tdog

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Everything posted by tdog

  1. Is it warm in here, or is it your hot flashes spilling over to me again. But I don't start a thread in the General Forums about the team scores, but I have in the forum that is about 4way. (And you did not see my sarcasim) Just kidding. he he he
  2. Wow, I have had great success with a few people (athletic and in good shape) who completed as many levels as they could in one day. Drop of rigs to packers - train - jump - repeat... I have done it twice in the last year where the student did 5 jumps in one day - and it was very successful. Of course, it depends on the student - but I have yet to tell a student, "nope, too much, come back tomorrow." They seem to know when they are ready. What is your DZs justification? I think the instructor will know if it is time to say "no", so why limit the student?
  3. You will semi-quickly move to smaller gear in your first 25-50 jumps. Don't buy quite yet... Your first rig will be big and docile, but not as big and docile as most student rigs.
  4. I jumped with a guy with 200+ jumps and 5 years out of the sport. I asked questions, he remembered just about everything. He was disciplined, he practiced his EPs before meeting me, and he visualized and practiced the dive on the ground. We did a jump - and after turning many points, it was clear it was like riding a bike. I have little experience with people who take years off, but I kind of think it is like riding a bike.... Since this is a good thread, I do have a question.... Does anyone have the opposite experience, where a few years out of the sport caused issues with people with, say 100+ jumps? What about below 100 jumps? I have done other re-currency jumps with people with less time out - and I always have been comfortable with what they remembered.
  5. So if you are a moderator you can post, essentially an advertisement, anywhere you want.
  6. tdog

    Downplane

    Question: Did you misroute your chest strap - or not attach it at all? Ideas: FYI, when I learned to paraglide - my instructor had a rule. Whenever you put on the rig - no matter if you think you are going to fly or not - you have to put on the straps, all of them. The reason: Paragliders wait on a mountain for a perfect launch, and once the winds turn favorable, guys have suddenly thought "quick, launch" and launched without being fully connected. I took this lesson to skydiving. If I put on my rig at the DZ, I always finish the job, right then and there.
  7. [opens can of worms] No, because we all were bumped for tandems. [/closes can of worms]
  8. I am picking on you since you were the last post in the thread... Why not just hang out with people at the DZ who are fun friends and ignore the fools? Note - I quit paragliding because I did not like the people - so I know what you might be talking about. But the group was much smaller than the DZ population - where I have found some of my best friends at the DZ...
  9. Yep, that's what I mean. I just wanted to make sure that there were no issues with buying for example, a main and a container and then finding out they won't fit together without modifications, or that a correctly sized main canopy X is known to malfunction in container Y. Basically that I don't need to be an expert rigger before I get the credit cards out. Within reason - parachute systems are all plug and play - unlike computers or car engines. Any modern container will work with any modern main, reserve, AAD... For the most part, even risers from one brand will work with all others, although risers come with containers so normally this is not a concern. Size of canopies = only thing you have to worry about, and if the harness fits your body. When you buy: Container = Container, Harness.... Deployment bag & Pilot chute for main and reserve and risers Main = canopy and slinks Reserve = canopy and slinks AAD = full system of brain, cutter, control module When you go dirt cheap, you get older equipment likely missing parts or needing repairs like new line sets. Go middle of the road. Not brand new, but still new enough you don't have to immediately do all the repairs like new line sets, etc... So I would make sure the container is a current production model, not a discontinued model - so it has all the newest safety features.
  10. By that logic process, after AFF 2 - you need not pay attention to your instructors. On level 3, you are going to be let go. By the time you get to 4, 5, 6, 7 you are going to be doing flips, turns, rolls - all things that could cause pretty good separation - and in rare cases, so much your instructor cannot redock... So, you must make decisions as if the instructor is not there - because they might not be... I have no problems with my students reading stuff anywhere and everywhere about skydiving... However, I also expect them to ask me before they deviate from my advice or rules. I think in a thread like this - where someone has NO JUMPS and is asking for advice - they are asking for moral support, not technical advice. I would simply say - "It is not very hard to land a parachute. Don't worry. Remain calm. Do what your instructors told you to do. You will do fine - as every skydiver had to do their first jump - and due to the canopies for students being big and docile, they are forgiving for mistakes. Before you jump, simply ask your instructors for more help to build your confidence in the landings, and/or watch other experienced and student skydivers to fully understand what you need to do." See how you can build confidence to a student without compromising their training in giving technical advice?
  11. Rain doesn't really have a pointy end. Thats a myth.
  12. tdog

    You've all seen it

    Yes, because when the student does something crazy, the facial expression of the instructor on the other side is even better. We had a level 2 yesterday where the guy had such powerful forward motion we were pulled like waterskiers behind a boat. The other instructor looked over with huge eyes and said, "oh my god." Actually - I have seen the look in AFF and in Coaching... I think the look is on the ground in AFF, and in the sky in Coaching - just because of acquired comfort levels... However I did a level 6 once with a heads up girl and her brother (an AFFI, but not at the DZ in question) asked if he could come along and shoot video. I of course let him because I knew he could fly very well. After the student did the entire dive flow in milliseconds she turned to her brother and blew a kiss his way. But it is rare you see stuff like that in AFF, most of the time the stress is too high... I had another student who was confident enough on a release AFF jump to look over at me at pull time and say "time to pull, you go first" in sign language. Then he gave that "ok, I will pull if you insist look". And timed it all so he still pulled on time. Anyway - so for me it is the "comfortable in freefall" moments that make me happy in AFF, and the "looks of accomplishments" in freefall for coach students. (Hence the reason why I jump a crap load with students covering my own slot as fun jumps - because they can be more fun to jump with than experienced guys."
  13. spelling fixed just for you. Rich learned everything about flat spins and unstable exits from me. I still can do them when I want...
  14. Alan, You know you are a loser... The biggest loser that I ever have met. Such a big loser that the Atlas rocket had to correct it's flightpath because it was being sucked in to your loserness.... With your incredible sense of altitude awareness, did you or your Cypres pull for you while you were looking at the Atlas in front of you? (Note to moderators: This personal attack is to a very good friend because I am jealous and in real life communication I would probably slap him upside the head with a stick saying, "and you did not invite me, I would have flown to Cali for that experience, a$$hat".) In all seriousness... I wish I was there and am happy that you had a blast (all puns intended). Oh, and to celebrate your return to Colorado before you even get here - I am going to be flying a wingsuit on Sunday!!!
  15. I think the course directors need to be weeded thru. I know of a few well known directors (at least one I have worked under and evaluated candidates for) that sucks. I also have worked under one of the most awesome people too. I have evaluated for 3 coach course directors. 66% good. 33% that should not be allowed to be a director and as far as I am concerned stole money from their candidates because he taught nothing. If I said his name, you would know. I think the rating program and curriculum are all dependant on the instructor.
  16. tdog

    Only in Arkansas

    At risk of being banned for a personal attack against a whole state: MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) - A man who called police when clerks refused to refund his money when he decided to not stay at their motel ended up with free accommodations anyway - at the county jail. Phillip Ruch, 26, had checked into the Ramada Inn about 1 a.m. Wednesday but decided after a few minutes that he didn't want to stay there. When employees refused to give him his money back, he called police to complain about the motel's service. Officers discovered an outstanding warrant for Ruch on a felony marijuana delivery charge and also found more than five ounces of marijuana in the pocket of a fishing vest inside Ruch's car. Ruch was being held at the Baxter County jail Wednesday morning pending a court hearing. (Copyright 2007. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
  17. If your rigger inspected it - both the main and reserve - and you are comfortable with the safety - I would say... Go jump. 120 MPH winds have a tendency to air out canopies. I would resist the urge to wash the main to get the smell out - but canopies do get wet/washed in ponds, chops, and spills all the time... You could wash your main... Disconnect it from the rig at the three-rings, and call the manufacture/favorite rigger for advice on the soap to use, the length of soak, how to hang to dry. LIKELY - your DBag has kept the container rather "clean" even if there is mold... Take out the main overnight - put it in a different room, and see what smells and what doesn't...???
  18. Yes - if you are flying next to a radio antenna and you are making a turn, you will "run with the wind" into the antenna faster when you are downwind. Yes, you will in this case fly around the other canopy - but the distance between that canopy and you will be exactly the same in 0 and 30 MPH winds... Your position over the ground however will be vastly different. Yes... When I am flying next to my friends doing CrEW in 80 MPH uppers, or in the 20 MPH winds at 2,000 feet, or 5 MPH winds at landing - our ground speed changes. However, I pull the exact same toggles or risers to fly relative to them. Windspeed does not change at all how I fly to get back to, behind, above, in front of, or next to my friends... If I was going to collide with them in 80 MPH winds, I would collide with them in 0 MPH winds... Where I need to look for them does not change - unless they are tied to the ground like a kite or a BASE jumper who has not left the antenna yet...
  19. I call foul... Unless there are different wind speeds or directions at your altitude relative to the altitude below you... All the canopies will fly in the airstream equally... So wind speed won't matter... Example. Two 747 airplanes are flying in 200 MPH winds because their crazy pilots like flying thru hurricane force winds. Both planes are at full throttle and are flying at 500 MPH air speed. If heading opposite directions, parallel to the direction of the wind, one airplane will have 700 MPH ground speed. The other 300. But if they were to collide headon - their collision speed would be 1000 MPH.... (500 + 500 airspeed, or 300 + 700 ground speed). No where does the wind speed change the speed in which the aircraft will collide or the closing speed of the aircraft. (Unless each aircraft is in a different moving body of air that has different speed or direction). So... Please tell us how you will "run with the wind", relative to another canopy, as you start your turn...
  20. Every other manufacture does this... But they always send sizes that never fit... Heck, a certain wing suit manufacture, who knew every measurement about me, more than even my mother would know - sent a shirt way too small...
  21. tdog

    Kayakers out there

    I am one of those back-assward people... I have done lakes rivers without the skills to roll. So lets go... Just kidding... I want to be more comfortable before I go again so I can have fun instead of struggle with the concept of "nail this rapid and go conservative because swimming sucks". I rather go big and biff and recover. I know you Raft... Do you Kayak too? I will buy gas and lunch if you would give me pointers and coaching if you ever want to hit a river. The advice of keeping your head in to the end makes sense and I think I have that part visualized. The one time I didn't, I felt how unsuccessful it would be... The problem was if anything the opposite... My head and paddle was ending up quite low below the boat, so the "C" formed with my torso was completed after the hip-roll, but the boat was more upside down than rightside up, hence the roll stalled.... P.S. For those of you learning in a pool, nose plug... I am still blowing out chlorinated water from my nose. he he he (I had one but forgot to take it out of my car. Damn)
  22. tdog

    Kayakers out there

    So I am a novice kayaker... Very novice. (Although I took on some pretty good rapids on a 10 mile stretch with a friend years ago without the skill to roll, so the threat of swimming made me work exceptionally hard at stability) Anyway - went to a "roll class" tonight. Was working on C to C - as that is the roll they teach first. (Although I saw a video on youtube that made a slightly modified roll look much easier and guys much older and out of shape than I were nailing it, so maybe...) After about 15 tries - I almost had it. Could roll on my own, but when I did, the paddle hit the pool bottom when I was 3/4 of the way over, meaning too much arms, not enough hips, per the instructors... Then the pool closed and I was probably too tired to be any good at it anyway by that point. Anyone got this roll thing nailed? Anything you suggest to visualize to nail the hip-snap at the right time without using the arms? After skydiving, I have the visualization thing down and it has become how I learn. So, what do you think about when you do it (assuming it is not completely second nature).
  23. That is pretty much it... But, you will have to know where you can land as plan A, plan B and plan C from your exit point. Every balloon jump I have done we have NOT landed directly under the balloon... The balloon keeps flying and you have a few minutes between groups. If you want to land in the same spot, you have to plan ahead...
  24. Ahh... Come on.... It was funny to watch knowing they both lived. It made a great video. They have a funny sense of humor. (I bet they learned, and by making a funny video for others to see, others will learn)
  25. ZP, 9 cell, semi-elliptical