andybr6

Hey, I am in the market for a new helmet and have read the favourable reviews in the gear section. Does anyone have anything to add to them? I currently have a Bonehead Mindwarp that is too big for me [my own fault] but was looking for something new and a bit more low profile. If anyone has any info’ on how much thinner an M1 is compared to a Mindwarp I would be interested to know your thoughts. Also does anyone know who sells them in the UK? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Even though there are some pretty awful English dishes not everybody thinks our food is terrible. Please see below: ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I am a big Chianti fan myself. One of the best I have ever had is Villa Antinori so I can recommend that. However if you are not looking for a specific producer I would say go for a Chianti Classico Riserva of some kind. I would also make sure it has a DOCG label [small purple tab around the neck or over the cork] this means it is produced using the traditional techniques in the correct region. However if you son likes Chinati he will love Barolo its a bit pricier but well worth it and goes very well with red meats. I would recommend a Pio Cesare but if not look for a good DOCG bottle with 13,5% alcohol. A good tip is to check the indent at the bottom of the bottle; a better quality producer will tend to use a bottle with a deeper indent. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Most people with the desire and money could make a skydive. If you do feel any sense of superiority over someone because you jump, just remind yourself that if they wanted to they could go to Arizona for a few weeks and come back with more jumps than you and I combined. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hey don't know if this will help but I did AFF in Florida and midway through did 10 mins in the tunnel. The general consensus among the instuctors were that it was a better to do it mid-way through AFF so you can 'iron out' any problems or bad habits. After all what you have to do in AFF is not especially difficult its where you have to do it that makes it so hard. Once you have got a little more used to the sensation of freefall it is easier to think about your body position. I don't know about anyone else but despite doing 7 static lines before AFF the only thing I remember about Level I is how amazing the feeling was; didn't remember the plane flying away or even the view [which turned out to be spectacular]. Whichever way you decide to do it your going to love it... p.s. I did my AFF in Sebastian in FL and camped on the DZ. Flights [off-season] AFF + consols and wind tunnel came to only a fraction more than AFF in the UK. Also if your an Army guy I think they do a military discount. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I agree about the progression system, I obtained FS1 before getting FF1 quite recently. I can really see the benefit of some flat flying to teach the survival skills like tracking and getting used to seeing somone else in the sky who isn't an instuctor [besides which WARP is great fun and not as lonely as learning to freefly]. However the flight line checks should not, IMHO, be relied upon. I have very few jumps but I still think that I am responsible for my own safety and my own gear. I believe that you should treat the flightline check as a legal formality and make sure that you have checked everything personally, I would not rely on anybody to see something that I have missed. In my opinion based on my limited experience I would think of a flightline check as an AAD, its a great back up and you may chose not to jump without one but you should not rely on it to save your life! ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I left my altimeter, Prodytter, gloves and hook knife all inside me helmet at my DZ. Thanks to the English weather didn't realise it until i was moving some stuff in my house around two weeks later. I phoned the DZ office and they said "we were wondering whose that was"; someone had kindly handed it in and the CCI had locked it away. I guess it all depends who finds it but i thought i would contribute a 'nice person' story. edited to add: I did not vote as I would go somewhere in between not leaving a pizza box and leaving pot of gold. There are tandems and their families along with pilots and plane spotters around so I guess you have to take care of your stuff. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

The Pilot is a nine cell and the Spectre is a 7 cell. I jump a lightly loaded spectre [0.9/1 ish] and I really enjoy it. I think it is very good for people who, like myself, are not experienced canopy pilots and who want something that is fun to fly yet forgiving of minor mistakes. Before looking at these two canopies I would familarise yourself with the 7 cell vs 9 cell debate. I am sure there are people much more knowledgable than me who have posted about this so do a search on the forums. If you want to compare a PD canopy to the Pilot the Sabre 2 would be a better one to start with. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I am afraid I am not who you think I am [ I dont jump a camera]....either that or I am suffering from amnesia... ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

You are correct, infact you need not go as far as Germany. I am sure if anyone can be bothered to trawl through the crap on 'The Sun's' website you will find lots of inflammatory remarks about America. If one horrible person in America, Britain or any other country had done this you could re-name this thread 'Another great reason to hate [insert country's name here]' and we could go through all the same tired rhetoric about that country's past or present. I don't mean to get at the original poster who does not have have 'The Sun' as a national newspaper so does not know its reputation. If you read info' from that paper it is going to get you worked up and angry, thats what it specialises in. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

This seems to suggest that the practice, while horiffic, is limited to a fairly small group of people. http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/sharkbait.asp As far as 'The Sun' goes it is the gutter press of the UK and I would not give credit to a single thing that you read in that paper or on their website. As far as I am aware they are just as quick to slander America or any other country to sell papers. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I have been in a similar situation to yours at the uni' club that I was involved with. I think that it is key to stress the fact that skydiving is more to do with personal choice than chance or luck. Non-jumpers seemed to get bogged down in statistics and don't seem to get the fact that they will be in control under canopy and for the most part in freefall. In short they can choose to take risks or make bad decisions and that WILL result in serious injury. I always avoided the whole "you can do everything right and still die bit until they had done a couple of jumps and got hooked" ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Thankyou for the prompt reply. I am going to try and get my hands on a PD176 reserve in the hope that it will solve the problem. Again many thanks for the advice. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Whenever I did a 2 way when I was still learning the very basics we always did a train with me on the bottom. Everyone I have spoken to seemed to agreen that this is the best way of doing it. When I did a coach jump with Chris Lynch he did the same thing. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Ok so my reserve is one size to large for my container. Is that going to make a massive difference after the mod' has been done? Do you think a smaller reserve would be a good idea [with reference to packing] or cou;d someone experienced in packing Mirages be able to make the flap lay flat? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I can't remember so I suppose that it couldn't have been otherwise it would have stood out to me at the time. As I said this was put together by the PD factory so I would have thought it would be ok. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

The container size is M5. I bought it second hand but the Performance Designs factory put it all together so I guess its all the right size. Perhaps someone out there knows an advanced packer or rigger in the UK that is very familiar with Mirages? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hey I am from that area as well. David Bowie and Jay Kay are from around here. Mick Jagger went to school quite near me. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I have heard a little about that, do you know if it makes a big difference? Also if there are riggers reading this that are very familiar with Mirage containers; what are your opinions on that tab popping out in a sit? Do you think it could be risky? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Thats not an arsey reply at all.... That seems like some really good advice. My coaching was not at a UK DZ but I am sure I can find some peop's at Headcorn to jump with. I am quite keen to travel round a bit now as well. My coach in Empuria recommended excercises like clapping my hands and holding a sit and holding my lateral straps to keep a good leg position when doing solo's. Did you find it quite easy to get people to jump with when you just got your FF1? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Firstly I realise debates about the Mirage Cypres modfication have been done to death here so I would like, if possible, to keep this about the technical problem I am having. The central reserve flap on my Mirage container sticks up a quite a bit after the mod and has done for the past 2 reserve re-packs. Although it looks a bit ugly it had not really bothered me until a recent trip to Empuria. There, while learning to sit, the end of the flap popped out of place and on the vid' can clearly be seen flapping around. I was jumping with one of the Babylon coaches and he had a look at it. As the reserve pin had not moved and the other tabs keep the flap in place had stayed tucked in he did'nt see a problem with continueing the coaching. Does anyone else have this problem? Would you freefly with someone who this might happen to? Is there a solution for this problem? All help and advice is appreciated. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Just came back from Empuria Brava and thanks to some great coaching from Babylon I have got my FF1 [for the non brits' here it is the qualification that lets you do head up flying with others]. I cannot recommend them enough, I went out there with a "just about stable" sit with a view to getting a little better and by the end I could do all the FF1 stuff. I was wondering what other people have done when they have just got FF1 or the equivelent, is it best to stick to 2 ways for a while to build up skills? What is the best way to 'polish' my head up flying? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I have just returned from a trip to Empuria and I cannot recomend it enough. I went out there to get some coaching with a view to getting a half decent sitfly position and left with FF1; Babylon are that good! The staff at Babylon are extremely helpful and friendly, they won't just take your money and get the coach jumps out of the way in a couple of days, but rather they are genuinley interested in seeing you progress. I was warned about the landing area and the winds but I never experienced a problem. If you are not happy with the jump limitations they put up just ask at manifest for the wind speed. The landing area is dead easy to land on so long as you don't try and land right next to the crossing point on the runway. There are no jumpmasters but normally someone takes on the role, if in doubt just ask, there were nearly always instuctors/coaches on my loads and they are more than happy to help. Overall I would highly recomend this DZ to everyone of all experience levels. I have already planned my next trip there.

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Myself and a couple of friends will be heading out to empuria at the beggining of September. I was hoping someone could give me a bit of low-down, I have done a few searches but they don't really answer my questions. As far as accomadtion goes I was thninking of Bunkhouses, are they good? does the DZ have decent showers etc? If not i was thinking of camping so anyone have any experience of the local camp site? A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"