First Training @ Cerfontaine

From 30th of May till the 1st of June 2009 we had our first 4XTTHUNDER training weekend on our home dropzone Cerfontaine!
Everybody is recoverd again, the weather was beautiful, the vibes were good, what more can you wish for! After 3 days of training we made 29 great jumps!

Before we started jumping again, we went to the wind tunnel twice that week. After waiting for months, everybody was more than just enthousiastic to start again. But first we had to check if Jacco's shoulder could cope with our 'moves'. We made a calm start, did some randoms, turned some blocks... and yes, his shoulder had almost completely recoverd! We were ready for our first jumps at our home dropzone!

In total we made 29 really good skydives! We were very satisfied with our exits. They went great, everyone of them! We didn't do every exit because of Jacco's his 'hang arm', but that didn't stop us from having fun and some really good skydives! The blocks went great and we almost trained every random and block up there. It feels great to be back!

Phantom Force is also back in the race and with a new line up. They also made their first training jumps! Tom, Bart and Cindy did everything possible to run the organisationn smoothly for the teams, students, tandems and all other skydivers. And they did a great job! We want to thank them to make all of this possible. Super!

We had a great weekend and we can't wait to come back for more. First we are going to train in the wind tunnel again for 3 times and than were back for training from 14th til 24th of July. We planned to jump for 10 days with our coach Thomas Hughes, who flies from the States to Cerfontaine! Hopefully we will have just as many terrific days as we did last weekend. In one word it was: AWESOME!

Paul

YIHAA !!

Finally... after being on the ground as a team for 2 months, we flew 18 minutes in the tunnel yesterday evening. We still took it easy since we do not want Jacco's shoulder to be ripped apart immediately again.
We did some randoms and some easy blocks (3, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16), but it sure felt good to be flying together as a team.
Tomorrow, we have another tunnelsession planned and straight after, we will be heading to Cerfontaine for 3 days of training. Hopefully, the weather will turn out as predicted.
Stay tuned for updates of the weekend in due course.

Sven out

Almost back in business...

Hi to all,

It has been a while since an update has been posted. Obviuosly, the reason behind it, is that we are still on an "injury-hold". However, some progression has been made :
Wesley had his cast removed and he is dancing again like never before :-).
Jacco is actually in the hospital as I write this, being operated by Eric De Coster and having the metal pin removed from his shoulder. After that, he will be able to start his recovery. We intend to evaluate how his shoulder is holding before we start making actual plans to pick up training again.

We all hope that we will be back skydiving by the end of this month, but we'll have to see. We do not want Jacco to force his shoulder and do more harm than good...
Especially, as a tail, he every now and then has to float, using power in his right arm, on exits and this may be tricky. We'll see.

Also, we need to start flying in the tunnel again soon.

We are all really looking forward to resume training and are very eager to continue where we arrived after the camp in Eloy.

What else ?? Oh yeah... Keep an eye on the www.4Xtremetime.com website, because we will be posting dates for tunnelcamps very soon. Everyone can participate ! From novice to experienced skydiver, for 1on1, 2on1, 2on2, 3on1 or teamtraining. This is the ideal opportunity to work on your individual and teamskills. Coaching will be provided by the 4XTThunder members at very competitive rates.

That's it for now.

Stay tuned !

Sven out.

The day after

getting back home. Our trip back went well. However not all news is good. Due to injuries in the team, we will most likely have to cancel our participation to the Bedford Worldchallenge and probably also our first 4-day training camp in Cerfontaine...

Hopefully everything will heal soon and prosperous.

More news soon.

Sven

Training day 7...

Ola,

We're almost done with the camp, all our muscles and backs hurt like hell, and we're loving it. I had to wear weights in the tunnel last night, ME???, almost 4 kg. It did the job, and I felt really relaxed. I did see however the painfull faces of my teammates, they didn't wear weights, or at least nothing more. We were all complaining about the tunnel speed, however our coach said that he could see we were tired. We were asking to lower the tunnelspeed where we were already practically lying on the net.

In the tunnel we practised a lot of B-slots, very motivating (NOT). Although very difficult and not really comfortable the tunnel really pays off. Both our A and B slot block moves we are really understanding. This is a good basis for the next phase of our development, building up the speed.
Today we had another day of 12 jumps. We do back to backs, 20 minutes, and again back to backs. After the landing we really have to hurry back to make the briefing in time to avoid rushing through it. Today we did train B-slot blocks, 6 point jumps and jumps in which we did the first two points once to get us in to our B-slot and then proceeed with two blocks in B-slots.

Wessley and Paul did a new combination block 5 and 17 (this is really for the insiders). Sven and I (actually I did) invented a new block, a combination of 5 and P. Otherwise the jumps went great. We do have our coach on our backs stressing us not to brainlock. Anybody who knows me, knows that is really a challenge for me. Also keybusts are not allowed, that I appear not to have a problem with, others do though. For each brainlock or keybust we have to pay 50 dollarcents. How things are now going, we will get waisted tomorrownight.

In the morning I saw Luc cutting away his main, he had a twist (you know velocities). He was picked up from the desert, just in time to catch the back to back. That efficient they are here. Luckaly they found his main and freebag soon so in the afternoon he was jumping his own rig again.
Today we also did a 13 way with Airspeed, Fobia (an English team we know from the ESL finals), and our coach Thomas. We did a 7 point jump, see the photo's. I must be honest, I did not believe we would make so many points. The briefings from Craig Gerard are however so thorough, you actually start to believe you will make a good jump. Thats were Americans differ from Europeans, they believe you will make a good jump, and you will do just that. We Europeans seem to be having doubts earlier.

In the last back to back we did a random jump: H-N-M-E-B, we scored a 33 in time, with a wabble (???) in the exit. Our speed was modest, our coach doesn't allow us to speed up. He says that will be more effective for us and will pay off more in the and. Thats actually really hard, as we have speedy gonzales in our team wanting to speed things up. Also for the tunnel we will do in Roosendaal we will not be allowed to speed things up yet. Don't know how this will work out.

Tomorrow is our last day of the camp. We will jump a recent competition draw. I don't know which one, but we've walked the jumps already. Tonight we've eaten in the "Bent Prop" where also a weddingparty is taking place, we will probably join and get waisted (NOT).

As you see its again me writing for the blog. I'm hoping others will pickup their duties later on.

See ya,

Jacco

Update

Hi,

Just a quick update... laptop batteries low...
Yesterday we had our planned day-off. We were allowed to sleep a little bit longer. After a short running session in the morning, we left for the dropzone, where Luc needed to have his rigs adapted. He was having hard openings on his Spectre (can you imagine ?) and wanted to replace the pilot chute. He was getting tired of decellarating from 180 kph to 0 kph in about 2/3 of a second.

After that we took the car and drove to Phoenix, grabbing breakfast on the way. We went to a shopping mall and bought some Vans. The rest of the day was filled with hanging around and basically doing nothing.

Today (Friday 13th !!!) we have made 12 jumps. One jump we landed out real far, because of the lights not working any more in the plane. Airspeed junped out before us and they did not know when to go.

On our 7th jump I had to cut away my main. Linetwist and back into freefall - yeehaa ! Probably went unstable while pulling...

On top of that, the windtunnel broke down and we were told that our tunneltime would be cancelled.

Really Friday the 13th.

Still some good news :
- our exits are coming together finally and we feel a lot more confident
- our tunneltime tonight is not cancelled, since the tunnel has been repaired
- we are at the terrace, having a drink in the sunshine

Another update with pictures will follow, maybe still today.

Food coming, need to eat.

Later !

Sven

Dag 4...

Ola,

I've just heard that I can write "schoown brieve", my vlamisch is improving dramatically. I'm now getting concerned that when I come back in Holland, that my Dutch collegues and friends will have a hard time understanding me.

(debriefing)

Luuk now knows when he has to switch on his camera, and when to turn it off. Also his self confidence is growing as during one jump, when we had to jump from 15.000 feet, he came below the formation. I think we should not jump anymore from that high, in the first place we become too scared when we jump from that high, secondly it introduces brainlocks.

The jumps are really progressing. Today we did blocks 1, 2, 3, 10, 16, 20. For me especially block 10 was so much fun, for the insiders as a tail I had to make a compressed with Sven (inside center) and keep on spinning, and at the end throw Sven out like a frisbee, I think the video tells it all. In tracking I'm completely out of breath, so I must be doing something good.

(family portret)

For Paul the block 3 exit was a great experience. He's hanging like an inverted monkey facing outward. His task is to jump out high together with me, and in the repeat he did a great job. Also the 1 exit was great for Paul. Me already landing while Wesley stil in the plane talking to the pilot (I know only insiders will possibly understand).

For Wesley he was very satisfied with the 16 block, we definitely closed it. Also exit block 2 was great for Wesley, so far in the plane, not hitting the door and still doing a good job. We are definitely improving.

(tunnel speed)

Sven liked the 16 as well today, he was now allowing me (tail) in closing the block using less brutal force. Sven has to control his anger during the execution of blocks, he is making an appointment with his shrink. He also like the 10 block, although I don't understand that as I am not allowing him to do anything. The block 3 exit he liked as well as right after exit he actually wanted to have a camera with him because it looked great. As I said, we are definitely improving.

As we are training together with Arizona Airspeed (they are quite an oke team) we are rotate the exit orders, so at least we can have some time to practise the next jump in the mockup. On one jump the Airspeed cameraman did the spot. After them we were quite late out of the door, a new difficult exit, and we had a perfect spot, leaving Airspeed in the middle of the desert. You would have expected that after making a zillion jumps here they know when to exit. Probably not.

(crashed on the couch)

Today we concluded day 4 of our camp. We've done so far 42 jumps. Tonight we will go to the tunnel, only starting at 20:40. So it will be late before we will start getting waisted. Its going to be a challenge, but with Paul as a captain for this event we are dead sure we will succeed. By the way Paul is still busy cursing his laptop, starting to considere buying a proper laptop, even a Mac (NOT).

Tomorrow probably we go to Phoenix (Poeniks) of Tuscon (Tukson). A minute away from the 'sandbak'.

We are quite tired but really satisfied with the progress we're making. In this phase we are busy understanding and practising the techniques of the blocks, the next phase will be consolidation and becoming constant. After that we will start on speeding up. We are on the right track to be the nightmare for numerous 'wanabee good' teams. We're really getting an American attitude, that's probably the result of mixing Belgians and Dutch in one team. Now we just have to make sure we are not exiled from both countries.

By the way, the waitress in the bar is really a "schoon wiefke", nice eyes etc. She's a real positive distraction compared to the crowd clapping and cheering each time we land. The average age of this crowd is approximately 175 years old, although very friendly. Arizona apparently is a state in which to wait until the winter in your own state has passed. Why the he... would you come to Arizona, there is just sand and a whole lot of nothing.

Oke thats it for now. Hopefully my teammates will enter a nice contribution tomorrow. I'm not betting on Paul, his laptop is still starting up since three days ago, and he types with one finger, and just love letters.

See ya,

Jacco

Day 3...

Oi,

I must tolk engelis bekos Sven meed me to do so.

It's our third day, we made 12 jumps after first being in the tunnel from 8 till 9. We did a lot of technical sessions, where after every block we executed we all looked anxiously to Thomas if we did it correct. We are learning very quickly I must say. We came out of the tunnel with a lot of pain in our backs. They are saying that the air is denser in the morning, they only told us after the session. The tunnel sherrifs are not as paranoia as in Orlando, although we have been kicking them getting in.

The jumps are also going very good. The new things we learned in the tunnel we immediately put into practise in the air. The technique of the nineteen we definitely improved. Especially for me the nineteen now is a lot of fun. My task is to put my left knee into Sven's right ear. The second jump I succeeded in doing so, however unfortunately the camera wasn't switched on, Luuk filmed a nice landing of himself (he thought after the jump that he switched off his camera, but actually by then he switched it on).

Alexia, our packer we know from Spa, is very busy packing our rigs after every jump. She's doing a good job, and my french is improving (Bonjour I know already). Sven zijn steenkolen frans is in elk geval beter.

For anyone who has not been in Eloy before, the skydiving center is great. A huge number of planes, all identical. The DZ is nice green and grassy, a nice bar, nice store, all surroundings are great. Only when you take of with the plane you see how depressing Arizona can be, there is a huge ammount of nothing, and a lot of sand.

We are now sitting drinking a couple of beers, whith Sven's parents. They are here on a holiday for three weeks driving throug the US and are just visiting us today, "gezellig".

Every day Paul is batteling with his laptop. It takes an hour or so to start up, and another our to send one e-mail. His face tells everything.

Tonight first time dining out, we all want to eat a large chunk of cow.

Tomorrow another update.

See ya, Jacco

Day 2

Hi there.

Day two and we are on a short break. We finished 10 jumps and were set on a wheatherhold after that. They are skydiving back, but we decided to go eat something, before we go to the tunnel at 3pm. We will be flying an hour again this afternoon. Today only the four of us, so no 2on2's...

We already feel that we are making huge progress and the technical exercises of yesterday are already paying off. Only are exits are of some concern, but I am sure we will figure them out soon.

Gotta eat something, so...

Sven out !

Eloy day 1

Hi,

Sorry for the late update, but we had a very busy 1st day and the house we rented, does not have wireless internet. By the time we were finished last night, the bar at Skydive Arizona was already closed.

After a hell of a trip, we finally arrived at Phoenix airport at 10:45pm. We had been on the way for 20 hours and Luc and Wesley even longer, since they flew from Brussels to Amsterdam first… We had a long stop-over in Detroit, where we were on the ground for 6 hours. Thomas Hughes, our coach, was already waiting for us at the baggage claim. He flew in, the same evening from San Diego.

Bagage checked and 2 bags missing… mine. After reporting to the lost baggage service, they told me that they fell of the cart from the plane to the terminal. Only, my bags ??? What are the odds. The good news was definitely, that they were in Phoenix.

Time to pick up the car and drive to our final destination and home for the next 10 days. What a car. Jacco had rented the largest van possible. It seemed necessary with 6 persons and 12 bags that need to fit in it.

Short night’s rest and at 8:00am we left for the dropzone. First we had breakfast and settled the necessary paperwork at manifest. Sign a million wavers and receive a thorough briefing of what to do and not to do around the dropzone…

After that, we finally started doing what we came here for. Thomas had a couple of easy jumps for us in mind. This were our first jumps together and for most of us the first ones in 5 months. No need to say that we felt kind or rusty. Nevertheless, all of us were very happy to be skydiving again.

The exits are challenging for now and we are trying to find the good rhythm and balance, but we will work this out. Already the last jumps were very better than the first ones.

We made 8 jumps and decided then to do some shopping in order to have at least food and drinks to make it through the day.

At 8:00pm we had an hour tunnel planned and we did 2-on-2’s with Thomas and Gary Beyer. Thomas wanted us to focus on the technicality of the jumps and go really slow, include stops and concentrate on intermediate pictures and stages. This worked out really well and we received invaluable information on the block moves and they felt already a lot more comfortable and controlled.

At 10:30 we got back to the house and everyone was very tired and we went to sleep immediately.

Stay tuned for new updates and hopefully pictures.

Sven out !

Eloy -3 days

We are almost there.... On Saturday we will leave for Eloy for our first outdoor training camp. We are all looking very much forward to it.

We have spent a couple of hours in the tunnel at Indoor Skydive Roosendaal, but now it is time for the real stuff.
We are all curious about how we will do.

We will start training on Sunday and our goal is to make 12 skydives and fly 30 minutes in the tunnel per day. It will be tough, but we are not complaining :-).

Thomas Hughes will be coaching us both during this camp and our second camp in July at our new home dropzone 4XTremeTime at Cerfontaine in Belgium.

We will post regular updates on our team and also on how we are doing in Eloy. Stay tuned and please send us your comments and remarks.

C ya !

Sven