I am currently moving my old page and projects to Trac.
This will take a while so meanwhile there are some links:
Skydiving Lessons
After a little winter break it is time to fall out of planes again.
I used the good old AFF student kit for my first two jumps this year.
It has a big 280sqft canopy, so it was no problem getting back into it.
The first jump I did alone and for the second one Mark joined me to
give me some FS1 (Formation Skydiving) coaching.
To get to the next level I need to pass my FS1, so I figured the earlier I
start practicing the earlier I get to the next level.
On our first two coaching jumps we just practiced getting out of the plane together
and doing some slow and fast falling by de-arching and arching.
The goal for me was to stay close to Mark after he lets go.
The fast falling was not a problem.
I just arched a lot, which made me drop faster and catch up with Mark.
But, as you can see in the video, de-arching is a different matter.
It took me a while to figure it out and it still looks wobbly.
On our third jump, we practiced turns while keeping at the same level.
(...)
Updated on 06/10/08 15:33:04
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- Jan-Klaas Kollhof
- 06/10/08 15:29:58
Weekend in Wales
Kym, Sophie, Kate and I decided to spend the May Bank Holiday weekend in Wales.
We left for Swansea on Friday. The place we stayed at for the night was a pub that rented out
rooms. When we got there there was a live band playing and we had to squeeze through the many people with our luggage
... very odd.
The next day we picked up our rental car and headed up the coast.
We took a walk to the Worm's Head and then had some food at the pub there.
Afterwards we went to check into our B&B in Port Eynon.
In the evening we had a lovely diner in a small restaurant near the bay.
On Sunday we took a walk along Rhossili bay and then drove up to Tenby.
The weather was a mix of sunshine and a few little showers.
Fortunatly we were mostly in the car when it did rain.
On our way back we stopped along the coast and sat outside
listening to the waves, drinking pims and enjoying a bit of sunshine.
(...)
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- Jan-Klaas Kollhof
- 05/06/08 21:32:00
Indoor Skydiving at Airkix
Kate got me 10 minutes of indoor skydiving for my birthday
last December, and we finally found the time to do it.
We both took the train to Milton Keynes, Kate
wanted to do some indoor skiing there and I had booked my
"flight-time".
It was quite different to jumping out of the plane.
For one, it is not as pretty ...
but you do get to see and feel how you much you move around in the
air.
When jumping out of a plane you don't really have a point of reference
to see if you are drifting sideways or back and forth.
In the windtunnel on the other hand you are surrounded by walls.
I flew 5 times for 2 minutes each.
The first one was for getting used to how it all works
and from there on the instructor gave me a bunch of things to do:
Turning, shifting sideways, which I found quite difficult,
Going backwards and forward and moving up and down.
Then we went on to do diagonal movements, from lower edge to upper opposite edge ...
It was great fun and I learnt a lot.
(...)
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- Jan-Klaas Kollhof
- 04/06/08 21:53:00
Snowboarding in Obergurgl
Only a week after we got back from our trip to the Czech republic we took off again to go snowboarding in Obergurgl.
Kate booked us a hotel right next to the slopes in Hochgurgl.
We flew out to Innsbruck on Sunday, checked into our hotel and rented some skis for Kate.
Monday's weather wasn't the best. It was windy and the slopes were a bit icy. It was Kate's first day skiing in about 10 years, but she managed just fine.
We stayed on the blue slopes on the Hochgurgl side of the resort.
It snowed all afternoon and all through the night.
Tuesday was much prettier, the sun was shining for the most part of the day and skiing got much easier for Kate. We went over to the Obergurgl side. I got to practise a few jumps and Kate tried a red run without even knowing.
Wednesday was a bad day again. It was snowing and windy and we could not see a whole lot, but we stayed on the slopes till closing time.
We had a deal with the ski rental place that, if Kate decided to buy some skis after 3 days, we would not have to pay for the rentals. So, in the evening Kate decided to purchased the same kind of skis, she was renting.
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- Jan-Klaas Kollhof
- 03/17/08 20:29:00
Cross Country Skiing in the Czech Republic
This is becoming a family tradition.
For the past years we have been going cross country skiing
in the Czech Republic.
And so far we have been fortunate to have had plenty or at least sufficient amount of snow...
Not this year :(.
The weather forecast had already been bad and we contemplated taking the skis.
We did take them anyways, rather safe than sorry.
So, we took off. Kate and I visited Dirk and Susi in Leipzig and spend a night there before
driving to the Czech Republic.
On the way there we also stopped to pay my older sister, Ela, a visit, who
was at a dancing competition with her daughters.
Then we got to Horní Blatna and it did not look at all like skiing.
Most of the snow has melted away.
Fortunately our host told us that there are a few places on the north side
of the mountains left that may have enough snow.
We decided to give it a try, packed our skis and hiking boots(just in case).
The snow was quite slushy but it was still OK to ski on it.
(...)
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- Jan-Klaas Kollhof
- 03/05/08 20:06:00
