skybytch
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Everything posted by skybytch
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Some canopies that are suitable for a first rig include PD’s Spectre, Sabre and Sabre2, Aerodyne’s Pilot and Triathlon, Icarus Omega, Omni, Safire and Safire2, PISA’s Hornet, Big Air Sports Lotus and Precision’s Synergy. The Spectre, Omega, Omni and Synergy are all “semi elliptical” zp seven cell canopies; the Triathlon is a rectangular zp seven cell canopy; the Sabre is a rectangular zp nine cell canopy, the Lotus is a semi elliptical airlocked nine cell and the rest are all “semi elliptical” zp nine cells. You may hear good and bad things about all of these canopies. Best way to decide which may be the right canopy for you is to jump as many of them as you can.
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Go to Sebastian. The view is awesome. Once they know your experience, lurking your friend's jump shouldn't be a problem. Be sure to take your friend down to Hiram's for drinks after you jump.
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That one's easy to solve. Don't jump when it's windy. I load my main around .95. I hate landing straight down. So when students go on wind hold, so do I.
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Newer Triathlons are built from the same slippery stuff as PD canopies.
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We'll be doing two PAC formation loads all weekend long at Skydance - RW, freefly, tracking, whatever, every load will be a formation load. Even better, tickets are $18 on Saturday and Sunday and $15 on Monday. And the Halfway to Halloween party should be fun too.
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I feel like such a newbie compared to you. Here's to 28 more!
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The motivation is the entire experience. The WFFC experience is banging out skydives out of multiple turbine aircraft and jumping non-typical aircraft and talking to manufacturer reps and jumping with people from all over the world and jumping with Airspeed or the Golden Knights and waking up to the sound of Mullin's King Air taking off and watching people landing and signing autographs for the kids in the spectator area and driving a golf cart loaded with 8 or 10 friends in reverse around the grounds and listening and dancing to live music and drinking and wearing a toga and becoming a Rodriguez Brother and sitting around a bonfire singing along with the guy playing the guitar and hanging out with old friends and meeting loads of new friends and being totally surrounded by skydiving and thousands of other skydivers for ten straight days. If all you care about is banging out skydives, then WFFC probably isn't for you. I wish I could be there this year.
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Don't wake him up!
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The summer of 2003. I quit my job at the end of May and a few days later went on a trip from southern California to Tennessee and back in a motorhome. I then spent a week in Florida, a few days visiting friends on the California coast and a few days in Reno with my ex. At the end of July I packed up the car and did a solo road trip from SoCal to Rantoul, Illinois for WFFC. Spent ten (eleven? I dunno, it's a blur) days there, drove back to California and then packed my shit so I could drive it to Florida the first week of September to start a new job. That was a fun summer.
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You mean I don't appear to be angry, heartless, cruel, nasty and probably the biggest bitch you'll ever meet? Okay, in that case, I'm completely different in person than I am online.
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I am exactly as I appear to be here - angry, heartless, cruel, nasty, and probably the biggest bitch you'll ever meet. Really, I am. Ask anyone who's met me, they'll tell ya.
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How expensive is the shit you're smoking over there, Clay?
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You may find some of the information here helpful.
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90:1:0 Summer is almost here! Temperatures close to or over 90 all weekend long. Way fun tracking dive on Sunday (Thanks Phil!
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Why you do what you do even though it's "bad" for you.
skybytch replied to niolosoiale's topic in The Bonfire
Skydiving specific answer - I wrote a few articles about various competition teams for the Nationals newsletter a few years ago. One of the questions I asked the competitors was "why skydiving"? I got one answer that really sums up why I skydive, despite the all the "negatives" you mentioned. "Because it's hard." General answer - I do what I do because it's what I want to do. The perceived positives generally outweigh the perceived negatives, but even when they don't I'll still do what I want to do because it's what I want to do. The measure of my life is in the things I've done, seen and experienced. Not all of those things must be "good for me" - sometimes the things that are/were "bad for me" are the ones that I've learned and grown the most from. -
(emphasis mine) And, imho, therein lies a big problem. Your happiness is your responsibility. It's not anyone else's job besides your own to make you happy. Expecting someone else to make you happy is setting yourself up for disappointment, hurt and anger. (note - that's a generic "you," not directed at anybody in particular)
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What she said. Expressing unhappiness or hurt when he does something less than thoughtful is one thing; going berserk and screaming at him is not something that I think is acceptable behavior in myself for any reason. I wouldn't put up with it if he did it. I shouldn't expect him to put up with it from me.
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I jump a Gunner now. It's a good helmet for any kind of skydiving except flying camera. It's the quietest open face out there due to the thick liner; it's also very comfortable. Only downside I see is that it's kinda funny looking. The company that makes them takes very good care of their customers too.
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Congrats!!!
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Seven cell posse representing! I love 7 cells, especially the Spectre. For me they are easier to be accurate with and I much prefer the (relatively) steeper approach angle. Like others have said, the only way to figure out which you prefer is to jump several different canopies. I'd suggest trying out a Spectre (7 cell), a Triathlon (7 cell; you can find some screaming good deals on them used), a Sabre2 (9 cell), a Safire2 (9 cell), and a Pilot (9 cell) - there are other canopies that are suitable for a new jumper but these are probably the easiest to get demos of. Put 5-10 jumps on each if you can; by the time you've done that you'll know which one is best for you. I'd also strongly suggest taking a canopy control course as soon as you can, especially with someone like Scott Miller or Brian Germain. There is no canopy out there that is going to make you a better canopy pilot - only coaching and practice can do that.
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What are you doing today? Or what did you do today?
skybytch replied to SkydiveStMarys's topic in The Bonfire
I'll be telling 30-40 people how not to kill themselves and their meat hauler... err tandem instructor. And then hopefully I'll be taking some of the big bucks I earn and spending it on a jump or two... if the weather pukes are wrong about the winds today, that is. -
Don't have a back door, but at the moment a PAC load of skydivers is landing outside my front door.
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Took ya long enough.
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Which Major Boogie are you going to this Summer??
skybytch replied to Thanatos340's topic in The Bonfire
I didn't think I was going to go to any boogies this summer (besides the one at my home dz, the American Boogie at Skydance - two PAC's and a CASA this year!) but since I've decided to not take any summer classes at school I'll most likely be at Lost Prairie. Hopefully this year I'll get more than 2 jumps in. -
When does your man get back in the air? I know you'll feel like skydiving a lot more often when you know he's going to the dz with you.