gus

LOL! I thought I was the only one that did that.

I've noticed recently that when I'm tracking my goggles (which sit over my glasses) can move around quite a bit and can let in enough air to force me to close my eyes. I'm glad I didn't pack a mal on that one! It's not that they're not tight enough, it's just that they're quite bulky and catch the wind. So my question is: does anyone out there jump with prescription goggles? From my Google search it seems the only choice is from SportRX but it looks like they will all effect your peripheral vision. Is that right? Contacts aren't really an option, I get hayfever in the summer and it effects my eyes quite badly. If anyone has any cunning advice (no, I can't afford lasik )feel free to pass it on. Blues, Gus "If a man hasn't found something to die for, he isn't fit to live" Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Try some of the online gear stores, these are just a few: http://www.square1.com http://www.paragear.com http://www.gear-store.com http://www.pierltd.com Or have a poke around The Skydiver's Enclave, there's links there to pretty much everything. Good luck, Gus "If a man hasn't found something to die for, he isn't fit to live" Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Shall I translate? Ric's just finished his degree in Biology at the University of Leicester and he's very happy about it. And I've finished too. Three years of Computer Science (just down the road in Nottingham) is finally over, YEAH! Vodka was drunk and so was I. Nice. Who else is/has been suffering with exams? I remember Joolee was, who else? Good luck to any poor bastard who's still got some left. Hahahahaha. Gus "If a man hasn't found something to die for, he isn't fit to live" Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

My Mumma says that all music is the work of the devil and anyone who listens to it should be taken to their local priest for an immidiate exorcism. And then burnt at the stake until they die. Gus "If a man hasn't found something to die for, he isn't fit to live" Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

mkay, it's working now - sweet video! Texel looks really nice as well, good job guys. > PS Gus, when are you and Ric going to be at Langar again, I am keen for some more kamikaze 3-ways. What are you talking about, 'kamikaze'? That was us doing serious rw, LOL! If you fancy pulling a sicky (you deserve it after all) I'll be down at Langar tomorrow. Ric's still in the middle of exams so he's wimping out, whenever I tell him to get his arse to the dz he starts bleating. > PPS how did your exams go? OK I think, ta. Results on the 15th so keep everything crossed. Blues, Gus "If a man hasn't found something to die for, he isn't fit to live" Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Dude it doesn't work! I've downloaded it twice and WinZip whines about "does not appear to be a valid archive". How big is is the unzipped file? Can you post that instead? I wanna see these legendary skills in action. Blues, Gus

Sorry for the dumb question but.....when you buy a new canopy what exactly do you get? Do you get risers? A d-bag? Slider? Pilot chute? Or is it literally just the canopy? Blues, Gus

I did exactly the same thing once, on a Quadra 170 that can't have been loaded at more than 1:1. Only put a couple of twists in, at about 1500 feet but it scared the living sh*t out of me. This was on about my 30th jump with only a few previous jumps on the Quadra. I now jump a Spectre 150 and in the 100 odd jumps I've put on it I've never done the same thing and I throw it around as hard as I can. I guess it's a combination of canopy, circumstances and bad luck. Gus

As much as I don't want to expose the unsuspecting world to my feet (not a pretty sight!) I was thinking it might be nice to have some sports sandals to jump in, for when the weather's nice and hot. Aside from the obvious (make sure they're tied up nice and tight...etc) anyone got any cunning advice? Does it actually make the slightest bit of difference? Can you freefly ok with them on? Ta, Gus

Try http://www.headdown.net, there's some pretty cool stuff on there. There's also an ftp server up somewhere with absolutely burger loads of videos (about 3gb I think) on it, try searching rec.skydiving for it. Gus

Ahhhh, you say the sweetest things! Screamer's right though, there comes a point where it suddenly dawns on you exactly what you're doing. Maybe your 2nd jump, maybe your first unlinked exit, maybe your first solo, maybe even your 100th jump and it can be pretty scary. Screamer, is that email address on your profile right? I sent you a terribly interesting email ages ago and it either didn't get there or you're ignoring me. Actually, I might already know the answer to that...... Gus

You may call me 'the wise one'. Thank you and goodnight. Gus And now officially an 'enthusiast', I must know what I'm talking about!

Hi Mountainman, Don't worry about people that try and slag you off for being so enthusiatic about skydiving, mark them off as ignorant or arseholes! For what it's worth, I think it's great: I had about 9 months between my 1st jump (tandem) and starting my AFF and I did exactly the same as you. I read everything I could, I bought "The Skydiver's Handbook" and read it more times that I care to admit, I got my AFF manual from the DZ and memorised that, I spent far too much time on the web downloading videos, literature and whatever else I could find. Hey it's a healthy sign! Good luck, I hope the training goes well. Gus

Marc's defiantely right about relaxing. I found that during my student jumps I had to force myself to relax (sounds funny I know) but as soon as I did, the arch just came naturally. And I still do it now, if I find myself above the formation and I really need to aaaaaaaarrrrrch to get down then I just switch into uber-relaxation mode and down I go! It's obviously not as simple as it sounds, mainly because you've got a million things going on in your head and you really don't want to screw up. But try it if you can, it made a big difference for me. Good luck, Gus

But what can you do? There's no way of predicting how someone will react in those circumstances. You can build up muscle memory by practicing your emergency procedures on the ground but that's some pretty hardcore s*** when the ground is approaching at 120mph and you're at 1000ft. It's easy to imagine alot of people (especially low time jumpers) 'freezing' like you said - it's the whole 'sensory overload' thing all over again. Which is why all student kit has an AAD and it's why I jump with a Cypres, not because I don't trust myself to pull all the right handles but just because it's worth insuring against the risk that I might not. Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a Cypres thread . So the answer is to make pulling that handle totally instinctive, take it out of the realm of concious decisions and make it automatic. Gus

I'm shocked, words of wisdom from Ric! Has someone else hijacked his username? Probably. Well whoever it was was right. I've driven a little Formula Ford around Brans Hatch but it hardly makes me a racing driver. More than anything being a 'skydiver' is about what's going on up here (tapping temple with forefinger), being passionate about the sport and having the commitment to skydive, whatever it takes. That doesn't have to mean living at the dz and not washing to save money for the next jump ticket (Screamer?

Go on then, money well spent. Gus

How about this: There's a world population of what, 6 billion or something? How many serious skydivers are there out of that lot? Can't be more than 1/2 a million. That means that there are 5,999,500,000 people that don't even know what they're missing - we're the lucky few who've experienced what it really means to live. When I think back to before I skydived and I look at my life now I wonder how I survived the tedium, my quality of life is immeasurably better now than a couple of years ago. We all have this incredible thing in our lives that makes the good times just so amazingly good and the bad times bearable. And if that didn't help, f*** the exam, find a skydiving doctor at the DZ who'll write you a letter saying you got scurvy or something and go jump out of some planes! Gus

Hey Joolee, The end of May is no good for me - my last exam is on the 29th /

Oh you cheeky bastard, I can't believe they're sending you a new one! If you get another one off Visa can I have it? You can't possibly need 2. That sucks fat ones, your charmed life just goes from strength to strength. Gus

Amen to that. You have to think positive though: at least your jumpmates got a few giggles out of it. Did you tell this guy about his dodgy BOC pouch? Presumably it was him that had jumped it already, and he hadn't noticed anything was wrong? If you've ordered a Wings as well, is there a danger that yours will be the same? Can you contact them and make sure it's ok? Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep Greased anvil Your mum Gus

Well I finally got to meet Screamer today, what a loon. And yes, he is as mad as you'd imagine. Approximate dz.com post to jump ratio 15:1. Turns out he leads a bit of a charmed life at 'work'. Managed two jumps together and if the boy can learn to arch we'll bang some more out before long. Sorry I had to leave in such a hurry (bus), didn't get to say goodbye. Also saw BenW (seems there's a little coven of dz.comers at Langar) who just recently got his FF1 - beer! - and got on a sunset tracking dive when I didn't, so I don't like him any more.

Hi Julie, We got our flights from go-fly.com for about £75 return from Stansted to Barcelona, then picked up a car from easyRentaCar for about £100 for the 10 days - bargain! I know that RyanAir fly to Perpingan (which is much closer) pretty cheaply if you book at the right time. Good luck, maybe I'll see you there! Gus

Shit, I'm dead jealous. I've seen some pretty awsesome video too (including the excellent Crosswind) and I'd love to try it. Seriously, this is still a dicipline in its infancy and it can only get better, the suits can only provide more lift and give greater freefall times. People laugh but why can't there come a day when someone intentionally lands a birdman without ever deploying a parachute? Alex, out of interest how many jumps do you have? And SkymonkeyOne what about you? Did you jump the GTI straight off or had you jumped the 'Classic' already? Come on guys, we want the details! Gus