CanuckInUSA

1) Do a lot more BASE jumps (and not die or mess myself up). 1.1) Do a 'B' so that I can get my BASE number. 1.2) Get my 2nd BASE rig functonal and online. 1.3) Start doing gainers, rollovers and tards at the bridge. 1.4) Freefall something in the 200 foot range. 1.5) Possibly do a terminal cliff BASE jump. 1.6) Possibly do a wingsuit BASE jump. I didn't do as many BASE jumps as I thought I would do this time last year. I did get my B though to complete my BASE number requirement (I'm BASE 1023) and have a 2nd BASE rig online. But no gainers, no ultra low freefalls (I did set a personal freefall low of 270 feet in this time), no terminal cliffs and no wingsuit BASE jumps for this camper. 2) Do more Ground Launching (and not die or mess myself up). 2.1) Buy a specialized GLX Ground Launching canopy (not cheap). 2.2) Compete in the few blade running events that exist. 2.3) Ground Launch off of a certain cliff BASE exit point in Moab. I didn't do as much Ground Launching as I would have liked to do. I did some in CO, but found out that I needed a bigger GL canopy than what I used in CA. And now that I'm in BC (and all the hills are full of trees), I wonder when/if I'll be able to GL again without planning a trip out to CA. And since I'm not an active GLer, I decided not to spend the money on a GLX canopy since those things are ultra expensive (3k USD for the canopy). 3) I likely won't be skydiving as much as I have in the past. But I would like to hit 1000 skydives in 2005 (I'm less than 200 jumps away from this goal). Maybe at next year's Eloy Holiday Boogie, maybe before then. It will all depend on my financial situation and how much BASE jumping and Ground Launching I do. 3.1) Do rear riser swoops (it'll happen soon if I Ground Launch a lot). 3.2) Not die or mess myself up swooping. Well this is where I totally did the opposite of what I thought I would do. Not only did I do those 200 skydives to hit the 1000 mark, I did another 350+ on top of those 200 jumps (I guess being unemployed with some savings helped). I can swoop with my rears and I'm very happy with my progression as a swooper this last year (doing 500+ jumps in the year didn't hurt). Oh and while I did suffer many minor swoop related injuries this year, I managed to stay away from the hospital and didn't manage to kill myself ... yet. But as others have mentioned here, the year is not over year and it looks like we may actually have some jumpable conditions here this coming weekend in the wet Pacific Northwest. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I never knew women were able to get woodies. I'm nothing more than a lowly "WATER" person. But water can be a very destructive power. Just ask the poor folks down in NO how they feel about water. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

"The Province" a local Vancouver BC area newspaper posted a picture in their rag today of a couple of wingsuiters doing their thing above the Florida Keys at this boogie. The picture shows Michael Swearingen (flying a Vampire) and Paul Mazzillo (it looks like an S3), but it's not clear on who took the picture (would it make sense if I mentioned the name Perry Trombridge) and "The Province" doesn't say much about the picture except that they titled it "On a wing and a prayer" and that the picture was taken over the Florida keys at this boogie. I searched their website this morning but couldn't find an online version of the picture. It's a cool pic and I was surprised to see some wingsuiters while I drank my morning cup of joe. But I want to make sure that they obtained this pic the proper way (I'm sure they did) and that the author is appropriately being compensated. So does this all make sense? It's kind of neat that the whuffos of the world are being shown the cool things that we do there up there in the skies. PS: I viewed the slide show of the boogie on Skydive Sebastien website and am saddened that I missed out on all the fun. But I couldn't help but notice that there were more party pictures than there were skydiving pics. Did you guys have good weather? or were you just too partied out to be jumping a lot. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Can I get a job in the QA department testing this game you wish to develop? It would be super fun to have a game like you speak of. But I also question if such a game should be made available to whuffo teenagers who trivialize the dangers of life. It could be disasterous. But as I also said, super fun for those of use who do realize the dangers we put ourselves in. One of the things I really like about GTA is exploring the town looking for new sites. And this game isn't ever geared towards BASE like the game you speak of. How cool would it be if similar real world scenarios existed in your game. PS: I've done a piss poor job of trying to get in touch with you to meet you in person. My bad, not yours. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The key is to dedicate some jumps towards canopy control. Pull high and practice drills. Instead of having that "I hope I remember" thought in your head, do the drills on these jumps and you will build the appropriate survival instincts where you saved you ass instinctually through muscle memory instead of "I hope I remember". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm more concerned that the guy is talking about going cross-braced with only 40 swoops under his belt (and I am no canopy nazi). Dude your paraglider experience is good for general experience in being up there in the skies. But no way should your paraglider experience be confused with swooping. Have you taken any advanced canopy control coaching or are you just living on your paragliding past? What kind of turns are you doing and more importantly, "what is your setup"? Swooping is tons of fun, but it is very unforgiving of the errors that we make (and we are all capable of making mistakes up there). Be smart and dial it back. You're on a road to disaster thinking that you're ready for a cross-braced canopy with only 40 swoops under you belt and 200 some odd total jumps (also knowing that unless you do a road trip, you're done jumping this winter and how's that for currency). Ah fuck it, I've got a Velocity 111 and maybe even a Velocity 103 for sale if you're interested. You should be fine under either one of these as long as you promise NOT to play with them up high when you first get it, be sure to pull low and really show us how good your paragliding skills are by going big swooping the beer line with that new cross-braced canopy. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I smell a troll. Since when does PD make a Stiletto 110 and since when would anyone let someone with 120+ jumps use such a small high performance canopy? Why don't you take your white supremists ideals elsewhere. You're not wanted here. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hmmm ... might I remind you that the original poster asked these questions in his first post: "How different from a regular canopy is it.. If I had it over my head (im new) and I did a controllability check.. Would it react the same way as any other canopy other than it would be fast and smaller? if I came in for a conservative landing.. Would it react the same?" So this opened up the flood gates for people to explain the differences in the canopies and their opinions that the newer jumpers should or shouldn't even consider landing one just naturally came out. What's so wrong with this? Or do we NOT tell the newbie why a canopy performs in a certain manner based on it's design characterisitcs and instead just tell them to chop and keep everything else a mystery to them? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't know if you did it again last year, but we're going to miss your drinking escapades from two years ago when you drank your ass off (excuse me ... barf), barfed into the garbage can many many many times, drank water and showed up to jump next day with no hang over. It was a classic "prepheckt" moment in time that we're going to miss. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's the only place I really see him going. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

A 21 cell cross-braced canopy comes in a lot steeper than you'd expect on a straight in approach and while the cross-braced canopy is an ultra efficient wing with a very powerful flare, would a novice be able to know when to flare on such a steep approach? Maybe ... maybe not ... so it's a good idea NOT to even contemplate trying to land one of these pocket rockets if you ever find yourself in that scenario. Think of it like this ... skydiving canopies can be like the various cars on the road. A tandem canopy is like a big bus or a truck. Student canopies are like small trucks. The average skydiving canopy is like a Honda Civic and a traditional 9 cell high performance canopy (when flown the way it should be flown by inducing a speed generating turn before leveling out) is like driving a Corvette. Now a cross-braced canopy (flown the way it should be flown by inducing speed before the swoop) is like a Ferrari with the best swoopers in the world who jump revolutionary canopies with HMA lines and RDS systems are like race car drivers of the world (Formula One/Indy Cart/Nascar). Can a novice survive a trip around the track in a race car? Maybe if they're careful, but one doesn't just get into a Formula One car without learning how to drive the less powerful cars first. So maybe you would survive an encounter flying a sub 100 high performance cross-braced canopy if you're careful. But things will be happening faster than you're used to, and instead of finding yourself in a "OMG this is fast" scenario, I think you're more likely not going to recognize how fast things are happening until you get low to the ground when it might be too late. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

His antics rememble that of a four year old child. At first the child throws a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way. But once disciplined by the authority figure, the spoiled child (Owens in this case) tries to say "I'm sorry, I won't do it again". Hogwash I say ... this moron needs to be ignored by all NFL football GMs so that maybe just maybe the message will be seen by other professional athletes that childish behaviour is not welcome in any sport let alone professional sports which costs fans an arm and a leg to attend. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This is a mistake. No amount of secular evidence will ever sway the religious away from their beliefs. All one needs to do is open one of the religious threads on here to see that. I've seen some of your posts on DZ.COM and you've got a good head on your shoulders. Stand up to him telling him to respect you for who you are and to not have him judge you because of your differences. Tell him you don't need him to save you because well you've already been saved. You jump from airplanes right? Is that salvation? I wish I could give you better advise, but the religious and secular world will never agree when it comes to the topic of religion. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I got my D in 2003 when 200 jumps were required. But in that time it got bumped up to 500 jumps to match what the rest of the world was doing. But my D License has only ever meant anything once. It allowed me to jump at the 2004 4th of July Wildwood NJ PST/Beach Boogie. Other than that it hasn't meant all that much and seeing others with Ds doesn't mean all that much either. So don't worry if you've got "this" license while I have "that" license type. In the end, we're all licensed skydivers aren't we? Well most of us are. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Because we're a bunch of clowns. Hell yah!!! I don't skydive and BASE jump for anyone but myself. I just moved to a new city ... Wet'couver (that's Vancouver for those without an imagination) and hardly know anyone here. But that won't stop me from jumping. Now wet, cloudy WX ... that's another story. I miss the sun of CO and it's only been something like 3 weeks. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Cool ... my family and non-jumping friends don't understand myself or my videos, but it's nice to leave something as a legacy to show how much fun we were having up there in the skies. To date I've not licensed the music I've put my videos to, so I can't charge money for them without risking a law suit (shit I'm still risking a law suit since I never got the artist's permissions to use their music, so don't tell anyone). So will Maverick Productions ever produce a commercial product? Chances are the answer is "no". I'm perfectly happy releasing short videos onto skydivingmovies.com for people to download and enjoy the video for free. But never say never. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's a good thing I'm living on high ground here in suburban Vancouver (north Burnaby) as it's rained for at least the last ten straight days. I miss the sunshine of CO and I haven't been able to jump for two weeks now. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Welcome to the world of amateur video making where most people in your audience don't know how much work goes into making a video and really don't care. I can't tell you exactly how much time I've spent working on past videos since I never paid close attention to the logged time. But I'm guessing it's somewhere in the 100 hour time frame to create one 5 minute video. It takes time to choose a song, analyzing it to know the chorus and versus, trying to make sense of the lyrics in terms of potentially telling a story with the song, searching for the appropriate raw footage to tell the story, shooting new raw footage if you don't have what you need, uploading the raw footage, editing and fine tuning the song until you thinks it's ready for mass consumption ... which of course will hardly be watched by anyone but yourself and maybe the people appearing in the video. But it can be a fun and rewarding task when you yourself can enjoy the work of your hard labor. So good luck with your future projects. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

GWB is not capable of speaking the truth. Why? Because he can't, he's a career politican. He speaks of this new free trade of the America's pact that everyone must play within the preset rules, yet GWB and the good ole US of A is the first country ready and willing to violate the rules (case in point the softwood lumber impass where the US still owes Canada 5 billion dollars but refuses to pay it). And is there any wonder why some people don't wish to believe anything he says and why some people choose to riot because of this (I'm not saying those riots were good, as they weren't, but it's easy to understand why some people don't like the moron). When are the red states going to wake up to realize that they elected an idiot into the most powerful position in the world? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's a parachute. It wants to open!!! Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

No I'm suggesting if for the CPC. Obviously there are up and coming people who want to compete, but they don't want to compete against people jumping cross-braced canopies, RDSs, HMA lines and many of us wearing led. But while I realize that I'm not ready to be competiting against the pros this coming season, I don't want to be held back by a bunch of restrictions only because some people don't want to compete the way we competed this season on the CPC. I'd still like to know why these people just don't enter the existing CPC events in the different regions? Only one person can win a swoop comp. Is it a money thing or a pride thing? I don't know? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm a 20 year software developer, but lately I'm not so sure you can call me a professional. I used to chase the Jones's, but that was before I became a skydiver. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I was also thinking that maybe the CPC should have an open class where the competitors are allowed to jump whatever they want and who knows maybe have a wingloading restriction of 2.4 or something like that (if the powers in charge, the WSA don't want the CPC to be truly open). Then maybe have another class for intermediate people. The open and intermediate people would compete at the same time during the respective regional season competitions, but results would be divided into the two classes (so that the intermediates aren't worried about finishing behind open competitors). But the open class should only be the ones allowed to qualify for the season ending CPC Championships. This way the CPC acts as a development circuit for new competitive swoopers while not holding back those who want to push themselves towards trying to qualify as a pro. Comments ... suggestions? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

0:0:0 Shitty weather here in Vancouver, plus I'm preparing to move into a new place tomorrow. I did play hockey today and we won 5-1 and yes I did get myself on the score sheet and it wasn't for a penalty.

I like slider off because when I reach up for my risers, I want to be touching risers, not my slider. But I also understand that the potential for rigging errors always exists if/when I'm switching between slider up and slider off configurations. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over