ZigZagMarquis

Sure, if you do not mind. Well... some brave (or stupid... depending on your opinion) folk in the building caught the thing in a trash can and took it outside and set it free. Good on them. Okay, bang on me about snakes being your friends and all... and I don't have any problem with the king snakes or red racers that hang around here too... but when it comes to rattle snakes that develop the "habit" of hanging around where people live & work... if it were at my home... I'd introduce Mr. Rattle Snake to my Remington 870 pump-action 12ga. "Snake Catcher". ... works on cats too.

I've heard that black widow bites are very painful. I've heard that you can only ever get the black widow anti-venom once in you're life, but I think that's an "old wives tale" told to kids to scare them into not f-in' with black widows. I've also heard that the possible side effects and complications that can come from the anti-venom itself leads a lot of doctors to be hesitant to give it to you if you've been bitten... i.e. see if you can gutt out the pain without it, because the anti-venom may f-you up more then the bite in the first place. I live in the Mojave Desert too... do you want to hear about the Mojave Green Rattle Snake we... actually some other stupid person... caught in the hallway at work today?

If being naked is my next best chance, I'm in the wrong profession. Whooop! Whooop! Skymama Naked!!!!???!!!! When??? Where??? I'm There!!!

Um, are the lines Spectra? If yes, and there's something like 500-800 jumps on the line-set, its probably a good bet its time for a line-kit... if you want to bother putting 200-ish bucks (a bit less if you get the line-kit from PD and have a local rigger do it... a bit more if you send it back to PD) into the cannopy at this point.

So what your telling us is you place a value of Appx. 120.00 dollars on your life. Now that seems kind of silly to me. Now before you go off on me and try to feed me some line of bullshit about how your handles can't, won't, couldn't, cause any problems, there is a new friend of mine who has been around many many years in the sport and he is not doing well, this wise old timer has been heard to say "think up everything that can't go wrong, and it probably will, once!" That would be Al Frisby and what I have learned from guys like him is, never say never, just because it hasn't happend to you or your buddys YET, don't mean it won't happen!" Point being why have the handles in your hand and the cables flop'n in the breeze in close proxmity to your head/back where your reserve (last chance) is deploying from and risk an entanglement. Sure I know plenty of people who lived from doing it, but I've seen some pretty weird shit too in my time in the sport, I think I toss my handles when the shit hits the fan, we have been training this for years, WHY, because more then one person lost their life over a 40.00 dollar handle. I hear what you're saying, Strato, and I doubt that I'd personally ever hang-onto a cut-away or reserve handle following a cut-away if tossing them meant freeing up my hands to deal with what ever needed to be dealt with (e.g... kicking out of line twists under a reserve or get to flying it because of being saddled low). I remember, as a student, being taught in the event of a cut-away/reserve ride, toss the handles and start to work on flying your reserve and I remember practicing EPs as such while a student. I too get displeased when the good natured "jabs" towards an experienced jumper that comes down safe on their reserve sans a handle or two turns into ridin' their ass too hard about tossing a handle. Having said that though, there are two distinct things I remember from my 1st reserve ride, all the way back on my 20th jump. The PD230 main in the rental rig I was jumping opened into a line-over (Mae West). I took one look at it and decided to get rid of it... the first distinct thing I can remember was a stong sense of disappointment that the main didn't work. I quickly decided I needed to do my EPs... I ain't saying I was all cool and laid back about it like it was no big deal, but it wasn't like I was freakin' out either, I recognized the problem and got to work being busy dealing with it... look red, grasp red, look silver, grasp silver, pull red, pull siver, arch, check check. In short, it was a text book cut-away and reserve deployment... the reserve was open/fully inflated, slider down, no line twists, flying on heading, plenty of altitude left (I was under the reserve above 2K)... at that point, I looked at both handles still in my hands... and here's the second distinct thing I remember from my 1st reserve ride... thinking to myself it would be a waste to toss these now, so I stuffed both handles down my jumpsuit and proceded to fly the reserve, land, buy beer and a bottle for the rigger, tell my "no shit there I was stories", etc.

Wow! You're sounding a bit like Sparky there DP. Anyway, you forgot one... 3) Be a hot female with huge hooters and you'll not have any trouble finding someone to help you pack... for free... around pretty much any DZ you'll ever set foot on.

Ummm, yeah, uh-huh... could say too that, "Some modern canopies, as compared to an F111 PD canopy, open into a streamer that eventually clears." Anyway, I did my first 800 jumps or so on an F111 PD190. Sure, the flare on an F111 canopy never was nor never could be like on a ZP canopy like say a Sabre, Sabre2, Stiletto, Katan, etc., but the openings were a whole hell of a lot more predictable in terms in "how long it will take to open" IMO... good, bad, right or wrong, we used to be a lot more apt to "take some off the bottom" jumping F111. Oh, and I'm not saying PD F111 canopies didn't land; I'll go to my grave thinking PD, hands down, has come up with the best line of sport canopies that "land", no mater what circa generation they came from.

I seriously must have done something bad in a past life... I never stumble into anything good like that. You one lucky guy, Nick. Good on ya. Did you mention to the folks at the Salvation Army store what they had and didn't know it?

Et all... just in interogative... I never liked the term "grab" when it came to EPs as it somehow sounds somewhat "in haste" or "panicy"... I always prefered the term "grasp" as it seems more "with thought and control", but that's just me... and also because thats the way I was taught, scary, I can almost still hear Celaya telling it to me that way when I did my gear transition...

Ummm... are you saying that's what happened in the Sullivan Crash... or are you sure that's what happened... or is it just speculation? Is it wise to post such stuff with lawsuits still pending?

Aren't there &^%$#* aligators in those there Florida canals!!!???! Yes, and you got extra credit for wrestling an alligator. Too bad Steve Irwin is no longer with us. It would have made a great episode of The Croc Hunter to have him come to Florida, do 1st jump course, go up, do his AFF Level 1, land in a Florida Canal and have to wrestle a Florida Aligator on the way out of the water.... Crikey!!

Caveat... I am not a CRW-dog... I only have 2 CRW jumps and both were inadvertant... so if you're really interested, you may want to venture over to the CRW forum and chat with folks there, but the way I understand it, "top docking" someone to put together a 2-Stack is quite the feat of skill in CRW. A maneuver to be respected to the max if someone can pull it off. The more "traditional" way of putting together a 2-Stack, my understanding being, the bottom jumper puts his (or her) center cell on the top jumpers butt and the top jumper hooks in that way. Gotta love those CRW-dogs... I love watchin' them do their thing... from the ground with a beer in hand.

Yeah, I wondered about that. Its been a couple of years, but I've stayed at the Days Inn before... even back when it was a Best Western... it never really was all that great, but seemed to be going downhill the last time I was there and then I noticed (I think it was on Perris' website) that is wasn't on its local list of hotels anymore. Too bad. Without staying on the DZ itself, you can't get much closer.

I know this would be easier if I just agreed with you... ... but you're talking in two different directions at the same time... again. So are you saying students should be taught to use two hands per handle... or are you saying if students are trained properly it doesn't matter?

Have the factory reccomendations for previous canopy experience and overall jump numbers changed for the Stiletto since 1992? Do you happen to know what they were then, and what they are now? dave, my 2 cents... Not factory recomendations... but I remember the day when if you'd walk into a gear store wanting to buy (or demo) a Stiletto and you didn't have several hundred, best approaching a thousand jumps, you'd be told, "Hell NO! I ain't gonna sell you (or letting you jump) that!" Now a days, I see kids with less then 200 jumps on Stilettos and no one bats and eye... times change.

Aren't there &^%$#* aligators in those there Florida canals!!!???! Anyway, they've got a dogh-boy (sp?) above ground pool at the DZ where I did my wet water training... so, yes, I actually got wet during water training.

20 cutaways, one hand per handle, never a problem. All DZ's in South Africa teach this way. Any idea how one would do 2 hands per handle with a Tandem rig? 7 of my cutaways have been on tandems. t We're talking about training studens here, not an experienced jumper who has the calmness and experience to ensure a pause in procedure to ensure a complete breakaway. Hang on there a second DP. I realize I'm cross-threading here, but in the thread in the Incidents froum that spawned this thread, you're all about the "one hand per handle" method being "flawed" and make no distiction between students and experienced jumpers. I'm sorry, but I gotta call you on this one. I understnad your point, but I also submit you're arguing your point so hard that you're loosing sight of something and begining to argue something for argument sake & and get you word in last. Whether one uses the one-hand-per-handle or the two-hands-per-handle methods, proper execution is the key. I submit to you that each method has is pros and cons. Not the only things, but just an example for each... One-hand-per-handle: Pro: Jumper has a hand on each handle, cut-away and reserve, before starting EPs, thus, jumper doesn't have to locate reserve handle after cut-away and back in freefall, persumably, at a relatively low altitude. Con: Potential for jumper to fire reserve after pulling cut-away, but, for what ever reason, main hasn't cleared, say, because the jumper didn't extract the cut-away cables all the way. Two-hands-per-hadle: Pro: Starting out with both hads on the cut-away, if for what ever reason, the cut-away is a "hard-pull" the jumper has the strength of both hands/arms to deal with it. Con: After pulling the cut-away, the jumper, now, back in freefall, has to locate, grasp and pull the reserve... this can be mitigated by the use of an RSL (or now, Skyhook), but do we really need to run down the whole "RSL Debate" here?... I'll pass. Of course proper student training is a must, duh! I also submit, that given the results of this poll are showing about a 50/50 split in the use of each method, okay with things leaning towards the two-hands-per-handle method, I'd pose that either is effective when performed properly... again, duh! Last but not least, an interesting twist on this would be to ask experienced skydivers, "Which method were you trained on and what do you do now?" My point being, I'd venture to guess, that folks who were tained on either method A or B would tend to stick with that method.

... and how did shiny new Katan meet tree sap?

Because I know folks that have stayed there and have had stuff stolen. Sorry to hear that. I stayed there in 2003 and didn't have any problems, nor did any of the other 13 deaf skydivers who slept there. Then again, I kept my valuables with me at all times, only leaving my clothes and bathroom stuff in the closet. True enough, and I should caveat it as it may be an isolated (rare) incident that happened to one person I happen to know.

BAWAHHHAAAA!!!!! HHHHAAAAWAAAA!!!!! Ok..lemme catch my breath.... ;-) Seriously, they all suck. . True. I suppose I shouldn't have used the word "decent"... ... my bad. So you're saying I should consider going with Plan-B... bring my pillow, sleeping bag, .45 & crash in the back of my car?

Good to know, thanks,

Because I know folks that have stayed there and have had stuff stolen.

N/A

yes, i did a search on dz.com Anyone got any inside gouge on a decent hotel near Skydive Perris? I hear the Days Inn close by, catty-corner from the Denny's, has really gone down hill.

20 cutaways, one hand per handle, never a problem. All DZ's in South Africa teach this way. Any idea how one would do 2 hands per handle with a Tandem rig? 7 of my cutaways have been on tandems. t I know a Tandem Mastet that had to have the student reach up and help him pull the cut-away once... that gets ya 2-hands on the cut-away on a Tandem.