Grogs

I can't tell you because I still haven't gotten my July Parachutist yet. Grrrr.

Umm... that wasn't exactly what I was referring to. Get your mind back in the gutter!

0:3:1 myself. The 1 was for my first night jump. Sounds like you might have lived up to your nickname this weekend, huh Mouth? And probably a bit scary too. They had an accuracy competition when I was up in Cross Keys. It wasn't an actual POPS competition, but several of the competitors were qualified for SOS, even if they weren't actually members. They would get so focused on hitting the target they'd neglect other things like flaring. Ouch! Fortunately they were all jumping big accuracy canopies, so no one got hurt.

I think my true calling is on my belly. I'd love to be on a kick-ass 4-way team some day. In the mean time, I'm working on my ratings (got my Coach rating already -- maybe AFF in another year or 2) and I'd also love to try camera flying, but with the $1000 or more of gear it takes to start up, that probably won't be any time soon. I've also been working on freeflying a bit lately, and I think it actually makes you a better, more well-rounded flyer than always flying on your belly. Freeflying is also nice when you end up on a load with all tandems and AFF's, or you show up at the DZ 2 minutes before the first load of the day comes up.

Woohoo! Congrats on your 100th!!

Haha. Sad but true. Actually, our night 4-way looked like a rodeo dive coming out the door. I was diving (from the King Air) and our front floater ended up on my back like a rodeo dive. Amazingly, he managed to hold it together and get back into his slot without funneling, but it was really wild.

Actually, the pattern we had was the standard light pattern for military night freefall jumps (at least that's what the guy in charge said. He has something like 50 night jumps with the SEALs, so I took his word on it). If you see the red chemlight, it means you're heading towards the other person and you need to turn off. If you see the green you're behind them and should be ok. I'm sure your pattern would work out fine too (works for airplanes obviously), but we just set them up like we were instructed to.

I agree. I thought it actually was a pretty decent movie. You really do have to just accept the fact that most of the skydiving is quite unrealistic, but it actually has a pretty good plot and good action, unlike the other 2.

Hehe. I'm glad everyone had fun on their night jumps. I got my 2 on Saturday night. I must say I was lit up like a Christmas Tree with 2 green chemlights on my back, 2 red chemlights on my front, a strobe, a lighted altimeter, and a spare chemlight in my pocket. On the first "solo" jump, we did a 3 way with the JM who was putting us all out and just held on the whole way down. I realized right out the door the light had gone out on my altimeter. My friend Don tried to fix it, but never managed, and in fact messed the altitude on it up by about 500'. Not a big deal though, I just watched the other guys' altimeters, broke when they did, and pulled when my Ditter went off. Since the altimeter was a bit off though, I got caught a bit short on my pattern and took a nice crosswinder. I could tell when I was getting close to the ground and planed out, but next thing I knew I was rolling around on the ground. No harm done though. The 2nd jump was a bit more uneventful. We decided we'd do a jump with our 4-way team. At first we were just going to do a round, but at the last minute we decided to turn some actual points. We ended up turning 9 points, which is more than we normally turn in the daylight. The opening, canopy ride, and landing were uneventful and very peaceful on this one. Ahh, and since it was raining on Sunday, I decided to go ahead and take my D test. I managed to barely squeak by, so all I have to do is fax my application into USPA now.

Blue skies and light winds to you two kids. I hope you have lots of fun.

Well, as we tell first-jump students... here's the book answer, but... your butt's swinging under that parachute, not mine, so it's your decision (usually during one of the 'controversial' topics like horseshoes or 2 canopies out). Having said that, I think that was pretty heads up of you. I probably would have seen the line-over and chopped it, but I have seen my DZO trying to work a line-over out on a 105 (not long and not successfully I might add) so you're certainly not alone in what you did.

Honestly, I think I'd always cutaway a horseshoe. I'm of the opinion that one point of contact is less likely to cause an entanglement than 2. Time and altitude permitting I'd try and clear the problem first, but I doubt the hook knife would ever enter my mind, or if it did I'd really have a chance to use it (unless it's from a premature deployment at 10k or something along those lines). The hook knife would probably come into play if the main and reserve entangled, or the reserve opened with a line over and I had nothing better to do with the rest of my life. Maybe a bit simplistic, but I'd rather have a solution that works for 90% of the problems I'm likely to remember under stress than have 50 different possible solutions and completely brainlock if the problem comes up. I don't use an RSL for the same reason - one less branch in the malfunction tree to worry about.

Unfortunately, I won't be there. I'm doubly screwed right now. No time off, and no money even if I did have the time off.

Ouch, that hurts Chuck. All the packers I know (myself included) pack because they don't have enough jumps to get a rating, and in order to get enough jumps they pack to feed their habit. I actually did get a Coach rating recently, but it doesn't really pay anything, just gets me a free jump every now and then. I think that's great, but how's your retention rate? I think somewhere around 80-90% of our first jump students only make one jump and then never come back. That seems like a crazy amount of effort to invest on someone who's never going to jump again. On the other hand, maybe by doing it he/she feels more involved in the skydive and decides to continue along because of the personal attention. I believe there is a correlation between the treatment a student gets and whether or not they continue in the sport. On the other hand, it's only so much. Some people have no intention of ever coming back a 2nd time. I agree completely about students not having to pay for a packing class though. I just grabbed a beer and got together with one of my jumpmasters one Saturday night and we went over packing. I also came out in the middle of the week and spent several hours with our master rigger working on it. I pretty much make the same offer to upcoming jumpers. I'm always happy to hang out Saturday night and go over packing with someone (a rigger will still have to sign them off though).

Really? I thought the UK had an E&F license at 500 and 1000 instead of moving the D requirements up. Or am I thinking of Australia? I (personally) yhink you'd be ok on the 30-way so long as you, and more importantly the load-organizer, takes your experience into consideration. Talk to him/her and make sure they're aware about your inexperience and concerns. If he/she seems to think you'll be ok and recommends things to help you out, such as having you fly in the base, you should be good to go. If you don't feel comfortable with what the organizer suggests, then by all means tell them no thanks.

Hmmm... actually, I'm guessing you've never jumped 27 times in one day before. I think that automatically makes the score 0:27:1 Actually, what a damn cool idea for a birthday. Were those all normal loads at the DZ yesterday? Or did you have to make special arrangements?

My home dropzone, Skydive Suffolk. We only do them about once or twice a year, but they couldn't have come at a better time since I just hit my 200th last weekend. 2 night jumps and the test and it's D-license time for me.

Grats on the night jumps. I'm scheduled to do my first! 2 jumps on Saturday night, so it should be a pretty wild and fun night.

Damn girl! You know that's separate sessions, right? If that score's for real, what can I say? 7 sessions in 24 hours... umm... how about 'that's amazing.' I don't think I could do that when I was 18.

Hey Wingie, glad you're ok. We can laugh about it since you didn't get hurt.

Nah, I don't think Stacy's ever done more than about 24. Of course that's more than double anything I've ever done.

Woohoo. Grats Omri. Getting that A in your hand is great isn't it?

Congrats Dave. Sounds like you enjoyed your 200th. Blue Skies and Messy Pies

Or going into a head-down while trying to swoop. The first time I accidentally did that and felt the bottom drop out on me scared me pretty good until I realized what had happened.

Way to go Herv. Getting your first falcon is a really big deal in my opinion. I remember how excited I was when I got mine not too long ago. I hope everyone on the DZ enjoyed the case of beer you brought them for that.