Operations, FTJ Course and Membership Pricing, Club Member of the Year Nominees

== Chairman’s Comment ==

After all that fuss about when to operate and when not, we have decided to change our minds AGAIN and do our very best to operate every weekend. Please do your part by trying to support us as often as possible. If we have no bookings and a poor forecast, we MAY decide on a Wednesday to be closed. So do not plan for once-a-month currency. As we have stated before, that is a risky game.

I seem to get all the negative news to give, but please note the crime season has started at the DZ again. A person was found rifling through tents and although nothing was taken this was purely good timing on our part. So do not keep valuables in your tents. Lock them in your car and put in the tent only what you need for sleeping.

Also, there is a FTJ course price increase coming. Please tell all your friends that are at least partway convinced to jump, to hurry. They can save some money by doing the course this month. Read more below.

== Membership Fees ==

We have increased the membership fee for the first time in many years. We now have permanent facilities that have increased significantly over the past 18 months, and with them comes an increase in costs. We can’t recoup it all through membership fees, but if we don’t recoup some of it that way the pressure on jump tickets will only get worse.

Although membership is technically due as of 1 July, we have set that date back to 7 July. So you have this week to pay. After that - no membership, no jump. If you’ve been on a temporary membership this is the time to switch over.

If you are a student and don’t know if you need to pay – you get 3 months free with your full-price FTJ course. Groupon students would have paid for 3 months with your second jump. So if you’ve been jumping longer than three months, you need to pay membership.

Our trusty PRO will be getting the website updated over the next few days. The prices included in this newsletter are the relevant ones:

Regular Single Membership – R1000
Regular Family Membership – R1140
Regular Social Membership – R850
Student Single Membership – R850
Student Family Membership – R969
Student Social Membership – R680.

Please note the word “Student” does not apply to your skydiving status. If you are a full-time student at a tertiary institution, or still at school you are entitled to a reduced membership fee. Good news for Tim Hart!

== FTJ Course Price Increase ==

We have kept the FTJ price unchanged through the course of a number of fuel increases. Now with the increase in membership fees, we have reached the point where we have to bump it up.

The new course fee for the FTJ Course and one jump will be R1300. That is an increase of R100. In order to encourage some activity during the winter months, we will be making this increase effective only on 1 August. So please encourage your friends to book for July.

== Upcoming AGM - Portfolios ==

Below are descriptions of another two portfolios which need filling.

Secretary
This is the person who keeps minutes at all our meetings, and also prepares for the AGM or any SGMs we might need to have. You will be responsible for setting up duty rosters and for a lot of inter-club communication. It is a good position for someone wanting to step up to the Committee, who does not have a huge amount of experience in the sport as yet.

PR Officer
This personis responsible for representing the club to the public, for taking and coordinating those bookings, and for promoting the club so as to attract bookings. It includes everything from answering the phone to checking on websites that have referenced us and keeping their info up to date. It is a heavyweight portfolio and requires work every day. This is for a seriously dedicated individual.

We do have people prepared to stand for some of the vacant roles. However feel free to throw your hat in the ring if you have something to offer.

== Awards – Club Member of the Year ==

Emails are going out this week for award nominations. We are doing something a bit different for “Club Member of the Year”. It used to be a Committee vote. This year, the Committee has come up with three nominees, and we are asking the members to vote for their choice. The nominees are:

Dylan Owen
Dylan was behind the Groupon initiative, and although it added several years onto the ages of most duty staff, it still managed to take down the average age on the dropzone by bringing in lots of “new blood” to grow the sport and expand the club. Plus we have had an excellent retention rate on our “groupon babies”. Vote for him if Groupon is why you are skydiving.

The Fuidges
This couple joined us relatively recently and both completely dived in to both the social side and the running of the club. Andi is now our de facto PRO and our full time Manifest person, and Justin has become a jumpmaster and a packer of note. Vote for them if you’d like to see more people devote that much time and energy to their club.

Team du Preez
Andre and Vivienne are the programmer and artist behind our website and newsletter. They designed and host the website, and they help us by distributing our newsletter each week. We just have to do stuff and write about it! Vote for them if you agree we have the best skydiving website you have ever seen!

== Instructor Comment ==

Our Chief AFF instructor commented this week that he was feeling uncurrent after a week of not jumping. I am sure students find this surprising. They probably think Tim could do this in his sleep, so he’d be fine after even a year off.

Well, he would. But the more “on your game” you are, the more you recognise even a tiny reduction in performance. If you take that year off, then you come back careful and you rebuild. If you take a week off, it is easy to forget that extra care is needed – and that is what Tim was picking up on.

If you are jumping only once or twice a month, and especially if all the skills are relatively new anyway, there is just too much going on for you to identify the effects of uncurrency in yourself as clearly as Tim can. But they are there.

If you recognise that fact, you will jump as often as you can, you will check your gear and then make sure you get checked out properly by someone else, you will make sure you ask questions if you have ANY doubts, you will practise your reserve drills regularly, and you will visualise each kit up, plane ride and jump thoroughly from start to finish before you do it.

Pam Russell

These emails contains important operational information as well as other relevant and interesting stuff pertaining to Skydiving and Parachuting. Emails are sent out WEEKLY. This is our primary method of communication. Thanks for receiving and reading. If this email not displaying correctly? Click here to view it in your browser.

Secret Birthdays This was a better weekend! Much more activity going on and a First Freefall for Nigel Alexander who waited hours for the wind to drop, and a first jump for Daniel Rabie who is moving on to the AFF program. Tandem jumpers Rory, Michelle, Nicholas and Tercia seemed to have a great time with Tim, who managed to scare a few of his passengers by doing high performance landings on his own canopy just before taking them up. Both Chene and MFN had birthdays on Saturday but both of them pretty much managed to stay under the radar. MFN eventually mentioned it in the evening, whereas Chene just stayed in Cape Town until Sunday. We would never ask a lady her age but MFN is now “close to 50”. The operating weekends are updated on the Skydive Robertson Face Book Page, and we often post updates during the weekend as well… make sure you stay informed – Check under EVENTS http://www.facebook.com/SkydiveRobertsonWPSPC Blue Skies Skydive Robertson This young lady dragged her Mom all the way out from Capetown on the day before they returned to India to jump with us! - by Oliver Nöthen == Chairman’s Comment == After all that fuss about when to operate and when not, we have decided to change our minds AGAIN and do our very best to operate every weekend. Please do your part by trying to support us as often as possible. If we have no bookings and a poor forecast, we MAY decide on a Wednesday to be closed. So do not plan for once-a-month currency. As we have stated before, that is a risky game. I seem to get all the negative news to give, but please note the crime season has started at the DZ again. A person was found rifling through tents and although nothing was taken this was purely good timing on our part. So do not keep valuables in your tents. Lock them in your car and put in the tent only what you need for sleeping. Also, there is a FTJ course price increase coming. Please tell all your friends that are at least partway convinced to jump, to hurry. They can save some money by doing the course this month. Read more below. == Membership Fees == We have increased the membership fee for the first time in many years. We now have permanent facilities that have increased significantly over the past 18 months, and with them comes an increase in costs. We can’t recoup it all through membership fees, but if we don’t recoup some of it that way the pressure on jump tickets will only get worse. Although membership is technically due as of 1 July, we have set that date back to 7 July. So you have this week to pay. After that - no membership, no jump. If you’ve been on a temporary membership this is the time to switch over. If you are a student and don’t know if you need to pay – you get 3 months free with your full-price FTJ course. Groupon students would have paid for 3 months with your second jump. So if you’ve been jumping longer than three months, you need to pay membership. Our trusty PRO will be getting the website updated over the next few days. The prices included in this newsletter are the relevant ones: Regular Single Membership – R1000 Regular Family Membership – R1140 Regular Social Membership – R850 Student Single Membership – R850 Student Family Membership – R969 Student Social Membership – R680. Please note the word “Student” does not apply to your skydiving status. If you are a full-time student at a tertiary institution, or still at school you are entitled to a reduced membership fee. Good news for Tim Hart! == FTJ Course Price Increase == We have kept the FTJ price unchanged through the course of a number of fuel increases. Now with the increase in membership fees, we have reached the point where we have to bump it up. The new course fee for the FTJ Course and one jump will be R1300. That is an increase of R100. In order to encourage some activity during the winter months, we will be making this increase effective only on 1 August. So please encourage your friends to book for July. == Upcoming AGM - Portfolios == Below are descriptions of another two portfolios which need filling. Secretary This is the person who keeps minutes at all our meetings, and also prepares for the AGM or any SGMs we might need to have. You will be responsible for setting up duty rosters and for a lot of inter-club communication. It is a good position for someone wanting to step up to the Committee, who does not have a huge amount of experience in the sport as yet. PR Officer This personis responsible for representing the club to the public, for taking and coordinating those bookings, and for promoting the club so as to attract bookings. It includes everything from answering the phone to checking on websites that have referenced us and keeping their info up to date. It is a heavyweight portfolio and requires work every day. This is for a seriously dedicated individual. We do have people prepared to stand for some of the vacant roles. However feel free to throw your hat in the ring if you have something to offer. == Awards – Club Member of the Year == Emails are going out this week for award nominations. We are doing something a bit different for “Club Member of the Year”. It used to be a Committee vote. This year, the Committee has come up with three nominees, and we are asking the members to vote for their choice. The nominees are: Dylan Owen Dylan was behind the Groupon initiative, and although it added several years onto the ages of most duty staff, it still managed to take down the average age on the dropzone by bringing in lots of “new blood” to grow the sport and expand the club. Plus we have had an excellent retention rate on our “groupon babies”. Vote for him if Groupon is why you are skydiving. The Fuidges This couple joined us relatively recently and both completely dived in to both the social side and the running of the club. Andi is now our de facto PRO and our full time Manifest person, and Justin has become a jumpmaster and a packer of note. Vote for them if you’d like to see more people devote that much time and energy to their club. Team du Preez Andre and Vivienne are the programmer and artist behind our website and newsletter. They designed and host the website, and they help us by distributing our newsletter each week. We just have to do stuff and write about it! Vote for them if you agree we have the best skydiving website you have ever seen! == Instructor Comment == Our Chief AFF instructor commented this week that he was feeling uncurrent after a week of not jumping. I am sure students find this surprising. They probably think Tim could do this in his sleep, so he’d be fine after even a year off. Well, he would. But the more “on your game” you are, the more you recognise even a tiny reduction in performance. If you take that year off, then you come back careful and you rebuild. If you take a week off, it is easy to forget that extra care is needed – and that is what Tim was picking up on. If you are jumping only once or twice a month, and especially if all the skills are relatively new anyway, there is just too much going on for you to identify the effects of uncurrency in yourself as clearly as Tim can. But they are there. If you recognise that fact, you will jump as often as you can, you will check your gear and then make sure you get checked out properly by someone else, you will make sure you ask questions if you have ANY doubts, you will practise your reserve drills regularly, and you will visualise each kit up, plane ride and jump thoroughly from start to finish before you do it. Pam Russell Opening shot - by Oliver Nöthen == Booking Requests and General Information == I have deleted much of the standard information from this newsletter. It will reappear from time to time so that it is always handy in your recent archives, but we don’t need it every single week. If you can’t find it in a recent newsletter, you can always refer to our website. If you are interested in trying out / starting skydiving please request our latest information and bookings document. We look forward to welcoming you and your friends and family to Skydive Robertson, and introducing you to the exhilarating sport of skydiving and parachuting. Blue Skies and Great Skydives... Skydive Robertson www.Skydive.co.za bookings@skydive.co.za Club Cell +27 (0)83 462 5666 GPS - S 33°48'46.55" / E 19°54'3.78" www.facebook.com/SkydiveRobertsonWPSPC Skydive Robertson Western Province Sport Parachute Club (WPSPC) CAA / ARO / 0004

These emails contains important operational information as well as other relevant and interesting stuff pertaining to Skydiving and Parachuting Emails are sent out WEEKLY This is our primary method of communication Thanks for receiving and reading If you no longer wish to receive communication from Skydive Robertson, please click here to unsubscribe.