skybytch

I'd revise that just a bit. It's too windy when the experienced jumpers who jump canopies of a type and loading similar to mine don't even get their gear out of the car. My s/o will happily jump his 2.0+ loaded Velo in winds that I'd be backing up in under my 1.1 loaded Spectre.

Don't know which of mine are screwed up, but I live with pain and tingling down the left shoulder and arm all the time. I don't jump much because it tends to make the next few days painful. When I do jump, it's under a Spectre with Dacron lines. I've accepted that any canopy can open hard, but I think this combo gives me the best chance of soft openings. But shit happens, so I've also accepted that my next jump could be not only my last jump but also the last time I feel my toes. Scary shit, huh?

There are a few different ways you can get from SF to LA. Highway 1 - the most scenic drive - will take you past two dz's, one in Monterey and one in Lompoc. Both are primarily tandem dz's but the scenery is nice. Highway 101 takes you near Hollister (mentioned above). If you are coming through after January 1st, there is supposed to be a dz opening in Paso Robles as well. Lompoc is fairly close to 101 too. You could visit Byron, Davis and/or Lodi on your way out of the Bay Area. From Byron you can easily pick up I5; from Davis you can easily pick up I5 or 99, Lodi is on 99. I5 takes you close to Taft. It is also the least scenic road in California. 99 passes by Madera, a Cessna dz. Have fun! :D

And if you've been around awhile and have a set, you know that they are good for three things - (1) a free pass to do things that you may not be ready for but one or more penis owners want you to do, (2) getting extra altitude so you can all start the dive hypoxic and (3) as placeholders for handles (find the boobies and you found the handles. It's easy). Personally I'd happily give up those "advantages" if I could be treated the same as those with penises are...

Not during? Kinda hard to do with both hands tied to the bedposts.

That's a biggee right there. Expand your awareness, learn to "read" another jumper's body position, build in more altimeter checks than you normally do and link those checks to specific things happening on the skydive. These skills can be practiced on any jump. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest spending an equal amount of time focusing on the ground stuff as you do on the air stuff. Any monkey can be a bulldog in freefall; it's a bit harder to learn how to teach effectively so you don't have to be a bulldog in freefall. Assist in more FJC's than the cert card requires. Shadow the best AFFI's on your dz when they are doing ground preps and debriefs. Read the ISP - better yet, KNOW the ISP forward and backward. Definitely do some practice jumps (preferably with an AFF I/E or evaluator), but also do some practice ground evals (Cat C and Cat D) before you go to a course. Good luck.

AFAIK, every ff suit manufacturer can put grips on a suit. They are there not so you can do RW, but so you can do VRW. If you plan to do RW in a freefly suit, do yourself a favor and talk to the local belly fliers about it's suitability for doing RW with your body size/shape before you spend the money. Would really suck to buy it and then find out that you really need a slick RW suit to stay down with them. In the long run, you'll save money by buying the right tool for the job in the first place. In this case, that means (at least) one suit for RW and one suit for freeflying.

A visual inspection or did the trim get checked? They may look okay, but I'd bet they are way out of trim.

Now there's a term I've never heard before. Safe-ass. As opposed to, say, dumbass? I like it. Thanks.

A couple from today...

Yup, twice. Felt like the wind got knocked out of me both times. Both times I was at a boogie - it was warm and I was tired and maybe a bit hungover and dehydrated...

The skydiving ones. He got face time on two of them and did background stuff on another. Threw the dummy out of the plane a couple times (we have a few pieces of the dummy's guts around here somewhere), did video on some of the jumps, did the rigging for a camera on a car that went in and served as an in-plane safety guy.

The two episodes that my s/o appears in.

Cuz $200 for something shiny is almost affordable and $2000 a month for a decent place to live isn't.

My average is a bit over one jump per week over 20 years. Not bad considering I raised a kid alone and had major back surgery that grounded me for a year during that time.

A solid foam piece will work for the inside. Cut it down to the size pieces you want the grips to be. Cover it with fabric before you attach it to the suit, leaving a couple inches of fabric on either side of the grip. Sew it down on both sides, as close to the foam piece as possible and again a half inch or so out. Binding tape works both as reinforcement and as a way to cover any rough edges. You might want to do a couple practice runs before attaching them to your suit, and it will be easier to attach them if you do it before you close the arms and legs. Attaching grips to stretchy fabric doesn't work real well. Most RW suits have grips attached to whatever non-stretchy fabric the front and legs of the suit are made of. Some RW suits have non-stretchy material across the back of the shoulders because having spandex back there can affect the grips. Other fabric options for a fast front on an RW suit include zp and nylon taffeta; IIRC the taffeta is cheaper than zp or F111, and it's likely to be available at a local fabric store too.

Safire or Safire 2? The original Safire 149 is about equivalent to 140 sq ft the way a Safire 2 (or PD or Aerodyne) main is measured.

For a basic, kinda baggy suit, you can use a pattern for a basic pair of coveralls. Add 3-4 inches to the inseam length (for blousing) and close the legs off at the ankle. Add an inch or two to the arm length and close off the wrists too. Use a heavy duty zipper and don't forget to add some way to secure the zipper when it's up. Take a look at other suits to see different ways to close the ankles and wrists and secure the zipper. You could also "deconstruct" an older suit and use that as your pattern. Supplex is a fairly popular fabric for freefly suits. The four ply will wear a bit better than the two ply. If you need a slower suit, you can use a medium weight polycotton, or use two layers of supplex. Good luck!

2:1:0 Two overnight guests. One really fun tracking dive, after which I opened high and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset before landing last. In the peas, after "almost" going grass-gravel-grass

We agree that the safest way for more than one parachute to land is in the same direction. What we disagree on is how and when that direction should be established. I think that direction should be established, preferably by a dz local who knows what the winds usually do at that dz, before the load takes off, and that direction should be adhered to as long as there isn't credible evidence that the direction should be changed (ie the winds switched direction and increased in speed). This allows everyone to preplan their canopy flight and pattern, which we should all be doing regardless of how many jumps we have, what canopy we are jumping and/or what the winds are doing. It's more often that chaos in the pattern is caused by those who wait to decide which way to land until after they've opened than it is for chaos to be created by those who are following the rules the dz has established. Whether to follow the first guy down regardless of the dz's rules depends on the dz's landing area. At a dz with a landing area free of obstacles, and assuming that everybody on the load is following the first guy down, you're right. It's probably safer to follow the crowd; hopefully whoever set that pattern will be having a discussion with the dz's landing police after everyone is down. Where I jump, you are expected to land to the north or the south - period. If you land to the west and overshoot, you may end up on the road. If you land to the east and overshoot, you're going over and could end up in a rather deep irrigation canal. If you land to the north and overshoot, you'll be in trees and/or a fence. Thus we have a rule that in light and variable wind conditions, you land to the south in the main landing area - away from obstacles regardless of what the flags are doing. Seen a few too many people end up in or very close to the trees and fence because the first guy down decided to chase the 1-2 mph winds and land to the north. Then the wind shifts 180 degrees as the rest of the load is landing and the last half of the load ends up going long on a downwind - not a big deal if they're landing to the south (where there are no obstacles), could be a big deal if they're landing in any other direction. My overall point is that it's safest if everybody follows the rules that have been established at the dz they are jumping at. They likely exist for good reasons, reasons you may not have thought about. If you choose to follow the crowd and ignore the dz's rule, you should expect to hear about it - even if you weren't the one who set that pattern. Rules about landing direction go against the basic concept that skydiving is about freedom and doing whatever the hell you want in the air. But perhaps eventually all jumpers will understand and accept that landing isn't all about them, and will follow whatever rules are established on every jump. Until then, these conflicts will continue to happen and some of our friends will continue to get injured or dead because someone else didn't follow the rules.

When jumping at a dz that says "first person down sets the pattern" then I'd agree with you. When jumping at a dz that says "decide the pattern before the plane takes off" then that's what you should follow. If you don't want to, land out and stay out of the way of those who are following the dz's "rules." The safety of everybody else in the pattern is way more important than you or me landing into the wind.

Hypothetical wind speed? Every skydiver should be able to safely land in a light crosswind or downwind (under 5 mph or so). If you can't, you might want to get some more canopy control instruction or fly a larger canopy. Landing safely is a team sport. Avoiding collisions under canopy is far more important than landing into the wind. Chasing the windsock - which lots of people do on days when the winds are light and wind direction is variable - creates chaos in the pattern. If a particular landing direction is given and the winds are light and variable, follow it, even if you know it means landing cross or downwind. Either that or land way outside the pattern where you won't create an issue for those who are following the predetermined landing direction.

Me too. My rigger's ticket says I'm male. Had it for 16 years now. Too afraid they'll screw it up even further if I try to get it fixed.

Yeah, how rare is that title on these forums? I got my new membership card in the mail today. It was lacking a rating - the coach rating wasn't there but the AFFI was. Expecting to "talk" to a machine for at least a few minutes, I got real comfy before I called them. To my amazement, a real live human being answered the phone. Even better, she fixed the problem and a new, corrected card will be coming to me soon. All in less than two minutes on the phone. Whoa. I'm impressed.

Depends. If it's an original Safire (not a Safire 2) it probably would fit. The original Safires were measured differently than other canopies; a Safire 149 is about the same actual size as a 135 sq ft PD product. Which is great if you are capable of safely flying and landing a 135. Not so great if you aren't.