Tee

You ARE missed here Frank!!!

You couldn't be more correct! Larsen and Brusgaard have the most amazing service for their product. I can name a multitude of times when they have replaced or serviced one of their products for FREE! You can't top their customer service!

Here is a pic of the dive site. We are the tiny little people in the water. It is fabulous because the mountains extend another 400 feet under water, so the cliffs underneath are amazing. Tee

That's our Clay! You just need a good skydiving woman...we know how to take care of our men and get what we need in return...right girls! Tee

Ahh yes, tis true in the beginning. But once you are together for awhile and have fallen in love and all that "stuff", it never hurts to "worship" a girl a bit and really let her know how you feel.

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one insane enough to dive on into glacial lakes! My instructor had his dry suit on too...NO FAIR! But even with the cold water experience, I know that I will enjoy the sport....skydiving will always come first, but this is a nice close second. I think once I get in the tropical waters of Mexico, SCUBA will take on a whole new meaning.

6:45 Saturday morning, I woke up, packed up my SCUBA gear and headed to the mountains for my open water SCUBA exams. The thought that the temperature was only 24 F didn't scare me...the sun was going to poke its head at some point and warm it up...right?!?!?! Boy was I wrong. As I reached my destination dive site (about 4500 ft ASL) not only did the sun stay behind a layer of fog and clouds, but it was SNOWING!!! We took our time getting our equipment together to lengthen our surface interval because of the altitude change and were ready to go about 10:00. Now, if you know mountain lakes they are cold as hell in the summer, but on a cold fall day in Canada, when there is snow on the ground, the water temperature plummetted to a VERY cold 42 F!! At this point in the trip we were very apprehensive about getting into the water in our 7mm wet-suits. That's right folks we toughed it out in our wetsuits, it was so cold that our first stages (on the tank) were freezing open! Once in the water, and almost immediately shivering, we stayed for about 25 minutes each time, giving us plenty of time to perform our drills and still explore the underwater cliffs, ricks and aquatic life. As cold as it was it was still an amazing experience!

I love the idea about the maniquin parts sticking out of the ground.....too funny! As for the homelessness, if you are interested in hiding out in Alberta Canada for the winter, we have lots of space.....mmmm....skydiving in -10 celcius! Lippy! I haven't heard anything from Taff and since there is now very little notice for everyone, we decided to take it over and have a party ourselves. If you will be in town, stop on by!!!

HILARIOUS! I would have no guests left by the end of the night and an even BIGGER mess to clean up! Tee

Well, it looks as if our dz isn't going to be hosting a year-end party this year, so we are throwing a Halloween/Year-end party at our house. Seeing how everyone here is a crazy, creative bunch, I need your help with some decorating or activity ideas. Anyone????

Ba HA HA HA! That would be perfect! I am going as a fireman. With a little short white T with red suspenders, yellow hot pants, tall yellow boots and a long fireman coat (that will have to go for jumping though)...and of coarse the fireman's hat. Tee

So very true. When I was at that stage, I found what helped me integrate with the more experienced jumpers and start getting invited on the jumps was that I got my RW endorsement (not sure if USPA offers that). But once everyone knew that I passed that and could now really handle myself in a 4 way etc. I received a ton more invitations and therefore gained experience and skills fast! Hang in there...you just need to find something new in the sport to excite you again!

Here is an article that mentions the mantis position and why it works so well. You can also dip an elbow and the opposite knee (just a touch) and you will turn on a dime! There are also some other great articles on that site for the up and coming freeflier (head-up flying).

Have you ever checked out DaKine Rags? They are amazingly made...double stitched...cool materials...awesome styles. My RW suit is a Tony suit, but for freefly it is DaKine all the way!

Good morning. IMO, for the younger generation of belly fliers it has nothing to do with fear or not wanting to learn something new. Being that I dabble in both disciplines I can understand the thrill of both. I have also seen many freefliers that cannot perform a decent RW dive, so the same could be said for them....don't they want to improve their flying skills? For some people, the thrill and comradery of flying with say, 4 to 300 other people in the sky in such a huge team effort is what they want to get out of skydiving. To get good at freeflying you jump solo after solo and then start with the 2 ways, and that doesn't appeal to some. Nor does flying headdown with one other person in the sky geeking each other....some people would say big whoop to that when they can do a technical dive with 20 others. I see the fun in it, but to others, it just isn't. Hope that helps.

Hi Sis. I am pretty lucky because my parents fit right in out at the dz and I don't have to act any differently when they are around from when they are not. (they have learned over the years to just shake their heads and laugh! ) But I do understand the need to just have you own little sanctuary at the dz away from everything "whuffo" and to have something that is just for you and your skydiving family. I have friends from work and other non-jumping friends that want to come out to the dz and just hang out but swear they will never jump. I keep telling most of them, unless you are coming out to do a jump or have the slightest interest in skydiving then don't come. Almost every ounce of conversation is skydiving related and I know certain friends would sit on the sidelines and feel out of place, even if you try to keep them in on the conversation. Don't have any advice but I hope the weekend works out for you.

Thanks for the laugh Speedy!! Those ring so VERY true shich is almost frightening! Tee

AWESOME advice!

Our dz hosted a fundraiser for Stars Air Ambulance and a fellow jumper who injured himself, and as one of the events we had the craziest jump contest, lovingly labeled the ZOO LOAD.

Glad to hear that your friend, once again, is okay.

My girlfriend (also not as naughty as it sounds ) is a real horse buff and when she and I were in a western store I came across some roping gloves. I got 2 pairs for $11 and they have small dabs/drops of rubber all over the palms and fingers. If you ever need gloves to hang on to a plane or your risers with, these certainly do the trick. They are quite thin though, so in winter, liners will be a must. Tee

I have seen that situation all too many times and know how confusing it can be when you are 3rd or 4th out!

Yes, that's it, thanks.

Clay, it only keeps you there for 8 hours because, like the rest of us, 4 of those hours are spent posting! Tee

Hey Pammi. I don't have children, but I do know how you feel when you say you briefly experienced second thoughts. Within 2 weeks I saw 3 of my friends and a student seriously hurt. The first was my boyfriend. He was doing a moderate carve on his '97 Stiletto which he has done 1000 times (literally) and all of us were laughing because he was starting it high, but he caught some weird air and the canopy never pulled out of the dive and he bounced 3 times with a 360 degree flip in there too and we all thought that he wouldn't be alive. Trust me, your heart sinks and for a split second you can't do anything but think "please move, please move". I never want to see that again! Fortunately he managed to walk away with a fractured vertebrae, sore ribs and knees. Then the following weekend, another friend suffered through the exact same incident and broke his femur in half and his arm was going the wrong direction. They had to air ambulance him out, but thankfully after hours of surgery to repair arteries and bones he lived. Also that same week, another friend broke her Tibula (sp?) in over 5 places on a wanky landing. Shortly after that, we had a student coming in on final, following all of the radio instructions and 500ft up burried a toggle and spiralled himself into the ground, unfortunately he didn't make it and his boyfriend was there to sadly experience it all. Those 2 weeks I pondered my own mortality but came out realizing even more now then ever that when it is your time, its your time. Some people can skydive their whole lives and NOTHING...others can cross the street and die. Live your life the way it makes you happy.