sparkie

just wait till the wife sees these posts, we will be in for trouble then! Coz unlike frenchy, we all know that woman rule over us.

do not tease us Dutchies with your superior weather and nonexisting winters. we get like a full 6 months of shitty weather from here on. That climate change stuff isnt going fast enuf for me lol, dont care for the ice age part, just the global warming part. maybe if we fart even more on the plane.....

noob ;PPP

I think the breastfeeding should be done in private unless impossible. In our liberal country (netherlands..yes from amsterdam and drugs etc) i see it too often, and when eating i dont care for some woman laying her breast on the table to feed her baby while there is plenty of private places around. You often get a look like "so what?"and its perfectly normal to do that there. Annoys the heck out of me. If all goes well we should be getting a baby next week (planned heh) and I wouldnt want my wife to just bf anywhere, nor would she for that matter. Comes down to common sense i guess, when and where to feed.

Can we hate you because you're a morning person? If a morning person was like a jedi, I'd be darth vader! I am not a cheerful person to come across before 10:00 ;P I get homicidal around energetic persons that go like "good morning everyone!!!" before that time. ;P

own a small roofing company. Other than that, I'm a full time whacko just like the rest of you lot. I think all skydivers were dropped on the head when they were baby's ;P some cable or screw came loose.

OT: have fun ;P its 11 degs celcius over here and soon, something we call winter (you may have heard of it somewhere) will set in. "starting to get frustrated"

well, I'm a noob too but I bought my own gear already coz I dont like renting and I think Ill be better off money wise this way. But anyway, My skill level (nr of jumps) wont even permit me to go beyond a w/L of 1.1. You're almost the same weight as me and I fly a pilot 210 sq/ft atm. With some wind I feel comfortable to go smaller I guess but one also has to be able to land in zero wind conditions.(which takes some focus for me even with the 210, because I still make noob mistakes like reaching for the ground with a foot...harnass not level anymore, correct with toggle..oops let em up a bit, ouchie again ;)) I'd say, finish the program first, get a bit more comfortable (>25 jump or so) rent some stuff to try different canopies out and then go see if you can find something to buy. (maybe a container that holds the next downzise also? not sure if thats cheaper in the end or just trade the whole rig again at that time, ur choice) Size isnt the only thing that matters btw, the shape and material is also different on canopies, like f111 or zero p etc. Play around with the 280 for now, freefall is no fun if u cant land ;P Ask your instructor also, I just thought I'd post my experience with buying to provide some info from someone close to your weight and experience level hth, cu

you can have my car, I was thinkng of buying a Flintstone car myself, since the average speeds you can achieve here in holland dwell around 35-40 mph (60kmh) no matter where you go or what day.

Assuming that the person will want to continue the sport after the course for arguments sake. Given that, I wonder why anyone would want to do the S/L course at all, unless they dont want to ff and just stick with canopy work. In holland you have to have 25 FF jumps for your a licence, so you need to still make them after your sl course. What good is it that sl is cheaper per jump? Overall you pay way more to get to solo FF status. SL course incl 5 jumps is 420 euro over here, aff is 1250. Imo I paid 420 euro too much if i took the sl route. I know, I'm just a newbie, but I'd say -go SL if you never want to do FF and stick with canopy work str8 from the plane -do AFF if the above is not the case

Also: put your flaps to negative setting, less drag so mere distance covered/ft

Scared the poop out of me the 1st time I jumped my pilot ;P Mine's also around 800 ft, quite comfy indeed tho.

I have obly 42 jumps atm but the ppl at manifest are starting to look more and more like dealers. I ask for 9k ft, but somehow I walk away to find myself manifested at 12k ft again. Same happens with intended number of jumps...somehow these slick dealers squeeze me for more than I intended to jump. Also, I find myself calculating in the currency "number of jumps I could do". I'm afraid it wont be long now before some of the cars parked at the dz will be missing car stereo's and navigation units....I wonder if manifest takes those as payment or the more formal "sell the stolen goods first then comeback with money" is still the way to go.

Imo, you kinda have to think like that to stop one from quitting the sport. It's healthy i think. Yes skydiving is dangerous, and yes I could die doing it..... No point in dwelling on it, just be as prepared for trouble as you can be, what more can you do. You might miss all the good stuff that makes me smile, like last loads, the farting in the plane, the scenery and the reassurance that you're not the only guy/girl that never quite grew up ;) just my 2cts (from my vaaast experience at 42 jumps ;PP)

I'm reluctant to speak for others but, I seriously doubt that. Do you step into your car every time thinking it could be your last drive?

I did check the manual of my icon. I know the stows need to go towards the boc, but i was wondering why one would not just put it into the container that way instead of first putting the bag into the container with the stows facing tha backpad and then turn it (gently) so that the stows face the boc. edited for typos ;P

grats buddy ;P my wife and I will be having a baby girl in 8 weeks if all goes well. I have to admit, the whole bearth thing scares the hell out of me! ;P

Yeah right, next thing you guys will be saying captain picard and his starship aren't real! bah

...with small r/c controlled toy planes and helicopters? Ours is..Packing is really hazardous these days. Many people have reported near misses on their heads or actual strikes! Wont be long now until someone pulls his PC and finds a toy plane escaping from his/her rig ;P At least im again comforted by the fact that I am not the only guy who's brain still operates on the level of a 12 year old boy. Actually, the concentration of guys/girls that stopped growing up around the age of 12, although their bodies are sometimes well in their 30 or 40's, seems quite high around DZ's

ok, that little ball thingie. ;P Im quite new to the sport, seems like mastering all de new words is more of a challenge than the actual skydiving part ;P bag lock, line dump, hackey sack, D bag, horseshoe, hard pull, pilot chute in tow... hehehe. Most I could find or discover myself but that annoying hackey word had not come to me yet ;P thx

thanks all for the replies, learning a lot again ;P I always like to know "why" a certain procedure is done instead of just doing it because I was told to do so. thx

umm. wtf is a hackey? ;P

im a total newbie so forgive my ignorance ;P this is the way I was taught to put the bag into the container: Upon making all the stows and wrapping up the risers I put the bag into the container with the stows under it. Then I rotate the bag so that the stows face to the bottom of the container (towards me coz im sitting behind the rig). Now I close all the flaps etc. My question: why not put the bag in the container with the stows towards the bottom of the container right away, instead of rotating it into that position? Im thinking the rotation messes up your stows?! Is there a point to this rotating? Am I making any sense? ;P Perhaps i watched too many movies of bag locks and line dumps and am now spooked ;P

what''s that? I know what a bridle is ;) but what is the protection meant here?

[replyHere (in the UK) you have to get signed off on the canopy/container you will be packing :( wow, that sounds like bureaucratic overkill indeed.