danvan

Don't stress - I flew it last night for the f*rst time, and even after 5 minutes and with 180 jumps I was still banging into the walls That aside I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the tunnel camps next month. I took two non-skydivers along and they had a great time too. Cheers Daniel

Hi guys, I'm coming over to Maryland (Gaithersburg) for work in a couple of weeks. It's not too far from Washington DC. Just wondering if anyone can tell me if there are any wind tunnels near-by? I will have a car, or am willing to fly if it's not too far and doesn't cost too much. Cheers Daniel

Hi guys, Long time lurker, just moved to London from Sydney. I'm looking to get my rig insured as my Australian insurance has lapsed. This is the closest post I could find for UK insurance, but as it's several years old I'm sure there's more up-to-date info available. Any ideas? Cheers Daniel Edit to add: I do not have home contents insurance and don't have enough stuff here to justify it

Hi everyone, My girlfriend and I are taking the plunge (no, not THAT plunge) and leaving our comfortable life in sunny Sydney, Australia, destined for the lovely Vancouver, Canada. Well, I hear it's lovely anyway :) I have a one year working visa that I must enter on by April next year, but plan to move in this coming October - just in time for the ski season! YAY! Anyway, I have some questions and figure you guys could answer them (to save me having to do the hard work of researching it all ;-) ). Firstly, jumping in Vancouver: What's it cost? Is it seasonal? How far out of the city are the DZs? Do I need any specific equipment? e.g. RSL, Cypress, etc - I have these BTW. Do I need to get affiliated with the USPA or CSPA or otherwise? Second, I am thinking of buying a car for the time I'm there - nothing flash, so long as it gets me up to the ski fields every weekend. I really want to drive up from LA (via Las Vegas) so what do you suggest I do? Buy a car in the USA and drive it up to Canada, or buy a car in Canada? Are there any whacky laws I should be aware of that makes it hard for a car owned in one state/country/provence to be "permanently" in BC? Would I have to transfer the plates over? Would I have to take the car back to wherever I bought it from to sell it again? That'll do for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions as the time gets closer. Cheers Daniel p.s. If you know of any companies who might be looking for network admins (IP or VoIP) in October-ish, let me know. :) http://www.danvan.com

You were WAY too quick off the mark if you caught that post without the clicky link, as I updated it as soon as I saved the original post ;-) I mis-read your post, so I'll take the bonehead title for this one :) On a slightly off topic note, has anyone got anything to say about the Bonehead Bonds - good, bad or otherwise?

http://www.boneheadcomposites.com/2002/standard.htm#mindwarp (edit to make it clicky :) )

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will settle with insurance and putting a hospital wrist band around the leg strap as a means of identification to someone who might find it. With the log book, I might photocopy it every couple of weeks and file the copies just in case.

Hi all, What do you people do to secure your rigs at home to protect it from or deter burglers? I am very worried about leaving my rig at home without some kind of security. I am thinking of getting a chain and locking it down to my metal bed frame with a padlock (I have a Talon2 with stainless steel rings at the hip), but I would prefer something a little more flexible on where I can leave the rig. Is there a product designed for this purpose? Just wondering what other people do. Are there any other tips to deter burglers? e.g. leaving a note telling the would be thief how hard it would be to sell a stolen rig due to the size of the skydiving community, etc? I have heard of someone getting their rig returned after it was found dumped at a tip, because the person who found it had the brains to look into the pocket and find a packing card - problem is even I didn't know rigs had little pockets until a week after I bought my rig. ;-) Are there any other tips on how to make it obvious who owns the rig to a non-jumper who may find the rig? On a related note, could anyone in Australia give me info on insuring rigs? Any info on who to talk to, how much it would cost, experiences dealing with the companies, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks Daniel

I think this is the one they're talking about (from Sydney Skydivers in AU), and my favourite - the prop hitting a person from the hangar at a DZ in Queenstown, NZ (sorry about size, couldn't be stuffed rescanning)

Get used to saying that. It took over 30 visits to my DZ before I finished my 11 AFF jumps. High winds were the main reason, but not enough instructors and too many tandems were amoungst the other common ones.

haha! nice one but I think you need a lesson on Aussies... http://www.geocities.com/topaussieguide/Page1.htm

A New Zealander, a sheep and a dog were survivors of a terrible shipwreck. They found themselves stranded on a desert island and after being there for a while they got into the habit of going to the beach every evening to watch the sun go down. One particular evening, the sky was red with beautiful cirrus clouds, the breeze was warm and gentle; a perfect night for romance. As they sat there, the sheep started looking better and better to the Kiwi. Soon, he leaned over to the sheep and put his arm around it. But the dog got jealous, growling fiercely until the Kiwi took his arm from around the sheep. After that, the three of them continued to enjoy the sunsets together, but there was no more cuddling. A few weeks passed by and lo, and behold, there was another shipwreck. The only survivor was a beautiful young woman, the most beautiful woman the Kiwi had ever seen. She was in a pretty bad way when they rescued her, and they slowly nursed her back to health. When the young maiden was well enough, they introduced her to their evening beach ritual. It was another beautiful evening: red cirrus clouds, a warm and gentle breeze; perfect for a night of romance. Pretty soon the New Zealander started to get 'those feelings' again. He fought them as long as he could, but he finally gave in and leaned over to the young woman, cautiously, and whispered in her ear... 'Would you mind taking the dog for a walk?'

Congrats Amy! Now you'll just have to get back over to warm, sunny(*) Australia for a few jumps in real jump weather! :) Blue skies. - Daniel (*) weather conditions subject to change without notice.

Are there any issues with the change in pressure on the climb, or for that matter the freefall? I can imagine if they are a tight fit and the air pocket reduces or increases too quickly you could do a lot more damage? I am not sure how much the air pressure changes between ground and jump height, but aren't you not supposed to jump if you have a cold for this very reason?

I don't know where you could grab a copy, but my favourite by far is a lesser known base/freeflying one called Standard Issue. It is by far the most professionally presented and brilliantly soundtracked video I have seen (mind you, I've only seen about 5 other vid's :) ). Try http://www.basejump.org/discus/messages/1/43.html?1038932244 "Fist Full of F1-11" has some crazy base stuff, but is pretty sloppy in the editing department. If you're only looking for the footage, this is an awesome vid. I especially like the skydive onto then BASE jump off Centrepoint Tower (Sydney, Australia) and some painful looking building strikes. "For a few more jumps" is "fist Full"'s sequal and is pretty much the same, except shorter and less older footage. They're both collections of Austalian BASE jump footage from around the world. There's a fantastic (non-jumping related) scene where a yank bets an Aussie that his 12 guage shot gun can't pierce skin from 100m away - I was laughing so hard with the outcome! (http://www.totalcontrol.com.au/videos.htm) There's another video I own called BASEclimb (http://www.baseclimb.com), which is a good documentary about a pair of Aussies basejumping Trango Towers in Pakistan. Definately worth a watch. There's also a sequal to the documentary, BASEclimb 2, which you usually get on the same video/DVD. Finally, if you've got a fast Internet connection, check out ftp://ftp.skydivingmovies.com. My favourite is ftp://ftp.skydivingmovies.com/public/base/basecollision_DivX.avi

While still doing my AFF a few months ago, I was sitting next to this girl who was getting her 'debrief' from the first ever tandem jump she'd just done. I wasn't eavesdropping, and had no interest in the conversation, until I as clear as day heard "I especially like the second freefall - it was like getting two jumps for the price of one". I was drop-jawed when I heard that she had come in under a reserve not 10 minutes before this and she was cool as a cucumber about it. The canopy opened fine but had some serious line twists from what the TM described. He was obviously reluctant to cut away so was getting her to help him kick out the twists, but it didn't work so he chopped and rode the reserve in safely. I think I was more freaked about it than her! I'd be interested to know what the "probability" of a reserve ride on a tandem is - does anyone know? Also, I'd love to know how many there are on AFF stage 1 jumps - I think I would have given up if I got a reserve ride on my first jump!

Hi all, I've just got my A licence issued a few weeks ago (Yay!), have another two friends who aren't far behind. I'm looking forward to doing some simple two- and three-way relative work with them in the near future, but am not really up to scratch with the terminology of relative work (e.g. cats, pins, compressed accordian, etc), and don't really know too many good relative work manouvres, so I was wondering if anyone could point me to a good web page or two (or book/video) that may help me personally, and us as a group, to get started in rel work. Maybe even with sample jumps to try? Also, would people suggest we avoid jumping with each other, all being in the twenties of jumps, for safety reasons until we've done some jumps with more experienced people or should it be a secondary concern (we've all done our B-Rel work)? Finally, I've got a faster than average fall rate. Do you think this could cause any problems with us all being inexperienced? Thanks guys Daniel :) [email protected]

Heya, I have just had my A licence signed off, and have started looking for my own gear. I am looking to get a helmet, but am confused on which one to choose. I dropped into Parachutes Australia the other day and the only open-face styles they stock are Hurricane (http://www.parachutesaustralia.com/s2/prod_ss_hurr.php) and Nvertigo (http://www.parachutesaustralia.com/s2/prod_nvert.php) and are pretty expensive at about AU$500 each. I tried these on, and even the XL size was a little too tight for my big head, but apparently they stretch a little. I have seen a few people around my home dropzone, Sydney Skydivers, wearing surf helmets like GATH (http://www.gathsports.com/). These are a lot cheaper at about AU$120 and are more comfortable, but I'm concerned about how strong they are - they seem a little flimsy and aren't padded very much. I also found a snowboard shop that stocks SkyCap helmets (by Burton http://www.sickandwrong.co.uk/Snow_RedImpact.htm) that are about the AU$200 mark and are quite comfortable. So far I'm leaning toward the Gath helmet. Are there any safety issues using the non-skydiving specific helmets? Are there any other helmets I might not have considered? Any other places I might try helmets on (I want to try before I buy)? How tight and how padded should a helmet be? Any other considerations I might have overlooked? Thanks for any help! Daniel V [email protected]

Need proof? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A709841 Hope this makes things clearer :)

Thanks for all the warm greets and suggestions. So far I have bought "BASEclimb & BASEclimb 2" on DVD which is a good (Australian) documentary, but not very exciting. I also bought a BASE/freeflying video through a friend called "Standard Issue", which is awesome. I have a copy of "Good Stuff" ordered, which I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of. I'm going to look at getting some of the others mentioned here soon, but the prices are a bit restrictive (AU$100 for a VHS from totalcontrol.com.au is a bit steep). I have also checked out quite a few from ftp.skydivingmovies.com. Thanks again, Daniel

But there was no mention of AOL and Microsoft warnings about it? ;-)

It's actually 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine'... "I always thought there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."

Hi everyone. My name's Daniel, I'm 24, from Sydney Australia, work in the network operations of a major ISP, I'm very new here at dropzone.com and still relatively new to the sport (13 jumps so far). I have just finished my AFF this weekend just gone, at Sydney Skydivers. I would like to thank EVERYONE at Sydney Skydivers, especially Andrew Snow (for having a fast fall rate too, thus jumping with me on 5 of my AFF stages), Elise Vale (for all the support and encouragement) and Mick Hill (for pulling my rip cord on my first jump when I lost height awareness ;-) ). I can see this sport consuming a lot of my time, and a lot of my money, and changing my life forever (even more than it already has). I can't stop thinking about it! WOOOOOHOOOO! :) Can anyone recommend any good skydiving/basejumping videos or DVDs (preferably available locally in Australia)? Blue Skies, Daniel V (p.s. If anyone knows of any second hand equipment for sale in Sydney that would suit a big guy - 95kg, 6'1" - or can think of anywhere I should try looking - please email me [email protected]. Thanks.)