RandomLemming

Sorry, I may have confused things by not quoting. I was replying to Sabre210's post about another jump a couple of years back. Security were actively denying the jump, swearing blind it could not have happened. The jumper's contacted the local paper and explained exactly how and when they did it. Since then, they've rectified the blind spot on the security cameras and patrols are now far more aggressive. you can't even take photographs here anymore (and that was before 7/7)

Hi all, Can anyone advise me which airport for Empuriabrava? The site says that there are flights to Girona airport from Ryanair. On the RyanAir site, I can find Barcelona (Girona) (GRO) on the Ryanair site. Is this the right one ? The reason I ask is that when I try and rent a car from Hertz for GRO, I get Costa Brava Airport, Airport, Gerona , ES That doesn't look that close to Barcelona, and the spelling of the airport is different. Any ideas ? Thanks :)

Yeah, now I work near that building and spend a lot of time staring at it. Even though I work in a very tall building right nearby, I can't get out onto the roof because security is very tight. I'm sure it's not all down to that report (I remember reading about it in the paper at the time and it sounded a bit arrogant, almost like they were peed that they didn't get caught) Fortunately I'm several hundred skydives from my first BASE, but I'm pretty sure I'll never get to jump any of these buildings.

Oooh nice - Thanks muchly!

Hi Di :) I got a nasty suspicion I'm going to be in the same boat with that. I hear that canopies don't really lose their slippy aspect until about 50 jumps or so? Quick question - Do I have to know how to pack, or do I have to have my packing certificate signed off? Because from what I can tell, there is some difference between those two standards :) I know how to disassemble and reassemble a three ring circus, and I'm ok with sorting out twists and tangles (did a bunch of that last trip to Spain ), but once the brakes are stowed, the PC is cocked and the lines are all straight, I'm not good for any more. I'm not panicking yet because worst case, I can just pay to have my rig packed. But I really want to get my B because this business with the glasses and the goggles is pissing me off, and the sooner I can get into a full-face helmet, the sooner I can stop having a big bulge (glasses case, nothing dirty I promise ) under my suit just to the left of my reserve handle. So I have to learn at some point :)

Please be sure to thank him kindly on my behalf, but I think I'll pass :) Your point is well made though :) That is exactly what I keep trying to do, but I've had the worst luck so far this year. Every time I've had spare to go to the DZ, the sun has come out and the packers have all been busy so I've just jumped instead of learning. The only time I spent much time on the ground was in Spain, but that trip there were no instructors able to teach me. So I thought I'd just arrange to pay someone for their time rather than keep hoping to be in the right place at the right time. Your advice makes sense and I'll see if I can get a day off work to go out there, or see what the weather on a weekend is like and phone someone to arrange things in advance

Ouch - that's an expensive call. I can ring them for you if you like? Just drop me a PM with your order details and the issue, and I will give them a call on your behalf if that helps any ?

Has anyone heard of a brand of base layer clothes named Ice Breaker ? They are apparently made from merino wool. Edited to add - Read posts above and found mention of this. Doh!

Hi all, Is there anyone out there who would like to make some cash and kill themselves laughing as I try to learn to pack a Pilot 188 with 35 jumps on it? I'm willing to pay for tuition (2/3 jump tickets or cash equivalent sound fair?) Headcorn or Hinton would both be ideal dropzones if you are able to meet me at one? If anyone has some time to help the hopeless, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks in advance,

Ok, that's useful... So I'll probably be able to get away with a Samsonite then which saves me some money on a Pelican (and more importantly, some weight :)) You've got to be REAL careful with travel insurance though. I discovered this when we had the wet-wipes scare that shutdown all hand luggage out of the UK. I found out that my travel insurance and two other companies that I tried will not cover goods over a certain value in the hold. With my travel insurance company, that value is GBP1000. With other companies it varies. They'll cover the stuff on your vacation, but it's just not covered while in the care of the baggage handlers or in the hold of the aircraft. From the time it disappears down the belt behind the check-in clerk until it comes off the belt at the other end, you have no cover on 'valuable' items. The value of valuable varies from insurer to insurer, but I couldn't find one that placed this over GBP1500. This meant no travel with laptop and camera at the time. The next bet would seem to be household insurance. Mine covers me up to £2500 away from the home, which just meets my camera and laptop requirements (and co-incidentally, my rig requirement if I leave the other stuff at home). The downside though is that they also won't cover my goods while in the hold of an aircraft. Sure, there's always the option of lying about where the loss / damage occurred, but that doesn't sit well with me. There must be an honest and legal way to cover my equipment while I travel surely? I think that is changing more and more these days. I've been stung for being as little as 5KG over on one occasion and 7 on another, and family members have been nailed for being between 5 and 11KGs over recently. This is mostly on long-haul flights, specifically from the UK to SA. Virgin and BA are the two airlines I've been nailed by. Even if I pack it in checked luggage, I plan to include a photocopy of the card (both sides) and once I find it, the appropriate letter for both UK and SA authorities taped to both back and front of the rig. That will hopefully get their attention. Heh - I never travel anywhere to skydive without taking out an Endsleigh policy that covers the region I am jumping in. Sadly, their travel insurance also limits valuable items as checked baggage so it only helps with potential medial and public liability issues, not with gear theft or damage by the airline :(

I did a search, but some of the questions, I couldn't find answers to. Specifically a list of any skydiving friendly airlines who would consider my rig as sporting equipment. That's not correct at all. Carriage of many sporting goods results in an increase in your weight allowance. Golf clubs give you an extra 10KG with BA. Skis give you an extra 20 odd. Bicycles give you an extra 12. That's a big deal, going from 23KG to 35KG by having a bicycle. If I could find an airline that flies UK->SA that gives that bonus for my rig instead of a bicycle, I would cancel my BA tickets and book with them. Hence the question. Packing luggage is well and good, but a sturdy case and recommendations thereof is more important. I've seen Samsonite cases destroyed on runways (and these aren't the easiest things to break) and then the contents driven over by the following cart and 4 trailers. A lot of stuff that was quite well packed was destroyed. So no matter how well you pack, solid cases and insurance are relevant.

Hi all, I have a few questions about traveling long distance (11 hour flight) with a rig. 1. Do any airlines consider rigs to be sporting equipment? BA do not allow any extra weight, and with an 11KG rig, I've got no room for things like clothes and shoes really :( 2. If you are able to ship it as sporting goods, what kind of bag do you ship it in? I'm leaning towards a hard case, especially as I will be flying to South Africa, and the baggage handlers are not known for their gentleness :) I was thinking of getting some kind of Samsonite case. Are there better options than this around ? 3. How do you insure your gear against theft and damage? My travel insurance won't cover expensive items in the hold of the aircraft (laptops, cameras, rigs, etc.) 4. Do you advise that I have a reserve repack done before I jump the rig, or is it sufficient to do a solid external check? If I can't take it as sporting goods, I'll have to seriously cut down on the amount of crap I take with me... Like clothes, and underwear. The other option is to Fedex it to my folks the week before I leave to go out there, but I'm not confident in their ability to get it there unharmed either. Thanks a lot in advance :)

I picked up a buff last week. I tried a balaclava on at Blacks today, but I couldn't get my glasses on under it which is a pain. I'll have to hope Buff + lid are enough. I'm going to have to go and try another blacks though because the one at bluewater had no long underclothing.

Stunning - I'd not heard of them, thanks!

Thanks much - There is a monster blacks near where I will be later today. Hopefully they sell silk underwear :)

Hi all, I've just bought an awesome second hand rig, so I'm trying to find some cold weather gear so that I can jump it. If anyone could advise where I can find the following in the UK, preferably London, I would be very greatful: Surgical gloves suitable for going under my regular gloves Silk balaclava Decent long thermal underwear suitable for jumping That's pretty much everything I can think of at this point, but if I've missed anything, pointers to that would be appreciated too!

Heh - that brings me to all sorts of questions about the right clothes, but I'll go and ask those in the gear section :) What is the best city to check weather reports for Empuriabrava? Barcelona?

Hi all, Can anyone let me know what the weather is usually like at empuriabrava over December? I've just bought some gear and I desperate to try it out... Weather at home is mostly ok, just too damn windy.

I've only had 2 jumps through clouds and I got crapped out for opening too low on my second one. I hit clouds at 6k and had told everyone I was going to deploy at 4500. At 4500 I was still in cloud, so I waited a few seconds. At 4000 I came out of cloud, gave it four more seconds and deployed. When I landed, I was told by the guy I followed out of the plane that I must pull when I say I will in future because I had endangered him. He explained that if he was tracking up the line of flight for any reason, I could collide with him by opening lower than I said I would. He is a regular at the DZ, and I am a n00b, so I have gone with this as my plan since then.

Do they do much low altitude stuff, or do you wait for blue skies ?

Hi all, Does anyone know of any UK dropzones that manage to fit a couple of low altitude jumps in on the weekends through winter? I really want to keep jumping through winter (just waiting for a suit that will let me put some layers underneath), but I'd like to find somewhere that I have a better chance of getting a few jumps in over a weekend. Thanks in advance,

Yes, but from everything I've read, the jumper chose to jump against the advice of those who have influence. I just can't see how it's right to try and apportion blame in those circumstances.

And here was me thinking that B.A.S.E was a sport where you are expected to take personal responsibility for your fate. Hmmm...

Thanks a stack for the info... I think as soon as I buy gear, I'll pull the handle and get a good look before I get my first repack done :)

Ocana is a fantastic DZ, but I had serious issues with my A licence after FFU - The BPA rejected the CH1 portion of it. Also, I'd be concerned over the fact that a lot of the time FFU don't live up to their advertised capacity. They claim to have 2 planes on the website, but everytime I've been there (and times other people have been there that I've heard from), they've only had 1. This goes from March this year to as recently as last month, with people being sent to Lillo because the one plane required maintenance. They also claim to provide 1 instructor per student, but at times when the pressure is on, they forgo this and the same instructor will be looking after multiple students. The DZ itself is great, and the only problem I ran into there was with jump tickets. They don't provide paper tickets, they just track what you've paid for on the computer, so you don't have physical proof of what you are still entitled to. I ran into a problem where they said I had used more jumps than I actually had, and my Spanish wasn't good enough to argue the issue - But when I found someone who spoke good Spanish and English they quickly resolved the issue for me. The other big plus to Ocana is the speed of pack jobs. They generally have a larger number of people packing than at other places I've jumped, so you have a better chance of being on more loads.