Static line in Northern California?

[Bodhisattva420 0]

My buddy just made his second skydive, a $100 tandem at Lodi. I think he might have the bug; he mentioned the great $1000 deal for AFF. I tried telling him he should take a static line course since he could make 2-3 times as many jumps for $1000 but I can't find anywhere online that offers static line training in Northern California. I did see that Skydive Madera offers a static line course but it says something about students switching to AFF after their first jump which seems to defeat the purpose. Does anyone know where I should tell my friend to go? Thanks a bunch! (Sorry to hate on AFF but I'm CHEAP!)

[rickt86 0]

I would be VERY careful doing AFF at Lodi, not sure who does static line up here, dont think anyone does, but for $200 more he can do it as Lincoln (skydive sacramento) which is a bit better of a place for doing AFF, many outs and a huge student field. They also focus on students big time here, its a smaller dz so it has an at home feel. Shoot them a call the number is on the website skydivesac.com

[bodypilot1 0]

This thread is going to be good...LMAO

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[Bodhisattva420 0]

Yeah I guess S/L is dead!

[topdocker 0]

You should also check USPA.org and see who has classes availible! There are many options for the student today in Norcal: Skydance, Skydive Sac, Norcal Skydiving, Bay Area Skydiving, Monterrey, Hollister, Madera.

I would suggest your friend call and talk to the dropzones himself and see which one feels right to him. Getting info from this forum is like getting phone numbers off the bathroom wall. All sorts of people have all sorts of axes to grind and you can't tell who is who.

BTW, my wife did AFF at Lodi, and I had no problems with it. Neither did she.

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[TiaDanger 0]

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I would be VERY careful doing AFF at Lodi,

Really? I'm sorry to hear you feel that way. I did AFF in Lodi and in no way do I feel like I made the wrong choice. Lodi has some pretty badass instructors if you ask me...

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

[TiaDanger 0]

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I would be VERY careful doing AFF at Lodi, not sure who does static line up here, dont think anyone does, but for $200 more he can do it as Lincoln (skydive sacramento) which is a bit better of a place for doing AFF, many outs and a huge student field. They also focus on students big time here, its a smaller dz so it has an at home feel. Shoot them a call the number is on the website skydivesac.com

I'm also curious...why do you feel this way? I mean, your profile says you work at Skydive Sac (hence the big plug for them), but have you ever actually jumped there? Lodi also has outs and huge student fields, and they also focus on students 'big time'. Gear is new and exceptionally well maintained, so I'm having a hard time swallowing your notion of a questionable AFF program.

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

[rickt86 0]

I flew at Sac for part of the winter, its how I ended up out here, but they now have a full time pilot, so I have been jumping as much as I can till I head back to reality in 2 weeks, and my jumping out here includes at skydance. Lodi has a bad rap, not only out here, but back east. I went out there for a day and checked it out and chose not to jump. I also help out here at the manifest desk when they need it here as well as sussex/xkeys, and I have seen people from Lodi show up and the paper work is so ass backwards. "I got 55 jumps, no gear, and a few lines signed off on this A card thing in the back of my log book, but I want a license for Zhills when I visit grandma" is very common. Its just my opinion, I am the operations manager at Sussex, and its a huge head ache when people show up from non USPA DZs.

I did not jump there for a few reasons that you can figure out based on why a good amount of people don't. It's not a bad DZ, but it would be scary to me to send someone to do an AFF there. Sac has a MASSIVE landing area, and Skydance is close behind on size, just more obstacles.

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I would be VERY careful doing AFF at Lodi, not sure who does static line up here, dont think anyone does, but for $200 more he can do it as Lincoln (skydive sacramento) which is a bit better of a place for doing AFF, many outs and a huge student field. They also focus on students big time here, its a smaller dz so it has an at home feel. Shoot them a call the number is on the website skydivesac.com

I'm also curious...why do you feel this way? I mean, your profile says you work at Skydive Sac (hence the big plug for them), but have you ever actually jumped there? Lodi also has outs and huge student fields, and they also focus on students 'big time'. Gear is new and exceptionally well maintained, so I'm having a hard time swallowing your notion of a questionable AFF program.

[noname 0]

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I did not jump there for a few reasons that you can figure out based on why a good amount of people don't.

No I can't "figure it out" from your post. What was the reason? A few people told you it was a bad place to jump? A "good amount" of people don't jump there? A good amount of people do jump there you know. You saw a few low time jumpers with bad paperwork? You pulled up in the parking lot and there was a giant flying spaghetti monster over the landing area? What was your reason?

[DSE 5]

Curious thing... I *did* see the Flying Spaghetti Monster over Lodi, or something that resembled Him.
I jumped there anyway.
Lodi may not be for everyone, but it's a fun DZ, IMO. A lot of talent there.

[TiaDanger 0]

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I went out there for a day and checked it out and chose not to jump.

Why not? You never really said why YOU didn't choose to jump? I'm just curious, thats all, on why you decided not to jump at my home DZ, based on what you saw or heard when you stopped by that one day.

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I did not jump there for a few reasons that you can figure out based on why a good amount of people don't.

Many, many, many people jump at Lodi. Many.

The unfortunate thing is that people at many DZ's don't take care of their logbook/signatures as they should. People at Lodi, people on other west coast dropzones, people on east coast dropzones. I can assure you that I am a Lodi native and all my paperwork is in order, as is most of the people I jump with so I think you are making a huge generalization that isn't really substantiated. Like I said before...to each their own opinion, but AFF in Lodi has been nothing but a positive, safe experience for me and everybody I jump with. If you don't want to jump at Lodi, Hey! Thats great! But I don't feel like you have the authority to badmouth Lodi's AFF program when you don't know much about it.

And for the record: the appropriate ranking of cool modes of transportation is jet pack, hover board, transporter, Batmobile, and THEN giant ant.
D.S. #8.8

[bodypilot1 0]

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I did not jump there for a few reasons that you can figure out based on why a good amount of people don't.

No I can't "figure it out" from your post. What was the reason? A few people told you it was a bad place to jump? A "good amount" of people don't jump there? A good amount of people do jump there you know. You saw a few low time jumpers with bad paperwork? You pulled up in the parking lot and there was a giant flying spaghetti monster over the landing area? What was your reason?

Mara, I can tell you from many years of working at local USPA drop zones, bad mouthing Lodi, even without any knowledge about it, is part of the tandem training and the first jump course!
Maybe other local dz's are adding it to the training now too?

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[noname 0]

Jealousy makes people do funny things.