nigel99

Well you wear whatever you want, Nigel! Believe me you'll prefer a 20 something babe, to my beer belly 40 year old body - if don't you're a sick fuck.. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Don't get me reminiscing, every time I open facebook with its ' what's on your mind' I always want to put Georgia - love that place, miss the farm... Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

She's local to my area. She is fine... She looks just like someone I'd like to see nekkid.

Not bored, free alcohol impressed the boss, every chick on the train is hot and no office work for 9 days fuck yeah!!! God I love short skirts and stockings Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Midnight train is full of drunks and hot chicks, guess I'm either a drunk or hot chick Let's hope I sober up enough to drive to the boogie and 9 days of skydiving whoop whoop boogie time Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I know it is largely semantics, but I think it is really important to remember that you 'graduate' from student canopies. The size and nature of the downsize from a student canopy is different to to a 'normal' downsize. It isn't uncommon to drop 50sq foot in a single step moving off student canopies, you would be insane to do that in other circumstances. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Sorry but I take issue with aspects of your post. Firstly if the dz where you jump is a filthy dump, take it up with the owner/manager. There is no excuse. The 'handles' are 'grippers' and they perform a function, long after AFF. The more ignorance I see on this subject the more I wish freeflying was reserved for C license and above. No way should an AFF student be buying a jumpsuit, there are considerations that you clearly aren't aware of, that every AFF instructor thinks about before kitting up a student. I have a real problem with that statement. It may simply be poorly worded, but EVERY decision that an AFF instructor makes is intended to benefit the student. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Quite simply a first rig and a student rig are different. Think of it like a bike with built in training wheels that you can't remove cheaply. Student gear is normally oversized, the canopies are deliberately as large and docile as practical. It won't take long before those aspects inhibit rather than help your progress. Student rigs often have a secondary release so that AFF instructors can deploy from either side, good for a time but as you start to progress that feature becomes a liability and actually increases risk. Lastly many (all of our student rigs, but it is not universal) have an additional cutaway added to the reserve to minimise a certain risk, very good safety feature early on, but rapidly becomes unnecessary and undesirable. If you worry about student gear ask questions, check the reserve is in date, look at the state of it, most places I've jumped take pride in their assets and keep it in good nick. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

This is actually part of the reason not to cover these incidents here. We don't want to scare away new people before they start. Even if unrealistic videos are what first attracts them they will soon enough learn some realities as they progress. As Bluhdow says, it's an adult sport. We don't need to protect and inform potential skydivers from things that are not skydiving. I completely agree. The skydiving demographic has changed since the early days. I'm not a base jumper and have no interest in learning their lessons, not a paragliding pilot either and the same applies. I think it is key to realise there are people working full time and slowly it is being accepted as mainstream allowing insurance and medical cover to a much greater degree than in the past. For example my life insurance covers skydiving with no extra premium. The base fatalities should be clearly identified and isolated to their own forum, to prevent clouding statistics and the assumptions of whuffos. Very sorry to hear about his death and I'm sure he'll be missed. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I agree camera's are a long way off, just suggesting that a full face that has the key features necessary for safe use doesn't cost much more, for when the time comes. BTW my open face is from 2KComposites in the UK, good value and has nice cushioning/sound proofing. Sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck with your jumping

Which reminds me... Function of the booties? Friend of mine said get a "free fly" suit without booties and I wasn't sure what it all means. Our student suits have none... Do they help? Are there requirements in the states about full helmets? Maybe I'll buy an open one to start Booties (also called boosters) give your legs more drive, so turning, driving forward and tracking are all easier. They are worth having, and I disagree about starting with a FF suit. There is no US requirement for full face. Full face cut the wind noise down, are less effort overall and give you a wider field of view, the downside is that they do make it harder to see your handles. Despite this, I think open face helmets are a better first helmet. If you want to buy strategically get an open face with a chin cup and cutaway, then when you get to camera jumps it can become your gopro helmet. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Good quality analogue altimeter (can be used) Clear goggles Open face helmet that fits well and can have an audible Audible altimeter I would also get a cheap used jumpsuit. But this takes more thought, I wouldn't recommend getting a freefly suit because you should really get descent on your belly first. Booties are preferable on the suit and you can always tuck them in until you are ready for them. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Seems sort of odd that they don't make a container that a 190 will fit in. I would go with a different company to get the proper main. But that is just me. Correction - I bought new and wanted a smaller rig (Wings have stock containers listed that fit 190-210's) Anyway if you can afford new, great. I think there is too much emphasis on buy used, with the unsaid implication being that you will want to downsize soon. My only comment would be at 16 jumps you don't really know what type of canopy you will enjoy and have been worth waiting to try out a couple of different models first. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

No your english is fine, I was just interested in you reasons. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Trust me US military export laws (ITAR) are screwed up. I can quite easily see a closing loop getting caught by export restrictions Glad it is sorted out though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Serious question - why is a container with an optimum 143 too big? You're clearly experienced enough to know the pack size is separate to the harness fit, so I'm really curious. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

The group had superior force. The guy with a gun would have been superior to him not having one. I used to teach martial arts.... There is no way in hell I could defend myself against 30 people without being armed. The better my self defense weapon, the better my odds. ***Man with gun, woman and kid > group of thugs with guns? Again, you are making some assumptions. First that the thugs had guns... A fair assumption. But then you are assuming that the group think mentality would continue after a gun was inserted into the equation. When guns are drawn, the group mentality changes from "we can easily take him" to "Some of us are going to get shot". Most people do not want to get shot and unless they are combat trained.... They will run. To quote "the Shootist" John Bernard Books: First of all,friend, there's no one up there shooting back at you. Second, I found most men aren't willing, they bat an eye, or draw a breath before they shoot. I won't. Yep, up until "it gets real" and you might be the one shot. Then a switch flips. A crowd is a dangerous thing... When it goes back to a group of individuals, the steam is taken out of the group quickly. I would genuinely like to see an article (not from a gun magazine or lobby group) that backs up the assertion that a gun will de-escalate a mob.Any academic or military paper would be perfect. The only group mentality stuff I have ever studied has been to do with skydiving and dangerous sports and what you are saying goes against everything that is understood in those areas, which is why I am curious. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Specifics - York just outside of Perth. Our dz is open 5 days a week, we have a Caravan and 182. Very friendly, nobody drinks Fosters at the dz I don't know anything about the east coast dz's. Winds can pick up so best to have about 100+ jumps or you would be grounded alot. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

After 10k jumps you know why What you normally see is people with higher jump numbers 'giving' the advice, without deferring to currency or expertise in a discipline. Yes the person coaching us has about 8k jumps. Despite Squeaks comment, I can tell you many people commented on the attitude displayed by the 2 guys. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Superior force? Man with gun, woman and kid > group of thugs with guns? I think you're being idealistic in the outcome. I also think in a hyped situation people in a crowd think 'it won't be me' so they are braver, behave worse. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Not so amazing, neither of the 2 folks your are talking about would be current (even remotely) 8 way or 4 way jumpers I know that, but how many skydivers do you know that are humble enough to take guidance without justification? Very very few in my experience. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Nataly, I agree that sometimes car drivers can be dicks, but I think it is pretty clear that this group of riders were out to cause trouble. Having a group of hooligans whizzing around your car is going to make you jumpy. I think that it is most likely the poor guy just got sucked into a situation he did not want. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

This weekend we planned some 8 way competition (didn't happen due to weather), but my team included our former CI who has about 10 000 jumps and another jumper who has somewhere over 6000 jumps. During dirt diving our team captain, was giving advice on the exit. I saw both of those people take the advice without question, no arguing just attention and willingness to learn. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Australia Specifically Western Australia Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

As someone who has spent alot of time under rounds, I am going to side with your CI. Landing in the correct place, requires spotting, watching the weather and canopy piloting skill. It does NOT require a smaller parachute. For most of what is required you have instructors to assist you. You did well, by the sound of it. With very low wing loading, it may pay you to be slightly more conservative than the limits allow. Another thing to pay attention to, find out the winds aloft especially from 1000 to 5000 foot. You may decide that while the ground wind speeds are ok, the winds between deployment and landing are simply to high to be comfortable. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.