So the new Aeronauts team of Jeff Chandler, Rod Stone, Jonathan Smith and me finally got together for the first time and had a tunnel session.
We had half agreed on who would fly which slot beforehand but that got changed around on the day, and it may change again, lol. But for now, I am flying Point which means I have to try and remember to stay out of the middle of the tunnel !! (too used to being IC or OC, lol).
We were pretty rubbish to start with, but improved a little over the first session and were starting to get it sorted in the second round, then it all went a bit pear-shaped again by the end. I may end up nabbing some of those solo flights back from free-flying and use them on some one-to-one FS coaching instead! I am not bad at flying my slot, but I am not slick either and I do have a tendency to move about rather than staying in one place. Will see how the next session in November goes. The current plan is to buy an hour of tunnel time each at the AGM in January so we will have 4 hours of tunnel for training, then probably around 100 jumps together, plus competitions every month from May to August, including the French POPS meet in Cahors, a couple of the UKSLs, the World POPS meet in Germany and the UK Nationals.
Along with the training for Speed 8 and the Dynamic 6 sessions, and being an FS coach for LPS, it's going to be a busy year!!
Monday, 26 October 2015
Over to the dark side....
So Airkix had a birthday sale of tunnel time - about 1/3 of the usual cost - so I bought 2 hours of solo time for just under £400. And have decided to use it to try free-flying so I can get my FF1 !
Had my first session with Paul Capsey, just 10 minutes to start with, and to my surprise and delight, actually managed to fly around the tunnel a bit on my back before the end of the session! It's quite tricky keeping my legs positioned correctly, I found it easier to get my arms in position and then just forget about them, with my focus purely on keeping my legs strong. That made it easier to correct turns and to stay more stable. We had a little play at the end with walking backwards and forwards in the tunnel at high wind speed - harder than it sounds but great fun :-)
So I have the rest of my intervals booked throughout November and I'm hoping that I should easily be able to progress through to sit-fly and moving myself around the tunnel well enough to have some practice in the air on my own and then aim to have my FF1 signed off. Which will resolve a lot of niggles at various dropzones and will mean more fun when I end up on solo jumps :-)
Had my first session with Paul Capsey, just 10 minutes to start with, and to my surprise and delight, actually managed to fly around the tunnel a bit on my back before the end of the session! It's quite tricky keeping my legs positioned correctly, I found it easier to get my arms in position and then just forget about them, with my focus purely on keeping my legs strong. That made it easier to correct turns and to stay more stable. We had a little play at the end with walking backwards and forwards in the tunnel at high wind speed - harder than it sounds but great fun :-)
So I have the rest of my intervals booked throughout November and I'm hoping that I should easily be able to progress through to sit-fly and moving myself around the tunnel well enough to have some practice in the air on my own and then aim to have my FF1 signed off. Which will resolve a lot of niggles at various dropzones and will mean more fun when I end up on solo jumps :-)
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Next steps
Another weekend at a dropzone, this time at LPS. Only managed 2 jumps in the end, partly due to weather, partly due to ATC holds and partly due to not being very bothered, lol.
Gary has made me a very pretty new purple weight belt for the tunnel - it holds about 12.5lbs of lead so should be enough for the training I'll be doing with Jeff and the others. It's very comfortable as he has put skinny pockets with little pouches (1.25lbs of lead each) rather than the big 2lb bags in my other belt which tend to be a bit lumpy. I actually ended up wearing it today as I lent my other belt to an AFF student who is very light and doesn't arch well (nightmare for Marie-Anne, lol) - it will be fine for the tunnel but it's a bit big for my waist with some of the lead taken out and tends to slip around a bit. Gary will make me some extension clips for the other one so I can fit it on when I'm wearing lots of layers over the winter (and to take account of the fact I'm already at winter weight at the end of the summer - oops!)
And I'm starting my FS Coach rating training with Marie-Anne. I've re-read the manual and I'll be briefing her on a dive next week and hopefully taking her as my 'student' on a jump. Gary will give me my "Methods of Instruction" brief and we should be good to go :-)
My next downsize is imminent as Gary has my rig and will be putting a Pilot 168 into it for me next week. Finally a 1:1 wingloading (well, when I'm wearing a weightbelt anyway, ha ha). I absolutely love the Silhouette so it's going to be a bit strange to jump something else. Funny how I got used to grabbing any old student rig, from a Manta 288 down to a Nav 240 and everything in between, but now that I've put over 100 jumps on the Silhouette, I'm a bit nervous of jumping anything else :-p
Gary has made me a very pretty new purple weight belt for the tunnel - it holds about 12.5lbs of lead so should be enough for the training I'll be doing with Jeff and the others. It's very comfortable as he has put skinny pockets with little pouches (1.25lbs of lead each) rather than the big 2lb bags in my other belt which tend to be a bit lumpy. I actually ended up wearing it today as I lent my other belt to an AFF student who is very light and doesn't arch well (nightmare for Marie-Anne, lol) - it will be fine for the tunnel but it's a bit big for my waist with some of the lead taken out and tends to slip around a bit. Gary will make me some extension clips for the other one so I can fit it on when I'm wearing lots of layers over the winter (and to take account of the fact I'm already at winter weight at the end of the summer - oops!)
And I'm starting my FS Coach rating training with Marie-Anne. I've re-read the manual and I'll be briefing her on a dive next week and hopefully taking her as my 'student' on a jump. Gary will give me my "Methods of Instruction" brief and we should be good to go :-)
My next downsize is imminent as Gary has my rig and will be putting a Pilot 168 into it for me next week. Finally a 1:1 wingloading (well, when I'm wearing a weightbelt anyway, ha ha). I absolutely love the Silhouette so it's going to be a bit strange to jump something else. Funny how I got used to grabbing any old student rig, from a Manta 288 down to a Nav 240 and everything in between, but now that I've put over 100 jumps on the Silhouette, I'm a bit nervous of jumping anything else :-p
Friday, 9 October 2015
Winning 3 way scrambles, 200th and C licence :-)
Wow, definitely got the mojo back :-)
Ended up on a 3-way team with Graham and Andrew and we all had similar fall rates. Graham was the 'expert', I was the 'intermediate' and Andrew was the 'relative newbie', lol. And we flew incredibly well together. We funnelled one exit through having the wrong grips (oops!) and I had a funky exit when we were unlinked but all in the door together, but we still managed 49 points over the 4 rounds and topped the table :-)
I finished the scrambles on 199 jumps, so most people were more than happy to stay on for another lift to do my 200th with me. With a couple of substitutions for people who had to leave, we ended up with a 15 way attempt. Blan suggested a proper formation instead of a speed star, so we ended up with a 5-way base and attempted 2-way loops. Was difficult to tell without external camera but I think we ended up with 12 or 13 people in the formation and Graham and Justin got some great inside footage. A couple of the guys did some editing afterward so I have some great video of both the scrambles and my C-licence qualification jump :-)
3-way Scrambles video
200th jump video
We attempted the FS progression day but the spell of decent weather finally gave up on us and after a few hours of dirt-diving and general bored-skydiver shenanigans, we called it and went to the pub for lunch.
In the meantime, I tried on another rig that was for sale but it was still too long in the body for me, plus it had a 150 in it and would only take a Pulse 170 and perhaps one or two other less well-known low-pack volume canopies. I've had enough of trying to cram canopies into D-bags that are too small so I'll investigate what Gary has and hold out for a proper rig that will comfortably take a 170.
Ended up on a 3-way team with Graham and Andrew and we all had similar fall rates. Graham was the 'expert', I was the 'intermediate' and Andrew was the 'relative newbie', lol. And we flew incredibly well together. We funnelled one exit through having the wrong grips (oops!) and I had a funky exit when we were unlinked but all in the door together, but we still managed 49 points over the 4 rounds and topped the table :-)
I finished the scrambles on 199 jumps, so most people were more than happy to stay on for another lift to do my 200th with me. With a couple of substitutions for people who had to leave, we ended up with a 15 way attempt. Blan suggested a proper formation instead of a speed star, so we ended up with a 5-way base and attempted 2-way loops. Was difficult to tell without external camera but I think we ended up with 12 or 13 people in the formation and Graham and Justin got some great inside footage. A couple of the guys did some editing afterward so I have some great video of both the scrambles and my C-licence qualification jump :-)
3-way Scrambles video
200th jump video
We attempted the FS progression day but the spell of decent weather finally gave up on us and after a few hours of dirt-diving and general bored-skydiver shenanigans, we called it and went to the pub for lunch.
In the meantime, I tried on another rig that was for sale but it was still too long in the body for me, plus it had a 150 in it and would only take a Pulse 170 and perhaps one or two other less well-known low-pack volume canopies. I've had enough of trying to cram canopies into D-bags that are too small so I'll investigate what Gary has and hold out for a proper rig that will comfortably take a 170.
Monday, 28 September 2015
Improved weather and another competition
Have managed a fair amount of jumping, especially with some decent weather during the week, along with some more training with Mayhem for the Speed 8 Nationals. We competed in 6 rounds over the weekend, and the training paid off. Despite one 'bust' from a combat dock that broke up the entire formation, we came third and hence were Bronze medallists! I could get used to this!
Very steep learning curve again - since we are a large group of flat flyers, we are generally first out of the plane. Since I was the most familiar with the host dz, and was close to the door, that meant I was doing the spotting for each of our jumps. In itself that wasn't an issue, but it did bring up some challenges. Like, the pilot not going up to the altitude we were expecting so our cameraman wasn't ready when the red light went on (he was able to get ready quickly enough that I didn't have to send the plane around again). And dealing with random solo and 2-way flyers who don't have much experience and who we have no control over, as they will be following us out. At least I can now manage the Caravan door by myself :-D
And I'm still on target to complete my C licence before the end of the season. I'm doing a fun FS 3-way scrambles next weekend plus an FS progression day during the week, and have more big way training at the end of the month so that should be enough to get me to my 200th jump :-) :-)
I'm now much more excited about continuing to jump next year, as I have been invited to go with a team to France in May and to Germany in August and we are looking at doing some moderately serious training in order to stand a chance of being on the podium there too. I already have more Dynamic 6 way tunnel time booked, and will now be adding 4-way and 8-way sessions over the winter.
Not really planning to jump over the winter, it was way too cold last year and I haven't got any plans to head to Spain or Portugal for a bit of warmer weather, especially if I'm going to be heading abroad a couple of times next year already. Although I still quite fancy beach jumps, having missed out on the Jersey boogie this year.
Very steep learning curve again - since we are a large group of flat flyers, we are generally first out of the plane. Since I was the most familiar with the host dz, and was close to the door, that meant I was doing the spotting for each of our jumps. In itself that wasn't an issue, but it did bring up some challenges. Like, the pilot not going up to the altitude we were expecting so our cameraman wasn't ready when the red light went on (he was able to get ready quickly enough that I didn't have to send the plane around again). And dealing with random solo and 2-way flyers who don't have much experience and who we have no control over, as they will be following us out. At least I can now manage the Caravan door by myself :-D
And I'm still on target to complete my C licence before the end of the season. I'm doing a fun FS 3-way scrambles next weekend plus an FS progression day during the week, and have more big way training at the end of the month so that should be enough to get me to my 200th jump :-) :-)
I'm now much more excited about continuing to jump next year, as I have been invited to go with a team to France in May and to Germany in August and we are looking at doing some moderately serious training in order to stand a chance of being on the podium there too. I already have more Dynamic 6 way tunnel time booked, and will now be adding 4-way and 8-way sessions over the winter.
Not really planning to jump over the winter, it was way too cold last year and I haven't got any plans to head to Spain or Portugal for a bit of warmer weather, especially if I'm going to be heading abroad a couple of times next year already. Although I still quite fancy beach jumps, having missed out on the Jersey boogie this year.
Saturday, 5 September 2015
More crappy weather so back to the tunnel :-)
More Dynamic 6-way with Brian Cumming and some more new moves :-) Great fun as usual, and the time shot by. I'm just about managing to remember what actions go with the names, lol. More Weaves, Do-Si-Do, Washing Machines and Goldfish bowls were joined by Diagonal Swaps, Spinning Plates (which might be renamed Chinook, lol) and some creative ideas that haven't quite made it to actual moves with names :-P
The wind speed in the tunnel was set at average to start with but even once we had six of us in there, I was struggling a bit without lead. We dropped the speed a bit for the next session but that turned out to be a bit low for a couple of the fast fallers. 2 of the guys put lead on though the videos indicated that was more because they can't arch than because they needed extra ballast, ha ha. We compromised and turned the wind speed up a notch and I was happy to continue without a weight belt. It helps being bendy :-)
This was an old session:
Dynamic 6 way July 2015
Do-Si-Do, Washing Machine, Goldfish Bowl and Weave
I'm the one with purple grips, mostly opposite the girl with pink on her jumpsuit :-)
The wind speed in the tunnel was set at average to start with but even once we had six of us in there, I was struggling a bit without lead. We dropped the speed a bit for the next session but that turned out to be a bit low for a couple of the fast fallers. 2 of the guys put lead on though the videos indicated that was more because they can't arch than because they needed extra ballast, ha ha. We compromised and turned the wind speed up a notch and I was happy to continue without a weight belt. It helps being bendy :-)
This was an old session:
Dynamic 6 way July 2015
Do-Si-Do, Washing Machine, Goldfish Bowl and Weave
I'm the one with purple grips, mostly opposite the girl with pink on her jumpsuit :-)
Sunday, 23 August 2015
More big way training
Managed to squeeze in a few jumps before the rain arrived - it's definitely all about the exit for me at the moment :-D First attempt I was a bit slow out of the door but dived down to the base pretty quickly, arriving first as the other member of the base had a 'floating' collision as they left the plane. More practice meant I learned what it was like to lean on the floaters and just fall out as they left - not my most elegant of exits but much quicker. And I can really get some power in my dives when I straighten my legs. In fact, when I think they are straight, the videos prove they rarely are, so with more practice, I should be able to whack on some serious speed :-)
The 'slamming the brakes on' technique that Jeff coached me on worked brilliantly - very very clear on the GoPro video from within the formation :-) I'm tearing in at a 45 degree angle, then just suddenly bam! I've stopped, checked my relative fall rate, then come in for the dock. Was still a little far out when stopping, but my coaches are happy that I've got the technique and just need to refine it. In time, I will be more confident in putting the brakes on closer to the formation, but for now, I'm more than happy than I'm not crashing in and am just flying my slot and gently taking grips. Phil actually teased me because I was so gentle, I literally just picked up his fingertips instead of his wrist :-D
Found some more flat flyers who might be able to hook up for some practice jumps at LPS or Hinton so that's great. I checked out the stats on the FS 4-way Nationals when I got in last night and the team I was going to join is struggling (a 2 point average over 7 rounds!) so I guess they didn't get their exits sorted after all. Was definitely the right decision not to link up with the scratch team!!
The 'slamming the brakes on' technique that Jeff coached me on worked brilliantly - very very clear on the GoPro video from within the formation :-) I'm tearing in at a 45 degree angle, then just suddenly bam! I've stopped, checked my relative fall rate, then come in for the dock. Was still a little far out when stopping, but my coaches are happy that I've got the technique and just need to refine it. In time, I will be more confident in putting the brakes on closer to the formation, but for now, I'm more than happy than I'm not crashing in and am just flying my slot and gently taking grips. Phil actually teased me because I was so gentle, I literally just picked up his fingertips instead of his wrist :-D
Found some more flat flyers who might be able to hook up for some practice jumps at LPS or Hinton so that's great. I checked out the stats on the FS 4-way Nationals when I got in last night and the team I was going to join is struggling (a 2 point average over 7 rounds!) so I guess they didn't get their exits sorted after all. Was definitely the right decision not to link up with the scratch team!!
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