martinlaniel

OK, so is there a rule of thumb for the "minimum allowance" for someone to wear a closing pin necklace? I got mine when I went to Sebastian at about 30 jumps. A friend of mine has completed all his tandems for his progession, and told me he wanted one. I found him one, and I showed it to him and I said that I would keep it until he earned it (i.e. show me your license and I hand it over.) He thought that was fair and he's booked for his AFF. I think that's fair, don't you? What's the point of having one of them necklaces unless you can truly talk about it?

well, I'm soon to make my 200th and to be honest I still get quite anxious. My real moment of questionning came in september last year when I bounced on a downwind landing and compressed a vertebrae. My first word to my wife when I saw her next to me was "that's it. Sell my rig. I'm done." Somehow though, over the winter, I started thinking about jumping again, and the friends I had made. I talked to alot of experienced skydivers in that time, and the general consensus was that I needed one more jump, just so my carreer didn't end on a low note. So I did it in May, a hop 'n pop at 4 grand, and I thought it would be my last. I was ready to retire. Somehow though, I'm still jumping... It's different now, and I am much more aware of the dangers of the sport. I pick my days, and my conditions, and I'm a canopy pussy - I load my spectre 1.1:1 and I come in straight, with the occasional front riser ride... Honestly, I think the day I truly stop being a little anxious when I get in that plane will be when I'll stop jumping for good. I need a hug

Nope, you're not.... Well, since i'm sharing, I also had a good chunk of money in JDS Uniphase and Mitel... Go high tech, they said.. you can't lose!

oh yeah, real funny! laugh it up!!! I had five grand invested in those Nortel bastards...

"near" the river is a relative term. He was about a mile inland. And you're right about the river. It's pretty wide, probably at least a mile where he crossed. So in a way, the strong wind allowed him to clear it. and although the river is fast and wide, the best reason to NOT land in it is that it's pretty polluted, and drinking someone else's sewage isn't the most pleasant of experiences. Marz (the skdiver formely known as martinlaniel)

[Cutting it kind of close, were they? ] Well, it was a low ceiling day, so we were doing hop n pops all day. This load was going to ceiling, which was at about 6 grand when they went up. and all excuses aside, it was DAMN close. Actually, I called it a day, and took my name off the manifest for that load. The guy that broke his legs took my spot. Good call I think.

Remi, If you speak french, you might want to check out [www.freefly.ca] Mathieu has a long post there followed by one from me describing what we saw from the ground. As far as the guy with the broken legs, my wife and I went to visit him in the hospital last night, and he had gotten discharched! I guess he's feeling better. Sucks to have to casts on for the next few months though! www.freefly.ca

[15 minutes???? after gloing below the clouds?? lol... I'm sure some details of the story got confused.... ] Dude, I was there, and it WAS fifteen minutes. This is not some sort of media-hyped information. What Mathieu (the guy in the cloud) told me was that he opened high (4000 ft), because he was checking out a new canopy. He got caught in the cloud and went from 3000 to 6000 in about 30 seconds, and that's when he decided to cut away. He had a round reserve, so was pretty much at the mercy of the wind. Actually, a square may or may not have been better... What the article fails to mention is that of the five on the Cessna load, only one made the field, and aside from our friend with the ride in the cloud, the other three landed a mile from the DZ. One guy broke both legs on landing. This was sketchy all around. Funny thing is that after they found the guy, the Ottawa cops got a call from a local store owner saying "er... a parachute with no one underneath it just landed in my parking lot". So the guy got his main back...