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Grumble complain bitch cranky ugh *hate*.... Yeah, i think its obvious that it really annoys me that I have a helmet that I can't mount a HDV camera to and also mount my still camera. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

0:27:0 Didn't do anything for the first time, shot like 12 tandem videos (fuck i still have to edit them all ) and made some AFF jumps and did some freeflying. Was an ok weekend. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I wasn't saying you're stupid, I just don't like that argument. One rigger to the next is likely to make the same number of mistakes. I wouldn't ever use a rigger that I thought was more likely to make a mistake than some other rigger that I could use. Catching mistakes and making mistakes happens at the exact same time. Regardless of how long the repack cycle is, its just as likely that the rigger I use and trust is going to make a mistake. As for the other stuff, well... I think that it comes down to skydiver responsibility to make sure that their rig isn't left some place to get screwed up. If stuff gets spilled on my rig that I don't know what it is, I am going to do something about it. The point being is that, at least to me, it would seem the the total amount of wear on a reserve in its lifetime is VERY limited. It gets wear if it has to be used and if it has to be packed. If a 180 day repack cycle means its going to take longer before I have to send my reserve off to PD to get inspected or before it loses as much value, then that works for me! The only thing I envision being a problem with a longer repack cycle is that the closing loop could wear out before that time. I think my rigger is cool enough to replace it at every repack though, cause it always seems new. So I am not worried much about that either. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

You had some good shots. I didn't like the pace of the whole thing. It just seemed kinda slow and didn't really generate much of a story. It just seemed like a bunch of shots strung together w/o much emotion. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Skydiving, drinking, eating, etc... the normal weekend activities. What else would I do? ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I agree. What I dislike most about the state of things is that, there is a huge rush to make things safe and protect people from themselves. I just don't see that as being the job of government. I don't think people should be protected from them self. Protect me from others. Make laws or enforce the ones we have. I don't need to be protected from me. If I want to go out and do something stupid and end up getting myself killed, so be it. I don't like that as time continues on more and more beliefs of other people are being pushed on me. I am going to do what I want regardless of what you think is right. Should I infringe on your right to do what you want while pursuing my cause then by all means, strike me down, but if I am minding my own business and staying out of your way, leave me the fuck alone. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Does this issue make you want to have rigs repacked more often than 120 days or longer than 120 days? Just think, a rigger is human and can make mistakes which you could be jumping. Of course you would rather not have to jump a riggers mistake, but if you were, would you rather jump it for 120 days or 180 days? the answer is: doesn't matter. More or less repacks does not affect error rate of riggers. if you got a bad reserve repacked, there is the same amount of chance that it would be repacked incorrectly the next time. I think it does matter. The shorter repack cycle makes it more likely the error is found before you have to use your reserve. I kinda like that idea. The shorter repack cycle means that there are more opportunities to make a mistake because the rig has to get packed more times every year. That argument works both ways and it is pretty stupid. I always use the same rigger because it is a person that I trust to not make the type of mistake that would kill me. The good argument is that, the more times the reserve is repacked is the more wear put on the reserve. The H/C wear is affected only by how much and where you jump. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Me and my friend mark decided that going to Six Flags (Illinois) was a good idea before we tried this skydiving thing. I had never really rode roller coasters or anything like that before. I was always too afraid of heights. Well adrenaline rush was playing there. I thought it was pretty damn cool. Not long after that we went skydiving, I stuck with it, he didn't. The next year I actually got to meet and jump with at least one of the people who are in that movie. The next time I went with some skydivers to see it at the Milwaukee Domed IMAX I had been skydiving for a few years. The up close freeflying scenes felt awesome. It was almost like I was there jumping with them. It looks pretty damn cool in bigger than life size!

It took you till Friday? Fuck, you got it lucky man. I was wanting to jump come Wednesday. I am in my 4th year in the sport and I really would rather just be at the DZ right now. I jump every weekend and often 4-5 days a week and can't get enough. So, depending on who you are... it might not get better, you might just keep wanting more. Sorry

For whatever reason, most of my DZ, myself included uses one of these. Clicky With the little leveler things removed ofc. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I haven't switched to HDV yet, but have shot some video with my friends HDV camera and my Royal .3. I honestly can't say that it would be worth it for me to put the extra weight and snag factor on my head to have an HDV lens. For what I am personally doing, just tandem and other RW/Freefly video, what I have worked just fine. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

A macBook or a Thinkpad. Those are the only laptops I will suggest to anyone. Both are well built and should last quite some time. Both are more expensive than some of the bargin laptops you can buy. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I used to hang out in the pub all the time waiting for people to come in and talk about skydiving. Too bad the server it is hosted on sucks pretty bad. It would constantly disconnect me and cause problems so I stopped hanging out there despite being online in 2 other chat rooms pretty much any time I am at my computer. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

here here! One of the most experienced instructors at my DZ has said something like "Stop posting on the internet about skydiving and just go do it" ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Agreed. If you already own the best product on the market, why would you sell it to go with something else? Personally, the "no maintenance" thing with the vigils is a load of crap to me. I don't know many things that can keep working that long w/o some sort of problem. I would rather have the factory tell me that problem exists rather than find out when it is too late. (Though I recognize that is always a possibility, just less likely with regular service checks) ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I guess that is where it is subjective. I've had the opportunity to film a lot of TMs before became one. Some looked so bored you had to think their job was the worst in the world, and it distracted from the excitement of the video. Some did so many antics -- fly, swim, , etc. it destroyed the video, plus made it almost impossible to keep a decent fall rate. Then there were those that smiled, made one or two simple gestures that added to the fun. Give me the latter. I agree. Too much makes the video suck, but a lot of the time nothing is just plain boring. I try to work out some kind of routine with the TM though and that helps. I as a video guy always give two thumbs up to the people I am shooting video of. They do it back about 99% of the time and it makes for a nice picture. I don't mind when the TIs do stuff so long as the tandem pair sits mostly still. When it is rocking around the video looks like shit. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

How about a link to the website for this game, since, even being a gamer nerd, I have no fuckin clue what any of you are talking about. Edit: Took some creative googling, but is this what you guys are talking about? http://ruletheseas.com/ ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Ever have a color blind student? I don't think there is anything wrong addressing each student by their first name while they are under canopy. j I just got my AFF rating, but as far as I have noticed, we haven't had any in awhile. We ask all our students if they are colorblind. A lot of the time we will use the persons name, but sometimes it is just easier to say "Blue canopy left turn, pink canopy right turn." JP is right though, it sure helps to know which one you are talking to because all the risers are marked with the color that the canopy so you can check as they board. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Totally natural. Why a leap of faith though? I don't think it is. I put trust in my gear and my training. Shit can go wrong but I do a lot to minimize my risk. I jump with people I trust or trust in myself to be defensive against those I can't. (students) It isn't about faith at all for me. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

When I was a coach, the students that I saw kinda had an idea what they were doing and sometimes had some idea of what they were doing wrong. Most of the time they needed me to explain to them what and why they were having the problem or show it to them on video. Going through the AFF course and now being an AFFI (I have jumped with a huge total of 2 students) I see it even more clearly that they have no idea what the hell is going on. They make stuff up from one end of the skydive to the next. New skydivers in most cases don't have any idea what they are doing wrong or why they are having the problems that they are. How can that person take advice that they get from here on the forums and put it into action with any effectiveness. I don't think they can but even if they do it might just be the case that they are trying to fix the wrong problem. The other thing is that, I don't like surprises. I don't want one of my students to come on here and get some advice about something to try on their repeat level 3 that causes them to get hurt or to not complete their TLOs. I don't want to have to be the one who says, "why the hell did you do that?" Only to find out someone suggested it on here. That is why I suggest that a person speak with their instructor. I think this forum is great, I have learned a lot from on here. I just don't think people should be taking advice till they have enough experience to sift through the crap. Getting your A license doesn't automatically mean this, but at least it is a good starting point. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

The person on the ground talks to all students. This was the practice at the DZ where I went through AFF. They had an Otter. The DZO would be on the ground and talk all the students in on the same frequency. Hey would assign us numbers..."Jumper #1" etc. I'm not sure this is the best practice, but I know it is done. We do it by canopy color. Care is taken to ensure that two students don't go up with the same color canopy at the same time. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I think the bigger issue is taking people who are kinda sketchy on jumps. I don't like to do stuff that is complicated if I don't have a good idea of the skill level of the other people on the skydive. Not to say I haven't made any mistakes, but, be weary of who you jump with always. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

I had just begun my track when I saw him. It seems he'd hardly tracked at all before pulling. I 'm assuming he'd tracked the same direction I was headed, because that's the direction his head was aimed as he was waving off. It took my eyes a second to catch the movement below me. I have been on some skydives where a person who was in the formation who thinks they are an awesome tracker had ended up "below" me pulling. It's the types that say things like, "I am an awesome tracker, I dive down and build up a bunch of speed and then flatten out and go really far." I hate dealing with those types. The best and easiest solution is to just keep tracking though cause they are so much lower than you that you have time to get out from over them. I notice this mostly on freefly jumps. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Yep. Any kind of artificial condition that you are putting on it is a means of cheating the other person out of knowing who you really are. Just be you and do what comes to you. If the reason for holding out is to ensure that he cares more about you then that is cheating yourself. If you have to hold out on sex to get him to appreciate you, what kind of person is he really? That is the sad thing about the games that people play. Just be who you are and the other person will like you or not. If they don't, move on and find someone who does and really cares about you. There is some level of compromise that has to be made in any relationship, but I don't think it should come at the expense of hiding who you really are. I think that is a big reason so many people get married and later end up divorced. I am single, so maybe I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, but I know thats how I feel. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka