NickDG

And they should also get behind the camera folks who had their art work ripped off left and right . . . NickD

I remember when I was a kid my mom would give me a quarter and send me down to the neighborhood shoemaker for new shoelaces. He'd pick me up and place me in the big chair. But he'd never undo my laces, he'd pull out a big honking pair of shears (that scared the crap out of me) and just sliced them off in one swipe. Riggers are the same as shoemakers . . . NickD

Yes, that whole episode was pretty unforgettable . . . NickD

>>Some of you parasites

These three guys were doing okay until Curly decided to join Moe and Larry in the stern . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEfMMizpOF4&feature=related NickD

Whoa! That ripcord cable looks way way too short. You'd better check it's not kinked up in the housing somewhere. There should be some slack, and the end of the cable and the swedge should extend below the ripcord handle a bit more. If that is its true length it looks as if another jumper taking a hanging grip on your harness could open the reserve container . . . NickD

Here's how I see the problem . . . There's simply too many drop zones! Besides the good things tandem jumping brought along it also allowed a period of every man a DZO. In the old days anyone could open a DZ, and right away you'd get all the grounded and disgruntled jumpers from other DZs, but you'd still have to struggle for ten years to become established and most start up DZ didn't make it at all. Tandem changed all that and a bunch of people became DZOs to cash in. Now there are so many of you guys you're eating each other alive and operating on razor thin margins. If you don't have deep regard for the sport, and I mean it's your life and you totally know there's nothing more you'd rather do, then do the sport a favor and go sell used cars. You'll make more money, have less headaches, and for most of you it was your passed over calling. Most of us skydiving professionals, instructors, riggers, and pilots, never made a dime in skydiving, except for eating money once in a while. Why should you prima donnas be any different? And while its natural to look back once in a blue moon and wonder what if, most pros I know wouldn't trade away their lifetime of fun and great friendships for anything. All we need is one good DZ in every major city. Then they'd all get enough business to run first class operations. Some of you parasites, especially the ones who begrudgingly allow up-jumpers, but are teetering on the edge of being tandem mills need to close the doors and go home. Money, money money, boo-hoo for you . . . NickD

When I was coming up I never got an "A" or "B" license. And still don't have either one. They were worthless in those days as once you were signed off "student status" by an Instructor you became a skydiver. I put in for the "C" license though because you needed that to become a Jumpmaster and later of course my "D" license to become an Instructor. I think it should still be that way today. But they found a new way to nickel and dime you poor guys to death . . . NickD

In defense of the Perris Ghetto, I don't like the term Bums. I lived in there for years and still have a trailer I occasionally use. There is an ebb and flow to the amount of "culture" there, but it's always been that way. And I don't know how many know this, but the Perris Ghetto is actually the original Lake Elsinore Ghetto. When the first big Elsinore floods came the entire Elsinore Ghetto loaded up and moved to Perris. And it was quite the sight when all those wobbly trailers were making the trek over the hill. Sure, there are a few people in Ghetto that are on their way down the drain, just like everywhere else. Some just can't handle the freedom, but those types are everywhere. I've seen more than a few move into the Ghetto to "pursue the dream" and they had everything going for themselves. But six months later the "weakness" had reduced them to shells of their former selves. It's like living and working in Las Vegas. You either learn to avoid the crap tables or you die. Plus there is a heritage to the Ghetto if you know where to look for it. Some of the original trailers are history books of past and now deceased jumpers. The walls are inscribed and decorated by hundreds of scribblings and drawings. If we ever spawn skydiving archaeologists, the Perris Ghetto, is were they will begin digging. So yes, the Perris ghetto is still a pretty cool place for those who can handle it - now pass me that jug of wine, will ya . . . ? NickD

Good stuff, Bill, and also correct. But remove any of the factors you mentioned and as long as you still have a slider you're golden. But take the slider off and then take it to terminal and see what happens. I'm saying the slider is the biggest factor. On the issue of older Ravens being iffy when overloaded, any 7-cell will be iffy when overloaded depending on the brain that's hanging underneath it. I've used my Raven 1 a few times during reserve rides and it was just fine. Then I had a cutaway on my girlfriend's rig and she had Raven 150 in it, I was just careful with it and that went fine too. And I also B.A.S.E. jumped with some Ravens in the old days too. One thing, besides the experience of the jumper, is the toggles sometimes don't get set in the right place on reserves as it's not like we actually air them out on test jumps. But the one I used for B.A.S.E. was dialed in and I never worried about unintentionally stalling it. But I know these issues are mostly jumper induced. When I was working for Apex BASE we had a version of FOX canopy that had an extra outboard control line. The idea was as BASE canopies began to grow larger, and more lightly wing loaded, you needed the extra control authority to get similar performance of the smaller canopies. Now I love B.A.S.E. jumpers, and for almost thirty years, they've been some of my favorite people, and as a group they are some of the most knowledgeable gear wise as any group that casually uses parachutes. But we do, and always have had, a certain percentage of them that are dumb as bricks. And some of these guys make the whacko skydivers you meet on the DZ seem like Einstein's . . . So we began seeing problems with jumpers, who had the extra control lines, stalling out and getting dumped in on their landings. We first tried an education program and I wrote up a primer on square parachute behavior (which I thought was stupid as you shouldn't be B.A.S.E. jumping without a firm grasp of that in the first place.) But it didn't work anyway, and the problem continued. So eventually we recommended that "most" jumpers should have the extra control line removed. And that basically solved the issue. So again, its brain matter and lack of experience, not nylon, that's causes most problems in parachuting. And it's a shame, but necessary, that we have to dumb things down to protect those folks who are lacking . . . NickD

There used to be quite a few in Elsinore back in the day. They even did an all cop eight-way at one time. And there was also a cop four way RW team that was competitive. The day they were going for the 8-way record I remember one officer was running late, so they were considering just flagging down the first cop driving by the DZ to fill in. Some old-timers will remember Carl Aggie from the LAPD who was on that team. Then some years later over at Perris something really strange happened . . . A couple of Los Angeles Sheriffs Deputies went through AFF. They got so excited about skydiving they went and talked their department into completely funding a Sheriffs Demo Team from scratch. They recruited another half dozen wuffo Deputies to begin their AFF training and placed a huge gear order at Square One for matching rigs, jumpsuits, the whole nine yards. I guess they took advantage of the fact that who ever doled out the money didn't know much about skydiving, much less demos. I think the name they picked for themselves was, "The Shooting Stars" or something like that. I was working at Square One at the time and was the one who took their order. It was getting close to $18,000 when they got done buying every jumping do-dad there was. I recall one asking, ""What's these yellow things?" And I said, "Those are wind drift indicators. On a demo you throw one out the door on the way up to check the winds." "Okay," he said, "We'll take a hundred of those." And it was kind of hysterical as these two guys had maybe 10 jumps each and the rest of "the team" is just beginning their AFF level ones. So I went to Kate Cooper and said, "What do we do with these guys, they haven't a clue?" Without batting an eye Kate said, "Well then, hurry up and process their order before someone gets a clue." It was mid-summer and with every custom option available and all the cop embroidery it was going to be a while before all that gear came in. In the meantime the Sheriffs kept jumping. Several replacements were made as some going through AFF realized skydiving wasn't for them, but they just kept plugging in new guys. After a while it started to become a way to make a free first jump for a lot of them. By this time several of them had 40 or 50 jumps. Then one day one of them went in. I don't actually recall now if he lived or died, but that was the end of it. They all quit jumping, every one of them. Then their gear started coming in with all their logos all over it, and as far as I know most of that stuff is still sitting on a back shelf at Square One. But from then on the "Shooting Stars" were forever known as the "Bouncing Badges . . ." NickD

>> You can be gay without being a fucking screaming little girl.

Smell the Glove is here . . . (Old Spinal Tap Joke) AC/DC "Rock & Roll Train" Or "Back in Black" Part 14 . . . I like it though, I'm already working out the Bassline! NickD

Hi Kevin, Eat 'em up, Bro . . . The very beginning is the best part, the rest is just practice. We'll be expecting a full report . . . NickD

Very cool . . . NickD

I don't know - because you are tomorrow's B.A.S.E. jumpers? And you are ones that cause us the most heartburn . . . NickD

>>as to why you can't jump, every one of them is a lameass copout on your part!

>>Maybe you missed the smiley. I thought it was over the top enough to be obvious I was being facetious.

We thought of that in the early days of B.A.S.E. when ballistic deployed reserves first appeared. If you jumped from a building and had a 180 opening instead of trying to turn around you'd upholster your "pistol" and fire it over you shoulder. And besides B.A.S.E. jumpers standing in front of mirrors practicing their quick draw, "Hey 180, you talking to me?" There would be this eventuality: #330, October 14, 2010 Dwight Burp Los Angeles, CA, USA Building Jump Impact In preparation for their building launch two jumpers were doing gear checks when Dwight accidentally hit the button on his partners ballistic deployed reserve. The resulting deployment hit Dwight square in the forehead and killed him. NickD

LOL, I know Bill Deli, he's got more time in the Perris bathroom than you have in the sport . . . NickD

>>Fear is the dark side, you should know it better.

>>We've both done military static line

You need to be careful about this because it works all kinds of ways . . . One time I was coming out of a 7/11 store in the 80s and this big bearded biker guy stopped me and said, "I see the sticker on your car, you a jumper?" So I said yeah, and he said he was too. He was a bit intimidating looking and I wasn't sure what scam was coming next. But we wound up having a few beers and indeed, his name was Harley, or something like that, and he was in the very first 8-way canopy stack. Then just lately I was at a non-skydiver party in Arizona and one group over I heard someone mention skydiving. So I sidled over and there's this nice looking young girl talking about free flying. So I say, "I'm a jumper." And I get the big raised eyebrow. "Where do you jump?" She asks. So I go, "All over, mostly in Southern California." "What do you jump? And I say, "Oh, I've got several rigs, and I'm a B.A.S.E. jumper too." Admittedly I was a little boozy and now she's backing away from me. And the more I tried to convince her I was really a jumper the lamer it was beginning to sound. The last thing I remember was chasing her down a hallway going, "Really, I'm a rigger and an Instructor too!" NickD

You can believe it or not, but . . . ~There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.~ ~Shakespeare NickD

Like birds? We jump all year long and sleep in our own beds (sometimes) . . . NickD