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philhartree

<trumpet>CAT10</trumpet>

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So, there I was, on the last night of the holiday chatting to some english guy. Being a Brit myself on holiday in Lake Wales, Florida, it was nice to catch up with a fellow countryman. I was on holiday with 4 freeflyers and me, an 80 jump flat flyer.
I was telling him what a great time jumping i had had, and the fact that the US is a litle more 'progressive' compared to the UK. I had gone to the US with the intenetion of getting my CAT10 / FS1 (formation skydiving qualification that allows you to jump with other jumpers) You also have to have this qualification if you want to freefly in the UK. As i didnt need the FS1 to freefly in the US, my mates persuaded me that I should freefly and do the FS1 back in the UK.
It turns out this guy's an AFF instructor on the DZ. He said "well, come down tomorrow and i'll rally another 2 AFF instructors up and we can do your FS1 here" Only problem being we were planning to leave for the airport at about 11.00 "ok" he says "turn up at 0900, we'll brief the dive and jump it"
I thought about it over night and came to the conclusion it was fate talking to this guy... I only needed to pay their slots and with jumps being cheaper than the UK, I thought it would be my best shot.
I turned up at 9.00, briefed the jump, jumped it and was packed and saying my goodbyes by 11.00 It was my first jump of the day and last jump of the holiday and I had achieved my FS1. The qualification (for those of you that may not know) is a 4 point 4 way - I managed a 10 pointer, so i was really proud of myself - proud to bursting!!
I had a load of new jumps to my credit too: first FF / big way sit / 100 jumps / CASA / tracking / tube / rodeo / camera / train / all good!
I love this sport!
Phil
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If you have to ask, you don't understand

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Congratulation - I know all to well how good it all feels. Nice one. Breaks the bank though.
Is the US more progressive than the UK? I dont think you can get more pregressive that AFF (CAT 8) then SKY-U (CAT10/FS1). I think its fantastic progression.
WARP is just a bit scrapy.

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I didnt mean skills progression... I mean a little less.... anal, i guess.... as i understand it... if you have your A licence in the US you can jump with anyone... none of this: "...well, you cant jump on this one cause we already have a CAT8 on it" or "...you cant do solo sit, coz u havent got your CAT10" As a result - it seems that things like FFing are available far earlier in the skydiving career...
I know it;s safety and all... but i was jumping safely enough on large sit jumps and i think as ling as you have a good brief and get confidence with smaller jumps in the beginning - you can progess faster?
Just my £0.02 (hehehehe i always wanted to do that) :P
Phil
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If you have to ask, you don't understand

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"You can do a sit fly solo when you have an A licence"
I'm also of the opinion that beginner solo sit flys are probably more dangerous than if they did a 2 way with someone that was good. I know I used to backslide 400 yds or more when I first started. If you are solo it can be pretty hard to tell what's going on.
"you juts have to have good FFF kit"
That's always a good idea!
"I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

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Clay: they have pictures of you at Heathrow... skydiving would be the least of your worries ;)
When we moved to the UK, we never had any issues (but then again, we had about 600 jumps).
And getting a C licence is as simple as getting the DZO to sign a form (dont knwo what it is in the US, but CDN is a bit more complicated)!
AND, Karen send away for hers via mail, and we got her BPA "passport" type doohicky with the licence the next day! Now, I dont want to give too many compliments to the Brits, but that is FAST....
Remi
Muff 914

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"Clay: they have pictures of you at Heathrow... skydiving would be the least of your worries"
Yeah...they're just mad that I descimated their Guiness stocks the last time I stopped in Ireland.....:D They were beerless for weeks...Are they still holding that grudge?
"I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

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________________________________________________
first FF / big way sit / 100 jumps / CASA / tracking / tube / rodeo / camera / train / all good!
________________________________________________
Who do you owe all that beer to? The DZ you did the jumps at or the DZ at home? 9 cases of beer, yeah baby........
Sebazz
I'm thirsty for some air and some brew.........

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Phil,
Firstly congratulations on getting your Cat. 10. I hope that with 3 AFF instructors on your four-way, they didn't make it too easy for you! :-P
> I had a load of new jumps to my credit too: first FF / big way sit /
How big is a big way? I find that the more jumps I do the smaller and smaller a group I want to be in, depending on who's in the group of course (although me being there is not a good start). Were you aware of where everyone was at all times? How close was the group through-out the dive and how much was it moving around? How and where did it break off?
You say you with a group of freeflyers so I hope they were looking after you and making you aware of all this stuff, but it sounds like you had a lot going on and it's very easy to get carried away. Not trying to put a downer on all the things you've achieved but I thought I was safe in biggish groups until I had a collision and lost a helmet with camera. :-(
> 100 jumps / CASA / tracking / tube / rodeo / camera / train / all good!
Were you wearing the camera or was someone filming you? If you were wearing it, did you combine it with anything else like freeflying? Whereas I personally don't believe you need to be FS1 to freefly (although you should have demonstarted that one is competant at several of the skills required to achieve it) I do believe that 200 jumps is still a good guidline for strapping a camera to your head.
Where do you jump in the UK Phil? It's probably in another thread somewhere but I don't hang around here too much. Going to the AGM?
Craig

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