JohnMitchell

Can't wait to see you. Tell Monkey I'm bringing my Phantom II.

Thanks for the support and good luck. Just added to the list: 2 chances to win 10 minutes tunnel time from Skyventure Colorado

I know, Remi. Keri Farrington pulled the tickets. Dunno what happened to ya.

I was JUST about to post this too! The swim team is HOT this year!! Glad to see there's some candy for the ladies too.

Holy crap! Ya think the gun club guys could cover yer 6 o'clock, maybe?

Hi Everyone, As many of you know, my wife Valinda (Vskydiver) suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes your own immune system to turn against you. It strikes mostly women, usually in their teens to twenties. Its symptoms often start as vague muscle and joint pain but can lead to organ involvement and death. Valinda almost lost her life to this disease in 2004 and still deals daily with its effects, so this cause is very important to us. Please take a moment and check out our prize list. As you can see, the manufacturers and dealers have been very generous this year. We have some fantastic prizes, with more on the way. The tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20, and you need NOT be present to win. For those of you that will be attending the Leap for Lupus at Kapowsin Air Sports in Shelton, WA we also have a huge list of local prizes as well, from gas grills to reserve repacks to restaurant gift cards and more. We've got that list posted at the dropzone. The drawing will be held Saturday night, August 25th after the banquet dinner. Here's the list: Leap for Lupus Raffle Prize List 2012 50% off a custom INFINITY Container System, from Velocity Sports Equipment 30% off base price & 15% off options custom VECTOR 3 Micron, from United Parachute Technologies. 30% off a custom Racer 2K3 or Classic from The Jump Shack 20% off custom or stock FireBolt Elliptical Canopy from Parachute Labs Inc. 20% off a new AngelFire Reserve from Parachute Labs, Inc. 4 chances to win 15 minutes tunnel time from iFLY Seattle 2 chances to win 10 minutes tunnel time from Skyventure Colorado 15 minutes tunnel time from iFLY SF Bay 2 chances to win 50% off Altimaster N3 altimeter, from Alti-2 30% off gift certificate for a Vigil AAD from Vigil USA 3 chances to win 30% off any stock Firebird canopy from Firebird 50% off Free Fly Pants from Body Sports U.S.A. 50% off a Crater Suit jumpsuit from Body Sports U.S.A. 50% off a Competition Suit jumpsuit from Body Sports U.S.A. 2 chances to win $25 gift certificates from Paragear Raffle Tickets $5 each or 5 for $20 Drawing will be held at Kapowsin Air Sports on August 25th. You need not be present to win. Message JohnMitchell at DZ.com for tickets and information or visit LeapforLupus.org http://leapforlupus.org/lfl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=79 A huge thanks to all of our sponsors listed above and to all of you jumpers out there that support us every year. We couldn't do it without you. John Mitchell

Nice job. Just remember, scared and excited mean the same thing on your first jump, so no worries. And lots of jumpers are afraid of heights. You're right, you're so high it doesn't really come into play. Bungee jumping is fun but skydiving is better. You should learn to jump on your own.

Perfect. But I doubt I'll use that one.

This isn't even remotely true, the coating can and does wear out. Absolutely. My first Stiletto resembled F-111 on the top skin when I traded it in. BTW, PD gave me 35% off on the trade in.

What advantages will your new yarn have over the materials currently in use? The answers to that question is what may or may not sway the manufacturers into testing it. It takes a chunk of $$ to test new materials.

Yep, used to see that, a lot.

There you go. See, told ya they'd tell ya. Now for some internet instruction: Push down with your feet to go forward. The more you push, the more you go. Pull your feet up and push forward with your hands to slow down/go backwards. Use your upper body to control your fall rate (up and down relative to the other jumper). Arch your arms and shoulders back, stick your chest out to fall faster. Push down on the air and arch less to fall slower. That's the beginning basic way I teach to dock. It's a simple way to start that will get refined as you progress. Is it similar to what they taught you.

I've lost two shoes in freefall. I'm sure they're next to the freeway, cars zoomin' by . . .

What a great time, Twardo. We need to never forget how special our demos can be to people and always treat the spectators with that kind of respect. Very cool. I didn't do any demos this weekend but I did have an AFF student ask that I be her instructor. I'm always complimented by that.

I'm there with you, Cheese. Never done it in a plane.

That's the only reason you turn your head when you cough during your physical, so you don't cough on the doctor. I'm serious.

Mine was an AFF level I that Dennis and I took up. Guy's name was Hans, mid to late 40's, did a good job, pulled okay. Kept saying he had done some tandems years ago down in Elsinore. Seemed pretty interested in how the Sigmas worked. Turned out Hans had over 850 jumps, 300 of them tandems in Elsinore (3 on the front as passenger) but hadn't jumped since 1996. I guess that was an easy Level I for us. After I found out that I flipped him off and asked "Well, how did we do as instructors?" He had never done AFF or gotten the rating, so he figured it was a good way to get recurrent.

Vskydiver was a gymnast and used to take me to the collegiate meets. All the girls are 20-21 ish and starting to, ummm, fill out a little. Spectacular.

"I'll pack your chute." "I had a hard time pulling my pud." "So then I went low on her . . ."

Okay, got it. yeah, good and annoying.

Lot's of Badgers but I don't get the joke.

Heck no! Even the mile high club has a solo chapter.

None yer . ..

DOH! Yup, that one too.