Erroll

I'm hurt...I've always enjoyed sparring with them. Indeed. My apologies. I have been following your arguments in the 'Holy war' thread with interest. It would help if some of your sparring partners in that thread had some substance to them, eh?

. Nope. But I have jumped there. Courtesy of Jannie de Beer?

Rugby, a game played by men with odd-shaped balls If we can get someone to bite Wilkinson's ear early on, we might just pull off a win. edited to fix previous edit

As a South African who has experienced enormous political turmoil and who lives in what is now virtually a one-party state, I must confess that I am fascinated by the political threads. I never take part in them simply because I am too ignorant and wouldn't presume to have any constructive input to give about another country's politics. However, I am a keen observer and I have learnt a lot by following these threads. I am very impressed by the knowledge and eloquence of some of the more regular participants in these threads - Bill von, Wendy and John Kallend come immediately to mind. I am on the other hand often appalled at the xenophobia, intolerance and war-mongering I sometimes encounter here , but that in turn re-inforces my admiration for what is true freedom of expression. I doubt that this is the 'purpose of the politcal threads', but I for one am of the opinion that they have real value.

We've had the first Cosmonaut (Gagarin), first Astronaut (Shepard), first Afronaut (Shuttleworth), and now the first Easternaut(Wee)?

-Last out doing a solo at Sibson, I see this enormous white cotton ball slide in underneath me. I enter the cloud at about 9k and spend the next 6000 feet surrounded by nothing but this almost ethereal white light. It was a very 'spiritual' experience. Then, the 'groundrush' as I suddenly exit the cloud base at 3000 feet - the fastest I have ever thrown my PC. -Doing a sunset dive at Carletonville, watching the African sun set in the west while a huge red full moon is rising in the east. Truly an amazingly beautiful and memorable vision. Was fortunate to experience this more than once. -My hundreth at Mmabatho - 31 December- last load of the day (and year!). Exit at 15k, open at 10 to cruise a bit, and looking out over the African bush I see way in the distance a typical violent summer thunderstorm moving away. The sun was shimmering brightly on the tops of the clouds, and stunning lightning bolts were flashing below. Awesome sight!

Your point? You will find that several experienced jumpers have changed their hard decks, pull and break-off altitudes upwards, irrespective of how they were initially trained. Michele is quite correct in that 'it is her ass', after all. She is also doing the right thing by informing everyone on the load, including the pilot.

I thought it worked better that way....?

An angle that is often overlooked is 'the chance of something going wrong and the effect/result when it does'. If something goes wrong during a "standard or routine" skydive, the effect is likely catastrophic and the chance of survival reduces dramatically. The risk is substantially less in the event of something going wrong during a routine trip by motorcar.

A bit of a contradiction there, no?

As long as you don't touch my rig? Very curious perspective.

Skydiver

Doggie-doo

Cornwall wasn't so bad as far as traffic was concerned. On another trip I went up to Peterborough from Berkshire one Sunday to go jump at Sibson. Coming back in the afternoon the traffic was like it is here on a Monday morning!

On my very first jump my JM pointed out a coffin-shaped mine dump in the distance and then pointed to the golf course below and asked "Wouldn't you rather be playing golf right now?" I cracked up laughing (probably from the nerves) but I never did take up golf. In the evenings we would sit for hours listening to the older folk regalling each other with 'war-stories', 'noshitthereIwas' stories and 'sick' jokes. Comes with the territory I reckon, although some people are more sensitive than others and one should respect that.

So true! I am from SA and spent quite a bit of time down in Cornwall on business. One time a customer kindly provided me with a weekend itinerary for sight-seeing the south of England. He suggested that I leave early in the mornings to ensure I got to see everything. I was back at St Austel by 4pm Saturday, having done both days' worth of sight-seeing!

I doubt that the cold could prevent you from reaching, but most certainly from feeling. While it is good practise to look for one's handles, it is not always possible, and therefor important that one can feel them. I remember not being able to find my throw-out handle on a winter jump, and when I looked down (ROL), my (gloveless) hand was on the handle - I just could not feel it! Since then I have never jumped without gloves again - winter or summer.

SA. Pros : Mostly good jumping weather. Some very scenic DZ's. Cons: Inland DZ's very bland (especially in Winter). Inland DZ's high ASL. UK. Pros : Friendly, competent DZ folk. Close to sea level giving mellow landings. Cons: Not skydive-friendly weather. Being from SA, all the greenery can get too much

It is a device known as the SharkPOD but appears to have only limited success. Edit : Just noticed this link appears earlier in the thread.

They could well have broken the world record. The highest tandem jump (albeit civilian) that I have been able to 'Google' was done by Eddie Grantland (30,200' agl). http://www.skydivecenter.com/staff/staff.htm

From The Star (Johannesburg, SA) http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=239654 Skydivers set new, freezing record September 19, 2003 By Marleen Smith Two South African military parachutists have achieved a record height for tandem jumping. Lieutenant-Colonel Blikkies Blignaut and his passenger, Corporal Elias Mafora, jumped from 35 100 feet above sea level, 44 Parachute Regiment has announced. Major Sakkie van Rooyen, Parachute School commander at the regiment in Tempe, outside Bloemfontein, said yesterday's jump was an African record. They were still inquiring about the world record. To put their achievement in perspective, Van Rooyen said Boeing aircraft usually flew at around 30 000 feet. Blignaut and Mafora were the only tandem team in a group of 26 parachutists who jumped from 35 100 feet yesterday. They were all participating in an advanced course being presented at the regiment until today. They had to brave an upper air temperature of minus 47¡C. Frostbite, hyperventilation and oxygen shortages were but a few of the dangers they faced. They inhaled oxygen from big cylinders on the C-130 Hercules plane until shortly before the jumps. During the jumps they received oxygen through smaller cylinders attached to their kit. Van Rooyen, who also jumped, said in the upper air layers they fell at an estimated speed of 220km/h. The 26 free-fell for around 2 minutes and 15 seconds before opening their chutes. None were injured. - Sapa =====================================

Painted in huge letters on the hangar roof at Citrusdal (SA) is the word SPLAT. Very easy to spot in freefall and very easy to aim for......

I did a couple of jumps at the London Parachute School on a trip to the UK. (One of the closest DZ's to London?) They specialise/d (?) in S/L training but were happy to give me a bit of altitude. Their contact info is/was London Parachute School Post Office Box 18 Goring on Thames Reading. RG8 9EW Tel (0249) 651909 Hope you do continue!!

Hmmm.... not a lot of risk on the 3th, methinks.

As far as I recall, Pietermaritzburg (Oribi) was the venue for the very first sport parachute jump/s in SA. Hope you have a super boogie!