vdschoor

Iwan stop it! You're gonna scare her away! I said poker, not strippoker...

Hey, she said she has licorice.....is that a good reason? That's a very good one, in fact.. I'll bring MORE licorice.. even more reason to be there..

It's because there is NO reason whatsoever she should NOT be there .. she just has to be there.. Um.. good reasons.. I think she is missing out on a great party, and we'll be missing her at the party, so really the party won't be as fun for us if she wouldn't be there... Damn I need to stop drinking coffee.... WOW, ok, this is pressure!!! I thought the party was SATURDAY!! Hmmm....it's poker night, but I may be able to play a few quick hands and head to this "party" you are talking about! GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON!!?? hmmmmmm Um.. cause we would LOVE to have you there.. Is that a good reason? And he.. you know what, I'll bring a pokerset, we can play poker at the party if you really need to play..

Ouch.. watch out Jake, I hear Sunny screaming, she's on her way with Adam's fish... But yes.. good reason.. [runs away]

It's because there is NO reason whatsoever she should NOT be there .. she just has to be there.. Um.. good reasons.. I think she is missing out on a great party, and we'll be missing her at the party, so really the party won't be as fun for us if she wouldn't be there... Damn I need to stop drinking coffee....

It's Pop's time of the month again? No wonder he's so bitchy. Yeah.. he was all grumpy last night.. ruined the party at Geno's house, so we went home early.. HATER!

WHAT'S UP!!! Causing trouble again huh? I guess it's that time of the week, only 8 more hours to go!!

Frank, I might try their 132s as well, but since the 140s will be available to me soon (a friend is buying those) I will try those first. Iwan

This is my opinion... please read it as that. A new camera jumper with a full setup is more of a hazard than a new camera jumper with just 1 item on their head. Why? Because this jumper now has even more to think about. Only change / add 1 thing at a time, once you are comfortable with what you are doing and you have your routine down. For me I only started jumping with a flash a little while ago, this was adding something new to the mix and I had to adjust my "getting ready" procedures for that. Normally it is turning on the camera when the plane turns on jumprun (this is after I made sure everything is ok somewhere on the ride up) and hitting record when I am about to climb out. With stills I turn the camera on before I put the helmet on my head, and then from there on it's the normal procedure for the video camera. All these things change constantly, now that I've added the flash, I turn that on, check the settings, turn on my still camera, put on the helmet, etc.. Before and after I do all this I check my skydiving equipment, touch all the handles, make sure my camera wings are securely attached, etc. There is just a lot beeing added to the mix every time, so the simpler your setup is when you start, the safer it becomes, and I am not even talking about snagpoints and things like that, just the equipment you put on your head. As a new jumper you have way too much thinking to do about all the other things to even start thinking about adding a camera to the mix. I see people stressing out on jumprun because something is wrong with the camera, the light doesn't come on, whatever it can be.. A VERY important thing to do before strapping any equipment on your head is to play around with it on the ground, know your equipment before taking it on a skydive. What use is it if your camera is setup wrong, wrong shutterspeed, wrong focal length on your lens, wrong ISO speed etc.. Also, if there is something weird going on, you're not stressing out immediately, you know that you're out of tape, or you know your battery is low, because you know your equipment. Jump numbers do matter in all of this, people can claim it doesn't but it does. Most people are a lot calmer after a couple hundred current jumps than after a couple hundred very uncurrent jumps. If you're relaxed on jumprun, and not all worked up because you're about to jump out of an airplane, it's easier to deal with issues that your cameragear might be causing. That is one of the reasons I usually don't strap on my camera helmet when I try out new things, cause then I need to focus on the new things in the mix, instead of having to think about getting decent video. Just my 2 cts.. Iwan

http://www.aerialextreme.com/index.html Check out the picture at the bottom of this page If you're looking for special stuff, Mark has done a load of those kind of stunts... Iwan

Then may i recommend Icarus Crossfire 129-139....try it, you may fall in love It's on my list my friend!! ha ha.. I've heard really good stuff about this canopy, and as I said.. I only just started demoing new canopies, and the ST135 was the first one available to me. The list (roughly) is as follows: Stiletto 135 (PD) Sabre2 135 (PD) Pilot 140 (Aerodyne) Crossfire 139 (Icarus) Vision 140 (Aerodyne) Nitron 135 (Precision) Nitro 135 (HiPer)

I don't know if there is such a thing as a best canopy, but there is a reason why a lot of camera people jump Spectre canopies. Personally, after my Triathlon whacked me pretty good a couple of times and it was time to downsize, I wanted something slightly more performing, and went to the Sabre2 150, which has been treating me very nice for the last 500 or so jumps. Right now I am demoing again for the next canopy, I've been jumping a Stiletto 135 and I am going to try many more canopies, untill I find one I really like again. My main criteria is reliable, soft openings.. and the Spectre is one of those canopies that does that. I would like something with a little more performance, so I am not going to buy a Spectre, but it is an allround great canopy.

:9:0 A fun weekend, we partied it up in Hollister on Saturday, bought beer for screaming across the beerline (ooops) and we had a big barbecue operated by H-town master chef Pop! Sunday went back to Byron and did another 5 jumps on the Stiletto 135.. I am REALLY starting to like this canopy... Although I am so not done demoing yet.. Is it weekend yet? Iwan

Usually you only run into the cons if you were in a bad place already... I can't see any big cons actually, I have not had bad experiences with AADs. I think the big pro is that it will take care of you when you are not able to yourself (knocked out or something) Iwan

That takes years of excercise Shannon.. really, it would be wrong if you would just get one... You could borrow mine once in a while of course

It's just you sunshine, Sangiro is trying to slow you down in posting, so that's why you get proxy errors.. Feel the love.

Jack? As in Jack Mioff? She's probably looking for either that Jack or Jack Ass, his buddy

This is cool, but I think it's about time we make a sticky thread for this, so we don't keep posting our helmets all the time. Anyways.. here are mine, the old "hangar" and the new one. Both are Boneheads, the hangar is a Bonehead Full Box and the new one is a Flat Top Pro. Iwan

:10:1 A really nice weekend in Byron, 7 jumps on Saturday, and 3 on Sunday. Jumped the Stiletto 135 for the first time, but due to the winds on Sunday it wasn't all that much fun landing it..

Alain, That one would probably work as well, but one of the most common ones used is this one : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=52735&is=REG At least most of the camera fliers that I know that use quick releases use these. Iwan

He he.. hit all the norcal dropzones Anyways, if I had to choose between Monterey and Hollister, go to Hollister. I agree that Monterey is a beautiful dropzone, but as they said there are not a lot of funjumpers. I can't comment on the fact that they would not be very hospitable to fun jumpers, I haven't run into that. Hollister is a cool place, with a whole bunch of very cool jumpers. I always enjoy going there (and I don't go there enough) and I am planning on going again sometime soon. When are you out here? You should also consider Byron though (I had to say it of course)

join us, GFD is giving free advice in the pub

I agree here.. The only camera mounted without a quick release on my helmet is my video camera.. for some reason the keep making those bottom loaded.. (at least the affordable ones) and it's a pain getting the plate off every time.. Iwan

AAAAA where is that restaurant? I hope it's not in the Bay Area? Or maybe I should start taking your sigline seriously huh?

I got caught by some bouncers once in a closed off section of a club.. he he.. everybody was partying downstairs, so we figured that was perfect.. We didn't know it was right outside the break room for the employees.. ha ha.. They just gave us a thumbs up and went on with what they were doing.. As to around friends.. yeah.. things have happened around friends, what's the big deal.. everybody does it right?