NoShitThereIWas

Thanks for clearing that up for me Plaything I'm a little slow sometimes Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I'm still lost on this "rope" thing! WhatYOUtalkinboutWillis? Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

And by the way, has anyone heard from Sketchy? Has he turned into a corporate hound dog? Where's Sketchy? We need to get our little group all back together this summer!!! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Sometimes they call me No Shit There I Wasn't. OMG Lany! I'm here! I'm here! In St. Louis Missouri!!! I saw this thread again and was like WTF? Where did this come from???? Anyway Lany, I'm in MO and we are doing really well. I am kinda stressed out right now cuz school is killing me ... Paper after Paper after Paper after test after Paper! Ugh 2 weeks left baby and then it's over.

Ditto, nice pictures Lany ... However, I vote for more BOOTAY pictures. Keep a poor little Missouri girl entertained Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Arrrrriiiiiibbbaaaa Amigos! Babysitter: Check. Tequila: Check. Prince Tickets: Check. Good Mexican Food Restaurant: Check. I'm taking my roommate to the Prince concert tonight in St. Louis and we are going to drink LOTS of TeKillYa! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I have never touched a molar strap and both riggers I apprenticed under do not use them to pack reserves for the reasons mentioned above. I guess when you aren't given the opportunity to use one you just adapt and find other ways of accomplishing your packing mission. To answer Sunshine, it really isn't all that hard at all the way I learned. You just need to use your legs and knees a lot to keep the pack job from turning into a big mess. It was challenging at first to learn but now I don't have any problems with it at all since I am just used to it. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Sorry but I have no way of uploading that video for you to see it. I just have a VHS copy of it and you are all the way in Florida. But heck, with the amount of DZs in Florida, you could stop by one and people get videos all the time. I'm sure you could check out someone else's. If you were in Missouri, I would hook you up at Quantum Leap with a video to watch, we run them all the time on our TVs throughout the DZ! Anyhow, good luck with your skydiving endeavors. It is a blast, that much I can guarantee! Blue skies. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Hey GoldenArmadillo! (Cool screenname by the way) First off, Welcome. Congratulations on your interest in skydiving. What a neat thing to have found dropzone.com and it's community before making even your first jump! To answer your reply: "Also, did any of you go through the entire training, then back out, your first time. Im so worried that I will just completely chicken out in the plane!!!! " I guess my answer would be no to that. I remember what a friend of mine who had already jumped before me told me: You don't go all the way down to the DZ and sit through the entire training (if you end up going AFF) to change your mind not to go. For whatever reason I remember him saying that and I had just made up my mind that it was my turn and my time to learn how to skydive. Yes I was nervous but I don't think I allowed myself to feel it or turn it on until about 4,000 feet in the airplane. I remember sitting across from the door looking out and down, then at my altimeter and thinking we are only at 4,000 feet? We have 8,000 more to go??? All I can say it is an experience I will never forget (mainly because I got the video) . When you do get ready to jump, make sure if you can afford it to get the video. You will never make another "first" jump. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

IMO, Bush = BAD, DANGEROUS, GREEDY, POWER HUNGRY, WAR HUNGRY, LIAR, IRRESPONSIBLE, UNCARING. Yep, that's just what I look for in a presidential candidate who has already shown himself. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

YAY Michele!!!

I have one word for you Rosa to describe this person: L-O-S-E-R!!!! Sounds like a psycho with some serious issues. You are way too nice a person and too cool to waste your time even caring about someone else like that. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Congratulations Chop Chop! You are such a stud! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I'm pretty good at math but I am not all that great at history. I hated history in school so it was my worst subject although now I like it a little more. I suck at remembering names (horrible at it) and I am not always the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to directions. Some people can find anything, anywhere and just get places with some kind of inner compass. Not me Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Ummm.... yeah you're that girl that was "There" when that thing happened... Of course! And I ain't going unless you're going. Ummm, Geno, either I was too intoxicated to remember that "thing" you are talking about or, er ... Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

LOL, Vinnie you are so funny! I don't think I am going to end up doing my dream job, maybe that is why they call it a dream job. I would have liked to have become a Marine biologist/college professor who got to teach at home and abroad. Teaching young people about travel, culture, fish and marine biology ... scootin around on boats listening to "Changes in Lattitudes" by Jimmy Buffett just seems like the dream job to me. That was my long term goal when I initially moved to Hawaii, to teach marine biology there in addition to SCUBA and skydiving. But ... life has a way of throwing curve balls at you sometimes so ... I think I gave up on going after the PhD. Now that I live in Missouri (although there is nothing to say that is permanent), there aren't too many oceans here . So if I stay here, I'll probably end up in one or more of the following second choices: Forensic Biologist Crime Scene Investigator/Criminalistics Park Ranger Fisheries Biologist I am glad that I got a lot of other things I considered important out of the way in my 20s. Did the married thing, have a great child now and I know I am not doing that again so I can at least now incorporate my focus to include my daugter too. Teaching skydiving has always been desire of mine and I have been lucky enough to do that but I am not sure how much longer I will actually want that risk or liability. I am thinking one more year until I finish school and then switching gears and maybe even opening up a Daycare Center or a Summer Camp for kids

Hey RevJim! All I can say is YOU GO! After taking a break from going after a Marine Bio. degree in Cali (marriage, baby, divorce, etc.) I returned to school at 30 to finish it all up. This is the first time in my life I have ever had a 4.0 and I hope I can hang on to it for the next 2 weeks. At first it was sort of weird, I go to a small private university and go full time for day classes so most of the students are 18-24. Now, I absolutely like it. I have a different relationship with my profs and other students and I actually like it better than when I was in college at 19. I am more focused and understand more about myself than I did at 19. I think if I had graduated at 22 and started my career I would be screwed now. I am such a different person and it has taken me this long to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Take advantage of all you can. I am going to Europe with members of our criminal justice department for 2 weeks in January for about $600, the trip with everything included is $1500 and my financial aid will pay for $900 of it. I was given opportunities to TA all over Mexico, the Caribbean and Catalina Island. The univerisity has so much to offer. Go for it! I will be glad to get my first Bachelors degree next May and I am already trying to find ways to get my second which is a semester or two longer. If not a second Bachelors then a Masters. The nice thing about the Masters at my university is that you can do it at night one night a week and still have a real job and a family! 20 units sounds like a heavy load. Don't overdo it cause if you are on the semester system, it is a long time to be carrying 20 units . And if you have a family to take care of too, you need time for them and yourself. Anyway, GOOD LUCK TO YOU! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Besides a few people, looks like any other week at byron... Hey Mr. 0+ jumps and 0+ license ... Don't you know who I am? edited to add: "Air to air action" Iwan??? Oooooh sounds KINKY And BTW, where's Sketchy??? Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Your earlier post asked if you had "seen" a friend die skydiving. I will reiterate what I did in my last post on your other thread. I saw one of my "friends" go in in 2002. He was one of the first friends I made at Skydive Chicago besides Roger and the SDC crew when I first arrived and he was also my teammate. Although many people were upset by his judgment that led to his death and said some really nasty things afterward about the event (which were probably right), he was still my friend. That was the only fatality I actually witenessed and it was a visual which took me about 3-4 weeks to get over. Every morning I woke up for 3-4 weeks after it happened I vividly recalled seeing it happen. As far as losing friends in this sport, I have lost 3 friends to skydiving, 2 acquaintences and 3 skydiver friends to non-skydiving related events. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

And what's with this "ROPE" thing??? Are we gonna like, tie each other up and stuff? Cuz that would be COOL! Yeah! Yeah! That would be COOL! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Oooh Sunshine! I just noticed your avatar!!! Mucho Sexio!!!! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I love you guys! And yes Iwan, of course I want to skydive with you and Geno!!! Ya big Dodo! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Well, since I didn't make it to the American Boogie last year ... and I need to make it out to Cali sometime this summer to pick up my kitties and bring them out to Missouri, I'm thinkin' I miss my skydiving buddies out in Cali soooooo much that I am going to try and make it to the American Boogie. That would be so cool to get to hang out and skydive with Chop Chop and see Plaything and Iwan and Cornholio and hopefully Geno will be there too. I don't think I have ever met Lummy or GirlFallDown but it would be fun to regroup with the NoCal group. I'll know more as we get closer but you can put me down on the probably list. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Unfortunately, I have known a few but less fortunately I witnessed one who was my friend. It was a pretty horrifying experience, one which I care not to go into detail or remember the details of. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

The Spectre is a FINE canopy. My first bought canopy was a Spectre. I loved it and never had a single problem with it. I bought it new when I had 80 jumps and was wingloading it at 1:1. I sold it with about 550 jumps. I packed it about 470 times and out of those 470 times, I had one less that perfect opening (where I got slammed). I couldn't believe it would actually slam me but it did and it was my own fault because I rushed the pack job giving it a shitty s-fold and thinking, this thing will open great no mater what I do to it. So I would say the opening characteristics of it are excellent. It will open nice and soft every time. Once you are under the canopy, it flies nicely, can be docile or aggressive if you want. It is harder to give it front and rear riser input (in my opinion) mainly due to the more square shape of the 7 cell vs. the 9 cell elliptical. I also noticed that I didn't get as much forward drive in winds as my 9 cell buddies did. I would be holding or coming straight down in higher winds while my friends would be puttin right along under their 9 cells. Their glide ratio is a bit steeper than a 9 cell, I never had a problem with the landings. Once I found the stall point on my canopy which only took a jump or two, it landed me beautifully and safely every time. It was an easy canopy to tip-toe out. I have the Stiletto now and am wingloading it just a little more with a 135. Compared to the Spectre, the Stiletto flies much more aggressively, the openings are usually nice but not as consistent. It carves through the air with much more sharpness and is much easier to plane out on landing. I would recommend the Spectre to a novice/intermediate canopy pilot at the right wingloading. It was a great canopy in my experience and landed me safely every time. Good luck, enjoy your canopy and don't rush into a higher wingloading than you need to before you are ready. There will be plenty of time to downsize safely Blue skies and soft landings. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."