ccowden

My love to all involved and to all their friends and family! I am praying for you all.

Hey man! Well, it is more because of the relaxing part than anything, but what turning your palms up does is take away the natural tendency to use your hands as too much of a control surface when you're learning. After you get comfortable flying this way, then it becomes more of a relaxing effect and natural posittion then you might think. When your palms are down and against the wind, people tend to reall want to 'feel' the air and counter steer too much with their arms and hands to compinsate for not flying enough with their lower bodies in their hips and legs. It is just so natural to want to 'catch' yourself with your hands. I have seen peole who have become quite stable head down and when they turn their palms up they flip right out of head down or get terribly unstable. You would be surprised. They don't realize how much they were 'holding themselves in a stable position with their arms and hands until they change it. I remember when I first learned and turned my palms up! Wasn't good! But you adapt quickly and compenstae for the change by flying your lower body more, and that's the point. I personally don't feel that it is ever too soon to start trying to fly this way. After you get the hang of it, you may want to turn your palms back over. To some peole it is still more natural that way and one isn't better than the other, just a learning tool. Alot of great flyers don't turn their palms up on a normal basis, but believe me, they can fly that way! You can also try the other exercises like I mention above. Clapping your hands, etc. Hope this answers your question.

I couldn't agree more with everything you said!

Look- The bottom line is that going out with a tandem is not up to anyone except the TM. There are some pretty strict guidelines set by the manufacturers on going out with a tandem as far as number of jumps and such, and ALL of them require the permission of the TM. There are alot of other ways to entertain yourself in skydiving then lurking tandems. Tandems are for the passenger alone and not there for the amusement of lurkers, video guys, or even TMs. It is a serious jump and should be treated as so. Tandems are a blast for me, and so is doing video, btu I always try to remember that it is not for my entertainment and I have an important job to do. I certainly don't need to worry that someone might be lurking us! The only person I will allow to be with me is someone who I trust and know their abilities and meets all the requirements. And they won't be 'lurking'. They will be right where I can see them and track off at a preset altitude and it will all be very planned and rehearsed. Plain and simple.

big, no fine, judge hatin, alana lovin, no worryin, blue sky, nerve calmin, chin upin, lots a love, big hug, VIBES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Be nice to our Alana, judge!

By looking at your profile, you seem to be a rather small girl. The problem of leg straps sliding down isn't really due to hip rings but usually because a rig doesn't fit custom enough or with small girls. No rig fits a small girl really perfect, even if it is custom and girls usually have trouble with the leg straps now and again so they tie them together. Hip rings may induce this problem a little more because of the added flexibility they provide. But I tend to think you will see the problem once in awhile whether you have rings or not so I would get the rings just for added comfort. I personally have rings and have never had my leg straps slide down, but I am also 6 foot one inches tall and have a longer torso which I believe is the key. With smaller girls, I just don't think rigs will fit in this way to keep the leg straps in place all the time. But if you are getting a custom fit rig, you should not have too much of that problem. Hope that helps!

You can also try stuff like clapping your hands, fats and also in a very slow-motion manner. Even leave them together in front of you for a second or two. Try turning your palms up and relaxing your wrists. Any change with your arms and hands like this will help you to become omre aware of your legs and also force you to fly with your hips and legs. You would be surprised what a simple thing like turning your palms up will do to change things. I fly with palms up all the time because it is a more relaxed position.

We do what we can to help spread the love!

Well, I can't see you real good, but ya look cute! Ya wanna be a Badfish Chick??????

Well, if you actually got between Ian and I, there is no telling what would happen! You would probably be more than just on your head! Ohhhh....... You meant like between the two of us as far as coaching!

Ahhh! Thanks D! I wish I could! But tickets are $500 or better now and I just can't swing it. There will be soo many people in Eloy I want to see too! Guess we need to start a "Get Chris to Eloy Fund"

You know ME, D! I can be bought! Or just get me to Eloy and we can all jump together! I would love to be there!!!

Watch out for Ian!!! He is a real dog!!! Just kiddin! Ian is a great guy whom I have the pleasure of calling a friend and have made some seriously nice jumps with! Hook up with him and I am sure you will get alot out of it. Plan 2- Buy me a plane ticket to Fla and I will spend a weekend with you for free coaching!

wow, now i am confused!

I wasn't really singleing you out Aggie. Just replying in general with my thoughts. I do agree- it sucks wearing a helmet in the 182 with a tandem rig.

So I am rolling down a runway strapped to the floor of an airplane and I have a helmet. Why in the world would you not wear it??? I just don't think it makes sense that people wear helmets for protection during a skydive but wouldn't wear it during take off. You have a helmet, wear it! Ain't gonna do ya any good strapped to your chest strap. I understand it is to keep it from flying around during a crash or something, but if you have considered being safe to that degree, wouldn't it do a lot more good on your head strapped down?!!!

Tommy's someday had come. He was really smokin in the air this last year and we had a blast!! 9th place at Nationals in the intermediates had Badfish written all over it! Thanks for raising a glass! I raise my glass every night for Tommy! I miss him so much!

If you are asking other people if you should go crossbraced, you probably are not ready. The only time to go crossbraced is when you have been jumping a high performance 9 cell and have pretty much mastered it. ie: 180 hook turns, carving front riser turns, rear riser landings, etc. If you are not going to fly a crossbraced canopy the way it was designed to fly- hard front riser turns to final into a hard dive and fast aggressive landings- then there is absolutely no reason to fly one. You better be on top of your game and ready for the challenges of flying a canopy of that caliber at those limits. A mistake can kill you. I just lost my best friend to a mistake. He WAS ready for a crossbraced but he also made a mistake that cost his life. Even the best F 18 pilot in the world cna be killed if he makes a mistake. That is not to ssay he wasn't capable of handling the F 18. But that is the risk involved. Make sure you are ready!

I know I am not really supposed to talk about merchandise on here, but under these circumstances I am hoping the moderators will be ok with it. Plus, we don't make any profit from these shirts. We are offering a Tommy tribute, Badfish shirt for a limited time on the team merchandise store provided by Cafepress.com. http://www.cafeshops.com/badfishgear You order directly from that site. I just wanted to make it available in case anyone wanted one. Thanks!

Hi all! I posted a personal note on our site about the team and just to share some feelings. The link is on the front page. Please have a look if you are interested-

Thank you for all your kind words and for taking the time to download the video. It was hard to make and watch for me, but it was something I needed to do, and I am happy others can get something from it as well.

I put together a tribute video for Tommy and it has been posted on the front page of our site. It is a huge file and you will absolutely want to have a cable modem to do it, but I think it is very much worth the effort. We are only going to leave it up for a short time due to the restrictions for bandwidth on the site, so please take advantage. I miss Tommy so much but am doing ok. Thank you to all who have been there with love and support! We love you all!

I put together a tribute video for Tommy and it has been posted on the front page of our site. It is a huge file and you will absolutely want to have a cable modem to do it, but I think it is very much worth the effort. We are only going to leave it up for a short time due to the restrictions for bandwidth on the site, so please take advantage. I miss Tommy so much but am doing ok. Thank you to all who have been there with love and support! We love you all!

One of me- In memory of my brother- Tommy!

Thank you so much to everyone! This is such a beautiful yet difficult thread for me to read. It means so much to me and those who knew Tommy to have this out-pouring of love and support. It really helps! Thank you!