inertial

Hi, does one have to take the phone climb or is it enough if I record on the Apple Watch? Thanks

On our dropzone we use a very simple and cheap gate sensor. A member of our club who is an electronics engineer built it. He bought the parts in an "everyday" electronics store. If you look at the picture you can see the construction. It's simply two wood bars covered with pool noodles. On one of the bars there's a reflector. On the other one the light beam. The light beam is connected to a small box which has ten 1500mA batteries (rechargeable- last two weekends if switched off at the end of the day) in it and a beeper. On the box are also 2 LEDs- one indicates that the device is switched on the other one indicates that there's a "light beam connection". Setting it up is easy. You just have to switch it on, adjust the light beam and then "arm" it (switch the beeper on). The whole device (including pool noodles...) costed 110 Euros.

Now, I'm 95% that he's just trolling. If not (don't hope so...)- get the new "Sense" which is made by BD (Brain Designs- new company on the market, excellent products!). Back to Mr. Hilter: Waiting for the dub :)

> The canopy is not wingloaded enough for you to see any input from the harness. IMHO this statement is totally wrong. I'm doing canopy courses and until now everyone on the course was able to do harness turns. Even freshly licensed girls weighing 50kg and flying a PD210. Of course, those turns are much slower than turns with highly loaded canopies... I guess it's a question of technique. A good tip is to move the legstrap down (to the more "beefy" part of the leg) when you are on the canopy and have brakes set (watch traffic the whole time of course...). Then you get more control over the harness.

Are there any news about skydiving/dropzones in India? Last post in this thread was in 2004. Planning to go there for a month this year and all the three sites listed in the DZ.com directory seem to be offline. Thanks Tobi

What about the length of the zero and the landing zones? Are the zero and first four landing zones now 5m long? Or is it still 6m and the whole landing zone is +6m?

56,301 + 1,510 = 57,811 109 + 1 = 110 57,811 / 110 = 525.55 1 in 525.55

Lucky lucky2.jpg - going for the pond

During the weekend June 12th to 14th Skydive Leipzig is going to host the Swoop Games. This is a freestyle-competition according to "new rules" (see this thread). At the same time we are organising a Training for the German Swooping Open. For this purpose we renovated the pond, marked distance-, speed-lane and prolonged the sandzone according to the new FAI-rules. The Porter is available from Friday 9 am. More information on training and competition: http://www.skydive-leipzig.de/index.php/skydiver/swoop-games-2009 Registration: http://www.skydive-leipzig.de/index.php/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=swoop_games

Ok, now I get your point. At first this will be penalized w/ the time on water score (time on water and score can of course be adjusted). And in the end it's you and your group that judges the execution of that move. Have that opinion slip in the discussion and "penalize" the performance. This system may sound weird when you hear about it for the first time but we do this with 6th and 7th graders in school (age 12-14) after they have presented their team work. And it works- they all judge themselves (amount of work within the group, result...) fair, reasonable and appropriately. Why shouldn't it work for swoopers, too? :) You may change the definitions of the moves, too. Add a "The pilot should have contact with the surface as long as possible."

Same for me. The water is there to have contact with it...That's why it's also in the rules: "A competitor will receive 0 points for a round if he does not touch the water."

Unfortunately there wasn't that much feedback here but I received some really great mails with new ideas and additions. Thanks for that again! I revised the "rules" and we are definitely going to hold a friendly competition based on that rules on our dropzone this year to test them. Meanwhile I also created an Excel-scoresheet and scoresheets for the competitors. Feel free to contact me if you want them for your own competition. The guidelines: General It is a friendly competition. You are the safety officer, the judge and the competition director! The number of rounds is open and will be determined prior to the competition by the competitors. At least two to three rounds should be performed. Every round another move/ combination has to be performed. Move and turn have to be set out in writing before takeoff. The groups are drawn prior to the competition and consist of four to five competitors. Rotation or re-draws of groups during the competition are possible but need to be agreed by all competitors. The landing direction is determined by the competitor himself. The exit order is determined within the group and may vary from round to round. Safety first! Re-jumps only apply due to interference (by other competitors, spectators, airplanes…). The group has to agree to the re-jump. Re-jumps don't apply due to weather conditions- do not jump if you don't like the conditions. If the weather conditions get worse all the competitors have to decide how to proceed. Judging The competitors talk their performances over within their group. At first, the competitor who is being judged should evaluate his own performance. This forms the basis for discussion. The discussion should then arrive at an agreement of the group determining the competitor's four partial scores of that round. This continues until all members of the group have a score for that round. Most important: be fair and objective when judging the others and yourself. Gamesmanship or endangering of others should result in 0 points for the competitor in that round. This has to be decided by the group. The group may also disqualify a competitor if he continues that behaviour. A competitor will receive 0 points for a round if he does not touch the water. There are scores for… …approach and turn: 0- unsafe 1- safe but did not perform stated turn 2- safe and performed the turn as stated …time on water: 0- less than 10 meters 1- about 10-30 meters 2- more than 30 meters …the landing: 0- in the water 1- uncontrolled 2- controlled slipping, running or standing, sitting …the performance: 0- stated move was not erformed 1- bad performance 2- poor performance 3- average performance 4- good performance 5- very good performance 6- excellent performance The competitors should also pay attention if the move was performed according to its definition. The performance is being multiplied with the degree of difficulty. In the end all four partial scores are added up and form the round score. A round is completed when all competitors have a score for that round. The sum of all round scores forms the total score. The competitor with the highest total score is the winner.

Last year I compiled a set of rules for a friendly freestyle swoop competition/meet. One might also refer to it as ideas or suggestions. They are a mixture of PST, FAI and Space Games rules and I wanted to keep them simple. Now with new rules that are not coming from the community (as I have the feeling) and no freestyle competitions anylonger (at least not here in Europe) I decided to post them as a base for discussion. They don't raise the claim to be almighty true and I don't want to replace the "real" competitions. But, I think such a competition would be very attractive for spectators and pull new blood in training for canopy piloting and swoop competitions. Following the "rules"- comments and suggestions of course welcome. Generally: - 3-5 rounds (or whatever the competitors want) - every round another move is being performed - move and turn to be stated before takeoff - Groups of 4-5 in the same run or even groups of up to 10 that are not in the same load/ run (rotation?) Judging: - participants judge themselves after the jump, also the the competitor himself - highest, lowest score is omitted- average of the remaining scores formes score for the swoop - be fair and objective- it's about fun and if you judge yourself be faithfully - open juding within the group - gamesmanship or endangering others: competitor gets 0 points for the round - competitor receives 0 points if he does not hit pond/ water in that round - winner is the competitor with most point after the last round (of course he is...) Points: - Approach/ Turn: 0- unsafe, 1- safe but not done stated turn, 2: safe and done as stated - Time on water: 0- less than 10 meter (or just a very short contact), 1: 10-40 meter (medium length contact), 2: more than 40 meter (long contact) - Landing: 0- in the water, 1- uncontrolled, 2- controlled slipping, running either standing or sitting - Performance: 0- did not performe stated move, 1-6- 6 is the best (move done according to freesytle rules?) - performance multiplied with level of complexity (PST, maybe needs some revisions) - in the end all four marks are added

GSO in Leipzig also cancelled. NOT GSO in Fehrbellin.

Hey, didn't pack my canopy on Sunday so I could make some pictures, too. Nearly every swooper has it here in Germany. First time I saw the modification was in Empuriabrava December 2005 and got the mod the same day. Last time I was in Empuria some swoopers from the UK saw it and modified their canopies, too. It feels great when you are on your rears and just have your rears and the toggles in your hand (got 22 inch risers and my arms are stretched out to the end of the risers which I like most). A month ago I jumped a friend's rig which doesn't have the mod and it feeled so weird. Couldn't stretch my arms fully (well maybe longer risers will do the job, too). Our mod is a little different. We have the ring between the first loop of the sLink so it can't move around a lot. Don't see any reason for more wear on the steering lines. blues Tobi

Getting an Aviator the next days, too. Have jumped a Hawkeye for years and still do. Just want a helmet without any cameramounts for swooping. Really curious if they still have the same quality. A friend wants to know if they have chin cups available and if those are included with the Hawkeye? Regards Tobi

So for upwind-landings on a distance-run the "pop up-technique" is the wrong strategy?

Seems like they copied the text of the Optima and substituted "Optima" with "Viso". This is the correct information about the Viso: http://www.l-and-b.dk/viso.html

I completely agree with Brian. Viso and Optima are a combination which can't be beaten. Using both for over a year now and never got disappointed. I'm not using the guided tones (which a lot of people really like) but the single-beeps. I don't like the Neptune that much. Found it pretty unaccurate and not as good as the Viso which got a logbook too and also saves speeddata for the last jump.

Not yet as far as I know. Ask Patrice (flyfactory.de here) or Tobi Scherrinsky. Guess they know more about it...

Hey, so how are the plans regarding to permit the JVX here in Germany? Regards Tobi

Hi swoopers, the end of the main-season in Europe is near and soon all the ponds will be frozen up. But before that we've organised a great swoop-event for you: From September 29th until October 3rd Skydive Leipzig (in Roitzschjora/ Germany) is going to hold up a swoop-meet in cooperation with Jim Slaton (ProSwoopingTour) and the team of the German Swooping Open. Agenda: The coaching with Jim Slaton will take place from September 29th until October 1st. On October 2nd and 3rd our competition-proven staff is going to organise a friendly competition in cooperation with PST. We also offer catering during the whole day, DJ for chilling by day and partying at night, favourable accomodation, video projecter and screen...and a lot more. Event: - Friday-Sunday: Coaching with Jim Slaton - Monday-Tuesday: International friendly competition Prices: - Ticket to 2000 meters (Pilatus Porter): 19 Euro for all participants - Participation fee: 100 Euro Accommodation: - Bunkhouse: 3,50 Euro/night - Tent: 2,50 Euro/night - RV: 4,00 Euro/night You'll find more information and the registration form on our website: www.skydive-leipzig.de. Feel free to contact me here or via mail (tobi (at) tobitronic.com) if you need any further information in English. www.skydive-leipzig.de www.jimslaton.com www.canopypiloting.com

Is your skydiving-profile up-to-date? 100 jumps within 2 years, flying Sabre2 150? Well, if so I wish you all the best for your future expeditions....