Belgian_Skygirl

Well, I don't know about South African DZ, but I can tell you this: Empuria is great as dropzone... (I was there last summer, but as I was still in my AFF in Belgium, I decided to continue my AFF in Belgium with the instructors I know). However, my boyfriend did jump overthere... and it was cool. Even more... there is a pool, ou can play tennis, dozens of places to go out in the evening, on the dz there is also a club represented that organizes etreme activities... such as canoeing and such like... And about the European chicks... well... you are in Europe than ... but please don't let your vacation depend on the girls... but go wherever you want. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I don't ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I did receive it too. I wanted to inform the moderators, but it is already done. However, it is a shame that people try to abuse other people's miserie.... ... Like Prince Kamara does. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

English is not my mother tongue neither... so the word pimp makes me think about... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I know the problem... I am sure you bought yourself a fine parachute... but... I have learnt on this forum that there are other things as well you should take in consideration... the technical aspects of parachutes: smaller parachutes respond more agressively, seem to go faster, even if the wingloading is correct... I decided to downsize and to stop at a wingload where I feel comfortable with... and than buy a parachute... after having asked for advice on this forum. I was so eager to buy a parachute, but without any knowledge it is better to gain some experience. A person may prefer to fly with another brand, ... ... My instructor f.i. suggested I shouldn't buy immediately, but as I weigh 100 lds, I should buy a 120... you get the picture... after I asked for advice on this forum, he told me that he knows I am very carefull and don't like to rush into things and therefor he gave me the advice... but he agreed with things I read here: downsize, and even if you do things better than other students, you still are a student. The problem with people that learn easily is that they often take risks much easier... So when he was talking to me about a 120, he was just talking about wingloading. Knowing my skills, it is possible to get there quiete soon, but imagine that I have difficulties in handling a 150, I should first do dozens, maybe 100s of jumps, before I feel like downsizing. Well, listen to your instructor, but keep in mind the things you read here... it could be usefull and attributing to your general knowledge of canopies. BTW: today I downgraded to a 190... and I loved it. But still plenty of downgrades to go... :) ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

And the person who wrote that appearantly did not think about the fact that only Indians (I don't know if the word is politically correct) are the real americans... they were the original inhabitants, they were murdered and exploited... and still left aside by the US government (that is how I see things, but correct me if I am mistaken). We, Europeans destroyed different cultures centuries ago when we got there... of course now we cannot blame the ascendant... but we should never forget about history. It is the Europeans who went there, who destroyed cultures and murdered the local population, it is the Europeans who became later Americans... now an American is not European any more of course. ... but people seem to forget that we are all equal... BTW: Americans in general speak other languages badly (that is what I experienced up to now), but the rest of the world speaks English and adapts to them... to their values... I don't want to say bad things about the US, as most people I know who went there loved it, but... it is a pitty that there are conservatists that think they are more than other people, as they live in a countrey where they imposed their own culture... that has become the American culture (or should I say a derive from the European culture). ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I think it is bacause very few people familiarize with the sport. What do I mean... when it comes to f.i. tennis, soccer, baseball, basket ball, gymnastics, ... people can learn it at school, in sport clubs, ... everybody knows somebody who does a sport, but they are more common sports.... and when you sponsor a sport that everybody knows, you can make publicity for a larger audience... of course I am just guessing, but it could be the reason... On the other hand... why is car racing f.i. that sponsorred as it is not open to anybody... Well, I have a theory as well about this one: most adults can drive... people feel more familiarized with that kind of sport. Howevver, it is a pitty that no bog companies are interested in sponsorring skydivers. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

You could be right... but... nevertheless it is interesting to read other people's advice to check it afterwards with other people or look for sources that have something to do with the subject. Advice sometimes helps me to find more information, so that I know where to start looking. To the persons that post to attack people's spelling mistakes... I don't know what the discussion about spelling mistakes has to do with this topic, but people can be dyslectic (I hope this one is spelled correctly). My mothertongue is not English, but Dutch.... so to all those people that are bothered by my spelling mistakes... I am very very very very very sorry ... hehe... I am fluent in 5 or 6 languages, but mistakes happen. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Well, once I flared to high and I fell on my bottom... It hurt for weeks! I couldn't sit properly for weeks! I when I had to sit down or get up, it was as if I were an old lady... now, we are 7 months later and when the weather changes, I can really feel it on my bottom... Another stupid thing I did was loosing my skydive glasses... and I realized it when I was at 11000 ft when I was preparing... I didn't jump of course... too windy for my eyes, but it was fun in the plane to see a landing as I never experienced that before. Fortunately there was one place left in the plane... my fellow jumpers arrived picked up my glasses on the ground (I lost them before getting in the plane but noticed it too late), put them on and went straight up again to jump... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I think it is a good habbit... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Well, I didn't mean to be negative... but your first post sounded rather naïve to me... I am 28 years old now... and I think it is great to go abroad, to travel, .... if you would have said that you are wanting to travel from dz to dz... it is not the fact that you have great plans which caused my reaction... it is the fact that it sounded naïve. Please don't forget that education is very important. Imagine that you are involved in a skydiving accident and you are no longer able to jump... or you get older and you can't do anything else but skydiving... how will you earn your living than? To make a career in the skydive business sounds very interesting to me, and if you want to do that, go for it... maybe once I will get some coaching from you ;)... I just want to say that you should consider all the options. I saw that last year you went to college and failed. Well... maybe you were very eager to learn in the beginning and wile doing those studies, you realized you did not like it. This might happen in everything you do. Of course, if you have the mone or your parents are willing to pay for your skydive expenses abroad, than you should go for it. Many people want a skydiving career, but only few are that talented to make a propre living out of it. I hope you understand what some of us mean. I am the first to encourage someone to make a skydiving career, but if you had bout 100 jumps and started to think about it, te post wouldn't have sounded that naïve. Of course, you ar young and enthousiastic and keep it that way... Jump as much as you can... find a job or go back to college or to the university... in the meanwhile get information about the skydive degrees you can obtain, what you have to do to get licensed to do some skydive jobs, .... nothing is for free, so know that you have to jump and that it is expensive... (unless you are a rich son of a bitch ). BTW: my post was not ment to critizise you, but to make you think about different options. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I find it very unappropriate when somebody quotes a passage from the bible in a discussion in order to persuade the other one, because it holds no sense... Well, imagine you meet a.. Iraki and you have a discussion with him about women's beautiful hair and he suddenly quotes a passage from his holy book, the Koran, which states that women are not allowed to show their hair... that is not an argument... but he believes his holy book is the holiest of all, just as a christian thinks about his bible. When people quote a passage from the bible, to me it is the same thing as people quoting a passage from another holy book.. it has no value to me. Quoting a writer or somebodyyelse is usually done with another goal. People that are very strict in no matter what religion seem to use every opportunity to pass their love for their religion to another person.. they do it on meetings, in discussions, ... I don't think they can do that... You know... many wars have religious reasons, and everybody is convinced their religion holds the truth, so those arguments copied from holy books, are a way to force somebody in a opinion. Because i not, not every opportunity would be used to quote from the bible, as we all have brains an can talk for ourselves... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Just do everyhing at ease... I just want to say that it is great what you say and it i fun to hear how much you enjoyed it. But to be able to work as a skydiver you must have some jumps.... f.i. here in Belgium you are only allowed to fly with a camera starting from 200 jumps.... to become an instructor... I don't know the amouts, but they are quiete a number of jumps!!! I don't know how many... but I guess much more than 200 jumps. You must buy materials and pay for your jumps, pay for coaching, to practice what you learnt... You just finished your course, but even if you land well now, you don't know how you will do in the future with another canopy... I just want to say that is great hat you feel this way, but if you see things to great and too big and when things don't go that smoothly, you may get disappointed. However, it makes me smile to read about aother people's enthousiasm and when you will controll all the skills you need, I am sure a skydive career may be waiting for you. ... It is not a bad idea to continue jumping for 1 year and to think things over... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I am Cinzia, and i work as a sales and marketing co-ordinator. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

In my DZ there are some older men as well... some of theme are between 60 and 70.... Most times they jump together and do some rw-exercices... one day, one of them bought a camera... it was the first time they had a camera in the air. During their freefall, they were pushing each other away to be cught on camera... like a bunch of children. When we saw what was captured, it was hilarious... they were pushing each other away, doing stuff with their faces... tickling each other... Well, maybe this one was the funniest skydive video I ever saw... and it was great to see those 'grandfathers' making fun... :) ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Arch and relax your arms and leggs. I had the problem that I arched well, had the right "pose", but my arms and legs were too tensed and I started spinning during my level 3, even though on video it looked like if I did the ight pose. I took that level 3 times... and no problems occured in the levels following. Because my arms were too tensed, I wasn't floating on the wind, but pushed in a direction ... My trick was waving with my hands and than I relaxed my arms for a while. I was trying too hard. The 3rd time I took my level 3 I was standing at the doorstep in the plane and I thought: what the hell... you guys may be ood skyivers, but you guys cannot do things that I can... a clicl in my brin occured, I was relexed during my freefall... and... well... you know the story... I am doing my solo's now, i am downsizing the canopy bit by bit... within some weeks I will do my warps.... I may no be that experienced, I am very new in the sport myself, but I remember my poblems and the tips and tricks and they worked for me... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I always wanted to do a skydive in my life. My husband started before I did, as I was ill at the time and not allowed to jump. He wasnt very motivated to jump, but he went to take the first level AFF anyway. He came home and was VERY excited about it. The first thing he said to me when he got home: I have a new hobby ... he couldn't stop talking about it. 7 months later it was my turn.... I was completely prepared, even before I took the course I knew most stuff... so I was very calm to take the course and jump out of the plane... untill I was in the air, falling. I couldn't breath, I knew what to do but mu body was disconnected. I couldn't move... My instructors had to open the parachutes. Under parchute, everything went well. I did consider o take the course SL, but the instructors that jumped with me told me that I did well under the parachute and that a brainlock can happen, but does not necessarily implies that a person will have it every time. They suggested that I should continue doing AFF, as I had a mental problem dring the freefall part. It took some time to make a decision, but I don't regret it. I think I underestimated skydiving from a mental point of view and I am very happy I did continue skydiving. I guess my expectaions during my first jump were too high. I underestimated everything. I had a very romantic idea about skydiving for the first time. The fun part to me began after finishing the course. As you see: it was my dream to skydive and I talked y boyfriend into doing so (his friends went, but he wasn't that interested... he did it as I always wanted to do that and he ot a bt excited as I was the excited one. When he did his first jump, it was the best experience of his life.) A few motnhs later, when I was cured, I took my first jump.. and my experience was the opposite of his... but I am still jumping, and I love it!!! Note: a few minutes before I had to go out of the plane... my altimeter went crazy... I had to change it with one of my instructors... Maybe this unexpected thing caused too much stress... I don't know... Later I found out that I was the first student of one of the instructors... his first student was a person tha didn't react in the air... me . Now we lagh about it... but I can assure you... I will never forget that experience. But neither the good parts I experienced later... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Yeah... Congrat. :) ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

We shouldn't forget that there are no means in the third world to give people a training on what they should do... it is easier said than done. I think that aid i rather sat on helping people to survive in daily life, rather than explaining to them what they should do when there is a tsunami. I wouldn't have known what was coming based on the receding water, as I live in Belgium 100 km from the coast. We live in a "stable" country as there is hardly any tectonic activity... Twice in my live I experienced an earth quake over here, but a person may have thought is was a heavy truck passing by. Of course the next day it was on the news that we had a small earth quake. Nobody really realised. However, if I would have seen the water receding suddenly, I guess my instinct would have told me: get the hell out of here... I know the characteristics of a tsunami... but I don't know if I would have recognized it. My heart goes out to all people overthere. On the news, we hear about the tourists in that area all the time... but there are thousands and thousands of asians that got killed... there will be another thousands and thousands that will die due to the diseases that come after such a disaster, there will be no food as crops are devastated... fertile earth has been scraped away... fauna and flora is seriously damaged.... economy won't do well the next years.... poor poor people. Of course I think it is too bad for tourists that did not survive and I feel sorry as well for their families... but just imagine... people overthere have far less than we do... and now they have less than little... and they have nowhere to go... You know what really pisses me off? Last night I was watching the news... I heard about the events in Asia over and over again... all those people that lost their lifes and will lose their lives... they didn't ask for it. They were just leading their lives. Than I heard news about the war in Iraq (again people got killed), Israel and Palestina... Well, it is a shame that people kill each other... especially when you see that in Asia many people got killed by a natural phenonema.. that there are people suffering from hunger and disasters all over the world. I don't know if you know what I mean... I just want to say that it is a shame that here are that many wars, where people tend to kill each other intentionnally for political and economic reasons, because of racism, ... whilst over 55000 other people's live get wiped away due to an earthquake and its consequences. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

As you stated 55% of the US citizens believe in creation as the source of life. I am not a US citizen ... to me it is amazing that in the US that many people believe that God created life, as my perception of he US is that it is number 1 when it comes to science. On the other hand... in America religion seems to be more important in daily life... so I believe that 45 % of the Americans believe that God created life, especially when you see that many christians live up very strictly to their believings when compared with Belgium or France f.i. To me there is more proof that life came from eolution than by the hand of God. We shouldn't forget that at the time the bible was written, people had no scientific tools or knowledge yet. I think that the report could be giving a good idea of what Americans believe... but... as I stated before... I am not a US citizen ;) ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Idd... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Who is to blame for the Iraq mess? Than we have to go back in history. We (western countreys) used to support our beloved Saddam, than he turnes against us... than we accused them of having a nuclear arsenal... well... we -wesern countreys- shouldn't patronise every country. People with other cultures see things differently. We don't have the best thing... but on the other hand, people overthere suffered from the dictatorship of Saddam... but things have gotten worse since the war. To me it is a world war that is happening in that area. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Well, when I saw this stuff I thought... the Gods must be Crazy... lol... I am not such a daredevil but it was fun to see... ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

Nice site... very clear... information is easy to find ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

I do... I know 3 persons that are in Thailand riht now: the vietnamese wife and daughter from the person that leads our dropzone. She wanted to visit her family. A colleague jumper from our dropzone is in South East Asia riht now... f I am not mistaken he wanted to pass his last days at a huge party on a beach in Thailand... around Christmas. i don't know what happened to them. However I fel sorry for all the victims and their families. Yesterday I gave an extra donation to a ngo and will do it again within 2 weeks. ------------------------------------------------- No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?