
Eddles
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Everything posted by Eddles
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Skydiving in Cuba was AMAZING! Fantastic experience! A word of warning, when I was there, they only did one lift for the entire day of Saturday, and none on Sunday, even though they were fully staffed (about 20 staff in total) twiddling their thumbs. It was due to very few tandem passengers buying jump tickets and they rely heavily on tandem income. So I only did one jump the entire weekend. It was very well worth it though. As I jumped solo and was the last person out, the JM followed me out, filmed me and we played in the air. If I jumped on Sunday, they'd have let me land on the beach. The people there are fantastic, so incredibly friendly, made me feel as if I was a long-time jumper there. On Saturday evening, the CCI gathered everyone in his office, using my beer fine, gave everyone a can of beer and everyone toasted my first day at the DZ and stayed to chat with me for a while. Amazing. Wonderful friendly & welcoming people, completely typical of Cubans. They are also chilled as fuck like Cubans are, we took off 2 hours after the scheduled time not because of delays, but because they took their time. I had to really chase up for the DZ brief - I was only shown where to land literally 2 minutes before take-off! 1 1/2 hours before actual take-off, 30 minutes after the scheduled take off - "Can I have the DZ brief please?" "Yeah yeah, will do it later, chill bud, here you go, have a can of drink". 1/2 hours before actual take-off, "DZ brief?" "Plenty of time, don't worry". And so on until 2 minutes before take-off "Hello? Anyone?" "Oh bugger, oh just follow me, I'll show you where to land". I had absolutely no concern about safety though, they were very thorough with my paperwork and asked lots of questions to establish my experience - I had the opposite experience at some foreign DZs! To my surprise some people there had tens of thousands jumps each, very experienced. I'd recommend calling them for a chat, and I *highly* recommend jumping there - they're now one of my favourite DZs. The only downside was the beer fine was absolutely mandatory and had to be paid along with the jump ticket, believe it was 20 CUC (USD 20) but was well worth it, trust me, the best beer fine I've ever paid! The AN-2 wasn't there unfortunately, but the MI-8 was a fun experience!
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Brilliant thank you both for your help! I had a look on Google, and on Dropzone.com in past threads for skydiving in Cuba and surprisingly missed both of them! Sorry about that! Fantastic info, I appreciate your time! Cheers!
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Hi all, My wife and I are going to Cuba next month, and I have found the sole Cuba DZ to be at Varadero. I'm considering visiting and doing a few lobs - can I just turn up on the day? Or should I contact them? Are they open Mon-Sun or weekends only? Where could I find any other info please? Many thanks!
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We've found a 3rd member - we only need one more - anyone interested?
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Official advice for skydiver with a cochlear implant?
Eddles replied to Eddles's topic in Skydivers with Disabilities
Yeah I know, I have a cochlear implant and I've got 350 jumps. The issue is that the friend's DZ wants official documentation. Cheers everyone for advice, much appreciated ;-) -
Official advice for skydiver with a cochlear implant?
Eddles replied to Eddles's topic in Skydivers with Disabilities
Hi guys, I've got a French friend who has a deaf friend with a cochlear implant who wants to skydive, but her skydiving centre told her she can't jump due to her having a cochlear implant, even though it's perfectly possible to skydive with a cochlear implant. She wants to find official documentation saying "Yes you can skydive" - I'm hoping someone on here has something? I've found something from the British cochlear implant society but it's just a couple lines, so I'd like some more to reinforce the message. Some advice would be appreciated! -
Wanted - committed Inside Centre and Point Wanted for 2014 to form new A-Class Team to win the Nationals. Coach arranged, commitment will be minimum of 1 hour per month tunnel in Manchester starting November, plus 1 week training in Spain in May. Jumping to be agreed and will be based at Hibalstow. Please contact to discuss further.
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The current container and reserve is old (container a FF friendly Javelin, both DOM 1998) and in a serviceable condition, and I'd be surprised to get more than £250 for both. Optimum is too new and thus too expensive. I've been told that the Optimum isn't as docile as the PDR but this is from an unreliable source. I'm more than happy with the Sabre, I brought it only 9 months ago ;-) I think the best way forward is to get a new container and a second hand PD 176R - I should have time to find a second hand reserve while the container is being built. However I'm not yet 100% certain I should get a 176 reserve over the 193. All your advice is much appreciated!
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I'm considering buying a new container and I've been thinking about the reserve canopy. My current set-up is a Sabre 2 170 with a PD 160R. The main is loaded at 1.3, and the reserve is pushing 1.4. I'm a novice jumper with about 350 jumps and I started skydiving in 2010. I've been jumping this rig since jump #80 (far too early, I'm well aware) starting with a Sabre 170 before changing to the Sabre 2 170 100 jumps ago. Even with my current level, I feel the Sabre 2 pushes the limits of my experience and I'm comfortable with this. I have no aspirations to downsize for a very long time, I'm extremely happy with the current canopy. However I've never been comfortable with the size of the reserve - I've been told that it's more docile than the Sabre 2 so it should be roughly equal, apparently, but in an emergency things might be different. With my current container I'm hamstrung with the size of the reserve so I'm happy with a 160 reserve. I've had a cut-away but it was with a 260 reserve. However, with the new container, I have more freedom to choose, so I'm considering upsizing the reserve to a PD 176R or even a PD 193R while keeping the 170 main. I will find out whether the manufacturer can make it so that the container will be able to take a 150 main for future downsizing if any. I would rather avoid the Optimum if possible, but would consider it if necessary. Is this a good plan, or am I going up too far, or restricting myself in terms of choices of containers due to the large size difference between the 193 reserve and the 150 main? Will there be an issue when there's a 2-out with different sized canopies? Shouldn't I worry too much and keep the 160 reserve, considering it'd cost me a lot to replace it with a new one as my PD 160R's DOM is 1998 (with 0 jumps) so I wouldn't get much for it if I sold it, however I'm happy to jump it. A 193 reserve would be very hard to buy second hand, whereas a 176 would be a little easier, however probably would have to buy new. If I stick with the 160 reserve, I would definitely look to demo jump the 160 reserve to learn how to handle it. Advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Australian Parachute Federation - "Cutaway"
Eddles replied to Quagmirian's topic in Safety and Training
Good idea, unfortunately they have to be enabled by the owner of the video - which for these videos, doesn't seem to have been done. Also, if you read the captions on other videos, you'll quickly figure out that they're based on voice recognition and is usually very inaccurate with occasionally laughable results. If you chance on those rare videos with perfect captions, chances are that it was transcribed by a human operator. Good try, though! -
My rig came with a 1998 Sabre 170, jumped it on my 80th jump - and replaced that with a 2004 Sabre 2 170 on my 280th jump. I didn't want to change canopies, but I had enough of the hard openings. Everyone told me that both canopies were similar in speed - but no, the new one was so much faster, I was in abject fear the entire time between opening and landing! I was glad I didn't listen to my mate urging me to buy a Sabre 2 150. Right now, I've got a little over 300 jumps in total, and have no interest whatsoever in downsizing - I want to learn how to *fly* my canopy, I can plainly see I have lots to learn on this canopy. I actually wish I brought a 190 the first time around, and fly a 190 right now and not a 170 as I think it's too small for my current WL (1.3), but my instructor recommended me get a 170. Recently, I was talking to my mate and I said "I could see myself jumping this 170 for several hundred jumps, however I wouldn't be surprised if I never ever downsized" but he bets I'll be downsizing some time. We'll see!
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The visio 2 *can* give you your rate of descent, I've done it a few times to see how much flaring affects the rate of descent, however it'll be in mph (imperial) or km/h (metric).
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Australian Parachute Federation - "Cutaway"
Eddles replied to Quagmirian's topic in Safety and Training
Sweet videos - they're getting downloaded! I'm hoping someone will have subtitles or transcription for those videos somewhere, I'm deaf and don't understand the dialogue. Also would be useful for other deaf skydivers, present & future. -
I don't believe they make much difference to be honest, as the chances of nice openings increased only slightly. One was to roll the nose and push it down the middle of the pack job and not into the centre cell like I was doing, second was to not roll the tail so much, just roll it until the front of the wrapped canopy crinkled, and third was to fold the stabilisers in a specific way I've now forgotten. Remember I'm not a packer or advocating this packing method - I am now of the belief Sabres open hard because they're designed that way and the only REAL way to avoid true hard openings (the ones that puts you in a hospital) is to ensure that the slider is fully down to the stabilisers. The above advice MAY or MAY NOT help. It could kill you, so take this with a pinch of salt.
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When I brought my current rig, it had a 1998 Sabre 170 that opens quite quickly. I got obsessed to get it to open better, tried hard to pack it better, even going as far as getting a rigger who owns a Sabre to teach me how to pack it. I eventually got good openings 80% of the time, but I wanted to start working filming tandems, so I decided to bite the bullet and get a Sabre 2 170 - sold my Sabre for £450 and got the Sabre 2 for £650. Well worth the upgrade, feels like I'm jumping a Spectre! I even made a video here, risking my C spine in the process.... https://vimeo.com/47827559
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UK starter needs advise on schools in Europe
Eddles replied to Yonskil's topic in Introductions and Greets
Also check out http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk, there's lots of advice on there. Good luck! -
Full Stalls for USPA B license - how stalled?
Eddles replied to pchapman's topic in Safety and Training
Here's a nice video of a stall and recovery. It's definitely important to let them up slowly. I recently got a Sabre 2 170 to replace my Sabre 170. I tried to stall it the first few jumps (all high pulls to practise) but wasn't successful. When I finally stalled it, the brakes got a lot heavier than the previous canopies I stalled and wasn't holding the brakes hard enough, let up the right toggle up a little too quick, the nose on the right side folded under and I got into a spin and it was only after a lot of rear riser pulls and deep brakes I was able to stop it. If I was lower, I would have cut it away. -
I've had my implant for 20 years, had it when I was 13. Have done 280 jumps so far, never wore the external processor in freefall, no point because of wind noise and no need to risk damaging an expensive piece of equipment, even though I would get a free replacement (NHS aid) which might not be the case for you USAians.
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Many thanks, much appreciated!
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Hello all, I'm going on holiday to Switzerland this summer. I want to do a couple jumps - which DZ in Switzerland has absolutely the best views? I'm not bothered what plane it has or how high it goes (as long as it flies!) I just want stunning views. Location not really a problem. I'm aware of Mountain Gravity but probably won't be going in August/Sept unfortunately. Any advice would be much appreciated!
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One Brake Unstowed on Opening
Eddles replied to MakeItHappen's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
Might be worth for newbies to try this regardless. I had a jump (#79) on a hire Sonic 190 yeseterday. After the canopy opened, I reached up to put my hands through the toggles and to pull them to release the brakes - I managed to release the left brake without putting my hand through the toggle and the right one was still stowed, but with my hand through the toggle. I then concentrated on putting my hand through the left toggle without really thinking about it - the toggles on the Sonic 190 is rather small for my hands and the huge slider flaps a lot making the loose toggle flap hard. After a few seconds, I noticed that the canopy was turning moderately (it's a 190, after all), I immediately released the right brake and thus stopped it turning, and kicked myself for not releasing the right brake earlier. A lesson to learn for me for a future smaller canopy that'll spin harder in the same situation. Makeithappen's lesson for newbies might increase awareness of turning with one unstowed without actually recreating a malfunction? -
Just chiming in with my 2 cents... I learnt how to skydive earlier this year, and my DZ has really ancient gear - I learnt on F111 Manta 280s and hybrid Skymaster 288s all with manfacture dates from the mid 80s and jump count in the thousands. I far preferred the hybrid Skymaster over the Manta. I jumped a Navigator 288 at a different DZ once and it flew and flared so much better, though that could be because it's much newer ;-) It is always worth test jumping a rig you plan to buy, though I didn't test jump my rig I brought a couple months ago.... Do remember you will land hard for the first few jumps then you will improve and downsize rapidly. It took me 60 jumps to learn how to start landing a 210 canopy softly and I weight only 75kg (190lbs). My new rig has a Sabre 170 and thus I haven't jumped that yet. The rig is a 1998 Javelin with a PD 160 reserve and a dead Cypres and I paid USD$1700 for it. I hope this info might be of some help for you... but do remember I'm a newbie and know absolutely nothing :-)