Skycaroline

I met Cliff during the 2002 Easter boogie at Zhills. There there was no peace on that trip once I had! Whether he was tempting me into debate around the campfire, insisting I come skydiving with him, or trying to drag us off somewhere to eat, drink or party... I had a huge amount of fun hanging out with him on that holiday and many happy memories will forever be attached to those weeks in Zhills. I was not much of a freeflyer - never have been - but that didn't stop me trying - or him trying to teach me... while he grinned from ear to ear in freefall... (the photo provides a sight that I am sure was familiar to many). Was I the only one...? Or did freeflying somehow seem so much easier when he was right there in front of you? I saw Cliff again at the Swedish Herc Boogie that same year. Then again at Zhills in 2003. I was with him in Zhills the day he broke his wrist and my heart still skips a beat when I remember his landing from that jump... The photo with his wrist in a cast was taken when he returned to the DZ later that evening. I left Zhills to come back to the UK just after that photo was taken. That was the last time I saw Cliff. We kept in touch from time to time in the years that followed, I was glad just to know that he was following a path that made him happy. I had of course hoped to see him again someday. I still do. -- Meeting you, flying with you and getting to know you Cliff was unforgettable. Thanks for making me see so many things I'd never really thought about... in so many weird and wonderful new ways! C.x

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/inpage.php?partner=BAGGAGE You can take 5kg extra in the hold now (total 20kg)... but they charge for ALL checked in luggage. Only £2.50 / 3.50euro though... same for every 4kg after that. At least that's the way I read it. 10kg hand luggage goes free. C.

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Apologies for the late addition to this thread, but as my name has been mentioned more than once I wanted to respond personally!

Of course.... it's the law! C.

Who exactly are you trying to kid Vicki!!!

Happy birthday for yesterday Tash... That was a very fine red rose you had on display when I dropped by to visit! Who sent you that I wonder??? C.

Thanks Vicki The photos from last year are here: http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4001628&a=31481569&f= My photos really don't do the place justice though.

Hi Mike, I'll be there from 29th Oct to 12th Nov (working as one of the FS/RW organisers for the boogie). There are a whole bunch of other brits coming out too (40 or so). It's a stunning location and if last year was anything to go by you're guaranteed a great trip! We've got some fun RW stuff planned (orange jumps and lots of inflatables!) so make sure you come and say hi so we can get you involved in that as well as the freeflying! Don't miss out on our regular trips to Ali Baba's beach bar either! Taxi (oops, I mean camel) home anyone! C.

We have one prize left over from the raffle held at the Brit Chicks for the Cause Miss Behaviour Boogie! The winner filled in the ticket stubb with the name "E&C" and a UK 01329 telephone number that was obviously missing one digit. If you know who this is (or if it was you)... please PM me or contact Lucie in the Skydive mag office. We will ask the person to either produce their ticket stubb or give us the missing digit of the mystery telephone number. We are guessing this person is either a member of a southern/central DZ (dialing code is Hants). Probably not a non-skydiver but you never know! And finally, they only bought one ticket (we know because poor Lucie has checked all the others!!!) C.

Well this flyer's already decided... you and the Bodyflight team have done an amazing job for us Paul! So much so that my bank manager wants a word with you tommorrow! Good to see you all again tonight...

December for me I'll be really sad to lose AXA. They treated me well when I needed them. The lady who dealt with my claim even phoned me 6 weeks later to see if I was recovering well. Can't buy the personal touch! C.

Thought you like us at Nethers Vicki... yet there you go back off to your old stomping ground at the first invitation! C.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmedm/51011e01.htm Early day motion item 734 Reads: BREAST CANCER RESEARCH AND BRIT CHICKS SKYDIVING WORLD RECORD 11:10:05 That this House congratulates Great Britain's Female Skydiving Team, Brit Chicks, upon their successful participation in setting a new World Record at Perris, California on 30th September; commends Brit Chicks for having joined an International Group of Women Skydivers and achieving a record of 151 way freefall formation; and pays tribute to all women skydivers who took part in Jump for the Cause for raising £300,000 for breast cancer research and also promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Worldwide.

Picture shown in The Times (UK) today alongside article about breast cancer survival rates. C.

That'll be Cheryl - one of our brit chicks. She was on the record with only around 300 skydives. Proves how litte it can have to do with jump numbers! She was also the pole dancing instructor in picture 99... a fact that is probably of far more interest.

It was good fun! Who in their right mind would turn down the chance for two parties in one night!

Lots of (now) very familar faces...

Ok, I'm the main load organiser there so technically I'm biased too! But I had an 8 year relationship with Netheravon before that, and I haven't always loved it as much as I do now! I did all my training at Netheravon in 1997 (loved the place for a few years) then stopped jumping there in 2000 for a number of reasons. In Autumn 2004 I cautiously returned and found a dropzone that made me feel like I'd never left. Friendly faces, great parties and a real club atmosphere that made me want to come back again and again. The new management (aka Robin Durie) is forward thinking and really committed to making it a dropzone that people have a great time jumping at. When I was asked to organise there I didn't even have to think about it. As with anything, choice of DZ is a personal thing. While Netheravon will always be a military dropzone with staff that have to change on a regular basis (sorry but do we want our army lads trained or not???), regular jumpers, load organisers and coaches will welcome you. Come and find me and I promise not to be too scary! ;) Oh and one more thing... don't leave until you have checked out the sunset across miles of stunning wiltshire countryside (preferably while under canopy on one of our max altitude sunset hop 'n' pop loads)! C.

None of the chicks drank a drop of course... ! We were all up with the sparrows... dedicated to the cause... No seriously we were! Although the late start given by Lesley the following day was appreciated... we needed the extra hour to remove the pink lipstick and work out where we'd left all our pink accessories from the night before...

Miss Demeanor ??? Hmmm... I hope you aren't suggesting you're better behaved than us... you better not be - we're expecting a huge party after we hammer that record and hear the final total! ... of course we will all be partying in our flowery summer dresses and sipping home made lemonade

Hmmm.... It rocked. Milko, Lesley and Langar rocked. Arnold had the time of his life. People got so drunk they couldn't remember their names 24 hours later... and we raised huge amounts of cash thanks to everyone! How's that then!!??

Where do I start... The weekend rocked from start to finish! And the finish was something else!!! Most of us turned up at Langar on Friday to make preparations... Within an hour, we had built a 'pink palace' out of a gazebo, put pink ribbons & clothes on everyone in sight, painted toe nails, blown up balloons and put up a poster on every blank wall we could find. The weather was already smiling down on us. The Miss Behaviour JFTC boogie had begun! On the Saturday the girls all took on their allocated roles... collecting donations, selling raffle tickets, CDs and T-shirts and getting in nominations for a special prize that would be nominated to Miss or Master Behaviour at the end of the weekend. We even charged a £1 fine for anyone making a sarcastic comment about any girl in a pink suit. Then the skydiving began.... and there were some amazing skydives. Between them, Ian 'Milko' Hodgkinson and Lesley Gale (Brit Chick organiser and JFTC UK team captain) ran two awesome 30-40 way invitational groups. We supposedly broke the UK record for both the largest star and largest open accordian, but the highlight was definitely a beautiful 64 way which we held complete for 15 seconds. Milko entered into the spirit of the event by spending the weekend jumping in a pink JFTC suit complete with pink helmet and fluffy rabbit ears! Very cute (photo attached)! :) Saturday evening was party time. We laid on a multiple course dinner with pink champagne to raise more money, then got straight into the raffle and auction expertly presented by George Pilkington. Between them, the raffle and the auction easily raised close to £13,000 for charity. The raffle consisted of over 120 prizes - by far the largest skydiving raffle ever held in the UK. Thanks go to all the companies and individuals who donated prizes see www.britchicks.org. The top prize, a complete system from Aerodyne was won by a guy who'd apparently just finished his training!!! What a great start in the sport.... :) The auction was the real drama though... one of the items; the Utterly Butterly Wingwalk, raised £3000 after being subject to a frienzied bidding war - the poorer ones among us watched aghast! Other top auction items included coached tunnel time in the Airkix tunnel with Vmax, a date with a JFTC brit chick (which was a surprise to many off us when we first read about it in the mag)! and a skydive with the JFTC brit chicks (won and enjoyed on the Sunday by Arnold of Aerodyne). For me though, the best moment of the auction was when poor Rob Colpus was forced to part the crowds and join a bidding war for a pole from his very own awning! :D After the auction and raffle the party began (of course!!!). It was a party to remember, with Richie the DJ and more Vodka jellies than you could shake an awning pole at!! The result was a few too many people staggering off to sleep in the morning, as others of us (who wanted to skydive again), were getting up. Sunday was another excellent day of jumping finished off perfectly with Arnold's and the JFTC brit chicks' skydive.... Arnold demanded a dive where we all had to kiss him, but for some reason he couldn't quite remember it so we had to dirtdive it several times despite it being a two point skydive. Tony, our Skyvan pilot, donated the fuel for the jump and took us on a ride to altitude we will never ever forget (nor will Tony and Arnold - hey Lesley!?). Arnold, relatively unharmed (although well massaged) by the whole experience, ended up wearing the bikini that I swear Lesley Gale had on when we boarded the plane???? Who knows how that happened??? We do - because it was all caught on video! (selling to the highest bidder - proceeds to charity of course). The bikini didn't affect his skydiving though as he flew merrily in the middle of a formation shaped like our many pink ribbons. What a skydive! On landing, poor Arnold, now exhausted from the attention was pounced on once again by all his new friends. He hated it so much that he doubled his previous bid and asked if he could go again! Alas, the sun was setting and it was now time to wrap up and award the special prize of Miss Behaviour 2005. The winner.... Lesley Gale of course, for all her hard work and entertaining antics! The prize... One of George Pilkington's "Toys" - anyone else care to elaborate!!!??? I'm too shy! -- It was a superb weekend with a great vibe. Thanks to everyone who loaned a hand, and to all the girls who put in so much effort. Special thanks to Langar for the superb organisation and a lift capacity I haven't seen at a DZ in the UK for a very long time. If the JFTC record event itself is as amazing as this weekend was it will surely be one to remember forever! What a way to raise money for charity!

I've been jumping at Langar for 5 years. It's location is excellent which makes it ideal to host UK events - of which we are seeing more and more. With two caravans and regular visiting aircraft the lift capacity is more than adequate all year round. Langar hold the only real boogies in the UK and there is usually something for everyone. yes - I have a soft spot for Langar. Other dropzones in the UK taught me to survive... Langar's instructors taught me to skydive! I continue to learn and there is no better place for it than among some of the best instructors that the sport has to offer! Come to Langar with an open mind, a friendly smile and a willingness to learn and you will never regret it.

I have two Spectre 120's at present (before that a Spectre 135). I've experienced this on all three canopies up to 200 jumps but not beyond. I found that pulling on the rear risers sorted it quickly - as did unstowing brakes. Canopy flight while it was happening remained on heading - just a little wobbly!