Zennie

Seems like Bossman and the bytch (j/k Lisa ) are having to use that lock button an awful lot lately. And it seems like the same folks a lot of the time -- no names being mentioned. This keeps up and we're going to have to issue Thread Lock Numbers. C'mon gang, let's not turn this into another wreck, let's all try and play nice. Hugs & wet sloppy kisses! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yeah I know there's freestyle, but that's usually solo stuff. I was more intrigued with the moves done with a partner. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'm not aware of any formal rules for flying camera. Most of the D/200 jump criteria you see are for safety purposes. In any event, the jumper had like 400-odd jumps when he hooked in. I honestly don't see this incident as being even remotely the DZ's fault. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

As sort of a correllary post to my "Ski Jumping & Skydiving" post, I'm finding myself watching the figure skating competitions... especially the ice dancing, with greater interest. My wife does a lot of Salsa & Swing and when she's watching her dance videos, I find myself sitting down and analyzing it. I'm not really big into dancing at all, but it intrigues me from a freefly perspective. I've seen the ice and "regular" dancers do some interesting stuff that might be applied in the freefly context. Of course I need to get good enough to maintain proximity in every orientation first, but it's still food for thought. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

So I'm sitting around watching the Olympics when ski jumping comes on. I'm watching these guys sail down and it occurred to me that a skydiver or BASE jumper would probably make a pretty good ski jumper. Most of these guys had sort of a track going, but nothing like a hard RW flat track. Seems to me you take someone who can really track well and he'd kick butt. BASE jumpers might be even better suited because they have to track hard at subterminal speeds. That and landings... You get someone who knows how to swoop... who has the discipline to fly a canopy until it abosolutely won't fly anymore and apply that to flying the track until you just can't track anymore, you'd get some serious distance. Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmm......" "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Ah you're just pissed 'cuz you had to wear those ugly, scratched up goggles that didn't fit. Ah we the problem children of that load. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Can I have your freefly suit? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'll byte. I'm sure others can come up with others but here goes... * Landing obstacles (power lines, buildings, trees, etc). * Things which may cause turbulence/rotors (buildings, trees, etc.). * Prevailing winds and how that impacts the landing pattern (especially taking into account the influence of rotor-producing structures). * Spots people pick to land... do the swoopers land in a different place than the regulars? What pattern do they use to set up the landings? * Overhead photos so I can get a sense for outs. I'll generally ask people for landing input as well. My $0.02 "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

A few things that I've noticed that impact my energey level... 1. Exercise. When I'm not exercising I feel mentally & physically sluggish. 2. Take vitamins. 3. Eat some protein. I used to be a pretty strict vegetarian. Then a doctor friend told me how he hates operating on vegetarians because their muscles tear so easily when putting in sutures. So I added some fish every now and then to my diet. Guess what? My energy improved. The more I think about it the more convinced I am that humans are not built to be strict vegetarians. We are omnivores, like bears. Those fangs in your mouth are there for a reason. I still try to eat healthy, which is I think about 75% vegetarian and 25% animal protein (usually fish for me, but sometimes I'll help myself to fajitas ). So the basics are: eat a healthy balanced diet, get some exercise & maybe take supplemental vitamins. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Just this weekend I had a hawk cruise by me while I was under canopy (at about 2000' no less). As he went by all I could think "Man that's too cool. God I love this sport!" "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Hehehe.... Yeah that was a fun dive! The head down obviously needs lots of work. Let's do it again! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

OOOoooo!!! OOOOoooo!!! Here would be a good one! Biggest spread between fastest & slowest! Max: 225 head down. Min: 99 tracking dive. Diff: 126 MPH. I use SAS in my ProTrack BTW. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'd have to go back & look but I think my tracking dive was in the 90MPH-ish average range too. I'll have to do one for a solo one of these times and just see what kind of number I come up with. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh, and count me in on the farewell party!

Gee Dave, thanks for wrecking the page formatting on that. A CRW forum would be good, but only if Catfish moderates it. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yeah I need to do this as well. Who needs a Mr. Bill when you can jump a cutaway rig? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

1:6:0 Well, I did finally get to jump with AirAnn & Levin, but if first jumps with a person were beer-able, I'd need to buy a brewery. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Amen. I'm going to miss Scotty & Tammi tremendously. But I wish them nothing but the best down in Florida. Might be yet another reason to take a trek down to Naples to visit my folks on occasion. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

If it's bashing for bashing's sake I would agree. However, Hook has raised some very serious safety concerns. I'm trying really hard to stay out of this, because I consider Derek and Mike and many other people at Spaceland to be good friends. At the same time I can't in good conscience just stick my head in the sand either. If somebody is hurt or dies because of safety issues that nobody dared speak out about, I don't think I could live with myself. I would really like to hear SSL's side of things. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

No that was Skydive San Marcos. The accident being referred to is one about a week-and-a-half ago where a jumper executed a 180 front riser hook somehere in the 100-foot vicinity and hitthe ground in double-front risers. He was hurt very badly and is still in critical condition. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Brakes stay stowed on a side-by-side as well correct? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with the barbeque joint he runs next door? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh sure, me as well. For example... You're all a bunch of bastards and I hate each and every last one of you. j/k "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Mikey Hawkes is pretty notorious for unabashedly running a tandem factory and treating skydivers like crap. Just run a search on Skydive Las Vegas on rec.skydiving sometime and see what you get. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I just wanted to discuss Dave's feelings regarding attitudes in RW vs. FF jumpers. God do I sound like a therapy group moderator or what? I sort of felt the same way a little while back. Since I've sort of done both, and still do, I think I can speak on it in a relatively informed manner. Bottom line is you're gonna have Skygods no matter what discipline you choose. You're also going to have really nice people no matter what discipline you choose. I know some freefliers who have total Skygod attitudes (and really don't have the talent to back it up). Fortunately most are not. Same goes for RW. My way of dealing with it is just not to jump with those types. And I guess that's another reason I like freefly. If I don't have someone to jump with, fine by me, I'll do a solo skills dive. It's a little harder to do an RW solo jump. But in the last few weekends I had some great belly jumps. Mikey & Paula & I did a really fun 3-way skills dive. And I did a couple hoop dives last weekend. We even formed a 7-way on the other side of the hoop on one (yes I made it through the hoop and into the star ). It's really dangerous to over generalize any group of people. Because, as usual, a few bad examples don't represent the majority. I just try to be one of the good examples and avoid the bad ones. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."