franman

I don't remember how long the time between the bag leaving and it standing me up was. It was my first jump for a little while so nothing recent to compare it too and I don't think I have enough experience to notice when something like that is out by a small amount (I remember reading something saying that the bag should take 0.6 seconds to line stretch - 0.1 second each way is bad). I will let them know about it and hopefully someone will check it out. Thanks for the advice everyone

It was a Zerox container, as to what size it is, I don't know. I think the pilot chute was F111 - it didn't have a kill-line. Again, I don't know what size it was - looked like a average size pilot chute (?) Francis

I'm pretty sure that the pilot chute hesitation was down to my lazy throw - I pretty much let go of it when it was out of the pouch. In future I will definitely be giving it a good throw! I was just curious to know if that was the cause of the twists or if it was just bad luck... Francis

We had some lovely weather on Saturday morning - the first time in ages that I'd been at the DZ and it wasn't really cloudy/windy. I just did a solo - it was my first jump with my new jumpsuit so I practised doing some turns and tracking - it's great having booties! I pulled at 4 grand and not much seemed to happen for a while - I think my throw was pretty lazy (won't be doing that again!). Just as I thought "huh, this is taking a little while" I moved a bit and then felt the bag lifting off my back. The canopy (a Triathlon 190) opened with loads of line twists - I think that if it hadn't been a Triathlon it would have been big dive territory. I kept an eye on my alti as I was kicking them out and the canopy stayed flat the whole time. I was wondering if the twists were caused by the pilot chute hesitation? If the pilot chute was spinning around in my burble, could that have twisted the lines as well? It was hire kit so I have no idea who packed it or what kind of job they did on it. Any thoughts? Francis

I got my insurance for AFF in Spain from Endsleigh - it was less than £30 for two weeks. Fortunately, I didn't have to use it though! Francis

That's got to be the best way to get into the sport - a week of training every day will get you much further than the same number of jumps spread out over a few months. Just hand over your credit card - you'll be qualified by the time you get the bill and you won't regret it!! Francis

I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't have to pay any VAT in the US, just in whatever country in the EU you're trying to import it into Francis

My alarm goes off at 7, I leave the house at 8.20 or so to start work at 9. Lately I've been pretty lazy in the mornings and have been getting to work a bit late. Got in at 9.25 yesterday but it didn't matter as I was the first one there Francis

Year : 2002-2003 1. Who was your best friend? Joe and Phil 2. What sports did you play? None at school, Tae Kwon-Do and swimming in the evenings 3. What kind of car did you drive? My mum's VW Golf 4. It's Friday night, where were you? Tae kwon-do and swimming 5. Were you a party animal? no 6. Were you in the "In Crowd"? Nope 7. Ever skip school? No - school was 25 miles from home and in a really nasty part of town - nothing to do around there. 8. Ever smoke? No 9. Were you a nerd? Yep 10. Did you get suspended/expelled? No 11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? school song? I'm pretty sure we didn't have one 12. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr Hosken - one of my Maths teachers - he was really funny. 13. Favorite class? Maths (nerd) 14. What was your schools full name? Pate's Grammar School 15. School mascot? none that I know of 16. Did you go to Prom? Prom isn't really a big thing in the UK but I went to our Leaver's ball. 17. If you could go back and do it over, would you? nah, i don't think I could have a better time second time around 18. What do you remember most about graduation? feeling really ready to move on 19. Favorite memories of your Senior Year? Chinese exchange 20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? What's a senior wall? 21. Did you have a job your senior year? Lifeguard at my local leisure centre 22. Who did you date? No one - I was/am a nerd! 23. Where did you go most often for lunch? I just ate my packed lunch 24. Have you gained weight since then? No 25. What did you do after graduation? Weeks holiday in Crete with 8 mates - sat by the pool in the sun all day and went drinking every night - great way to blow off steam! Francis

The idea of Warhammer is that you build up an army of minature soldiers and then you fight battles with your mates. There are a few special characters but if he's just starting he'd be better off building up number of regular troops, or tanks. My advice would be to find out what it is that he really wants - to make sure you've got the right race of army. Be warned though - it's really quite expensive! I stopped playing five or six years ago when it was pretty expensive and the prices were going up fairly regularly. MarkM was right about 40K though - your nephew won't be happy if you get him stuff from the wrong game Francis

Cool! That will keep me occupied this afternoon! Francis

South Cerney and Netheravon are both pretty much the same distance from Bath. They're only open at weekends though. If you're going to try one of them remember to bring photo ID with you as they're both military bases and they won't let you on if you can't prove who you are. Francis

Congrats! I bet you were glad when the weather cleared up for the last couple of days! You can really pack them in when it gets a bit brighter! I may see you at South Cerney sometime soon then - just got to hope the sun shines! Francis

Francis was arrested for attending a Quaker meeting Francis was arrested for having a bomb in his luggage at schiphol airport in amsterdam I pride myself on the diversity of my crimes Francis

Blimey, on my 18th birthday my mates bought me a dirty pint that contained 3 types of aftershock and a whole load of other stuff. The bar staff wouldn't serve it in one glass though - my mates had to mix it themselves. I managed to down it in one and got a lot of respect during the 40 minutes that I held it down for! Francis

Thorntons (UK chocolate place) truffles are my favourite - delicious Francis

Gotta agree with you there - the PAC is fantastic! Francis

I'm in Oxford in the UK, just gone midday. It is snowing outside and has been all morning - cycling to work was fun . Just wearing regular clothes - casual in the office Francis

Well, I only managed 12 in the UK last year - below average. Remember that you have to become a full member as soon as you do your first freefall on RAPS and not everyone who does that carries on with the sport. Francis

I got Endsleigh travel insurance for my trip to Spain a month ago that cost £20 for two weeks which seemed very reasonable. I'm not sure what third party cover it has though as my BPA insurance covered it. It would have covered getting me home and medical costs if I'd broken any limbs skydiving though. Francis

I've only got about 1500 songs which is looking pretty pathetic compared to some of the others here. They're all off albums that I own. That gives me a couple of days of continuous play. Francis

Nice one for sticking with it till you sorted out the problem. I was having a lot of trouble starting to spin on my 10 second delays. I'd spend the whole time thinking about how to relax and not turn, get out the plane, start turning and then start thinking "Oh, s*$@, it's happened again, please stop turning", tense up etc. get back up there and do the same thing again. Switching instructors can definitely help sometimes - I changed DZ, instructor and switched to AFF and suddenly it all seemed easy - I was like "why couldn't I just do this before!" . Now you've got past something like that, it'll all seem easy! Francis

In my experience there isn't a whole lot of point predicting the weather 5 days in advance - especially in February! Staying the weekend will definitely maximise your chances of jumping though. I'm in the lucky position of living so close to my DZ that I can wake up in the morning, take a look at the weather out of the window and stay in bed if it looks rubbish (happened a lot over the autumn!) Francis

Oh the Let is awesome - we have one at South Cerney. Ours has a bubble on the nose which looks cool - I don't think they let people go in it though which is a shame. Last week there was something wrong with the door so we had to have it open - the static line students sitting by the door got pretty chilly. Luckily for me I was sitting up front where it stayed quite warm

Indeed, lots of beer will also need to be consumed over the summer! Nothing better than a cold lager while watching the sun set after a good day of jumping