (lets not go into what happened in the final!) The only thing that bugged me slightly was the altitude - my docile 190 was a bit more exciting than I'm used to, but I got the hang of that after about 3 jumps. If you're heading out to that part of the world, it's a well recommended DZ! Just whatever you do, try to avoid the cops. DZ.com was helpful for the jump part of the vacation, but I found myself really wishing for a 'dealingwithreallystupidandabusivecops.com' resource towards the end.

The G102s are OK if your vision is only slightly poor, but if you're like me, you're stuck with the G103. These are flat across the front instead of curved so you lose a lot of peripheral vision. I don't think there is anyone other than SportRx who do a goggle in my prescription though, so I don't have a lot of choice :(

I _think_ he means the rings on the slinks - I say this because I've been a bit concerned about mine popping out the side of the risers. I push them back before every pack job, but after deployment, they're right out there again.

Stupid question (I'm famous for those!), but don't the snaps on the side of the helmet provide a snag point ? I do like the look of that though - I'll look for some Flex-Z goggles when I get back from SA next month. How windproof are they ?

I was looking at Lasek. The consultant advised that I avoid all contact sports for 12 months after the surgery and said that he would definitely class skydiving as a contact sport because of the possibility of a hard landing.

I jump a pair of goggles from SportRX. They work very well, I have perfect vision with them, and I truly, truly hate them. But I can't wear contact lenses as my eyes are too dry :( The problems I have with goggles are mainly because I have VERY bad vision (-6.5/-6.0). So without my glasses I can't see a thing. Goggles fog up too often on the way up, so if I wear them from the ground up, I can't see jack. If I wear my glasses on the way up, I've got my goggles flapping around my chinstrap on my lid, and at some point I have to get to the pocket in my suit, get my glasses case out, put my glasses away and then go for goggles. This is fine in an Otter or a Pac 750, but on the floor in an islander or in a cramped Porter, it's a PITA for me and the people around me that I nudge while changing eyes. The inconvenience, I can live with and I'm sure people around me don't begrudge me the occasional bump, but I live in terror that I'm going to knock a handle or a pin. Under canopy, I have very limited peripheral vision as the sides of the goggles are black plastic, so I look like a bobbing dog with my head going everywhere to keep an eye on things. I'm sure I'd be safer with some peripheral vision though and being able to move my eyes as well as my head. There's also the issue on the ground - do you get your goggles off as soon as landing (because they fog up if you don't) or do you wait for everyone to land and keep as good an eye out through the fog that you can? I have to change to the glasses to see, so as a rule I land WAY off to make sure I'm not likely to be in anyone else's way, but it's not helping me get my B license here :) As soon as I can justify 12 months away from jumping, I'm going to get laser surgery and just be done with it!

I don't think you have much to worry about ;) From my own experience, and from talking to other people, the pilot is one of the softest opening canopies around. When packed properly, mine opens gently, on heading and consistently. It even did that on my third pack job.

That would be the Propack with the reverse S-fold, yes ? That's what I've been using lately, but I've got some funny looks at the DZ :)