A different kind of political blog.

I enjoyed two skydives at Weston on the Green this afternoon, in cloudless skies.

For the first, I floated out stable, looking up at the plane, before surveying from freefall the constituencies represented by John Howell MP and the Prime Minister. It’s a slightly flat landscape for my liking.

For the second, I exited sitfly before rolling onto my back. My transitions are still unstable and I back-flipped several times before spinning wildly upside down. Tunnel time required perhaps… I pulled high, 5500 ft, and enjoyed the view under canopy.

Not a bad way to relax – now to that email.

Uploaded a new photoset to Flickr – Empuriabrava, Oct 2009:

Here’s another favourite – a well-formed 5-way formation, high above the canals of Empuriabrava:

Skydive Empuriabrava occasionally suffers a phenomenon knows as the “Tramontana”: a strong wind from the mountains. It’s been blowing since we arrived on Wednesday but it is forecast to subside today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, this is as close as I’ll get to a skydive:

Skydive Tramontana

It’s still a great place to be and, with broadband available, I can get some work done. Maybe tomorrow…

Oh, and I recommend lunch here:

View Larger Map

In the end, I made eleven jumps this weekend, seven yesterday and all good fun. Here I asked a tandem cameraman to shoot a solo exit:

Exit Steve
Originally uploaded by stevenjbaker

I find I must make way too much effort to match my fall rate to the average skydiver, particularly in big formations (which fall slower), so here goes the diet…

Follow the link from the photo for a sequence of images showing how, when the main parachute is cut away in an emergency, the Skyhook RSL deploys the reserve parachute using the main as a drogue. The reserve is professionally packed in the white bag on the left, which pulls away completely in the air to release the chute. (The reserve needed its regular repack, creating this opportunity.)

This is an extra safety feature over the usual reserve static line arrangement, which just pulls the reserve pin and allows the reserve pilot chute — grey in the picture — to deploy the reserve.

The weather was superb for skydiving yesterday and Weston was alive with skydivers, tandem passengers and their families. Beth caught me on camera a couple of times under canopy:

I jumped three times. The first two were solo jumps for fun — one in shorts, one in my FS suit — allowing me time to survey Mr Cameron’s constituency at my leisure: it looks good. For both exits, I gently forward rolled onto my back for a good view of the Dornier G92 flying away: beautiful.
Read more

Steve under canopy, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Shamefully, it took me until yesterday to jump at Weston this year.

The weather was superb, with the perfect wind for relaxed landings. Jumped two formations with people not previously met and discovered my fall rate much improved by losing a few kg.

In the container, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

It turns out the secret is not just practice, but practice in the packing shed with the packers on a slow day. Thanks Skydive Algarve.

A 97-year-old man from Dorset is believed to have become Britain’s oldest skydiver after jumping out of a plane at 10,000ft (3,048m).

George Moyse, who will celebrate his 98th birthday on Wednesday, landed safely on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

via BBC NEWS | England | Man, 97, completes 120mph skydive.

Good on him

And remarkably, to watch the video on the BBC site from Austria, I had to watch an advert first:

I had forgotten the games the BBC plays to raise revenue while maintaining the licence fee… See also “How to save the BBC”, a publication from the CPS.

Windy again today, but we managed two jumps in the early evening. Both were a mess, but good fun. At the beach, the kite surfers were out: pictures to follow.

Based on the weather forecast, Mark and Jake expect to go to 21,000 feet tomorrow, and perhaps land on the beach, but I will be on my way home.

It’s been a great trip. I love Europe: we were Brits jumping at a German-run drop zone in Portugal with staff and guests from all over the continent. People just get on with things and enjoy themselves, wherever they come from. A pity then, about the structures of the EU.