cloud_monkey

I mean, think about it... How else would I know about your third nipple?

Well, only through the hole in wall in the womens bathroom....but that still counts...doesn't it?

Who said anything about clothes??? You obviously feel comfy running around in the nudy at the DZ...why not down town???

You could try doing like the dude in Porky's who put a rubber on at home before going out for a night on the town. Put the lotion on first and THEN go get nuked. That way you're assured that you have good coverage of all three nipples and your hiney and you can let your cabana boy concentrate on more important things..... like mixing you're Pina Colada...

It looks like the advice here is coming from all directions and some of it seems pretty hostile. So let me try to explain this without insulting you for asking what I think is very good question. The most important thing is that you’re very comfortable with skydiving itself. In other words, you have good awareness of not only altitude, and approach speeds but you’re also aware of the other skydivers around you. You can track, slide, slip, and move in any direction without consciously thinking about the act itself. How many jumps you need before you reach that level of experience will vary with your own natural abilities. Next, don’t strap on a Flat Top Pro with two video cameras, a 35mm, and a flash the first time you jump with camera gear. START SLOW! Get some help with your camera set-up so you can avoid common mistakes and creating unnecessary snag points and then get comfortable manipulating the camera controls on the ground with the thing mounted on your nut. If you’re going to jump a camera suit, make a few jumps with it before jumping it with the camera rig. It takes some practice to learn how to fly a camera suit and you want to be comfortable with it before adding the camera helmet. A good rule of thumb: only add one thing to your arsenal at a time and get comfortable and proficient with it before adding more cool stuff. Secondly, jumping camera gear (especially in the beginning) adds a whole new dimension of potential dangers and distractions to your skydive. Besides the usual stuff that you’ll here at every DZ like entanglements and riser slaps, there’s stuff like checking out the position of the sun relative to your target, the looks on peoples faces, broken swoop cords, things knocking on the side of your helmet, things flapping in your field of view ( usually just a piece of gaffers tape or Velcro but you don’t know and you won’t know until your on the ground) your cameye freakin’ out and you’re wondering if the camera is on or not, wondering how you can check your altimeter without getting the fucking thing in frame, wondering if your shutter switch is working or not, wondering if the jackass that can’t dock on a formation under normal circumstances is going to clock you from behind at mach 2 – there are a TON of things that redirect your attention and you and have to learn how to deal with it all at once without moving your head and keeping your subject in frame. And yes, unfortunately, it takes a lot of practice to gain that experience. So start slow filming a friend goofing off until you can center your subject, accurately judge distances, and fall rate changes and so one. Once you’ve acquired some comfort and proficiency with that, then you’ll feel safe adding equipment and filming different types of skydives i.e. 4-Way, Tandems, Free Flyers, and so on. I’m pretty sure that most of the camera guys on this site would agree with me that we all thought we knew what we were getting into before we did and, once we got into it we realized that there is a lot more to camera work, good camera work that is, then meets the eye. One more piece of advice- Don’t look at your pilot chute when you toss it while wearing camera gear – if you get whacked while wearing an extra 10 to 15lbs on your skull and your head is turned sideways, there’s a good chance you’ll break your neck – trust me on this one. Pitch, wait and check – if you don’t slow down, you’ve got a problem. Best of luck to you and Blue Skies, Z

Be careful what you wish for. This one is riding on top of the muscle and causes some discomfort from time to time. On the positive side, I can usually pickup several radio stations on a good day. I just wish I had some sort of volume control! Well, this bone causes discomfort from time to time too...... I think a stimulator implant sounds like the greatest of ideas. Must be a bitch changing the batteries though

I don't want to touch this one with a ten foot pole...... Don't have to silly.....that's what the bone stimulator is for

I'm diggin' the bone stimulator. I'm gonna bitch out my orto sureon. How come I didn't get one? narly x-ray

Yep - Nothin' spells danger like POGO STICK!!

I think I can hang - 126 stitches, one 12x3 skin graft, one 12x3 scar from the donor site on the front of my left thigh, one stainless steel plate, and seven pins. That's just my leg - I also had a steel plate and 4 pins in my right arm but they were taken out after 6 months. It's a bitch making my way through the airport...... No more shark diving for me...... not until next summer anyway

Kevlar got yacked on by a student at 2000ft. Poor bastard got down and there was a perfect outline of the tandem student's back on his jumpsuit, not to mention the crap that stuck in that long ass hair of his..... SHUT DOWN....GOTTA SHUT DOWN SO K CAN HIT THE SHOWER

Why would you want him to come out of the booth?

All is well with the exception of the shark bite.

Can you say premature deploymment?

What's up J-Brains? Sure you didn't forget.... but how can I blame you.....I forgot to give some cash before I left:) Send me your address and I'll send you a roll of quarters when I can walk well enough to make it down to the post office

You're a skydiver, aiin't ya? Go with the BBQ and Beer, I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

I was going through some pictures today and I found a group photo with JR and the SSM gang that I gave to him after the Holiday Boodgie in Eloy 2002. I thought that those who knew him best and miss him the most might like to see it. There is a larger version of this picture in my personal gallery. Blue Skies, Mike Zban

I've worked with Edition 5.1 (prior version to Liquid) for a while and I like it. It takes a while to figure out but once you do you can put together some pretty cool stuff. If you'd like to see a few examples, and these are just rough cuts I put on the net, go to skydivingmovies.com and do a search for "mike zban" and take a peek. The biggest con I found is the Logging Tool. Edition assigns each clip a numeric name based on the time code of the tape and you basically give each clip a nick-name. Unless every one of your tapes is striped prior to recording, or if you always manage to record the entire tape without a skip in time code you won't have a problem. BUT if you do have a skip in the time code, clips previously captured with the same time will be recorded over the previous ones. Those clips are subsequently replaced on the timeline and then the mess really begins. I got around it by using other capture software it works just fine.

To begin with, you're probably not the one who should be explaining the situation to the person in question. Ask someone from the DZ Staff (preferably the DZO or an experienced camera guy) to talk to them and explain the dangers involved with jumping camera gear. Just telling them that it’s dangerous isn’t going to cut it; you have to explain why it’s dangerous too. Riser slaps and entanglements are one thing but what most new camera flyers don't realize in the beginning is that initially, their attention will be diverted from the skydive (altitude awareness, proximity to other skydivers, approach speeds, etc..) and focused on the camera gear or the video. And that can be quite dangerous for someone with little experience who isn’t prepared for it.

If you’re looking to attach filters to you’re 15mm you should use gel filters and the little stainless steel spring clip that came in the box. That, in turn is attached to the back of the lens so you don’t have to use the hood if you don’t want to.

Well, be happy it was only a few weeks. I snapped my Tib/Fib in several places and ended up with a four compartment syndrome - not skydiving mind you - but skiing over 3 months ago. Not only did it require 3 surgeries and 10 days in the hospital but I'm told I shouldn't skydive for at least another 2 to 3 months. I'm limpin' around now but I don't think I'll be jumpin' until I can at least run at a decent pace.

That blows bud! I lost a FTP about 2 years ago. I had a hard opening with mulitple line twists and the next thing I knew it was off my nut heading down towards the earth. I think it landed in a swamp cuz we gave up the search after 3 days. I made a setup from an old RSL on my new one. It's mounted between the bone and the shell so even if the latch breaks it'll stay on my head. It's also very short so the release doesn't move more than an inch. Easy to find and quick to release if needed.