skykittykat

New Zealand. Lift price NZ$25, converted back to UK Pound and it was 8GBP. A coached freefly jump with a world champ was 5GBP (that covered his slot, which was a staff rate). OK, so the exchange rates have changed a bit, but NZ is still great value for money. Liz

Hi VampireGirl, my two cents worth! Next time you are up at the dz, speak to an instructor whom you trust and respect there (or the CCI) and ask his opinion and ask him to watch your landings (hop'n'pops are great for this). As for downsizing and the type of canopy to go for, sort out your current worries first. When you do downsize, seek advice from someone who knows you and your canopy skills. Have a great time at Brian's canopy course and if you don't get to jump too much between now and then, he will be able to give you loads of advice, plus he is very knowledgeable and approachable. Liz

Nothing,, bar a good tablet, gets rid of migraines for me especially as I vomit and can't move. I either use Migralieve or Nolotil. Basically they knock you out so you can sleep and when you wake up a good few hours later the migraine is gone. The only downside is that the tablets make you pretty sluggish for a couple of hours after waking up. Liz

Just another thought to throw into the ring - what about a system similar to the UK? There, the classes are basically divided by total jump numbers per team. Eg, a junior class team cannot have a total of more than 900 jumps between 3 jumpers and one jumper can be wild card jump numbers (this is all post Cat 10). Liz

1. What you don't know, you can't miss. 2. Memories are a valued part of life and a person's make-up. Happiness is within yourself, so if you are happy in your cave would you have to know the outside world? Define happiness and contentment.... Liz (Talking of caves, literally, my brother lived in a cave one summer when he was 16 until him and his mates got evicted due to some environmental issue regarding bats who also shared their living space).

88mph on SH10 near the border of California/Arizona. Luckily in Arizona. Didn't get a ticket for speeding - just one for not having a licence... He also let me off the no insurance/rego documents as well. No, I had a licence, rego and insurance, but not with me. I think I looked so shocked when the guy pulled me over and told me he could haul my ass off to jail, he felt sorry for me. It also helped that I had my passport on me and was a blonde tourist and he asked me where I was headed, so I told him Perris and that sorta took over the conversation. The irony of it was that for the 3 hours since setting off from home, my car didn't even make it over 60mph until going downhill where the cop car was hiding under a bridge. Liz

I spoke to Stephan the other day on behalf of Brits coming out here for the boogie and the apartments aren't furnished and he won't furnish them, although they do have fridges, cookers and working bathrooms. Liz

My first school I ever went to had a collection of the weirdest teachers. The Music teacher stood a bible up on her desk and if we were naughty we had to apologise to the bible. The Home Ec/Cooking teacher was anorexic and would not allow any form of sugar, fat, etc in any of our cooking and she grew mould in the kitchen. The junior school teachers used to hit us with rulers over the back of the legs or knuckles for any reason from getting a question wrong to daydreaming. The RE teacher had a nervous breakdown. When I boarded for a year, the matrons would make us stand in different areas in the corridors in the dark for up to an hour in total silence if we were caught out of our rooms after lights out. My second school from 14 upwards was pretty cool and the teachers were mostly normal, thank god. Liz

Sorry, should have been more specific - the 4-way camp is in Eloy. Anyway, have pm'd. Liz

Are there any dropzone.commers out there who are coming to this camp? Are any people from overseas going - if there are, could you please pm me (Duty Free supplies badly needed!) I think there are a few slots left, so if you have the money, book one! The camps are awesome. Not only are they FUN, but you learn a lot and your learning curve goes up heaps. Liz

It is currently showing in the IMAX theatre in Phoenix for any Arizonians.

With the Airspeed camps you are getting the whole shebang - one on one coaching, plus all the seminars and a wealth of experience for anything skydiving related (canopy, etc) on tap. Also, with a structured camp, you can learn more by listening to the debriefs of other campers. By hooking up with other campers in the evening time by sharing time by doing 4-way or 3-ways you can get more time without paying extra, ie if 2 of you book 15 mins in the same hour time slot, then you go in for 30 mins. I presume (if I'm wrong, disregard the following!) that you are talking about the Orlando tunnel. I know for a fact that they do have awesome coaches in situ, for example, Olaf and Rusty to name just two. Those two guys ROCK as coaches and skydivers (they are skydive instructors as well). It doesn't matter about jump numbers or experience, suck up the good coaching!! Liz

Go girl - karting and cocktails - gotta love it. Jealous, umm, a little bit - cocktails at the Bent Prop are not quite the same as at the Surf Inn! Audrey - hope you didn't have to get the thermals out! Oh, Al and Pixie are here at the moment. Liz

There is an age old saying regarding masturbation: "If you say you don't, then you are a liar, if you say you do, you are a fool."

Quite. I think at that level it's more about the average than the medal so I'm sure they wouldn't have objected to being listed as a Guest. (Airspeed and Blade seemed to be ok with it, after all.) How was the omission unearthed? Exceed was a different case from Blade and Red. Blade were always going to be a Guest team from when they put the team together. Red - they lost their alternate, which they disclosed and put in the necessary request/paperwork, and the next day, they lost a main member to injury. They did the best they could and being a guest was not really an issue. They did what they could in the circumstances. IMHO, for Exceed, to quote a previous post: "got caught up in a cascade of bad decisions". Hard as it may seem, clarify before registration. I think that is what the panel are trying to put across, but that is only MHO. Liz

I used to HATE going up high in the tunnel, and I was scared - don't ask me why. Anyway, I got cured by one of my coaches on an Airspeed tunnel camp kept me up as high as I could go for a full 2 minutes and stood on the mesh moving his arms around to create a burble. Since then I LOVE going up high and swooping down. One fun thing I did was with another coach where we went as high as we could go, then stood on the wall opposite each other, leant over, held hands and walked up higher. That was FUN!

Hi Paul Welcome to the forum! There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!!! One little, itty bitty question, did you buy your gear new or did you buy it second hand? Did the seller ask you any questions, ie number of jumps, currency, weight? This could be construed as being contentious, but sellers in general should have a MORAL obligation to selling the right gear or in certain cases, not selling at all. Caution - story ahead I was selling my Sabre2 150 and after asking his jumping background, weight, etc I did tell one guy that I wouldn't sell it to him as he had only jumped a ZP canopy about 10 times and he was downsizing and doing it in Eloy (landing conditions totally different from UK). I suggested he demoed a 190 Sabre 1/Spectre first and see how he went before going to a 170. The majority of his jumps were on a PD 190. Liz the liver is evil and must be punished

To help avoid those strains/stresses on the muscles - do a really good full stretch beforehand and if it is cold - layer up and keep as warm as you can in the tunnel and keep moving while waiting your turn.

Shellybelly - Good Luck. It doesn't matter how long it takes you - so long as you get there and enjoy the journey! I was a very slow AFF student - I think I was around 20+ jumps before getting my AFF. There were 2 other blokes doing the AFF course with me and they didn't fail one level. As far as I know, neither of them jump now and I don't think they even continued to 100 jumps. I am still jumping 4 years later...

Just to add my 2 cents worth, the camps are totally awesome. As there is a no fault environment, you can go out there and really learn. I found from the 2 camps I have done that my confidence has improved, I have pushed myself and put myself way out of my comfort zone. I am usually a base chick and asked to be last diver out. Yup, I went Quotelow (not heaps low) twice, but hey, I got to practice swooping, which is not something that I do normally! there is a lot of information, but not overload, that helps you understand big ways. Also, if you do 4-way, etc, it will help that flying as well, in that there is discipline and of course, tracking. How often in a 4-way, 8-way, etc jump is there enough time to practice a full on track for more than 4 seconds? Getting used to flying under canopy with 80+ other canopies in the air is also a good learning curve. I will hopefully be there if there are still slots left and it is not too late to sign up. Oh yeah, all of the people I have met on the big way camps have been awesome and many are repeat attendees. Liz

That's sooo sweet, but what bar antics??? We are looking after Kate - she has brought the great weather with her (finally, a summer over here), so she hasn't experienced the whole UK skydiving thing at all. The best thing was that she was part of the 61 way completed chicks jump on Friday (62 if you include her barbie doll). Unfortunately, Kate had to be binned due to not being British - first time in years methinks she has been binned from a big way!!! She also went up on one of the men's 50 way sequential invitational as well - probably to sort them out, he, he..... (no need for any blokes to post re. this comment - it's a Langar joke - Chicks vs Blokes and for clarification the invitational was for sequential and the Chicks was a one point record)

Yup, for my sins, I am on Dropzone.com (dropkick.com when reading some mornons' posts!!!). OK, without changing the cool crowd on the crowd, I am now unable to make the Big Way due to my best friend in Arizona being pregnant and may give birth while her husband is in Croatia. She has asked me to be her birthing partner if the wee babby comes while husband is away, so cannot really committ to both.... Good news - Kate C will owe loadsa beer - first time jumping in the UK!!! No doubt she will share her experience of UK jumping when she returns Liz

Same here!!!

I have done about 9 Airspeed camps (yup, seriously) and if you are looking to improve a lot then do one of those camps- the improvements you see in just a couple of days are huge. I would recommend the Orlando tunnel due to price as it is cheaper than Perris, especially if you are going to do extra evening time during the camp with an Airspeed coach. Liz

Hey Luna Are you doing the camp this Feb? If so, I will see you there! With regard to the manitis position, the coaches teach YOU what YOU need to know and how to make your flying better, including body position. Yup, you are right - communication is the key, but all the coaches, including the after hour coaches are great. The coaches won't "push" you unless you ask them to!!! Chances are you may be able to borrow a suit with booties when you are there. Use your time selfishly and have a blast. Liz