Tonto

Wow. Glad I'm divorced. She could do it. Easy.... It's the year of the Pig.

I'm a loner - nothing wrong with that. I got divorced. It's the year of the Pig.

Hey. No snow in Africa! One of our members did 980 jumps in a year. Weekends only.... t It's the year of the Pig.

Damn! I'm the family dog... and I don't even have a family! Wish I were a cat. I do. It's the year of the Pig.

An the other dude stole his hair from Hugh Grant... It's the year of the Pig.

Now THAT is usefull feedback. Lessons learned. Thanks. t It's the year of the Pig.

Firstly, practice the drills you know, and do them slowly, and right. Practice makes permanent, not perfect. So, from your AFF freefall body position, do some alti checks, some practice touches etc. Go through your emergency procedures. Visualise. Next. Cross-train. Most students have poor lower body awareness, unless they are climbers, martial artists, soccer players, dancers etc. Find something where you need to think about where your feet need to be. If this is going to eat money, buy a few tennis balls and leave them lying about the house. Kick them each time you walk by. No power, just reach out and push. Next. Realise that "trolley time" teaches tension, and that you should be using those muscles at about 85% for the 3 seconds after exit - but that a really great (flat fly) body position comes from pushing your belly out. Relax your abdominal wall. Everything you know is going to want that tensed up when you're under pressure. Why only 85%? Because non of us are naturally symetrical, and if you are 100% arched, you will turn - unless you are completely ambidexterous. Try and skydive as much as you can, but try and put as much as you can into each skydive too. Relax. Think fast. Fly slow. Plan your dive - dive your plan. t It's the year of the Pig.

Better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here. If you're a student, stop jumping when lower students are grounded. I'm an AFF instructor, and I won't jump in conditions that are too windy/bumpy for students. Always another day, if you make it through this one... t It's the year of the Pig.

Congratulations! Paradise is always somewhere you are not. If the DZ is being run by a dude called Andy Fell, be afraid, and don't forget to budget for coffee during hurricane season. Apart from that, enjoy. Been there, done that. t It's the year of the Pig.

It's Yin/Yang. The wheel turns. Sunshine follows rain. Hang on, and enjoy when things are good. *hug* t It's the year of the Pig.

Are you stalking me? t It's the year of the Pig.

I love skydiving. I've been married, and I've been divorced. I have kids who were babies, and are not babies anymore. One day, they will be gone, chasing down their own dreams, and I will still love skydiving. I've lost friends. We all have. My love is comparable to a relationship. Sometimes, skydiving will do something to hurt me after I trusted. I'm not talking about physical hurt here. I get angry with dead people for having done the wrong thing. I get angry with skydiving. Then skydiving shows me a sunset through the rain, and I'm in love again. It keeps growing. It's forever, and will last far far longer than I will. t It's the year of the Pig.

Earl Grey, Milk, 1 sugar. Don't forget to warm the pot. t It's the year of the Pig.

Cool. It's certain. Live now! t It's the year of the Pig.

"they deserve some respect reguardless of how they met their end!!!" (Sounds like the beer talking...) Do you expect me to respect the jumper I have warned countless times about how he flies his canopy AFTER he goes in? Sometimes people die doing STUPID things. Sometimes people die because they did something STUPID. Sometimes that's a low turn, or a dropped toggle. Sometimes thats signing up for a job where you are paid to sit around and wait until someone sends you somewhere and you die cos someone else did not want you there. Don't talk to me about military. You volenteered. I was drafted. The bullets don't care. t It's the year of the Pig.

Ditto dude. Fast there, slow back. That will all change when you're living in the egg. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hey. Sounds like a good idea. I can't beleive that we have very little other than peer pressure to prevent some jumpers from buying (and jumping) stuff that they are going to hurt themselves under. The UK seems to be hugely overregulated as it is though, so you guys will probably get it first! t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi Andy, I'm guessing you're flat flying, as spreading your legs head down has more to do with fallrate than anything else, I think. Shoulder width, or a little wider is about right. Going wider will increase lateral stability, but because of our pelvic mobility, (or lack thereof) it tends to make you fly "bum up" a bit. If you're flying legs wide and getting "hips down" signals on AFF, that's the reason. t It's the year of the Pig.

This is exactly what I teach. If you're started a deployment sequence, cutaway and then reserve. If you cant find the main or cant pull - go straight for the reserve. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hey. Stick to your guns. I won't jump there cos I'm at 1.7, and I seem to land that ok, and have for the last several 1000 dives, but its your business, and you run it the way you want. I have 500 dives in Kansas. And I enjoyed them all. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hey. Well done. Now when you finally come and visit you'll be able to enjoy to full potential! Tell Erno I said Hi. t

This is such a subjective arguement, and no one canopy will do everything we want it to. Since you fly a camera, and are "not a hot dog" on the swoop, I think that your openings should be your priority, and when you consider that reserve, BASE and CRW rigs are (just about all) 7 cells - its cos on heading openings are what those jumpers require. Having said that, we know that the higher aspect ratio of a nine cell will make it glide a little flatter, but there is more parasytic (sp?) drag on a few more lines, and maybe a little less cos its usually a flatter wing. I'm thinking go down to a 135, and go square or semi eliptical. Safire 2 or Sabre 2 in a 135. Test jump, ask lots more questions. Seems you stick with a canopy, and if you're considering starting to swoop in 500 dives time, 9 cell will loom in the future one way or another. Regardless of your canopy of choice, your wing loading is prudent, and your disipline seems high. You should do great. t t It's the year of the Pig.

That panic turn will break a jumper regardless of the type of canopy they are using. Do you remember the days when you needed a few 100 dives before you could jump a square? I guess you may have been one of the people who would have said that students would never be doing 1st jumps on squares as they were too radical. Times change. There are aspects of the VX which can improve safety.(Airlocks - Crossbracing) ALL students are jumping canopies with FAR higher performance than the canopies I was using when I had 100's of jumps. t It's the year of the Pig.

Swooping is a dying art... and as Kallend says, you can't practice in the tunnel. Tailgates and linked exits started killing it, but its easy to practice. Watch some video's and then start with a few freeflown exits or even some tracking dives. I let my AFF L6 and L7's get away for 2 or 3 secs on exit and then close the gap. Keep practicing. t It's the year of the Pig.

I've been cut from a few dives. The axe was grinding, the pressure was there and it got to me. I didn't think so at the time, but it was the right thing to do for the group. The LO's were Manos and Ponce De Leon. A few years later I was jumping with Roger as LO again, doing good dives, but they could have been better and I was inwardly begging for the axe to come out. Those 2 or 3 "last chances" boil down to 2 of 3 marginal dives for the group... and that's not nice. The axe is good. We preform best under pressure and when there is a chance of no more chances, we try our best. If that pressure is too much, step off, or explain to the LO that you're not comfortable on the outside and would prefer being closer to the middle. Hang in there. If you get axed, you'll learn, and most LO's will give you another chance when your skills improve. or slide you to a smaller group on the day. Smile. Say thanks for the dives. Try again later. t It's the year of the Pig.