gravitysucks

Take a joke? I can take a joke man. I can't believe you would say that in light of the posts regarding your original statement. Show some sensitivity. If I see you at the boogie make sure you introduce yourself so I can make sure my wife doesn't get within 50 ft. of you.

I agree... well maybe not. If the ICE thing caught on it might be helpful. Imagine being able to get a brief medical history from a family member, and letting them know that something happened to their loved one and what hospital they will be at. Plus we already go through people's stuff to get their name, address, SSN, etc.... And hopefully you look for any Medic-Alert bracelets. I think that things like this help us do a better job and give people a stronger sense of security and confidence in the health care system. PS - I never let the cops have any information until I'M done with it. Damn those nosy cops.

Helen, welcome to the sport! Just kidding. I'm not THAT dumb. Honestly, I remember just how it feels- like you were BORN to skydive!!! Get in a class ASAP!

Great show guys!!!

Dont do it again! Two reasons come to mind: 1. The effects of drugs can be potentiated at higher altitudes. You may be okay with Sudafed, but personally speaking it makes me woozy and lightheaded on the ground and I refuse to take it no matter how sick I get. Coincidentally it is a key ingredient in many meth recipes. Cough supressant is also a bad idea. Many have hallucenogenic properties. If any drug says something like "don't operate machinery" etc... why would skydiving be any different? 2. Even if you tough it out and try to go with no meds, you are still at risk. You are already having trouble breathing so why go to altitude? Any upper respiratory symptoms and you risk blowing out an eardrum which puts you out of jumping until it heals plus fun antibiotic drops to take. Bottom line- not worth it. Stay at home and get better.

Jumped here on an off day, so not much going on. Very streamlined manifesting and helpful staff. Did get bumped for tandems and waited around quite a while even though it was middle of a weekday. Still, nice view, nice staff, nice planes makes up for it. More of a student/tandem DZ at least by the feel I got. One jumper told me they took the couches out of the hangars to keep people from just sitting around. I also have a friend who had a bad experience here, but thats another story...

Is it? I don't believe so, at least not directly. Religion, any religion, seeks to find the truth. Most of us would agree that there is such a thing as truth. So one could say that it is not relgion which causes our problems, but the discovery that what we desire to be the truth may not in fact be the case. Then we get problems by trying to make the supposed truths of our religions agree with what we hold to be the truths our lives This is where our personal prejudices, desires, and inherent selfishness clash and result in a disortion and perversion of religion. I know there are things which my religion teaches to be truth which I tend to ignor esimply because they do not jive with my lifestyle. And of course, simply thinking of claiming to know truth does not mean that one does. I believe there are very few people in the Earth who succeed in coming close to finding absolute truth, usually monastics who shut out all other parts of life in their quest. Anyways, just my two cents. A little vague and philosophical but hopefully coherent and relevant.

Yup, but they did it without thumbs, which made writing very difficult. There is a theory I just made up which explains that dinosaurs used a tonal language similar to very bad haiku, which - in a Jeff Goldblum inspired moment of chaos theory - led to both their extinction and the proliferation of really crappy english haiku in the late 1990s AD. You see, as humans evolve and gain greater refinement your genetics take a step back to your lizard cerebellum - and crappy haiku is released. Thats a great theory, man. One night a few months ago we all got totally blitzed and started calling corporate customer service lines (pretty much any 800 number we could find.) If we got somebody we would give them an impromptu haiku about our appreciation of the product, or ask to be forwarded to the voice mail of their marketing VP. It was absolutely ridiculous. Proof positive that our state of inebriation caused us to regress to our primitive reptilian cerebellar thought patterns. In other news, I just wrote my own calendar. It gives me a three day work week so I can spend more time at the DZ. I'm placing the International Date Line on a longitudinal axis with my driveway, so I can actually have a two day work week, depending which side of the driveway I decide to call in sick from.

I recently bought a canopy (PD-190, F-111, 9-cell) and it came with a collapsible pilot chute. It is the smaller kind (27"? I'm not at home to pull it out and check) and is on a shorter bridle (7 or 8 ft.). I have read that most manufacturers reccomend F-111 for collapsible PCs, but also noticed that they were hard to find on most dealers websites. My question is, am I putting myself at risk and if so is it significant enough to justify getting an F-111 PC and a longer bridle? The only difference I've noticed is that deployment seems to last a little longer than I was used to on my other rig.

Oh yeah, and I hope I don't see the "haunted tube"

Dude- I'm there. I keep watching the minutes and seconds count down....

I see it too man! Look at his finger in the close up... it's like he's unknowingly reaching out to it FREAKY! AHHHHH! This is my thirteenth post on the dropzone.com forums!!!! AHHHH!

Mostly I miss Agent Scully..... Now I have to get my weird alien supernatural freak out fix from listening to late night AM radio on road trips.

I started wearing a wrist mount and using a pro-dytter at about jump #20 in addition to the chest mount. About jump #30 I stopped using the chest mount because I noticed that during approach I was spending way too much time looking at it. Now I just glance up at my wrist to verify my altitude and it has helped me greatly. Still nice though to have the chest mount if tracking or otherwise engaged in using your left hand.

I agree with you but then again why does just being 18 make you accountable? Thats just a number society has arbitrarily determined to be the age at which we become adults. We all know people two or three times that age that don't take accountability for their actions (or people that never do). Besides, with regards to "illicit" drugs, the age of majority is essentially meaningless. Oh. I forgot caffeine. In a recent lecture I attended about addiction I was told that if we knew then what we know now about caffeine, it would be an illegal drug. It is more widely abused than any other drug in our country. My wife and I spend over a hundred bucks a month on coffee. Damn.......

Exactly. Our culture makes laws for various reasons, mostly designed to protect us but also partially intended to define for us what is "right" and what is "wrong." Sometimes the laws prevent us from doing (legally) things that we perceive as being "right" because culture disagrees and labels them "wrong". For example, I was talking to a skydiver from the UK. Over there if you get busted for drinking and driving, they take your car on the spot, take your license, and its straight to jail, hearing the next day and very strict punishment. Other countries are much the same. But in the US we are far more tolerable of drinking than of other drug use because most of us don't see drinking as inherently "wrong". In my four years as a paramedic I have never seen anybody harmed or injured as a result of marijuana use, but you can't hardly go a day without finding a drunk driving accident, or an alcoholic spouse abuser. If I got a DUI, I might get a slap on the wrist, my driving priveleges may be suspended for a few months, and if I worked a desk job then probably nothing at all would happen to me at work. But if my employer, as many do, gave me a random drug test and I failed it, I would be out the door, no excuses. We have assigned a ranking of drugs from bad to worse, for example tobacco

I am correctable to 20/20 in my L eye but due to a condition known as amblyopia the vision in my R eye can only be corrected to 20/60. Basically enought to see the big E, but the brain doesn't interpret the signals coming from that eye so its just like having 1 eye. Sucks when waitresses approach from that side and scare the bejeebers out of me. Anyways, I know that isn't much compared to some of the other posts of people who have total vision loss, but thought I'd give my two cents. I had a hell of a hard time learning to flare because of a lack of decent depth perception. From other jumpers I talk to, I get the feeling that I have a more powerful sensation of ground rush than people who see well and have good depth perception. So I try to look out ahead of me sooner and try to judge my flare in reference to other objects in the area. My biggest worry is losing the contact in my L eye. I know I could find my way back by looking for the runways and get myself into a clear area, but it would be big PLF time come landing. Anyways, just my story. HUGE props to the guys and gals who are able to keep jumping and have overcome some huge obstacles to do so.

Tennis players have fuzzy balls!

Very cool place. Even the people at the gas station in town knew how to find the "dropped zone." Had a good time here and also bought a rig from the Sunshine Factory.

Has the King Air, which made me extremely envious. The photos on the wall when you walk in say it all: altitude and great views. Friendly and laid back staff and some cool regular jumpers.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Felt like everybody there was friends and we were welcomed with open arms. Cool vibe, good location. You could jump at bigger DZs with nicer planes within 30-45 minutes, but if you enjoy the charm and camaradarie of a smaller DZ check out this place.

Hands down was my favorite of the Florida DZs I visited. Their super otter was great, everybody was friendly, and we had no shortage of people offering to help us out and get us oriented to the DZ. The best staff I met at a DZ. They are still rebuilding from the hurricane, so be patient, but they offer all the same services and do so with pride and excellence. Huge landing area too.

I had a revelation last night. I was thinking back to when my rig came in the mail and i was wearing it around the house like a kid on Christmas with a new bike and a foot of snow outside. And I realized, hey- this thing HAS saved my life every time I asked it to. And that made me happy. Anyways, I'm jumping tomorrow night and I'll try to get somebody else to jump it and to get some educated spectators to watch my approaches, then I'll advise again.

Wow- lots to cover. Ok previous experience- I had 5 or 6 jumps on the Fury 220 which is F-111 7 cell and had good landings. Before that I had about 20 jumps on several different Wizard 275 7 cell canopies, also F-111, and had good landings (at least on the last dozen). I talked to my rigger and he said I was coming in starting my flare too high, holding quarter brakes too long and then taking it to full flare too late in the landing. I think some of it may be psychological because I experienced stalls when doing practice flares up high and I'm nervous about stalling my canopy 10 feet off the ground. As far as trim issues I let up on the toggles and there didn't appear to be any shortening of the lines. As far as canopy age, the DOM is 1996. The guy I bought it from was a whuffo who had never jumped it so I couldn't get an accurate history. My rigger and the people at the DZ who looked at it said I got a smokin deal so I'm glad about that. I don't know how many jumps on the canopy but it doesn't look too bad. Impossible to know exactly, really. Thanks for the advice thus far. I will try to get somebody at the DZ to jump the rig to get their take on it. Also one thought I had is that I can't really afford to buy a ZP main when I might only be putting 50 jumps on it before downsizing. Being the tightwad I am, I would like to hold on to this rig-IF the problem is with me and not my equipment.

After coming off student status I was thrilled to get a good deal on a rig of my own and start jumping it. I have four jumps now own my PD230 9-cell and I have yet to enjoy it. The thing seems to be affected by the slightest bit of turbulence and I was even getting kicked around yesterday when the winds were only 2-3 mph. I have no idea how to flare the thing and have had hard landings each time. Its responsive to toggle input but it seems to stall quickly if I go too deep and that has me freaked out a little on my landings. I've been practicing with it up high and still can't get the hang of it. The worst part is, now I have myself psyched out about jumping this rig and I can't stop thinking about it. I weigh 200 with gear and was previously jumping a Fury220 with stand up landings no problem. Now I'm glad I didn't go for something smaller like a 190. One instructor I trust told me that something like a 190 might give me better landings since it would be higher wing loaded and that the increase in speed would give me better flares on landing. SO my question is, should I stick it out with this canopy or ditch it now?