tdog

Damn, the first time I don't preview my post before posting and I use the wrong little button to make it a clicky.... You got me.

Steve, You should start a photo album website someplace to post these pics. Seeing them in thumbnails that you can enlarge would be a lot easier to view/maintain, as this pond is still a newborn and more photos are sure to come. Rumor has it that Tonya made a pass on the way to altitude the other day as the swoopers were landing... The view from above was apparently of huge rooster tails... Someone needs to get those on film from that perspective! To all those people who have not seen the pond in person, these photos don't do justice to the size of it... It is huge and the photos you see here are often just a section of it... It is real fun to watch you guys play...

If you want to be like everyone else at the DZ, get a Tony or Bev. If you want to be a little different, here is my favorite: EDIT: Made it a clicky... http://www.symbiosissuits.co.uk/ I have about 60 jumps on a Bev, it was great and wonderful... But, the Symbi Suit is just as good, some areas better... Importing from the UK was just as simple and painless as getting a shipment from next door, and Rob at Symbi was great...

Tonya, the kick-a## pilot has accepted a new flying gig out of state. Her last day is next Friday, the 9th. Due to her check flights and other moving-away-things, the only time we can have the going away party she deserves is next Friday... She will fly the last load, enjoy our company, then hop in her car and drive to another state... So, 5 PM on the 9th at the DZ the party begins.

Not that the question was asked to me, but at my home DZ, the answer is yes... Due to the forces of nature, (being near by a international airport and the outs in one direction being challenging with public relations), etc, jump run is always the same direction... Parallel to the runway... Always... Makes tracking dives real easy to plan.

It is near the dit-wat, under the thing, covered by the flat thing, to the left of the red thing. But seriously, what are you talking about????

Dude, your first pictures posted scared me... I thought you went back in time because those are not the Otter we know and love. I got to the DZ late Sunday evening to do a jump. Ended up on a last-minute 3 way. In the loading area I saw out of the corner of my eye an Otter making a lot of noise going down the taxiway... At first, I thought, "I did not know the rental Otter was still here..." But then, I realized it was not a rental. It was missing a engine cowling or two, but it was a beautiful site. I have not helped at all on this Otter, but I have seen some of my DZ friends helping in the cleanup and non-mechanic type stuff... I thus have been in it a few times in the last year. The first time I saw it, it had no wires, no wings, no engines, and nothing else. Then, slowly things started going back in, one by one, all seemingly brand new... I made the mistake of commenting that the wheel struts looked like they had a paint job, but I was corrected - they are brand new too. Rumor has it that this Otter, thanks to all new stuff, will be the lightest and, thus, fastest Otter in the world. Not your grandfather's otter. I am proud to jump at Mile High! At first I said, "I don't want to be on the first load" knowing every single bolt was removed... But, now I have changed my mind and hope Frank invites me to be on the first load.

For all of those who said "before student operations".... What type of student operations, SL or AFF....

Ok... So to clarify... I agree - practicing EPs physically during a track is a bad idea unless planned for ahead of time. The time I did it, I asked my friends to break early "because I needed some time to reset from the 4 way stuff and practice getting my mind ready for the next step". It was part of the dive flow, not something thrown in without being part of the plan. However, I believe someone with 30 jumps (or maybe 40, or maybe 100 if they did a lot of solos) is the perfect target audience for the comment, "during your track, evaluate your EP mindset and refresh your memory on what to do. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the overload of everything you are trying to accomplish during the freefall and not be in the proper mental state to handle EPs..." Why I say that? Because I know my jumps 35 to 140 ish were my "get my feet wet jumps" where I was trying new things and leaving the comfort zone of jumping with highly experienced instructors who were predictable and focused. All of a sudden, I was jumping with people who had less experience and sometimes struggled with the basics, like I was doing myself... If this comment was not said to the 50 or so jump person, they would not learn from it when they needed it the most... But maybe I am an isolated case. Maybe others don't go over the line as much as I did early on when experiencing so many things for the first time... But I think we just hyjacked this thread.

On that track I did actually touch them at the very end as I was slowing down. My feet were still tracking, but my arms came in... I am sure I lost some efficiency, but I kept aware of where my pals were and did not compromise the safety of the jump. Our breakoff was high, so our tracks were long. I see your point... I would not advocate doing this on a tight situation or when you know you are close to your friends... For me, I needed to know that I could do the EPs after turning a lot of points in a high pressure environment... It worked.

Right. Mine looks like a sock when it is not cocked. In the burble above me, I doubt it would even have 5 pounds of drag...

I had a "near miss" a.k.a. a "Wakeup Call" a while back, when I had 50 jumps or so... I was in an intense 4 way camp and was on about jump 15 of the camp... We probably pulled more points on that jump than I remember, I was working hard and pushing my limits. I tracked from the formation and got into the "wow, that is over" mindset... I pulled my main... It sniveled and sniveled and sniveled... Way too long... My brain said, "goto reserve"... But moments before I took actions, the canopy finally opened... I realized about 15 minutes after the jump... My brain said "GO TO RESERVE" - not "CUTWAY THEN..." Would I have pulled the reserve without the cutaway? I will never know, but the chances are high. I had practiced the EPs on the ground and in the plane as everyone does and thought the muscle memory was built, but I realized my brain did weird shit because I never visualized the snivel as part of the EPs and my adrenaline/brain power was "over the line" from the 4way stuff. In all my visualizations I had either a spun up or broken main or nothing at all... My visualizations failed me... I needed an immediate change! So, I changed a lot of things on the very next jump (like 20 minutes after that jump, remember this was 4way camp)... In my track, I practiced my EPs so if I needed them in a few seconds I was ready. I realized all the practicing on the ground is useless for me - building the muscle memory in the real situation was priceless. I even a couple times did my practice EPs as my canopy was sniveling to get in the habit of doing it in a high speed "mal". Every jump since then, I think to myself as I pull, "If this does not work, right then left." I actually say it out loud. It is now so ingrained in me that I don't know if I could pull without saying it. Since I say "if this does not work" it covers every base imaginable in my visualizations. Right then left simply puts the order in my mind in simple terms and removes the color/texture factor incase I am jumping a borrowed rig and the handles are soft pads or different colors... So, if I had a PC in tow, I probably would do my EPs just as I trained myself, and that includes the cutaway first. Also, when I jump with someone with 30 jumps or so and I can tell I am pushing their limits for remembering the points we plan on turning, I tell them this little story and say, "I found visualizing my EPs during the track gets your mind back on saving your life and prepared for the worst." Just my two cents. I think I would cutaway first before going to my next handle... I hope someone learns from my little post here, because I learned a lot when it happened first hand to me.

My canopy gets wrinkles too. It likes to be jumped, and when sitting around for a while, it gets upset and gets wrinkles... After a jump, they seem to go away until the next time it gets left for a few days... ;-)

Worth repeating, I think:

Sometime when you know you can do it with staying altitude aware, try doing some skydiving with your eyes shut... Maybe a 10 second burtst. Weird feeling. Lots of fun...

I came home tonight and saw on the news a skydiving story from my home DZ on the news... I was worried something went wrong... But no, it is very positive. A blind person does a tandem... The link to the 9news.com website with the video you can watch is at: http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=e5bf5b20-0abe-421a-0132-929cb4caff5b&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf Made my day. I wish he would have come over the weekend so I could have seen it in person (and he would have enjoyed the turbines that run on busier days) T.

I think every band had their famous concert at Red Rocks! But yes, you can get the 1983 U2 concert from Red Rocks in the stores.

Even better than seeing a show at Red Rocks is LIGHTING the show! I have designed/ran the lights for a bunch of bands there... Cypress Hill, Nickleback, Kid Rock, Gypsy Kings, Galactic, Lil Jon, Our Lady Peice, Ludacris, Molotov, Blues Traveler, etc Blues Traveler: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Lighting/slides/Blues%20Traveler%20Red%20Rocks%202004%20-%207.html Nickleback: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Lighting/slides/Nickleback%20@%20Red%20Rocks%202.html Another Nickleback: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Lighting/slides/Nickleback%20@%20Red%20Rocks%201.html And attached - a photo of the audience from the perspective of the lighting guy's position at Front of House... I love redrocks... And some others

So 26% voted to get out the soldering iron in this poll... That is the least of the three choices, replace and junk yard both got higher scores. Like a person who never pays attention to his friends, I got out the soldering iron. Look at the photos of the wires, each one soldered and heat shrunk. AND - I had some of my Mexican friends cook up a special recipe of goo to put on the wires. It is Dial Soap and Glue with hot pepper so hot it you can smell it a mile away. Look at the liberal application. I dare the squirrel to even try coming back!

So, did you know you had only one foot connected. Seems like "duh, of course I could feel it" - but that happened so fast it might have been hard to feel exactly what was happening... Like a broken in half board or something? Also, kind of make me think that a release system, like the Collins lanyard on the RSL - that would release the "other" binding if one went would be a neat thing to have in that situation???

Well, I helped Jason and Keith push dirt this weekend with the bob cat (and gave them a laugh when I almost rolled it)... I helped finish the banks and move the last bit of dirt into place... The 8 hours I spent in the bobcat shows how little I got done in the big picture, and how much was done before I showed up. There was a lot of work that went into this pond, that is for sure! And then the water came for a brief test flow... It worked. Me thinks the pond is gonna be great, and dare I say it, it is almost done! As the instructions on the side of the package said, "just add water - then garnish the shoreline with your favorite vegetation."

Sounds like you need to try some 4way... I have over 100 coached 4 way jumps and I still am learning so much that I have never thought, "just another jump."

After seeing that, I think Betsy needs a new name - because she got done b*^ch slapn' ya!

The chances of a TI having a heart attack is about the same as a bus driver having a heart attack. Do you ever wonder how safe the bus is when you get on it?

You know, one of my best coaches post AFF pre A had only 200 jumps or so, and a bunch of tunnel... Very helpful guy, lots of energy, lots of info... I am glad he was able to coach me. Some of the much higher jump number folk have the attitude, "I will fit it in between these three AFF jumps and that one video jump, and only if you pay X dollars." Even the ones that are not in it for the money are still pulled in 5 directions once they have the higher skills.... And... By the time I was looking for the skills of a great RW coach, it did not matter if he had the ratings because I already had a B...