Zennie

Welp, since I couldn't skydive today, I did my second-favorite pastime.... geeking out with high-tech toys. I went out & bought one of the Visiontek GeForce3 3D cards and put it through its paces with Max Payne. All I gotta say is Holy Fuckin' Shit!!!! Why didn't I get one of these bad boys sooner? Yeah sure I coulda spent that money on jumps, but it's money well spent for great rainy-day activities! Plus Carmack's writing Doom 3 against the GeForce 3 so I'm all set! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Oh, FYI, I was the man on the grassy knoll. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Our DZO is also a damn good jump pilot who uses GPS and we've still had occasion where we had a baaad spot. GPS is not a cure-all. Well I'm glad you agree with me on that part of the problem. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Our DZ is primarily a Javelin DZ although Vectors are slowly making headway (me being one of the Vector people). Our DZ also has a pretty hefty share of freefliers who jump Javelins. ramon might have a better insight on this since he knows all the freefliers at our DZ. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Figures. I have a really bad habit of doing this kind of thing. I'll leave cuz the weather look like it's going to shit and then hear the following weekend "Hey Ted, you shoulda stayed. Right after you left it cleared up & was beautiful the rest of the day!" -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

OMG! I about spewed my drink through my nose reading that! Yeah, like I mentioned in the fred thread (snicker) I had a problem with the hips as well. Just let your hips sort of sink into it. Relax enough and you can have an arch just like Vikings! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Funny you mention this cuz I was thinking the same thing. Of course this being an extended boogie, check out the extended forecast. Absolutely amazing. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Couple random thoughts just to supplement what has already been said. Definitely relaxation is the key. I spent some time in the wind tunnel when I was a student and it turned out that my arms and legs were fine but I wasn't relaxing my hips. The problem with freefall (actually skydiving in general) is that it's sort of like riding a bike. You'll struggle & struggle and then one day "ping!". It just clicks. I had one of those moments last weekend after struggling with head-down for weeks. You may be focusing too much of "relax this" or "relax that". That implies tension. Naturally do whatever your teacher tells you, and this may sound weird, but you may want to try focusing on something other than "relaxing". In particular, try to place your attention on doing the tasks at hand. If that doesn't help maybe try focusing on your breathing a little. But whatever you do, don't lose altitude awareness. So you could even focus on your alti. I know... easier said than done. But maybe if you get your mind off "relaxing" you naturally relax. If you live anywahere near a vertical wind tunnel (i.e. Orlando, Pigeon Forge, or Vegas) I highly recommend it. Also, I know you're doing static line, but maybe you can look into transferring into an AFF or AFP program? You'll have people jumping with you and they may be able to do a little "hands on" help. Just some ideas. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Since we're kicking this around for discussion, here's my take.... If you're talking about 1 jumper and one airplane, yeah I'd say the odds are remote. But multiple jumpers and one aircraft? Especially some of the big ways we do at our DZ? I dunno. Plus we seem to get some bozo who wants to circle/buzz our DZ at least once or twice a weekend. Now add to that everyone converging toward the same area under canopy. In any event, my concern with clouds has more to do with colliding with other jumpers than aircraft. If we started allowing cloud-busting wholesale I think you'd start seeing a lot more freefall/canopy collisions. I think you'd also probably see more injuries from people screwing up when the have to land out. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

What kind (i.e. make/model) of container is it? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Welp, Bridge Day is Oct. 20 this year and I'm not gonna make it. I'm working on getting Liz warmed up to the idea and my goal is to do it next year. My scheme is to try to lure the entire family out to watch me plummet to my dea... jump the bridge. So anyhoo, since I have at least a year to fantasize about this, who of you are going this year and who of you have done it before? Is it worth the trip, especially for a first time BASE jumper? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I'd write something but the problem is that I'm actually a pretty boring guy. I jumps, I packs, I jumps again. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

This is great! Makes it much more intimate. Keep 'em coming Viking!

LOL! Nice spelling there cyber! If that ain't drunk typing I ain't seen it. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

This is sort of off-topic but I'll bring it up anyway.... You see lots of freefliers strapping on cameras to film/critique but I don't see RW jumpers doing likewise. I wouldn't think there would be a big issue with having a PC100 side-mounted to your helmet for RW, but maybe I'm missing something. About the only reason I can think of is that RW jumpers tend to break/pull lower so there's less time to deal with an entanglement. Thoughts? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Happy b-day! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I've had days like that. With me I'm either bored to tears and wind up surfing most of the day or busy as hell trying to make a deadline. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. Last month or so has been the latter, but it's starting to slow down again as we have basically delivered our software. Now I sit back during testing to see if my software has any bugs (which usually amount to 5 minute fixes). That means prolly more surfage... -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I used to like going through cl... industrial haze... until I realized something. You can't see above or below, which means you don't know if you're heading for someone dumping below you or dumping into someone above you. But even if you're under canopy in a clo...industrial haze... then you have to worry about colliding with someone else under canopy because it's impossible to see someone else until they're right on top of you. Now I try to avoid 'em and front riser the heck out if I'm under canopy in one. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

I'm kinda liking Board Slut. Has a nice ring to it. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

You lucky bastard. Can't wait to hear the details! -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yes your ass is very cute. Oh wait, you meant the tat didn't you? Well that too. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Yeah since the DZ is sort of a community thing as it stands, everybody sort of looks out for everybody's kids. -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Hey iflyme I think you're suffering from ground poisoning. I get grouchy when I come down with that too. But yeah, I tend to put a fair amount of credence in what I've heard about Mikey Hawkes since several of my accounts are first-hand. That and I have yet to hear from anyone what a wonderful guy he is (or operation he runs). Sure he could be, but the odds are pretty slim. Still this is a free country and all, so he does have a right to be a dickhead. But Karma's a bitch.... -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool

Hey Palm, I for one am gonna miss you. Make sure j00 stop in for chat from time 2 +i^^3!

So if you're in San Antonio which way do you face for your SCR? -------- Zennie "I know the pieces fit. 'Cause I watched them fall away..." --Tool