Mad47

I had a similar problem on the first jump yesterday, however I was able to straighten the slight turn and release the knot (apparently it was not tight). The lower portion of the break line on second picture looks terribly twisted. I would guess this could potentially cause the knot after opening.

Here is a good example of how Z adder can be very useful in some cases. Sebastian Teiwaz, FSL meet 3, round 3. The video is available at NSL website.

Release of certain hormones and neurotransmitters during skydiving of BASE activities is a fact. The impact of most of these compounds of human mind and physiology is well known. Addiction is a big question though. I am personally very addicted to workouts because after couple of hours spent in Gym I always feel so much better that normally. This change is to a great extent caused by increased level of enkefalins. Am I addicted? Probably yes. Can I be classified as a drug addict? Probably no. By the way, sex is also very addictive. Dr. Mad

This is exactly what I am going to do when I get bored of skydiving. May be even earlier than that

Here is what I meant. pink=pt green=OC Blue=IC Yellow=Tail The angles are not exactly right on the drawing but I think the idea is clear. I hope Dave will correct me if I am wrong. P.S: Thank you very much, Guade. Your comment was very helpful.

I wonder why you call this build zAdder. Isn't is just a normal A slot adder?

Here is a scoring table from the official website of Malevski Cup http://www.malevskycup.ru/index.shtml

Congratulations! Hm ... it looks like a top page of block 12. Did you guys spin it to the star with Anomaly attached?

I agree with this I disagree with this. It is possible to keep track of people who are low and avoid them after break off without creating some major traffic problem if you are doing 10-way. But what if skydive gets bigger? Just imagine someone goes low, leaves early, tracks poorly and than finally pulls high on lets say 40-way. How many degrees is everyone’s sector right after break-off if 36 people leave at the same time? The low-man-has-a-right-of-way is a bad excuse for poor tracking skills and awareness.

A guy with bunch of jumps goes low on 10 way FS skydive, then he begins to "track" at ~5K (earlier than planned break-off and pitches at about 3.5-3K. I happen to be in his sector after break-off and track over his head by the time he extracts his PC (no waive-off). Tell me he was right because of low-man-has-a-right-of-way-rule.

I am just curious, was it Scott’s left knee on mono-mono?

Body type is no excuse The first few seconds of break-off are very important. If you turn and dive down, you already loose a lot of altitude relative to other jumpers. I don't feel like posting tips about tracking since I myself need to learn how to do it really well. There were several great posts at dz.com. Look at hook'n'swoop's tips. Cheers

It is not directly related to main point, but I am just curious. If you made it in, then how did you end up having someone above you 1500 feet after break off? People who cannot get in usually end up being lower than the base. I would guess the level problem was most likely caused by poor tracking (diving and loosing a lot of altitude instead of flat tracking). Consider working on your tracking skills if you want to jump with big groups. This skill saves your life and opens the doors for hotter and bigger skydives because the jumpers ability to safely manage the break-off is a primary concern of every organizer. If I find myself on 11-way skydive with several people out, my first priority will be to keep track of those people and look for a whole of clear airspace to get the hell out as soon as we reach break-off altitude.

Just a thought. At busy dropzone on busy day a packer can easily pack 50 mains per day, 100 per weekend. Statistically, the mains malfunction on every 300 to 1000 jumps. So if you pack at busy DZ, you can expect one cutaway from you pack job every month. There is no reason to blame yourself for that.

I don't think it was us, but I would like to use this post as another chance to thank all TSL advanced teams, especially Rave and Dallas Thunder, for the help. It was very nice of you guys to mentor intermediate and rookie teams and to help engineer the dives. We missed several training camps due to bad weather and as a result did not have a chance to practice most of the blocks before the first meet. Thank you guys for helping us out!

Another thing is most of the people who can offer something have spent tons of money to become top skydivers. So why should we expect to get free coaching from them? I am not saying it should be generally accepted that any coaching should be paid. Also, I have a lot of respect for those who taught me for free and will try do the same and pass the knowledge when I am ready but there is a big difference between just stepping in and giving some advice and spending time and money teaching newbies. Girls? It is pretty much universal, happens in any sport, not just skydiving. No more comment on this

I completely agree with Ron's concept too. I used to play tennis before I started to jump and guess what, I was never interested in playing with those whose skill level is lover than mine because they could not push and challenge me. One can only get better being pushed. Another issue that has not been discussed here is enormous ignorance that some young skydivers possess. It is very common for a new and inexperienced people (like I am) to expect some help from more experienced skydivers but it is unfortunately uncommon for us to ACTIVELY seek for information. It is hard to understand and accept the ignorance when we are literally exposed to free (or almost free) knowledge that can be obtained from various internet sources, tapes, DVDs and books. New 4-way folks who like getting advice from advanced people but do not bother to learn a dive pool, watch the tapes and visualize on regular basis is a good example. Before bitching that skygods refuse to help you become a better skydiver, ask yourself what have you actually done to get better.

Completely disagree. Rock'n'roll tyle life is all about so called freedom and lots of staff that affects (read f**cks up) both your mind and body. Life style far from harmony. Skydiving is about being calm, exploring your true personality and working hard on skills. Some skydivers will probably argue but this is the way I personally take skydiving.

I think it is a very good point. BTW, thank you guys for the skills camp last Saturday. We all had a lot of fun jumping with Scott.

That's why I personally like SDU vs USPA coach programm.

I only hope the animal rights activists will not sue the dropzone

So far we only practiced less than a half of the blocks so our first scores will probably not be very impressive I am thinking of the first meet as another chance to practice and also establish the starting point for team average. Hopefully, by the end of the season we will look at the results of the first meet and laugh. Do you guys plan to do advanced at Nationals?

Oh we are definitely doing TSL. BTW, the first meet is next weekend.

Our dives aren't posted anywhere - we are very new intermediate team and this is our first 4-way season I hope we meet and have chance to talk at Nationals

I remember this very well since I have been "seriously" working on theoretical/mental aspects of the game for only a few months. The first attempts to follow Airspeed competition dives in real speed and call every move were so frustrating. I am absolutely sure that switching to one-letter/number code helped a lot, hoewver there were other factors too.