BaByLoN fReEfLy SkOoL

[3fLiEr 0]

I am off to Spain end of the month and wondered about doing some "expensive" jumps with Babylon.......... I need to polish up on my head down - my question is - is the £40 per jump worth the money or would it be better spent doing normal jumps & get the consistancy?........... Would 10 training jumps with babylon be better for me than 40 normal FFly jumps?............ anyone used them???
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[neural9 0]

Depends on what you're learning.
If you are "polishing off", i.e. you can already fall very stable, move about, carve, full transitions and eagle then it will probably be of very little use - but it's always good to get some new tips, and the bab guys are exceptionally good.
I tend to get instructional jumps when there is something new to learn, and then I go out with someone of similar ability (my reg jumping partners) and practice, practice, practice. So my approach is a hybrid - get enough theoretical understanding and then jump, jump, jump.
In the earlier stages, then I can't recommend jumping with these guys enough. It'll get you up to speed quickly. I didn't have many freeflyers at my dz, so I had to buy expensive instructional jumps when I was abroad (6 2 week trips to Deland from the UK in 12 months!), but I'm glad I did now rather than stumble my way through it.
n9

[gus 1]

I've jumped with them and they're obviously pretty shit-hot in the sky. I'm not convinced that it's worth all that money though. 10 coach jumps versus 30 or 40 'normal' jumps seems like an easy decision to me. Maybe do just a couple of coach jumps to get the video (which is really useful) and some pointers before going off to practice.
There's only so much someone can do just by watching you and telling you what you did wrong...
Have a great time and don't get blown out to sea. Ask the Babylon guys to see the picture of the Cessna(?) that got flipped upside down whilst tied to the ground! It's pretty neat.
Gus

[3fLiEr 0]

Thanks for your replys............. I think I will use them then!...... coz I am not that competant @ HD.......... some days are better than others!!!........
cheers
bsbd
PS) N9 - where do you jump?
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[skreamer 1]

Quote

6 2 week trips to Deland from the UK in 12 months!

Dude, how much is crack selling for these days???? lol
Just kidding man.

[robellis 0]

Skreamer - hehe.
I was lucky in my first year - made some money due to a buyout and I couldn't think of a better thing to spend it on than freefly. Worth every penny :-)
My kids are looking pretty shabby today though - again, only joking- I'm 25, I don't think I'm allowed to have kids yet.
n9

[NathanL100 0]

What kind of experience should someone have before they go to a freefly school if they want to get the most bang for their buck??
Blue Ones,
Nathan
A# 39553

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

What kind of experience should someone have before they go to a freefly school if they want to get the most bang for their buck??

I would think that knowing how to skydive would be helpful.

[huffermoose 0]

I use empuria as my standard DZ these days and i have complete praise for these guys. you could always get your mates video of your sit fly head down carnage jump and ask the babylon boys to check it out and then give you some tips they also do quite of load organising which is real cool and really the 40 quid quite worth it as your paying your slot there slot plus video and tuition.
they certainly helped me
cya moose

[euribe 0]

Hey Man! If you come to Spain drop me an email, I'm from Madrid. Anyway I would recomend you to come over Skydive-Lillo in Toledo, 45 minutes away from Madrid airport.
www.skydivelillo.com
The Drop Zone is just fu*!ng awesome!

[3fLiEr 0]

Will be in Spain from 31/01/02 to 4/02/02 - jumping from the 1/02/02 - will be at Empuria all this time............ you freefly?......... could do with someone to fly with after my coaching on the 1/2/2............ if you fancy some let me know your details................... flyitfree!
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[StevieBoy 0]

Hey Guy@s
"you could always get your mates video of your sit fly head down carnage jump and ask the babylon boys to check it out and then give you some tips they also do quite of load organising which is real cool and really the 40 quid quite worth it as your paying your slot there slot plus video and tuition."
I've got some freefly training going on for £25 per jump, this includes gear, JT's, debrief & video, not a bad deal, shop around guys, I know these skools are great but the real passion lies in people that want to train others, not for the money, don't let this sport get outta hand.
My God , we pay through the nose now, use your skills to teach the freedom of flight to other people who REALLY want to learn, let's not move into the norm where society depictes(spelling) what we should be paying,
A great post by Billvon, Not about f/f but one about the passion to JUMP OUTTA PLANES, I thought you would like to read:
"Reading this thread is a little sad. When I started skydiving, a coach was someone you got if you wanted to go to Nationals with your four way team. After you graduated you just jumped with other people. I remember spending all day jumping with someone's girlfriend - I was excited because she had 100 jumps and I only had 40, so she was like some kind of god. Ray gave me shit when I got back to our drop zone because I hadn't been jumping with Kurt (20 jumps) - and he had a point there. It was my job to jump with Kurt, because I had more jumps than him. It wasn't right to have him just do solos.
Nowadays that sentiment seems to be gone. Students graduate and sort of flop around for a while, not knowing who to jump with or what to do. They hire coaches and hope to get better so people will want to jump with them. I think it's sort of sad that the old attitudes are gone. I find myself guilty of doing the same thing - I'll be doing AFF all day, or will join Kate and Tony for a weekend of big ways, and I find often that I can't squeeze those extra "free coach jumps" in. Or I will find myself in the role of organizer, forced to tell someone with 20 jumps that he can't be on our 8-way.
And while it's partly people like me to blame, I also see a strange attitude in recent grads, one that seems to manifest itself as an "are you good enough to teach me stuff?" sort of attitude. You can learn faster from a pro, but you can also learn from someone with 100 jumps who can't reliably side slide yet. This sort of attitude is partly fed by coaches, who say things like "you shouldn't jump with people who will teach you bad habits." The converse of that is that you _should_ sometimes jump with people who are like you, because there are some things you'll never learn from a coach (like how to dodge, or how to track and deploy safely when your partner goes 500 feet low.)
But I think it's also fueled by AFF, which teaches students that you need an expert in the air with you. In the old SL days, you were on your own - the JM was there, at best, to watch you. Once you graduated you were able to do RW for the first time, so you sought out other recent grads and tried it. When you graduate from AFF, you've already _done_ RW, and it's only natural to seek out someone with similar talent to make your next dive a success.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I just think it's sad that we've become a sport where you need to pay someone to jump with you. Heck, when I started covering someone's slot was enough to make the other person feel guilty. I hope we can get away from that, make skydiving more a sport where karma, rather than money, changes hands.
-bill von "
I hope that now I have just moved into this sport, I hope I will find someone with the same attitude, not just a money grabber for thier own gain, TOO MANY COOK'S SPOIL THE BROTH, are numbers are small but our gains have no celing.
"Skydiving's a source, it'll change your life, swear to God"

[3fLiEr 0]

back from spain....whata trip.......... i see where the money goes....... thanks Nimo 4 spending the time with me. Did 9 coach jumps @ £42each and although I came away not competent @ HD at the end I learnt alot. I learnt alot about real FreeFly - dont get lost in HU & HD (which I had and a lot of UK jumpers do) - flyitfree!.........
The staff were fantastic there and the coach for the 4-way I went with - phuqking cracks me up.............
Great DZ - visit if you can..............
English weather Sucks big style.......
bsbd

"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"