Bunyip

Thanks for your help and the referral! Might save me buying a new canopy .....

Hi All - I have an Alpha 117 (marked as being made by Winchester Technologies) DOM about 97/98. I have noticed from other forums that this canopy could have been made by Atair. Problem is that I need a re-line and have no idea who to contact either for a line set or the specs to get a new line set made up. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks - AK

Good point. I usually just ask them to excuse me, and explain that I have to make some adjustments for safety and comfort. This usually works ... as long as you ask and explain there are no problems

Sometimes you will not 'click' with your instructor ... and you might just have found somebody who can get inside your head and identify the problem. Work with different people ... they can all teach you something different.

I would just like to say that this is nothing unusual. I have found that it is usually caused by being really tense and fighting the air. Can I suggest that you do some relaxation exercises before and after you get into the aircraft, and before exit. You obviously know what you are doing and can pull because you have made it to strage 7. Also ... when you are exiting make the count ... 'up... down...arch .... deep breath' (and then have a deep breath). I have found that 95% of the time that the spinning will stop. The relaxation exercises I am talking about are deep breathing ... where you relax your stomach with each breath ... relaxing you overall. One other thing to do is arch but keep your wrists loose. If you can identify when you start to spin (remember when everything just started to get fast, you were turning, the alti was counting down and you were fighting to fix it ... it got faster and a bit of a blur) well ... next time that starts to happen in freefall ... take a deep breath, keep your arch and relax. The turn will stop. Hang in there ... the spins always go away.

I only leg lock if everything is in a strong spin after the drogue is out ... then I only do it for a couple of seconds to put the students legs in place ... and only if I have to. Just getting big is usually the best remedy.

I worked at a DZ that had a student/instructor sign off sheet. This covered first jump training and subsequent jumps. In these days of negligence claims it can prove that the training was conducted and give you a record of the student who 'left his logbook at home'

I agree ... how can a student develop height awareness without an alti? It takes a long time to know an approximate altitude when you are in freefall. Also ... they will probably wear them throughout most of their skydiving career ... so get them young