MarkM

If anyone else is having slow download issues, try http://www.tarsis.org/111_Puerto_Rico_2006.wmv

I'm in. Will be driving up the 6th and crash out there the entire weekend. I'm hoping to have my camera helmet for the weekend so I can take a lot of out of frame noob video.

Also ask your instructors how to react in both situations. I've seen many students land very hard because they flared early and released the flare too quickly, causing them to dive forward and hit the ground. Your instructors will know the canopies you're flying and can give you specifics on how to handle them properly in these situations(flaring too high or too low).

The designs haven't just been recycled over the past 4 years. The prodigy is an amazing suit that lowers the barrier to entry into the sport. The PHI had in it a lot of new design ideas and even if they didn't take off, they were attempted.

Issues: 1> Having to deal with smaller canopies due to smaller weights(a 105lb girl can't jump a 1.0 WL for quite a while off of student status). 2> Being lighter in FF and dealing with those issues(I'm a 150lb guy and have had issues keeping up with people in freeflying). 3> Dealing with the bullshit associated with being a woman in a male dominated sport.

Yeah, I noticed that's gone from their online catalog as well.

March to April is when Florida is the nicest. DZ-wize, anything around Orlando. If you have transportation and a little time you could hit them all.

This is exactly why we need a men's forum for serious relationship discussions without sexist one liners from women!

Coolest > hottest any day of the week.

Why do you have to decide everything now? Just go with the flow, try another few dates and see where it goes. Don't worry if she likes you or not. That's her thing to figure out. Use some more dates to figure out if you like her. More importantly, if she's the type of person that's good for you. Sounds like she might not be. I wouldn't expect her to pay you a lot of attention(she's busy after all) and it seems like you might need a girl that can. But only you know that for sure.

Hmm, 1.5-2k for your AFF. Take the prices you see on the websites and figure on having to repeat 1-3 levels. Some places might require coaching to get your license while others will not. Really, training prices can vary a lot from DZ to DZ. And 3k should be able to get you a decent used rig with a Cypres.

And that's the key with skydiving, eliminating the unknown so you can deal with any problem you run into. Probably 98% of the accidents in skydiving have happened to other people, are pretty well known issues, and should be part of your training whenever you enter an aspect of the sport that exposes you to the same risks. Learn about what can go wrong, plan out what you'll do in the same situation and train for it. You can still do something wrong and die, everyone makes mistakes no matter how good they are, but planing and training will help you react correctly in a bad situation.

What, c'mon. I thought the Z stood for Zoo-Flock We can still funnel the exits though, right Scott??

You jumped, you lived, you were heads up about not putting other people in danger. What else should you be expecting from yourself as a noob? Get up with a coach or someone at the DZ that'll shoot video.

When it's a wingsuit dive and the clouds are at 3k, it's becomes a very interesting dive indeed... even more so when it's the first jump you've ever done at the DZ

Wake up in your tent, lounge around a bit watching the morning dew roll down the sides of the outside frabic, maybe listen to the wind against the canvas and hope not to hear the high pitch whine of the turbines which means you're missing load one. Roll out, hit the showers, run, not walk to manifest and rush rush rush to make the first load. Jump your ass off like it's you're last day alive and that it may be the last time you're jumping with the people around you. Sunset has passed, gather around the fire, sip the booze, find the food, enjoy the company of some of the most enjoyable people around. Hook up, go back to your tent, play til you're spent, drift off feeling cozy next to a warm body and drousy from the alcohol while the temp outside drops from the night's chill. Wake up, repeat, and call it a nice way to spend your free time.

I'm Robin. Guess that means I'm hero support.

If you're jumping at Raeford, talk to Chuck or Scott. Between the two of them you should be able to learn anything you want to know about the different wingsuits. And you'll likely be able to demo various ones.

Any jumper should be able to expect a fair amount of "personal space" around which they can expect to not have other skydivers from other exit groups next to them. There's no reason for a wingsuit to be in that space without prior consent of the jumper. It's just rude, no matter how much control the wingsuit has in the situation. But at the same time, deployed jumpers don't own the entire sky and it's not unreasonable to see a wingsuit flying past you from a safe distance.

You have a 2.0 loaded canopy. If you get out last and deploy at 6k, you're going to be flying past some other people's canopies when you head home. There's nothing unsafe about it and as long as you're not swooping the tandems at 3k no one is going to think twice about you sinking down past them in a spin a hundred yards away. Wingsuits also have to turn in and fly home at some point if they're going to land at the DZ, just like you would under a canopy. Flying home like that can present to you some traffic, canopies that have been in the sky for about a minute before you get near them. These canopies are obvious to see and easy to avoid, just like they are to you when you're under your pocket rocket. Every skydiver uses a canopy. So when they see a canopy pass them while they're under canopy or have one swoop them while they're on the ground, they understand the context of it. The problem wingsuiters have is that people don't understand them. So you can easily freak people out who think that being in a wingsuit = freefall.

Generally 50-100 yards is my comfort zone. Far enough away that there's no way they can turn into me. I'm also not going to be buzzing anyone below 3k as I don't want to open near where they're flying. Maybe that would be classified as a "flyby" instead of a "buzz" though. I don't know.

I know a DZ like that, but it's just a very ultra-conservative place. But I think a lot of non-wingsuit jumpers really don't understand how much flying control you have in a wingsuit. They get very paranoid about you being anywhere near their airspace, the same as they would if someone was doing a normal skydive right on top of them. I'd imagine that if you buzzed or do a flyby on one of them, you could easily cause grief for other wingsuiters at your DZ.

Common? I dunno. I do it when the opportunity is there and know that the person I'm gonna buzz won't freak out about it.

Haha. Have some more Patron dude. Skygoods? Is that like hot chicks? Maybe I am in the wrong discipline then.

Homestead was 22 last time I was down there. Think Lake Wales is 21.