Emma

Hmmm, I reckon I'd take it myself...

Thanks for deleting the posts Sangiro. This is a wicked site and even though it distracts me from doing ANY work, it is almost as good as being at a real DZ.....we-e-e-lll, maybe!

I am sure we'll all look totally minging but it has to be done. In fact, I am really not too keen on ANY photographic evidence...unless I can get a reinforced bra...for my whole body...and a full-face helmet... Ugh. How off-putting.

My Mum is in denial about the whole thing. It took her a year before she even came up to the DZ, and considering I've been there every weekend for 12 months, I was kind of wondering when she was going to accept this was something I did actually intend to do on a regular basis. She's okay about it now in a sort of 'Ooh, you crazy girl, do be careful!' way, but then she also knows some of things I used to do before I got into this which in her opinion are worse..... From the other side, my boyfriend jumps and it sometimes scares me that he'll get hurt, even though I know it's a stoopid, irrational fear, since I jump too...I get a bit double standard-ish at times with him, but not as badly as he does with me....It's ok for HIM to do an excessively low hop'n'pop, but if I did....well, another story. Anyway, if it came down to family or skydiving, it would be skydiving....I'm just glad I don't have to make that choice ..although since I never SEE my family unless they come to the DZ, maybe I've half decided anyway.... E

For the record, I was taking the piss out of myself above...but whatever....Emma Edited by Emma on 7/12/01 02:38 AM.

How sad, love and thoughts go to families and friends... Emma

No probs, it's being organised by Caroline White, or you can call Hinton for details, the web address is www.skydive.co.uk. more the merrier and all that. (She's probably not that keen on chick loads because, as we all know, chicks can't skydive. Especially chicks in the buff. Nor can they land. They are best off sticking to personal grooming and a bit of knitting if they feel adventurous.)

Hello Michele. I am a girl, and I do not take offence at the mention of ugly chicks. Why? Because I actually read the posts made by Mac and FFF and nowhere did I find the suggestion that skydive chicks are ugly. And I don't make the (defensive) assumption that I am under attack. Have you got a chip on your shoulder or what? If you think you're singlehandedly mounting some sort of feminist skydiving movement, you're not. I studied feminism at university (mwah mwah) and I can only conclude that over-reactions like yours do nothing but build polarity between the genders (this one's for you Skreamer, babe), emulating the phallocentric power constructs that feminists claim to despise; by taking the defensive you imply that women are somehow the victims of the omnipotent male majority. Which is plainly, bollocks. Or labia, in keeping with the feminist theme. Subversion from within has always been my policy, but each to their own. (Go on, flame me). If you are trying to smash the patriarchy, there are probably better places to do it than on a harmless skydiving thread. Although I must say this has all been jolly amusing. Let's hope we see more of it, my desk job is terribly dull and a juicy bit of venom and anger is good to see on DZ.com now and then! Long may the debate rage! Emma

Bra jump is on at Hinton, that should do the trick. 2 weeks time (I think), if you wish to participate you must have a pair of tits (size irrelevant) ...yes AND a vagina, just before all you lardy blokes with bosoms try and crash our load! Shite, this really flies in the face of PC-ness and anti-sexism, does it not? Ha ha, we can't wait, TITS OOT for the lads (well, for Breast Cancer Research actually)..I only hope the national 'press coverage' that's been organised is more along the lines of 'fiesty, caring skychicks raise money for charideeee' rather than 'Look at the baps on these extreme sports slappers!' Oh well, should be a larrf, although the chances of us actually launching any kind of formation for the photos is scarily slim! Em

Hello Rootjoos, I may well see ya up there, although I had planned on Wednesday afternoon as my day of bunking...who's to say this imaginary 'meeting' I'd booked in my diary couldn't shift to Thursday eh? BTW, don't I know you? Weren't you up there at the weekend just gone? Did we talk about doing a magical 4-way together, or are you a different Adam 3-names? Maybe catch you later, gotta love that AN2! Emma

Ah, the vibrating plane convo crops up again....We have one ourselves, Turbolet 410...wow, some turbo ...he heh...Never feel scared on ride up to altitude cos it's so....mmm...soooooothing Vibrating mobile phones have nuffin on this. E x

Thanks everyone, it's interesting to know what you all want to get into..I guess the overall feeling is we ALL want to do ALL OF IT! Which is pretty cool, pretty much the same way I feel, I just wish I could become brilliant at everything NOW NOW NOW! Sometimes I stare up at the mountain of possible skydiving accomplishment and it just seems so.....endless! Aren't we lucky? This is something I could NEVER get bored of! Now, enough of these over-emphatic exclamation marks and CAPITALS...I need to actually do some work instead of sitting at my desk, dreaming about freefall and failing to get anything done.... Ciao Emma

Hey Skreamer, glad u had a good time! This wind-tunnel - is it scary? Do you shit yourself and is it very very difficult? I'd like to have a go sometime, maybe next year but am a bit scared about being crap and boucing off the walls in a very public environment! emma

Michele, not your fault, your jumpsuit was too big and I am surprised your instructor didn't point this out to you. Clothing that is too loose or baggy can cover handles as well as altis....Not a good thing! Considering you had a problem that was out of your control and totally threw you for a few seconds, I think you should be pretty pleased with that jump. You had a problem, you handled it just as you should have done and pulled because you knew you didn't know your altitude. I think this is the right thing to do, isn't it? Equipment can fail, altis as well as canopies, so you should give yourself some points for dealing with what was effectively an equipment failure in the most sensible way! I hate it when people say that any skydive that you walk away from is a good skydive. Everyone does a jump from time to time where they felt they let themselves or other people down....it's natural to feel a bit pissed off, and that's ok, just as long as you can still say to yourself, 'Bollocks! I wish I'd done xyz better! NEXT TIME I'll do this or that differently', laugh at yourself and give yourself a break. This is a HARD sport! Nearly everyone fails one or more AFF levels! Last weekend, one of the most senior jumpers at my club (over 6,000 jumps) totally blew a big-way and was absolutely mortified. This is the trouble with skydiving; your failures or inadequacies on the jump or landing are so visible to others and can often seem to be there for public dissection. But everyone is in the same boat, this is one of the things that makes you stronger and also brings the skydiving community closer together. We all cock up now and then but as long as you didn't hurt yourself then you still fulfilled your basic AFF course requirement; survival. (I landed on my arse right in front of the hangar on Sunday, loads of whuffos and a few skygods there watching. Bloody marvellous. And to top it all off, I let out a girly yelp as I landed! Then there was the time I landed ON the accuracy arrow, main point of impact being...my crutch....Nice...Then, I remember having the piss ripped out of me when I did such an over-enthusiastic swoop to pin that I nearly killed both people I was swooping on. So it was really funny for the whole DZ to watch the video of THAT! Then I landed in a bush in Empuria with skygods everywhere....oh man, you are not alone in feeling like you screw up sometimes!) Learn from it, get a new jumpsuit and forget about it! And have a good next jump!

Hinton? Is that Hinton USA? Do we have a doppelganger DZ??? Or were you sneakily over in the UK, jumping at my DZ but faking an English accent all weekend? Emma

weirdos.....

I've had a couple of dreams where I've just not pulled but have touched down onto my arse at about 5mph, stood up, brushed myself off and sneaked back into the hangar hoping the CCI didn't see my appalling omission. That's pretty nutz. And I had one once where I jumped out, went to look at my alti, noticed I wasn't wearing one, went to deploy and realised I'd forgotten to put my rig on...and all I thought in my dream was..'Bloody hell! I can't believe this wasn't picked up on the flight-line check!' What a weirdo! I think dreaming about your mates going in means nothing other than that you care about your skydiving friends and your subconscious is aware that this is a dangerous sport with potentially grave risks. Sometimes I can't bear to think about my boyfriend jumping...But then, it's not like I want him to stop, stay at home and become a chess player! e x

Ah, nice post, Pyke, but you forgot POINT BREAK! The last time I saw that was about 5 years ago, long before my first skydive. Has anyone seen it from the perspective of a skydiver? I have a feeling it may disappoint a little now, although Patrick Swayze (skydiver in REAL LIFE and bit of a hunk although has slight ressemblance to a hamster) and Keanu (pretty and bimbo-ish enough to merit some appreciation) do have the edge on Wesley and the boyz. BTW, I especially liked the bit in Dropzone where they're calling out to each other in freefall...'Help! Over here!' Yeh, right. And how the hard-assed but tiny female DZO just picks up this massive tandem rig with one hand and chucks it on her shoulder...uh-huh..I couldn't even pick one up without serious injury! xxxxx

If I called myself a whuffo every time I sat at the DZ in crappy weather waiting for a blue hole/ winds to drop/ rain to cease/ snow to end/ hail to desist.....I would practically be a full-time whuffo. Along with the rest of my sorry, wet little country. Florida huh? You guys better know how how good you've got it. We end up so frustrated here that we queue up to do 'cloud base' lifts on bad weather days...'What's your minimum exit altitude?' 'Erm...whatever cloud base is?' E x

Have been thinking about all the different options in skydiving, different disciplines, flat or free, camera, instruction, sky surfing, competition, etc etc, plus all the different reasons people have for skydiving , and different goals.... Where do people see themselves heading in their skydiving? Do you think you'll want to get your ratings, go into competing, maybe get into it semi-professionally ever (tandem, camera etc), or just be a regular fun club jumper who skydives with whoever is around? There are so many things you can do and objectives to achieve, I'd be interested to hear what direction people are taking with their jumping. Cheers, emma

Huh. Makes me sick. In England you are looking at about £1,300 just for AFF with no rejumps, and then you pay about £16 per jump ticket. Mind you, I NEVER paid for a packing lesson. I think that's outrageous! We pay £4 for a pack job but our packers are so busy it's worth their while teaching us for free just to get us off their backs! I must have spent at least £6,000 on skydiving this last year, if you include AFF, gear and jumps. Wow. That scares me because it has now become a cost I have to incorporate into my annual spend plans for THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!! AAAARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!! NO ESCAPE!!!!!! Have a nice weekend, I'm off to spend lots of money on lots of altitude, hopefully. Ciao emma

funny.... www.thisislondon.co.uk Parachute team drop clanger at No 10 by Richard Holliday Tony Blair was briefing ministers in the garden of No 10 when they were interrupted by an object dropping out of the skies. Team spirit: the Royal Artillery's Black Knights make their descent It was a 22ft red and yellow paper streamer attached to a large cardboard tube - dropped by Army skydivers to test the wind speed before their jump. It reportedly landed in a minister's lap, blowing paper over Mr Blair. Today a security probe was launched into the incident, which happened yesterday. The skydivers were the Royal Artillery's Black Knights, making a spectacular descent over the Thames, landing by the London Eye. The streamer was dropped by the jumpmaster, Sergeant Tony Goodman, and a gust of wind swept it across Whitehall. Police looked on helplessly as the colourful mass descended. A source said today: "It caused one or two twitches when it appeared above Downing Street. We are looking into any possible security implications." The Army had no idea of the consternation they had caused. Sgt Goodman said: "As far as I was concerned everything had gone fine." Once they arrived back at Woolwich Barracks "everything went mental", he said, adding: "We got phone calls from Whitehall, Land HQ and all these high-ranking people demanding to know what we'd thrown out of the plane. Later we were told the streamer had hit Tony Blair." A Downing Street spokesman admitted: "There was some sort of streamer in the garden. We're not prepared to say whether the Prime Minister was in the garden at the time." © Associated Newspapers Ltd., 05 July 2001 Terms and Conditions This Is London

aha...ok then.... 0:1:2 Excluding last weekend. Shit. Needs work! All categories are sad, dismal failures!!!!!! If I include last weekend it gets better though..... 1:3:lost count. not bad considering I was told by the doc to be off jumping for at least another month...ha ha HAAAA! The sex could do with some work though, I'll grant that..... e

sorry to be dense, but what da fook are you all talking about?

I like talking about fear in skydiving. I think I like the fear itself actually, because it's not so much fear of dying or injury (I check my gear carefully, I trust skydiving more than I do driving a car, if I think about it rationally) - it's more a bubble of excitement, and I can feel the bubble rising up if I really visualise freefall on the way to the DZ or sitting at my desk at work....In fact, I do that to myself from time to time (visualise the freefall) just to experience the thrill. I always get butterflies in the plane....not like I don't want to jump, it's never that...perhaps more to do with being concerned that I'll cock up my exit if it's a formation, or, as you say, Michele, that I might fall out! We have a fast Turbolet and the prop blast is huge - my arm muscles, conversely, are not, and I always feel as if I'm hanging on for dear life for the count! On the other hand, if I'm in the Cessna, or porter or something less powerful, it always feels a lot less scary and a lot more peaceful, at least it does to me, hence the 'fear' diminishes. I wish my brain could compute the fact that 'falling off' isn't the end of the world...(as long as you have a parachute)...Hmmm, it must be some primieval thing to do with control and instincts and stuff.... The act of skydiving, whilst supremely beautiful, is also anti-intuitive, so I think there will always be an element of fear. But the more I jump the more I like that, so designing new (safe) ways to scare myself is maybe part of the fun? Didn't some cheesy armchair pyschology book recommend that we should all 'feel the fear and do it anyway'? Escape the comfort zone because that's where your humanity will rot away before you even notice! E