lewmonst

Yeah, you know what I'm refering to? Maybe it's only in the magazine they give you when you register... It would be good to have posted somewhere. thanks lew the only people i don't want to see again this year are the people at Carle. :) http://www.exitshot.com

yes, thank you! http://www.exitshot.com

she's in the caribean with another guy. seriously. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

That's the best news I've heard all day! You never appreciate good showers (quincy) until they're gone. I'll celebrate that. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

The WFFC is not at all like your typical weekend. With that many airplanes and that many canopies in the air, it can be an intimidating thing for the newer jumper. To the originator of this post, I ask how's your canopy control? Do you think you can safely land out? Because if you do enough jumping at the WFFC, I can pretty much guarantee to you that you will need to land out on at least one of your jumps. Ask Lewmonst how she feels about landing her reserve in a tight residential neighborhood. yeah... don't forget the 25 mph wind driving me backwards under my reserve over the roads, powerlines and buildings... That sucked. I'm healed and now I have a PD reserve. I've also almost had a collision under canopy with someone in freefall. It's at the end of the '02 Martini Shot video... great view of his back, line stretch and opening. I was lucky. It's not just that WFFC is intimidating, it's that it really is much more dangerous than a typical weekend at a typical dz. You have to be very very heads up, all the time. Planes are dropping back to back to back, sometimes at the same time on parallel jumpruns. Sometimes the C-130 is unloading literally 100 people at once, and most of them are headed for the same couple acres of grass in the main landing area. You also won't know most people there, and you don't know how aware the group is exitting behind you to give you enough separation. You can't trust that people will even try to follow a pattern or not do anything stupid over the main landing area. You have to fly defensively. You will land out in Rantoul. It's okay, there are plenty of good outs in 3 directions, and even okay outs in town if you're not trying to land a Dash-M in 25 mph winds. The locals are great. They love us and some drive around all day just picking up skydivers. Read the guidelines. (Michael - where are the guidelines, I couldn't find them on the website... didn't they used to be posted?) If you don't completely understand them and are confident you can adhere to them, stay on the ground. The minimum is 50 jumps, and while some people have adequate canopy skills and confidence at 50 jumps, some do not. Some do not understand landing patterns, why you can't open above 3k or do S-turns on final, etc... and they will be at the convention, on a load with you, and in your way on landing. You have to be confident with your own skills to avoid them and not get in the way of others. I'm rambling, but one more important thing this brings to mind. When someone cuts you off on landing, there are 3 types of reactions... 1 - you are shy and don't say anything - for which no one is any wiser. 2 - you get irate and start yelling at them - making them not want to listen to you at all or 3 - you calmly approach the person and discuss what happened on landing, who has the right of way, what the pattern was and how the potential problem can be avoided in the future. Obviously 3 is the way to go. Yeah, you might be mad at that person, but take it as an opportunity to teach someone how to be safer, for that will stick with them the rest of the convention and their lives. There is a lot to learn at WFFC. I can't wait to see you all there. btw - I'll be organizing the hardware jump (aka femur club) for anyone who has metal in them. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Elsinore ramper Tony also checks them as your boarding the plane. He's not just starring at everyone's chest and counting... peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

LO's also all wear WFFC baseball caps. http://www.exitshot.com

Ha. The jokes on you. We are there already with regard to digital still photos. The newer disposables you buy in the store also take digital pics. if you're talking about the dakota digital, it's junk and it's a gimmick. it defeats the purpose of digital photography completely and the picture quality is crap. or you could be talking about the gimmick of getting digital prints or a cd from regular disposable film cameras. Those cameras that you take the 27 photos and turn back in to get a CD of your photos are no different from other disposable film cameras. but most people don't understand photography anyway... nowadays, 1-hr stores don't make photographic prints anyway. Once the film is developed, the machines scan the negatives to make prints or burn a CD. either way, it's crap. If you want photos on your computer or to email to friends, buy a real digital camera. It will quickly pay for itself in savings of film and developing. sorry to hijack peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

I think you're wrong. Do you only jump a sidemount video? How about jumping both video and stills? Or double video for competition? Or a nice digital stills with multiple flashes? Cameras may be getting smaller and lighter, but that just means we can put more cameras on our heads. And some of us have girly necks and don't like unpredictable openings. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

i got a 5 year ESP from Good Guys for my PC120... its a little more than the Sony repair fee....but since there is the chance of a fairly significant drop it seemed worth it to me... Is it the GE Warranty descibed on their website here? Or is it really the same as Ritz's? I'd be surprised if it's the same as Ritz, I have yet to find one that will cover accidental damage like Ritz. What do the details of your policy say? peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Practice, developing a consistent routine, repitition and a CamEye eliminate these errors. It's crap like digital dropout that really sucks. Luckily the last time that happened to me, it ruined the footage in the plane, but cleared itself on the way to the door, so the freefall footage was fine. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Don't ever put duct tape on a camera. And going back to the store to buy the policy won't work. Besides, only Ritz has that type of policy, and you have to get it within 30 days. You have to show them the undamaged product before they'll sell you the policy. They're not that dumb. edit to add: Cajones recently fixed someone's camera that had very similar damage. He has to take the camera completely apart to glue broken parts back together in the lense mount, and to bend some pieces back into place. You have to have the tiniest screw drivers (size 00 or 000 - available at Lowe's) and you have to be very careful not to damage the ribbon. It took him about 3 hourse to fix it. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Yep. Replace it. I'm sure you can dig up some threads on here about bad experiences with -M's. I had one. Another jumper broke his back because of one... My -M is sitting in a box here. I haven't even sold it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm not going to jump it, that's for sure. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Carrie, How are you? how's the leg? Cajones and I are in LA. We would be glad to help you and Rastas. I recognized that rig immidiately. Neither of us are riggers, but we have lots of friends in Elsinore who are. And Ed could pose as a rigger to inspect it or whatever. What are you thinking, how can we help? btw, where is rastas? peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

does it still function properly? Some gaffers tape might keep intact if it still works... Also, sony will repair damaged cameras for a fee of $289 (i think that's the #) unless the damage is really extensive. If you search around on their website, you can find the info and the listing of service centers you can send it to. plan to be without it for 6 weeks though. Next time, buy from Ritz and get the ESP. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

I want to spin straw into gold. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Lew, I would say no. The Tempo 170 is under 400 cu. in. and the Raven III is over 500. Sparky Thanks, that's what I thought. How about that rig, with a Tempo 170 and a 190 main...? Someone recently sold someone this complete rig... ...Then some rigger repacked the reserve and main and sent off this low-timer to jump it......... lew http://www.exitshot.com

Hey Congrats!!! I'd also like to say Bill rocks!!! He packed for me on my birthday no charge (when he wasn't busy with tandems) and his openings are sweet!!! and consistent. And he puts up with all of us... peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Thanks... So should there ever be a Tempo 170 in a Talon T7? thanks lew http://www.exitshot.com

I was able to find that... I was hoping someone could translate that into what size main and reserve so I didn't have to search around for it. also, the reserve "tray size" and main "tray size" listed T7... that's it. thanks lew http://www.exitshot.com

What size main and reserve are meant to fit in an old Talon T7? What's the minimum? Thanks Lew http://www.exitshot.com

what insurance carrier do you have? what's the policy do you have that you add scheduled items to? (renter's? homeowners?) what's your overall premium per year or month? $100 deductible - that's it? That's surprising. You must be paying for a phat policy. I'm still looking for a good business policy to cover my stuff. peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

Zanfel - I've tried everything, this is the only stuff that really helped. I feel your pain. I am extremely allergic to poison ivy. I've had it so bad all over my arms, stomache, legs that I was oozing (sp?) all down my skin. I would sit in the bathtub for hours because it was the only relief I had. I couldn't work, eat or sleep because it was so irritating. I had prednisone, lots and lots of it, 60mg the first time, which didn't get rid of it, so my dermatologist put me on 80 mg of prednisone... prednisone is evil. bad bad stuff. That combined with Zanfel and I finally got rid of it. It takes a couple weeks to run it's course though, so no instant cures. they also say each time you get it, you get it worse. which has been true with me. good luck, watch out for 3 pointy leaves and a red stem! peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

That's what they told me too when they tried to sell me the insurance on my videocamera. The only thing they have to be able to read is the serial number of the item that's insured.. it can be completely shattered, as long as they can recover that.. you get paid. Yep. And even better than that, my camera was destroyed in a fire, which technically they said they didn't cover, and you could not read the serial number on it at all. Like I said when i went back to the store, I didn't have my hopes up for those reasons. In fact, I almost didn't even go back to the store and try, I figured it was pointless, but then I said what the hell, and I can't believe it worked out. sometimes things work out... peace lew http://www.exitshot.com

I tried that... But technically it's business property (since I use it to make money) and would have to be covered on a business policy. Even still, for one camera, if I wanted to make a claim, you're still looking at a deductible, which is a $1000 and possible rate increases for any loss claims made. I have renter's through state farm, and they wouldn't even write me a business policy for skydiving equipment. I can claim some of my equipment on my renter's since some of it I don't use for making money... I had a long discussion with the guy about this... And I didn't lie about anything, because adjusters will find out if you violate the terms of the policy, ie, you make money skydiving but say you don't and try to claim the property on anything other than a business policy. Jason, read the previous thread, I can't get the fire smell out. I didn't think they'd replace it, but they did. They would certainly replace one that was flattened by impact, that's clearly covered in the policy. I talked to the salesman at length about what i was doing with the camera when I bought it, showed him my helmet and discussed the possibility of dropping it from thousands of feet... He said "Just bring the pieces back in a bag!" peace lew http://www.exitshot.com