Bokdrol

OK so I've heard that Virgin Silver and Insure&Go offer our cover - second hand info but you might want to try them.

I asked at DZ today but no luck - sorry

Soz - I'm still digging around but if I find anything I'll let you know. Will ask at DZ tomorrow and see if I get a result there. As said in my earlier message, double check with insure4sport to set your mind at ease, one way or another.

Mick Patch I'm sending this because you are a UK jumper and I assume you are using insure4sport to jump outside the UK: I also went on the Insure4sport site as I have previously insured my USA and Spain trips through IHI-Bupa and Towergate, neither of whom offer cover for us any more. I thought I would drill down a bit as, on the face of it, insure4sport seemed perfect. I contacted their helpline via e-mail and asked a load of questions. This is the final reply I received; '' We can cover the equipment against damage and theft. We can provide personal accident cover this is more of a benefit policy so provides cover if you suffer serious injury for instance broken arm. It just doesn’t provide cover when are outside of the UK for medical bills or repatriation.'' So on the face of this, if you were jumping at say, Elsinore, and had to be hospitalised due to a skydiving injury, you wouldn't be insured under their cover. I can send you the e-mail thread privately if you give me your e-mail address but I would say that, depending on what overseas jumping cover you require, you should double check that you are safe with insure4sport. Cheers

The French have never forgotten the ignominy of having to have the USA and UK pull their fat from the fire (OK, only the twice...) in the 20th century and for the added insult having to beg the English to give their government in exile safe haven during WW2 when De Gaulle had to cut and run from La France with his tail between his 'Free French' legs. That and the various bloody noses they have received from the UK in previous centuries. In the UK we don't expect anything from France other than obstruction, pettiness and beacuoup toys tossed from la perambulator.

For me, it's the whole DZ 'thing' that's enjoyable, from jumping/packing/sitting around waiting to jump drinking tea and chatting with like-minded people, checking today's jump videos and meeting new like-minded people. 1 jump, 2 jumps, 3 jumps + it's all OK for a day - no jumps does suck, though!

Agreed - we've exited the EU without serious injury

Sounds like you are a tandem student. I doubt that you will be allowed to wear any type of hard shell helmet, open or closed face, on your jump. Check with your DZ as main point of contact, though. BTW it's unlikely that the wind was the root cause of your bad ear - you may just have a dodgy ear drum or have had a recent cold/ear infection. The pressure on a jump does some weird things to ears/sinuses in certain situations.

Emphysema - A lung disease which results in shortness of breath due to destruction and dilatation of the alveoli. I've had friends and family who suffered with emphysema and they had trouble getting enough oxygen in their lungs to be comfortable at sea level. The air is so much thinner at altitude that I can only guess, being a non-medical person, that skydiving would be impossible and if attempted, possibly fatal. As I say, it's simply a guess on my part and not a diagnosis or a reliable answer. Unless there is someone on this forum who has some first hand knowledge of the condition and question and can offer a sound answer, you should check with a professional medical person, preferably one who specialises in lung diseases.

Well, as the old saying goes 'you're as old as you feel'. By the time you are 60 you may still feel great. By the time you are 30 you might not feel so great. Middle age - its just a number. Whatever, I hope you do have a long and further injury free career - however you decide to proceed. As for the some of the advice given to you by a few of the posters on your various forums, I'd just like to paraphrase Mark Twain who said (more or less) 'aged 18, I couldn't believe how dumb my parents were - by the time I was 28 it amazed me how much cleverer they had become in the space of 10 years'

There is another way to be involved in skydiving - you are obviously smart and probably athletic/well co-ordinated. You could train as a pilot and fly the jumpers...once you have graduated of course - just a thought. With all that money you'll earn once you graduate, you'll be able to afford it. I've followed your various threads from pre-AFF to post injury and you seem to be a determined, if headstrong, young man. With the injuries you have already sustained in your so far short career, you might want to look ahead a few years and consider what shape you are going to be in come middle age, especially if you sustain more injuries, which might be on the cards. Believe me, middle age comes up fast...too fast. My opinions only and apologies if I've offended or given duff advice!

Well done. My reply to your enquiry was on the other safety/training group which has now been closed by admin due to duplication but, as others have pointed out, I reckoned that you were wasted (physically lol) by the end of the day when you did your Level 1 and that things should improve. Keep up the good work and look forward to your updates.

Keep on at it and don't give up. Your first 'solo'/Level 1 is nerve racking enough without having to (a) wait all day for weather holds (b) have to come back down in the plane, once you finally get airborne, due to cloud etc. Your nerves must have been shot by the time you eventually exited. I'm sure you'll find your next jump/s far less stressful and more enjoyable - the weather is due to improve in the UK from tomorrow so hopefully you can crack on. Oh - and forget the view - there's plenty of time for that once you've passed AFF. I'm sure you'll also get some sage advice from the instructors out there but other than trying to stick to what you learned in ground school, keeping altitude aware and keeping aware of your instructors for their signals in the air, there's not much more I can say. You aren't the first student to have had an 'indifferent' start to AFF - I speak from personal experience. Blue Skies and vasbyt. (ask a South African).

Skydive Spain (Seville) have posted on their Instagram account that from tomorrow until June 20 they will be operating 7 days a week.

I have scratches on my old Tonfly helmet. Way cooler than having a 'F*ck Yeah' or 'Suck Me' sticker. It's also open face.....might get a G3/4 full face when I wear this one out, though...

Go to the little chevron at the right of the tool bar next to your mini profile picture. Click on it. You'll get a drop down menu. Go to account settings. You'll see country on the left/bottom. You can change it from there.

OK - you have a Union Flag on your profile which is generally there to indicate a jumper's home country hence my (incorrect) assmption! I've never personally jumped at Portugal (Algarve/Alvor) so I'm not qualified to give them a recommendation. I know plenty who have jumped there, though. From what I've heard, and seen on their videos, the views are magnificent (not necessarily an AFF recommendation because the last thing you want to be checking out on AFF is the view IMHO) and the landing area OK but not that forgiving. It's coastal so you can get weather holds down to wind speeds that sometimes last for days, even for 500+ jumpers. Having said that, you can also get a run of benign weather which is simply perfect. I can say this bit with authority because I've been holidaying on the Algarve since 1986 and I know the Alvor/Portimao/Lagos area fairly well. I'm afraid that until Covid allows other DZ's to fully open, your choices may be limited. I've jumped both Seville and Empuriabrava in Spain and both are nice, with Empuria having perhaps the more forgiving of landing areas - again, though, it's coastal....Good luck with your quest. See if you can get a few more better recommendations for Algarve and then make your decision. Blue Skies.

I'm assuming you are UK based and will do your main post-licence jumping here. AFF courses are offered in various EU countries. The preferred ones for UK students seem to be Spain (Seville, Madrid and Empuriabrava) and Portugal (Algarve) You should perhaps consider one that offers a UK qualification. Active Skydiving (contact via their website, Scotty Milne) run courses in Spain. Obviously affected by Covid restrictions at present.

The thread is a bit old but many of the points are current - I've enjoyed reading it from the start. Thanks for bumping it. My only observation is that there are many more good people than a-holes in this sport. Pareto Principle would put it at 70-30 good-not so good (or 80-20 if you prefer that rule). I would say that skydiving has busted Pareto. But they are out there!! jazzman318 shows he has 1 jump, 13 years ago. Would be interesting to know how he progressed because I know that many jumpers often put 1 jump on profile when they have hundreds even thousands of descents.

Contact Scotty Milne at Active Skydiving via his website. He can give you the pro's and con's of AFF in Scotland and, if necessary, give you good advice on an alternative solution.

Yesterday I was JM on a load at my local DZ in the UK. I have my JM1 ticket but am neither coach nor instructor. During the flightline gear check (pre-boarding gear checks for all jumpers are mandatory on the flightline in the UK) I noticed a jumper with a very nice digital alti. Probably an ALiX. It had a good visual dial and was registering a flat line as we were at GL. I checked the jumper and established that he was A licence with 36 jumps. Furthermore he hadn't jumped previously with this particular piece of kit on it's own without having any back-up ie a standard barometric visual type alti. I explained to him that, as he was trained using a standard visual alti and was relatively low on jump numbers, I would like him to wear a backup unit on this lift and until he had signoff from an instructor. In an emergency he would be looking for his hard deck on an unfamiliar device. To his credit he trotted off quite happily and got his backup Alti-2. We checked them both on the flight at 5k and the ALiX reading was good. So my question is this - was I being an overcautious and officious knobend or not?

I jump a Spectre 190 with a PD160 reserve. I had one ride on the reserve about 6 years ago when I was 300+- jumps and found it as easy to handle and land as my Spectre - conditions to be fair, were very benign and perfect for landing. I realise a lot is down to WL on canopies but the question I have is this - are reserves configured or set up to handle 'easier' than a standard main canopy? I still jump the 190' because I'm old and prefer to be safe rather than flash, so wasn't lulled into a false sense of downsize security by my let off on the 160' . Thanks.

I have to say that, until I was put straight some time ago by Riggerrob on a different thread, I always thought that static line was an impossible way to train for a freefall licence. However, having read more comments like the captioned one, I now realise that, as an older AFF student, my path to A licence might have been a bit less tense and fraught had I chosen the static line route. Many students with natural ability will sail through AFF. Many others of the less athletic or older, less supple, type may fall by the wayside or will only get there through sheer doggedness and a refusal to be beaten - and a refusal of course to check that monthly bank statement.

One more series to note 'The Tunnel'. It's excellent, a Brit/French detective series and has another good looking French detective (sort of cast in the mould of Carrie from Homeland but not bi-polar) if that floats your boat. It's 99% in English if you don't like subtitles. And if you don't mind subtitles there's a whole raft of Scandi-Noir police stuff available e,g, The Bridge - very watchable, very dark, very well acted and put together. Personally, I don't mind subtitles. My wife, who is far far more intelligent than me, can't stand them.