Dracan

I get your drift now. But to be honest, I quite often say I do things "just to say I've done it". I don't actually mean though, that I'm doing it so I can tell other people that I've done it. It's more so I can say to myself that I've done it - it's got nothing to do with other people. When I'm older, I want to be able to say to myself and know that I've experienced life and tried many different things. I don't want to look back when I'm too old to try these kind of things, and regret not trying them. Obviously though, this is just one reason of many. Others include the fun, the adrenalin rush, meeting similar minded people, etc, etc. English being my second language, I just find it hard to pronounce and the grammar bugs the living shit out of me (can you say 'shit' on the internet?) Where does the term come from anyway? Edit: I mean, who came up with the scentence and the word first? English is my first language - and I've gotta admit that I've always wondered the same thing. Whoever thought that whuffo must have had one hell of a dialect.

I don't know why that would bug you. I've got a whole list of things I want to try before my time comes. I've certainly not got the time or the money to keep them all as a hobby. Skydiving happens to be the one I've choosen to keep going with. Doesn't mean I'm not going to try various other things.

I've asked close to 1000 tandem students that I have taken on tamdems that question. Most of them state somethinng along the lines of "the feeling of leaping from a perfectly good airplane." Nothing about freefall or canopy flight. After the jump the opinions have been all across the board as to what they enjoyed the most, be it freefall or canopy flight. Fair enough - can't argue with that. I'm just going off what I would be doing a tandem jump for. There's a huge difference between a skydive and a hop n pop. By not doing the freefall bit, you're missing half of the experience. Anyway - I only mentioned it in my initial post out of curiousity. I didn't really want to get into an argument over it - I just personally would of expected to get to jump again if a tandem skydive accidently became a tandem hop n pop instead. - Dan

Then they're still getting a freefall. Ask any person doing a tandem jump, and I bet the reason they're doing it is to experience freefall. There won't by many that are doing it for just the canopy ride. No need - I read it the first time!

That's completely different though. Spirals aren't part of what you're paying for - it's just something that your student was requesting. However, a freefall IS what they're paying for. That's what they've been promised.

How many kids dream of being able to fly? How many kids actually achieve this? Most people on this forum have!

That's actually not true. I don't know what dropzone it was that Veri jumped from, but I've just looked at the websites of the three dropzones I've jumped at so far (okay - I've not been in the sport for long! ). Here's some quotes from the three websites ... I guess that most dropzones' websites will have similar statements. So presuming that Veri's dropzone's site also has a similar statement, then in his first jump - he didn't actually get what was promised, and was entitled to jump again. - Dan

Oops! Sorry! LOL!

I'm curious to why people think the DZ giving Veri another tandem+video is so amazing. To be honest, I wouldn't expect anything less. If you've paid for a tandem "skydive", then that's what you should get. Very cool for Veri - as she get's two jumps for the price of one - but if the DZ hadn't of given her another tandem, then it would be very wrong. - Dan

Hi. Nope, not got my rig yet. Looking at my finances - I've decided to hold off for a while. I've spent a lot recently on various hobbies (motorbike, new car, AFF in America, etc.), and that's cut quite a lot into my savings. I need to have a "financial detox" for a while and get my savings back into shape. With my current jump frequency, I'm probably better off just paying for gear hire for now anyway. Need to win the lottery! lol

Thanks for your quick reply. As for what size of rig is appropriate for my skill level right now - I don't really know, as I've not tried smaller canopies. I finished my consol jumps yesterday and those were using 235s. I have jumped a 210 once, and found it easy to control and had a very good landing. Quite a few people at the dropzone say that a 170 would be a good size for me (I'm only 140lbs without rig). As I'll be doing 20-30 more jumps before buying anyway, then I'll have time to downsize in stages till I'm used to a 170. As for the AAD, I don't have a choice - it's mandatory in the UK. Regarding the style I want to persue - I'm looking to get into freefly. I'll probably be going to the dropzone twice a month and jumping 2-3 times (so about 5 a month). I'll also be going on holiday once a year skydiving - so will probably want to get 25-30 jumps on the holiday. Wow - I didn't realise it would be that long a wait!

Hi. I've just got my A licence, and am looking to buy my own rig after about 20 more jumps. I want a 170 main. I can't decide whether to go for a complete 2nd hand rig or buy a new container and get 2nd hand canopies (I want a Javelin Odyssey container if new). I definitely can't afford to get absolutely everything new. If I got a new container, would I be able to get one that can take both a 170 main and a 150 main? I.e. if I downsized to a 150 later, would I be able to put that in the same container? As I'll probably only be doing about 60 jumps a year, how long do people thing it's likely to take me to want to downsize from a 170 to a 150 anyway? Would a Javelin Odyssey container designed for a 170 main hold it's value quite well for when I come to sell it? Thanks for any help with these questions, - Dan

Lol! I bet your dropzone saw you coming a mileaway! How many crates did they manage to sucker you into buying them?

I'll just point out that I didn't do my AFF at this dropzone - just 9 of the consol jumps. I did my AFF on holiday at Skydive SanDiego. I did get them a crate of beer on the last day!

Yeah - so will my bank balance! I do want to get my own rig fairly soon though. Will do a few more jumps first and slowly downsize until I'm used to the 170 canopy that I want. Nah - had to leave - had other things to do. I may get some next time I'm up there. I don't really understand this beer thing - the person that qualified should be the one getting the beer - not the one doing the buying!

Just finished my last two consol jumps and did my CH1 exam :) I'm just about to walk to the postbox to post off my A licence application form! :) Celebration time tonight I think! :)

I didn't think of that. I thought that you could use whatever you liked once you had your A licence. I presume once I've got my A licence, I'll be able to use something like a neptune though? or would I have to stay with analog for a while? I personally find digital a lot easier to read.

I've actually just found this webpage ... http://www.thealtimeterstore.com/watch.html Are these watches going to be as accurate? Is there any disadvantages to using one of these instead of something like the alti-2 neptune.

Hi. I recently went over to San Diego doing my AFF course (I'm from the UK). A lot of the instructors had digital altimeters that looked like digital wrist-watches. They even strapped around the wrist instead of being on the back of the hand. Does anyone know who does these? I want to get one myself as I prefer a digital readout. Cheers, - Dan

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There's a dropzone.com tshirt - what about doing a dropzone.com logbook? Just a thought.

Hi! We're in San Diego right now! Did the AFF training yesterday, but couldn't jump because it was too cloudy We even kitted up at one point because the sun came out, but then just before going up, the sun went away, and the clouds came out again :( The weather's completely clouded over today, so we've come into downtown San Diego instead. Hopefully we'll be able to jump tomorrow! Hi. If you see three English guys in their 20's walking around - then that's us!

Hi! Another newbie here! So new, I've not even jumped yet! Myself, my brother, and a mate are off on Wednesday to San Diego dropzone to do our AFF course. We planned it a few months ago - and I can't believe it's here already! All three of us are really looking forward to it. We're also hoping to get our A licence while where over there - but as we're only there for 10 days in total - we'll probably be a bit pushed for time! I believe that there's gonna be a huge party at the dropzone this coming weekend? Anyone know much about it? - Dan