FFAddict

I would definately get qualified and travel around to DZ's with shops as they will have more demo gear. I dont know about your DZ but if they have a shop or sell directly they may be able to arrange more demo gear for you. As for the eliptical/ semi eliptical you need the advise of somebody who has far more knowledge than i do, sorry!

Pritty much all new rigs are freefly friendly and if you buy the right size they will fit a 170 main. I should point out i do mean new containers and if your going second hand you should ask your instructors/riger to make sure it ok. In my opinion as long as you make sure that your new rig will be freefly friendly the decision really comes down to personal preference with looks and comfort which you can only get buy testing gear. I would seriously advise you to try as many differnt canopies and containers befor you buy anything. Deciding on the spectre when it is only the second caonpy you have jumped is probably not a great move. The biggest differnce between the two you have tried will be the size differnce not the model, if you had both in a 170 you may not still chose the spectre. I know exactly what it is like being new and wanting gear, i have only been jumping a few months and am waiting for my first rig to arrive at the moment. Living in the UK i found it very hard finding rigs to demo and i ordered after jumping only four differnt rigs (some demo, some rental). Although i am happy with my choice and dont think i could have done much more to guide my decision, i am still worried that i may have made the wrong decision and would advise you to do everything you can to make sure you have found the right kit for you.

This one is just for the guys - A nut under is far worse than a line over The moral of the story, tighten your leg straps properly you will wish you had if you forget!

You wil need to check with the CCI/Pilot first to make sure they are happy to let you do this. But the best exit i have seen by far was hanging from the bar on the edge of the lowered door (assuming your skyvan has one) and trailing behind the plane and the just dropping away. Look very cool and although ive not done it is suppose to be very cool to do

I am going out to Dubai at the end of august and am going to try and get to the Umm Al Quwain Aeroclub if i can get a car. Have any of you ever been? If so whats it like? views, planes, people...

You could get very lucky and find the stuff second hand but i think the only real option is to buy new if your fussy about colours. Every manufacturer does custom stuff so you can any colour you want even if it is a bit weird (im trying to be nice here!) As far as the UK USA thing it depends on you. Most of the manufacturers are in the states so if you buy here you will have to pay tax, shipping... which brings up the price. But if you go to the states a lot i dont see why you cant have it made and sent to a US DZ and pick it up when your out there (cutting out import tax and shipping). But it does mean you have to be very sure that you will beable to get it and finding a DZ who will do it for you. I think if you buy it through a DZ shop they will be more than happy to keep it for you until you can get it. Good luck

Im only new to the sport (about 4 months!) so im not exactly in the know when it comes to who is really hot and who's not. But, to me anybody who has managed to turn there love for skydiving into a living is a sky god.Whether they instruct AFF, do tandems... it doesnt matter, they are doing something they love everyday and that is something i really want in my life. And to me that makes them a skygod

there is not cheap way to skydive as a hobby, its very simple. People who have thousands of jumps work within the industry, have been jumping for many many years or a just rich! I have only been jumping for about 4 months and ive already spent about £6K. Just be prepared to go slow (unlike me) or have a nice interest free credit card

I realise that doing a tandem is nothing in the long run when you consider how much money you spend on jumps and gear over a year or so. What i was trying to say is that because i was a student the extra £200 or so could have made me think twice if i could afford to go to the states to do AFF. It would likely have meant that i would not have done AFF then, not that it would have stopped me or anyone who is serious about this, in the long run

I think it can be very good for helping people decide if its for them or not, because AFF is very expensive if you decide after one jump its not for you. But in the same vein having to do a tandem first can be very expensive if you decide to carry on. If a system is run where the Tandem is cheap (poss free, dunno if thats possible) if you decide to carry on to AFF and you only pay full price if you decide its not for you then its a very good thing. But if they are charged at full price im not sure its such a good idea, i know i would have thought twice about going to a DZ that made me do it because i was on a very tight budget

I personally just did AFF, but a guy on my AFF course had done some static line and switched for the same sort of reasons to you. I dont think he had done as much as you but still they sat with him talked through what he had done and what he still needed to work on and then merged some of the AFF levels together. He still had to start with two instructors to make sure he was ok in the air but then they progressed him much faster. I think he did two less jumps than normal AFF then on to consol jumps. Good luck and enjoy

i think it is still in the draft stage. If i am right the final draft is being shown at the next BPA AGM for final approval

Does anybody know what is happening with the BPA IC1 system? I could be wrong but i have heard it is changing to a CH1 and JM1 system. If i am right what will the CH1 and JM1 systems incorporate, if not what is it changing to? And for anyone really in the know, why the change?

Congrats on your A (almost anyway) Welcome to dz.com where did you do your training, i assume its not in the UK with 32 jumps in three weeks! Do you know where you will be jumping now your back in the UK?

Once you are jumping solo (i assume your still being instructed at six jumps) your jump numbers will go up much faster. If you get there when they open and get manifested for first load you could easily get 6 if not more jumps in on a good weather day, as long as there are enough jumpers to keep the plane going of course. So i would wait until closer to the time befor you resort to hop and pops, although if it gets too close to the time its probably your only option

Excuse me for stateing the obvious but even just jumping on saturdays doing 19 in the next 2 - 3 months does not seem like a big challlenge and i jump in the UK with really bad weather

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As im sure you will already know Land B (who sell the pro track...) are bringing out a new range later this year http://www.l-and-b.dk/ The new Altitrack look fantastic and i can really see this taking off in a big way. If you dont know it is an analog display visual altimeter but it is powered digital components so it is very accurate. It also incorporates an upgraded version of the pro track software. I want one

Being a newbie i love this idea

How many jumps do you have to have befor you can jump with a camera? This is predominantly a question for the UK (BPA) as i am based in the UK but i would like to know about abroad because you never know when you might find the cash for a boogie

show off

Your making me over excited now, im still waiting for mine to arrive

there are bound to be some exceptions, smart arse! But i think on the whole most DZ's and packers (probably for beer) will teach you if they think you are keen because they want the sport to keep growing

I have very mixed feelings about hinton (my current home DZ) The people are great, very friendly and all seem to be good at what they do (i am still a noob so it only my humble opinion) But after jumping in the US the UK is a totally different ball game. Firstly in the US every jumper was treated not as a customer but as a friend to everybody on the DZ. People would go out of there way to help you and make you feel welcome... Although i do like all the people at hinton, the atmosphere is very differnt. You are treated as a customer and as such they will do anything they can to help you but you still just feel like a customer. The entire attitude to tandems is very differnt aswell. In the states they did have a lot of tandems but they where basically seen as a necessary evil. In other words they need them to make money to pay for the equipment, bar.. for real jumpers, and as such jumpers came first (not to say that they didnt give the tandems a great day, because they did) At hinton however Tandems do seem to come first, i have gone many times to spend my day sitting with the family of tandem jumpers, not skydivers, and waiting for loads because they are full of tandems and only done 2 or 3 jumps in a day. As i said i am new and this is only my opinion from my limited experience

It is all about personal preference, try them out and see what your comfortable in. It also depends on what type of jumps you wanna do. if your just doing RW then either is fine, but if your going to give FF a try you really need an open face because a full face will quickly become an open face if you try FF in it. When i stated jumping in the florida i thought i would want an open face because i loved the feeling of the wind, but it hasnt taken long since ive got home to the UK for my mind to change. Even on a warm day i get really back wind burn on my face because its so bloody cold at altitude, so ive bought an full face boinehead havok For those of you that dont know the BPA (british parachute association) requires a minimum of 50 jumps to use a full face helmet but only an A licence