Flippin' 'eck...

It's been great being back in the MK tunnel. There is just something a little Retro about it, it's what I've come to know and love. I guess it's not just the tunnel though it's everyone at the tunnel too. I'm always made to feel so welcome there, I'm not sure if that's just because I take them cake though!

Each week that I fly I feel a little more progression, it may not always be a lot, but every little bit helps. I'm still working on my sit flying, getting stronger each time, which is great. I'm still struggling with using my legs though. I seem to lock them in a position where I'm flying and that is where they stay! 

As it's half term this week we opted for a couple of nice early flight on Tuesday morning, 10am and 11am, OK that doesn't sound too early but when you live 100 miles away that makes for a bright start. Early mornings are nothing new to me so when the alarm went off at 6.30am I was up and out the door! I thought leaving at this time I would hopefully miss alot of the rush hour traffic... WRONG! I caught a little bit getting out of the Forest and into Gloucester but nothing major, it was when I got to Oxford I got stuck! Flippin'eck! I used to think Gloucester was bad for traffic until I saw this. Needless to say I didn't get to Airkix when I was supposed to, I did make it in time for my first flight though... just! Thankfully Paul had the kettle on for a quick cuppa, I was parched!

In the 20 minutes I had in the tunnel, everything seemed to finally becoming together (well making progress anyway!) My back fly is alot more controlled than it has been, even when the wind got turned up. The sit fly is making small progressions each week, carving is coming along, I just need to avoid the doors! Even when I bail onto my back I can now get back into a sit without too much trouble and finally I can do the back to belly, belly to back transitions. These have been causing me jip for far too long now! All in all a good session this week. 

Paul mentioned he was on holiday next week and suggested I just book up some flight night sessions to practice what we've been learning and we'd sort out coaching again the following week. 

I'm booked in for 10 minutes of flight night on Tuesday...

Yesterday I got a phone call, it was Paul, he was ringing with news that I really wasn't expecting, he has himself a new job, closer to his daughter. I had never really thought about what would happen if Paul left and I was shocked by the news. When he rang he had already looked at different coaches and prices for me and let me know all my options. I wish him every bit of luck with his new job and hope he enjoys the additional time he can spend with his daughter. I can't thank him enough for all his help.

Total flight time 5hrs 14minutes

Time flies when you're having fun!

I know it's been a while since my last update, did you think I'd given up the blog, or maybe given up flying all together?!?

Well the truth be known I've been a little too busy flying and working to update the blog. Today though I've found my self with an evening to spare though so thought I would get typing!

My sit flying is still coming along great, now that I have the general position and balance it's just finding the right amount of leg and back to stay in the air. I still find myself drifting back down to the net, so this needs a little work.

We've also been working on my belly to back transitions, I tend to throw my self into doing them rather than letting the wind turn me over. Paul suggested breaking them down into three stages, for belly to back - belly, sit, back and for back to belly - back, sit, belly. With the wind low and close to the net I've been practicing this and it makes far more sense to me now. Hopefully when the wind gets turned up a little more again I can carry on doing the transition in 3 stages.

A few months ago while on the Airkix Facebook page I got chatting to a young lady called Tanya. It turned out Tanya was a regular flyer at the Manchester tunnel and was at a very similar stage in her flying as I was. We were tunnel twins! After lots of talking we decided to meet up and try flying together! This weekend saw this trip happen, I headed to Manchester to try out their tunnel. Tanya put me up for the weekend which was just brilliant, I can't thank her enough!

I headed up on Saturday afternoon and we spent the afternoon adding bling to Tanya's suit, we already knew we had matching suits, mine black with purple stars and Tanya's black with pink stars and of course the bling!

We headed to the tunnel in the evening where we were met by Mikie. Tanya had arranged for him to help us with our flying. Out came the white board and we decided what we were going to do in each rotation.

I shall let the photos and the videos do the talking for a little bit...

Showing off our suits!

My first ever flight in the Manchester tunnel -

Mine and Tanya's first flight together -

Our second flight together -

Me sit flying at Manchester -

Our third flight together -

Our last flight together -

My last flight at Manchester, more sit fly -

Think the smiles on our faces say it all in this photo - 

Thanks again Tanya (and family) and Mikie for a great weekend!

I've disappointed the staff at MK this week as I'm not flying so they're missing out on cake! But I'll be back in my home tunnel next week to improve on everything and I have next weeks cakes already planned! I can't wait!

Total flight time - 4 hours 29 minutes

It's been a while...

My first blog entry of 2011, where has the time gone?!?

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year and hope this year is good to you all!

Christmas was spent at home with the family of course I ate too much, I'm paying for that now though! I was pleased with my gifts though as I got a Gath helmet for use in the tunnel (I couldn't wait to try this out, think the parents thought I was mad sitting here in my chair with it on my head!) They also got my a jokey present of a Bratz Doll, but not just any Bratz Doll, a skydiving Bratz Doll, how cool! On top of that was a Wii fit, which has been great, the weather has been to cold to go out on the Gym so this has been a god send and I feel great for using it every day!

That's all the Christmas stuff out the way so lets get back to flying...

I missed flying over the festive period, it was very strange not making the weekly pilgrimage to MK, but some how I survived! 

Tuesday saw me return to the tunnel for the first time in 3 weeks, I guess the break was going to have worked one of two ways. I was either going to be extremely rusty and have to recap lots to get back into the swing of things or I was going to jump back in the tunnel having spent the time off thinking about how to improve and be a little better/stronger.

I made good time on the journey up, think this may have something to do with the fact that the schools were still on holiday so there wasn't quite as much traffic. It was great to be making the trip again, I was going to fly! I couldn't believe how quiet it was when I got there though, the car park was relatively empty there was no one in the tunnel when I was waiting for Paul and no one waiting either, very very quiet.

It wasn't long before Paul appeared and after talking about Christmas and New Year we started discussing my flying. I had an aim for this session but if I didn't succeed it wasn't a major issue but I wanted to. Paul suggested we mix it up a bit with rotations of back flying and attempting sit flying, just so I could give my shoulders and my mind a rest! 

There was just time for a quick cuppa before the first session. I was going to be the only flyer in the session but we were then joined by Team Euphoria. This worked quite well as it meant we had some rotations and I got to watch in envy of their skills! 

This first session saw me do 6 minutes of back fly and 4 of sit fly. While doing back fly we were working on my turns and side slides (which I failed miserably at last time I flew!) Thankfully my co-ordination was much better this time and I began to get the hang of it. It still wasn't perfect, but it was a lot better than before. The sit flying saw me bouncing, trying to find my balance and get some lift, again this was much better than before! Maybe the break was proving to have done me good!

I came out of this session feeling very pleased, pleased I wasn't rusty after the break and pleased I had made a little more progress! 

Time to put the kettle back on  and have a little rest before flight night. While I drank my tea Paul went to have a chat with the other flight night fliers and I was amazed to find out there was only one other, why was it so quiet? Once I drank my tea I sat on one of the benches watching the live action TV screen, I do like watching and learning from other people. 

Before long it was time to go back up to the tunnel. We had opted to split my time, 2 minutes, 2 minutes and a minute. Two minutes of back fly, 2 minutes of sit fly and 1 of belly flying. The sit flying was getting stronger and stronger, surely I could fly next time? The side slides on my back were getting better as well, no so many co-ordination issues! Some fun was had with the belly flying too, Paul got the speed turned up so I could try going higher in the tunnel. It started low and slowly got increased, I increased my arch to stay low and then you reach a point where you can't arch any further and you head upwards. I seemed to reach a point though where I couldn't go any higher, think I need to work on de-arching a bit more to get a little more lift. It was cool to go a little higher though!

Back downstairs and the kettle goes on again, this time accompanied by a mince pie, probably the last one before next Christmas. I suggested it my turn to make brownies for next week,  I got a unanimous yes from the staff, so guess who's going to be baking on Monday night!

We were supposed to be flying at 9 but as the tunnel was empty again we opted to go up a little bit earlier and make a start. After the first 2 rotations (with myself) Joels group appeared on the other side of the tunnel. We thought it would be a good idea if Joel and his group joined us so we had some rotations, so they stopped the tunnel and let them in.

The last 3 rotations were 2 of sit and 1 of back. With the back I had to try and stay on my side of the tunnel, with Paul on the other side and mirror him by going up and down. To begin with I managed to stay put but it wasn't long before I had turned and my feet were facing him, I'd turn back and would be fine and then I'd end up turned back again! Little but more work required!

As for sit, things really started to fall into place and I finally found my balance and confidence to fly! This is what I had been aiming for for weeks and finally I had it! What a way to finish the evening and to put my total tunnel time up to 3 hours! I must of looked like the cat that got the cream! 

Thanks to Paul for helping me so much! I still have a lot to learn but hopefully this is a step in the right direction!

What a FANTASTIC first flight of 2011! Let's hope it's the first of many more to come!

I'm booked in for more flying Tuesday and the following Tuesday and I've also booked my first flight at the end of the month at the Manchester tunnel with my tunnel twin, Tanya! 

I'll be sure to update you all after next weeks flight!

Total time - 3 hours

I learnt to fly at Airkix in 2010

Just a quick round up video of all my flying antics from 2010

So near... but still not quite there...

My flight suit finally turned up on Friday and I couldn't wait to try it out in the tunnel! Yesterday was that day!

Due to lack of cars being left at work I took Luna to MK, it was great to give her a run and I do love driving her, I just wish the heater hadn't decided to brake! It was a bit of a chilly journey, especially sat in traffic for 6 miles. Thankfully though I made it by 7 just before Paul was going to call to see where I was. As I'd had a chilly and long journey the first thing to do was to chill out and put the kettle on. After relaxing, drinking tea and deciding the plan of action it was time to put my suit on. It looked great and a few people commented on it too.

I had 2 sessions of 10 minutes booked up with a nice gap in between and I was determined to get the sit fly so we planned to spend 8 minutes in the first session working on this and 2 minutes in the middle doing something different just to relax my arms.

Progress is still slow with the sitting but I was managing to 'hop' off the net so it's still progress. In the 2 minutes in the middle I decided to try some more belly to back/back to belly transitions, these still need work too, especially when transitioning from belly to back.

As we had a large gap between sessions it was suggested by Paul that me go and grab a proper coffee. So with flight suits half removed and tied around our waists we headed into Xscape on the hunt for coffee. We were heading to Costa, we took a slightly scenic route though as Paul was showing me around, there were things in the shopping centre that I didn't know were there. When we got to Costa though they were closed. Thankfully Xpresso net was still open so we headed there. One cafe latte, one americano, one chicken soup, one carrot cake, a 'dotty' cookie and a nice chat and we were fueled up and ready to go again. Thanks Paul for coffee and cookie :o) 

I was still as determined to get the sit fly - my aim was to succeed at it before Christmas and as Paul is on holiday next week this was my last chance. 8 minutes again of sit fly with 2 minutes of back fly thrown in in the middle. I had to try and keep my hips a little higher as the angles were making it difficult to keep my balance. Little by little I was getting a bit of lift, just hovering slightly. With my back fly in the middle of the minutes I was trying to do side slides again but getting my co ordination right isn't quite that easy! Back to the sit fly and a little bit more hovering, I was so so close! This had to be the best sit session yet.

When we left the tunnel I was feeling chuffed that I had got as far as I had, but slightly disappointed that I hadn't quite got the sit fly that I wanted. Paul put his helmet in the drivers room and while he was there looked to see how many were in the next session and as it wasn't a full session offered me the chance of an additional 4 minutes just to see if I could get that sit. Of course I said yes! 

Back in the tunnel we went. I had a little bit of time to give my arms a rest before I actually stepped back in the tunnel (thankfully) another 2 minutes of hopping up and down with a bit of hovering, this was getting daft, why couldn't I just stay put... In my last 2 minutes we did a minutes of sit fly exercises, one hand on head, then other hand on head, then both on head. Then it was my last chance to get the sit. Unfortunately though this didn't happen, it was at this point that my shoulders finally gave up. We did a tiny bit of belly fly just to relax at the end of the session.

I was disappointed but still pleased I'd got as far as I had. I've now got at least 2 weeks before I fly again, I'll be practicing my position though at home with the aim of succeeding next time.

Merry Christmas every one! Have a good one!

Total flight time 2hrs 35mins

Over 2 hours now!

Last night was my first double lesson with Paul, plus flight night as well, I wasn't sure how well I would cope and how tired I would get but amazingly I didn't get that tired and I didn't ache this morning!

Paul was teaching first timers as well as coaching me in our first session, they were a very excitable bunch! At least I had plenty of rotations in the session.

My first 2 sessions were spent going from back fly to sit position on the net. This was to try and get me to use my back a little more when trying to sit fly. To begin with I was ending up standing rather than sitting and I had to try and stop myself before I got to that point. By the end of the 4 minutes I seemed to have grasped the concept. I could feel the way the wind hits my back and changes my movements.

I still had 6 minutes in this first session so we did a bit of back flying. I spent most of it on the net learning to do side slides. The co-ordination needed for this is crazy! I couldn't get my head round it to begin with but with Pauls help I was soon moving from one side of the tunnel to the other. I couldn't get to grips with doing it on my own so Paul had hold of my feet. Once I can do this we can start to do some up and overs while back flying.

4 minutes left and time to tackle the sit fly! In to the position, feet on the net, strong arms, a little push of the net, feet out to the side slightly, lift off... and back down. I actually did it! Only a little bit, but I did it! The rest of the time was spent building the time off the net up a little bit at a time. I finally felt that I had made progress with the sit flying, could I keep it up though?

That was the end of my first 10 minutes. We headed back downstairs and I sat watching the live action for a little bit while Paul helped the others from the group put their kit back and handed out their flight certificates.

Once they were all sorted we had just enough time to grab a cuppa before the other flight night people turned up. Paul offered me a mince pie, but I upped the stakes and offered him some of my home made chocolate brownies. I had 6 large brownies with me, 3 of which got eaten while we drank our tea (I had one, Paul had one and Gary had one, just so you don't think me and Paul were greedy!) I was going to put them back in my bag for later in the evening, but one was enough for me, so I left them on the work surface for anyone else who wanted them (Paul warned me that any food left unattended would be eaten)

It was nice to see some familiar faces in Flight Night again, Abbie was there with her skydiving friend and one of the guys from an earlier flight night session was there to (I can't for the life of me remember his name, DOH!) Us 3 girlies were all sit flying so I felt slightly sorry for out chappie as he was still on the basics of belly flying, this didn't seem to worry him though and he took it all in good spirit. Thankfully at flight night we're all very supportive of each other. It's a shame this was the last one of this year.

As the tunnel was empty and we were all ready we headed straight up. Paul suggested that my first 2.5 minutes were spent carrying on from where we left off and that my other 2.5 minutes were spent doing some belly to back, back to belly transitions.

I was feeling quietly confident about the sit fly and couldn't wait to get back in and have another go. I found myself struggling again though, the wind seemed to be slightly faster and it put me off my balance. Not one to give in though I gave it my best shot. I wasn't as pleased with this though as I was with the earlier attempt.

The transitions seem to be getting better though, I still find back to belly easier than belly to back though. Paul pointed out that the basics are there but I'm slightly over rotating when going onto my back and need to throw my arms up more and broaden my shoulders to stop myself. More practice required!

Flight night seems so short time wise in comparison to my private coaching and before I knew it we were on our way back downstairs again. Me, Paul, Abbie and Abbie's friend stood around talking for a fair while. It turned into quite a random conversation about Airkix made up terminology (the backwards goldfish bowl move!) and a new business idea of a pool of parachutes available to hire for skydivers!

When we'd all finished talking we were going to grab another cuppa as I wasn't due to be flying again till 21.30 but this all changed. We were going to be the only people in that session so we jumped in on the next available session. No time for a cuppa, but a quick swig of water and back up the the tunnel!

Paul asked if I fancied doing something new. Me being me immediately said yes! The plan... Back flips from walking up the wall in the tunnel and lay outs (going from back fly to belly fly forwards)

First up walking up the wall and back flips! Paul showed me how to do it and then it was my turn, what a disaster! The first time I tried I didn't go far enough up the wall or push of hard enough and I just ended up on my back on the net! A little more power needed the next time. Several attempts later and I was getting there, I was landing on my feet though rather than my belly, I did manage to land on my belly the last time though. It was great learning to do this!

My second 2 minutes were back to doing more sit flying, the wind speed still seemed pretty hard and I was trying my best to master the sit, it's never quite that easy though. Thankfully Paul was on hand to keep hold of my toes.

On to the next 2 minutes and time to give lay outs ago, again Paul demonstrated and made it look so easy. He'd already warned me that they take practice and they wouldn't look tidy after only 2 minutes. I wasn't deterred though and gave it my best shot. Just like the back flips my first attempt was pretty hopeless! I tried and tried though and finally got something close, landing on my feet again though. Can't wait to give this another go!

Back to sit flying again this time and although my positioning was good I couldn't stay stable enough for Paul to let go of my feet. I'm determined to crack this sit flying before Christmas, that gives my 2 weeks and about 40 minutes tunnel time...

By now my arms were getting a little tired from sit flying so we opted to do some back flying for a minute and then to do some 'grip' exercise for the other minute. My back flying is looking so much better than it was, I just need to be able to do turns and side slides and I'll be making great progress. Going back to belly flying was good to and gave me a chance to have a little bit of fun and practice things I'd learnt in the past.

All in all a good 25 minutes were had and some great progress too and it took me over the 2 hour mark!

Back downstairs and time to get out of all the kit. I handed Paul my helmet to put back and he decided it would be great to write my name on the back of the helmet as I always seem to have the some one. So if any of you reading this go to Airkix MK and have a white helmet with Stacy written on the back of it, you know where it came from!

I've got another 20 minutes booked up for next Tuesday and I also heard today that my flight suit has been dispatched so hopefully it will get here ready for my next flight and I won't get beaten by the Airkix suits!

Total flight time - 2hrs 11 minutes

More sitting...

Flyday has been and gone again and I'm here writing my blog again to keep you all updated on my progress!

With the weather being as unpredictable as it was we left plenty of time to get to MK, it was nice when we got stuck in traffic to not be panicing about getting there on time. In fact we were there 25 minutes early, having not faced the forecast poor weather. We opted to grab a Costa coffee before heading in to Airkix, they had their Christmas menu up and we opted to try a Creme Brule coffee and very nice it was too! We wander around xscape with our coffee before opting to go and sit in Airkix.

We hadn't been sat down long when Paul appeared. The tunnel was empty so as soon as we and the other 2 people in our group were ready we could go on it. While we finished off our coffee we sorted out what we were planning on achieving in the 10 minutes we had. Definitely more sit fly practice and some back flying as well. The idea behind the back fly was that once I had a stable back fly I could try some transitions during flight night. So we opted for 6 minutes of back fly and 4 of back fly.

Once geared up we headed to the tunnel. I was sharing with 2 first time flyers who had 2 minutes each, meaning that I only got a minutes rest between my flights, just about long enough to catch my breath!

Flight one was dedicated to sit fly. As you can see at the start of the video it was a tad chilly in the tunnel! Not a bad session, I was quite chuffed with it actually! Positioning is definitely getting better.

Flight 2 was back flying. The plan was that I was to mirror Paul and to control my movements - slowly! When I got into the tunnel though I forgot once I was on the net to just stay put without trying to fly, this caused a few crashes between me and Paul (sorry Paul!). Once I remembered, with a little reminder from Paul to stay put, things got better.

On to flight 3 and some more back flying. I think I'm finally getting to grips with staying low and slow with this now. Although I've been able to back fly it has been pretty wild at points and I've needed to gain a little control.

Unfortunately after this flight the batteries went flat on the flip video so we're missing 2 more flights from my private coaching. These 2 flights were doing more sit flying with Paul keeping hold of my toes, still no solo flying yet!

Between my private coaching and flight night we sat and had a cuppa with Paul and shared the cookies I'd baked earlier in the day. This gave me time to chill out and get my energy back ready for more flying. This time also gave me the chance to 'try' and explain to mum how to use the video on my iPhone. Mum and technology really don't mix all that well...

It was nice to see Abbie back at flight night again, we seem to be about at the same place with our flying at the moment (which proved useful later in the evening...) and we were joined by just one other person for the session. I think the weather had put the others off!

Flight 1 saw me attempt belly to back, back to belly transitions. Not bad for a first attempt I don't think. I found it quite strange having to push down with my arms and chest to get lift to push my body up and over my legs while going from belly to back. I found back to belly easier!

Flight 2 and back to sit flying. I can see in the video and Paul pointed it out aswell that my feet keep slipping forward which is causing me to be pushed on to my back. This is something to work on next week. By the end of it my arms were tired and we did a little bit more back fly. Even getting back onto my feet at the end caused me problems!

On to flight 3 and some belly flying. I hadn't done any belly flying for a fair while so it was nice to go back to the beginning. Me and Paul did some up and overs which was visually pleasing and a bit of fun too.

This should of been the end of my flights again for tonight but Paul offered us the chance to buy another flight night. Me and Abbie had shared a session last time so it didn't take much persuading for us to share another one! Rather than just split the time 2.5 minutes each Paul suggested we have the first 2 minutes in there together with him doing some sit fly exercises and then have 1.5 minutes each afterwards.

I didn't realise until we started the exercises how tired my body was, you can see this in the video, I kept falling back and getting back up, but I was determined not to give up without a fight!

 

Having now watched all the videos back I can see what I need to work on at the next session. Roll on next week!

Total flight time - 1hr 47minutes