steve1

I have a hard time dealing with people who holler. I don't care who was at fault, they don't have a right to throw a tissy fit in front of other folks. I can't handle this scenario (if I'm the one being yelled at) and I'll holler right back. I might get my mellon thumped, but that's how riled up I get right back at whoever wants to shout at me. I don't care who it is. It makes a lot more sense, to me, to calm down and then talk things out rationally. I think others should intervene, calm folks down, and when the time is right (when people have calmed down) talk things out. It sounds to me, that in Sunshine's case, the other guy was way out of line. Just my 2cents worth......Steve1

When I was working in the woods that was one of my favorite sayings. Now that I'm an old fart, every day is a good one. Hang in there. It only gets better.....Steve1

My evil step-mother is now a member of the femur club. This probably isn't funny unless you've actually met the old bitch. But anyhow, my father got the gas pedal mixed up with the break pedal and accidentally ran over her the other day. Smashed the hell out of her leg. She's got pins, and rods, and screws, up the ying yang now. It's hard to talk about without snickering a little. Sometimes there is justice in life.......Steve1

By the way, did your leg get healed up, and are you able to jump yet??.......Steve1

Deuce is one of my role models. Right after Sebazz and Bill Vonn. I always wanted to be a cop. Maybe someday when I grow up, that's what I'll become.......Steve1

Reminds me a lot of the five jumps I made at Ft. Benning in the spring of 1970. I was 19 and full of piss and vinegar. I wrote scared shitless in my jump log for the first one. Actually I was scared shitless for all five. Lot's of great memories.......Steve1

Quote[ No, no, you've got it all wrong. He asked to be locked up in my closet. It's for his own protection. reply] Oh hell, we couldn't get the truck started anyhow. Then Clem found a bottle of hard stuff. So I don't reckon we can make for while yet. But I'm just a wondering what happens to poor old Sebazz when you let him out of that there closet??? Are ya taking good care of him? You women folk have me worried.......Steve1

Now I understand! They had you locked up in a closet and were brain washing you into thinking you really sucked, when of course we all know you really don't. I think they did the same thing to Patty Hearst down there in Californy. They brain washed the hell out of her and she'd do about anything. Just tell me where you're at Zeb. Me and some of my fellow Montana Militia friends will come on down there and raise a little hell. Whatever it takes to get you out of the clutches of them their evil wrong doers. I'm calling up some of my kinfolk as I speak. Most of em don't have phones but we know how to drive, that is if we can get the ole stock truck to start. By God we're coming to save you Sebazz!.......Steve1(and I'm pissed)

There's nothing wrong with bringing in a little Sunshine into your life, for God's sake! We all need a little of that. This may be getting a little too deep for me......Steve1

Cornholio, No, I didn't. It must be another viscious rumor. I just don't believe it. Sebazz is one of my role models. He taught me the finer points of four way relative work (they actually worked for one jump) and I even nominated him for Governor of Montana last year. This must be a gross exaggeration. Tell me it's not true!......Steve1

Sebazz, Glad you're still with us. We missed you at Lost Prairie this year. Met some of your Pals there. They had mostly fond things to say about you. You'll have to make it next year. I'm supposed to be working myself, but said the heck with it for a while. I'm basically lazy and enjoy BSing a lot more. I guess I better get back at it though, before the boss shows up again.....Steve1

Anyone heard from him? I've been gone all summer myself, and have kind of lost contact with people. Someone said that he was beamed up into Outer Space. Is this true??? The forums just aren't the same without him..........Steve1

I took some nylon webbing and sewed one up myself. It's about a foot long, but 8 inches would probably be long enough. I've heard of some people packing without one, but most put one on.......Steve1

Lot's of people wonder what it is like in freefall. I tell them it's just like being Peter Pan when a bunch of us are out there doing R.W. There's always somebody who's ready to call you nuts. We've all heard the one about why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane. But let's face it: It takes a lot of courage and determination to jump. (particularly when you start out in our sport) A lot of folks know that down deep that they don't have what it takes to be a skydiver. I mean the thought of jumping scares they hell out of them. By putting us all down they can build themselves up to our level. When I first started jumping there was another guy I trained with. This guy was huge bully growing up and never let an opportunity pass to put someone else down for being chicken or inadequate or somehow inferior to him. He's still that way. We trained and he made two jumps and then quit. He and I both know it was because he didn't have what it took to stick with it. He still scuba dives and does other things of that nature but jumping scares the bejesus out of him. I love to visit him and talk about all the cool parachute jumps that I've just made. I love it........Steve1

I had a hard opening canopy. I started psycho-packing about 200 jumps ago. I was still getting a hard opening at times, even with the psycho pack, but since I started rolling the nose considerably the hard openings have gone away entirely. (Maybe I'm getting lulled into a real slammer). But at any rate, I like the way things pack up and how the canopy slips into the bag easily. My bag is one size too small so I need all the help I can get. I have about a 12 inch extension on the bridal. This is probably longer than needed. Eight inches would be enough for me. Openings are usually on heading, but occaisionally off slightly. Nothing even close to a malfunction yet. I'm a neat packer. I love the psycho pack, and would hate to go back to pro-packing.......Steve1

When I was a kid the thought of jumping from a plane scared the hell out of me. In High School I read a book about Smoke Jumpers and knew that someday I had to try it. After graduating from High School I went to Alaska and almost started jumping up there. I was about to be drafted in 1969 so returned back to Montana and joined a Special Forces National Guard Unit. Made my first one out of a C-141 jet at Ft. Benning. Then completed all three phases of S.F. training at Bragg. I loved military jumping and became a jumpmaster, but it wasn't enough. Started skydiving in 1972. B.J. Worth was one of my instructors. After about four years of jumping (300 jumps) I quit jumping to rodeo (bareback bronc riding) and pursue other interests like hunting. Started up again in 2000. Now I have almost as many square jumps as round. It's great to be back!........Steve1

Every big drop zone that I've been to, the first guy down determines landing direction for the entire load. Several weeks ago, at the Lost Prairie Boogie, I was on an otter load and was setting up for landing. There were at least two others ahead of me who landed slightly off the wind line. Several seconds later the wind had changed again and I figured I had to do almost a down wind landing to land the same direction as the others, but I figured I had to land that way because they had. Actually it was kind of a running standup, but as soon as I was about flare for landing, here comes this guy with a pocket rocket sized canopy zipping right past me going the opposite direction. On landing he starts hollering "what the f... are you doing" at the top of his lungs. So naturally I hollered back that I followed the first guys in, and what the hell were you doing. Things were getting heated real fast, and luckily things calmed down, because I know for a fact I'm not as rough and tough as I once was. But at any rate, who was in the wrong here??? At a boogie the size of Lost Prairie shouldn't the first guy down set the landing pattern. I heard Mad John comment to our 20 way group that the wind sock determines direction for landing, not the first guy down, at Lost Prairie. And I know he's concerned about safety. Maybe he was joking. How many times does the wind change in a matter of seconds. It might change a lot before an entire Otter load can get down. In my mind the first ones down should determine the landing pattern. Any input on this one??? I'm just trying to keep from getting beat up next time or killed in a landing collision.......Steve1

Actually these guys look quite clean cut and very sober compared to other jumpers back then. There's a recent picture of Hod in this month's parachutist, for 5,000 jumps. I think he has closer to 6,000 now, and around 25 malfunction cut-aways. He owns one of the few dz's in Montana. You'd never know he was a former world champion. He's really a soft spoken, nice guy........Steve1

I did a demo jump the other day into a fair and rodeo. The dz was kinda tight with squirrelly winds. There were lot's of spectators in the stands waiting to watch someone get killed. The adrenaline was really pumping when we left the plane. We had a good spot and did a five way out of the 206. The other jumpers were mostly old farts that I used to jump with in the old days. What a rush! Everyone did standups, in calm winds, in the right spot, with lot's of hooping and hollering. Can't wait to do it again. Of course I had to buy beer in the beer garden for all my pals for a first fair jump. Man, I'd love to have a pro rating and do more of this! Demo jumps are great as long as everything goes as planned. I guess that's the sticking point though. There's a lot that can go wrong........Steve1

We use to use it on para-commanders and and other rounds back in the 70's. I had a friend back then who used nothing but duck tape on his 28 ft. round. He made over a thousand jumps on it and it was covered with duck tape. I guess I've never heard anything about the glue weakening the material and I didn't know anyone still used the stuff. Thanks for the info.....Steve1

That must be Greg Nardi's King Air. I've heard it's the fastest one around, (even faster than Mike Mullan's). I've jumped out of both. Never timed them. They're both faster than hell!......Steve1

Back in 1972 B.J. was a static line jumpmaster with around two or three hundred jumps. He was jumpmastering a load of students who were going up to make their first jump. The pilot was Bob Smith. On the load, making his first jump, was Gary (Hod) Sanders who was later one of B.J.'s team-mates on Mirror Image. Anyhow, the first student got in the door and exited and his canopy openned fine. The problem was that the sleeve and pilot chute were still attached to the end of the static line. Apparently the break cord attached to the pilot chute didn't break and the retainer line connecting the sleeve to the apex of the 28ft. round canopy came unattached. At any rate, B.J. was doing his best to wrestle all this back into the plane. About then something snagged B.J.'s reserve rip-cord. The pilot chute sprang out and bounced off the door frame. About then Bob Smith quit flying the plane and jumped on the pilot chute before it flew out the door. B.J. was unaware of what was happening and was still trying to pull all the crap in that was now banging on the side of the plane. Hod was sitting in the back and knew something was wrong. I mean there was a whole lot of swearing and yelling going on with the plane now in a steep dive. After grabbing the pilot chute, Bob kicked the rudder which immediately slammed the door of the 180. They landed the plane with the static line mess dragging behind the plane. After that our club quit wearing chest mount reserves when putting out students. I guess B.J. still has nightmares about that load. He sometimes dreams that the door is open and his guts are streaming out into the wind. If any part of this story isn't true, blame Bob Smith. He's the one who told it to me and a honest guy. I think B.J. wrote an article about this incident back in one of the old parachutist magazines.......Steve1

Harry, Now I recongize that picture. Sorry it took me so long to respond to this one, I've been away from a computer for too long. I really appreciate the time you took to explain the right way to do RW (in a kind manner). Actually all the people on this load are great people and I hope I didn't make them seem otherwise. Even Grumpy. I think he may have been having a bad day managing things on a very windy day at the DZ. Hopefully the next time I come to Skydive Oregon I won't have my head up my ass (the way I often do.) It's a great place to jump!......Steve1

I've been away from a computer for a few months. I was just wondering if anything big happened during the last few days at Lost Prairie. That is usually when they have all the record attempts (Men's, Women's, Pop's) etc., not to mention the wild times at the bar. After 30 jumps, my wife said it was time for me to clear out of that place. What a blast! It was kinda hot and windy and grasshoppery this year. I wasn't able to bring my camper, because my wife had the pickup, and spent much of my free time inside of a very hot dome tent, swimming in the lake, or drinking a cool one in Dave's bar. I enjoyed jumping with Bill Von, Amy, and Amazon. All are great people and excellent jumpers. I heard there may have been a (.com) load. I hope I didn't miss it........Steve1

A friend of mine was on the Leap Frogs for a while, and he jumped quite a bit with Harry O'connor. He was a former World Champion (Mirror Image), so they let him jump with them. But the bottom line is that all these guys are Seals and to stay with them you have to be a Seal. So my friend ended up in Seal training. He was fortunate to go through when the water was warmer (the summer), but my friend was in his 30's and no longer a young pup. He said he ended up dropping out because he felt like he was holding his team back. I guess the PT and swims are really killers. As far as Army static line jumping goes, I liked it and have many fond memories of it. I would have given a lot to go to Halo school, but it never happened. There's a lot of opportunities in the Military today and you might be smart to take advantage of them. But I also know there are times when you feel like you are in prison. I got out, but often wonder if I should have stayed in. That was a long time ago though and I think I forgot most of the real crappy parts and am still hanging onto the good memories.....Steve1