skybytch

I get to work in manifest again this year.

Either one. Both have good instructors and friendly experienced jumpers. Go hang out at each one for a few hours on a weekend day, talk to a few people and see which vibe you like best.

I was out of school for 20 years. Forgot almost all of it (and I got as high as calculus in high school). But it came back reasonably fast, and lots of it was more of a review than learning something new. Best advice I can give is to do the homework, whether you have to turn it in or not.

By the time someone is off radios, shouldn't they already know how to flare? But back to the question. My answer is none of the above. Both are building bad habits that will need to be broken later. Teaching people to go 1/4 brakes at 40 feet is teaching them to give up 25% of their flare power and giving them a false impression of how fast their canopy really flies. Teaching them to flare in one single step works fine on lightly loaded canopies but does nothing to prepare them for landing the parachutes they will actually buy and fly in another 5-10 jumps, and could very well be a cause of injury. Why not teach in the FJC and reinforce throughout the student program a flare technique that will still work well for the student when they have 500 jumps? Then maybe they won't have to take a basic canopy control course later to learn how to flare correctly...

Doh! I was so looking forward to getting to chat with you at the American Boogie too. Heal fast and well!

HBD Andrea! Now go do something silly, while you still can.

Scottish. When I was working at Square One, we'd occasionally get calls from Scotland. It was an office full of women. We all completely understood when the lucky girl who answered the call began to slide off her chair.

When Icarus first released the Extreme, they asked that potential buyers have done at least 500 jumps on an elliptical wing (Crossfire/Stiletto class) prior to jumping a crossbrace. Total jump numbers don't matter. I have over 1000 jumps and have no business jumping a crossbraced canopy as all my jumps have been on conservative canopies at low wingloadings.

I was really scared on the only balloon jump I've done - at 1100 jumps and at least 75 h&p's. I managed to climb over the side and exit, breathing really hard, flailed and swam like a petrified first jumper, then laughed at myself, arched and pulled. It was awesome; I'd love to do a few more. Go do some more hop and pops from an airplane and then go for it again. Being comfortable with the lower altitude helps a lot.

If that's the case, you have lots of time in which to jump a variety of different containers and mains. Which, coincidentally, is the best way to decide which container and main are the best choices for you. People here can tell you what they like, and some of that information may be valuable, but remember - none of us are going to admit that what we jump isn't the best. For example, the Infinity container, PD reserve and PD Spectre main are the best out there... they must be, because I jump them! So take what everyone here, on the dz and at the gear store says with a grain of salt. Your best plan of action would be to get to a dz with a variety of rental equipment, jump everything you're interested in and then decide for yourself which gear is going to work best for you.

Missin' ya.

Parachutes. I can't believe no one else has mentioned the distinctive smell of skydiving equipment yet! Jet fuel. Coffee. Yummy things baking in the oven. Sticky stinky skunk buds. Polo by Ralph Lauren.

Fixed it for ya.

+1. Anonymous trolls get less rope than this.

Sorry. It's hard to imagine you choosing "2" for part of your username; that's the only reason I forgot and put "1" instead. Some days I slay me.

I added myself and that chick who seems to always be tagging along whenever I get to do something fun. Geez, if she wasn't so much older than me, it'd be like having a kid sister. BikerBabe (Andi) brianfry713 (Brian) Cashmanimal (Alex) diablopilot (JP) dse (Spot) Feeblemind (Phil) flyangel1 (Mary) Flygirl1 (Leah) Grannyinthesky (Pat) jamiem (Jamie) longwaytofall (Micah) Monkeyboy (Sean) mswallin13 (Matt) NWflyer (Krisanne) siddacious sivaganesha (David) skybytch (lisa) some guy named mike (Mike) vegasjoe (Joe) wmw999 (Wendy)

Here's a different idea. If there is one at the dz you jump at, have you tried your local gear dealer? If your dz doesn't have one, you can stop reading now. If it does, there are multiple benefits to buying from someone who lives, works and jumps in the same geographic area that you do, even if it will "cost" $100 or $200 more on your $5000+ purchase. Spend your money locally and it works locally. Help your local gear dealer stay in business and they'll be there to sell you tshirts, provide you with free pullup cords, give you the chance to try on a variety of helmets, employ you or your friends if you decide to cutaway before getting any ratings, etc., etc. Your local gear dealer can provide face to face customer service long after the sale has been completed. And since they jump and work at the same dz that you jump at, they have additional good reasons to take good care of you. Yes, it's important to save some money here and there. I buy toilet paper at WalMart too. But the industry that makes toilet paper and the stores that sell it don't do anything to support the existence and improvement of what I'm passionate about (while wiping the butt is a part of almost everybody's day, it's usually not something that they are passionate about). It doesn't matter to Safeway if I buy my four pack of tp there or at WalMart; it's a pretty safe bet that Safeway will still be there tomorrow even though I didn't spend money there today. Their market (ie pool of potential customers) is large enough that the lack of my business doesn't matter. The same can't be said for your local gear dealer. They have a very limited pool of potential customers. If you want them to be around when you need some gear assistance or a new pair of goggles, if you want to support people who are also jumpers and - if they aren't already - will be probably soon be your friends... spend your money with them instead of sending it off to another state or country. If you don't have a local gear dealer, then by all means buy from one of the many mail order gear stores. My favorite is Square One; they may not be the cheapest but they know how to take care of customers, they employ (and take good care of) a lot of jumpers and they put a lot of their profits back into the sport instead of into their pockets.

I must say, I have learned a LOT about hockey from this thread. Thanks.

Valley Oaks Inn in Woodland - about 6-7 miles from the dz. Owned by a jumper, USPA membership will getcha a discount.

Yup. And then I turned AdBlock Pro off for that page only and lo and behold, there were pictures again.

Hmm. Molly's been sporting one blue claw for the past week. Today "someone" decided she needed some orange on the other foot. By LP she should have a full rainbow pedi going.

Skip doing another tandem. You're ready for AFF.

Have you looked on the college website for guidelines? If they aren't there, contact the counseling and/or admissions departments at the school you are applying to and your local community college. Can almost guarantee that one of the two will have some form of workshop scheduled to help people write their personal statements. As far as writing an essay... Remember the three parts - introduction, body, conclusion. Say what you're gonna say in the intro, say it again in more detail in the body, say it again to sum it all up in the conclusion. Personally, I'd emphasize all that in your statement but I've never written one either so take that for what it's worth (exactly nuthin').

When I landed after my first jump (static line), I asked Paul, who had come out to help me pick up the canopy, if he was sure it was legal. Cuz nothing that fun should be legal. 19 years later, I still feel the same.

Ouch.