skreamer

Well done Zennie, good to know there is at least one person out there as sad as me! But as for that little pink haired punk, just you wait missy, one of these days.... /s

Howdy all Just a quick note to say that Ben made his 200th jump yesterday and earned his C-license (only 800 to go until his D!!!). In keeping with English tradition he did not get pied, but he does get invited to tea with Prince Andrew (who is the president of the Royal Aero Club) at his summer residence, along with all the other new C-licenses. Congrats dude! /s

So what exactly would you tell somebody who doesn't have $975 for a Cypres? Stop skydiving until you have saved up enough for one??? I have jumped without a Cypres and if I am ever flat broke, I will sell my Cypres to keep jumping. The main lesson I relearnt from Dove's story was : be careful about who you jump with and try to maintain visual contact at all times. Oh, and I also learnt that wearing a full-face helmet when freeflying might not be such a bad idea after all! /s

Dude, after how that guy got killed in Australia when a similar thing happened (it was a Caravan too), I would be constipated for a week with a clenched up sphincter! BTW I heard you laid down a monster swoop on the FX!!! What was the size of the reserve in that rig anyway? (or didn't you bother asking) Will

Glad to hear you are going to be OK, dove. Its a good thing you were wearing a full-face as well - the impact to rip it off must have been pretty big. I can empathize about losing your Pro Track, but am glad to see that you got the same awesome customer service from L&B that I did. Why don't you post to the Gear review section of Dropzone.com so that others can also know what good service you received from L&B? You can also sign their guest-book on their site www.l-and-b.dk That recent incident at Empuria Brava where a freeflyer's neck got broken by another freeflyer's leg has really made me careful about who I jump with (especially since I am still learning freeflying). I hope you get better soon. /s

OK, I like this game!

Thats a good poll. I reckon most whuffos would rather watch base jumping than blade running. Look at the audience that Bridge Day draws every year. This probably wouldn't do much for the sport of skydiving, but I reckon if you show a whuffo that list and ask them what they would prefer to watch, it'd be BASE.

Remi, did you wet your pants??? (its no fun trying to wind him up when I know he is at the DZ skydiving and I am working bank holiday Monday...)

Mike, I have actually seen this on quite a few sport rigs. One benefit might be less risk of a horse-shoe malfunction as a result of a closing pin being released prematurely. But then again a tight closing loop would also prevent this problem. As for a kink in the cable, don't static lines, student freefall rip-cord rigs and tandems all use cable? I can't recall hearing of a student on a rip-cord having an impossible pull because of a kink in the cable. And since this method uses two cables, I would think that would be even less of an issue. Will

Thats great, but is this available outside the states? Hmm, maybe I should contact them and find out. I'll let those of you interested (ie skydivers outside USA) know what they had to say). Will

Ben, you have got to stop pushing people out of the plane - oh sorry I forgot, Remi's Canadian... Heave away dude!

Yellow cutaway cable.

Yes, ladies, lets have fun! Here's an idea : why don't you post pics of your boobies and your heads separately, then let us try and match the face to the boobies??? It'll be fun, really! Guys, back me up on this one, if we pull it off.....

I have seen some freefliers with the following mod to their rigs : they have had their closing pins replaced with 3 to 4 inch sections of cable. There are two cables as well, for extra security. It is similar to the way a reserve is closed. Since I am learning freeflying, this mod does have appeal to me from a safety point of view. I asked around, one tandem master recommended putting cypres gel on the closing loop and cables to prevent the closing loop being worn out too quickly by the friction of the cables when deploying. I spoke to the club rigger about this (who does the mods) and she said that the gel could make the cables brittle and said you were better off just changing the closing loop more often. So, I have two questions really: Have any of you had this mod made to your rig, alternatively have any of you riggers made this mod and what are your opinions on it? Secondly, what are your opinions on the use of cypres gel to prolong the life of the closing loop? I haven't made this mod yet, but am strongly considering it. I would particularly welcome some opinions/advice from experienced riggers on this one. Thanks Will

Hmmm, sounds a lot like my Wings. Actually Wings have had that mod for a while now, good to see the other manufacturers following suit! Will

I have a Hornet '150 which I am loading at 1.17. I have made about 50 jumps on it so far and am really happy with it. I have jumped a friend's Sabre '170 and found the turns on that to be a bit crisper. I have had some hard openings, but those were my own fault. My opinion would be not to get one with a loading of 1.3 at your experience level. I get a lot of pleasure from flying my Hornet and look forward to doing so for a long time to come. Will

A question for any of the more experienced freeflyers out there : I have my *weekends* on weekdays (hence my posting on a Saturday morning). Anyway, I am often the only person on a load sit flying (that and I'm inexperienced, so I am careful about who I jump with). So, I was wondering about any execizes I could do while doing a solo sit? Alti checks by moving my arms rather than my head are good. I have also been told to take a pull up cord with me and try passing it from hand to hand while maintaining a heading (in front and behind my back). These are good, but does anybody have any other exercizes that I could try? Thanks Will

Why isn't this done more commonly??? It is so easy to get demos on various mains before buying one, why can't the same be done for reserves (as above)? One hears so much hypothesizing and speculation (and I suspect plain old bullshit) when people talk about reserves. Everybody swears blindly by theirs, but based on how much experience? If you only have one reserve ride, and have a bad landing, how is one to know if it was due to pilot error or the canopy? I have a Tempo '150 (exit weight 175 pounds and I have 70 jumps on an F111 7-cell, Lisa) and hear lots of negative comments - all from people who have never had a reserve ride on a Tempo. It would be nice if I could actually get to fly a Tempo, Raven and PD (at similar loadings) as mains, so I could form my own opinion. So, why don't reserve manufacturers modify a couple of canopies and make them available as demo *mains*? Will

lmao at Clay And what about those spastic fits they have on the ride up to altitude??? Cracks me up everytime!!!

Sorry man - you screwed yourself with two words 'free beer'. What were you expecting from skydivers???

BenW jumps there too.

You and the boobies again..... You would never catch me being that immature! I mean I hijacked the telemeter at Hinton the day of the bra jump, because I fully support a noble, prominent charity, being such an upstanding kind of guy!

Remi, I just rang Hinton - broken cloud, but they are jumping! I am leaving work in 6 min. (came in early and skipped lunch) to make the sunset load (maybe get 2 jumps in). You going to be there? Will

Play on-line here then post your highest score in this thread (and no cheating). /s PS sorry about the pop-ups, but the game rocks (and is damn addictive too)

Don't listen to her man, soon as you turned your back she went weird on us and then her hair turned red!!! 195 jumps????? I don't want to know where the money for that came from!!!! But most importantly welcome back man! /s PS mooose and I both made it to 100 (without getting pied! heehee)