Andrewnewell

Rob Heron I pressume? Hows it going buddy? Yeah this event should be a right laugh! really looking forward to it! Piers is coming as well, think youve had the pleasure allready. Should be a cool vibe going down out there and some scope for some very cool skydiving! Looking forward to doing some good stuff with ya and all of the Arezzo crew! Oh by the way Im pretty sure your not alowed to use bird suits in the tracking races buddy! Hahaha. . Mind you we could make an exception for ya!!

Hey all you Brit freeflyers out there. Get down to the Space games in Italy ( Skydive Tortuga ) this summer. Its just after the Brit Nationals, so all you Brit badass freeflyers out there should be nice and current and able to take part in some awsome freeflying!!! Gotta be in it to win it guys and girls, so whos going over???

The Crossfire 2 is in my opinion the best allround canopy on the market! I believe It has the best and most consistant openings of any eliptical canopy out there. It has a fantastic amount of range and the partialy closed nose makes it feel like your cutting through the air as though your almost flying a cross braced wing. It has Soft front risser pressure and is responsive but not twitchy on the toggles. This canopy Also has a great speed building dive and a powerfull glide on rears, and a long flare on the toggles. In my opinion this wing should be the choice of pilots who want consistantly good openings, a high level of performance both in full flight and during swoop landings. Icarus have created the most ballanced all round high perfomance wing on the market to date, with the Crossfire 2. A pleasure to fly!

After numerous incidents concerning the Vigil AAD. one of which involved a good friend of mine, I feel its time to move away from the purely commericaly driven product, that requires no updates or servicing??? and back to a more reliable safety orientated unit.

Any other Brits going to the Games?

If your after a reliable repack check out Point Zero rigging in Tidworth. Dave Gould is the chief rigger there and is one of the best around!

Yeah Man!!

28 way head down. Flown for 10 seconds. woo cest boogie, cest fun! Big shout out to Babylon, Aria for their hard work and to all the bad ass flyers that made it possible. For more info check out www.babylon-freefly.com come and join us next time, cos were gonna go bigger!!!! Meeoowww

Yeah man if your into a bit of freefly check out Hib this weekend. Abit of a drive but worth it. Or like Vicki says, get down to Nethers if your local. have a good weekend1

Dude, why you say this man? ( thought Id get that in remeber the last time?) Ok, so people move on and businesses will continue to support different teams. thats just the way it is. If it didnt happen things would get stagnant. I think it comendable that different Manufactures experiment with different designs, after all, are we not all in the sport to progress?? Ever heard of nothing ventured nothing gained? So what if two different suit manufactures that are experimenting with different designs happen to be in the same location. Empuria just happens to be a great testing ground for their products. having two suit manufactures in close proximity means healthy competition, which inturn leads to the invention and refinment of better products. Ok so I agree with you on the fact that we should have drag at the extremities, obviously this gives us power in the air. What I was referring to was having counter productive flapping at the ends of our limbs where we lack most muscle control. Keep the drag there and reduce outside input can only be a good thing, but hey your right what do I know? Chill your boots man! We still on for six? come on now lets all just have a group hugg? Urrgghhh!

Not Pants. Suits! We just enjoy hijacking threads to gob off at each other. You've met him, you know the score! Oh and the obvious was wearing those howling cords the other day! Im coming for you Piers!

Ideal. Does that mean there will be some skydiving going down at Nethers? Might pop along to that one.

I suppose it different strokes for different folks? Dude I understand why you didnt like the Matter suit you had. It wasnt realy the fault of the manufacture i think it was more to do with outside influences that affected the style choice you made at the time? I could be wrong. The point is we all live and learn, I made a similar bad choice at the time. Remember the red and white thing I brought?! Way to tight! Ive seen your new suit and it is a suit which really suits your flying style and needs. 3- theres a real push for TECHNICAL suits and fabrics which for the most part are a load of sh~t. proconcept tries to make out that drag is soooo specifically placed that it aids in flying precisely etc... i think this is possibly the case but amount to less than 1% of the overall flying profile Im not so sure about that. As we become more refined flyers wouldnt you agree that out equipment should become more refined and better suited to evolving flying styles? Be it rigs, altis, suits etc...? Im a big believer in less flapping material to create drag. I think it is better to have double lined suits that are tighter but are able to increase the amout of drag. Thats just what I would personly look for in a suit. if I needed that bit more range. I dont think I would like alot of flapping material (inducing unessesary input ) based around the extremitys I think Matter suits offer this with their pro concept range and most definatly aid in being a more flexible flyer with the spandex inserts etc.... Oh and If you dont like that we can just have a fight! see you behind the cricket pavilion at 6. Hahaha

I would say that Matter suits are probably the best built freefly suits you can get any where. They alow for total flexibility with spandex inserts, so you dont get the whole "Im trapped feeling" when in some of the more demaning positions. Check out the funk flyers. Matter use a super robust polycotton that can take alot of abuse and Have in my opinon a unparalled build quality! If your after a flowing baggy, old style suit with the whole dimonds thing there are plenty of manufactuers that can do that. But realy, why would you? I dont think its mearly a question of trend but more a natural progression. As with the evolution of the RW suit, freefly suits are becoming more and more refined helping flyers to have more control and comfort. Matter suits like the Proconcept 2 design are at built with this in mind.

Yeah man, Its the Alchemy boys. Their running the show with the in air comms setups. check out their site raredynamic its got all the contacts on there.

Woo cest Boogie, Cest fun! After a few days of bad weather the first Euro record training camp has kicked off with style! There are Roughly five groups all training on formation mechanics and discipline in group flying. The sun is shining, everyone is learning loads and having a good time. If your in Europe for the next training camp and your interested in doing some cool group dives, then get down to Empuria! Ya man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like that! We could also fix flash lights to our helmets, so we can communicate with morse code?!

I think generally speaking the lower slower canopys always have the right of way as was mentioned. I also think that DZ in question has not really updated its guidelines properly to include changes in exit order ( Not that I realy want to go in to that one) and a rule defining holding areas for its advanced and normal landing areas. These are almost definatley contributing factors that create incidents there. My main concern about the whole situation is that there is very little education about landing patterns/ canopy flight in the UK and certain parties just use this "Sail before steam guideline" as an excuse to potter along in their own world, expecting that they have right of way no matter what. You know, those same guys that just drive old bangers in the middle lane of motorways, not checking their mirrors, on auto pilot, daydreaming away.

Go and get yourself Trace 101 from the Bad boys of Babylon! The vid contains alot of cool footage from the new film, their old promo, their competition jumps. It also has freefly basics on it! Thats what your looking for. after a hard days jumping sit down and compare what your doing and whats on the basics tape. Should give you a good idea on how to achiveve the basic body positions...

Ok, so having got out last and completing a successfull three way, my group had to fly back through groups of "docile canopy" pilots, whom seemed unaware of my groups presence in their air space. As I was flying a faster wing It was my responsibility to move and get round the slower canopy's. The Thing that struck me was that hardly anyone was looking where they were going and the vast majority ended up holding over the runway and a advanced landing area. On landing I though it was a good idea to explain to some of the newer flyers, that It was probably a good idea to not just switch off under canopy and to look out for each other. Also that it maybe a good idea not to hang around the advanced landing area, for obvious reasons... A certain old school member of the load responded to this by saying that it was the persons on the faster canopys total responsibility to get out of the way of the more inexperienced pilots who were flying slower wings. With this point I totally agree. However he used the example of sail before steam to explain his point? I.e. a sail boat has priority over a steam boat because it does not have the ability to move as quick. He continued to elaborate, saying that a similar rule is used in aviation and that the faster group was in the wrong, despite load order and all the variables associated with canopy piloting.??! My point is that a boat has the luxury to be able to stop in the water, a aircraft can hold his present altitude and wait for an opening to land. A canopy pilot can slow his rate of descent but cannot stop. If there is slower canopys congregating in the wrong place at low alititudes, surely this can lead to big problems for pilots under faster wings. As we are all aware most incidents occur due to people making quick decisions close to the ground. It is my opinion if persons under slower wings encroach into the air space of fast canopys then they are putting them selves and the faster canopy pilots at greater risk. Is the concept of sail before steam an out dated concept for modern sports parachuting? Is the use of such a broad concept a bad idea, in a sport that should require pilots to be more reactive and flexible when flying their canopy's? Would you blindly follow such a rule?

I'm thinking that at the next AGM someone could arrange some sort of a awards ceremony for the the worst British DZ, best sky god and so on and so forth? A bit like what the rasberrys is to the oscars? At least all BPA members get to have a big laugh at the people and places that make it a pain in the ass for Brit flyers who just want to enjoy the sport? ooohhhh, I'm already feeling some negative vibes from that one! Bothered! Hehehe.

Lillo, do it!

From the pic I assume your into freefly? Yeah man get out to Lillo and do some flying with my Main man Mikey Carpenter! Mike runs the freefly school there and will organise/help you out if freeflyings your thing! www.freeflyeuphoria.com DZ's nice with all mod con's. towns a little backward but there are some nice places to eat drink and chill out in the evenings. Cheep beer, good jumps, chilled attitude! Check, check it out! Other than that go and check out Olav's new place in Italy. ( Skydive Tortuga) Olav, Manuel basso and Stefania are there. Super nice place. awsome flyers. another european DZ with a friendly chilled out attitude where you can get the jumps in! have fun!!!!!

Langer and Hib have a good deal of talented flyers/progressive Brit coaches, check those guys out! If your down south you may want to try Euphoria flight school( Netheravon). The school is open on the weekends. If you wish to book one of our coaches in advance please drop us a line. contact me here or go to our web site to get hold of the other guys. www.freeflyeuphoria.com All Euphoria coaches have over a thousand jumps, teach the lattest methods of freefly instruction and offer the full pre jump brief, in air coaching and video debrief system. I will be touring the country most of this year to promote our school in Lillo. Ill be offering coaching with the new air to air communication system and doing load organising, If you want to hook up with me, then just drop me a line and we can go from there. Fly safe, Fly hard! Andy Newell

Good old Fedykin. Looks like hes got too much time on his hands? Whats with all that negativity? Hahaha. Hope you had a great time out in Lillo with Mikey C.