Decibel

Even though we've never met, I'm sad to hear anyone leave this great sport. I hope in a while you'll change your mind (before all the gear sells!), but if not I wish you well in whatever else you decide to pursue (might I suggest homebrewing? )

That's a great reminder of how much we should all appreciate our DZOs and DZMs!

I can't speak to retention rates, but I will say that those of you who are asserting that all tandems should be training jumps need to realize that it's not for everyone. I'm very glad that I did a 'fun tandem', for two reasons. First, it meant I already knew what to expect freefall to feel like on my training tandems, which allowed me to concentrate more on what I was learning. Second, it was probably somewhere around AFF level 5 before I started getting comfortable enough to start just enjoying freefall without thinking about what I was supposed to be doing. My first solo jump was the first jump since my fun tandem where I just relaxed and enjoyed freefall. I'm glad I didn't have to wait that long to experience what freefall is truely all about. And in some ways I think my fun tandem was motivation to get AFF finished so I could do a fun, relaxed jump on my own. Of course I'm not everyone. Maybe more people would return if they were more involved in their first tandem. Maybe not. As far as I know I'm the only one out of my AFF ground school (6 of us I think) that's graduated after almost 4 months now. I've only seen one other person from my class jump since the first week or two after ground school. I know there's been at least 2 if not 3 or 4 ground schools since mine, but I've only seen 2 new jumpers come out of them. So it seems that even after 2 or 3 tandems, several hours of instruction, and at least an AFF level 2 jump people can still decide they've had enough. Maybe this is just a retention problem at my drop zone, I don't know. Anyway, sorry to get on a soapbox, but don't assume it's best not to offer fun tandems. :)

Oh, I don't know, flyrite99 might be on to something. I've personally: Seen Allen give many tandems, getting who knows how many innocent folks addicted to this insane sport. Drag me out to help retrieve a canopy from a mesquite bush. Add cheer to the drop zone. Land with someone's gear to retrieve it. Be concerned about the safety of others (well, I guess he can blame his position as S&TA for that). Yup, certainly someone to avoid. BTW, even if there is some kind of truth to this, it certainly can't be something too serious as I saw Allen at the DZ on Sunday.

It's interesting (or maybe expected) that all the CRWdogs are all over following someone or their gear down... they're the most experienced canopy pilots around! :) But everyone should remember the number 1 rule of emergency response/search & rescue: Your safety comes before all else; another injury makes things worse not better. Having said that, I've seen one cutaway and watched the main for as long as I felt I should (didn't really know enough to look for the freebag at that point). Hopefully one of these days I'll be good enough to do more than just watch gear fall to the ground.

I've thought about posting something here, but nothing really stuck me as being that great a day until I read the 'I'm back' thread. Here's what I posted there: About a month ago one of my AFF ground school class-mates was out for (I think) his level 4. He was nervous as hell and told me that might be his last jump. I was sad to hear this and told him he just needed to relax and have fun. We talked for a while, and I tried to reassure him that if he relaxed everything would work out fine. Luckily I was on the same load he was. I was part of a 4-way, so one of the first groups out. Right before the red light came on, I pointed at him to get his attention, gave him the hand signal to relax, a thumbs-up, and a big grin. He returned the thumbs-up and a bit of a forced smile. There was nothing forced about his ear-to-ear grin when he got down on the ground! Hopefully he'll have a long skydiving career. Sadly, it was also my least proud day as on that very same jump I tracked too long, pulled too low, and got grounded. Though if that means I never make that mistake again I guess it could be another kind of proud day for a lesson well learned.

About a month ago one of my AFF ground school class-mates was out for (I think) his level 4. He was nervous as hell and told me that might be his last jump. I was sad to hear this and told him he just needed to relax and have fun. We talked for a while, and I tried to reassure him that if he relaxed everything would work out fine. Luckily I was on the same load he was. I was part of a 4-way, so one of the first groups out. Right before the red light came on, I pointed at him to get his attention, gave him the hand signal to relax, a thumbs-up, and a big grin. He returned the thumbs-up and a bit of a forced smile. There was nothing forced about his ear-to-ear grin when he got down on the ground! Hopefully he'll have a long skydiving career.

Congrats! I hope to have my B soon. :)

FWIW, a friend of mine was all excited about jumping (was just saving up the $$) when she saw this. It seriously freaked her out. Luckily she's still going to jump in 2 weeks. I hate to think how many people were turned off of skydiving because of that clip.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but you do 18k tandems? I've just never heard of that.

One aunt is thinking about it. My dad actually wants to jump, and I'm pretty sure my brother, sister, and maybe sister-in-law would probably jump as well. Actually, probably only one aunt wouldn't watch.

Luky bastard! :P There's going to be a helo at SSM in a week or two. Last time they said you needed an A (which I was about 5 jumps short of); this time they're saying B (which I'm about 5 jumps short of). I hope this doesn't trun into needing 2000 jumps while I'm at 1995. :)

Gonna work the RC helicopter into it, too?

So are parkas good for RW?

Yeah, I'll generally take my bootie any way I can get it. ;P I was jumping a suit with booties that didn't fit and wouldn't stay tucked in the leg for a while. I didn't think it would be much of an issue but all the sudden I realized I couldn't do flips worth anything. I started jumping street clothes and after a jump or two to get back in the groove I was fine. Unfortunaely I'm pretty crappy at RW in street clothes (partly due to my rather speedy fall rate). Finally ordered my own suit on Monday, so hopefully I'll soon have a suit that fits (didn't spring for booties on it, though).

I'm thinking that I already know the answer for northern DZs where most people haven't set foot on the DZ for the past several months... :) If Saturday is a no-jump day, will you still head out for Safety day? I'm wondering because I've seen huge differences in how many people show up on days that are great verses days that are only so-so. Right now 80% cloud cover is forecast, which would normally be quite enough to deter all but the real die-hards from coming out, so I'm wondering if the same thing will happen. Personally, I plan on being there no matter what since it's my first safety day (fear not, homebrew will be there with me, probably an entire keg), and because there'll be free food!

Crystal ball? That another name for the reserve handle?

FWIW, I had some long snivels when I was jumping an Omega 250; one of our packers suggested pumping the rear risers to get the slider down. If you keep getting long snivels and it bothers you, you might ask one of your riggers or packers about it.

Heh, maybe that's one piece of advice that everyone can give... yet again tonight someone was astounded by my 45 jumps and said something like 'wow, that's a lot!'. My advice to them was that no, 45 isn't very many at all... 15,000 is ' a lot'.

I'm 6'4" and have yet to be electrocuted walking under a power line. ;P The 11 foot rule is for high voltage transmission lines (the ones on very tall towers). The medium voltage stuff you see running down the road will arc before lines actually touch, but they have to be within inches. If you look at the size of the insulators on the lines (those things holding the lines up that look like a stack of cups and saucers), you'll get an idea of how close the lines have to be before they'll arc.

Actually, it does make a very big difference. First, as you mention, lines running to the house are very well insulated, well enough that you should be able to grab onto them without any risk (not that I'm suggesting this). Second, they're only 240V, but more important, they're only 120V off of ground potential. Getting hit with 120V can certainly kill you, but it's pretty rare unless it's for an extended period of time. The lines feeding the 'pole pig' transformers that provide the 240V are a very, very different story. Generally, the lowest voltage you'll ever see there is around 11,000V, and it can be well over that. Doesn't really matter though; hit any voltage in that range and you're seriously screwed. Obviously, the absolute best plan is to stay way the hell away from power lines of any kind, but you're definately better off with the low voltage lines. Just remember that many times there will be both medium (ie: 11,000V) and low voltage lines running together.

Good food for thought, if nothing else. Looking forward to more.

Bah! I'll be stuck at work tomorrow. :( Hopefully I can make it out there Sunday though.

I think the cat's to blame for you being a wreck ;P

Congrats! Soon you'll be done with your coach jumps, then it's big-way time! :)