This page contains recent news from the Freefall University in Spain. This page has been added to our site on 13.01.05 and last been updated on : 30.01.05







Check it out! Some pics of Nathalie in Freefall . Remember Nathalie joined us as a complete beginner but here she is now jumping solo , under the supervision of her Instructor. On later levels you jump with your instructor by your side and perform more advanced " tricks " .
The basic Arch, and what a good one at that ! The Arch position is the basic position you learn. This ´bannana shape ´ keeps you steady in freefall and is the one you will always return to before deploying your parachute. Below Nathalie throws out the pilot chute that is used to open the main parachute.. to learn more about how parachutes open click here.

Here is Nathalie ´gathering her canopy after the jump! We have a very large landing area which leaves you with lots of options in regards to where you land. ( While learning accuracy :)








Welcome Back to Richard O´Neill who is back on holiday to his FS1 course. Richard trained with us last year and has also brought his father with him to do his AFF course.








30.01.05

Russell Horgan , an investment banker from London makes his way back from the Landing area. Asked to descibe his first jump he had this to say.. "First few seconds were what am i doing, jumping out of an aircraft. It was amazing falling through the air, and it felt really natural. As soon as the canopy opened it was completely the opposite [ sensation ]. ...floating around I had thought about it so many times... then when i was in the air it seemed so natural."

Holy #&"! batman ...falling at 120mph , out in the " open " ... the abyss.. with a thin belt of cloud racing towards you! Russell on one his two instructor jumps as filmed from Barry´s camera. Cloud gives you a sensation of your speed as you race towards it..magic!









Russell also took some packing lessons today with Barry. Packing courses are run between jumps and in the evenings.









Welcome back to Jill Duncan who completed her AFF course with us in late 2004. Jill is back to do her Formation Skydiving course. Here Jill is pictured walking from the landing area with Nathalie Rodgers who is doing her AFF course. Girl power ! More chicks training here right now than blokes !





Our newest recruits! Natalie Rodger is a PR consultant has never skydived before. Brian Cahill is a Platoon Commander with the Irish Army and is studying for his degree. He hopes to do the Advanced course and earn his parachute wings on his return to Ireland. ( Boris any chance of give him a dig out ..Ill be in touch? ). Here you can see Brian practicing the " Pull positions " . When one arm is tucked in readiness to pull the main handle the other ( left ) arm is brought towards your face to allow you to balance yourself in freefall.

Congratulations to Brian Skally from Ireland who has now passed to level six in his second day of jumping.










22.01.05
Ben Mills is now jumping Solo .











Barry has started a ground school with his next Student Brian Cahill. Here you can see Barry showing Brian around the landing area.









21.01.05
Gotta hand it to you Barry ! This is a snap of Barry Maple up and coming swooper on his new Velocity 96. Barry joined us in Lillowith the ambition of improving his swoop technique and hes doing it in no uncertain terms.
19.01.05






20.01.05
Ben Mills continues to do well on his AFF course having now almost completed his course. Here he is on jump number five filmed from Barry´s Instructor Cam. Ben joined us just after deciding to quite his job as an IT consultant in favour of becoming a professonal musician.





Between jumps he has been working on writing some songs about skydiving. He has also kept a diary of the jumps and we will with his permission be publishing this along with pictures and video sometime next week.










18.01.05

Congtatulations to Matthew King who finished his AFF course and ten consol jumps with us. Matthew spent one week with us. Matthew is hoping to become a pilot in the RAF and currently works in the TA full time.











Congratulations to Martina Brant who this evening graduated her AFF course. Martina trained with Brian Vacher. Martina has been a member of the Irish Parachute Club since mid summer 2004 in Ireland but was unable to progress on the static line system due to weather and other restrictions.

































Check this out for a sunset ! Lamorna has discovered digital photography in a big way so dont be surprised when you arrive here if she greets you through one of her growing collection of lenses. We have been blessed with perfect weather for the last two weeks straight. This has allowed our students achieve a tremendous jump tally in a short period of time.



Here is another picture that Lamorna captured of Barry working with one of our new students: Ben Mills . Ben has written some commentary for each of his jumps and we will publish those on the website over the coming days in tandem with some pictures.








17.01.05
Congratulations to Andy Hanlon from the UK who has just completed his Aff course and is now Solo jumping with us. Matthew completed his course in 2 days. Here are some pics from his freefall , and with him having celebratory beers in the dz cafe with his Instructor Barry. The pics below show Andy performing an unstable manouvre and also his parachute starting to open.
















Beer " Rules
It is traditional that graduates buy the other jumpers a crate of beer on the evening of graduation. This beer is drunk by most of the jumpers from the day as they watch the video of the students aff course jumps.







15.01.05
Welcome Back to Paul Adams from the UK who completed an AFF course with us last November. Steve is back for give days and after arriving this morning has completed three solos already. Steve plans to do our Formation Skydiving course.






Also back with us for a few days of jumping is Steve " Yeehaw " Crossley. Steve trained with us in November along with Paul and both became friends on the course. Paul did three jumps today and will attend the canopy piloting course.







13.01.05

Congratulations to Paul Rimmington from Cark in the UK who has completed his AFF Course and has also completed at least ten solos skydives . Paul graduated in 3 days of jumping and has averaged four solo jumps a day. Even though he was given the opportunity to do more he described himself as " Adrenalined out ".





Also well done to Yvonne Rimmington ( Pauls Sister ). She has done the same amount of jumping in the same time ( competition between siblings :) . Paul and Yvonne did a tandem late last year in Cark and decided that they couldnt wait for the UK season to get started. With three days of jumping ( and a perfect forecast ) who will get more jumps done ?



Lets tell you about Pete " Rabbits " Cottrell! Pete works as a deap sea diver and originally contacted us from underwater just of the Argentinian coast. He arrived in late December and completed his beginners course. He pretty much hasnt left since and has now completed about 40 jumps. We recently supplied him with his own set of equipment , and he is completing Brians Canopy piloting course at the moment. He is now living in Lillowith Company owner David Cowman and has no immediate plans to go diving and will take on his FS1 rating next.

Well done to Gary Jones who completed his AFF course and his consols and FS1 course with us in the space of ten days! Garry is currently on hols from the Middle East and plans to be back as soon as possible. This possibly beats Raman Sinahs record for the most jumps including course record which was set in early 2004.




Exam time ! Welcome also to Nikky Ranger and Andrew Hanlon who have just joined us. Both are from the UK. Pictured here at the end of their ground school completing their exams. The exams are designed to form a training and comprehension check list and are not to be feared. We want to make sure all graduates have understood the important points in the ground school. An example question is " At what height do you open your main parachute on your first jump ? "...gotta be sure you got that one :) Well keep you posted on their progress.


Congratulations to Billy Gibbons from the UK who joined us after having completed AFF level on in the UK. Billy to completed his AFF course and did a bucket load of solos to boot. The path gets narrower dude..