bertusgeert

I thought this was an excellent production. That tunnel looks wicked! I want one! I think those guys indeed have courage, it'd be pretty scary jumping out into pitchdarkness with 150lb of gear from 30, 000! They get a lot of sweet training there, but man, they earn it! Does their courses include anything else than falling and turning? Or do they consider it unecesary? How much would the gear impact your stability? And what size and kind of rigs are they using? --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

You got it right pullhigh. Ive tried to get a few friends to jump, and gave up. A few months later they asked me how to start. Also, another good idea if they just wanna check it out is to just let 'em sit around the DZ while you jump. They might talk to some cool people and get a different opinion about it. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Would extended freefall make you tired more than normal? And how tired do most people get skydiving? I guess a lot of us dont feel it (if we do get tired) because of the rush of adrenaline. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Thanks Weegegirl I understand now that this is a serious issue. I will definately get my RW and tracking down a little better, and buy some Freefly friendly gear when I do get some. Thanks for your advice! --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Just wondering Having 23 jumps, is it safe to attempt sit-flying or head-down with student gear? Remember that I am only attempting, and wont be holding the position long! Also, if I am interested in Freeflying ASAP, should I look for any specific gear that would be different from ppl that do RW? --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Going down to Florida March 14 - 21, and wondering if tunnel time would be a good idea. I have 23 jumps, and I'm goin to DeLand. Would tunnel time be a good thing, or a waste of money at this point? How long before do i need to register the time, and how much would it be? Thanx all. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I had a similar felling when I got out of AFF, that I can go jump and not do anything. No jump plan. Even though this might be a lot of fun, you are wasting a lot of time. My much trusted instructor and friend told me to never jump without a diveplan. If you freefall for 50 seconds and paid a $20 jumpticket, you are paying 40cents a second. That is too much to wonder what you are going to do next. Do a move, spend two seconds thinking about stuff you could have had figured out on the ground. Always have a diveplan, and you will advance much faster, and pick skills up much faster! --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I did this for a month, and as said before, be prepared to be poor. If you are willing to scrape by, you can work and skydive. I had a nice balance between the jumps I made (AFF - it was way more expensive per jump) and the packing I did. This summer will be a repetition, but in order to get more money to jump, i think it will be better to get a job off of the DZ. We'll see how it goes. I already know hom much this rocks tho! Everyone needs to do this, and "cutaway"!! --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I'm planning the same thing for my Spring Break, going to see some buddies. March 14 - 22. Let me know when u'll be there man. Miskien verstaan jy dit, miskien nie. Maar ek is van Suid Afrika af, en daar is seker 20 anner ouens van Suid Afrika daar. By Deland. Ek het op die oomblik 23 jumps. Miskien kan ons 'n jump of twee saam doen nadat jy uit AFF uit is! --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I didn't detect any hint of this "arrogance". Where are you from? I notice you don't seem to be willing to reveal anything in your profile. That makes it easy to hide behind an anonymous identity and make such accusations of arrogance. But it doesn't say much for the credibility of someone who is not willing to stand behind what he says. John - I grew up in South Africa, Australia, have been in over 11 countries before I was 16, and moved to the US, where I have traveled from NY, to FL, to CO. I have tried to update my profile, but my computer (at work) will not allow me to do so. I am trying. If you need any info on me, let me know and I'll hand it over. If you want to discuss my views as stated earlier, let me know, I do not want to agrivate a lot of people here by barging over everyone. Lets have an orderly, friendly discussion if you want to proceed. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I dont want to start a whole political argument, we can do that plenty other places. If you want to, lemme know, i'll take ya on! If you look past the editing, I can see how Miles can be a cool guy. i would say it is mostly the editing I am mad at. But here is what I ask of you all. Do you think this was an accurate and worthwhile program as the public perceives our sport(s) through it? What was un-accurate, and how would you all have done it differently? --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Yeah, I saw it as well. Ha, the presenter got way excited when he went for an observer ride. It was great to see same familiar faces on telly! All round an accurate and well presented program. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I was just very annoyed at the presentation. I thought that the producers would have more common sense, to make such a good production more appealing to the world community. I was just amazed at the typical American arrogance that entered this sport. And not just the american arrogance issue, but also the issue of making the public perceive these sports as absolutely insane with uncontrolled risk. Because of issues like this, I have been alienated from friends because of what I choose to do. I'm sure its hurting a lot of people everywhere. But as someone said earlier, it is designed to please the public. So let the public destroy what could have been an astounding production. Let them sit on the couch and get scared watchin Telly. --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

The show started out great, except for a few times where they made things look more "extreme, adrenaline junkie" type stuff. The show's second part, especially the last BASE jump was very overstressed (go listen to the soundtrack), its very overplayed. As an outsider to the US most my life, it was interesting to see how they made the American (Miles) look like the biggest Hero. The freeze-frame with him punching the air, and of-course his gainer, no-one else could get close to how good the american is! They overstress this whole show about Miles, (who I personally think is a retard, he might have good skills, but a ridiculous personality.) But its an American production, so naturally they will make the American the absolute kick ass craziest most extreme adrenaline junkie there could ever be and no-one can beat him. I think there was way too much directing and acting going on for it to be a worthwhile program. I bet if this wasnt for TV, but just a movie, it would be very different. Did have really good footage though! (No negativity towards you Americans who think for yourselves, but towards arrogant self centered ones, who doesnt realize the rest of the world is also there.)

When the formation has funneled, and people are in each other's burbles, is it possible that the bottom people couldnt pull cuz of ppl above them? Is that a possible situation? Should they go low, or pull? --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

Just another quick one that happened soon after I started jumping. I had radio assist for my first two landings (which I did pretty much as I was told), and on the third jump, my JM's decided to use the radio only if I screw up. So as soon as I find myself under canopy, I do my checks and turn towards the Landing Area, which was a long ways away. . I see my JM's landing off into the distance, and one of them getting the radio out. Bert, if you can hear me, do a left 180! So i turn all the way away from the DZ, and heard nothing for a few seconds, after which I decided to turn to the DZ again. Soon After...BERT! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, DO A LEFT 180! So there I go again, wasting altitude, flying AWAY from the DZ. So this continues for a few minutes, me turning to go to my "play" area, and set up for landing, and him telling me to turn if I can hear him. I was very confused as to where he wanted me to go, he was telling me everything different from what I had learned in groundschool. So i decided to do a nice landing as close to the DZ as possible, on the other side of the airport! A few minutes later the truck shows up, with my JM laughing behind the wheel. Turns out that he was looking at all the canopies, didnt realize that there were two students on the load, and continued to talk to who he though was me, but was in reality the other student! --------------------------------------------- As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

I met the people around the dropzone this summer, and started hanging out there. They tought me a lot about skydiving, and how to pack, eventually to jump. Bob and Mona, Rusty, Tony, they are all awesome welcoming friendly people. Definately go check this place out!

How did you sitfly on AFF? I'm confused?

We all have stories of funny things that happened at the dropzone. Post your funny stories here I had just landed after my last level AFF, and was super-excited. The crowd at the dropzone was congratulating me, and I couldnt wait to go make a jump by myself! I had put my gear down to finish packing some tandems, couldnt wait to go on that HOP n POP. So after finishing my packing, including my own rental rig, I geared up for the next load. I had everything on me, except that golden altimiiter I wore on my grad-jump. I looked and looked and looked, but to no avail. Someone suggested that I need to open my packjob. Yeah Right, and miss the next load? No WAY! I hit the righ a few times with my fist, but didnt feel anything. So I got another Alti and got on the load. On the way up, all the senior guys are telling me how I need to hop, count to 5 and pop. So I'm a little nervous, but ready to go. The guy before me opened the door at 4,000, the lowest I have ever seen the ground through an open door aside from when you get in. PRETTY DANG LOW I TELL YA! So being that nervous, my first HOP n POP was more like a POP n HOP! But my mind wasn't much concerned about this, because as soon as I was under canopy, I saw a golden blink up to my right. Then I saw it fall into the distance. and gone. I tried to see where it landed, and looked for it later, but could never find it. From now on, I'll much rather wait another load than waste a $130! (Stories were later told, and turns out one guy packed his wallet into his packjob before!) Now I want to hear your funny stories!

We all agree, WINTER SUCKS! I jumped regularly, then once a month to keep current, and the feeling you get when you started returns. I LOVE IT! I'm nervous now, just thinking about it! Then you know you are on jump run, and you ask yourself WHY AM I DOING THIS!? Then the door opens, and its like seeing heaven! All the fear is gone, and pure exstacy is ahead! JUMP! No better way I can describe how much I love this sport and its people, you all rock!

This might be long but who cares. I am relatively new (23 jumps), and would just like to thank all the people who made it possible for me to skydive, and thus changed my life forever. I was a raft guide in Colorado when I went to the airport to check skydiving out, and met some south african skydivers there, (I am from south africa as well). THey hooked me up big time, I quit rafting and started packing to get jumping. I basically paid for the jumptickets for me and my instructors, that is all. THe DZO hooked me up bigtime as well. I finished AFF with two awesome buddies, and had a load of fun doing it. Thankyou everyone who made it possible and cheap for me to enter this wonderful world of skydiving! I made two jumps from an Otter, a few from a 206, a Caravan, A few from a CASA, Then a Beaver and now a 182. All in 23 jumps. None of this should have come my way, but I just met some awesome people! Thanx a bunch guys, you know who you are!