sfullerman

placed my order a couple days ago on jimmys website.......pretty sure he said it should ship around the 5th of Dec.

Years ago, saw video from the early 80's... some of those central Mississippi nuts....attached handles to each end of a small log. Two jumpers flew w/the log while a third swooped them with a chainsaw. (thank GOD) because of rapid altitude change, they never could get the dang chainsaw started. (they did tweak the carb so it would start at altitude, but it wouldn't run for more than a few seconds.) Ohh, and I use the term Miss. "nuts" with a lot of love and respect. Those guys were the cats ass!

My cat Garcia tear'n up a fudgesicle. Lost him a month ago when our home burnt... gotta smile though, he was a funny mo-fo !

If this is not the correct forum for this I apologize.....I posted here because I figured there was a higher concentration of old.........errrrr "more experienced" skydivers reading here. The ones most likely to have a large collection of old skydive photos stashed around the house. Two weeks ago today my home was gutted by fire. In the lost "stuff" category tv's, furniture, etc can all be replaced. It's the skydive pics from 25 years ago that are gone for good....and MAN that SUX! To the point of the post, I'm thinking that even though it would be a pain in the butt, it would be wise to put forth the effort (and or) expense to have your old pics scanned and digitally stored.....but take it a step further and keep the disc someplace other than your home. I had some stuff scanned in case my computer crashed....but the disc was sittin in a drawer right beside the computer, and burned up right along with all the other stuff. (have I mentioned that that SUX?) *side note* During a conversation on here one night with Twardo, the subject of Freak Brother conventions came up. I pulled a poster from the 10th annual FB's off the wall, took a picture of it , and posted it . It wasn't a real high quality shot, but good enough to get the idea. A few days later I got an e-mail from a brother who wanted to update the Freak Bro web site with a copy of that poster. I made a better copy of the pic and he posted it on the site. It had hung on my wall for 20 years, and less than 10 days after he requested the copy, it was burnt to a crsip. On the plus side, as long as the FB site is up, I've got at least ONE pic I can scope out! Protect the pictorial history of our sport. Technology...uhhh use it!

But if you got in the line for the sit-down version, you were a dweeb. The last time I rode it was over 25 years ago. Me an another dweeb rode the sit down version, it went to the top, dropped less than 10 feet...and hung up. Student in tow! Alarm bells were goin off, we were up there for 15 -20 minutes..... we were the center of attention Pretty cool view too!

Did'ya ever get a letter printed in the mag? Early on in my long (6 year) carrier...I wrote them and wore'm out about not having enough skydive pics in their dang SKYDIVE magazine...and they printed it! They also printed one I sent in after I bounced Yeeeaaaahhhhh....bouncing pretty much guarantees you some column space!

Plus, if it was a good idea, skydivers would have used it already. ------------------------------------------------------------ Jaap, in the early 80's some of the CReW dogs used containers rigged with the pouch mounted on the right shoulder of the harness. As Tree said "On anything over a few seconds in is in direct contact with the relative wind,"... Being CRW, those guys were dumping a second or two out the door.

Twardo.....just had a flashback laughin fit! Oct 1985's cover.....the guy lurking in the background was on the dive, and should'a closed 2-3rd. He was all excited that he'd made the cover...till we poured water on that by pointing out that people all over the world now had a picture of him ...being "out" !

How did the visit to Tater-Land go? Was Faber able to keep his appointment up north before departing?

Very cool pics of "back-n-tha day" steve! One evening back in '81 I found myself sitting around a dz campfire with quite a mixed group of folks.Most of the guys on one side were ex-military with jump experience.....on the other side of the fire was a motley collection of college kids. One of the military fellas said "you kids think you know what a good time is....you haven't lived till you've made a midnight drop from a C-130 at 500ft, over woods that are 20 miles deep...and then you hike back." One little hippie with those round John Lenon glasses, leaned back against a tree, and after a long pull on a joint said...."I dont know maaaan, sounds like a hassle to me"

e-mail sent..... Chad said .... "Oh yeah, if Faber ever shoves his way past you at the exit point, there's a reason. He just dropped a horrible fart next to you." My grandpa always said ..."it's a sorry dog that cant stand the smell of his own $hit" (course grandpa was crazy as f--k, and probably just babbling)

Has the Faber Hucks Amer Tour gone completely underground....or has the crazy Dane finally "ass"-fixiated everyone involved?

lmfao Thats a pearl droquette ! You accent the positive , and are totally honest about the negative. If I ever make it to Puerto Rico I owe'ya one of those world famous Colatas, in payment for the belly laugh!

It was October 1986. __________________________________________________ "OTOH, i'm glad to see this thread hasn't died though!" __________________________________________________ Me too bro.....I'm hoping someone will share another story soon....I dont wanna get credit (blame) for killin a thread that's over two and a half years old!!!

R.O.L.L. ~Royal Order of Living Lawndarts~ [Wink] ____________________________________________________ (makes his way to the front giving everyone the "homecoming queen wave"....and approaches the podium) I gratefully accept this nomination into R.O.L.L. I would like to thank all the little people (I landed on) that made this possible! (previously the only thing I've ever been awarded was a blue ribbon from my 4th grade teacher....inscribed on the ribbon was the fact that I had been voted "Most likely to misspel my own name") ____________________________________________________ "I hope we get to meet one of these days...I wanna rub yer head, maybe some of that luck will come off on ME!! [Sly]" ____________________________________________________ From a previous conversation, I'm bettin we'd have plenty of skydive lies to swap....until then, I could send'ya a little chunk of one of the reserve lines...I kept the kite, and ya gotta figure it's got some good muju on it!

This is long....I appologize for that, but I've had 18 years to think about it...........(oh, and unlike the other stories I've posted, no one gets called -clithead- in this one) It was a beautiful Oct afternoon (1986), I looked down at the pilotchute in the bellyband pocket for about the 10th time, before I climbed into the Cesna for the cramped ride to altitude. I was wearing borrowed gear, my rig was still at the house drying out from the weekend before. I had gone to Bridge Day and made my first and only BASE jump...a four second delay, and then a really nice snivel, put me in the middle of the New River. Truth be told, even without the snivel, I may not have tried for the tiny LZ and would'a still landed in the river. BUT, I digress. I wasn't going to jump the rig without a reserve repack, and at that time we had no riggers in the area. There was no way I was going to miss making my 300th skydive that weekend , so I borrowed a student rig.I packed one with a ripcord, but just moments before the load went up, I traded with a guy who had packed one with a throwout...(soundtrack from JAWS begins playing) minutes later this would come back to bite me on the ass. My brother and two other good friends went up with me,one of them wearing video. I was the star of the show. Bombed off the strut and just burned a hole in the sky while they closed on me. Lots-o-geek'n..really fun dive.....up to a point. We broke off around 2500ft and a few seconds later I slow down to dump out...reach back for the leg mounted pilotchute thats, of course , not there. Oh yeah, borrowed gear...the little voice of reason in my head was saying "borrowed gear kills"...the adrenaline junkie in there told him to "shut TF up" I remembered the throwout was on the bellyband and went for it. It didn't budge. I checked again to make sure my air was still clear...saw two open kites, and my brother falling less than 50 yards away just watching me. Another tug on the pilotchute...it's not coming out. I'm falling thru 1200ft now and (in my head , the voice of reason is screaming like a little girl.....adrenaline junkie is yelling "ooowww low pull rock-n-rollllll!!") I figure (duh) it 's about time to give up on the main...come in with both hands and pull the single point cutaway and reserve handle...(when my brother saw me go for the reserve, he turned away and tossed out) I felt the kite come off my back, and for a moment relief flooded thru my body.....for a moment. I'm falling feet to earth still haulin ass. Looked up to see the reserve in full streamer mode. (a chilling site for those who haven't had the pleasure) I flung a boat load of cursewords at the malfunctioning kite, but just in case that wasn't gonna fix it by it self...I grabbed handfulls of lines and spread my arms trying to get air up into the canopy. IT WORKED! A second or two later I felt a numbingly hard opening shock, and relief again flooded thru my body.....for a moment. I looked up to see that the kite had exploded (26ft lopo) torn from the bottom to the top, and holes blown all thru it. Approximately a third of the material was left. (at this point the voice of reason had fainted on the floor of my mind...all the adrenaline junkie could say was "shhhhhhhhit") I'm under a grand and ,obviously, coming down rapidly. Our cow pasture DZ was two fields totaling 103 acres, with a paved road up the middle. Where am I coming down? Well hell yeah, right over the ROAD! Crack..this is turning out ot be a total pain in the butt dive. I grab handfulls of lines and shake the mess over my head..after a little of that I'm falling over the pasture again. If I grabbed a line and moved it, I could get the torn material to catch air...inbetween those times the kite would go back into streamer mode. Looking over a shoulder I noticed a tree line...I knew those trees were about 50 ft high, so I figure if I keep an eye on them I'll know when I'm about 50ft off the deck.... After thinking about it later, I'm not sure what I thought i would do with that information...but it was a plan, and I needed something to hang onto at that point. I saw was going to land (hit? bounce?) about 30ft inside the fence line, I focused on the fence, and a couple of moments before I thought I was going to contact the planet, I pulled my arms in, put my feet and legs together...and at the very last instant, I threw my self sideways trying my best to immolate a PLF. I've been asked countless times how fast I was coming down....eyewitness accounts guess anywhere from 60-90mph....I dont know...I was a 230lb dude, with a third of a 26ft lopo over my head in streamer mode....it felt "hell'a fast" My right foot hit first ..drove a hole in the ground around 6-8 inches deep (compound separation) my spine was compressed so hard that I crushed L-2 into a butt load of tiny pieces. A bone fragment from L-2 went into my spinal cord and did some nerve damage. This has caused me some daily hassles not everyone has to deal with, however, I wont complain. I am blessed in being able to still walk, and I could'a just as easly checked out that day. Less than a month later, one of the friends on my last dive, died making a BASE jump........this sport has given me so much in the way of memories, life long friendships, love, thrills,emotional highs (uh safety meetings not included).........it has taken a lot from me too...but if I add it up, I'd have to go with a quote from a dear friend......"I love the way we live" ***side note*** after I was choppered out that day, instead of waiting on a rigger to examine the rig...some dufus went over and tried to get the pilotchute out of the pocket....he had to put his foot on the rig, and pull with both hands to finally get it out.

"Mr. Douglas certainly qualifies!" __________________________________________________ Crack! Wish I'd thought of that before I posted that I had rode to altitude with JohnBoys sister Was Mr Douglas the DC-3 that the ole hippie "Sox" crewed on? Anybody remember him? He held up the entire load so he could show my brother and I how to take a two way out ...(our first DC-3 leap) His beard was so long it blew waaay up in the air in freefall....heck of a nice guy.

"N129H is the only DC-3 that I know of that was ever referred to as Mr Douglas. Yes, sad to see that she is park and looking like a derelict." __________________________________________________ Coming from a C-182 cow pasture DZ, walking up and staring at Mr Douglas for the first time (early 80's) the aircraft looked like a Cadillac. Will never forget an early bird load at Covington,La, got a seat where I could lean my head back against one of the speakers...listened to "Freebird" all the way up. Is there a better way to wake up? I submit there is not!!

(memory a bit fuzzy from the times) I'm with'ya Bro.....I was there (70's) but wouldn't be a reliable eye witness! Snapped a shot of the poster....now the trick will be getting it to upload on this thang (notice that the swelling seems to have gone down in the Brothers foot)

Jim....the t-shirt and poster I have from that boogie say "10th annual FreakBros"....it was held in Freeport Ill. August '85. To my knowledge it was the last one they called - FreakBros - as I heard it, it was getting bigger and bigger every year, and it was hard for Roger to promote it to the community while calling it FreakBros. It's the only one I ever attended so I couldnt personally swear that it was the 10th ....but thats what they told us....they're skydivers, they wouldn't exaggerate...(would they?) ------------------------------------------------------------ John.....you're right, Judy Norton Taylor.....that was her. Ohh and I didn't just ride to altitude with her, we talked in the breakfast line one morning....yeahhhh, we were practically dating.

I rode the "Birdmachine" DC-3 to altitude with one of the gals who played one of JohnBoys sisters on the Waltons, didn't actually jump with her though.........dang thats weak. Wait! Same boogie, (1985 10th annual FreakBro's) inbetween jumps I played hacky with the all the guys from Mirror Image...they were the world champion 10 way team that year ! The funnest,craziest brush with "famous-osity" I ever had was helping my brother teach Dennis McGlynn's fjc...and Dennis and I made our first balloon jump together. We knew he was wired "different" than most others when he refused to let a simple broke leg (cast ....toe to upper thigh) keep him on the ground. Ohh, and student gear was 28' rounds....made for a fancy PLF! Edit to add.....he didn't have the broke on leg the day he did his fjc.......we were loose with the rules back then....but we knew where to draw the line. No wear'n leg cast's on your first jump, and no opening a fresh beer after we'd already turned on jump run.

Was checking out the moon one night thru binoculars, when a satalite or piece-o-space trash cruised right across the middle of my view.....told my bud what I had just seen. His reply "step away from the pipe bro" Nice pic Michele

Not quite...but 'kinda' like this guy? That gentleman doesnt appear to have a rig on....seems the weight from his enormous "nads" alone would pull him off the strut!?

*** And a pull up cord in a belt loop of their faded cut-offs! Hey! You KNOW those dudes!!!

Dont know if your school was the same...but for a few years people on the Univ. Skydive "team" could actually -letter- in that sport. So you would be sitting around campus and see a half a dozen dudes walking thru with letter jackets on. Two would be bowed up football players, maybe a couple of buff guys on the basketeball team......and then here comes two skinny hippies, shades, comfortably numb smiles, styling with a parachute guy emblem on the arm of their letter jacket (priceless!) My apologies for draggin this off topic with all the talk of hippies and "alleged" illegal jumps. I'll try to redeem myself next time and tell'ya the story 'bout how I had my 7th & 8th malfunctions...on the same jump. (pretty frickin scary ...for me anyhow!)