skybytch

I fly a big old boat and a traditional pattern. Approaches that use S-turns are hazardous to my health. For example, one day last year I didn't control my pattern well enough and ended up behind another jumper on base. I turned final early to avoid flying in his burble. He turned final and then ripped off a series of S-turns. I had no idea wtf he was doing, so to avoid a collision I turned off the windline, which caused me to land slightly crosswind. No big deal to me, I fly a canopy that I can safely land crosswind, but it was a big deal to the person on final behind me. What if I'd been a low experience jumper and my first reaction to someone turning in front of me on final had been a hard toggle turn? What if the person behind me hadn't seen me avoiding the one in front of me? Can you see the issue now? One person being selfish in the landing area can easily become the first link in a chain - doesn't matter what kind of canopy they fly or how they fly it. I know I'm wasting my time by typing this yet again, but THIS IS NOT A SWOOPER VS NON-SWOOPER ISSUE!

None of the proposed BSR options do anything to stop the mix of high-speed and low-speed canopies in the same airspace if the people flying them are all doing a traditional pattern. Only education can make that scenario safer.

Pack volume measurements vary depending on the humidity where the test is done and who does the test. The only way to really determine if the 150 that you have will fit into a TJN where you are is to pack your 150 up into a TJN.

I support a BSR requiring separate landing areas, but not one that applies one solution to all dz's. What works with one dz's physical layout may or may not work at another. Separate landing areas will only reduce swooper vs. non-swooper collisions in the pattern. It will not reduce swooper vs. swooper or non-swooper vs. non-swooper collisions in the pattern, it will not reduce collisions not in the pattern and it will not educate people on how to avoid collisions in the first place. Educating every skydiver would make a real difference. But the likelihood of canopy control education post-student status ever being a requirement seems to be pretty slim...

So should I have a beer for you?

It's Wednesday. You got nuthin' else to do. I hate drinking alone. Three reasons to get your ass in the Pub right now.

Sweet pics, Deedy! I love the last one.

Depends. How good of a packer are you? If you aren't real good at putting a 150 in a bag sized for a 150, you won't be real happy trying to put it into a bag sized for a 135. How humid/dry is the climate where you jump? I know people in Florida (very humid) who say it's not hard to put a 150 into a TJN. I know people in southern California/Arizona (very dry) who say it ain't easy. Something else to consider - by overstuffing a container you are risking damage to the grommets and flaps. Not to mention the fact that an overstuffed container looks like crap.

Absolutely. Swoopers should respect those of us who fly traditional patterns by not swooping through us, regardless of whether there is a designated swooping area or not. But OTOH, those of us who fly traditional patterns should respect swoopers by flying a predictable pattern. By flying a predictable pattern, I mean not doing S-turns on final, not sitting in deep brakes to sink in, not chasing the windsock in light and variable conditions, not spiraling down to final and not landing in a designated swooping area - all of which can be seen happening at most dz's pretty much every weekend. And many of those individuals who do S-turns on final, spiral into the pattern and chase the windsock have been in the sport a while and have the attitude that they have a right to do whatever the hell they want, no matter who they cut off. Assigning blame to one group or another is not a way to reduce canopy collisions. The only way to do that is for all skydivers to work together to create a solution that allows everybody to pursue their skydiving goals (relatively) safely. A BSR requiring designated, separate landing areas for high performance and traditional landing patterns is a good thing, IMHO. I also think it needs to be worded to allow DZO's to determine what works best for their DZ. And for the record - I'm not a swooper.

It's been a dry year. We hiked some of the same trail in late May 2 years ago and it was solid snow beyond where we spent the first night this time. There was a bit of snow on West Snow Mountain though.

I love you, girlfriend. ((((HUGS))))

Here are a few more pics from the trip. All except the last one are from my camera. 005 is the view from the first nights campsite. 015 is everybody else on the trail. 025 is Kim getting a picture of a rattlesnake with Mary cheering her on and Deedy getting a picture too. 033 is scenery. The last one is the snake from Kim's angle.

Yeah, in my also-newbie opinion, he's right. Banning swooping is not the answer. All skydivers working together to create safer landing patterns and landing areas is an answer. They're implementing a similar solution to what Brian proposes at Skydance, except "The Great Wall" is called "The Line of Death."

Yesterday morning I was awakened at 4:30 am. Instead of being upset I unzipped my sleeping bag, added all my layers, pulled on socks, boots and a headlamp and stumbled off to find a private place to perform my morning rituals. When I was done everybody was just about ready. Mary put a few quarts of water, the JetBoil and some coffee in a backpack, Kim strapped on her way-cool camera, we picked up our poles, turned on our headlamps and started up the trail toward the summit of East Snow Mountain. It wasn't a tough climb but it wasn't exactly easy at 5:00 am either! It was light enough to turn off the lamps as we were approaching the summit. Mary hunkered down in a somewhat protected area and got water boiling for coffee. I wandered around, climbing on various rock formations, trying to decide which was the highest, admiring the view, chatting with Deedy and Mary while Kim scouted the best camera angles. East Snow Mountain is the highest point in Solano County at 7056 feet - pretty high when you consider that parts of Solano County are under 100 ft msl. The surrounding mountains of the Snow Mountain Wilderness and Mendocino National Forest seem to roll on nearly forever from up there. To the west was the tops of the thick marine layer covering the coast. To the east was the top of Lassen Peak, sticking up out of the morning fog covering the Sacramento valley, and an outline of the Sierras above the top of the fog. We took our cups of hot coffee over to the highest rock formation, sat on the wind-protected east side and watched the sun come up over the Sierras. A couple that camped near us had hiked up at the same time we did; we enjoyed some good conversation with them as we admired and welcomed a beautiful new day. They'd heard there was a register on the summit so they wandered off looking for it as we were gathering our stuff. When they found it we hurried over to the rock formation on the other side of the summit. It had been placed by the California Alpine Club (and dedicated to out of doors people ). Of course we all signed it. After a few more pictures we headed back down the mountain to camp, where we broke down and packed up for the hike out. I guess this was my first official "peak bag" - but I didn't get it on video. Pics below were taken by Kim; the hi-res ones are way better but you'll get the general idea...

Which goes to show that the number of jumps or pieces of paper a person has does not always equal knowledge about gear. Think about what parts of the rig are exposed to the relative wind when you are back flying - especially the flaps covering the main and reserve pins. Now think about how much it would suck if your main flap came open, the wind caught the bridle and the pin came out... all while you are on your back and your pilot chute is still tucked away in it's pouch. Doesn't sound like a risk worth taking, but that's just me.

It's been suggested that any excess go toward a tuition fund for the girls. They attend a private school and I know that having them attend that school was very important to JP.

No, but thanks for the idea! I'll shoot her a message. If someone with a paypal account could step up and handle the $$ end, that'd be wonderful. I would but I have neither a paypal account or a bank account. And knowing how people are here, we also need to figure out where to send the excess...

A couple more. edit to add one I just found...

That smile will forever be burned into my memory.

Like many of us did, I spent much of yesterday reading a lot of JP's old posts. In this one he requested the following - In the same thread he posted the attached pic. (Warning - probably not safe for viewing if you aren't someplace where you are comfortable bawling your eyes out again...) So, he told us what he wanted. Now it's up to us to make it happen.

Yeah, me too, unless it's someone I'm really close to. Then it's like that first time all over again.

Okay. What kind of beer would you like? No! Dammit! I meant to say I'd be happy to buy you a beer but I spent all my money on rum. No! Wrong! I meant to say fuck you, buy your own fucking beer. For that matter, buy ME a fucking beer, you fucking french canadian asshole. And while you're busy buying me a beer? Don't fucking die.

Dude. If you die, I'm gonna fucking kill you. So don't fucking die. A'ight?

Don't knock it til you've tried it.