MarkM
-
Content
3,000 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never -
Feedback
0%
Everything posted by MarkM
-
Pre-ordered mine yesterday. Said it would ship Nov 2nd. I picked Fed Ex overnight and hope I'll have it in time for the Keys Boogie on the 5th.
-
FB is pretty much how I stay in touch with a lot of people. The only thing I dislike about the site is all the stupid polls and "what kind of flower am I" crap. But, say, if one of my friends from CO does a hike up a mountain and posts pics. Yeah, I want to see that shit.
-
The man/woman of your dreams who turns into a monster..
MarkM replied to Nataly's topic in The Bonfire
I tend to think it has a lot to do with this. When you love someone you excuse away a lot of their crap. At some point though, the crap just becomes too much to overlook so you have to break up with them for your own good. So then after the breakup, you pretty much just remember all the crap you had to put up with. It's not a bad thing. It reminds you why you broke up in the first place so you'll stay away and it may help you notice and avoid the same behavior in new people you meet. -
Shit. Did the Florida camp get Purple Mike? Can we trade him out to another camp? He keeps hitting on all the cute girls down here. How many people registered for Elisnore?
-
A "great beginner rig" usually isn't so great. It's basically a phrase that translates to say that the gear is worthless, except to a beginner. Nothing wrong with older gear, I mean, it's not like gear has changed much in the last 10 years. But you'd be much better off buying gear with a better resale.
-
Yeah, the through work policies don't seem to mind a skydiving habit. I have health, life, short term disability and long term disability all through work. The disability insurance is cheap(1 jump ticket a month?) and I think it's a great insurance for skydivers to have. It's pretty easy to get taken out for months at a time and if you get a permanent disability, long term disability will even re-train you for a career that works with your injury.
-
Any other birds planning on making this? I think Elisnore is the weekend after so I doubt a lot of those guys will be there, but it'd be nice to see some lazy, laid back, sloppy ass flocking going on.
-
A big and easily preventable mistake is not eating and hydrating enough. When the nerves kick in on the ride to the DZ for your first jump it's easy to not eat or drink much. But your body is going to need a lot of energy when you make that jump. Keep it fed and fueled.
-
Yeah, pretty much what the current line of skydiving helmets are good for. Nice for keeping your head from getting cut up on a bad exit from the plane. More scrape prevention than impact protection.
-
should i worry about getting my A license
MarkM replied to f1racer696's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
I'd get it, just because you'll need it for traveling so you might as well get it out of the way. -
Oh crap, I was supposed to be taking all the world record attempts posted here seriously?
-
There's no one seriously trying this. What would be interesting to see in a science article would be the mathmatics involved. Is it even theoretically possible to land a wingsuit in a non-gimmick fashion. I mean, does the human body have the frame for the aerodynamic surface area required for a repeatable safe landing.
-
Should I do a second jump? increasing confidence?
MarkM replied to Rhandolph's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
This is a red flag to me. I've only seen instructors tell things like this to people if they were concerned about the person's safety. Ex/ they thought how the person acted/responded was not conductive to being able to save their own lives. You need to honestly assess yourself and think how you would've reacted in a real life threatening situation up in the air. Being scared is fine, we're all scared, but you can't freeze up. If you're comfortable with being able to think and do EPs in a bad situation, then yeah, I'd go again. It's a great life experience. -
I'm also curious as to why not putting in a requirement doesn't open them up to a lawsuit. 160 jump guy slams into a tandem killing the tandem passenger. Family sues the USPA for not setting down some basic experience rules for wingsuit jumping. I mean, in that case the family's lawyers would have a long list of people going "Yes a dude with 160 jumps shouldn't be in a wingsuit. No I don't know why there isn't a rule against it." Hell, there'd be a 20 page thread in this forum saying as much before it got locked. All their lawyer would have to do is hit print and put it in front of the judge. A lot of our existing BSRs set thresholds. You may not jump with x distance of water without this license. No night jumps without that license. Container must be open by y altitude. None of them imply that if you meet the BSR requirements the activity is safe.
-
I don't think we're on different pages in our thoughts on it. It's just rather sad and I wish the USPA would step up. I don't mean to knock the syllabus either, I thought it was pretty good. Most of it seemed pretty common sense stuff and I can see the benefit of having it sort of standardized. Has there been any discussion on the requirements(or "suggestions" LOL) for the instructors themselves?
-
Our regulating body can't publish something that says "no 120 jump wonders under 2.0 canopy or flying a wingsuit". You don't see how that's a fail?
-
Wow. I've typed and deleted a bunch of other stuff several times because all my brain can really wrap my head around is the word "wow". USPA Fail.
-
I sent in some comments, what I suggested: 1> Drop the AAD requirement and make it recommended. 2> Same with the audible requirement. Don't require extra gear on a FFC if a skydiver hasn't been using it already. Neither of these items is a huge safety thing(as opposed to the student jumping his velo 90). 3> Don't even mention the chest mounted altimeters. Why were these even brought up? Most wingsuiters don't even use them. Don't complicate. 4> Drop the attachment section entirely and just state: follow the manufacturer guidelines This has changed a lot in 5 years. The next 5 years may see new designs and changes. 5> 200 jumps should not be "recommended", it should be required. There needs to be way more emphasis on demonstrated pre-skills. But otherwise I thought it was pretty decent.
-
These types of threads/conversations are hilarious. There usually seems to be an air of "Man, I'm such a stud/so hot I usually get tail/get pounded all the time, but it's been 3 DAYS since I got laid!!! How do normal people cope with that?"
-
Well, in that case, your money would probably be best spent on tunnel ratting. Tandems are a nice taste, but they're not going to help your progression much at all. But learn to kick ass in the tunnel and you'll kick ass in the sky. Flying your body in the tunnel is harder. PM me if you need coaches or contacts or just post in the tunnel forums for more info.
-
Nope, just a son of a mother and father, neither of which put down silly conditions on how/whether they'd support me. Rather shocking that's considered so far from the norm. Always thought they were both really amazing, feeling that even more after this thread.
-
Those are things that would negatively impact your company. But your boss can't tell you who to date just because he signs the check that pays your mortgage. It's none of his business. And I'm guessing if your boss came to you and said, "Wendy, I don't like that you skydive, I think it's too dangerous, and I'd rather you just do tandems instead because I think they're safer. And you know, it's my name on the bottom of the check, so...." I doubt you'd tolerate it. I'm not saying she should lie to her mom, I'm saying she should probably get herself out that situation. Her mother really has no business dictating this aspect of her life. It's one thing if it was a money issue "I don't want you to spend all this money on skydiving when I'm paying for school", but she doesn't have a problem with her spending money on the tunnel or wasting it on tandems.
-
It's an issue of control. This girl's mom is basically blackmailing her into acting a certain way or she'll stop paying part of the girl's college tuition. People will always try to control you like that in life. I personally don't care if people allow it to themselves, but all I'm saying is that life doesn't have to be like that. Yes, it's technically a "skydive". In no way is it anywhere close to being as rewarding as going through student status and jumping on your own and with others.
-
Ever just lose interest in jumping?
MarkM replied to hackish's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
So start to experiment with other things. I just took 6 months off to kayak every weekend. It's not like the planes and DZs are going anywhere. I've done time off several times in the sport. It's great to go out and do other things. Makes you really appreciate and enjoy the sport more when you come back to it. Plus, having a diverse life is great. Who wants to get locked into 1 hobby? -
It's fine your mom is worried about you, but it's your life and the people in your life have to understand to respect your wishes. People around you your entire life will try to live your life for you, will tell you what's best for you, etc. Up to you whether or not you want other people to tell you how to be or whether or not you choose your own path. Can choosing your own path have consequences? Definitely. No one here can tell you whether it's worth it or not though. edit: Oh, and I would choose to stop jumping if I only had the option for tandems. A tandem jump and a solo skydive don't even come close to each other. In one somebody else is in control. When you skydive on your own you're completely free. No gravity, no boundries, the sky is yours.