tdog

me 5

Good luck... Tell your instructors you hate the door... They might have some ideas for ya. I personally love the door... On warm days, we open the door to the otter at 2000 feet, and I sit next to it so I can stick my hand out, look out, get fresh air, etc... It will take time, but you will be there too... Sometime you will have the opportunity to sit in the back of a skyvan and look down thru the floor for the ride to altitude... The first time I did that was in MOAB for the boogie... I was on the bench, with my feet on the door ramp, and a 2 foot gap under me. Awesome views.

Interesting...this could help me. Question: Are you putting pressure to hold the lines/slider in place, or is this between your knees with no pressure directly on it? The slider/lines are held in place by the folds and tight wrapping of the cocoon you make during the propack. Here is a secret for practicing on a super new canopy... No matter how tight I rolled the edge to make the cocoon - mine would explode for the first 50 jumps.... If I was just packing it - ok - it would explode slowly... If I was dinking around practicing different methods, it would explode before I had a chance to try a different way.... If you have discipline to have only ONE pull up cord to use to close your rig - you can take that pull up cord and tie it around the end of the cocoon, over where the slider is, around the lines... This way you can practice a lot without the canopy exploding there... The reason for ONE pull up cord... You will have a mal if you leave the canopy tied up... That would be bad... But, you can't close the rig without the cord - so it is an automatic fail safe that you removed the cord to close the rig... Kind of like a doctor counting his sponges before closing a patient.... Anyway back to your question... I would keep a knee on the end of the canopy where the slider is - protecting the grommets from damage to the lines and themselves - as I squeeze out the air and make the cocoon look more like a burrito... Then I would keep one hand or knee on the slider end - and reach under the burrito to make the folds with the other hand and pinch both sides keeping that tight... Once folded - then use the leg trick described to make the canopy the right size for the bag and to finish pushing out the air. Even if you do the reverse S fold thing - the leg trick still works... I knew my canopy was going to be a headache when I stuffed it in a cardboard box when it was brand new, and the next morning the cardboard was torn and the canopy was laying all over the floor - from it's desire to explode out of things... If your canopy has the same daemons as mine, you will learn a lot of tricks until you break it in.

Guys (and gals) I found out tonight at the tunnel they have a new pricing structure in effect now. I am just reporting the facts - not trying to argue for or against anything or criticize them. To keep the math all the same, since the per minute price posted on the site includes tax, but the hour blocks do not - I added tax to give bottom line cash out of pocket pricing... The tax is 4% for the entertainment district, no state sales tax like if you were buying actual goods like a shirt... Correct me if I am wrong - but I don't think the other US tunnels are in special taxing districts... BY THE MINUTE $14 per minute (including tax) - for anything less than 1 hour, 5 minute minimum - 7 days a week... ($840 per hour) HOUR BLOCK TIMES Friday and Saturday - $832 per hour (increase of $100 pre-tax per hour) Sunday - Thursday - $702 per hour (evening hours used to be $700 + tax, so this is a $25 reduction) No longer "peak and off-peak" hours... The whole day is either peak or non-peak. Basically, if you fly on the weekends, you get a $8 savings if you buy an hour over buying by the minute - so the good news is you no longer need to find friends to split blocks if you fly on the weekends because your cost for 20 minutes will be about the same if you split a hour three ways or just buy 20 minutes by the minute - bad news is that you will be paying more than the old pricing either way. Good news - if you can fly on a weekday - you will be saving about $25 per hour over the old rates if you can fill an hour. Most definitely find friends to fly with on weekdays - because you will be saving $2.30 a minute if you fill an hour.

I have about 300 jumps on my current canopy at Perris, Eloy, Zhills, Mile High, Etc... Eloy will make any canopy other than light brown move towards light brown in color... That dust is amazing, they should turn it into glue... The other DZs are not so bad... That being said, I don't think I am going to be worried about fading on my next canopy choice... I know they will pick up dirt and look dirty after a few jumps... Part of life, like death and taxes... Instead.... In priority... 1) The easiest to spot from the sky (looking down, looking across)... Planes and skydivers should see me as best as they can. Then, far down the list... 2) Dirty Factor 3) Find when chopped factor I personally would get an all black canopy, I think it could be fun, especially with gray or white insides or something... But if people say they are hard to see - I would then choose something else.

It also does not hurt to start looking when you have 10 jumps and are willing to learn a lot... Asking a lot of questions... Etc... You will learn what you put into it, and at 10 jumps you should be learning a lot about rigs... That way you will know where your canopy goals should be when you have 30 jumps and it is time to stop renting and own... It does not hurt to buy now, something your instructors and mentors advise you is a good canopy/container for your first rig - because once you have 30 jumps and decide it is time - you might wait weeks or months for equipment, thus making skydiving a pain in the butt... So, what I am saying is - if you have the energy to study up and learn, once you have 10 jumps, you can start shopping even if you know what you are potentially buying is something you need a few more rental rig downsizes to be ready to jump... But, your mentors and instructors are going to be invaluable to steer you the right direction... I just find people are happier when they have a rig on their living room floor they can say, "once I have 10 more jumps I will be ready to jump" than "I wish I had a rig, I can't skydive today because the rental rigs are sold out or I can't pay the rental fees because I dropped all my money on the rig that is not here yet."

I always was told to kneel on it myself too... I watched other people do it... But I hated it when I had a brand new super slippery canopy.... The canopy would slide out, get messy, etc... So, I adopted a different technique. I kneel on the floor with my knees at the width that I want the canopy (slightly narrower than the bag), with the canopy between my legs. As I press out the air, my knees keep the canopy from spreading sideways. When I need to get air out, I can press down with both palms of my hands and my hands are both available to control the fabric... So my feet keep the canopy from exploding out the back, my knees the side, the floor the bottom, the hands cover the top and front... I guess I am saying I make a "box" the size of the bag with my body so I can get it all tightly in the "box" before attempting the insertion to the bag. I taught a guy my technique and he reduced his brand new tight canopy bagging process from 10 minutes of attempt and re-attempt to a 30 second insertion... Just another option...

Perfect, I expect you to fly in the Colorado Skydiving League scrambles on the 6th... See www.coloradoskydivingleague.com for the info... You will even get a free teeshirt!

Funny, we have a different one too... The "rules are" one person has to be in wingsuit - and the other person has to own a wing suit - or else you can't use it and must resort to the more traditional moves... It is a bird eating seeds (pecking it's nose with all five fingers together making a beak) out of one guys hand, reverse rolls, then hands interlocked at the thumb/index finger joint, flapping away like bird wings... What is yours?

Wow... Josh posts! Since you are here, thanks for helping us out, sharing your stories and AFF videos, etc... Without your support, it would have been much tougher...

A few years ago when I did AFF at Skydance in Nor Cal, the DZO would not only make the student pay for the repack, but also make them pay for the handles. Be safe Ed That is just wrong... A student does not pack, nor maintain the gear... Except for poor body position, or pulling the wrong handles in a panicked student state, there is very little a student can do to change the outcome of how well the main works... I can't remember the last student chop at our DZ (I remember it, but not well enough to tell you what happened) - and we have hundreds of AFF jumps a month, and 20+ student rigs on the shelf... Well maintained gear and good packers = very infrequent chops... With the DZ profit nearly at a repack for every AFF jump... I would never support a DZ that charges students for any reserve rides on a student jump... Also, our DZ teaches the student to throw the handles, and if you land with them, you probably would be lectured for not doing what instructed in the AFF program... Honestly, I don't know if any students at our DZ have been charged, so I might be putting my foot in my mouth, but I still can have an opinion. Now - if a DZ has rental equipment that students are allowed to pack (not allowed at our DZ unless the student has to work on the packing requirement for the A card) - then more responsibility can be put on the student for the times they pack... But if a line was broken, or a line over, or a bag lock, or anything, especially if DZ employees packed the main - then I still think any DZO that would pass the cost to the student just sucks... That is like a city bus not being well maintained or just being well used - and breaking down on the road, and charging just the riders on the bus at the very moment it broke 100% of the repair bills... Or renting a car from a rental company and charging the customers for damage done to an engine by the maintenance employee who did not do the proper preventive maintenance. If you are going to rent out equipment - you should not charge the customer for problems unless there is clear cut liability... An experienced jumper not stowing the brake lines correctly = liability. A student with a proven hard pull = no liability. This post probably should be in the speaker's corner.

Results from the first meet posted - including two Airforce Teams (BOS and 7XY) and Levitation... It was fun... The teams did great. www.coloradoskydivingleague.com Thanks to our sponsors Deli Zone and Deep Rock Water for providing free food and water to the athletes.

The delete button is right between the up arrow and the insert button... I opened the database, copied the table for a backup, and hit delete on everyone who registered who was not a skydiver (sort by date, state, etc) Easy... 5 minutes or less. But, traffic to the site has been great. And a few people are already wanting to buy the shirts... I am just a little upset that the free shirts were stuck between free jock-itch gel and deodorant in the lists on those sites... I even met a few skydivers who actually e-mailed me who also watch FW... Kind of cool to talk with them online... Anyway - gotta run... 1st meet is tomorrow... You gonna be there for your free shirt? Oh, I forgot - it would be a long drive to the DZ for ya.

Which site did you see it at? To make you laugh?

So, after I got 390 and counting fake registrations for our CSL league, (because I was offering free teeshirts to those who register...) I decided to search the net... This is what wuffos say about us... http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=22&threadid=599904&highlight_key=y&keyword1=skydiving http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=105270&t=228549 So, since I just offered a bunch of scammers teeshirts for $15 including shipping - anyone else who is a real skydiver who wants one - PM me... The best reply on all the fake registrations, about coaching history... God, I love it when people BS. Here is something one scammer wrote... Do you think it is true? If it is, then I will send a free teeshirt... Anyone work at these places that can verify a name?

So which address did you ship it too... Between knowing the address and any delivery conformation available - it should be pretty easy to get the guy on the other end??? Or, for the sake of my learning - what kind of addresses on the other end are not traceable to who lives/works/receives packages at that address???? I had my credit card number stolen once... The duffus shipped the stuff to his house in my name. It was easy, when his address was also in our payroll system, to know who was the thief...

That is SO funny... Because my canopy has the same pack time - but I prefer 3 minutes...

Here's some pictures of the two jumps we did before sunset.

My favorite exit... Stand in the door. Grab your ankles. Fall out... Once you get good, you can "fly out of the spin" and land in a back, sit, belly, etc...

I thought I saw some students wearing wings at Zhills... Maybe contact them (Skydive City)...

You will feel like an idiot the first time you walk to the plane without your accessories... So, here is one for ya. SHAGGR Shoes (tied and safe, no hooks) Helmet Altimeter (at zero) Goggles Gloves Radio (The radio is for when you are an instructor yourself - so you can omit it now.) I SHAGGR every time I walk to the plane...

From the S&T USPA news letter.... I asked a USPA official the same question... You can do up to a 4 way - so as long as there is one D for every student. The funny part... You can D + D + Student + Student... But what about a D + D + C + Student... Not allowed by the wording, but having a "C" should be just as safe, or more safe, than having two students... Funny... I guess they are going to revisit the wording once it is tested in the field, but at this point, there are a lot of questions... I also find it funny that the Coach (regardless of B/C/D licence) must be under the supervision of an instructor - but a D without the coach rating can operate without supervision of an instructor. Take the interpretation of the wording one step further - and you can *assume* that anyone with a coach rating must be under the supervision of an instructor, so a D with a Coach rating... Which clause/option wins - with supervision or without? And... Why can the D do a 4way and coaches not? And... A real world I faced last week... Student cleared for solo + AFFI + AFFI... Could we take a 4th with a "B"??? The wording seems to need to be refined a bit to make these questions cut and dry.

He he he... I did my first ride on the front last week... Well, first as a skydiver, I have one wuffo 7 years ago... I just earned my AFF rating that day, and there was a guy who I just met who needed an experienced guy for the front for his last student jump - so I thought, "I owe one to the sport - this could be fun." It was a beautiful sunset - so I requested we fly into the sun to watch it set. I actually had a lot of fun and was not scared... It was helpful that the rig was equipped with chicken handles for my use, and I was trained how to pull them if needed... So on handle check, I did touch them all as if it was my rig... He told me I could not chop the main without telling him twice that I was going to do so... I laughed and told him, if we got that far, that I would be punching him twice before I took things into my own hands... Or, maybe I just thought that. The canopy ride was fun. The spot was long. I knew we could make it, but he was less than sure... So I got to be the confident guy... "We will make it no problem... If need be, we will land here, here, or here." I think I was more confident than the TI, and I can't blame him - he had to perform in front of someone who knew the difference between a good and bad landing. All in all, it was a hell of a lot of fun. I would do it again. He got his rating - and I am glad I could help. T.

Here is an announcement I sent out to our mailing list... After the meet I will post results here too:

Speaking from someone who just got an AFF rating and needed the IRM.... I agree... I would rather my rating cost $10 more for the rating, and give the info for free online... Call it an "electronic textbook fee" on top of the normal fees... The USPA has to make money to survive, but why make it difficult for us??? Why pdf??? Because the search feature of electronic documents is super cool... I had a lengthly back and forth e-mail with the USPA. They told me that the IRM is comprised of many different files, so making a PDF is hard... I suggested Acrobat does have a merge feature and I would be glad to do it for them... But, nope... So, how about we all ask for them to make their money elsewhere (like in a new one time fee per rating to cover the electronic delivery) and give the document away to those who wish to read it?