JohnMitchell

Before you lay down?? I brush my teeth before I lay down. After I lay down . . . well, I AM married.

I agree. But it wasn't Felix promoting himself, it was just a whuffo statement. I'm told I must be brave for jumping out of planes. Not hardly. I'm awed by our men and women in the armed forces. They willingly face dangers I've never had to. Felix= Super cool, did a good job. He's not proclaiming himself as a hero. I think his head is on straight.

I was talking to Keri Farrington the other day. She was one of the wingsuiters jumping from the airship (not a blimp, I believe) down in SFO for the live commercial last summer. She said that it was very expensive in helium costs to go to about 3000', that the airship had limited vertical range. Now this new one speaks about "variable bouyancy" which means to me that they've engineered their way around this problem. Could be a very fuel cost effective way to get a big load to 12500. I'd jump it.

I was doing side slide burble hops with Brett the other day and was told I was doing them all wrong. I guess that's what I need to work on and I should stop coaching you at all.

Yep, you and I have seen it enough.

I've ridden on the road at least 50 times. Shouldn't I be dead? It that's per jump, then in 200 jumps a year, I have a 1.2% chance of dying, right? That, BTW, is about 10 times higher than my estimate. YMMV.

Yeah, in fact it gluts the market with a lot of used gear.

Clearly he feels threatened by others and does not want them using their skills to beat him. Thanks for the laugh.

His web page looks like my "I love me" wall. Nothing wrong with it at all. I even have a few "blue steel" pics.

On my son's 24th and 25th jump he coached my on my sitflying. I learned a lot from him.

But my landings suck. I need to get a smaller canopy so I'll land like those Red Bull guys. Shannon, those are words of wisdom. I just hope the people who need to hear it start listening some day. BTW, Does PD know you're counseling peeps to keep jumping their current canopies? Do you know how bad that is for sales?

Because young males are the most dangerous drivers. They are all testosterone and little judgement. Same reason they drill into the dirt doing swoops. Underinsured motorist coverage has helped me out before, I'm afraid. Yes, you can minimize your risk by staying home at night and in bad weather. I just don't agree with anyone who says the drive to the DZ is more dangerous than the skydive. The stats quoted here and my own personal experience tell a much different story. I feel that line is often touted by people trying to calm their own fears.

What a kill joy! Okay, so his jump didn't cure cancer or cause world peace. It was still a cool technological challenge and he set a new record for skydiving, way cooler than a world record for hot dog eating or paper clip collecting. If the public enjoys the spectacle of Felix's jump, fine. The snobbish elites are welcome to ignore it.

Cool. Thanks for the link.

Exactly. Although living in the PNW and working 4-5 days a week and having a family, I'm happy if I get 200 jumps a year. After I retire I hope to do a steady 400+ a year though. I'll then have to drive 640,000 miles a year.

I'm happily married to an amazing woman for 28 years and I haven't worn my ring in 20 years. She knows I'm phobic about that type of injury and is quite fine with it staying on the dresser at home.

So if you make 100 jumps a year, it's the same as driving 160,000 miles, right? Wow, even being an American that's 10 times more driving than I do.

I approximately agree with the stats on skydiving. Making 100 jumps a year gives you a 1 in 1000 chance of dying, a figure I agree with. The other day I saw that the average American has a 1 in 6000+ chance of dying in a car wreck per year. I don't know why the 6 fold difference between the two studies.

That's okay. I'm not sure the stats on small planes but they crash with surprising regularity too. It all depends on the pilot, both his skill and esp. judgement, IMO. Passengers get lied to a lot.

Nice play on words. "If you got the money, you weigh two-twenty."

It's called porpoising. You have too much arch in your body and it's trying to find a stable point. Roll your shoulders forward towards the ground, the opposite of arching. Like Jack said, point your toes. Your knees should be locked, legs fully extended. Do NOT bend too much at the waist, esp. at first. Try to flatten out like a board, planking in the air. One of the most important things is heading control. Make sure you keep that as you increase your speed. Tracking well requires pushing on the air to get the desired results. Keep that in mind when you're tracking. If you're not pushing, you're not tracking. Stability costs you performance; performance costs you stability. It takes practice to stay straight and stable in a really good track. I'm glad to see you practicing it and trying to get better. Many, many jumpers don't track as well as they could. Some with 1000+ jumps are downright abysmal at it. It's a huge survival skill to be able to track well. I, too, recommend a little video coaching.

I think they have a party or two during that time, too.

Nope, you're about 6 times more likely to get killed jumping than in a car wreck. Sorry.

Probably not a bad idea for many reasons. Turbulent conditions are tricky.