Zennie

In this year's Spaceland year end video there's a clip of one of our local swoopers hitting the wake of another jumper who had just landed. He was surfing about 3-4 feet off the ground prolly doing about 20-30 MPH (maybe faster, hard to tell). All of a sudden the nose of his canopy dives down and almost instantaneously straightens back up with a big *crack*. It all happened in about a half a second. It dropped him about 3 feet or so. So now he's sliding on his feet with his knees half bent. But, in keeping with your point, he kept flying it and somehow managed to get out of it standing up. All of us watching that video went AAAAAGGGHHH!!!! In sort of a similar vein. I fly an airlocked canopy, and on particularly windy days I have to be really disciplined about not letting up on my toggles even after I've come to a complete stop. A couple of times I stopped, let up, my canopy reinflated, picked me up about 3 feet, I flared again and it put me back down. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

If you only knew the power of the Dark Side! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Trade it in for a VW van. I swear those things will run on duct tape, panty-hose & popsicle sticks. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I know. I'm pretty damn lucky. But summer's coming so I'm sure y'all will start posting similar numbers before long.

2:7:0 Didn't I have this last week? I must be in a rut or something. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I enjoyed myself when I was out there. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I got it! Just fill a swoop pond with a bunch of lime jello! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

The closing pin is handy for prying them loose as well. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I see your two, and raise you two more words, "reserve repack". "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Rubber bands are designed to break. Tube stows are not. It would be interesing to do a stress test and see how many pounds of force it takes to break a tube stow as opposed to a military grade rubber band. In the meantime, I'm sticking with rubber bands. They're not that difficult to replace. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

A much higher level. The words "bag lock" come to mind. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Do tube stows break? (This is a loaded question ) "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Kevlar breastplate? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

You got in with the right crew. Paula & Mikey are great. There are a lot of folks like them as well. There ought to be a course in post-jump debriefing or something, because there really is a right & wrong way to go about it. The trick, when things don't go right, is to try to figure out what went wrong and offer suggestings for improvement without making the person feel bad. I always bring this up in the context, but I think it illustrates what good critiquing is about. There was a golf coach named Harvey Penick who would never use the word "don't". He did this for two reasons. First, when you say "don't do this" it makes the person focus on the very thing you don't want them to do. Second, "don't" connotes a negative and can produce a negative frame of mind. So he always tried to phrase things in terms of a positive... "OK. I see what you're trying to do there, but now let's try doing this." The other thing that's important in a debrief is to point out what the person did well as well. Even on the worst dives everyone did something right. If you just focus on the negatives, that leads to frustration and resentment. Talk about what went right and figure out what we can do to improve. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

The list was just for muscle cars. Cars like the F1 are on an entirely different planet. Cars like that are cool & all, but I'd be terrified to take it out onto the street. Especially considering Houston traffic. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Ah, a man with good taste! Before they unveiled the Z8, my dream car was a Dodge Viper GTS. The 427 Cobra was a good choice as well. That or a pristine 1970 426 Hemi-Cuda. The ultimate American Muscle Cars. And as an FYI here are the fastest muscle cars every built. **DROOL** "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Amen sistah!

No, but I've got some Librax. Good stuff. Takes the edge off without whacking you out. Better living through chemistry. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Fuck, that's a lot of fucks. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Can I have your freefly suit? Just kidding! Seriously, don't get frustrated, you know you have at least one person to jump with (me) whenever you make it out.

Black & white. 'Course I haven't ordered a personal rig or canopy yet, but when I do they'll follow the color scheme. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I honestly don't understand this statement, especially with respect to the Mirage. With a couple of subtle differences, the Mirage and Vector 3 look almost identical. If anything, I always thought the Mirage looked a little more "square-ish" and the Vector had more rounded lines. As far as Javelins go. No thanks. I've seen way too many main pin and should harness covers flapping in the wind. Nope. Gimme a Vector. It'll only open when I tell it to. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yeee Haw! Two Otters! Just when I thought I couldn't be more spoiled.

Beyond the entanglement stuff, I'd think the tether would interfere with the flight of the spaceball. The tether is going to encounter drag, and it's going to have to pull on something. Since the spaceball is lighter than the jumper, it's going to get pulled. Exactly how that would play out I have no idea. Better idea is to find someone with an AD who can ballmaster for you (over an uninhabited area). "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh I'm still into coding. Always will be. What I meant was when I was strictly coding I really didn't have an appreciation for all the crap a sysad has to deal with. Now I do. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."