ryand96

It's true. Cheap jumps on Sunday, April 3rd. I'll be there. http://www.skydivemilwaukee.com/email3/12-12-12.cfm We're both in the pictures on the page too.

I took my Suunto Vector skiing with me in Utah. It has a logbook function that is completely useless for skydiving but very nice to have while skiing. Plus it was kind of cool to know how high above the base I was.

I totally agree. Everyone should well versed with what they would do should a low altitude emergency happen. They should know exactly at what altitude they would opt to go for their reserve. And no, I don't have gear fear and I wouldn't hold back in the door. I know the limitations of my gear and I know the altitude at which I would go for my reserve. In the scenario you described above, if the need to bail out between 1200 and 1400 feet were to arise I would go straight for my reserve.

I'll get out and I'm still going for my main. Even if I get a few seconds of PC hesitation, I'll be in the saddle by a grand. Unless it's an emergency, I am not going to do hop n pops from below 3 grand.

I had a very similar experience a couple of weekends ago while jumping my Wings. It is sized for a 170 and has my 170 in it. It was a low hop n pop and I experienced some fun pilot chute hesitation. A few seconds after pitching when I realized that nothing was happening, I looked over my shoulder to see my pilot chute trailing behind me. Not a fun sight. Turning my shoulder might have been enough for my PC to catch some air and open my container because it opened shortly after that. My container is tight but I like it that way. I've never had a problem on terminal deployments. My solution for myself is don't do low hop n pops where I don't have enough altitude to take at least a five second delay.

163,000 and counting on my 2000 Honda Accord. It runs like a champ.

That's not a very nice thing to say. Is that a picture of you trying to track? Nevermind, I just saw your edit.

Here's mine

I signed on in February of 2004. At that time I only had 80 jumps and had just returned to the sport after a 3 year layoff. Since then I bought my first rig I made about 260 jumps this year I turned into a halfway decent belly flier (I was on a 5pt 16way and multiple 10pt or more 4ways) I started learning how to freefly I started swooping I went to Rantoul And I just purchased a camera and camera helmet My list of goals for myself is quite long for the coming year and I'm sure I won't be able to accomplish everythng, so I plan on picking a few things to really concentrate on. 1. Continue to learn how to freefly 2. Finish my coach rating 3. Get 500 jumps and my D licence 4. Then Get my tandem rating 5. Keep learning how to fly and swoop my canopy 6. Demo some new canopies 7. Maybe downsize one canopy size when I'm ready 8. Start flying with my camera I'm sure there are a few others that I am missing. There is always so much to learn in this sport. I don't think I will ever run out of new things to do. Edit: I knew I would forget something 9: Compete in 4way

Does anyone know if there is anyway to rig a Nikon N65 to use with a bite switch? For those that don't know, this camera does not have a plug for a remote switch. It uses an infrared(wireless) remote control. I would like to see if there is a way to make this work for skydiving photography. I am going to buy a digital camera eventually for skydiving, but I would like to do this later rather than sooner if possible.

I got into a similar situation this past weekend. It was on breakoff of a 6 or 8 way and I was turning away to track and all of a sudden I can't turn. I'm in the burble of someone who went low on breakoff. I end up crashing into him. Not hard enough to hurt either of us. You won't be able to turn very well in someone elses burble. You need air to turn. Try to push yourself off of their container with your arms. The idea is to avoid hitting limbs or the other jumpers head. That's the best I can think of.

or on PD's web site

Our caravan on the ride to altitude is my favorite place to take a nap. I've been caught snoring on multiple occasions.

I have been extremely happy with my Zute Sute, as have a lot of other people at our DZ. I have an RW suit and I just ordered a pair of freefly pants. It wasn't that expensive and it's quality stuff. Check out the website. There are links to each suit with base prices listed. http://www.zutesute.com

0:18:Too Many I had a very busy week. 18 jumps. 2 Tuesday/3 Thursday/8 Saturday/5 Sunday I made my 200th on Thursday. Got pied on Sunday night. Anyone know how to get whip cream stains off of my rig? Did a lot of fun RW jumps on Saturday. Took Scott Miller's canopy course on Sunday. It is definitely worth taking. I owe beer for packing my first malfunction. I packed for a friend and somehow managed to pack her a line over. I was out waiting for the plane when she landed under her reserve. I was sick to my stomach. Actually I still am. I can't believe after 150 pack jobs on my own rig without a malfunction I pack one for someone else. That's a shitty feeling. I won't be packing for anyone else other than myself for a while. I know I owe beer for other stuff, but I don't remember what.

I did three tandems before AFP at SDC back when they still required three. I'm glad I did. I think it made me much more confortable on my AFP 1 than I would have been otherwise. I think that it is a great thing to have a little freefall and canopy time with a tandem instuctor there before having to fly a canopy on your own. Just do whatever you feel the most comfortable with.

I guess I'm a Chunder Monkey too. But I only puke on Sunday mornings when I wake up on the floor at the DZ and someone shoves a Burger King bag in my face and says "I'll give you a breakfast sandwich if you make a hop and pop with me." That stuff just doesn't smell right after a late night.

What's work? I vaguely remember hearing about that once.

I can definitely tell a story about how I fucked up. It was a scary downwind landing that I was not ready for. Am I ready to downsize. NO! There have to be a few other criteria here like proving that you can truly fly the shit out of your canopy. Maybe a canopy control course should be required. What about jump number requirements? (I'm not a big fan of this one but there needs to be something for newer jumpers who are not wise enough to make smart wing loading decisions for themselves) I’m sure you had a few other criteria in mind yourself when writing this post. I just know that scaring the shit out of yourself and learning from it can't be the only criteria. I learned a lot from my own mistakes, but I need to learn a whole hell of a lot more before I am ready to downsize.

Vibe is what it is all about. Some of my most fun jumps have been out of a cessna. Don't get me wrong, I love jumping out of turbines, but if I don't get the right vibe at a DZ I won't be back too often, no matter how many otters they have.

:17:1 17 jumps this week. 3 Tue/4 Thu/5 Sat/5 Sun Would have gotten more in over the weekend if I didn't sleep until noon on Sunday and work half the day on Saturday. Owe beer for my first two plane shot. Did two of 'em. One from the lead plane in the base and one from the trail plane. That was fun.

It doesn't matter what your major is, it is not fun to graduate college with a boatload of debt. Imagine graduating college and taking two years to pay off all your credit cards. You can't buy a new car, you can't buy a house, and you can't save a dime because all your extra income is being used to pay off the huge debt you acquired while in college where you spent a boatload of money you didn't have. I've done it and it's not fun. Plus there is no guarantee these days of getting that high paying job right out of school with only a bachelors degree, even in computer science or information technology. Those are over saturated fields anyway. I know people with computer science degrees who are working at Best Buy right now. I know others who are just bouncing from start up to start up getting paid in stock options that are essentially worthless. Edited to add: I'm actually rather glad I maxed out my credit cards. It taught me a great life lesson about financial responsibility. If you want to learn the hard way, charge away.

Dumbest thing to date was my downwind landing onto the grass runway while a plane was taking off. Not cool. I got a little bit of shit for that one, and I deserved more.

I can't stress this enough. This is how I financed all of my jumps at first. I was in college and broke. I ended up with so much debt that I had to quit jumping until I had it all paid off. Took me 2 years. Don't use your credit cards. If you do, make sure you have the money to pay it all off at the end of the month. Find a job at the DZ and use that to pay for all your jumps.