freakydiver

Hope it lands on the trampoline in my backyard... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I don't have any massive desire to downsize. I like carving my final approaches, doing 120 degree carves most of the time. I really like the range I have now with my Sabre and am comfortable in all but the most insane landing conditions (i.e. have never had any issues with tight landing areas and the such or off airport landings...). I am primarily interested in two things. First, nicer openings. Second, giving myself more performance to work with and learn about. Edit - I've got about 70 jumps under an equally sized Stiletto back in Wisconsin (obvious difference in landing elev.). Never really had any major problems carving it in back there or landing in tight situations... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I have about 500 jumps on my Sabre 135 loaded at 1.4 ish and am considering either a Stiletto or a Safire2. Anybody have any opinions leaning one way or the other? This canopy will be primarily used at a landing alti of 5000ft plus if that would make any difference between the two. Thanks in advance! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I consider myself a very lucky human. Let me tell you why. I've spent time ski bumming and snowboard bumming and met some incredible people. Why skydive, there is simply NOT A BETTER PLACE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD TO MEET SO MANY QUALITY COOL CARING ABLE TO SLAM BEER LIKE I DO LOVING LIFE HATING WORK (unless they jump for a living) TYPES OF PEOPLE. Not to mention the RANGE of ages and nationalities and etc... etc... etc... I get to meet every year I'm involved in the sport. I love the people and wouldn't trade my participation in this sport for anything. Although, sometimes it is tough to decide between a day of fat three feet soft ass Colorado powder or a kick ass day at the DZ! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I believe this is true as well - however, when gandering at the zoning maps for Denver, industrial and residential are scattered quite regularly amongst one another. Just like the good ol industrial haze excuse, one could use the "that was an industrial residential zone"!! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

"The Sabres always opend smooth" Damn dood - I pack my Sabre with fine tooth and comb and 1 times out of 10 it smacks me no matter how clean my pack jobs are. All of the obvious factors have been checked and rechecked - have tried different setups, smaller pilot chute, larger slider, slider pockets, praying to the neck god. More times than not, when talking with other Sabre owners, they have the same experiences - alot of these jumpers have 1000's of jumps on Sabres as well. HOOK ME UP with YOUR SABRE PLEASE!!!

I've got 500+ jumps and only have my A. My goal is to be in the 400 way with my A!! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Very good point - I know when travelling into the backcountry, we always have at least one person along with us with EMT training. -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

"Plain and simple, the hardware is slower. Bus and processor speeds are slower, and cache is smaller." On a Mac compared to a PC??? Are you sure about that??? About the only real fundamental change that Mac's have made in the past few years is to ditch SCSI. I'd imagine overall BUS speeds and Cache sizes are larger on a given Mac. Hell, I could be way off the mark though as I haven't really looked at a Mac in about five years since becoming a Win platform programmer though... Blu Skies -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Having worked with highly volitale Radionuclide material - I should hope a nuke never goes off ANYWHERE in the world when I'm alive. The stuff is bad enough sitting underground letalone in the airstream... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

"will you fail your security paperwork here in the US when they ask about your drug use" I don't get yer drift? -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

And in all reality - it is not legal in Holland or Amsterdam, it is tolerated. Big difference (although not much considering I'll be walking into a "shop" of choice in a week and purchasing my warez of choice without too many worries)... HEH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH I've heard the Bulldog is touristy as all hell and back from numerous resources... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Let me further detail my request - I am familiar with all of the different sections of Amsterdam - I am looking for more solid try this place, or go check out this place suggestions... Thanks!! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Anyone here have any good suggestions on things to do in Amsterdam (favorite things to see, favorite sections, favorite smokehouses, etc...)? I'm leavin in one WEEK

Get a copy of Win2k for stability. Forget ME. -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I had my first real low experience last year. I've always been really good with visual altitude referencing (i.e. I know what my usual 3000-2700 pull alti looks like 99 time out of 100). I was actually back in the midwest away from my dz here in Colorado. This was the first time I had ever been "mesmerized" by something other than the fact that 3 grand just came and went - I was totally fixated on how green and lush everything looks in the midwest compared to the desert brown ugly ground in Colorado. Next thing I know its 2 grand, and things really started getting wide fast. I was under canopy by 1200 and that was more than low enough for me. I don't plan on making any habits out of that... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Can I have your reserve packing card, your License and your number of jumps please... lol -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Sort of joking (but not, I've known jumpers in my past that WOULD be). Anyhow - good luck with your progression. You'll get the hang of it. Peace -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

Not to be a stickler but "When I was hanging out on the bar, Im thinking, Im totally okay with this, no problem." Were you drinking before jumping? Maybe I just think about drinking too much...

Hey you are from SkyKnights - I used to jump there quite regularly. Lots of great people. Fish, Toad, and Sandy are jumping into my wedding with me in August!! I'm glad to see you had a great trip! -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

How often does one hear from a load organizer - "what license do you have" - isn't it usually, "how many jumps do you have" ? -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I had about 120 jumps when this happened - I consider myself lucky. I was under a Sabre 135 probably loaded around 1.4 ish. I noticed out of the corner of my eye while at 100 feet on final that a cross-wind hook turner was executing a turn that would've put me and him in a path for certain collision. Unfortunately, I panicked a bit and executed a 90 that ended up throwing me into the ground completely horizontal. I four inch divot resulted where my face hit and my FactoryDiver was completely cracked in the face and partially cracked on the top. I remember looking at the ground while horizontal (at about 30 feet) and thinking that that was it. Luckily, I walked away with nothing more than anger for the situation that was caused because the hook-turner didn't look. He even admitted it was his fault. I think I could've dealt with the stuation in a much better fashion with the experience I have now five years later in my career, but the thing that really got to me was, man, what if I was under a Stilletto and had made that same mistake. I don't like breaking bones very much. I'm pretty sure I would have broken all of them. 100 jumps is NOT NEARLY enough time to expose someone to every single possible situation one might encounter under canpopy or even a good distribution. Like SkyBytch put it - maybe he/she will get lucky like I did. Maybe they will never be in a bad situation - I wouldn't play the odds seeing as how I'm not the only person in the sky on final on the DZ though. -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I never thought of it that way - but it is true, why bother going with the Porsche if you aren't going to drive it to its limits? For looks?? When I go back to the midwest and jump I jump my buddy's Stilletto so I don't have to lug my rig from Denver (its a 135). I jump a Sabre in Denver and still have just as much fun with it (granted there is a 5000 foot altitude difference). -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I was just having a discussion about this with a buddy of mine. When recently jumping at my home DZ back in Wisconsin, I was oh so noticing how much greener and how many lakes there are in that beautiful state compared to the desert I jump in in Colorado that at 2 grand I finally noticed things were beginning to get big. I usually begin dumping around 3 grand 99 outta 100 so this was a bit unnerving. -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

I have it tough as hell living in Colorado because I am an avid backcountry skiier and snowboarder, plus I like to get my camp on in the summer. There are so many things to do in this state that sometimes, its hard to go to the DZ on a nice day. This is in stark contrast to how I felt when living in Illinois where all I could think about was good low wind blue sky weather (does that actually exist in IL/WI???) and skydiving. I never thought anything would/could compete with my desire to go jumping, but when there is four feet of fresh powder and 40 foot cornices to throw one's self off of, sometimes, its a tough call... -- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --