Joellercoaster

Many of the other problems can be avoided by buying an airlocked canopy, too ;) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I drank a full ashtray once, just because some fool said I couldn't. And there was that chuleton that time in Lillo... it wasn't the worst going in, but I sure did regret it for a while afterwards. Seriously kids, never try and eat anything bigger than your head. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

After going to all that trouble to make sure I had matching rig, jumpsuit and sneakers? Duh. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

More like an older Samurai, I thought? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Skydive Lillo is the home of Freefall University (http://www.freefalluniversity.co.uk), a canopy piloting school and probably a few other training organisations, so at any one time there will be a large number of students around. This is nice, there's a lot of excitement end enthusiasm around and everyone is looking out for each other. It also means there are lots of team rooms with video facilities, and many ninja-like skydivers around with the attitude that they have something to pass on. Since Lillo is a very small town, fun at night is generally had with the same people you train with during the day, and that's all good. I highly recommend the pigs' ears at Cafe Latino, with its odd assortment of Bulgarian staff and shockingly cold beer. Aside from the students, the DZ has quite a few fun jumpers and longer-term residents training for competition and whatnot. None of these people gave me even the slightest hint of Elite Skydiver attitude, despite the fact that there were ironically some genuinely Elite Skydivers there. In the hangar, in the bar, in the plane, everybody was kind and fun and never too busy to give a student a pin check or just a slap on the head out the door. Max praise to the locals. The bunkhouse is actually pretty good, despite looking like some sort of lunchbox. Plenty of space and nowhere near as hot as it looks, and hey - the price is right. I'd actually suggest taking a sleeping bag, because it somehow manages to get cold at night! Bring a pillow too. The bar is really good. You will spend a lot of time there, so make sure you get along with the staff. They'll teach you Spanish at no charge, at least enough to cover the menu (food plentiful and tasty, BTW) :D My one complaint? It's a small one: they really need to replace the shower head in the male shower. Oh, yeah. Take a car. The town is less than a klick away but the sun is baking. I'm from Adelaide, I know that of which I speak. If you're not going to be jumping all day every day, you will want to take them up on their offer of car rental. Even if you just want to go to Lillo (not that there's much to do there). Didn't try the pool but there was happy splashing coming from it from time to time when it got really hot. The baking sun is its own reward, though. It motivates you to get off the ground and into the cool air at 12k, and it means you will almost never find yourself on a weather hold (I was there a week and was on two wind holds, both just for AFF students). Oh yeah, and there are some cool thermals ;) Despite first jumping out of a neato Caravan, I find I really miss that Porter and its denizens. I'll be back, sooner rather than later.

I always used to say that if you didn't have the Love, then you shouldn't be a professional programmer. Unfortunately, that was when I was young and idealistic. I still love to code, or I would - but doing it for a living for a decade has sort of beaten all the fun out of it - which is why I need skydiving now, I guess. So, it's not a total loss. (Or I could take my young self's advice... I need an alternative career now so I can go back to loving code - any ideas? Still gotta fund the jumping somehow.) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Or go one better and replace the whole stows/pack tray idea with something like a really big cotton reel, with channels to put the line groups in -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

"Curse my lack of opposable thumbs!" "Being a vampire bat has an unsuspected downside if you overdo it." Uh... I think Spizzzarko and waltappel beat me to the rest of the good ones. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yes. There are even still some people left in the US in that category, I hear. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I'm glad I'm not the only one. That site ate half a day of my life one time... the sad part was, he really reminded me of a friend of mine (only Tucker writes better). -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

You can skydive anytime... if you're deliberately hanging with your parents, then there's value to be had in going to church with them too if'n you're religiously tended yourself. But as skybytch and others have pointed out, for those of us not inclined towards organised religion, and in the words of the immortal Rollo: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts..." -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Would you say, then, that it's because canopy technology is progressing faster than the skills of the population? The way I hear it, Stilettos used to be the cutting edge (sorry), and were rightfully viewed with fear and distrust by the great majority of jumpers. Now, because you can get Katanas and Xaoses and Velocities oh my, they're sort of in the middle of the performance curve when you stretch it all out. The problem obviously being, they're no less twitchy than they ever were, and that's not where the middle of the population's skill curve is at all - there's an awful lot of canopy models appearing up at the hurty end, and not really that many skilled pilots capable of safely flying them yet. Does this sound likely? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I've been playing with the rig designer program, and have confirmed that my Icon can have the logos all in the same colours as the panels they're on... I guess that's close enough -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yah. I was talking about this to a l33t sw00per the other day, and he said that nobody's buying Stilettos any more when they want to go HP because PD brought out the Katana. The problem with that being, a lot of those people should definitely still be flying Stilettos FWIW, I've seen Stilettos being flown a fair bit and they scare the piss out of me anyways. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

It has a reputation for being a bit more forgiving than the other two. That's the advice I've taken with my purchase, anyway. Since I have one jump on a Sabre2 and none on a Safire2, it's only second-hand I guess. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Darn - you are so right. Telling them I cleared my f1rst lineover (OK, it was only a little one, and I was at 5k, but still) on the weekend is totally failing to impress them Reserve ride would have been way cooler. On the plus side, I saved that money, so I'll call it even. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Just because I'm developing a taste for dinky little Spanish towns, I guess. I like the fact that there's not much going on in Lillo during the day except sleeping in the shade, and I like the way all the locals come out at night and just sit on chairs in the streets, chewing the fat. I like sitting at my table at Latino's or Meson Las Tapas holding a mug of beer with ice on the outside, watching the little kids running around at 1am because they've all had their siesta in the afternoon... even the old ladies coming out and scolding me for landing in their freshly-plowed field, I like. I like the restaurant owner who brought me a steak bigger than I was as a pisstake, and then heartily congratulated me (I assume that's what he was doing, I don't speak much Spanish) when against all physics and geometry, I somehow crammed it in my stomach. I like the way everyone in town knows that if you're a foreigner, you're there to skydive, and they still want to try and talk to you anyway. I like the dust and the bleachedness. *shrug* It's entirely personal taste, but I do really like Lillo. The DZ is OK too [edit: speling] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

No, no. you're looking at it wrong. They are the modification - he's going to use them to land on. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Advice noted, and taken. It's a shame that full-face helmets aren't available to the people who really would benefit from the extra protection (us newbie RW kids doing "combat" FS dives and funneling all the time ), but the arguments against are persuasive. *sigh* one more reason to start working on my B license, if I needed another one. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

All, as far as I could see on the weekend. Dave Cowman is no longer an AFF/I (nothing sinister about it though, I hear he just stopped instructing and his rating lapsed). I've only been past Ocana briefly so I can't comment on the DZ, but personally I'd rather be in Lillo as a town. That may, of course, just be me

Interesting. So if someone were downsizing, and had already reached the loose-ish end of their container's range, they might consider trying an airlocked main as a way of extending their container's life just a little bit? (Not that this applies to me - I've just picked a main at the manufacturer's maximum recommended size for the container, and won't be downsizing for oh... a year or two anyway

*golf claps* This has been the best-executed and most amusing troll since I've joined dz.com, bar none. Thank you. You totally had me going yesterday, and you clearly have a few people still on the hook this afternoon (UK time). Bravo, sir (if indeed you are a "sir"). And I still want to come jump at the Ranch (could you be someone from the Ranch, but not the person they think you are? Anyway) someday. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

+1 vote for "stick". Although "mat" is probably apposite also. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

(PLFing six-year-old) that's AWESOME! Best mental image I'll get all day, and it's only midday. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

You could see how they're going in this thread in General... not sure if they've come to any useful conclusion yet though. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?