mindway69

Right...you're not sure though.... I'm sure she can find one pretty cheap in a porn store, but I figured I'd see if there was one she could borrow.....you know skydivers - someone is bound to have a blow-up doll!

Does anyone have one they could do without for the weekend? I have a friend who is looking for one. And just so you know it's a good cause, the doll will be named Paris and there will be clothing that references white trash and "that's hot!" No, not a spoiler for my costume in case you were wondering....

I am responding to this because I am in a similar situation to you. I agree that your teammates should not have to change all of their wing loadings for what you are looking to learn with swooping. I don't think you should be thinking about changing what you have to learn to swoop. IMHO, I would stay with what you have (and I would not recommend going from a 135sf canopy directly to a sub-100sf canopy, even if you had been doing really good competition swoops) and learning with that first. I have taken an EXTREMELY conservative approach to learning. I spent hundreds of dives working on double fronts on my Sabre2 135 before progressing to a different canopy. Then, I spent at least 100 dives getting back to the point of good double fronts and consistency before thinking about moving to 90s. I have spent about 200 jumps working on 90s, and last weekend I entered my 1st competition for learning purposes. Many people have moved faster than I have. Many people think that by learning slowly it will give slower results. Last weekend is the "proof in the pudding." I have never practiced on gates, never measured my swoops, and I knew going into it that I was loading 1.35 compared to 2.1-2.2 for all the guys. I did my humble little 90s and they did their kick ass 270s. I hit the gates 5 out of 6 rounds. I got a distance of 158 feet in one distance round. I scored points in 3 out of 6 rounds. The point of this ridiculously long post is that all the practice on any size canopy will translate. Work on your pattern first, because that is what will make it easy for you to hit the course easily like I did, even in really challenging conditions. Then, work on changing one detail at a time. Get your turn rate and technique down up high. The move it down. These are all the things that will make you a safe, consistent, and competitive swooper. And then have fun playing with the boys! If you want to chat more or just want to share similar experiences, PM me! Safe Swoops, Katie

That gimp needs to hurry the hell up! I did four games and made it up to four tries in one game - still haven't died! Everyone was wrong! I am INVINCIBLE!!! Yeah, right Anyway, this makes me think of two things: 1. 24 Season three 2. Base jumping

Yep, drunk I love my hubby and my kitties and all my wonderful friends. And I love lamp.

Thanks for your reply. I think we may just buy the 2003 video for now, but I will inquire about the ETA of the 2004 video. I appreciate your help!

Sigh. Yeah, I realize now what I was missing by not browsing the discipline forums. A lot of unanswered questions. Well, whatever. I got the answer to the one about Nationals rules for anyone who is interested: UPSA rules govern, not FAI. As for the video, someone did respond finally and suggested I contact the video manufacturer directly. Good suggestion. I thought that since someone from the company had posted there before, they might answer there. I think we may just buy the 2003 video. People couldn't have gotten THAT much better in a year right?

Seeing as no one wants to answer good questions in the discipline forums! Exuse my rant for a minute, but WTF?!?! I thought this was a skydiving website/forum. The most active posts are the bull$hit ones in the bonfire! Maybe this is the only place to get answers before the thread gets either hijacked or moved to the propper forum where it will NEVER GET AnSWERED!!!! End of rant.

Lol! I don't get it (by the way, I am about to hijack my own question, but...), if this were the frickin bonfire, there would be 12 million responses. I actually post something in what I would expect to be a more helpful, productive forum and get NO RESPONSES?! By the way, you coming ot the anniversary boogie June 4-5? Can't wait to jump with you more...

Yeah, I like it. I'm a dirty little whore

Anyone?....

Hmmm, I saw this post a while ago and a few names of fabulous women I have jumped with came to mind. Some have been mentioned already, some have not. But when I saw the thread again tonight, something else came to mind. Not to be overly cheesy, but I think the best female freeflier would be the woman who will make her first freefly dive tomorrow. The best female (or any gender) freeflier is the one who has the pure enthusiasm and excitement of that first freefly dive. That is, as mastercard would say, priceless. So I guess for me it's dynamic.

Soooo, sorry to bring this topic back, but what is the status of the 2004 Nationals Video? I have not competed before, so the big discussion that went on does not apply to me. I'm one of the newbie competitors that the video may help! Yay! Any news would be appreciated.

Just for newbie teams like mine, the FAI freeflying randoms aren't differentiating between intermediate and open. On USPA's website, the 2004 manual (2005 to be released in May) lists 5 moves for intermediate randoms and 10 for open. What's the deal with this? Is the dive pool for Intermediate different than open, or do we follow similar/same rules as FAI? Thanks in advance for anyone's insight!

We're Greeeaaattt!

Yay Justi!! Happy Birthday! I wish we could be there to help you make the most of it....next time, babe! You ROCK!

A few people have been requesting pics, so here ya go. Sherry and Firefly are amazing! We actually look like good freefliers....heheheee. Hmmm, I guess we better get some coaching... Yay Censored!

WOO HOO! Er, um, yeah, we would have a great "girly day." If it makes you feel any better about CSS, we are still coughing and feeling like crap and keeping each other awake at night tossing and turning. (At leats no one can say I don't share...) I HATE BEING SICK! Can't wait to see you guys soon!

We may do a hot thing here or there for shits and giggles....

LMAO!! We waited two years for ours...I was fat in the pics, so pretend it isn't me.... This was Vegas 2001 (for my 21st birthday). Appropriate since we were married in Vegas. We'll be going back in three weeks...hoping to go visit our chapel

I have had perma-smile the whole time I read this thread. I love seeing other happy married couples. Marriage gets a bad rap most of the time, but when it's good, its GOOD!

I would also be interested to hear what other people have tried. I am learning 90s right now, and still a little high, but I have been pulling down double fronts to build a little speed, then let one riser up enough to do my 90, and then ease the other up til they are equal and then let both up. I have been doing this at about 400 feet, but as I said, I don't have it dialed in yet. When I was hanging out with some of the guys on the factory team they said the Katana is so new that they don't really have enough time on the canopy to figure out ideal wing loading for performance. That said, everyone thought they had figured it out with the Velocity (2.1-2.2), but have recently found that higher loading may give more power with less loss of performance than they originally thought. Maybe we don't know the "ideal" wing loading on anything yet as the rules are still being defined.... I don't think there is a rule of thumb about any of this (except don't do a 270 at 200 feet!)...we all just keep playing and learning.

If you find a good body painter, let me know or post it in this thread with pics. I'll be looking for the work at Dublin...