rainman

Hiya Viking! Great job!!! Sounds like you did great! Bummer you have to make three jumps in one day, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! Ramon

Hiya Fred, Welcome to the wonderful world of skydiving! There's not much I can add to the good advice that's already been given here, but I'll try anyway! I've read the story on your site, and I almost wet myself! My colleagues are now totally convinced that I am a nutcase! Are you a standup-comedian or something? I am 6'2" and 200 lbs, and although I sometimes am a bit envious of those fly-weights that jump a sleeping-bag sized canopy and fly it like a student canopy, I can assure you that I know many skydivers that are taller and/or heavier than I am. Also, *most* people I talked to didn't do everything like they were drilled on their first jump. ( I remember counting, but I counted so fast that I could still touch the JM if I wanted to by the time I had reached '3') It's good knowing you can easily walk away from an unflared landing, but I would suggest you give this 'flaring' thing a try. Remember, even if you have ten instructors talking to you on ten different radio's, it's still your behind up there in the air, and if you think you're 7' off the ground, just wait one more second and flare! Just remember not to let up on the toggles when you find you've flared too high. Have fun, stay safe! Ramon

It's scary when your alti stops 'altiing'. You did very well, congratulations on your first solo, and I'm quite sure the next one will be even better!!! My alti died on my first AFF jump....it was fine on the way up, then it stopped at about 8k on the way down. Fortunately I had two great JMs to save my life (I am taught not to trust my AAD ). Fortunately the opening shock inspired the alti to work again, so my landing was relatively easy. They didn't even give me any crap about not pulling at 5.5. I was so unbelievably mad when I landed. I had wanted to do AFF for at least ten years and then I screw it all up.....I can't tell you how happy I was when one of my JM's took the altimeter up for a ride and he told me that it was indeed broken! I so recognize this threshold you needed to overcome! When I was driving to the DZ for my first solo, two weeks after graduating from lvl 7, I actually stopped to take a short walk in the woods, and I almost turned back then. If I had, I doubt I would have ever jumped again. Now I can't imagine not jumping..... Please continue jumping, and writing about your jumps! Ramon

I'd never think you were weird. I'm convinced that your ashtray is weird though.... Ramon

Hi ya Viking, I am still working on my A-licence myself, so don't take my advice as the final word, but here are some things I found useful during my AFF course: - During AFF making a turn exactly 90/180/360 degrees is not priority one, the most important thing is that you show your JM that you can start and stop a turn by yourself. The same thing goes for a backloop, the main objective is to become unstable (or at least leave the box position), and become stable again. I've seen people do half a backloop, end up on their back, become stable again, and pass their level without a problem. - Look before you turn, that way you know where you're going and by turning your head the airflow actually helps you to turn. - To remain stable all you do is arch (as if you hadn't heard that before). I had a tendency to arch with every muscle in my body, making me so rigid that I adopted the freefall characteristics of a tree trunk. What I'm trying to say is: your arms and legs should be a bit flexible while you thrust your hips forward. (I'm still talking about skydiving here! ) - Since I was rather nervous, even for an AFF student , my JM's told me to take a few deep breaths after exiting and becoming stable. This really helped me focus on the diveflow. - Remember that every jump is fun! I know it sounds corny and worn out, but once I got past the 'course' or 'school' idea and remembered that I was doing this for fun, I was less tense. Perhaps the most stimulating thing was that one of my JM's showed me a video of a very good AFF student, so I got to see all AFF jumps in sequence, I saw this student become unstable, she was 'swimming' on her back, and when she remembered to arch she was in a stable belly-to-earth position in no time flat. Jeez, I thought I had nothing to say about all this, and now I've nearly written a book!

And here I am, not quite counting down my posts to 'Enthusiast'. Sigh Ramon

Bummer you broke your leg, but good it's just your leg. Get well soon and report to your nearest DZ asap! Ramon

Since I'm still on student status I don't have much choice but to jump with RSL. Personally I think that the advantages of an RSL outweigh the disadvantages by far, just like for AAD's (and car seat-belts....) OK, bring it on! I think that I would like to have a double RSL on my own rig, so that a breaking riser does not leave me with an entangled mess, as happened to a friend of mine. Ramon

I don't think anybody's forcing you to read it. It's really rather simple: If you don't like it, don't read it. I really like reading other peoples' stories about how they experience skydiving. ROFLMAO!! Oh yeah, I forgot, I'll tell you all about the low-pull contests for AFF-students at my DZ someday. Ramon

For those of you that don't know the Rose Is Rose comic: the little boy, Pascale, often communicates with his guardian angel, who seems to have taken up skydiving this time. Personally I really love this comic, even though this is the first time it deals with skydiving. Click here to view the comic. Ramon

ROFLMAO!!!! Here's another techie poll: What to do with people that create an invalid poll Nothing, they're mostly harmless Take away their computer, give them a VT-100 terminal Revoke their USPA license, if any Ramon

Welcome! I hope you'll continue totally loving it for a long time! Ramon

Cessna Grand Caravan Winds were rather light. I think 5 knots at 5000, maybe a little more at 10000. They left the plane before me. I'm not really sure what you mean here, but we opened at the same altitude, I was open first since I pull higher. Since both of these people are very experienced AFF/I's and T/M's I feel that it was most likely something I did, it's hard to imagine that both of them would track in my direction. Ramon

Unfortunately my proxy-server has severe problems with Java applets in general, so Happy Hour is not an option for me..... Ramon

Hi all, First of all, I am a newbie jumper with 29 jumps, hoping to get my A-licence with five FS instruction jumps. On Tuesday I made two jumps where there was nowhere near enough separation on opening. On my first jump of the day I did some frontloops, backloops and turns, bellyflying only. I tried to do some turns by tilting my legs sideways instead of using my arms and my upper body. I did not do any tracking, and at pull-time I saw some canopies open almost directly below me, fortunately I open high, at 3.5k. I waited at least 5 secs. before I exited, and did a (planned

It sounds like a very reasonable request to me! At a DZ where I've been a couple of times, there is a sign that I find very interesting: "Beware of propellor." Oh no, that's a different one. "If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours. If it doesn't, it wasn't yours to begin with" From what you write I think you did set your husband free, it's up to him to prove he's (still) yours. Ramon

Hiya Des, I beg to differ: every skydiver is good at facing his/her fears, and I think that every skydiver is smart, just by being a skydiver!!!!

My name's Ramon Verbruggen, and I work as a computer programmer (C++) at the R&D department of a small company in the Netherlands that sells Planning & Scheduling software. Given the weather here lately, I am starting to consider relocation as a serious option. Work details are not important, weather and distance to a major DZ are Rainman

Hiya Kimmer, Very well done! I don't even know you, but I'm *SO* proud of you. Having only just completed my AFF myself, I really enjoy reading other people's experiences, it makes me realize my reactions weren't very strange or anything. Thanks for sharing Rainman

I got some really strange looks at the office when I was walking down the corridor, and tried to locate the *imaginary* BOC ripcord, and did a quickie emergency procedure........What can I say, I thought no one was watching. Also my girlfriend almost tried to have me locked up after I yelled SKYDIVE!!!! with my head in front of the portable fan in our bedroom...... Rainman

Don't have a video of myself, but I really love all the tracks from 'Californication' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. My mom's tandem video had a classical piece of music until exit, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (sp?), then Jump by Van Halen. Rainman

I think calling you Freddie is an immense honour, remember that Mr. Heineken is called Freddie, he made billions with his beer! Rainman

LOL, I don't think there's a suitable rig/container for two g/f's! Since I'm nowhere near decision altitude yet, I'll try to correct the problem some more before going for cushions or handles! rainman

My mom has actually always been enthusiastic about me skydiving, she recently did a tandem that she can't stop talking about ( I can't stand it that my mom jumped from 14700 while I've never jumped from higher than 13500!!). Since her tandem she keeps asking me 'when you go skydiving, can I come along?', and I am amazed and excited about that. My girlfriend however isn't very thrilled about the whole thing, she'd much rather I stopped skydiving altogether, and before I go skydiving I have to promise her about hundred times that I will do it safely (Hey, I don't have a deathwish!). She finally agreed to come along when my mom did her tandem, she was nearly bored to tears, and looking at the skygods stunting under their sleeping-bag-sized canopies scared her half to death. I did talk her into doing a tandem, but I am 95% convinced that when I get her to come to a DZ again and she does jump, she'll just say: 'OK, this was nice, now I know what it is you like to do, and I will never need to do it again'. As negative as the above may sound, I really really love my girlfriend, whuffo and all, and I really hope it will never come so far that I have to choose for her or for skydiving, I honestly don't know what I'd do. We've been together for a very long time, and although I did some S/L jumps before I met her, I didn't really get into skydiving until this year.

One of my AFF instructors told me the story of when he was jumpmaster on a load of S/L students. At 3500 ft. the right engine of the plane (otter?) burst into flames. The J/M and his colleague managed to get all the students out of the plane safely, and both J/Ms also exited safely, although he still has the scars on his arms where he was burnt by the molten aluminum of the plane's skin! Fortunately the pilot managed to land the plane safely, although the plane was 'beyond economical repair'. At 23 jumps I am still very very novice, but the plane-ride to about 2000 ft is the scariest part of the skydive for me! Rainman