Spike

Yeah, I remember seeing him with his neoprene brace, hopping along like a marsupial, but then thats genetic bias for you. Yeah thats what the physio reckoned. But the surgeons attitude was "you bust it, I'll fix it". Tell me, the story is, scars are a hit with the girls? I take it amputee is a scar too far? People were already taking the pi$$ about me being a tunnel junkie, but I guess thats gonna be the way to go, for a while. Its all about risk and reward I guess, I'm just gagging for a jump and its only 3 months now. In a year I'm going to be mental. Tf vibes

Yeah, tough call, my emotional side says go for it. My thinking side says, caution first. Tonto hit one of my nails on the head. I bust myself right before the nationals and my team mates have been really supportive. But hanging out another 6 months I'll have the flight skills of anvil with booties! 12 months and I'll be doing my first jump in the Nationals! So one of the reasons I want to get back in the saddle is so as to catch back up with my team mates. If I leave it 12 months then in reality I'm bailing on my team. But what Tonto said makes sense, jumping will always be there. Im $hit at letting go. Hey Mat, wasn't digging, anyway is that Mat in the shop at Hinton Mat?

Hmmm, Yeah 99.6138% of my landings were good I'm not scared of jumping, in fact I'm desperate (yes for a jump ). Its the landing thats worrying me.

Ok, Spiral fracture of the distal fibula on my left leg back in July. Surgery = plate and 7 screws, 7 weeks in a cast non load bearing and now a couple of weeks in physio. Saw the Consultant after the cast came off. I say "when can I jump?", he says "as soon as you can run". I say "physio", he says "its a foot, try walking on it". I try and fall over, he says "you May need to use crutches for a while". Yeah right! I ask whether I should have the metalwork taken out before jumping in case it breaks again, he says "nope leave the metal in, just don't break the leg again" So I go my way and get my own physio. Relate story, which give rise to raised eyebrows, yada yada yada, "typical consultants, you break it we'll fix it". Now I'm getting better and better and am starting to think jump soon, so I ask my physio, when does she think I'll be able to jump? Small huddle of physios comes up with... Have the metalwork out, so waiting list for elective surgery. 6 weeks non load bearing. Then another 6-9 months physio. So I'm looking at a total time out of over a year. I read the thread on jumping with metalwork, but I'm really reluctant to have surgery and end up back on crutches again. So who to trust? Consultant or physio?

Ok, I just got back from a consultation/physio. Its already been 3 months since I had a distal fracture of the left fibula and now they are telling me I should wait a further 9 months, preferably +12 before jumping again. It can't be true. So the question is, how long did you take out from when you had your break, to when you made your next jump? And now, do you think you went back too soon, or laid off too long?

Hi Ian, My experience with a PC101e is that it won't playback on NTSC VCRs or TVs, though my experience is that European TVs and VCRs can display NTSC input signals while US TVs and VCRs do not handle PAL at all. What I did find when I was in the US was... I could record footage on my PC101e. Pop the DV tape into a PC101 and connect that to a US(NTSC) TV, which would display with perfectly good colour and frames per second. If you want to transfer the footage onto NTSC VHS tapes however, then your going to need to do PAL/NTSC standards conversion. This means either using some smart(expensive) hardware, an agency, or some software(relatively cheap, but not perfect results). Have fun in the US, where you going? Oh and don't forget the adaptor for your charger

Hey Emma, Nope but how about.... XL Tunnel 14-15, 1 hour tunnel $825 XL Challenge 17-21, 30 min tunnel, 25 jumps $2200 Not that I have a vested in interest in seeing you support your countrymen. Are you still planning on doing Thelma and Louise go DZ, tripping?

I've jumped both, I'd still say its an improvement, the beaver is effing useless for RW. AggieDave, I should have said, I did the same as your student, except I did my AFF in Australia. My first UK DZ after CAT8 downunder was Hinton. Dave Emerson the CCI was real cool, put me through my drills on the ground and had me do 1 jump with an instructor, before letting me on my way. Only reasons I moved on was because they changed aircraft to a beaver (bad for 4way) and I joined a team of jumpers from Headcorn who were looking for a new DZ. They'd experienced the Beaver at headcorn, so they didn't want to jump it at Hinton. Nice bunch of peeps at Hinton, Maddy, Gus and Alex (staffers) especially cool. But after my first season here, my vote still goes to Nethers.

Hey Ian, thanks for the update on the jumpship at Hinton, now I just need a touch more physio. PM'd you about beer.

Who knows what XL would do? But agreed, it would be very helpfull. John is based in the UK, so its possible that he'd be able to work as a UK based branch of XL coaching. The guys own property/have a life in the USA. Plus its not just tunnel time. To be competitive you have to nail the exits and that means jumping from real planes. That means you need lots of good weather, in the UK? and a fast turnaround, in the UK? Any UK DZO's offering to donate 800+ jumps for free? The Orlando operation does run almost 24/7 with just a little downtime for maintenance and yes anyone can walk in off the street and go fly.

I've jumped at each of the DZ's below bar one, Netheravon is my current home? Headcorn + Probably closest DZ, excellent bunks, friendly jumpers + DZO, Pete Sizer and Zygosis (home FS team) rock. -Sloooow turnaround, altitude holds due to proximity to Gatwick/Heathrow, crap showers open to public, landing area is a long walk from packing shed, cafeteria is very expensive, someone nameless, who used to run Headcorn and is still a big wheel there now holds the role of Customer Prevention Officer #1. On a good day she is best avoided. On a bad day, go home.. Netheravon +Multiple aircraft, generally good turnaround, no altitude problems, welcoming friendly staff, plenty of bunks, good toilet/showers, excellent bar/disco area, cheep beer, good food Ok prices, huge indoor packing area, largest landing area in europe, free camera slot for FS teams who register to train at Nethers. -open to civvies weekends only, if you don't want to party on Friday/Saturday nights bring a tent, reputation for military jobsworthiness (but unfounded in my experience, perhaps 'cause they're all away fighting) London Parachute School - I have visited this DZ but haven't jumped here so..... +Closest DZ to London, and second closest in this list. -Altitude issues, landing areas are off airport, seeing people landing in ploughed fields put me off, I have white on my jump suit. North London Parachute Centre +Excellent packing area, friendly staff, good canteen. -Bit of a tandem/first jump course machine = slow, student/visiting jumpers landing area is a good walk from packing shed. Hinton, Banbury +Good packing area, mostly friendly staff, ok showers, toilets, manifest is lovely. -Tandem/ first jump course machine = slow turnaround, sometimes not helped by air traffic control, issues sharing airspace with gliding club. Edited following IAM's update about the jumpship, pleased to hear it.

Hi Brian, I use this, works great and compared to hardware and agency solutions, its real cheap. If you see Rob Stevenson at Crosskeys, say hi from Colin. Cheers

Ok, I'm no expert but imho to de-interlace or not depends on the target viewing device. So if you expect to view the footage on a pc/mac monitor, then de-interlace. TV's are interlaced devices and the footage should remain interlaced.

Here's my calc's comparing Aerokart with Skyventure Orlando. Aerokart: €20 Membership fee €48 Discounted session fee (2.5 min sessions) €6 Coaching fee €20 + (€48 + €6)*24 = €1316 Or €1316 / 1.39 = GBP£946 Skyventure with Sebastian XL Coaching (see here) US$825 1 hour (additional time over 1st hour= $775) Or US$825 / 1.61 = GBP£512 So yes Aerokart is way expensive. Ok I haven't factored in the cost of flights to Orlando, but I'd still have ferry costs for me to get to Paris. Plus at Orlando you get coaching from Sebastian XL the British National Champions. Don't know who does the coaching at Paris (wonder if its the French 4 way team?). And at Skyventure they have awesome digital video debriefing facilities, which I don't think they have at Paris. My vote goes Orlando, till Skyventure UK is in place.

Take a look here, lots of different "free" conversion packages and step by step guides on how to do it. I've used TMPGenc, but in my current setup I use VirtualDub. Good luck.

2nd that, don't give up. Are you getting your jumps on video? Makes a big difference to see what is happening rather than just thinking you know what is happening. If its any consolation I was scared $hitl@$$ for about my first 20 jumps. There was no one more critical than myself. I'd come down from an AFF kicking myself because of all the stuff I'd screwed up. My AFFI would be whooping and cheering and focussed on all the good stuff. Even now when I'm team training I have bad jumps where I get wound up and tensed up, its like what I'm doing is right up close in my face and everything gets frantic. I've done some training with Dr John - skydivings #1 sport psychologist. A lot of it is to do with arousal levels. 0 is asleep, 10 is heart busting frantic. Everyone is different and you need to find the level of arousal which works best for you. It sounds like yours is too high, you end up tense and rigid and out of control. Try figuring out ways to slow everything down and to calm down - calm=relaxed. On the ascent before you climb in the door, spend a few moments with your eyes closed. Start at the top of your head and "feel" each part of your body with your minds eye. As you focus on each part, "will" it to relax. With loose wrists and hands, shake the stress out of your finger tips. Work on it all the way down to your toes and "see" the stress flow out of your toes, say it to yourself as you work your way down. Don't forget to feel your breathing, in hold and out, slow it down. This works for me, if it works for you great, if not try someother techniques to change your level. Note, that when I'm in competition I end my relaxation routine by doing completely the opposite. As the previous team are in the door about to jump and mine is waiting to climb out, I send my arousal level rocketing. I close my eyes just for 3-5 seconds and imagine myself in a street fight, kicking ass, drawing blood, being bloodied. Mr Angry makes an appearance, my heart rate rockets and I find the strength of my exit is massively improved. Don't forget these are arousal techniques, and for optimal performance you need to find the right level for you. If your issues are specific body flight issues then you really need to debrief on video with your AFFI. And don't forget muscle memory. Freefall is expensive, practice on the ground. Get that arch down pat. practice, practice, practice and if you can get to a wind tunnel then do it. But whatever, don't give up. We were all low timers once, none of us were born to fly. We all got stuck somewhere along the road. If you see people who can fly well, its not luck, its usually the product of damned hard work. You could ask your instructor to wear a Protec and pull wierd faces at you when he sees you locking out, anything to make you laugh, relax and enjoy yourself.

Hi Ken, Your right the Riande is as convenient as it gets, right next door to the tunnel. Cheap too, but thats my point, the whole place is a bit tired and in need of some tlc. I've stayed there three times. First time, the aircon vibrated so much, my beer shook its way right off the bedside table and the condensation was so bad there were mushrooms growing on the wall. Second visit, different room, same aircon and mould plus I got woken up by the teenagers skating along the corridors at 4 in the morning. Third visit (1 night only) was good, I did 2 hours in the tunnel. I was as kn@ckered as the beds at the Riande, I could have slept in the tunnel. By contrast the Best Western movieland is only another 50yds and the rooms/beds are A1. Plus the Diamond steak at the Black Angus is excellent, Oh and try the deep fried Onion cactus thingy for starters, mmmmmm......... When your investing so much money and effort, I think its worthwhile getting a good nights sleep. So if you can afford a few extra $$$ my vote goes BW. I think there are some other motels nearby, Super 8 (or is it 6?), but I haven't stayed at these. Are you on the XL camp?

Nope me neither, I've not had a boring jump yet, though lots of frustration, trying to nail one particular skill or another. I've done quite a bit of team training, which can get pressurised, so I find the odd solo serene and calming. Coaching can be expensive, but if you are friendly and talk to people at your DZ you'll probably find experienced jumpers who will do 2 ways with you. If you don't know many people, talk to your instructor/manifest/dzo to hook you up with a mentor. I like jumping with low timers, being one myself. A small tip, you will learn more from 20 coached jumps than you will from 60 solos. And the quicker you get your skills up the sooner people will want to jump with you for free. After I got my A licence I did a whole heap of solos. On reflection, I wish I'd started with coaching sooner. Learn to pack, make yourself usefull, maybe you can trade pack jobs for free coached jumps. The more your face is at the DZ the more you'll get known. RW rocks, keep at it.

Relative work = formation skydiving = belly flying Once you are off student status you can start flying with other people, making formations. Solo jumps can be fun, but after a while you'll find jumping with other people to be even better. Stick with it, lots of people find the hiatus after student status to be a tough time. When you have low experience no one wants to jump with you, and solos start becoming repetitive (aka boring - skydiving & boring in the same sentence ). Here in the UK we have a coaching programme called WARP which gets newly minted skydivers skills up to a level where they are safe to jump in formation with others. I guess you have something similar in the US, talk to your instructor. Welcome to our world.

Hi Darren, I've been on 6 camps with Sebastian XL and would totally recommend their tunnel camp. Take a look here for info. They have camps coming up in November and December. I haven't been on any of the camps run by other teams so I can't make any comparisons, but the XL guys are just awesome. Thomas has well over 1000 hours in the tunnel and flies like a bird!!!. But not only can they walk the walk, they can talk it too, XL rock as coaches. After a cursory glance at the tunnelcamp/XL web sites, it looks like XL is slightly cheaper, also they run their camp over two days. The tunnel can be exhausting so diluting the airtime can be benificial (though if you're like me you'll turn into a tunnel junkie and just hog any extra time). I do know some people who have been on camps run by other people, if you PM Emma, I'm sure she will give you a fair comparison. Whatever you decide - go tunnel. To maximise the benefit from the tunnel do some prep before you go. Start stretching now, flexibility and endurance becomes an issue when you do an hour+ of airtime in one day. Think hard about what you want to improve on and tell the coaches before you go in the tunnel, it'll help them build a program for you. By this I mean, do you want to improve leg turns, side slides, fingertip to fingertip perfect stability, flashing? Whatever, just think about your flying "before" you get to the tunnel, so that when you're spending your precious minutes, you're not stumped, thinking what to improve on next. Just get in there, tunnel is not skydiving, but its still awesome fun and the skills do translate to real air. Don't forget to stretch those smile muscles, you'll be grinning from ear to ear guaranteed. Oh and if you go to the Orlando Skyventure tunnel, try NOT to end up staying at the Riande Continental Plaza, unless you are pond life. Colin

Congrats to VMAX kicking ass. XL soooooo close....

Hi Mick, Nope consultant didn't think the metal work would make any difference. I asked him about what if I bust the leg up again. He just said not to break it again I had the cast taken off yesterday, after 6 weeks.

Congratulations, well deserved I reckon.

I wasn't there so this is x hand but I recall that the camera flyer with the Hinton 8 crw team bust her leg on the first round of competition over in Spain last year. Sarah continued jumping through the competition filming the crw and landing arse first on the accuracy tuffet. Unusual circumstances and Sarah was braver than me. Even with the availability of a tuffet I would have worries about landing off. All in all I think jumping in a cast is a bad idea. In my own case, roll on November.

I have a plate and 7 screws on the fibula just above the ankle. Go to see the consultant on Tuesday to see if the cast can come off, so everything is crossed. My consultant said that once I can run a mile with little or no discomfort then I'm fit to jump. He said I should expect to leave the plate in for a year or two before thinking about taking it out.