Emma

Yes well, I am back at work in an office - have to do something to ease the boredom! If that means an essay on swooping whereby i can relive something more exciting than cold-calling marketing toss-wits...well, bear with me eh Remster? ;)

The incident at Hinton is a separate one from the one at Weston. Unfortunately both dzs suffered fatalities in that week. The one at Hinton was not a hook turn. The one at Weston was a low turn but apparently not a deliberate hook - Alex Moore I understand. Seemed he was tring to get into wind to land, not swoop his canopy on purpose. It was a very windy day. This is from uk.rec.skydiving: 'From: DAVID TYLER ([email protected]) Subject: Alex Moore This is the only article in this thread View: Original Format Newsgroups: uk.rec.skydiving Date: 2003-04-19 01:34:42 PST Very sad news about Alex - an excellent guy. Learnt to skydive last November in DeLand. A sad loss. Let's hope the BPA puts some more money into canopy skills roadshows and saves lives. A 28-year-old serviceman has died during a parachute jump at an airbase in Oxfordshire. The victim was taking part in a recreational jump with the RAF's Sports Parachuting Association at RAF Weston-on-the Green. Police and ambulance crews were called to the scene at around 1230 BST on Friday. The identity of the man and the cause of the accident have yet to be released. The incident was the second parachuting accident in the area this week. A man, aged about 60, died after suffering multiple injuries in a skydiving accident on Wednesday morning. It is thought his parachute failed to open when he made a jump at Hinton airfield near Brackley, on the border between Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. He was taken by air ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he later died. The British Parachute Association and Northamptonshire Police are investigating the incident.' Re; 'his parachute failed to open' - not quite the full story I understand but you know how confused the press get about skydiving. I heard he got entangled with his risers but this is just hearsay - best to wait for the incident reports. Emma

Hey Andi - how's the team going? Can't believe you think 4way training could be FUN!!!! Hee hee - hope you guys are kicking some ass in AZ at the mo, doing a loada tunnelcamps and NOT HAVING AND DAMN FUN AT ALL! Hope to c y'around some time, might even get my sorry UK butt over to the sunshine some time soon :p Emma

Yep, same happened to us at Nethers, although did manage to sly in 9 jumps yesterday before it went to SHITE! The UK is gay and crap and rubbish and I want to go live in Cali or FLA or AZ! Which reminds me of a song I heard on the radio today which will become my new mantra - something along the lines of 'Why am I stuck in the UK, living on minimum wage, it's shite, I want to go and live in the USA and skydive my tits off!' (Ok I may have ad-libbed the last 5 words....) Anyone know who it's by? (Or maybe I dreamt it? The power of the subconscious eh?) Emma ps Happy Easter :(((

Hi Newbie, WARP is a little outdated and now many UK coaches use a mixture of this and the US-developed Skydive University (Sky U) to provide a more modern and effective training programme post-Cat 8. This may be why you are finding there are some inconsistencies. I don't believe there is an online WARP resource, however there is a WARP Manual (really aimed at coaches, not students) which Dave Emerson at Hinton may be able to give you...Personally however, I would give it a wide birth as it's pretty archaic in some of the techniques it advises. I would recommend that if inconsistency is a problem, try to stick with the one coach. Different coaches may have different ideas about your skill level and areas you need to improve. You can smooth this problem over a little by showing past logbook write ups or videos to new coaches, or better, get them to speak to your past coaches too. Choose someone you like, respect and trust, but also do make sure they are a current FS jumper themselves who has moved with the times in terms of coaching. The 'old and bold' may not always be the best; and remember that someone who does a lot of 4way may be more appropriate than someone who only ever does or films tandems. Ask (good) current FS jumpers how they learned and whose advice they found helpful. A good coach should also discuss safety issues and canopy control. I understand that it's not always terribly easy to work with the same coach as they are often busy doing other things; however, your coach has a duty to you as a coach (if they are getting free jumps, after all!) and should be able to give you an idea of when s/he will be free so you can plan your jumps. They should also video every jump as a debriefing and learning aid. Regarding your 'swoop to pin' - this is supposedly WARP 6, although the progression is not really intended to be fixed. To get cat 10 (FS1) you need to do a 4-point 4 way, to be precise; however, the skills you need to do this safely and well should be covered by the ascending progression in your WARP/ Sky U coaching. This includes forward movement, backwards movement, sideways movement, turns, upwards/ downwards movement and grip-taking. 'Start-coast-stop' is something you should have heard of, and in my opinion you should be encouraged to fly using both your upper and lower body (ie your knees as well as arms) in the 'lazy-boxman' position. The rigid, arms-by-your-ears box position is ineffecient, outdated and if you use it now you will only have to correct it if you want to progress in the sport. These various skills should enable you to do a 4point 4way but ideally you want to aim to do better than that - scraping a scrappy 4point dive is easy but pretty pointless; getting FS1 is just the first step in learning how to be a good skydiver, and the better your start, the easier things will be for you down the line. If you really want great coaching, it's worth doing a camp (tunnelcamps are fantastic for most personal flying skills but alas, not for swooping!) with a top team like Airspeed (www.tunnelcamp.com) or XL (www.sebastianxl.org). They are more expensive than WARP at Headcorn/ Hinton but you get what you pay for. Swoop to pin, as people have mentioned, is not really used in 4way (unless the exit has gone bad!). However as you do larger formations you will need to be able to do a safe, fast swoop to get to the formation quickly and without hurting yourself or others. Awareness of other people in the air, your place in the formation, your approach disciplines, quadrants, safe docking, flying the formation after docking, and safe break-off, are all part of the same WARP level, in my opinion, and your coach should discuss these with you too. If they don't, do not attempt anything bigger than a 4way, or where you have to swoop, without getting a proper brief from someone who does big formations. Andy Cliff who often jumps at Hinton (v. tall lanky bloke) is a good person to ask about safety on bigways. Or corner any of the girls who were on the Brit Chicks 50way last summer, where safety was paramount. On your WARP jump you're unlikely to use a large target; it may just be your coach, or s/he may enlist one or 2 other Cat 10 jumpers to make it a more realistic target for your swoop. Your swoop starts from inside the plane, and your coach should explain how to stand in the door/the plane depending on the size of the formation you're targeting. On exit, you would normally go with the jumpers in front of you, rather than stand, poised to dive, at the door of the plane. Keep your eye on the formation (maybe just your instructor) you're targeting - this is really important. You should approach in as straight and predictable a line as possible - veering off and round the back of a formation to get to your slot is really dangerous as others won't know where you're going. As long as your eye is on the target you should be able to adjust the angle of your dive as you approach. Out of the door, make sure you present to the relative wind and gradually bring your arms back to power your forward movement into a track position. Look at how far away your target is; do they look a lot lower, or is there more horizontal than vertical distance to cover? On exit your target will look lower down than it really is because you are still on the 'hill' of the exit. You can make the track steeper by lifting your arms back behind you as this tips you slightly head down. However it will feel really steep and fast so be prepared! You will also build up a lot of speed so start to level out before you think you need to. Flatten back to a track and bring your arms forward again to 'wash off' more vertical and horizontal movement as you approach the target. Hold them forward if you're still going too fast (go BIG!), and you can also drop your knees a little tipping your body slightly upright and cupping maximum air in front of you if your horizontal speed is too great. Often people go swooping past formations because they have misjudged their own speed and the distance they need to cover (and sometimes they then blame the 'floaty' base for their own errors, which is another story!). It is true that really really big formations do slow down, but it shouldn't cause you a problem if you have been cautious in your approach and you know how to bang out a mega-stop. There is no need to swoop past your target. Just be cautious. You should use a kind of 'stair-step' approach. Swoop down, wash off speed, check where you are and if you are still a way away, you need to swoop a bit more. If you are only a little bit above your target (and you always want to stop above and slightly out from the formation for your final, slower approach) you can fast-fall into it more precisely than swooping again. For a first attemp at swoop to pin I would advise you to choose a good instructor, listen to their advice (above mine, or anyone else's on here, because they know you better!), keep your eye focussed on where you are heading and be mindful of slowing down a little before you think you need to. You can build up some hellish speeds doing this and it is really essential that you have covered all the safety aspects (of this WARP level, as well as those relevant to future dives where you will need to swoop) before jumping. At the end of the day, swooping takes practice, and you only really learn through making a few mistakes, as we all do ;) Swooping is wicked fun, have a good jump and be safe :) Emma PM me if you have any qs I haven't covered on here.

Oh dear. I'm so sorry. Good vibes to Debbie and everyone involved.

Hey - that's quite nice..Not too dark after all.... Nice arse too btw Well done that woman! Thanks Pammi

And a shot of tequilla. Allegedly.

Yeh...I like black and I like purple...But would it be too dark? Then again, I do have something of an attraction towards the darker side of life, don't ask me why...

Mmmmm..black...Y'know, you can't go wrong with a little black dress, and I'm thinking the same could be said of a little black rig.... Black is already a heavy feature in my prototype.... Maybe some red n silver? Hmmmmmmmmm....

No, I'm not worrying about whether an RW suit makes my arse look bigger than it does in a freefly suit... I'm buying a new rig, a Javelin. I need inspiration. Colours, combinations??? This is worse than trying to buy a perfect dress for that all important date! And don't give me any shit about safety considerations etc. being paramount, we all know that skill is nothing, image is everything ... What would you choose? It's not like I can change the frigging thing to match my toenail varnish...

All too often? You get a lotta laydeeeez tryin to get you on the wild side? If safe was so great, we wouldn't all jump out of perfectly good aeroplanes, huh? The 'my boyfriend' comment is like a Cypres...It makes it safer, but flirting with a gorgeous man is still dangerous if you're not careful...We just mitigate the risks...

Ok...so what if (hypothetically) a woman is talking to a gorgeous man who (in other circumstances) she would love to sleep with, and the topic of 'her boyfriend' doesn't come up? Wouldn't the gorgeous man in question wonder why it didn't crop up at some point, and feel that either a/ she has led him on because she just enjoyed flirting with him or b/ she might actually have an illicit fling with him behind her boyfriend's back? Dodgy ground. Probably best to mention the boyfriend asap, just to be on the safe side?

JumpnFly - Men are not purposely mean and stupid. Many of them can't help it and don't realise they're doing it. It's the rubber band theory....let them stretch all the way away from you and they can't help but spring back..and once they're back, they just start stretching away again...(Disclamier: I read that somewhere in some cheesy 'personal development' book -it could be utter crap.) However... I reckon most men take ages to actually realise what they want so it's easier to take flight rather than think about it...They worry you want to 'trap them' or 'confine' them or some such shit. Personally i find the best tactic is to give them the space they say they want, then give them MORE than the space they want..(Ie, become unavailable and if necessary, in extreme cases, see other men) and they soon become uncomfortable with that. Having said that, isn't 'playing games' utter bollocks? Such a shame we have to resort to such behaviour to accommodate the lesser sex huh? On the 'my boyfriend and I' thing.... Have you seen how men do it the other way round, thinking that their subtle questioning will go unnoticed by you... 'So what does your boyfriend think about....blah blah blah'.. in reality they might as well say 'Are you taken or is there a chance we could end up shagging?' Bless them. It's kind of cute really. e

Yeah baby! You read my mind! (I thought that's what EVERYONE stuck in a supposedly 'good' or 'secure' job who had discovered skydiving wanted? Looks like I was wrong!)

This seems obvious to me....but if you want $$$$$, why don't you GO AND MAKE IT YOURSELF?

Good, my fears are confirmed, thanks - WANKERS is out and LOSERS is in....

Hello...Just after some help from the US skydiving community...(nothing to do with skydiving though, sorry - but you lot are the best source I have for some frank feedback!) I'm about to come to New York from London to do a big sales presentation. Is the word 'WANKERS' an acceptable word for a pitch? (As in, 'there is no room in this market for wankers'). Does anyone even know what it means? (I suspect not...) If you could suggest an alternative that's US friendly, it would be much appreciated... Thx E

I think there are around 450 - 500 jumps on my Sabre...Do you think getting it relined would make a difference in that case? It does look a bit shagged out...

Thanks guys. Have fun and be safe...

Thanks all :)

dick heads

Thanks.... I have had a go on the Sabre 2 but it was a 135 which didn't really enable me to compare it fairly with the Spectre, as a 120. I preferred the Spectre but I have a sneaking suspicion this was because it was smaller and the wing loading was better for me... Would 15 square foot really make that much difference? I liked the Sabre 2 and got a much longer glide out of it than my old Sabre - probably longer than on the Spectre if I think about it. Decisions, decisions! Let me check too - the Spectre is not elliptical at all but theSabre 2 is semi-elliptical? Re openings on each how would you say they compare? E

Thanks for that... I'm not toally sure just from looking at it whilst under canopy exactly how much longer I should get them made... I guessed around 3 inches or so...but that's a guess. Is there a more scientific approach I can employ to judge how much longer they should be? Em :)

Top 6 ******** 6.Q - So - you have FOUR HUNDRED JUMPS!!!! Can you do tricks and stuff like backflips?! A - Yesss...it's considered the pinnacle of skydiving achievement.... 5 - Is it like synchronised swimming? 4 - How far do you go up when the parachute opens? 3 - Do you have to wear army boots for landing? 2. Tandem passenger filling out indemnity certificate: Tandem- 'Why does it ask on here for 'Next of Kin'?!' E - 'In case you die.' Tandem - 'Oh' 1. Tandem passenger's parent: Parent - 'So how many do you lose each month?' E - 'Lose?' Parent - 'You know...how many..[hushed tones]...don't make it' E - 'Oh, we only 'lose' around 1 or 2 a month' [JOKE!] Parent - '1 or 2?' [Brightnening] 'That's not so bad then I guess, is it?'