Toggle Times
Issue 27

 
In this issue:
  1. RSC 8-way Licence Day
  2. SASL Season V comes to a close
  3. SA National Championships 2014
  4. Wing It at Wonderboom
  5. Skydive Robertson FS Coach Weekend
  6. Sport Skydivers Club launch: Durban Skydive Centre
  7. Seen at JSC
  8. Skydive Parys 2nd Birthday 13-16 June 2014
  9. RSC Canopy Control Course 20-22 June 2014
  10. Christmas in July at Skydive Rustenburg
  11. FS 4 way Introductory Skills Camps
  12. Starting from sit… changes to the AE Coach rating
  13. Cat who?
  14. SSA Seminars starting 5 June 2014
  15. Tracking Suit? Yes, Please! Zoo Dive? No, Thanks!
  16. FS 4 way Open Trophy Refurbished
  17. Canopy Piloting at the World Games 2017
  18. New licences and ratings
RSC 8-way Licence Day

Late in March - before Nationals preparations consumed our FS coaches completely - the FS Committee squeezed in one more event, an 8-way licence day at Rustenburg Skydiving Club.

4 coaches facilitated the day by providing a solid, reliable centre for the 8-ways. Using the now-familiar format for licence days, participants got to rotate docking order, giving each of them three 5th-or-higher docks and a shot at 8th dock. All jumps are planned for 3 or more points, thereby also giving jumpers their 2-point-8-way D Licence requirement along the way.

Many underestimate the difficulty leap from 4-way to 8-way, and filled with enthusiasm try to jump straight into their licence 8-ways. You should do regular 4, 5 and 6-ways so that the licence jumps prove you’re ready – instead of the opposite. The camp format puts pressure on every jumper to do their job, since you only get one shot at each task and there are 3 others relying on you performing for their tasks to succeed. When everyone is prepared and truly ready for 8-ways, the jumps are super-fun, with novelty formations and challenges thrown in to keep the day interesting and put your skills to the test.

2 groups attended for 1 day each and all went home with new C and D licence requirements under their belts. Some went straight to PASA with their licence applications as we signed off the last few tasks. Licence jumps should be viewed as a challenging step in your skills progression and never be approached as a “grudge purchase”. When you’re ready the jumps will work and the strong coach centre provided on camps like this one increase the possibilities of what you can achieve far beyond the basic requirement task.

Look out for the next 8-way Licence Day. Respect the participation minima and everyone will forget they are fulfilling requirements and have a rocking day of skydiving in a solid, productive group.

Common mistakes made when trying for your licence requirement jumps

Look out for these traps and shine on your licence jumps.

1. You are not honest with yourself about your readiness.

  • Take your time and you’ll just happen upon the required jumps and breeze through them. Jumps that are out of your league are frustrating for you an annoying for those who arrived prepared.
  • 3,4,5 and 6-ways are fun, challenging and far more productive than fumbling 8-way zoos with people who aren’t quite there.
    • Plan and jump in smaller groups before attempting 8-ways.
  • If you can’t plan and execute 4-ways and 6-ways, 8-ways are out of your league – even with skilled coaches to keep things together.
  • Get 3rd-eye camera on your FS jumps. The only way you can learn and develop is by seeing what you did and knowing what to fix. 3rd eye camera. Accept it. It should be an automatic cost of every FS jump.
2. You and your friends have all flown successfully in 8-ways before but your 8-ways together never work, so you think you’re not ready.
  • You’re probably all ready for your licence 8-ways; just split the group into half experienced and half your own level, fill a few slots with higher FS experience jumpers and you’ll manage much better. We don’t expect you to be amazing – we only expect you to manage responsibly in a typical skydives where others are doing their jobs too.
  • Jump in smaller groups with the lower experience groups. Bigger is not necessarily better and you will progress far further in successful small group jumps than in bigger unproductive groups. And 6-ways rock!
  • For licence requirement jumps, set yourself up for success, contributing to coach slots if necessary:
    • The best jumpers are good because they train hard, usually leaving them completely broke all the time. It costs a lot to get there and they might not have budget over for “fun jumps” or your progression – if so, paying for his/her slot is a worthy investment in your learning, fun and the success they will bring to the jump.
3. You’re worried you’ll either collapse from performance anxiety, or that people will criticise your lack of Mad Tunnel Skillz, so you’d rather just hang out until you have 8 capable friends at the DZ and available to try together.
  • Grab every opportunity to get your jump debriefed by an experienced coach. Shut out any thoughts of the obnoxious dude with the “mad tunnel skillz”. The only thing that matters is maximising your own progress on your budget.
  • We can only improve when we expose our weaknesses for someone to see them and help us fix them.
Never forget why you jump – it’s fun and every jump should be fun. If it is so stressful that you can’t function, you’re either not ready for the jump or doing it for the wrong reasons. Get out and have some fun. The licence is a by-product.


SASL Season V comes to a close

It all flew by so quickly. Season V ended with the SA Nationals forming the final submissions for the FS and Advanced VFS. Some unfortunate injuries just before Nationals took 2 entered SASL teams out of Nationals, but luckily didn’t change any outcomes. We all love to win, but nobody wants to win just because our opponent couldn’t compete.

Winners

Jac van Zyl had a big enough lead before his injury to maintain his position without entering Nationals. Nationals SASL points are doubled, so it’s a dangerous thing to skip, but because your Nationals team mates must have entered at least one SASL jump for the season for you to earn points at Nationals, there were not enough entries for the Nationals winners to rack up enough points to overtake Jac. Congratulations to Jac, our SASL Season 5 FS winner.

Jac has won:

  • A custom made Aerodyne Icon neXgen Harness
  • A Larsen & Brusgaard Quattro advanced audible altimeter
  • A custom made Bev Suit
  • A Cookie G3 Helmet

This season we introduced VFS to the SASL events, which was well supported, especially in the Cape.

Debby and Marcel Vliegenthart won the event, with Debby’s weighting pipping her into the individual first place. We were especially pleased to watch the progression in flying skills over the course of the season. We hope SASL has served as a great training tool for all the teams.

The VFS prizes are team prizes, including:

  • A custom made VFS suit by Bev Suits - one for each of them
  • A Larsen & Brusgaard Viso altimeter
  • A Larsen & Brusgaard Solo audible altimeter
  • A pair of Sorz skydiving goggles from African SkyGear.com
  • T-shirts

Thank you all for supporting SASL and please continue to support our incredible sponsors. In addition to the prizes our sponsors contribute money, website hosting services and without them this competition wouldn’t be anything close to what we have.

With winter approaching fast and Nationals behind us, many of you will take it easy for a bit. Don’t leave it too long, keep training, keep competing and return to Nationals next year stronger than ever.

Game ON!


SA National Championships 2014

Photograph courtesy of Katie Levick

SA Nationals: The big daddy of South African sport skydiving’s annual calendar and the goalpost towards which our disposable incomes are thrown each year.

This year’s PASA South African Nationals Skydiving Championship in Formation Skydiving, Artistic Events and Canopy Piloting was hosted by Pretoria Skydiving Club.

It was also the 50th South African National Skydiving Championship – quite a milestone!  

Under blue, sunny skies and Wonderboom’s blissful few bonus degrees of warmth, the usual array of competitors gathered to fight for the titles.

Hopeful, blasé, trained, pick-up, carefree or confused, all were after a proud performance reflecting the past year’s work (ranging from bank-breaking to non-existent).

Visiting competitors from Dubai and Belgium joined our CP competitors in the CP events, hopeful to break some records at this high altitude course.

After the disappointing injury of our local CP champion, Chris Teague, South Africa was again disappointed when local favourite and top canopy pilot Rob Kruger suffered an injury shortly into the competition. The Dubai swoopers kept the event exciting, showing off their skills as a professional Canopy Piloting team, with Cornelia Mihai breaking 2 world records and cleaning up in ALL the CP events. Not just one for the ladies but one for the books when you consider how recently this rocking Romanian started swooping and how fast her rise to the top has been. Catch the article on her in the DO IT NOW magazine.

Photograph courtesy of Katie Levick
CP medals:
Ashley Leach, Waldo Prinsloo,
Jean-Jacques Wallis, Dian Kemp

Photograph courtesy of Katie Levick
CP overall:
Roy Seber (Belgium), Ashley Leach,
Patrick Kaye (UAE), Cornelia Mihai (UAE)


On the FS front, the 4-way Open teams worked through some technical rounds and a slow draw resulting in lower than hoped averages but with the final positions much as expected. This year is something of a milestone for South African 4-way Formation Skydiving. It is the first “On” year in many that Voodoo, our previous National 4-way team, has not entered and thus that we send a new team to represent us at the World Championships. Voodoo is still going strong, improving and making us proud but with team members all based in Europe they can’t always come back. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of them. The stronger the competition, the better for all of us. We wish SAVOLO a strong and rewarding competition at the World Championship in the Czech Republic in August.

Photograph courtesy of Katie Levick
SAVOLO - Bailey Edmunds, Warren Hitchcock (camera), Amy Kirtland,
Alex Jordaan, Andre van Heerden

It was disappointing to see only one entry into the Artistic Events this year, withdrawn a week before the meet due to injury. Freeflyers, we see you in the tunnels and we see you on the drop zones – we’d love to see you bringing it to competition. The classic “when we’re ready” is an ever-changing goal post, so in the words of Mr Dent, “Get up, Dress Up, Show up!” I think you’ll surprise yourselves if you just start somewhere.

For full results, check out this link: Formation Skydiving and Canopy Piloting Results

For a video compilation of the event, check out this link (courtesy of Dirk Venter).

For the videos (with live recorded scoring), check out the InTime Scoring channel on YouTube here.

Three South African skydiving pioneers who started jumping in the 1960’s, Ashley Leach, Ruben Knoetze and John Higgins were invited to attend the closing ceremony and awarded the medals and trophies to the winners of each event.

There were 55 competitors during this championships, 6 local judges and one judge from Sweden.  Two aircraft, Atlas Angels, were used with 135 loads flown. The 2014 South African Skydiving National Championships was unforgettable and a historic event for all involved.

(Photographs courtesy of Katie Levick)



Wing It at Wonderboom

By Kyle and Andrew Jones-Phillipson

The 2014 Skydiving Nationals was hosted by Pretoria Skydiving Club during the last week of April at their Wonderboom drop zone. They run a slick operation and, with 50 years of operating experience under their wings, it was a pleasure to be their guests.

This operation ran with military precision as a large local and international competing field had to be manifested.

There were FS 2-way, 4-way and 8-way in Novice, Intermediate and Open categories plus CP events.

There were acrobatic canopy categories with stiff competition from the Dubai Team swooping in with a few world records being broken too.

The weather conditions were perfect with some cloud in the late afternoon on only one day.

The Angels performed like stars and the pilots were incredible.

The event was a huge success filled with plenty "highs," thrills and two little spills resulting in an ankle injury and a successful cut away. A flip in a helicopter helped retrieve the canopy but this skydiver would have preferred to pay to jump out of this whirly bird rather than scout for his lost canopy.

The Wing It team of Robertson’s Kyle Jones (Wonderboy) and his partner, Carletonville’s Michael Walker (Sparky), under the Eagle Eye of their legendary cameraman, Constant Benade, and coach, Bailey Edmunds, competed against 3 other teams for the title of FS 2-way Novice.

It was an exciting and closely fought competition with Wing It claiming 1st place.

Big up to every single trooper from Skydive Pretoria who worked tirelessly to ensure that this work class event was such a success.

Kyle would like to thank the whole skydiving fraternity for their support, patience and constant encouragement that each one of you have given him over his past year of skydiving. He would like to dedicate this performance to each of you. 

Photograph courtesy of Katie LevickWing It - Michael Walker, Kyle Jones-Phillipson, Constant Benade (Cameraman)

(Photograph courtesy of Katie Levick)


Skydive Robertson FS Coach Weekend

By Martin Phelps

Arriving at the DZ on Saturday morning, 10 May, to overcast skies meant that instead of two days of jumping with a FS seminar on Saturday night, we had the whole day to concentrate on going through the Advanced Skills Program requirements and briefings.

What was obvious to me was how much had changed, since I had done my last tunnel camp in 2007, around coaching the optimised body position and especially around the different methods of conveying these skills to the student.

By the end of the day while having learnt a huge amount, I wasn't so confident that I was ready to get my FS Coach rating renewed. I wasn't sure that I was "current" enough since I had only got actively back into the sport in December.

Sunday was perfect for jumping and while Claire and Bailey did various coaching jumps with Dodgy, Nic and Kane, I was paired with Dirk. After a "Simon Says" jump with Dirk, where I needed to copy everything he did in the sky, he become my "student" for two evaluation jumps including taking him through the briefing and debriefing for each.

Knowing my "student" was going to be doing something that I needed to identify, to either correct on the jump or to be able to provide feedback in the debriefing, resulted in me trying to over analyse every little thing he did, trying to determine if it was deliberate or not, and I am sure this resulted in Dirk seeing a couple of "confused coach" expressions in the sky. It has been a while since I have learned so much both in the sky and on the ground.

After a long day, I was relieved to be told that I had successfully renewed my FS Coach rating.

To Claire King, Dirk Venter and Bailey Edmunds, a big thank you for the effort you always put in, in promoting FS and your willingness to share your knowledge. To all jumpers, I can highly recommend participating in a FS coaching seminar, regardless of your experience levels you will learn something.

Photograph courtesy of Oliver Nothen
Nic Coulson with coaches Dirk Venter and Claire King
(Photograph courtesy of Oliver Nöthen)


Sport Skydivers Club launch: Durban Skydive Centre

By Vernon Kloppers

We had the launch of our Sport Skydivers Club, East Coast Skydivers on the weekend of the 10th and 11th of May 2014. The aim of the club is to help develop sport skydiving in KZN. The launch was a great success, we had 18 students on the first jump course given by Andrew du Toit. 5 new jumpmasters - Deon van Wyk, Jaydee Ladell, Ben van Eeden, Michael Panaino and Richard Morgan completed their jump master requirements. Big thanks to Andrew du Toit and Nick Ames for all the work to get the ratings done.

Then on Saturday night we did night jumps followed by a braai with plenty of down downs for first achievements and a freefall taxi* for the students that had recently done their first free falls - Tagen van Zyl, Jared van Zyl and Allison Swann.

We look forward to introducing many new students to our sport.

* an initiation for students after they have done their first freefall. It involves some mild torture, singing the skydiver’s prayer and downing a drink. It was started at PPC in the 1970's and continues to be part of KZN tradition

Night jumps:
Standing: Stretch (Stephen O’Hara),
Jorrie Jordaan, Deon van Wyk,
Rose Maclean, Steve Bartels.
Kneeling: Jaydee Ladell, Boss Doug

(Photograph courtesy of Nick Ames) 

Freefall taxi:
Allison Swann, Tagen van Zyl
and Jared van Zyl



(Photograph courtesy of Roy Steemson) 


Seen at JSC
Photographs courtesy of Stefan Griesel

Recent fun at JSC!

Clockwise from top left: Hybrid jump, Stefan’s 1000th pie, new Tandem Master Bailey Edmunds, Lumo party, Rodeo jump, new Tandem master Stefan Griesel, Night jumps.

(Photographs courtesy of Stefan Griesel)



Skydive Parys 2nd Birthday 13-16 June 2014
Skydive Parys is turning 2, We invite you to join us for our Birthday Boogie from 13 – 16 June 2014. The Boogie will take place at Skydive Parys DZ, Stonehenge in Africa a beautiful lodge along the banks of the Vaal River only 1 hour from JHB. 

Accommodation at the lodge will be available as well as camping facilities at a special rate, just for our Birthday Boogie.  Stonehenge will also be catering for the whole event and there will be a Dinner and Prize Giving held on Saturday 14th June 2014 for all to attend.

An Atlas Angel turbine aircraft will be the jump ship of choice during the Birthday Boogie for Sport Skydivers to get to Altitude and the very cool Huey Helicopter (Still to be confirmed). Skydive Parys is offering people the opportunity to experience a Tandem Skydive over the famous Vredefort Dome World Heritage site, with the thrill of landing on the banks of the Vaal River.

Scenic Flights down the Vaal River will be offered for those who do not want to try skydiving but would like to get an aerial view of the magnificent Vredefort Dome. Other activities such as Abseiling, quad biking, Horse Trails and Off-Road Go Karting will also be available during the Birthday Boogie. The whole Family is welcome to come and enjoy our warm hospitality at Skydive Parys and Stonehenge In Africa

Entertainment will be provided throughout the weekend; music, competitions, prize giving, jumping castles, water slide, cocktail and drink specials and a whole lot more. 

Contact Steven Taylor 072 303 9140 or Amy Taylor 082 810 1821 or via email.


RSC Canopy Control Course 20-22 June 2014

Graham Field will be running a Canopy Control Course at Skydive Rustenburg from 20 to 22 June 2014.

Limited space - only 16 – so book early to avoid disappointment.

R500pp + minimum of 5 slots per jumper, R280 per slot.

Contact Danelle at skydive.rustenburg@gmail.com for more information or to book



Christmas in July at Skydive Rustenburg

Skydive Rustenburg and the WS SSA will be hosting a Wingsuit Camp at the Xmas in July Boogie on the weekend of 18th July 2014. 

First Flight Course slots are very limited and booking is essential. Please read up in the MOPS for minimum requirements and contact the WS SSA or Skydive Rustenburg with any questions you may have.

The WS SSA will also be planning some acrobatic skills coaching as well as some flocking and tracking-suit dives. The WS SSA will have a budget for coaching slots.

The Xmas in July Boogie will also include a Treasure Hunt and Slots to be won as well as a Tandem to the value of R1750 sponsored by Skydive Rustenburg.

Contact Danelle Field @ Skydive Rustenburg or 0793457058 or any of the WS SSA representatives. (Eugene Potgieter, Hendri Liebenburg or Oliver Nöthen.)


FS 4 way Introductory Skills Camps

Further to the FS Budget plan featured in the March issue of Toggle Times, the FS Committee is planning to run two to three 4-way FS introductory skills camps to be hosted at different DZs.

The 4-way FS skills camps will be aimed at the novice or beginner 4-way FS flyer looking to get into 4-way and maybe putting together a team to compete against other teams of the same classification at next year’s nationals. The camps will cover basic 4-way principles from the slots, how to dirt dive, creeping technique, exits and debriefing. Flyers can expect to do 4 jumps on the day with 2 different linked exit formations and a debrief from video after each jump.

To maximise your 4-way learning experience you will be flying 4-way with the best 4-way FS coaches available in SA!

We will be looking for 4 to a maximum 6 novice FS flyers per camp that meet the pre-requisites below:

  • Must be FS members (ticked FS in your PASA membership form – if you haven’t or aren’t sure, send an e-mail to admin@para.co.za to tick it for you now).
  • Must have completed your Cat II in FS or have some FS tunnel time being coached by a current FS coach

You will be expected to cover your own slot, plus half the slot of one coach on each jump. The SSA will sponsor 50% of the coaches’ slots.

Am I ready? Is this for me? If you aren’t sure, give us a shout and we’ll help you assess your readiness for fun.

With only 6 places available you will have to move quickly. Contact Rainer to book or find out more.

PS: Event Dates and host Drop Zones to be advised – check the events calendar on the PASA website for updates.



Starting from sit… changes to the AE Coach rating

There’s a definite shortage of Artistic Events coaches in South Africa. It's an unfortunate situation which is stunting the growth of freefly and freestyle, and even VFS long term. Perhaps even more worrying, is that we are having upcoming jumpers teaching themselves how to freefly or getting “unofficial” coaching from friends, resulting in the 'blind leading the blind' and some major safety concerns.

The SSA is looking to formalise a 'Head Up Coach' format, which will allow skilled head up flyers to impart their skills, teach students in a uniform way, and provide valuable advice to new or progressing jumpers. A look at the current 'AE Coach' requirements shows some limiting factors which aren't necessarily helping the sport. An example of this is that in order to become an AE coach one needs to be a competent head down flyer. Although this is obviously essential in teaching the head down jumps involved in the D-Licence, there are many competent Head Up flyers who this precludes from coaching. When we look at our progression jumps we see that Head Up flight is the required orientation from Cat II all the way up to the C licence. Currently, we do have capable skydivers around the country who are competent head up flyers but not necessarily competent head down flyers. Is it then reasonable for us to draw from this pool of head up flyers to coach head up flying?

Currently the SSA AE Committee is launching a campaign to introduce 'Head Up Coaches. These coaches will be allowed to firstly perform the initial briefing to allow a Cat I skydiver to safely start freeflying, and as well to coach head up flying all the way up to C-licence.

Are we lowering the standards? No. Actually, in proposing these changes we’re also proposing additional requirements which include two specific check out jumps with two different current AE coaches, much in the same way Cat II coaches for FS need to show

Will these coaches be allowed to coach Head Down flying? No, most definitely not. Head down flight may only be coached by AE coaches who are competent on their heads and have been approved by the SSA to teach Head Down.

When will these changes come into effect? We will be testing this system out over the next 6 months, and are working with PASA to formalise by the end of the year, success dependant.

How do you learn to be a Head Up Coach? As with any 'rating' you really want to learn how to teach the specific jumps. In becoming a Head Up or a Head Down coach, it is vital that you first ATTEND AN AE COACHING SEMINAR! This will ensure that we are all teaching the same thing in the same way, with the same focus on skill development.

Coaching seminars happen annually, and the next one is AT ICARUS AIRWEAR AT 7PM ON THURSDAY 5 JUNE. We would encourage everyone to attend. Current coaches would be welcome to add their voices, as would potential HU coaches or those just starting out in Freefly who want to know where this is all taking them.

For more information, or to confirm that you are coming please email Julie


For further information please contact:

dalej@flyaerodyne.com +27-(0)31-502-6435 

Cat who?

Is your CI violating the PASA Manual of Procedures and dragging you, your money and your skills down with him? Don’t stand for it.

Insist on value for money, insist on a qualified, competent, current FS coach, know what is required of you and know what you are entitled to.

While some DZs would have you believe it’s compulsory, did you know that your Cat II programme is OPTIONAL?

  • Did you know you can check the PASA website for a list of PASA rated FS Cat II coaches? http://www.para.co.za/members.aspx, then select Coach Rating - Formation Skydiving on the left and click GO.
  • Did you know that if your Cat II coach is not on this list, your DZ, CI and “coach” just robbed you – of your slots, of your coach’s slots (if you covered them) and definitely of your time and trust in them to lead you through your progression honestly and ethically. Besides all this, it’s actually in contravention of the MOPs.
  • Did you know that the SSA FS Committee manages the FS Cat II program and it is a FS Cat II Coach NOT your CI who may sign off your Cat II jumps? For all your CI’s virtues, he quite possibly knows diddly about optimised FS flying. Check online if he is a coach.
  • If you decided to do your Artistic Events (freefly) Cat II, would you grab any chump on the DZ who says he’s done it before or would you look for the best qualified coach available to you – someone who has recently medalled (or at least competed!) in an Open AE event at Nationals? All the coaches cost the same per DZ (a truckload, when you’re paying for your skydive and often theirs too, plus gear hire and possibly packing). I say, let the unskilled chump pay for his own skydives while I learn actual skills from the best I can find.

It’s OPTIONAL, people! If you choose to pursue FS, why not choose the best, or at the very least, a rated coach so that you don’t just get the “pass” but you actually learn some skills?

If you just want your Cat III, don’t waste your money and fall into your unethical “coach” trap. Skip the Cat II and go straight to Cat III (but you will see how much easier your Cat III gets when you’ve completed the genuine Cat II programme with a qualified coach). It’s the skills that matter, not the stamp.

Why the Cat II?

Cat II is intended to give you optimised techniques in your chosen discipline. They take you from safe survival to efficient flying in a chosen section of sport skydiving – something you can better compete, break records and generally fly with. Yes, you will cover the same directional movements you can already (more or less) do with ISP skills. But understand WHY you do the Cat II. It’s to convert your bus to a racing car and make those movements faster, more efficient, more precise, with more finesse and get more done in each skydive as a result.

Even a fun jump is so much more rewarding when you actually do what you planned on the ground.

Someone once made the comparison to a touch-typing course. If I pay money to learn to touch type and I come out typing faster but still with 2 fingers, I have not achieved what I paid for. Waste of money. Skip the course.

What if I just want the rubber stamp?

Good luck to you.  Others who gained actual skills on their Cat II will probably now invite you to jump with them. Once. You’ll be invited based on the stamp saying you’ve attained certain skills. When you display on that skydive that you do not, in fact, possess those skills, you will not be invited back. Congratulations. You just purposefully robbed the rest of the group of their jump money by leading them to believe you were capable of more than you are.

Am I against the FS Cat II programme? Absolutely not! I think it’s tremendous and believe every jumper should do it before moving onto their next discipline of choice. There is a vast difference between jumpers with genuine Cat II coaching and those with a “cheated” Cat II or no Cat II in FS.

BUT, if you don’t have a Cat II coach on your DZ or you can’t find your “coach” listed as such on the PASA website or don’t want to improve your skills. For goodness’ sake, spend your money elsewhere.  

  • Don’t let your DZ rob you just so they can send in stats saying their members are “progressing”.
  • Check your coach’s credentials.
  • Challenge your coach – what have THEY achieved in FS? Why are they better than the next guy and why should you choose them (that’s right! You should choose your coach, not the other way around)?
    • Ask your coaches who else they recommend and why.
    • A well rounded coach:
      • Is experienced and current in FS (a great instructor does not mean a great coach (or vice versa) – they are two vastly different skills).
      • Has personal examples of where they regularly use each skill they teach you.
      • Can demonstrate to you in the sky.
      • Has tunnel training. It may not be “fair” but a tunnel trained coach is simply better trained than one without any tunnel coaching. Just like the better funded team has better training tools to improve and perform better in competition. It’s life. Accept it. If they are genuinely passionate about FS, they would have found a way into a tunnel to be the best they can be at what they love.  
        • A genuinely passionate coach who hasn’t made it to a tunnel is – while still genuine and passionate - unfortunately still of a lower standard.

Know what is expected of you: PASA Manual of Procedures (MOPs) (Section 6)

Know what you’re entitled to: List of rated FS Cat II coaches

Realised you just got (or are being) robbed?  Report the liars and freeloaders wasting your time and money (even if you only paid for your slot, you have a right to use that jump money productively).

Tell someone who cares about your FS success (as opposed to their club stats, free jumps or getting more generic JMs and cameramen onto their staff):  Start with the SSA FS Committee.




SSA Seminars starting 5 June 2014

The SSA committees will be hosting regular seminars at Icarus Air Wear in Edenvale. Check the events calendar on the PASA website for dates/disciplines.

The first of these is the Artistic Events Coaching Seminar @ Icarus Air Wear on Thursday, 5 June starting at 19h00.

Chris & Julie Teague will be hosting a seminar which will dissect the method of teaching the the CatII, CatIII and C-Licence progression jumps for AE.

We are exploring possible options for proficient Head Up flyers to be able to coach Head Up students through these jumps, and one of the requirements for this would be to attend an AE Coaching seminar. So please join us if this is something which could be on the radar for you, since we are only likely to host ONE A YEAR.

Attending this seminar will also be a valuable tool to people starting out in Freefly who are looking to understand where their progression is taking them and why.

If you have any question or are looking to attend, please let Julie know directly.

Other dates confirmed at this stage:

8 July 2014
14 October 2014
11 November 2014
9 December 2014
10 February 2015 

Formation Skydiving
Wingsuiting
Formation Skydiving
Canopy Piloting
Wingsuiting 

 

To find out more, contact the SSA committees.


Tracking Suit? Yes, Please! Zoo Dive? No, Thanks!

We South African skydivers often persevere more than other skydivers would around the world due to our free-fall time in the sky being very limited.

Tracking Suits have come a long way and have increased their possible glide ratio immensely. The new designs being used in suits such as the Squirrel Sumo ,Phoenix-Fly Power Tracking suit, and Pressurized’s Tube 4 have allowed for much more horizontal distance to be covered than in a normal tracking skydive. (Some Tracking Suit pilots have managed descent rates of less than 60mph!)

This poses some risks to the Trackers as well as the other skydivers on the load. With issues such as conflicting flight plans and potential in-air collisions, jumping one of these tracking suits should not be underestimated.

The SSA Wingsuit committee has seen an increased interest in tracking suits and is therefore willing to assist skydivers with tracking suits by means of a safety briefing. This briefing will include flight plan, deployment and recovery procedures as well as other safety tips.

If you are considering jumping a tracking suit, please contact the Wingsuit committee (Eugene Potgieter, Hendri Liebenberg, or myself) or chat to your local CI.

Keep it safe and have FUN!

Oliver Nöthen, on behalf of the WS SSA




FS 4 way Open Trophy Refurbished

After 37 years, the FS 4 way Open Trophy was looking somewhat less than its illustrious past, so it underwent a major overhaul and refurbishment prior to the recent nationals championships. The FS committee are delighted with the result and the revamped trophy stood proud at the winners’ ceremony. A complete list of winners going back to 1977 is on the PASA website


Of interest:

 

Best performance at World Championships

Equanimity - Bronze (1997)

South African record

Equanimity - 19.3 average (1997)

Most appearances by an individual

Colin Rothman - 12 years (2000-2010, 2012)

Longest gap between first and most recent appearance

Dennis Parker - 18 years (first 1994 / most recent 2012)

Family connections:

 

Chris Dales and Jon Dales

Brothers

Bailey Edmunds and Bailey Edmunds

Father and son

Vana Parker (Gulliver) and Dennis Parker

Married

Emile van den Berg and Pierre van den Berg

Brothers


(Photograph courtesy of
Brigitte Edmunds)

Canopy Piloting at the World Games 2017

The FAI recently announced that Canopy Piloting has again been selected by the International World Games Association for The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland.

The World Games are organised and governed by the International World Games Association (IWGA), under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Chris Teague represented South Africa at The World Games 2013 in Cali, Colombia.

The FAI will select the top Canopy Pilots based on performance at the preceding World Championships to participate at the World Games 2017 so, keen Canopy Pilots have a few years to prepare.

Contact the Canopy Piloting committee for more information.


dPhi Wear Online Store

Suppliers of high quality skydiving t-shirts and apparel. Why wait for us to come to your DZ when you can get what you want directly from our website!

Contact: Claire King & Dirk Venter

Website: http://www.dphi.co.za/

Email: sales@dphi.co.za

Telephone: 011 609 6719


New licences and ratings

Lic/Rating Name Drop Zone
A Licence    
A7323 Clarence van den Berg Witbank Skydiving Club
A7324 Tegan van Zyl Durban Skydive Centre
A7325 Liesl Baben Johannesburg Skydiving Club
A7326 Christopher Barnes EP Skydivers
A7327 Murray Wrench EP Skydivers
A7328 Alwyn Griebenow EP Skydivers
A7329 Marc Stewardson Pretoria Skydiving Club
A7330 Oliver Blackmore Johannesburg Skydiving Club
A7331 Deon F Coetzee Johannesburg Skydiving Club
A7332 Eben Jordaan Witbank Skydiving Club
A7333 Cayne McMahon Skydive Cape Town
A7334 Arne Jacobs Pretoria Skydiving Club
A7335 Nic Coulson Skydive Robertson
A7336 Berno Claassen Johannesburg Skydiving Club
A7337 Adam Pullen Pretoria Skydiving Club
A7338 Andre Wessels EP Skydivers
A7339 Joshua Stier Pretoria Skydiving Club
A7340 Rosalie Maclean Skydive Durban
B Licence    
B2885 Gerrit Botha Johannesburg Skydiving Club
B2886 Alwyn Griebenow EP Skydivers
B2887 Gerhard Schoeman Witbank Skydiving Club
B2888 Quinton Henning Pretoria Skydiving Club
B2889 Rory Brooks Johannesburg Skydiving Club
B2890 Van Heerden Greeff Johannesburg Skydiving Club
B2891 Steven Booyzen Witbank Skydiving Club
B2892 Luigi Ciapparelli Witbank Skydiving Club
B2893 Bruno Alves Johannesburg Skydiving Club
B2894 Dylan Hemer Durban Skydive Centre
B2895 Rosalie Maclean Skydive Durban
B2896 Stavros Tzircalle Pretoria Skydiving Club
C Licence    
C1826 David Maina Johannesburg Skydiving Club
C1827 René-SKY Keller Skydive Robertson
C1828 Brad Price Johannesburg Skydiving Club
C1829 John Jeffrey Skydive Rustenburg
C1830 Garai Makaya Skydive Rustenburg
C1831 Liza Hietbrink Witbank Skydiving Club
C1832 Rosalie Maclean Skydive Durban
D Licence    
D925 Warren Hitchcock Johannesburg Skydiving Club
Jumpmaster Rating  
JM1261 Kevin Rielly EP Skydivers
JM1262 Darrel Wright Witbank Skydiving Club
JM1263 Liza Hietbrink Witbank Skydiving Club
JM1264 Lehan Bornman Skydive Robertson
JM1265 Rudi Oosthuizen Skydive Central
JM1266 Arnold van Dyk Skydive Central
JM1267 Ehan Groenewald Skydive Central
JM1268 Andi Fuidge Skydive Robertson
PRO Rating    
PRO448 Braam van Heerden Johannesburg Skydiving Club
PRO449 Francois Wagenaar EP Skydivers
AFF Instructor Rating  
AI84 Olga Naumova Skydive Mossel Bay
Coach Rating    
CH149F Mark Trethewey Johannesburg Skydiving Club
CH150F Olga Naumova Skydive Mossel Bay
  F = Formation Skydiving  
  A = Artistic Events  
  C = Canopy Formation  
  P = Canopy Piloting  
  W = Wingsuiting  
  S = Freefall Style & Accuracy Landing  

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this issue. If you have any stories, pictures, comments or suggestions please send these to news@para.co.za

If you are interested in advertising in this newsletter, contact admin@para.co.za for more details. 


PASA and the Toggle Times cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, due to all content being submitted without verification.


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