MikeJD

Rachael: Do you like our owl? Deckard: It's artificial? Rachael: Of course it is. Deckard: Must be expensive. Rachael: Very.

Aw, damn. I should have qualified that further by saying you have to postpone your birthday and come to Weston, cos that's where I plan to be this weekend. Fickle, I know.

Happy Birthday you old, um, Bastard!

Carmel Apple? She that new popstar wannabee?

QuoteI love having my face kissed by raindrops! Quote Me too. Except in freefall, where the kissing's a bit too enthusiastic for me.

Shouldn't this be in the Incidents forum? (Non-fatal, some bra discolouration.)

Good for you. This obsession with constantly upgrading handsets is a social sickness. I have a Nokia 6300 that does everything I need, and we may well be together until parted by death (its or mine).

Yeah, but it's a risk with Clyde's Cactus Supply being right next door.

And your clothes if you don't mind. NO! NO! NO! Bad Shah!

That's a pretty scary experience for a newbie. Probably best for you that you didn't realise it was her. Good for her for getting her A, and for dealing with her mal!

If you have a low speed malfunction (or indeed any kind of mal) then chances are you're going to be too busy trying to clear it to think about where would be best to land. And if your canopy isn't the right shape to fly properly then you're not going to be steering it anywhere - the best you could hope for is to keep it from spiralling, and so keep yourself underneath it.

Very nice. From the few contributions (text and pictures) that I've made to magazines, I learned that it's good to have a thick skin about the end result. No matter how much work you put into your submission, it's liable to be edited and presented in a way that you don't think lives up to the original version - often it's just a question of available space. I think it's a good idea to post your article here so everyone can see it the way you intended. I don't subscribe to Parachutist and I'd like to read it.

After hearing Party In the USA, I'm thinking she should be brushing up on her songwriting before she gets down to her homework. Oh, apparently she didn't write it.

One of the great things about intermediate and generally less serious teams are the names they come up with. Personally anything that doesn't pun on the word 'four' gets my vote. Surely all of those must have been done by now.

What are you doing getting a flu jab anyway? I thought those were for old people.

Thanks, chaps. It came to me quite fast - the Don Merrrell poem that BIGUN posted was effective but a bit sombre for me. I'd never heard of Merrell until I looked him up - I'd assumed that was a skydiving poem, but I see he was writing generic safety stuff. Funny how easily you can apply it. I notice he even has one called 'Exit Door'! I'm fascinated by the old skydiving songs and poems, and by the 'old timers' who can recite them word for word. It's great bonfire entertainment but seems like a dying art.

Planes Won't Wait by MikeJD I thought I'd learned my lesson well. At two-point-five I was scared as hell. By fifteen hundred and still in twists, My handles gripped in white-knuckled fists I thought I heard the angels sing, 'You really should have repacked that thing.' But life is short and planes won't wait (I tell myself as I face my fate). At a thousand feet and still no chop With nowhere to go But a sudden stop, I really thought I'd die from fright But pulled that pad with all my might... And lo! My three rings became one. My mal'd Diablo was upped and gone. My RSL then did its stuff, Which was just as well since I'd had enough. I reached the ground with nothing breaking Though couldn't stand 'til my legs stopped shaking. But that was several hours ago. I'm in the bar, I'm in full flow. 'Oh sorry, Death, but not today, No, not with my mad drillz in play. And Jesus, there I was, no shit But d'you see how well I dealt with it?' The tale gets taller with the telling. There was no fear, no frantic yelling, Just a save for me to savour. With each new beer I was that bit braver. And then, despite my addled wits I recall my gear is still in bits. The weekend's only halfway through And I have many jumps to do. I'll ask my rigger, be super slick, Just make it work and make it quick. Your safety checks and stuff are great But life is short and planes won't wait.

I had a friend who sold the Cypres from his rig to make some money (don't worry, this doesn't have a bad ending - he's still alive, as far as I know ). It did strike me as a shame that he should have to do that. It would have been different if he'd never had, or didn't want, an AAD - I think he just desperately needed the cash. If it was me with an AAD-less rig, I'd try to raise the money to buy one sooner rather than later, but I wouldn't stop or limit my jumping in the meantime. But nobody can tell you whether it's acceptable for you to jump without an AAD - you have to weigh that up for yourself. If it is just a short term cash flow problem, have you looked at the second-hand market? I'm sure some people must have upgraded to a Cypres 2 (for example) while their original model still has a couple of years of life. You might be able to pick up a nearly expired AAD for a fraction of the price of a new one.

I don't know nothin' about Wild Weasel or Wicked Weasel. Are these links SFW?

Good luck with that in this sport . I've only been on one ash dive and I'd say you've already made one of the most important decisions - to let someone else do the release. I guess it's something that the people closest to the deceased would like to do, but it's not a trivial thing to achieve in freefall and if the jumper's skill levels aren't up to it then it will spoil the dive for everyone. I'd also be quite tough about which and how many people are encouraged to take part in the dive itself - a memorial big-way is still a big-way, and there will be a temptation for low-timer friends of LeRoy's to want to be involved when they might not have the experience for it. Better that they contribute to everything that needs doing on the ground. I think a short memorial video is a great idea - something upbeat to commemorate the good times. It can be played on the day and people can also take away a copy as a keepsake - or maybe you could send copies on with the ash dive footage added. One good thing about skydiving and BASE is that there's never any shortage of footage that someone could compile! I've been to skydiver funerals where people were invited to wear something in a particular colour associated with the person, which I think is a nice touch. Lots of us have certain signature gear colours that we tend to stick to - not sure if that's true in this case. Best of luck with the organising. I hope everything works out on the day.

The generic reference to 'your city' makes it look like a cut-and-paste job as well.

And if you look down and you could pound a furniture tack into a piece of furniture, then... you're probably too late to unpack.

That actually looks like it could have hurt! At least you managed to miss the trees in spite of having to navigate over your shoulder. But speaking of navigation - that is the dropzone, isn't it? Looks a bit like a golf course!

Andy, I know where you're coming from and I'm very big on self-reliance. I made my first 800 jumps on my own gear without any kind of AAD, and it never bothered me. These days I'll still happily jump my rig even when my Cypres is away for a service, and it surprises me how many people won't - but on balance, I'd prefer to be with my AAD than without it. Even though I seldom look at my altimeter, I admit it'd give me the jitters to jump solo without one. In a trusted group with one or more working altis between them, much less of a problem. For me it's about breaking the infamous 'chain of events' early. Being able to know exactly how high you are (rather than just believing you have a rough idea) is one way to lessen the likelihood that you'll be needing that AAD. You know thinking about it, it's so many years since I last jumped solo from altitude that it'd probably give me the jitters anyway!

What about, Steven Baldwin has nothing to do with it? OK, I'll chance a few quid. Maybe I'll post a review here when I've read it.