nael

hehe I wonder if it'll be approved. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Congratulations Chris! I bet you're excited! Thanks everyone for the insight. I'll probably make about 500 jumps before I have to make this decision, but maybe I dont have to make it as big as I am thinking. I may pack and spend the money I make on jumps or something - we'll see! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

For the record, I'm not talking about taking a break now. I'm currently in a 4 way team that is planning to compete at the Nationals this year and putting every cent I have into it, which is fine for now, but is not sustainable if I want to do other things. This thread was just as a matter of interest to see what others had done when it came time to make a decision. I am pretty sure I will be taking time off from the sport, but not for another year or so. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I got to talking with my boyfriend the other day about jumping and other parts of life taking a back seat because of lack of funds. He told me how his uncle (a jumper for many many many years) told him not to start jumping until he had finished his uni degree. He took the advice and held off jumping while he was at uni. He's been jumping for the past 4 years now, and told me he doesnt regret waiting to start except that by now he would probably have a few thousand jumps if he had started when he first decided to. Then the conversation turned to the future and buying a house and how there's no way in hell either of us could afford to do it and keep jumping at the rate we are. I want to know what some of the jumpers who have been around for many years did, and if they would do it differently if they could. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

hehe that's the only email in my inbox too. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Um, isnt that always the goal? I doubt anyone goes out there and says "I'm gonna do this really dangerous manouver in an attempt to kill myself today!". Generally, when people get in that plane their goal is to land safely and pack and get on another load. As other's have said, this is a great goal to have, but since we already have it, what is going to be any different, unless we place restrictions on our jumping (like Billvon has suggested and got told to shut the F up for!). Someone needs a reality check. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

My cat was shot with a pellet gun a few years ago. We got home (from a funeral) and he was lying on our deck with blood all over his chest. We rushed him up to the emergency vet and they xrayed him to see if the bullet/pellet was still inside him. It was, but it was so close to his jugular that they said surgery would be very risky and likely to kill him and it's best to leave it in there and watch for any signs of lead poisoning in years to come. We never found out who did it. If I were you, I'd report the bastard to the RSPCA (or whatever your american equivalent is). www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Do you really think he's going to be welcome at the Ranch after the bashing he has given the dz and the people who jump there regularly in this thread? I know if that were my dz and my friends you were talking about I wouldnt be in any hurry to go out of my way to be friendly to you. Then again, maybe I'm just a bitch! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I had something similar happen a few weeks ago, except the only reason I could not get it untangled was because my hands were so cold I couldnt get the fingers to move how I needed to to untangle myself. I could see exactly how I was tangled, and managed to eventually untangle it. I always stow my excess break line, but it sometimes comes unstowed on opening. To prevent it happening again is simple, look at your toggles before you attempt to unstow the breaks! You can bet I also wont be making that mistake again! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

That hurt my eyes! He's gonna kick your ass! How fast can you run? www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I was wondering what the hell I was doing! I remember thinking "maybe I have gone mad!". Then I asked my TM if I got a refund if both canopies malfunctioned. I dont remember him asking me if I was ready. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Everyone learns at their own pace. I wish you could have seen the troubles I had with landing when I first started jumping - I actually wore holes in the knees of my jeans because my landings were so bad! I had an instructor who wasnt familiar with the effort I was putting into improving my landings tell me off after seeing one particularly bad landing (I rolled through my risers 3 times!) Damn, this is embarasing just writing this in publuc! I had about 12 instructors on the dz watching all my landings, trying to help me out. In the end, I called our FJC instructor during the week and asked him to spend some time with me before his next FJC and go over landings. I spent about an hour and a half with him and although I still wasnt standing every landing up, I did improve dramatically from there on in. Plus, as I said, I still eat dirt on landings sometimes - yes, I had even literally eaten dirt on a couple of landings! Friends that I started jumping with were standing up all their landings (or the vast majority of them) which made me even more frustrated at how I was progressing (or lack thereof!) Find someone at your dz who is a great canopy pilot and teacher and enlist their undivided attention for however long it takes you to feel comfortable. Yeah, it might cost a bit more than if you jumped without them, but think if the peace of mind, lack of broken legs and sense of achievement. Even now, when I land nicely after a jump, I am really happy. I still dont expect to land nicely after every jump - you just have to keep working on it. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I think you're giving up way too easily. There's loads of canopy coaches out there who would spend time with you to help you improve. I also had a LOT of trouble with my landings when I started and stood up about 2 landings up until my 40th jump. I dont stand them all up, and with recently putting on a 6kg weight belt have had completely different landings than I used to before putting on the belt. For me, skydiving is about the challenge. I wouldnt let fear beat me, and if something scares me a lot, I do it more until I become comfortable with it. Get a coach, do hop and pops, whatever. Everything you've said has been said by people a thousand times before. The differnence is if you refuse to admit defeat and keep trying, or fall in a heap. This isnt a personal attack on you or anything (I dont even know you), it's just the way I choose to go about my life, and it's worked well for me! From my very short time in the sport it's become obvious that skydiving has a lot to do with your mind, and confronting fears. If it's what you really want to do, you will do it - like anything in life but of course, if you dont want to jump anymore, that's fine too. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I'm heading 3 hours south of here for my boyfriend's dad's 50th and to make use of a workshop down there, to make some weight belts so we can sell them for millions and retire in 2 years. 12 days until we leave for Thailand!

So, what's the verdict? www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I think you need to realise that people here are not making a personal attack at you, rather at your train of thought. The only reason things are discussed is so people can learn. Blocking yourself to new (or even old!) ideas can never be a good thing. We are all just trying to learn, but even I (yes, with a measley 200 jumps) can see the flaw in your arguement. Take a breath and approach this with a clear head.

I wont wait for a parking space unless I have already been driving around for 20 minutes trying to find one. I dont mind if other people do, as long as I can get around them. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Hey Paul - this thread is from 2001 (as Dave said), I'm thinking that the original poster no longer needs any info! I was wondering where you and Jacky have been! Hope you had fun! See ya at the DZ! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

:9:1 8 jumps with my 4 way team over the weekend, and one 16 way tracking jump for my 200th (that was actually done on jump #203 because #200 was a training jump!) Lots of fun and lots of progress made with the team. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I get mine done at a salon when I can afford it (not that often) or if something special is coming up that I want to look extra nice for. The weirdest part is that my boyfriend actually notices when I get my eyebrows done! Never notices when I get my hair done though! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Thailand! I'm heading over there in mid August, it 's warm, relatively cheap, relaxing (if you go to the right places), secluded (again, if you go to the right places) and there's tonnes of fun stuff to do. If you want something new to do with your boyfriend kayaking is lots of fun! Failing all this stuff, the Thai's could really use some tourists to help them back on their feet. Everyone wins! www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

Never mind making it back, something like that could easily take the whole plane down had the reserve caught on the tail. As I'm sure you know, it's happened before, I would have been thanking my lucky stars the whole canopy ride that it wasnt much much worse. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

We watched it at the DZ last weekend when we got rained out. It was pretty funny, I'd happily watch it again. Taking the piss out of America never gets old. I especially liked when they knocked down the Eiffel tower in Paris and blew up the pyramids - then expected everyone's thanks. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store

I'll talk to Kim Dave, but it'll be fine for you can pay it to me in instalments, I'll pass it on to the APF. www.TerminalSports.com.auAustralia's largest skydive gear store