University of Portsmouth Skydive

It's that time again when Skydivers from around the UK descend on a dropzone to celebrate the start of the new BCPA year, bringing with them as many new uninitiated students as they can! Moving back to Hibaldstow for some epic competitions and jumping, discounted FS coaching, and mind-blowing entertainment including live music from Dive Exit (who played at the BPA Boogie!) and the BCPA DJ set until late! Plus dr...inks from £1.50 all weekend!

When: Friday 11th -> Sunday 13th November 2011
Where: Skydive Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire
What: The BCPA's first event of the academic year!

Including...
-> Entertainment by Stu Ferguson on the Friday night, with a few decent prizes on offer!
-> Live music from Dive Exit and 4000W BCPA Sound and Lighting System on the Saturday night!
-> 1 Dornier G92 (15 skydivers to 15,000ft in just 13mins!) + 1 Finist SMG (9 skydivers to 15,000ft almost as fast!)
-> Jump tickets for just £17 all weekend!!!
-> 3-Way Scrambles Competition (£65/Team including camera). If we get enough people we might do this as 4-way! (3-way price to be confirmed)
-> 2-Way FF Competition (£50/Team including camera).
-> Accuracy Competition for all levels! (Including RAPS and AFF students!)
-> Big-ways, tracking dives and fun jumps!
-> Fully stocked bar with drinks from £1.50 on both nights!
-> Fancy dress! (Anything goes - group themes from Universities encouraged!)
-> FS Coaching for just £29 per jump!
-> Opportunity for RAPS and AFF progression!
-> £5 registration fee to be paid on the day (facility may be available to pay in advance on our soon-to-be-released new website - watch this space!)

More details here:

There will be a meeting held for any new club members to come and find out more about sport skydiving and to sign up to our jump courses. This will be held on Thursday 22nd September at 5.30pm upstairs in the union in meeting room 1. This will only be a short meeting and shouldn't last more than 30 minutes. After the meeting, there will be our usual freshers white t-shirt pub crawl so everyone gets a chance to meet the other members of the club.

All are welcome, so if you're interested in joining, or just want to find out a bit more about us, come along to this or speak to us at our freshers fayre stall!

Just a quick update regarding the upcoming student progression week (more details can be found on the previous news post)

The DZ has decided to amalgamate the two courses into one, running 12-16th September and is throwing the first four jumps in with the course fee.

So, to summarise, £150 gets you 5 days of intense RAPS training, 4 free jumps, packing lessons, B certificate lessons and dedicated instructors.

For more detailed answers to specific questions, email Rick Boardman at Ricksriggery@aol.com, or text him on 07747 114602. Alternatively post in the forums and we'll ask him for you!

Do not miss this!

On Wednesday we embarked on another journey to Milton Keynes for a couple of hours of tunnel training.

8 members from the Club practiced their flying skills in the 120mph+ wind and progress was made all round.

4 club members worked towards the skills they need for their A certificates and FS1 ratings, while the other 4 members practiced some formation flying.

Congratulations to Siobhan who should win an award for her inability to get out of the tunnel. Picture an injured animal trying to claw itself back to safety and you'll have some idea.

Nothing is planned as of now but it's likely we'll arrange another trip in the next couple of months.

View the May Tunnel Training video on our YouTube Channel

Come along to APA Netheravon for some regional fun! Featuring epic team rates and a double rounded FS comp!

When: Friday 29th April late'o'clock to Monday 2nd May early afternoon. Where: APA Netheravon, between Salisbury and Marlborough just off the A345! What: Come along to the legendary Southerns regional event!

Including...

• DJing booked in for the Sunday night!
• THREE Cessna Grand Caravans (ok so one is a little on the short side)
• TWO ROUNDS of 3-Way Scrambles Competition (£60 per team per round including camera)
• Freefly Competition (£50 per team including camera)
• Dedicated Accuracy Competition (£15 per entry)
• Organised big-ways, tracking dives and fun jumps!
• Potential to work towards a new big-way record!
• One fully loaded bar, offers will be on!
• Fancy dress theme - Spartans!
• FS and most likely FF Coaching available

Why: Because this is what the BCPA does! Come along to the southerns and experience the BCPA. With a nice big long weekend, what better excuse is there to jump out of planes and party?

BCPA Southerns in detail, for the uninitiated...

Friday Daytime

The dropzone will be open all day and getting there early is a great way of getting some jumps in before it gets busy!

8 club members took a trip to the Airkix wind tunnel in Milton Keynes for the first of our tunnel trips. Some of the flyers have yet to experience freefall so this was great training for their RAPS progression. Other members used the time to work on their formation skydiving.

Check out the video below!

It has been mentioned before but we will be running our next trip sometime in May. Check out the forums for more information.

Ex-club member and five-times World Champion Skydiver Claire 'Sparky' Scott is running a series of tunnel camps for new skydivers to improve on their 4-way skills.

It would be fantastic if we could get some students from Skydive Portsmouth to attend as this level of coaching will greatly improve your flying ability.

Read on for more information.

Last year I ran a number of FS1 camps dedicated to people working towards their FS1 or who have just scrapped through their FS1 and want to brush up on their 1on1 and 4-way skills. They were very popular and I have been repeatedly asked over the last months to run some more!

The aim of these camps are not only to further refine your 1on1 skills, but to also introduce you to the additional skills required for 4-way.

So the tunnel camp is split into 2 parts:

• 20mins of 1on1 (2 x 10min sessions) – working on individual skills such as basic body position, forward / backward movement, slow fall / fast fall, turns (using arms & legs), side slides, positional strength and grip taking
• 20mins of 4-way ( 2 x 10min sessions) – 3 students to 1 coach – giving you the experience of building different formations in a variety of different slots, working on communication, formation sets ups, grip management and key discipline

Time has been factored in to allow detailed briefs and de-briefs, so that you take your learning’s from the previous sessions into the next session allowing you to get the most out of the camp.

By the end of this camp, you should feel confident to complete any remaining 1on1 FS coached jumps and make the subsequent 4-way FS1 qualification dives seem a little less daunting

The BCPA will be holding their Freshers Event again this year at BPS Langar. This is the First and most attended BCPA event of the year and one not to be missed! The event is open to anyone who has completed their first jump or above and is a great oppertunity for progression, fun jumps and to socialise with every other university skydive club in the country!

The event will Feature: - 4000W BCPA Sound & Lighting System - HUGE party on Saturday night - 2 Cessna Grand Caravans - 3-Way Scrambles Competition (£60/Team including camera) - Night Jumps! - Big-ways, tracking dives and fun jumps! - Fully stocked bar! - Fancy dress! (Anything goes!) - FS Coaching for just 1.5 slots, no coaching fee! - Opportunity for RAPS and AFF progression!

There will be a massive party on the saturday night, with heavily subsidised drinks and fancy dress. there will be an alcoholic prize for the best fancy dress, so get creative!

If you would be interested in attending this event, then contact the committee on committee@skydiveport.co.uk and we'll sort out a lift for you!