Andrelr

Cool! PM sent

Just picked up on this one. It was the most bizarre of incidents: as Tonto said, Chris landed horizontally with his head against a curbstone, on tar, so softly that he wasn't even winded. The curbstone (angled one) looked like a head cushion, if you can believe that! I landed and ran to him expecting a very dead teammate and he's hardly bruised (except for that wicked-looking cut on the thumb). I tell that story in a pub these days and no-one believes me...

Excellent idea - get those old CReW dogs fired up!

I wish! Seriously, there is a club being put together. Check out www.sac.com.sa Are you Riyadh-based as well?

pity about those boring posts, though...

Cool pics, Fergs!

The next boogie will be from the 24th to the 4th of March and from the 7th to the 15th of March. The aircraft will be an AN12 and altitude will be 13 000ft to 15 000ft. Jump price is AED 115. I started jumping there some months ago. Probably been 6 or 7 times, but not during a boogie. Nice setup: aircon packing hangar, the Grand Caravan has been exchanged for a KingAir which should be operational early March. There's a cheap hotel next door called the Barracuda which gives jumpers a cheaper rate to stay there. There is a large liquor store there with good prices. Anyone living in the Middle East will tell you that these places are hard to find! I go to Dubai on business regularly and will be at the boogie if anyone wants to PM me for more info. More importantly: ANY CREWDOGS GOING?

I started jumping there some months ago. Probably been 6 or 7 times, but not during a boogie. Nice setup: aircon packing hangar, the Grand Caravan has been exchanged for a KingAir which should be operational early March. There's a cheap hotel next door called the Barracuda which gives jumpers a cheaper rate to stay there. There is a large liquor store there with good prices. Anyone living in the Middle East will tell you that these places are hard to find! I go to Dubai on business regularly and will be at the boogie if anyone wants to PM me for more info. More importantly: ANY CREWDOGS GOING?

Hi Mark Great to see some of the oldtimers (?) reading the forum. Team X: I still have your golf shirt from that time. Graham still doing his thing: check out www.aerialfx.co.za for the evidence (I'm the one out the Pitts Special). Duppie retired and moved to Cape Town. Manny still very active. Runs his skydiving shop "Icarus". Broke himself very badly on a BASE a couple of years back, but recovered beyond expectations. Let me know what's happened to you guys. Cheers Andre

Hi Tom Only 2 regular CRW groups operating in SA currently. My team unfortunately broke up when I relocated to the Middle East. I'm hoping the guys get their act together sufficiently to get to another Meet. How are things with you guys?

Everyone. Swedes and Aussies as well.

Being an old Crew Dog forced to jump in the freefall world (moving to the Middle East), I looked for a canopy that could do CRW and open at terminal. Bought a 135 Hybrid Tri through DZ.com Clasifieds from a chap in Canada. Had it transported to Saudi Arabia. Took it with me to South Africa on a Biz trip to get it checked out. I jumped it in Pretoria at 4500 ft (above sea level) and a week later in Dubai at sea level. Loaded at 1.44, it was stable as a rock, swooped nicely and landed great. I did a lot of jumps on a 160 CRW Tri last year and found that to be a dog in comparison to this one. This 135 Hybrid Tri is possibly the best canopy I've owned. Can't wait to crash it into some of my CRW buddies!

As we discussed before, the Dubai sandpit isn't far from the Iraq sandpit. Can't promise you 4-way rotations as I left my team back in South Africa, but 2-ways very possible.

Nice pics, Arno. I'm in Dubai now and off to the DZ (it's Islamic weekend here) to put some more jumps on my new Tri. No one here to bash canopies against, though!

The fun part is landing it on a hot and bumpy day... You're so lightly wingloaded that every bump makes you feel the canopies are going to jump apart and put you into your own personal downplane.

Anyone recognize this mural? It was on the pub wall at a DZ now closed down. The wording gives a clue as to its location.

Hi Gadget I'm in. Just bought a hybrid Tri 135: hopefully compatible with some of the canopies at the Meet. Let's have a beer or three when get there. It's been a while since Gap!

When is the CF Spektakel? Is there a website?

Great! Congrats on the CRW Cat3. Cheers A

Hi Russ Thanks for that. My rotations in recent times have been on Tri's & Rubis' with AR7's and Matrixs before that. I haven't seen a canopy take-out and a spin like that since doing rotes on Cruiselites in the late 80's. I haven't jumped a Lightning (too expensive for South Africans). I know they're great for bi-di formations, especially the big ones. Don't they like rotations and the sometimes inevitable smash-and-grab? Cheers A

Hey Arno You receovered from all that wrap body damage that Sharky gave you? I'm quite pleased you got to do your first 4 stack and 4th dock on your very next CRW jump. Cheers Andre

Great video of the tersh! Never seen one in action before. The other video brought back some bad-old-days memories. Man, those old canopies just couldn't take the same kind of abuse as the new ones. Cheers Andre

Nice one, Jim. Welcome. Cheers Andre

1998. Ricci asked me to meet up with you to see if we couldn't arrange a record attempt in South Africa.

Hi Mike. Old (not so old) habits die hard. I seem to recall we met at the WPC in Eloy?