skykittykat

I think that if canopy control is taught to students in the right way, then there is no reason to show students fatality pictures. Students are nervous already and have a lot of information to absorb without showing them gruesome photos/videos. Also, from speaking to a lot of instructors, telling a student to DO something is way better than telling them NOT TO DO THIS as it comes down to that whole visualisation thing (if you visualise doing something incorrect, the chances are you do it). Another point, and I will probably get flamed here, but most deaths are occuring by people trying to execute high performance landings and a student will be nowhere near doing those types of landings during student status. OK, not all deaths occur from high performance landings - some from a toggle turn too close to the ground, but as mentioned previously, then if that is taught correctly at the time.... Sooner or later, a student who qualifies, will see a very bad landing/fatality and seeing something like that is horrible. Liz

I think all of the formation landings in the formation skydiving classes were by Airspeed, although they did look like the French 8-way team at one point as Airspeed have new canopies and those colours/pattern are the same as the French (a fact I had forgotten when watching from a distance) - methinks the colour cutter had colour blindness One famous team did do a sterling job by getting to the ground without cutting each other off on landing, hence denying the local's with no sport to watch Kenneth - thanks so much for posting your photos - it must have taken you ages to upload them all. They are all great and really capture the event. Liz

Skydive AZ has very little politics between jumpers. Any person who acts like a Sky God pretty much gets put in their place very quickly and so jumping there is very enjoyable. For a large dz, the number of true locals (those that live there) is quite small and the community is not judgemental - it is like a little family. As far as managerial politics go, I have no idea. Every dz has politics - some more/less than others. Liz

Here's the link to read the article http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,31100-1200928,00.html Liz

LOOK, LOCATE, PEEL, PUNCH... PULL. Glad you're alive, but no matter what, follow your emergency drills with no deviation. Liz

Both Rusty and Steve can coach FS or freefly in the tunnel and do it damn well. I didn't realise that Steve was back in the UK full time to coach. Carrying on from Emma wrote, both have the empathy and intuition (as well as skill) to make them awesome coaches. Liz

Interesting to read about your views on both tunnels. OK, so the UK is the only place to open 2 tunnels within 10 miles of each other I think the most important things to go by when choosing which tunnel to fly in is: Number 1 - Instructors available - who is the best? Gary and Mark are obviously not going to be in the UK full time unless they re-locate there. Apart from them, the best tunnel instructor out there in the UK is Rusty Lewis. Number 2 - turbulence - which tunnel is the less turbulent to fly in. Number 3 - cost. From personal experience (35 hours tunnel time) - and the points above, I prefer Orlando or Eloy over Perris - not that Perris does not have a good tunnel, but there is less turbulence in the Orlando/Eloy tunnels and you have the staff/coaches which are the best who work at Orlando and Eloy. My 2 cents worth.... Liz

Andy Delk and Brian Johnston. Craig Girard did it in the World Cup in 2000. Liz

History was made today - Eliana is the first female to have won 8-way Gold and 4-way Gold simutaneously at a World Cup. Liz

This is it - last 2 rounds (or 3 perhaps for 8-way and Women's FS - we shall see). For those of you that have internet access and are following as it happens, the 4-way competitors have a start time one hour earlier today. Liz

Guano came 3rd - it was pretty tight the whole way through. They are currently celebrating at the Bent Prop! I must say, playing speed pool with them rocks. Apparently the plan for them tomorrow is to jump with the French and the Skywalkers and each team plans a jump. Liz aka LizBits from www.omniskore.com

Apart from the reasons BillyVance gave, Florida can be pretty damn cold in January, so take some thermal underwear with you - you will be glad that you did! I remember one Jan, the Russians actually stopped flying as it was too cold for them Have fun out there! Liz

Added myself to the Defo list. Definitely: alanab ballsack bbarnhouse benforde catfishhunter chutem Evelyn grue JudyJ jumpchikk jumper03 monkycndo mustard NWFlyer outlawphx psipike02 Remster (and the hot wife) Karen is her name!!!! Skykittykat Skylord Skratch TheGreekOne vdschoor Viking wildcard451 Likely: CanuckinUSA Gia mcneill79 Kid Icarus Maybe: jasonRose rasmack selbbub78

The Italian 4-way team (Sinapsi) are not competing in this year's World Cup as they were awaiting the outcome of Pete Allum's eligibility. The Italians are competing in 8-way though. The Belgium 4-way team is not competing either - don't know the story there. Further to my first post, Fastrax are competing instead of the Golden Knights - I had assumed the GK's would have been competing, but having seen the list of registered teams, they are nowhere to be found! Liz

You've had two different instructors telling you what they think the problem is and they are probably both right - from what they have seen from jumping with you. It happens a lot in AFF where on one jump, you do one thing and then on the next jump, something totally different (body position wise), Ask your preferred instructor to go through some muscle memory techniques on the ground (invaluable as training on the ground is free) and then get video on your next jump. Without trying to overload you, visualize your turn to the left being the same as turning to the right (in reverse!!!) - the more you stress about doing a bad turn to your left, the more you will do it in the skydive as you are visualising what NOT to do, and then do it. I hope that what I've said all makes sense and good luck! Liz

The place is overrun with you guys from up North and you speak French as well There were too many big red balloon arrows on the map for AZ, so I put where I grew up instead and it's cool, coz I am the only one with the red bubble there Liz

That's the one!!!! I was getting a little confused there. I've had quite a few conversations today on the dz about the French that all the stories moulded into one and me being me came up with not 1+1 =2, but 1+1 =3 Liz

21st October - Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar - just when the World Cup Starts Several e-mails out and about, one stating that the French raised their security alert from Hide to Hide and Run.... Another, do a google search for the best French victories and it comes back as no search found, try best French defeats. Liz

Some people use harnesses so that it gives a feeling of "wearing something" in the tunnel that is more akin to skydiving (hey, there are even "tunnel rigs" that people use). Flying in the tunnel is harder than in the air. The air is soupier and is not always constant and any little change in flying position shows up more in the tunnel than in the air - which is why it is such a great tool! Some people wear more lead in a tunnel than they would in the air, but I suppose that is because they don't have their full exit weight on! I wouldn't worry too much about it all and generally suits are made to allow for the fitting of a rig/harness with the give and take of movement. Liz

OK, here we go again - what are your predictions??? Open - tight race between Fire, Knights and Oddysey. Women's 4-way - France and the US without a doubt as in training they are well ahead of the field - courtesy of Jerome (French chicks coach). Both 4-way classes a jump off. 8-way - USA and France and probably a jump off. European leader???? France has no 4-way Open team, so which country will take the title? It's so exciting Liz

Sorry, some of it was tongue in cheek! I am not bagging the UK and their rules - a lot of their rules are in place for a good reason and when you think about currency of jumpers in a country that has bad weather and has a smaller skydiving community than say America, these rules have been made for what the rulemakers see for safety. The UK has got a pretty good safety record. The new Canopy Handling regs are a fab idea coz it can only make people learn a whole lot more in what is the biggest killer in skydiving at the moment - people dying under a perfectly good flyable canopy. Liz

Base jumping regs are different from Skydiving regs. Base jumping is not regulated in the same way as skydiving is as many parachute orgs do not see base jumping as skydiving. Anyone could turn up and do a base jump. The UK has the most regs out of Europe. If they ever held a World Meet, most of the teams would not be able to jump due to the following obligatory checks: Log Books: (do any of Airspeed keep log books?) Visual altimeter (most top team members don't wear a visual altimeter), Wearing of a hook knife? Not obligitory in many countries. Current medicals? There are world competitors out there who are over 40 and normally don't have to have a doctor's cert. Gear checks - are you going to get world teams to stand and do a fully comprehensive gear check on each other when all over the world, you are responsible for your safety? Wing loading and Swooping - the new Canopy Handling rules would apply. How many of those world competitors would be able to show their equivalent skills without a rating, even though they have personally over 10,000 jumps? Something to think about. Liz

I can get vids switched over to Pal here, so no worries there. I am also asking my friends to tivo Inside Edition every day as well. Liz

Aagh guys, please don't take the mickey, although "until you get your instructor's rating" did make me giggle... Muscle memory is not an exact term, but using it in skydiving validates the more that you use the correct muscles to fly and are comfortable with using those muscles, sub-conciously you use them, hence utilising your body to fly the best. The term "muscle memory" has been passed down to us lesser mortals from the best in the sport to let us understand in the simplest terms - remember, skydiving is not rocket science! As a student, if you look into things too technically, you will get confused - do as your instructor says and do NOT think independately - "Simon Says, Simon Does Liz

I had a screwed up body position for a long time, but got it sorted through instruction, tunnel and muscle memory. Before going to the tunnel, try these exercises: Lie on a nice surface, like a bed, and go into the position where you arch through the hips. Repeat this a lot! Do some 2 way skydives with a person who has a camera on their helmet just practising arching through your hips and doing turns, etc, as unfortunately, bad habits or should I say comfort zones, do happen sub-conciously in the air when you are focusing on other things - like 4-way! Weight may be needed as well as mentioned previously by another poster. Which tunnel are you going to? Are you doing a camp or just a block of time with some coaching? Liz