freakyrat

Best of vibes and prayers for the little guy. Chris

Yeah I'll have to buy a case to, and the beer is strong in Canada. I remember a Happy Hour at Black and Blue at Skybar where I had to darn neer crawl back to the Metro to get back to my hotel. Speaking of the Tri-Angels, I met a former skydiver at an NGPA event in Palm Springs in January. We were out on the airport tarmac lined up to take a tour of a private 727 when someone brought up D. B. Cooper. This guy mentions that he had jumped from a 727 and had a D. B. Cooper #. We exchanged pleasantries about jumping the 727 and both having D. B. Cooper Numbers. I mentioned the Tri-Angels. He said that he had some contact with the group and also had appeared in that book with you folks. His name is Anthony Johnson and he used to jump at Skydive Dallas. He lives in San Diego now and hasn't jumped in awhile because of a motoring accident several years ago but he said he still has his gear. I also mentioned the boogie in Canada and he wishes us all the best. Chris

HA HA HA Can't wait to get in the air with you and all the folks up in Canuck land. I'll just brush all the cobwebs off my Tonysuit and bring it. I like the "Mister Fruit Salad Canopy Guy" FUNNY. Chris

Mark I'm going to bring my new Purple Mirage. May put "The Fruit Salad" Stiletto in it or maybe a new "Fruit Salad" Katana in it. Yeah one of the lesbian skydivers gave my canopy that nickname and it stuck. Kirsten knows who. From some real humble beginnings this Rainbow Boogie is starting to ROCK and Mark you deserve a lot of credit for getting it going. Chris

Last year I heard a speech given by a female retired U.S. Army General reference to support in repealing D.A.D.T. Clearly she stated that if D.A.D.T. was repealed that "you don't bring sex back to the barracks and don't engage in conduct that is unbecoming of your military role regardless if your gay or straight or whatever. These fools by their action clearly were in violation of Article 131, the so called catch-all Article of the UCMJ regardless of sexual orientation issues and do not deserve any help from SLDN whatsoever and deserve the punishment that is handed out to them. Chris

"But there would be no point to having a GAY GUN SHOW, would there" What about the Pink Pistols? Chris

"That's about the only offered reason so far that I think seems pretty legit. Thanks. But I am still wondering how those tentative skydivers would ever even know about a gay boogie. They're not already on the "inside" of skydiving, and they're very unlikely to be reading SC on Dropzone.com, so how would the word reach them? ...Gaydar" The Boogie is taking place during the World Out Games a major olympic type sports event. Chris

Not everyone believes the same way you do. Yes, the rainbow has been "co-opted." Of course, the swastika as been ruined, and the cross has a rather limited set of meanings. I can't even put a little chrome outline of a fish on my car without people "knowing" what it means. It could just mean I like to fish. WTF should the homosexual population not get to stomp all over some image just like everyone else? As a by-the-by, I'm not a homosexual; I'm happily involved in a monogamous relationship, and I have a son who loves me. I just think it sucks that's it's OK to make fudge-packer jokes around the dz, and not breeder jokes. Yes, every day at the DZ is a straight-white-male day. All it takes is not being a straight white male for it to be pretty frikkin' obvious. I don't think that the conversation at baby showers specifically excludes men, but I find damn few of them there -- maybe that's somewhere that women rule. Wendy W. Well said Wendy. Chris

Hey Bill What about a Pink Floyd Dark Side Of the Moon Shirt with the rainbow prism on it? Rainbow Canopies were a thing in Skydiving way before some gay flag symbol. Heck, I have a Stiletto that is a mixture of BBY/MAG/JAD/WAT/LEM and LGR with LEM ribs that one of the lesbian skydivers called a fruit salad. It's colorful and sure beats some of the boring colors I've seen at boogies in Rantoul/Quincy etc. Chris

Jeffrey This Boogie started out from a small Yahoo Newsgroup of gay and lesbian skydivers when several members proposed a little skydiving get together. It was proposed to maybe hold this boogie in conjunction with the 2006 World Gay Games Olympic style sporting event. The 2006 games were originally planned for Montreal. A squabble took place among the Gay Games organization and some of the group split off and formed the World Out Games in Montreal and the original World Federation Of Gay Games will hold their event in Chicago. Over 10,000 athletes are registered for the Montreal games and maybe a little over half that for Chicago's event. From what I understand, Nouvel Air (The DZ in Montreal) was going to have a tandem jumping concession set up during this sports event. Nouvel Air is also going to have a Super-Otter for the summer. The group put out a poll to see where the group wanted to get together for a boogie weekend. Canadian jumper Mark Rejohn proposed that the group come up to Canada and jump the weekend of this sporting event and took the bull by the horns and put a little organization into a small friendly get-together that seems to be growing into a much larger event. Chris

I got bit by an an uknown type spider at work about two years ago. Believe me and others get to the ER and have it checked out. I had a case of MRSA from it ( drug resistant staph infection). Fortunately the bite was excised and Levoquin cleared up the staph infection but the leg that it happened on had muscle pain for almost six months afterwards. Chris

Mark You're just beautiful putting this boogie together and the website is really good. Kyrsten is a real good load organizer who has been on several National 4-way teams. There is another out skydiver that jumped at Spaceland but I don't know if he lives in the Houston area anymore. All I know is that he is a Lear Jet 45 Pilot and has been flying since he was about 16 and has been jumping for about as long. Chris

Flying into Burlington, VT is also an alternative with Jet Blue. Also another alternative is using Albany, NY on Southwest. Burlington is closer though only about 65mi. Chris

From my 37 yrs of working in the Govt. (military and otherwise) I know that they are just ate up with paperwork. The main thing that TSA likes is the colored Cypres card because when your rig goes through the x-ray machine the card matches up exactly with the pictures the screener sees and also with the pictures in their ops manual. My experience in JAX was just great compared to my trip out to JAX from Houston IAH (Terminal B, Continental Express the preceeding Sunday) . The screener was new and her and her trainer didn't want to hear any of my offers to provide the TSA paperwork Cypres card or anything, much like the experience you had. Fortunately I stood my ground and the lady who was training this screener was kind of grouchy and was trying to accuse me of trying to tell her how to do her job. The men that were with her were cooler though and the supervisor told her that as long as my rig etc passes the EDS scan (which it did) that it's OK to take on board. You would think that with the number of DZ's in Florida and the two DZ's in Houston that these screeners would be as excellently trained as the ones in Jacksonville, FL. Such is Life. Chris

I use the same packing technique (leaving nose exposed) on my 124 Pilot that I do on my 120 Stiletto. Both canopies open nicely. Chris

Thanks for posting those pictures for our friend in Denmark. Here is a link to the Cypres2 manual which has the same picture in it. http://www.cypres2.com/userguide/CYPRES_2_users_guide_english.pdf Folks, you can copy and paste it in your browser and I think the x-ray picture is on page 26. Blue Skies Chris PS. Remwa looks like we fly the same canopy combination. I have the 120 Stiletto in the G3 and a 124 Pilot/PD126R combination in the Mirage G4.

A picture of the new one was also posted on Dropzone.com a litttle over a year ago I think Andyman posted it but I'm not sure of that. Chris

Concerning the old Cypres card, I don't know. Cypres (SSK) will probably mail you a new one if you ask for it. Chris

Agree with you. My Pilot 124 opens very slow, flys and turns crisp and has a very flat glide. It's very easy to land in no wind also. Chris

I just want to updated the Forum on the outstanding experience I had with TSA at the Jacksonville, FL International Airport yesterday afternoon. I was bringing my new Mirage G4 back from the factory. ( I had to have the MLW resized) I was very polite with the screeners and asked them if they wanted me to run it though separately like they asked me to do on a previous trip. I took the rig and ran it through in one of those grey plastic trays. After passing through the metal detecter and waiting for everything on the other side of the X-ray machine the Supervisor ask's me for my x-ray (Cypres) card. I produced the card along with the TSA guidelines on Parachutes from the TSA/USPA websites and my USPA card. The Supervisor matched my Cypres card to the x-ray image and it came back perfect just like on the card. He showed the comparison to all the screeners who were watching the machine. They also did an EDS test on the rig and gearbag and they both came back clean. During this time the Supervisor and all the screeners were very polite and totally professional. This only took a little extra time to accomplish and it did hold up the line a bit. After all the tests were complete and the Supervisor gave me back all my Cypres card and all other related documentation, I proceeded to put my rig back in my kitbag etc. It was then that the Supervisor informed me that he had made about 12 jumps in the military and was familiar with skydiving rigs etc. and even though they can request a jumper to open his rig up they have NEVER had to do so and all jumpers who have produced the new colored Cypres card have had it match up perfectly with what the screeners were seeing on the machine. I don't know if that having someone on staff that is familiar with parachutes had anything to do with it but it sure made a difference to me. In conclusion, TSA has a critical job. These TSA folks in JAX were well trained on procedures relating to screening of Parachutes and were totally professional in the execution of those procedures. Chris Chrzan

Hey I have a Long Sleeve Ben Sherman shirt that was about 100.00. It has a patch print Multi-Colored Striped British Flag Design on the front. This test was kind of funny and stupid and I was laughing all through it. Chris

I just want to say thank you to Jeff Johnston, Bob and Connie for taking care of me during my recent visit to Florida and their shop. I had to bring my new Mirage G-4 back for a small modification to the MLW. My MLW was about a half inch to short. Jeff took a look at it on me and had Connie write up a work order. I brought the rig in Monday and Jeff had it done that evening. Picked it up the next day and it fits good now. I also picked up and orderd some spare parts for my G-3 Mirage. That is customer service at it's finest. Thank You. Chris Chrzan Skydive Houston

I remember when I worked in Lafayette. Sonny Gross and skydiving friends came into Grant Street Dance Hall when Marcia Ball was performing and literally took over the place. Was a real party that night. Chris

There is a Holiday Inn and a Comfort Inn right next to it. Chris

BYOB-System Of A Down The Hand That Feeds- Nine Inch Nails Can't Repeat-The Offspring London Calling-The Clash Lately I broke out my old Clash CD's like London Calling and the double set Sandanista