BigBUG

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Posts posted by BigBUG

  1. Dear friends,

    I am need your help.
    This March, while visiting California, I had some off-landing and seriously hurt my leg (ankle). I went to Oceanside Urgent Care, this is a little emergency help point, where they washed my scratches and bruises (PLF over rocky road made mainly of cement :) ) and I bought crunches from them (I left then in Sckydive San Diego, hope no one will ever need them :) They were so small and didn't have an X-ray machine, so I was sent to Tri City Medical Center for X-ray to determine is there a fracture in the ankle or it is just hit badly and swollen, but without bone problems.
    I was registered and pay like 100 dollars in advance for X-ray. Waited for like an hour and have it done. Didn't get any results and I been said that they will send it to my doctor (I thought that that meant doctor in Urgent Care). 2 days go and I did not receive anything from them, no results, nothing. Then, because this is my time to leave California, I again went to UC station and been said that there no fracture, but didn't see any films, nothing. Since I felt better, I assumed there is no fracture and forget about that - just bought a fixture and jump with it (and earned USPA AFF Instructor license :) )

    I did not receive any word or bills or whatever from these hospitals. Until today, I found in my ground mail a letter from Californian Business Bureau a letter, which said that I owe Tri City hospital a nice sum of 929 USD. There is a just a short notice, no e-mail, no bill details, nothing. Just "pay or this matter will be submitted for supervisory review"

    So I am seriously concerned about this and would like to ask to help - WTF is this all about? What should I do?

  3. there IS a way to track in the tunnel.
    actually more that one.
    some (incoroprated by japanese flyers :) ) even include some strong rope.

    but.
    there is no way to LEARN it there.
    at least, from my POV.

    but, if you take some time and learn a PROPER, FULL-SCALE use of your legs and arms in a belly position, not a regular 'boxman-arch-relaxed' posture, you should have no problems with track, maybe just couple of jumps with good tracker to correct angle etc.

    tracking is just a way to use your 'wings'. the difference is that this is a really agressive and 'strong' position, which is kinda hard for novice flyers who was taught to be relaxed.

    so my advice is - use a good belly flyers instead.
    ask them to teach you how to be agressive, fast and precise in the same time.
    and then just do some jumps - and you'll find that you become better tracker AND better RW/formation jumper.

    never underestimate belly flying.

  4. It's so depend of the tunnel management.
    We are very happy here at Flyststion (at least yet), since we have 2 hrs of free time per month. As I know, there isn't so much tunnels out there which gives you that much if you are not directly sponcored by WT.

    But it's depends of you. I've seen ppl develops fantastic flying skills flying regular IBA's 15 minutes in a month and ppl who just wasted all the free time.

    Me personally, I work for the tunnel time. I do not need money from the tunnel, I take time as a salary and as a bonus (for example when I organise events and competitions). But it's just me and it's just our tunnel, which, I believe, is very liberal to staff contrary to the most of the at least 15 tunnels I've been throughout the world.

  5. Damn, I should be hired by some tunnel in US!! :)

    For 1.5 years of work I only once had a tip (and it was a guy from USA :) ) and believe that is not because I am not good :)

    We just do not have a 'tip habit' here.

    But I got a tips as a musician when playing with my band, sometimes tips are more that we're getting for 3x45 min show.

    I never expect tips but we are greately appreciated hot coffe and some food from nearest drive-in when we are working nights (usually up to 4-5 a.m. :)

  7. I can't say anything about doctors, DZ management etc.
    As a fellow tunnel instructor, I could not imagine any reason for spotter (staff instructor in the tunnel) to grab you before you actually lost control.
    You said that your AFFI was in the door outside - that means he is not allowed to spot. Our (and I believe IBA's) rules requires spotter to be inside in that case.

    And I could agree that there was mistake in spotting - you shouldn't be injured in such a simple spot. It is impossible to give 100% insurance when you spot for advance maneuvers and bruises are quite regular thing (especially when you start dynamic :), but if you just flying belly down low over net, you shouldn't be hurt. But I still do not believe in spotter who just brings you down without reason, sorry. What could happen is that you have shown some intention to loose stability (what is usually quite obvious for spotters) and he just didn'y make the spot the best way he could.

    Sorry again, but without a video it's only an assumption.
    BR, Boris

  10. Gatchina, my home DZ (Nikolskoye).
    But weather is gone so not expect jumps until next spring. We sometimes have winter jupms, but believe me this is no fun.

    DZ is running 1 or 2 (in the summer) Let-410 / An-28 planes. Very busy (only normal DZ near 6-million megapolis). DZO are not the best in the world (ahem), but we are friendly and welcome (Olav Zipser could confirm that :) ), so we will take care of you.


    If you contact me on facebook (Boris Gaykovich), I could answer all your questions about the tunnel or DZ. When do you want to go?

  11. 1. Both Puschino and Kolomna are not far from the tunnel. Kolomna is much easyier to get to without a car.

    2. Puschino. But there are camps in Kolomna by leading russian freeflyers. Best way to jump into the fun - join Russian Freefly on facebook, all events will be posted there. And believe me, we are ftiendly bunch - you'll easily find ppl to help you out.

    3. Both will work good, Kolomna probably better. Nearly half of the jumpers during the season are foreigners.

    4. 2 first month of Summer, late spring (May). Weather in Russia is not a perfect for skydiving, so expect some cloud jumps and harsh winds sometimes. August usually is cold and windy. Meanwhile, sometimes September could be a nice time to jump.

    Join facebook channel and we wil help you out :)

  12. We run exactly this competition in 3 weeks among the kids in my tunnel. We have 'target shoot-out' and 'speed 8ts' between two streamers.

    After November 17th I think I ould share some video and experience.

    Flips should be left for more experienced flyers, who compete in VFS intermediate 2-ways or artisic freefly / neo freestyle

  13. well, if you really want to fly good, fly slow :)

    yeah, it is harder.
    yeah, it is boring.

    but every 4-way dynamic team, where carving are the essential of the very discipline, will teach you to fly at slow speed.

    do not bother like 'oh my, I am not in a HD but mostly on my belly'. If your body position is right you just add speed and here you go - carving face out in a perfect position. Slow speed teaches you to be straight and use whole body, not the legs only. Once again, look how best ones are flying - no bend knees, no 'frog' position, just straight body and stellar speed.

    Righ now I am fighting real hard to beat my high speed / skydive body positions. Believe me, it will be better and easy to learn properly from the very beginning.

  14. less fabric = better flying.

    look at competition-grade tunnel suits.
    they are built to fly in most fast and controllable manner possible.
    and they are tight like hell.

    general skydiving usually not require that radical design - pockets are handy, you may need to wear some underwear etc., but the idea is the same. it is not the suit that flies, it is your body.

  15. Hi!
    Right now we are putting a competition in our home tunnel in Russia and I am an organizer. I always was a fan of VFS and tried to promote and evolve it here as hard as I could.

    So, what we have now is 4 teams, all train for open-class. I honestly think that only one or two is really capable to fight in open class, rest should go to intermediate, but whatever.

    Half of the participants are tunnel rats like me, rest are weekend warriors and also we have all-girls team from tunnel manifest and let me tell you, they rock!

    You'll need at least a couple of ppl in the team who knows for sure what they are doing and what you should be doing. So here is a problem #1 - you'll need at least 2 good flyers who are interested to waste time and money while rest of the team getting up to their level. It is hard, but it is totally possible.

    You'll need a tunnel. Period.

    You'll need a team. I mean, real team. VFS is a FS, and it is all about 'team feel' and working together, not about 4 star flyers flying on their own.

    It is hard to say if 20hrs of tunnel enough or not (there may be huge difference) but I could say for sure - if you will gather the team, your learning curve will go sky high. I see it every day.

    So my opinion is - totally go for it. It will be hard, but you'l love it. And if you will be lucky enough to have a real team, you will become great flyer sooner that you ever expected -and this goes for every team member.

  16. I am glad to invite everyone who has the possibility to take part in the competitions that will be held in our windtunnel, Flystation (Saint Petersburg, Russia) 14-15 December of 2013.
    Competition classes are:
    4-way VFS Open
    2-way VFS Open
    2-way VFS Intermediate (headup and belly/backfly)

    Prises are:

    4VFS - 1 place - 100 000 RUR (av 3200 USD)
    4VFS - 2 - 50 000 RUR (15 500 USD)
    4VFS - 3 - 20 000 RUR (650 USD)

    2VFS(open) - 1 место - 50 000 RUR (15 500 USD)
    2VFS(open) - 2 место - 20 000 RUR (650 USD)
    2VFS(open) - 3 место - 10 000 RUR (320 USD)

    2VFS(Inter) - 1 место - 1 чhour tunneltime;
    2VFS(Inter) - 2 место - 30 min tunneltime;
    2VFS(Inter) - 3 место - 15 min tunneltime.

    Team fee:
    4VFS - 4 000 рублей (120 USD);
    2VFS - 2 000 рублей (75 USD).

    We will provide any possible help with visas, travel and accomodation. In-tunnel hotel will be completed before the competition date and we have agreements with different area hotels as well.

    Everyone is welcome to visit great city of Saint-Petersburg, try our awesome tunnel and enjoy our hospitality. Discounted tunnel time for teams avaialble (and our regular sport rates are as low as 575 usd/hour off peak!).

    All requests: [email protected], [email protected], +7 921 9147425. Please spread the word!
    :)

  17. well, actually backflip from belly is one of the most difficult tricks with big chances to hit the wall.

    do a barrel roll instead, ask your TI how.

    every TI has his own drills for stability training. They are way better and way safe than backflip - ask them, they know.
    I personally ask student to catch me, try to hit me and push me out of stability. It is fun and works great - they think less and feel more.

  20. no matter you are big or small.
    let your body fly, not the suit.

    sleek tunnel suit will be more reliable, stronger, lasts longer and overall works better everywhere. extra fabric does not help you to fly, it slows you down. if you relying on the suit to control the fallrate, that means you could not fly (not talking about winged camera suits here).

    and you could fly in the tunnel too in this suit so you do not need another.

  21. oh wow
    yeah, this is intence :)

    generally it depends what are you want to achieve :)
    if you are going 'the freefly way', there are 2 possibilities.

    you could then go either 'dynamic' or 'skydive' way.
    'Dynamic' is more about tunnel flying, with more accent on layaout, carving (headdown and headdown) and various transitions on relatively low speed, using the whole body. If you go to http://www.dynamic4way.net/ you'll get the idea.

    'Skydive' is more traditional. It means learning to proper belly fly, then backfly, then sitfly, then headdown. It is more about static positions similar the ones we fly in the sky and transitions between them.

    Usually in 10 hours in 'static' way you starting to fly headdown. Dynamic is more tricky and different people picking it up on completely different pace.

  22. I am one of the instructors.
    Will be glad to help with any inquiries and questions.

    Yes, most part of the staff speaks English, maybe not fluent (and with our funny Russian accent) but more than enough for training and debriefing.

    Prices for sport flyers vary depending of the time. Night time (starts after 10 pm) is a cheapest rate, 18000 RUR per gour (540 USD). Day rate (until 5pm) is 20 000 RUR (600 USD) and prime time (5-10 pm) is 24 000 (but this is reserved for firsttimers).

    Usual istructor fee is 4000-5000 RUR per whole hour

    Tunnel is 10 min drive from Subway station, we could organise a pick-up if needed.

    There are at least two persons in this forum who was flying with me, and I believe should be more who flew with another instructors, hope they show up - I would like to hear their feedback. We really enjoy to have foreign flyers here.

    BS, Boris

  23. I really enjoed my time in iFly Hollywood when I was participating in iFly competition. This is not a biggest and most powerful tunnel around, but the team is really aswesome, they have great attitude and you surely would not regret it.

    About coaches - you could contact these guys:
    https://www.facebook.com/atlas.freefly?fref=ts

    I do not know if Brent and Starkey still organise coaching in LA, but I am sure they could help to find a good one or give a good advice. They are top flyers.

    Tell them Boris the Russian sent ya :)

  24. IBA course prices are just hilarious...

    And, to topic starter - do not think that they teach you how to fly and how to coach flyers. All you will get - is to be able to keep firstimers safe.

    So, if you are not 100% sure that some tunnel hold place for you, this will be look like pile of money thrown literally to the wind. And if they do want you as an instructor - maybe they would like to help you with the training, give you credit, tunnel time, etc?

    I working in a tunnel for an year already and I am not the weakest flyer there :) but I am still not covered my expences for my own training.