DZDale

Nethers has always been referred to as an unfriendly DZ, and many people have said that it has a stiff military attitude, WRONG! In fact, I can truthfully say that Nethers is the only DZ in the UK where I have felt really welcome and comfortable. They have a great staff that are always willing to help and are always consistent and professional. Manifest is very good and last but not least they are also the cheapest DZ in the UK, not to mention that they also give you the best altitude in the UK. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

There is a Black version of the 300d, check the link http://www.dpreview.com/news/0404/04040801eos300dblack.asp Blue Skies D. "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

B ! "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Brilliant Work Ian, come a long way since the Grahamstown Days. Let me know when you have a DVD Copy, Id love to get my hands on a copy ! Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Wish I could make it Dude, maybe next year ! "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Quit Numerous times 3mnths, 6mnths etc. and started again, Its been 6 weeks now and Ive managed to go out drinking with all my freinds who are smokers, so hopefully I'll quit fot good. "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

I agree - Chute Shop After Sales is NON EXISTENT ! Pisa on the other hand are Great, 3 weeks to get my canopy, Chute shop promised me 10 weeks, Well I ended up waiting 5 months ! Cheers DZD "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Hey Will Yep, Mine was pretty bad took it to my Rigger, who raised the subject at the Annual riggers meeting. Cheers Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Hi Everyone For those of you who have Vortex II Containers or planning to Vortex II Containers, just something I suggest you be aware of and have checked out by a rigger. After 5 months of having my Vortex, I noticed that the loop on the Riser, was starting to fray. I took it to a rigger (who is very well respected in the U.K. ) for inspection. The eye of the steel housings was so badly manufactured that it had sharp edges which caused the riser loop to fray. We also found that the eyes were not correctly sized for the housing and were threatening to come loose. The first thing I did was check out a rig which came from the same batch. It had the exact same problem, apparently there have been quite a few complaints about this. The manufacturers have changed their housings, as they are aware of the problem. I suggest that if you do have a Vortex II container to check this out, as it is not very easily noticible without inspection. Please send replys and let me know if you have had the same problem. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Very Nice, Professional looking site, could be a little faster on loading ! Good Luck Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Jump with an experienced Jumper or a coach ! Cheers Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Ducky How about buying some South African Gear, prices are great and you would probably end up paying the same for second hand gear as you would for brand new South African Gear. Check out the gear section for the Hornet Main, and Tempo Reserve. A very Good South African Container is the Vortex II made by a company called chute shop, I own one and the quality is great and the rig also looks great. Check out http://www.icarus.co.za for prices. Note that prices are quoted in South African Rands. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Well whoever told you that talks nonsense. I bought my Hornet about 3 months ago and since have put about 55 jumps on it. Great Canopy flys great, lands even better. Performance is also good. I jump a 190 at a loading of 1.33 and find it to perform better than a 170 Square canopy. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Just over a week ago I was taking part in the British Army Championships when on my first jump of the day, my canopy opened and began turning to the left, as this was happening the canopy also decided to throw me into a series of line twists, which caused the canopy to start spinning and when I say spinning I mean outa control. I was not very wise in my decision as I did not chop when I should have, intead I really battled to get out of the twists and then yanked on the back risers to try and stabilse the canopy, by this time my arms were knackered from trying to prevent things from going badly wrong, and I barely had enough strength to get my toggles and begin flying. Lesson learned here was 1) I should have cut away and next time this happens will not hesitate, reason being that once I manged complete control of the canopy I found that I was at a nice height of about 600 ft (Very Bad) 2) Be very thorough when packing, I know sometimes we tend to be hurried along and take some things for granted, but please be thorough and if youre not sure ask a rigger or someone in the know. The cause of my cnopy misbehaving was that I did not Stow the brake toggles correcly, but I have learned from this mistake and will make sure that it never happens again. Luckily for me this mistake did not turn out to injure me, but could quite easily have done so very badly. The Moral of the Story - Always know what to do in any situation and try to antivpate the various different malfunctions and what you would do in the given situation. I think too many people dont think carefully enough about safety ! Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

I wear soft contacts and fortunately have never lost any while skydiving, I somehow think that if you had to squint really tightly you probably wouldnt lose a lens, however Id rather not try it until forced into that situation. I swim with my contacts in and also open my eyes under water which has never been a problem. I wear a fullface helmet when doing RW, about a week ago I exited the plane and reaslised that my Visor was not down, all I did was pop it closed (Z1), no problem, although at that stage of the skydive I probably wasnt moving fast enough to lose a lens. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Hi Jessica What position are you, I presume outside center ? Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

I tend to disagree with you on that one, especially if Gale at any stage decides to start doing relative work. My reasoning is that if she is presented to the relative wind she should be able to exit in a nuetral position and still work while on the hill, why be face to earth before work begins ? I think it would be good to learn that earlier rather than later. Just my thoughts on the subject. blue skies Dale

Hey Bikerbabe Yip you have hit the nail on the head, Myself, Christy and Rick. It was a great weekend, lots of jumping, something we dont get much of in the U.K. cause of the shitty weather. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

Yeah it was a fantastic weekend, Our team of which we are still looking for a 4th, went to Lapalisse in France for training as well as coaching and fun Jumping, A great DZ for any of those who have not been there yet, the weather was great, Good FS, Freefly etc. For any of you in the UK, Try Lapalisse, you wont be sorry. I managed 30 jumps in 4 days, not bad hey ! certainly more than what I could ever dream of doing in the U.K. in a weekend. Blue Skies Dale "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

I would probably go for the mirage, only thing is its FU..N expensive. Very nice though. Blue Skies Dale

I didnt mention that I am loading ine @ 1.38:1 and find it pretty docile, that is why I say dont buy something expensive if you are only going to be loading it @ 0.9:1, Rather buy something cheaper and when you can put a decent load on it and be gaurenteed with good performance, then buy something more expensive. Whatever choice you make good Luck ! "The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival." - safe swoops - MY DZ

O.K. Heres my opinion, Ill try and give you the best advise to my knowlege, Im not a skydive photographer yet since my experience level is not quite there, but I do take up photography as a hobby. First of all I dont have a preferance to either Kodak or FujiFilm, I have used both and found Fuji Velvia to be excellent and Kodak Ektachrome Extra color is also brilliant, Very bright and punchy colours. I would generally say that print film would be better for skydiving as its more practical around the DZ, but if you want to use it for publishing, slide film will be the better option as the quality and contrast is far better. The film lattitude on slide film is much smaller which means that it is easier to make mistakes with your exposure settings, these mistakes can usually be corrected when using print film as the exposures can be tweaked during the printing process. As far as Film speed is concerned always remember that slower film ISO 100 will give you more colour definition and finer grain, however light conditions need to be pretty good. Faster film speeds will probably be better since you will be experiencing alot of movement and therefore will need to use higher shutter speeds to freeze the action, thus allowing less light into the camera. I found that if using print Film Fuji Superia 400 is pretty good as the grain is finer than most other 400 films and the colour definition is excellent since Fuji uses a fourth layer colour technology in their film I hope this will help answer your question Blue Skies Dale

Id Say the sabre2 would be fine for your needs, but as a first canopy loaded at 0.9 I think its an expensive option, Id rather go used for about 50-100 jumps and then go for a sabre2 at a higher loading, The cost would then be more justified. Another good option would be the Hornet from PISA, It is almost exactly the same as the sabre2, in fact it was on the market before the sabre2. I jump one and let me tell you that it is Shweeet, and its also alot cheaper than the Sabre2. Good luck with your choice

O.K. Well since my name has been mentioned, Yip I do jump at Hinton and I bought South African gear for a pretty decent price, but I went to collect it in S.A. I jump a Hornet Main by PISA, which is a great canopy, nice and fast it is a semi elliptical which means the rear is tapered slightly to give it a cleaner air flow. I also bought a Vortex II Container from Chute Shop which is a really nice container, similar to the wings. Send me a PM if you need to know more. (Will you got my login wrong there mate !) Blue Skies Dale A man's dreams are an index to his greatness. - Zadok Rabinwitz