Newbie

although i hardly spent any amount of time jumping out in Texas, the short time i spent at San Marcos was great. Everyone there was super friendly, manifest was great, and it was a really nice vibe down there, thanks guys. They even had free freefly coaching one day (as in, you pay for your slot and that's it!), free bbq, beers and a hot (literally) fire based strip show - what more does a dz need?!? (other than to be open during the week!). Check the place out if you can. Special thanks to Robert, Shannon and Bryan (Gravity Rats) for the coaching, advice and jumps, the improptu 4 way "night jump", sorting out the video stuff, as well as the free freefly safety seminar you guys put on, the handout is excellent i was reading it on the plane on the way home. You guys rock! Thanks all and hopefully see you soon! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Well said. IMO you shouldn't even be trying hd until you have got full control in a head up position and you know you can fall down the tube sitting/standing. When I DO try hd you better believe it will be with a coach/HIGHLY experienced ff'er. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

For the sake of you and your loads jumpers safety, please ensure you stay off the jump run line, or jump with a free fly coach instead of trying things by yourself. If you don't know which way jump run is, you shouldn't be getting out the plane IMO. These comments are directed to all new freefliers. Getting out to try a sit is fine but understand you can be tracking all over the place. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

dont forget to try a stand too. And when you have it, arms either over your head or down by your sides make you go even faster "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

on the few tracking jumps i've done i tend to maintain height as everyone else drops down. I just got back from one now and the other 2 dropped about 100ft below me and i arched and also went to what felt like a near head down position but still couldnt get down to them (it wasnt head down, i mean i could still see them, but i was past a 45 degree angle) I couldnt get down to them, but i stayed up with them which i guess is something. Anyhoo any help on helping me get down to the others would be appreciated, thanks. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

whoever of the 13 people put down they jump purely to look cool (if they were being serious) need to seriously sit down and think hard about what they are doing in this sport IMHO "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

sounds like you have already made some good preparations, well done. You could try working on breathing control. This will be handy for keeping your nerves at manageable levels should you get really bad butterflies, but will also help you keep your body relaxed during freefall, and being relaxed is key. Practice visualisation technique - so by that i mean when you are doing something, like cooking a bacon sandwich or whatever, close your eyes for a while and try and picture yourself from a cameramans perspectice up and behind you - try and vidualise what you are doing from an external 360 degree view. This is very useful when you visualise your dive plan - it allows you to see yourself and your body movements as you perform actions. Try and visualise what you see too with your eyes closed i.e. close your eyes but still see the bacon cooking in the pan and whats around you etc. I know that sounds a little Yoda like, but i think you know what im getting at. You could stretch - it doesnt hurt to be nice and supple especially when banging out a good arch. Like it says in Dan's book, get on a stool/chair and bang an arch out and hold a box man position - this will help strengthen your small of back muscles. Above all, enjoy it

make sure you have a little "emergency" cash to tap in to, should you have to pay for retaking a level. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

holy damn that sounds crazy! How far was the hawk from you? That reminds me of a time i was lying on my back flying my kite on a beach and a seagull came over and floated right next to it just holding in the wind, even following as i slowly banked left and right before peeling off after about 30 seconds. Not quite as in the same league as yours but was nice nonetheless "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

holy shit do you know who that is Tom, thats nuts. Thanks for the links "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

mine: last lift at Empuria - mist covering the entire countryside at 3000ft, turning towards the sun and just basking in its rays seeing a steam train at the home dz at about 2000ft flying over a flock of birds at about 1000ft (they were probably at maybe 300ft?) PS i always make sure my head is on a swivel but i still like to look around

does anyone have any materials (ideally videos) where i can study different tracking positions? I've watched some base vids which are good, but generally they track for only a short while before pull time. I like the Loic base stuff in Crosswind which is good, but i would like to see more skydiving tracking, both max tracks for separation and tracking dives so i can look at body positions. Thanks for any recommends "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

this is not QUITE an exit (almost) and is not even me, or not even taken by me. BUT - any excuse to get this great pic in . It's dz.com's very own mochaskychick, and i don't think she would mind me posting it up. I believe it's her on her first tandem. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

just had a quick call around - not sure how many jumping trips im making abroad this year, so went for single trip for a 2 week stay in the US. Anyway, Endsleigh do a good deal, but you wouldn't know about it if you called them - got quoted £76 over the phone, and went online and bought the same package for £40 - its their Extreme Activity policy which covers jumping (checked - no exclusions on the number of jumps, so its unlimited jumping). So, make sure you book online, not over the phone. Incidentally - they have 2 categories for high risk spots - jumping is category one, the following are all cat 2 and classed as higher risk.... canyoning, motor rallying, mountaineering, overlanding, piloting an aircraft, polo, scuba diving over 30m, speed skating, yachting out of territorial waters. Still havent sorted out insurance for the rig - they wanted £400/year for home contents insurance to include the rig (£200 without) "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks Craig - im technically still only A licensed - i don't have my IC1 yet - have been meaning to sort that out for ages, but never got round to it - will have to really sort it out now the season has started. Will have a chat with the CCI this weekend (wetaher permitting) and run throught EP's like no tomorrow. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

dont know - i have been off for a couple months before when i had 30 or so jumps and wasn't jumping as regularly, i was told by a CCI at another club just to "get back up there and jump" when i asked if i could just go up. If anyone know what the BPA rules on this, post up. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i haven't jumped for about 4+ months, and while i'm really excited about getting back in the air, im also feeling a bit nervous about the thought of jumping out of planes. I never got this before (apart from the usual student nerves), i guess because i haven't had this long a gap between jumps, and was wondering if anyone else got like that before? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Stand up daffies... Spread your legs front to back reply] like the splits you mean, one leg behind you one leg in front? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

although i have heard the terms alot, can you explain what daffies and layouts are please? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

as the other guy said - get someone with a DV IN Sony PC camera to DV IN the footage onto a mini DV tape, then dump that into your comp. You will need some editing software (i use Final Cut Pro, which is Apple specific, but i hear Adobe Premiere is the PC equivalent and works ok) but bear in mind that you WILL have to be concerned about compression/file size. 4.5mins of captured footage = 1 gig. Nothing eats up hard drive space and resources on a system quicker than video. You will have to learn a lot of new stuff (i suggest searching and then posting into Photography and Video on here which is where i got a lot of help initially, but then going to more specific forums outside of the skydivers domain, where you will get more detailed info). Think about how you would like to output your product. If its for a casual showing at the dz, do a basic edit in Premiere then get a friend to DV OUT the footage to his PC camera, and then make a copy on to a VHS casette or similar. You might like to look at burning DVD's off the comp (i won't get into that) Don't be surprised if you end up getting more into it than you first thought. I have lost months of time researching, training, editing, practicing and rendering a project that is only 11 mins long. Its down from 350 megs to 200 now, but its still too big. Compression is whats really cooking my goose at the moment, but i guess the fun is in the challenge right? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i don't want to order one on line as i need it asap and was hoping someone might know if they have a distributor to cover the UK? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks eric, this is good stuff! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

what do you mean by ground to air signals nac? Also what other stuff is worth thinking about (just one worder's will suffice if there is a bunch - i will go off and do my own research into them) Thanks! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

bill thanks, im no way in the world going to try this, i just was wondering from a hypothetical view if it were even possible, and what the results had been - unfortunately serious and fatal in some instances "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts