November 2011 - JSC - Johannesburg Skydiving Club

ISSUE NO. 2
General Stuff
Wow! A massive awesome “we just dig it”
response to the first issue of Skydive
Chatter.
From the editors we say to all readers who
gave us feedback, suggestions and
contributions to this month’s issue….
“Sweet like a lemon, Bru!”
And speaking of this month’s issue, check
out the new look and feel. We got
ourselves some bling going on here, now
that’s what I’m talking about!
Enjoy and we look forward to hearing from
you all soon.
Blue Stuff
John & Talia
[email protected]
November 2011
Skydiver Profile
of the month
TIM MACE
RATING: All
LICENCE: D775
TOTAL JUMPS: Quadruple digits!
Q
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A
Q
A
How did the idea to skydive start?
As a child I jumped of the roof with mom’s sheet,
so started quite early you could say.
How long have you officially been in the sport?
35 years, mate.
Your favourite discipline?
Done them all, loved the challenge of each one.
How do you pass the time outside of skydiving?
Test pilot is my day job.
What advice can you give to other skydivers?
Focus and prefect one discipline, then move on to
the next.
Bored
Skydivers...
At cutaway pub
Warren demonstrates the
long term side effects of never
getting that bike as a kid.
And Glen demonstrates the short term
side effects of not remembering how
you found your cabin the night before.
Featured Skydiving Article (s)
Wingsuit flying (don’t you mean…. Wing suit flapping?)
There’s a difference between “birdmen” and a “wingsuit”. Notably,
birdman is what persons were referred to that where attempting to
simulate the fight of birds long before even airplanes were perfected.
One such example can be found in Greek mythology, Icarus.
The main story told about Icarus is his attempt to escape from Crete
by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax.
He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and the
melting wax caused him to fall to his death.
Another example is Franz Reichelt, known as the flying tailor. He is
remembered for his accidental death in 1912 by jumping from the
Eiffel Tower while testing a wearable parachute of own design. He
only had a permit to test the design using wooden dummies, jumping
himself instead. (Oh, so the dummy did jump?)
As is with all things that the human species attempts most are born
from the basic need to evolve…. and it’s also helpful to survive that
process. Wingsuiting (we feel) was probably born from both man’s
observation of birds throughout the ages coupled with some skydiver
who got bored of just falling straight down the pipe. Well, it seems
that boredom started as far back as the pre 1930’s.
Wing Suit Flying (the early development days)
These early 1930’s wingsuits were made of materials such as canvas
(yeah), silk (yeah, ok), steel (yeah, I’ll have a Brandy & Coke) and even
whale bone (yeah, make that a double) – they were not very reliable.
The wingsuit was brought to the attention of the masses when it
showcased in the 1969 movie The Gypsy Moths.
On October 31 1997, French skydiver Patrick de Gayardon showed
reporters a wingsuit and alleged unparalleled safety and performance.
De Gayardon died on April 13 1998 while testing a new modification to
his parachute container in Hawaii; his death is attributed to a rigging
error which was part of the new modification rather than a flaw in the
suit's design.
In early 1998, Tom Begic (a BASE jumper from Australia) built and flew
his own wingsuit based on a photograph of Patrick de Gayardon and his
ideas. The suit was developed to assist Begic in capturing freefall
footage of BASE jumpers while jumping the high cliffs of Europe. In early
1999, Begic stopped development of his suit when he met Robert Pečnik
and learned of plans for the creation of a wingsuit manufacturing
company. Phoenix Fly was started in the mid-2000s.
The Commercial wingsuit is developed
In 1999, Jari Kuosma of Finland and Robert Pečnik of Croatia teamed up to create a wingsuit that was safe and
accessible for all skydivers. Kuosma established Bird-Man International Ltd. the same year. Birdman’s Classic,
designed by Pečnik, was the first wingsuit offered to the general public. Birdman was the first manufacturer to
advocate the safe use of wingsuits by creating an instructor program. Created by Kuosma, the instructor program's
aim was to remove the stigma that wingsuits were dangerous and to provide wingsuit beginners with a way to safely
enjoy what was once considered the most dangerous feat in the skydiving world. With the help of Birdman
instructors Scott Campos, Chuck Blue and Kim Griffin, a standardized program of instruction was developed that
prepared instructors, bringing the Wingsuiting thrill to the skydiving community world-wide.
A wingsuit flier (pilot, dude!) manipulates the shape of his body to create the desired amount of lift and drag
although most wingsuits have a 2.5 to 1 ratio. This means that for every foot dropped, two and a half feet are gained
moving forward. With body shape manipulation and by choosing the design characteristics of the wingsuit, a flier
(pilot, you chop!) can alter both his forward speed and fall rate. The “pilot” (now you get it!) manipulates these flight
characteristics by changing the shape of his torso, arching or bending at the shoulders, hips, and knees, and by
changing the angle of attack in which the wingsuit flies in the relative wind.
A typical skydiver's terminal velocity in (beer) belly to earth orientation ranges from 180–225 km/h. A wingsuit can
reduce these speeds dramatically. An instantaneous velocity of -40 km/h has been recorded for Wingsuiting (in
skydiving terms that means doubling your air time for the same slot rate, pick me!)
And it didn’t take long before dudes where base jumping with commercial wingsuits world-wide.
Wingsuiting @ JSC if you are keen to try
Email: [email protected]
Minimum PASA requirement to learn Wingsuiting is 300 jumps in 2 years…. Eish!
th
The 4
annual tonto boogie!
What is the tonto Boogie?
http://raisethesky.org/2009/10/tonto-boogie/
Saturday the 5th of November saw JSC hosting the 4th annual tonto Boogie and what an awesome boogie
indeed. The write up posted by our Chairman Pottie on the JSC website summed it up all too well. Here’s
what Pottie had to say:
Saturday started off with some great
skydives. Taya Weiss and Jeff Neblekopf
graced us with their presence and we
experienced some breathtaking wingsuit
piloting and videography!! (This oke is so
good you would think the footage comes
from Photoshop!) Taya has been driving
this boogie with tremendous effort and
her only return on this huge investment is
the passion she manages to flare up in
this great discipline amongst our local
skydivers. Taya, your noble efforts are not
going by unnoticed, that you can be sure
of. Thank you for your dedication.
The boogie was a roaring success! Thanks to Derek Wood and Chris
Williams the DZ was in immaculate shape, we even had some shade at
boarding point! Chris replaced our shade netting that was stolen with
some temporary shade netting that not only looked good but also did
a perfect job!! Derek made sure all stayed safe and he did a fantastic
job in managing our air space.
Saturday night entertainment in the Cutaway Pub was arranged by Marius and Jo. The DJ’s in fact, are two of our
very own JSC members, namely Brad and Tazz, who
absolutely rocked the house!
The food at the canteen, as usual, was brilliant. Yvonne
prepared a curry noodle salad that was out of this world!
The most important is our Pac Partnership guys. Norman
and Brendon are always willing to step the extra hundred
miles to make our club work. Whatever we ask, they will
accommodate as far as reasonably possible.
They already donated free camera slots for any 4 or 8 way
team that trains at JSC. Besides that they also covered
Taya’s organizing slots for the tonto boogie. Guys, keeping
an airplane in the sky is not cheap. Slot numbers are down,
fuel prices are up and yet these guys bend over backwards
to grow our sport. We do not realize how blessed we are to
have them in our corner. Norman, Brendon please know
that we appreciate everything you are doing for us. You
guys are the best!!!!!
The skydivers visiting from other drop zones such as Robertson,
Eston and Rustenburg brought both skill and colour to this event.
Thanks for your support guys; it was a pleasure and an honour to
have you at JSC!!
Stay safe all,
Pottie
Want to see more pics?
Check out Linda Meyering Steyn’s Facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101505271941597
46.468226.573554745&type=1
Support
Behind The Sport
This month’s support behind the sport goes to
“The Cutaway Pub”
Student(S)
log book
entry of
the month
Being proudly South
African, I don’t think any
sports recreational club
truly qualifies as one
without a PUB.
Thanks to Marius & Jo, JSC meets that (local)
requirement in the form of the “Cutaway Pub”
It’s a tall order to have to be at the DZ every weekend
and patiently wait for members to savour their last drop
(bragging about the day’s skydiving) after last round is
called @ 11h00.
And it’s by far the cheapest watering hole around!!
Marius & Jo, we salute you both for your tireless
dedication as a service provider to JSC. Bottoms up to
that!
Psst:
•
•
If you hear a whistle blow in da pub, best you scream
“whistle!” as an important message is sure to follow.
If you knock your dop over, brace yourself for a low
alcohol herbal STRAAF DOP! (guaranteed to make the
morning toilet run smooth, Pappie)
“Cause he’s my Brother”
Names: Jan and Hendri Du Plessis
Jump Course : Static Line
How did you guys start: Our Dad used to jump at
Potchefstroom back in the day and we used to run
amok at the DZ as kids. Now we’re older (and cooler)
to jump ourselves.
Favourite part of jumping: Well, we’re at that stage
where there’s quite a bit of internal convincing to get
out the door, once out in the big blue it’s just an
amazing experience and loving it...
Above and beyond…
The month’s nomination (drum roll) is Traci Scerri!
In skydiving we see many come and go, but there are only a handful that still
support/promote JSC and skydiving long after hanging up their goggles and
waving goodbye to their rigs. Traci is the JSC website administrator who
unceremoniously maintains and regularly updates it, not to mention being the
mastermind behind the entire layout and design.
Having volunteered her services Traci is also the proof reader and helps with layout for Skydive Chatter (frigging
awesome, cause I carr’nt spell to save my chops!)
Traci, we say “Thank you, Gal!” for going above and beyond.
Psst: A very little wise birdie whispered to me in the garden of awesomeness and greatness that we may see Traci back
in da big blue sky soon……..
PIC OF THE
MONTH
(Send your pic of the month with a brief
description for possible selection in next
month’s issue to [email protected])
And stand a chance to say…
“Dang!”
Titled : GoPro and AFF
Sent in by Chris Botha (baie, bra!)
Plus stand a chance to win a…
“White-faced Saki Monkey”
(T’s & C’s apply Chop!)
Thought for the month
"Perhaps the world's second worst crime is boredom.
The first is just being boring."
~ Cecil Beaton ~
(Go skydiving buddy!)
Safety tip(s) for the month
(To Mark Daniels for suggesting this as part of a monthly
feature in Skydive Chatter, you rock cousin!)
CI, Kevin Owen has the following to say:
1. On take-off everyone in the aircraft must hook up to a safety belt.
2. All agree that all helmets must be strapped on for take-off.
The reason for this is simple – to prevent/minimise injuries in the event of an aircraft crash on take-off. The
safety belts will prevent all those in the aircraft from being squashed against each other on impact and a
secure helmet speaks for itself.
Email your safety tips to [email protected]
(Ok, easy tiger!.... provided they are skydiving related and have been cleared by our CI)