xybe

Man, that's exactly my dream-gear. What's holding me back is that I'm on a diet right now and I am waiting to lose some weight before getting the harness custom-fit and a lighter canopy. I just bought my first piece of equipment, a pair of gloves. Since reciever gloves are not commonplace in my country I ended up getting some very nice bycicle gloves. Following will be an altimeter, jumpsuit (with booties), helmet and Pro-Dytter. I would like to get a full face helmet, those Havocs look pretty safe, by the way, have the new Z1s solved the problem of linings coming off? Does anyone know how much would it cost to have a Cypress waterproofed? A couple of nearby dropzones are surrounded by creeks (no, I'm not trying to pond swoop a Hornet... yet ). Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Being a fellow skydiver in the making (less than 20 jumps) I would offer the following advice, take it with a grain of salt as you should do with most things you hear from anyone other than your instructor. These are only some of the things that are hard for myself and they might work for you. Think positive! Don't think about what you want to avoid but concentrate on what you want to go right. Don't try not to be unstable but concentrate on being stable, it makes things much easier. Visualize yourself doing a good jump and having fun. In my case the climb to altitude is nerve wrecking so I try to imagine how great jumping will be. As it says in the previous post, don't be overly hard with yourself. We all have different learning rates and being mad at yourself for not learning fast will not make you learn any faster. It's easier to relax when you are not trying hard to relax, leave the hard work for ground training. If you rehearse your jump enough times and visualize it several times on the ground it should be OK for you to relax during the jump. Again, nothing new here but remember that fear is your ally, if you can handle it well it will help you stay alive. Being afraid is natural and probably even healthy, accept fear and don't dwell on it. Again, being positive helps here, so having fun is a better weapon against fear than denying you are afraid or getting mad with yourself for being afraid. Ask, ask and ask again, your jumpmasters are there to answer your questions no matter how stupid they may seem to you. You are at the DZ to learn not to protect your ego :) In freefall altitude awareness is paramount, check your altimeter often. and remember your priorities: Pull, pull at altitude, pull stable. Remember I am just a fellow student, ask your jumpmaster. Marcelo Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

First they came for the BASE jumpers and I did not speak out because I was not a BASE jumper. Then they came for the Skysurfers and I did not speak out because I was not a Skysurfer. Then they came for the Freeflyers(tm) and I did not speak out because I was not a Freeflyer(tm). Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. People ask: Who are we? We are their daughters, their sisters, their sons, their nurses, their mechanics, their athletes, their police; we're your doctors, your fathers, your politicians, your soldiers, your mothers, your friends. We live with you, care for you, help you, protect you, teach you, love you and need you. All we ask is that you let us jump. Marcelo Irony is lost in you, Pinky (The Brain) Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Thanks for your support, especially you, Michele. I think that the worst part was feeling so out of place and anxiuos about the possibility of not jumping. That and failing to opening my parachute You guys are definitely right, I did not get hurt so I will quit whining. Perhaps it was because reality crashed with my expectations, especially on the social part. I think it was closer to culture shock than skydyving disappointment. I just did not feel home there (in Argentina) as I do in Brazil where they speak in a different language (Portuguese as opposed to Spanish). Anyway, the second jump was a lot of fun. Different plane, different coach, same altitude, same lousy exit. The good thing is that I was altitude-aware that time. We barely managed to get stable before I deployed at a very healthy 4.5 thousand feet. I drifted with the wind about a mile and a half off the area but managed to land softly nect to the runway. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

0:2:12 (litres) After exchanging several Emails with a local skydiver he agreed to take me to a large DZ a few hours across the border for the weekend. Right now I have to do all my jumps across the border since local authorities require that I complete 30 jumps before they issue a permit. During the whole weekend I was filled with the anxiety and expectation only aspiring skydivers know. I could not help but feel awkward, away from home in a small drop zone with complete strangers for company. I broke every unwritten law for etiquette and humility, interrupting skygods as they told their stories, talking about places I had never been, equipment I never laid my hands on and techniques I had only seen in pictures. On Saturday fog was all that there was to see, a thick, cold fog that engulfed the airport as if it was going to swallow it and cast it into darkness forever. This did nothing to better my mood. However on Sunday the DZO’s verdict was that jumps could be made. In hindsight, students should have stayed in terra firma since the dogleg wind carried many of them way beyond the safety area. Butterflies filled my stomach in the plane, the coach told me I was to do an AFF 4 style jump. That made me feel really uncomfortable, only three weeks before I was doing solos wit a hand deployed rig… I could not help but feeling like I was being demoted. During the climb to altitude I was informed that the jump should be made from 6 thousand feet. Only my anxiety could exceed my disappointment at the time. I never jumped below 10 thousand feet, excepting the time when due to an engine malfunction I had to exit at 8 thousand. I should have known I was not prepared for the jump, my mental program was set for 13 thousand and I could not override it now, definitely not without some serious briefings. When the exit run came I was already overcame with adrenaline, I stumbled into position for my first ever low-wing plane exit, my first jump at that DZ and my first jump below 8 thousand feet. On exit I forgot it was not a dive and folded my knees, this put me into a backloop I could not correct, next thing I knew my canopy was opening. The instructor pulled my ripcord for me, now my self-esteem was below the ground. This was completely unacceptable and it was hard for me to concentrate on the landing. I tried to face the wind and to stay in a safety area but was crabbing badly. It was obvious I was not facing the wind. I corrected my position, there was an obvious dogleg wind vector almost perpendicular to the wind in the ground. I grabbed my front risers and pulled them as much as I could, but the canopy was to much for my poor upper body strength. I could not recognize anything from the aerial picture, but there was a canopy only a couple of hundred feet below me and I decided to follow it. These strong wind situations under huge canopies are the one time one it’s great to be a fat bastard. My landing was impeccable, I touched the ground very softly and yanked a control line to flag the canopy. Unfortunately for me I landed in a zone designated for sports canopy pilots only, not for students. It was never my intention to show off, especially not after the humbling experience of having someone else pull my ripcord for me. Yet I could not help but feel some people in the dropzone thought otherwise. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Having less than 20 jumps I have exited the following perfectly good (yeah right) airplaines: Islander, C-182, B-80 (Beechcraft Twin [Queen?] Air, if memory serves), C-206. A grand total of four different craft. Not bad for a low-timer aspiring skidiver, huh? Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Now, THAT'S a good one. Dark humor runs in the family but I am the only (aspiring) skydiver. Last time I crossed the border to jump, my brother was wondering how things would go if I had to make it back in a bag: Would they bring the whole thing or just leave some stuff behind to lighten the load (I am about 230 lb) Would I be able to pass the sanitary barriers (we have tough controls against hoof and mouth desease in the borders) etc. etc. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Jeez, Man! you scared me with that title. I mean, what kind of title for a trhead is "i think im getting jaded!", thought you were giving up skydiving! don't scare me like that Now, people, I'm only gonna say this once so pay attention: Logic, reasoning and math don't work with whuffos They already know everything so there is nothing you can teach them. Besides since you skydive you are a nutjob so anything you say will be nonsense (like that crazy talk about objects having different fall rates, they know better, they managed to get a D in sophomore physics). Reality check, have you checked your dictionaries lately, they might be a good source of what the mindest is in this whole thing. From the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary Yeah, right! maybe in 1970 it was, but I don't think so. Square (ellipticals, paradacyls, etc) canopies, accuracy and style, CRW (even RW for that matter), jumps at normal altitude (ie, more than 6000 ft), etc, etc. are not even part of the activity. Especially, never, ever attempt to explain why some of us use helmets. Arm yourselves with courage and patience and remember, whuffos are people too. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Ouch! ouch ouch ouch ouch OUCH! Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Wow. That's big of you. ps. JTVal - yup, what u said (extra credit for finding the irony) XYBE Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages Edited by xybe on 8/1/01 06:03 AM.

How about subdermal magnetic implants? Skydiving jettisonable jewelry. Don't make the magnets TOO powerful though, although it might be fun being suspended from your skin under a wingstrut the pilot might have a problem with that. Favourite SM quote from some dominatrix in NYC: Now be a good boy, don't make me not spank you! SM bit: Masochist: Beat me, hit me, brand mw with a hot iron! Sadist: Nope! Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Now that's a season finale! Too bad we don't get teasers for upcoming installments Just to prove that being a student can kick ass! Man, I wish I could be there to see it. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Admitting that you are afraid is a great step and you've taken it, kudos! Bsides, you don't need to push yourself into jumping, wait until you are ready. When you make your decision to jump, that is IF you make your decision to jump then you will know that eventually you will jump and it's only a matter of time before you are freefalling and having fun canopy rides. I falied to deploy my first two AFF jumps. I believe it was because I denied my fear, I was to proud to accept that skydiving could be scary to me. I was to busy being mad at myself for screwing up and missed all the fun on my first jumps. The point here is, accept your fear, know that in spite of it you will make a good jump. Don't go for perfect at the begining, just be safe and have fun, it will save you ton's of frustration and money wasted on fruitless jumps. Remember, fear is good if it helps you stay alive. I will take fear over excessive confidence any day. Besides, skydiving is as much fun you can have in a planet with no spiceworms to ride :) Loved the Dune reference! (If you decide not to jump, you can always become a Hardcore Whuffo, new members are always welcome Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Blatant trolls don't seem to work nearly as well as irony and satire, maybe you should stick with your previous style of posts. Call me a sissy but it seems that every other post these days seems pointed at starting a flame-war. Now that I think of it, that's what wreck.skydiving is for, why don't we keep flames for usenet? Xybe, the fat-bastard-cheesy-guy-who-likes-posts-by-girls-who-conquer-their-fears-by-dealing-with-them-among-other-people-rather-than-burying-them-in-testosterone-and-adrelalin. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Here goes a little can of support for you. By the way, your Mom's? really? How many times a day do you get to hear some "I told you this would happen..." stuff! Get better! Jump Soon! Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Speaking up for the fat bastards out there. Man if you are going to make fat jokes at least try to make them funny (I know about this, I probably heard them all). How much do you think fast bastards cost to the average DZ? I would say the sport wins by having poeple with disabilities Being actively involved. While it is only reasonable that these people compensate the DZ for the inconveninence, most of the overweight people I met in America hated being reminded of their weight problem. Perhaps if obese they had to face the eventuality of being assesed to decide how much they should pay they might shy away from the activity. Personally I've been in a C-182 with 4 (very slim) other jumpers (I weight 230 lb with clothes only, no equipment.) I commend the USPA for their efforts in making the sport accesible to those with special needs. I seem to recall that in the case of people with a serious weight problem, provisions can be made to adapt tandem gear for their use. In my country most people with special needs are banned from skydiving, in fact anyone seen not fit to pilot an aircraft will be denied a student licence and this includes those suffering from color-blindness, partial eyesight loss, diabetes, loss of (or limited mobility with)a limb, respiratory problems, etc. Sorry for the rant. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

The subject is a quote from Homer Simpson, actually, it's spelled UrugUay wit a U. It would be nice that Uruguay was listed among the Southamerican countries to chose from when creating a profile for dz.com. I know, it's probably just me, but it would be nice

I would recommend fellow newbies to get a copy of "Parachuting The Skydiver's Handbook" (Dan Pynter& Mike Turoff) or a similar reference. I had read it twice from cover to cover before AFF1 (not that it prevented me from kicking, freezing and not deploying, mind you). It probably has more information than your JMs want you to know. Regarding quiting the sport, I would quote from page 178 Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

Not with some of the openings I had you can't. Believe me, being heavy does not mix well with underloaded Mantas and rental harnesses. Boy, I could hardly walk after a 7 jump weekend! Heck, the other weekend the rental Laser ate up 1000 ft to deploy fully and I was happy the snatch force didn't make me see stars! (the DZ operator was not as happy and didn't let me use that particular rig again :( How about this one: * Doing RW for 60 seconds may actually be a lot. * You are not supposed to deploy low to make it last longer. * You are not expected to be happy about having to wait untill the altitude is right to jump. * It's not embarassing to fart while skydiving (but it is nasty when somebody does it in the C182 with the door closed, I give you that). * You don't have to worry about skydivers lying about their age. * Breaking off is not awkward but mandatory, expected and natural. * You don't have to wear clean underwear to jump with someone for the first time. * EVERYONE LOOKS COOL IN FREEFALL Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

OUCH! Man, that's horrible! I really hope you can get the blood of your rig. Oh, the whole nipple thing must have been nasty too, I guess. Still shedding whuffo-ness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages at: http://xybe.50megs.com

Lemmesee, riding crop, paddles,TENS unit, (where is my damn bullwhip?), velvet cuffs, leather cuffs, canes, first-aid kit, violet wand... here it is, what were you looking for, the signal whip or the snake? Just don't get any blood in it, I just hate that! Now, If I could only find my prosthetic fangs, that would make a cool skydiving pic. El Master XYBE (hang me from the trainer harness and call me whuffo) Edited by xybe on 7/24/01 12:49 PM.

Thanks a lot, guys! Still shedding whuffoness Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages at: http://xybe.50megs.com

Man, if you ever come to Uruguay you have a place to stay! Sure you don't wanna come to the boogie August 25? the location is on a district that oddly enough is called Salto (jump) Thanks HH Marcelo Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages at: http://xybe.50megs.com

Once over many a beer among friends we came up with the resort-factor to explain some SCUBA accidents. Alcohol policies seem to be firmly enforced in DZs, on the other hand I'v seen scuba divers party (and drink) hard the night before a dive. The whole vacation mindset makes some people forget that SCUBA is not just another thing to do on vacation but a potentially dangerous activity. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for SCUBA diving, I just get the feeling that some people don't take the inherent risks of the activity seriously. When you go skydiving you are focused on your jumps, the DZ offers little else for jumpers. Compare that to some vacation packages that include SCUBA diving, the ones you can find at travel agencies worldwide: they drop scuba diving as an extra activity among partying, casual sex (ok, maybe this one is not a valid point), etc. Consider the case of Cozumel in Mexico, it has great parties and great diving sites but also some very dangerous dives (like Barracuda reef) that should not be done when not focused, when dehydrated (hung over) or when alcohol and other drugs are still present in the bloodstream. It's a shame that a minority of careless SCUBA divers take unnecessary risks and end up dead or paying a visit to the decompression chamber. It seems that skydivers are more aware of the potential dangers. By the way, how many of you guys are into SCUBA? I quit a couple of years ago with only some odd 100 dives in my logbook (Uruguay is a lousy place for SCUBA). Marcelo Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages at: http://xybe.50megs.com

The psychological factor here is very important. People don't ask "why would you jump out of a perfectly good boat". It's easy for the general (whuffo) public to imagine awful skydiving accidents, regardless of how probable this accident may be it conjurs very strong images and feelings. One of the hardest things about speaking about skydiving safety with whuffos is that their fears will not be dispelled with statistics or rational arguments, people have said to me "I don't care about statistics, it IS dangerous." It is very hard to change the people's perception when they refuse to accept proofs against their argument. Images are far more powerful than statistics. The images people create in their minds after a sensationalist skydiving incident report will make an emotional impact that very hard to argue against using rational arguments (ie. statistics). Scuba divers can relate this to the way outsiders fear sharks, not based on statistics but on a myth created in godd part by the media. Flying is very unnatural to us while swimming is perfectly acceptable. A human being in the water is only percieved as being in a friendly environment. Humans have been diving for millenia. Flying is seen as unnatural (think of the Icarus myth -not the caonpies :) - ) Regarding the media, skydiving accidents are by far more spectacular than scuba diving accidents. Decompression ilness is hard to understand by outsiders, and drowning is just drowning wether you are 180 ft below the surface or in your tub. WhileI would not say that skydivers in general relish danger there probably is a strong "danger management" factor that we find satisfying. Some time ago in this site there was a posting to a forum quoting a rigger saying something in the lines of "When you are out of that airplane you are dead, it is up to you to revert that situation." Skydiving builds up my self esteem: I have to check my equipment, exit safely and manage to pull stable and at altitude. It is up to me to be responsible, otherwise the consequences could be nasty. I never felt this way about scuba diving, safety was an obiously necessary thing but it did not bring the same satisfaction. This are just observations and gut feelings, not scholarly findings :), feel free to find holes in my arguments and point them out. Marcelo Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages at: http://xybe.50megs.com