Reserve Packing - Nurhan

Nurhan's take:

Okay, reserve packing might not have much to do with Newfies at first glance, however what affects me, affects Kin, also owing to the reserve course I was gone for several hours (apologies to David, who waited 2 1/2 hours for me to finish, and even (kindly) came up to the house to let Kin out before getting thoroughly cheesed off and going home... we were supposed t o be taking a ski trip); then in for an hour to feed him before sneaking off to Veraland Nord, with May, to get a late flight in:

Pic is May about 30 seconds after take off...

This meant that Kin was alone for eight hours... i.e. a proper work day.

Should be pointed out that everything in this post, after the above is to do with paragliding.


Reserve Packing Summary:

Firstly the name of the course isn't correct - the course was intended to illustrate why you would need your reserve, when you would throw it, and how you'd throw it. The reserves were checked and re-packed after throwing, but the course was not to show how to pack a reserve from scratch... Theory being that you want someone to have packed your reserve properly so it opens, and opens in the least possible amount of time.

Pointed out on the course were that most folk only think about their reserves during the SIV course... as that's when we are quite likely to need them.

Some video clips were shown, illustrating situations that reserves are required.

Following points regarding reserves were brought up:

- fly into and out of thermals with speed (i.e. NO BREAKS), this is when the glider is likely to react owing to air moving at different speeds, chap in first video put breaks on, stayed in the 'funny air', wing collapsed on one side, not corrected, got a cravat and then went into a stup spiral, causing the reserve to have to be thrown. Had he flown through the boundary quickly inklap would have been less likely;

- IF LOWER THAN 100 m THROW THE RESERVE - above this you can try to get out in various methods as taught on the SIV course, if below... THROW...

-  After throwing the reserve, pull in on one side of the glider until you have the whole glider bundled. This stops the glider getting tangled in the reserve, and in the event of a tree landing, it prevents the glider from being shredded;

-If you end up in a tree, get into a safe position, to avoid falling to the ground. I.e. grab the biggest branch and work your way to the centre of the tree, or try to tie yourself on/get to the ground safely (mobile phone/radio, and a GPS are helpful for this eventuality to call for help);

- Reserves all act differently, you might have a lot of vertical speed when returning to 'Mother Earth', try to do the parachute roll to take out some of the energy/avoid injury;

- It's worth working through/visualising scenarios when you might need to throw your reserve, and moving your body through the motions so that you fix them in your head and (hopefully) you will react correctly and quickly if you find yourself in a position when you have to throw your reserve;

- As one of the take off checks, it's useful to put your hand on the reserve handle, so it's position is fixed in your head... different harnesses have the handle in different positions and the feel is different with thick or thin gloves on.

Procedure for throwing the reserve:


- HANDLE
- LOOK
- PULL
- LOOK
- THROW
- PULL

This is an eight minute vid clip in Norwegian going through the whole sequence and explaining why the 'D' ring between the harness and the reserve should be removed. Filming by Marco, I'm throwing the reserve. (After lots of flaffing I managed to get a 350 MB clip down to 42 MB for streaming, but might still take awhile, but worth the wait for the clarifications).

- HANDLE
Know where it is/look at it as you grab it.

- LOOK

Check the air space where you are going to throw your reserve (and direction of rotation), if there is someone in your way, don't throw the reserve and get two of you tangled...

- PULL

This will pull your reserve free from the harness, but may not pull your reserve free from it's packing bag.

- LOOK

Check airspace again.

- THROW

- PULL

on a riser for the reserve, this speeds inflation and canopy deployment.

This is a 40 second clip in English showing the main features. Carlos is throwing his reserve. (2MB clip)

Reserves were not completely opened before being replaced in harnesses:

Do not try this at home!

For more information please see:

http://www.apcoaviation.com/

(which {apparently} has info on how to pack reserves and also specifications on the reserves, i.e. area, speeds, mass capacities, and so on...)

If you need your reserve packing you can contact the instructor who held this course:

Ole Andreas Haddeland
90 11 34 58
the.next.base(at)gmail.com

(Lives in Haugesund but is regularly in Stavanger)
or

"Burre"
92 22 25 15
rs(at)saltdalshytta.no

(He packs all the reserves for the parachute club, he's packed my reserves before, he lives in Hanna and works in Forus, and is quite flexible with regarding dropping off and picking up reserves).

Both charge 400 kr for reserve packing.

Last word on the course:
Part of the SIV course is to throw your reserve in a simulated environment; this reserve throwing course went into much more detail. Ole and Tina are knowledgeable and communicated the points clearly. Anything that makes us safer flying is a good thing.

Growing up- wk10 - Nurhan

Nurhan's take:

Had another trip to the vet's last week... this wasn't a planned trip... I went in to ask if there was anything else that I could give Kin as his eyes were red (wash them out with salt water). The vet assistant mentioned that if the discharge from the eyes was white, that was okay, yellow then he should be seen by a vet... discharge from his eyes was yellow... came out from the vet 600 kr poorer with the information that I should rinse his eyes with salt water... (Redness is a common problem with Newfies, Karma had it on and off. The lower eyelid tends to hang down with Newfies and this goes reddish, (all dogs) also have a third eyelid down there this can cause irritations). I did get to weigh him (now almost two weeks ago - and he was 20.5 kgs... one week later {different scales} he comes in at 25 kgs!).

Was back out again to Lager Zoo for more food.... we like Lager Zoo... a pet shop where you can bring your pet in! (I'm trying to figure out how I can drop him off there in the morning and pick him up in the evening)!

Been to puppy class, which is generally embarrassing when you own a Newfoundland, who looks at the high speed motions of other dogs with disdain, as he lies down and takes a little nap!

A lot of time has been spent 'practising' cute poses...

Problems we have:

Leads are evil... and the answer (according to Kin) is to lie down every time the lead is attached... this means that a tortoise would beat us on a walk...

Peeing... If Kin pees inside, it's only on his bed! Last two nights I've removed his bed and just left him a rug, and then he doesn't pee... I think that the breeder must have had some form of pee mat that Kin's bed reminds him of...

Kin still has a preference for hiding under things, although he can no longer fit under the sofa!

Kin playing at the snowline!

Kin paddling in a stream... Like Karma, he has the Newfie ability to sniff out puddles, streams, any source of water.

Take a toy with a Monkey's fist (knot) on it, wet snow, and a Nefoundland dog... and hey presto you get this! Sadly I didn't manage to get a picture of the Kinerist charging around the garden, raking up snow, dragging this toy around!!!

Kin met two Newfies last week... Here he is meeting Santos, and two days after he met Balder at Bråstein.

He's now had his third bath. This went well, and we got to use the dog drier! He was quite happy with it ( a cow was sacrificed during the whole bathing/drying procedure, but all in all it went well!).

Karma, loved to steal balls, sticks, toys, you name it; and the game was especially good if he had people running after him! Kin I am working on differently. He gets something, and I call him over, he comes, gives it to me, and gets a treat! It's great! He's even recovered Gita's (border collie) throw toy from the bushes and much to her owner's surprise (who was accustomed to Karma running for the border, with tail held high), dropped it at my feet!.

Kin is growing up and becoming more of a dog. So far his character and body seem to be great!

Social Commentary - Nurhan

Nurhan's rant:

Sometimes I find modern living perplexing. We work so we can afford things. We get better paid jobs so we can afford things easier and dare I say, afford more things. Then we get bills that appear to be created by a random number generator. I’ve received 11 bills in the last week, only two of which I will happily pay without question (Stavanger Kayak klub, & the World Wildlife Fund); the rest I question... which you can’t do in Norway. Norway has this ‘wonderful’ system called ‘inkasso’ (pronounced, “day light robbery”); whereby a company that you’ve never had dealings with before can send you a bill and if you don’t pay this (random) bill, they then give your details to a credit organisation that increases the bill and credit blacklists you, despite the fact that you have no connection with this company than they are trying to fleece money from you...

My mobile phone has been transferred from my last company’s account to mine. The subscription has no monthly fee... yet a receive a bill for 500 NOK... Now I’ve already rang them twice to confirm that there was no monthly fee and they came back with, that there wasn’t and I wouldn’t be charged... on ringing a third time, and asking why they had sent me a monthly fee, they told me that it was wrong, I need to pay it and then they would refund me... yeah right... I declined and asked for confirmation that the bill had been cancelled... which I am still waiting for... I can feel another round with Inkasso coming on... for something that is these Muppets fault (Muppets in this case is Telenor).

My electricity consumption has gone down this year, yet my bill has doubled... ‘obviously’ the existing hydroelectric power stations now cost twice as much to produce electricity...  (Lyse, is this company that’s robbing me blind... the same company that cut the power off between Christmas and New Year for eight hours, when it was – 8 degrees C, for routine maintenance, and they didn’t actually tell us... although apparently they had put a notice in the paper. They asked me if I expected them to tell everyone individually... ummmm Yeah... it’s not like electricity is free!).

Stavanger brought in a congestion charge about six year ago in Stavanger... this was to operate between six in the morning and six in the evening, from 06-10, &  15-18 it was 10 kr, in between it was five kr. The money to set it up came out of the public purse. Now we sit in traffic jams with a big sign saying road ‘improvements’ are being paid for by your toll money (am I the only one who sees the irony in this); the charge is now 24 hrs a day, seven days a week, and the company that runs it double the price... Can you see a trend here... {Not to mention that the infrastructure was paid from public money but a private company takes 40% of the ‘earnings’ – in the olden days such folk were called “Highway men” and their dead bodies were hung by the side of the road as a warning to others...}

I struggle with this system where utility companies, can hike prices up to phenomenal increases and there is no form for redress! Try this in a work contract and there would be hell to play... why is it allowable in private life?!

Most communes take the eminently sensible approach to rubbish, that it should be processed correctly and there is either no charge or a minimum charge for taking it to the tip and responsibly disposing of it... Stavanger has realised that this is another method to ‘print money’ and now charges/cubic metre.

Now I have little mortgage on my house, my salary drops... more loan I have the more disposable income I have! HELLOOOOOOOOOO???

The result of all these wonderful schemes, is that you need more money to pay for things that you need and if you can increase your debit it leads to more money!

Norway has a population of ~ five million. Apparently 2.4 million work... of these 400 000 are on sick leave, & 900 000 work for the state... ‘Fortunately’ Norway has a protected economy, and the state keeps coming up with new ways to make money... which I’d love to say that they are investing wisely for a time when the oil dries up (energy conservation projects & renewable... Norway is a technology base, use this base to develop new industries that the world will need as oil becomes more scares), but no, there is not a whiff of this...

On a side note, driving from my house yesterday to take Kin to puppy class, I came across two folk of ‘advancing years’, trying to relocate a large stone that had fallen from a dry stone wall. It was but the work of two minutes to stop the car, assist them and get back in... they couldn’t have looked at me stranger if I had appeared in a cape with my underwear on the outside of my trousers and assisted them... Why is this behaviour so strange to people (especially in a ‘socialist’ country)?!

Bring back the batter system! Give money a tangible value again. Make people and companies accountable for their actions, and help those in need... Fairness, (and dare I mention it, happiness) have no monetary value... but they are priceless.

Kin's first Ski 'trip' - Nurhan

Nurhan:

Yes Kin has now done his first multi-day ski trip!

Just kidding! You have to be very careful with giant breed dogs until they are 12- 18 months old when it comes to exercise; less careful after 18 months, and a lot less careful after three years (when a giant breed is {finally} fully grown). Stairs, steep slopes, long trips, too much playing with other dogs, & dogs that turn inside them, all to be moderated/avoided.

Kin 'assisting' David putting on a snow shoe. Should point out that the snow was hard packed so ideal for walking on without skis or snow shoes (i.e. good for Kin). Only reason that David is putting his on, is to keep me company as I bought a set to get to take offs with the paraglider in soft snow (all up weight with the glider is ~ 105 kgs and I take a size 41 shoe... i.e. I sink like a jet propelled rock).

David, wondering why he's stopped... Kin's top tip on how to cripple someone's forward progress when they are wearing snow shoes... run between the legs, and then lie down on both snow shoes, thus bringing the person to a halt!

Tried snow shoes, then swapped to skis... mainly so Kin could get used to the idea of us humans having lots of strange things on our feet!

 Here I am giving Kin a through briefing on how to follow someone using fjellski (these are metal edged skis - the metal edges can cut dogs paws so you need to be very careful with them). - An alternative perception of this picture, is that I might (just possibly) have ham in my left hand...

Yes, there's nothing like a long hard day's ski trip with your dog... and this was nothing like a long hard day's ski trip with my dog... I'd be surprised if at any point we managed to get more than 250 m away from where the car is parked, hard packed snow, and the steepest slope was ~ 1:25.

 Kin rushing the camera!

 Even got David to smile on 'film' - {or it might have had something to do with a conversation about women, hosiery and skirts of limited material quantity...}.

We also discovered that one time BBQs aren't the best things to have when the paper burns and the coals ignore any effect of the heat... this led to David trying to light individual coals by holding a lighter to them... Sterling effort!
Still, as David pointed out, the burgers were mainly unfrozen...

 Kin wondering where all the water has gone...

 Active...

 Bit tired...

More tired, but there's food around...

He slept all the way home in the car.

He slept at home...

And now he's snoring by my feet... which is a damn good idea... I'm off to join him...

More work required - Kin

Kin:

Hmmmm, I'm really not sure what to do with my Human... he still hasn't got this... I look cute, he gives me treats... instead he hides them and it takes me ages to find them all. He also has a tendency to put them inside boxes...

Sometimes he puts them under, and sometimes over... but the worse are pizza boxes:

Who ever came up with Pizza boxes? These things are hellish to get off your head!

I tried telling my human that there wasn't enough space for him in the front of the car and he should really sit in the back, but he wouldn't take a hint!

These two are top toys!

Sometimes it's hard being a water dog...

I found that if you hold the lead in your mouth it's easier to steer your human, although I can see he'll need a lot more practice before I'm happy with him on a lead...

Things to be done differently - Nurhan:

Nurhan:

There are some things that given another chance I would have done differently with Karma, given a second chance.

Karma was always deeply suspicious of hoovers... retrospectively thinking about it, this might have had something to do with me... The logic went like this... " I have to hoover the whole house because of Karma... surely it would be quicker just to hoover Karma..." And thus a phobia was born!

Here's Kin, and the hoover is running... One pig's ear, and he's hoover trained (hopefully for life).

Grooming was also another issue with Karma, he didn't like it, so only essential grooming was performed. This meant that he smelled more than he had to and his coat could have been better. I'm not likely to take Kin to dog shows, (for various reasons) but with a grooming table, I don't have to lean over him. I'm getting him used to the table and being groomed... he gets lots of treats so is quite happy.

Table comes from Hund1(.no); the folk who run it also have Newfie's. This table can be set at three heights, is the largest table (in area) that can be bought as 'standard', and already Kin doesn't have much room on there!

Another thing that I'm trying to do, is have much more contact with Kin, than Karma. Karma would always come, it was just the time lag... did I have enough time to go on a World cruise, or just stop for a pizza! Kin I'm much more focused that he's focused on me... this can be quite a problem when Ingvild is with us!

Karma didn't like being picked up... Kin gets picked up a lot! As Karma got older, I got a ramp for him to get in and out of the car without me having to pick him up. He never really liked the ramp either...

So not only does Kin get picked up, but I've already introduced him to the ramp... lots of treats used with both picking him up and the ramp... So far, all good!

Today we were in town for Kin to meet and greet folk. Which he did. We met a woman who'd lost her Lab in September... Kin gave her some Newfie therapy. She petted Kin for an inordinate amount of time, mainly as she missed her dog... I know how this is... I still deeply miss Karma:

Karma was very good at 'liberating' balls, floats, sticks,... (despite having come top on a life saving swimming course, I had to swim out and rescue him twice, once in reeds and once when he'd become tangled in slack line coming up from a lobster pot... you can also add a third time when I had to rescue him from moving water, but I managed this by hanging out over a tree...

And no this is Voss, the river Karma got swept away in was Figio's elve when in flood, picture is to illustrate that I have some experience with moving water... )

Anyway, the float that he's holding above, came home in Karma's jaws with his tail held high. I added a Monkey's fist to it, and Karma loved that toy...

And now Kin has inherited it! I'm happy to say that he loves it too.

I don't miss Karma any less, but Kin takes up more and more of my thoughts. Life moves on. Karma taught me many things and Kin is also teaching me things.

Things that you otherwise wouldn't see - Nurhan

Nurhan:

One of the things with having a dog is that you go out whatever the weather. With Karma at 0600 in the morning before work, we regularly came within a few metres of deer at the back of the house. After Karma reached five years old, the deer never ran from us. We would pass within eight metres of them and they would keep an eye on us but no more.

On those summer days there would be a low mist over the ground, the sun would already be high in the sky (payback is winter time). A magical time of day, brutally interrupted by the requirement of making a living!

Sometimes we were lucky enough to be out just as a downpour finished; the world really does feel cleansed after heavy rain, especially in the summer, again another magical time.

November 2009 my father passed away. Came back from the funeral and we had over 1/2 a metre of snow fall in four hours:

(Above four pictures are Karma and I out again on a walk, whatever the weather). Nature used her influence to bring everything to a grinding halt; and for a short time peace regained. Strangers smiled to each other. People volunteered to help each other.It was a magical time.

As Kin is small, and a giant breed, then we have to be careful with trips, but we've seen:

Okay, not a wonder of nature... Anyone who's ever had to put on snow chains will know that they are a pain in the 'a--e' to put on (and like crampons) you generally only try to put them on, after you actually need them... This device was spotted when the fire-brigade came to take the flag down at Byhaugen Cafe. As the wheel rotates in the vertical plane, it spins the chains in the horizontal plane, so there are always chains between the wheels and the ground. This looks like a neat solution... although I'm not rushing to change out my metal studded tyres just yet...

Wished I had my SLR with me for this chap, as the instant camera doesn't have the shutter speed to capture the action. This little chap was taking a bath, wings flapping... you can see the ripples in the water. He was completely unfussed by Kin and I, and taking advantage of the milder weather.

Sometimes I might not look forward to going out for walks, but I never regret them when I get back home.