NWFlyer

Yes, you can clear out a ProTrack and set it to your own current jump numbers so it'll start counting from there. The great thing about L&B products is that they'll stand by them, so even if it's not exactly as advertised, they'll help you and make sure it gets back in working order, generally just for the cost of shipping it to them. As for what to ask - I'd just make sure that it still works, that the display is clear and readable, and that it has all the parts - in particular the battery cover and the teeny tiny springs that form the connection to the battery. Of course, if those aren't there, most gear stores will sell replacements cheap. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I can't read his alti after he pulls, but the last look before the pull seems to be at about 1300m (~4200 ft). So let's say he dumps at 1200/(~4000 ft) - he's got some altitude to work with to try to get the horeshoe solved (which he does by ripping the camera wing). He appears to be under a good canopy with plenty of altitude left (just based on the visuals and the length of the canopy ride). He's very fortunate that worked in this case, because your options once you have a horseshoe generally aren't great. It's the type of malfunction that's best solved by preventing it in the first place. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Check the YouTube comments from the jumper, here's the situation he was facing - he already had a horseshoe going on: "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Possibly. A jump on video costs me $420. If I turn that into my hobby I'll be broke soon The sport's expensive, no doubt, but it's only your earliest student jumps that cost anywhere near that much (and that amount sounds high for a tandem w/video in US, but it may be perfectly normal for Oz given the differences in fuel costs). Just to give you an idea of the price difference once you have your license - I did four jumps yesterday for $88 (total). Of course, I have a license and own all my own gear - which I had to buy, and which I have to maintain. But I'd say go for it, enjoy your first jump. You may be like most people and say "Yeah, that was fun, I'm glad I did it." Or you may be like a very few that absolutely hate it. Or you may be like a very few who say "Wow, when can I do that again? And again. And again." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Nope, that's a totally reasonable way to do it - as long as your rigger's on board with acting as a neutral third party. He or she inspects it, and if it's cool, tells you to go ahead and send money to the seller. If not, either negotiate (if it's something you still want but your rigger thinks it's not worth what the seller is asking), or send the canopy back. I should say that I've only done it that way once, when I was the seller. In every other case either I've known the person I'm buying from, or I've found a mutual friend to say "Yep, this person's someone I'd do business with." Or the transaction price is low enough that I'm willing to take the risk (but a canopy wouldn't fall into the category). On a side note, glad to see you buying gear. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I currently have a 35 minute commute in a job that allows me to work from home (most of the time, unless I'm traveling out of town to one of my project sites). I typically make that commute once or twice a month, tops. So most days (if I'm not out of town) my commute is the 15 seconds it takes to walk from my bedroom into my home office. Of course, before my office got relocated, my commute was a 20 minute walk, so I was really spoiled. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

One place to try might be Ralph Hatley. I've never been there, but I hear he's got all kinds of random stuff in his warehouse. http://www.callralph.hatley.com/ "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You beat me to it. I jumped a black canopy with red ribs for three years and that thing was a pain to find when I chopped it and it landed in the woods. And I would regularly have people tell me I was tough to see, especially in lower-light situations like cloudier days or on sunset loads. I now have one canopy that is primarily yellow with two orange cells, and one that is primarily orange with one white and one navy cell. I'm much happier being much more visible! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I don't love the pledge drives, but it's one of the realities of public and other non-commercial radio stations. And some of them have been pretty funny lately. Like the ones where people nominate their friends to get a nagging call from Ira Glass. Or the Alec Baldwin ones... "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You first. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

So, call your closest tunnel or ask around at the DZ to find out who some of the main tunnel coaches are (they're not necessarily tunnel employees), and reach out to them to find out who's having camps any time soon and what the focus is. They're often organized by parties outside of the tunnel, so it can take a little sleuthing to find out more about them. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

There are tunnel camps regularly at pretty much every tunnel. The one in question is Feb 11-12 at my local wind tube, iFlySFBay. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3288317 Incidents like the above are one of the reasons I respectfully disagree with you. No one was wearing belts, and the person most severely injured had others thrown towards him. In certain types of crashes, seatbelts can and do make a huge difference in the severity of injury. Sure, in some situations, everyone on board is going to die regardless of whether they have seatbelts. But if it's survivable (and a good number are), seatbelts can significantly improve your odds. Since we have no idea which type we're going to be in, might as well wear the belts. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I'm with you, John. Would rather spend my money on experiences than stuff. My car's 11 years old, but still under 90K miles. It gets me from point A to point B reliably and without ginormous repair bills. I am still jumping the (used) rig I got when I started jumping - purchased almost 7 years ago. I *just* bought my first brand-new Infinity (I suspect my excitement about that may have contributed to some of Remi's gear envy ). Like you, I also just chucked the old gerbil-powered television and got an HD TV (just in time for the "next big thing" to come along, I'm sure, and I'll wait 5-10 years to jump on that bandwagon). Yet I just happily wrote out my check for the Nicaragua Boogie, and another check for tunnel camp. I'll have absolutely nothing but photos and memories to "show" from both of those, but spending my money that way brings me lots of happiness. Cue "experience envy" from Remi. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Couple more photos. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It was a beautiful day in Northern California yesterday, so monkycndo and I were looking for something fun to do (and we'd ruled out skydiving because of some lingering sinus issues). Scrolled through the event listings in the local paper and noticed that the battleship USS Iowa was right up the road from us in Richmond, CA, being cleaned up prior to moving to its permanent exhibit home in San Pedro, CA (near Long Beach). Perfect timing, too, since it's only been open a few weeks and will only be here a few more weeks. The Wikipedia article has a great summary of the extensive history of the Iowa - the WWII section, particularly the part about Roosevelt's trip, is particularly interesting. And of course, it's had a tragic history, too, with the explosion of the #2 turret killing 47 in 1989. The cleanup process is just beginning, so right now only the forward deck is open, but as you can see from the photos, it's still enough to get a good sense of the massive scale of the ship. The volunteers indicated that more sections may be opened in the next few weeks before it heads down to San Pedro, and eventually they hope to open the majority of the ship to tours. #2 Turret will remain closed in honor of those who died there. All in all, a great way to spend an unusually-warm winter Sunday. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

End of August you can hit the All of the Above Boogie @ Skydive Oregon. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Chucky! When are you coming to visit us out West? Or maybe I just need to plan another Raeford trip. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

What's the year by year # if we don't count swoopers skydivers. They could have avoided death by not swooping skydiving. Practically speaking - they create needless uncontrolled risk that distorts the trend. You'd be surprised at how many whuffos would make a similar statement to yours, with a few substitutions. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

We were lucky in that the folks we bought ours from had pretty fully stocked the whole RV, so we didn't have to buy a whole lot. But assuming you do have to stock the kitchen, think plastic. Actually, right now might be a good time to go pick up cheap plastic plates and bowls with a Christmas theme. Ours all have a 4th of July theme - I suspect the old owners picked them up at a clearance sale! Oh, and you definitely have to own some of these (even though they're not plastic, they really are an important part of RV life and you can store them in their boxes). (Edited to add an action shot with me and K-Dub). We were going to buy one of those fancy folding steps from Camping World, till we looked at the price, so Monkey made one for us out of some scrap wood. Works perfectly. When it comes to emptying tanks, I was shocked at how much the prices can vary - from $20 at an RV park near the DZ in Davis to $2 at a service station near Lost Prairie. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://groups.google.com/group/bay-area-tunnel-fliers?pli=1 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It is a good idea, and it's something that I always ask for when I go to a new DZ for the first time (or if I haven't been in a while), if it's not offered. It is offered at a lot of DZs, required at some for the first visit. I encourage newer skydivers to get thorough briefings when they go to new DZs, and I'm always willing to offer one to a visitor to my home DZ. Some DZs are more proactive, others leave it up to the jumper to ask. Perris, in fact, is one of the ones that does a pretty elaborate briefing for the first visit, and as far as I know, it's mandatory for all jumpers new to the DZ regardless of experience. However, since several of the incidents there this year involved locals, it wouldn't have been a relevant factor in those. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It's amazing what you guys have turned this event and foundation into in just a few short years. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I voted yes (not a swooper) but I guess I'm wondering what we're trying to prove here. All of the things you cited add risk, but the risk can be managed and mitigated in a variety of ways in all those examples, or you can go straight to the edge of the envelope, and lots of variations in between. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Oops. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke