SPAWNmaster

awesome man. welcome! with every subsequent jump you'll be more and more hooked.

congrats!

wise words from andy9o8. i just got off student status finished my AFF the other day. i had been jumping a dolphin d4 with a raven 2 218 main. the harness on the student dolphin was just killing me in the legs, enough so that i wasn't having any fun whatsoever under canopy. the other thing was i wanted to try a different canopy so i started jumping a student vector with a 209 saffire. let me just say that the 7 cell f111 raven vs 9 cell ZP saffire is an enormous difference. there is a remarkable amount of glide added from the ZP material and truly makes a difference in flaring. i went from doing smooth 3-stage flares on the raven to just holding half-brakes for a nice horizontal level where i can just put my feet down and be done with it on the zp saffire. this is just my 2cts, i obviously don't have that much experience with just 16 jumps but it's what i noticed going from f111 material to zp. if you find that you're having inconsistent landings you might want to try going to a larger zp canopy. it may make the difference. cheers, andrew

I'd like to append "Skydive Southwest Florida" to that list. Roy and Anne do a spectacular job of running one of the friendliest DZ's around. Very friendly personalized vibes. Professional staff with facilities for everything you need (including solid training and coaching). Just my 2cts.

during AFF my instructor once told me (regarding malfunctions pop quiz): "you don't have to put a name to it. if you look up and see something that's going to kill you, get rid of it."

How about some house music? It's not for everyone but if you want some really dope uptempo that will make you get DOWN, this is for you. check out some of these artists: Carl Cox Sander Kleinenberg John Digweed Sasha Chus & Ceballos oh and i'll have to recommend myself as well haha (it's free): www.djandrewgarcia.com

thats a great idea! although i can't imagine the feasibility of it...you might be better of doing studies on tunnel rats.

agreed. but more importantly i think jbrown has some vision here...i'm not trying to argue that the next generation of birdmen will be taking advantage of the low atmospheric pressure and gravity on mars...but it's a very real possibility. like he said, from small beginnings great things tend to follow (in one way or another ).

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation! Blue skies, -Andrew

Hi There! I have a question but didn't want to be redundant and create a whole new thread. I'm starting my AFF soon (FJC will be Dec. 26th!!!) and was wondering if stability from the arch comes from airflow or balance from your center of gravity? Or possibly a combination of both? I did a tandem jump about a month ago (which got my obsession with the sky started!) and suffered the typical sensory overload so didn't really notice much regarding that. Sorry for the stupid question! Best, Andrew

not trying to hijack the thread, but did you go to TC3 by any chance? I actually go to Ithaca College

Thanks guys! I'm definately the type to soak things up like a sponge and am certainly willing to take the info in those books with a grain of salt to focus on the instructors advice. By the way i was told by both dz's nearest me (one of which is open even in the winter) that it would be best to wait till the spring so I can jump consistently. I live in Ithaca new York so if you know anything about the weather you could understand the advice lol. The other thing is that my car is out of comission till the spring leaving me with almost no way to get to the all-year dz every week. Well i appreciate all your comments!

Hi there, As you may have read from another thread, I am new to the forums and to the sport. I would like to get into skydiving but will wait for the spring (north america) so as to have consistent weather to get my A license. I bought a book called the "Skydiver's Handbook" and i have the SIM on it's way. I was wondering if any of you experienced jumpers think this can offer an advantage for when I start training? The way I see it, the more I know coming into the training process, the better off I will be. On the other hand I can see why some would argue not to read up as certain DZ's may have their own methods or gear that may be contrary to information given in the book(s). Any thoughts? Sorry for the newb post! -Andrew

Thats the feeling i was getting! Well i certainly appreciate everyones advice and will be sure to call them as i have some questions. I went to their website and it looks like their tandem progression puts you at a level 4 aff jump (whatever that means!) after 5 tandem jumps. Thanks the advice/input guys... I'm sure there are always annoying newbs with these sort of questions. Cheers -andrew

Hi All, I'm new to the forums and also to skydiving! I just jumped this weekend for the first time doing a fun tandem jump from 10,000 and was really craving more out of the experience so I'm going to start trying lessons and seeing how I like it before getting gear and more involved and whatnot. Unfortunately the place I went this time was too far to be going regularly for jumps/training and there is a place very close to me but they only offer tandem progression training and no AFF. I think considering the money, and distance issue and also just wanting to sample the sport and take it easy at first that Tandem Progression sounds like the best way to get into it. Do you think this sounds reasonable? Complete newb, wanting some input. I appreciate your time! -Andrew