Zennie

One of whom was a Golden Knight & another who was Scotty Carbone.

What an absolutely fantastic day of skydiving I had yesterday! Got to the DZ early and planned to bust out as many jumps as I could. I was determined to not let anything get to me, just have fun. Started with a 7-way that got a couple of points -- not too bad for the day's first jump. The I got together with three other high-timers (one of whom was our own jumperpaula) to do some 4-way. First 4-way we do.... 14 points!!! Falcon/Double Falcon! YEAH!

I dunno, she might be a catch -- if it's a spoof site. Only someone with one hell of a good imagination & sense of humor (not to mention a lot of time on their hands) could do a spoof site like that. Or, she could be just be looking for someone with enough balls to write her after all that. If she's serious, I agree with hte others... Run away! Run away! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Good point. Because the eighth rule of skydiving is... Never Give Up. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Great story, great job! Glad things are taking a turn for the better! Welp, I can tell you they're not. A group of jumpers went through some raint today and after each one landed they were all going "Ow, Gawd that hurt!" They all had red necks & faces where the rain had pounded them. So avoid the pointy ends of the raindrops! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats Pammi! So what do you get at 1000? "Needs Rehab"? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Plus I like being able to hear my ProTrack. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I've liked my Z1 while freeflying with it (sit & head down), and I haven't had any problems. I'm just kind of new to freeflying so I wasn't sure. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Since I've been dabbling in freefly lately, a thought occurred to me. I have a Z1, which I love, but I've noticed that you don't see too many freefliers wearing a full face. Is it primarily for aesthethic reasons that they don't (i.e. so the can geek for each other and the camera) or are there aerodynamic issues? I really don't want to drop yet another $180 on a Bonehead, plus I can wear my glasses in my Z1. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

If I ever die doing this I want people to know two things: 1. Don't be too sad. I died doing what I love. 2. I expect all of you to learn from my mistake and keep on doing what you love. You only get one life. Make the most of it. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

My wife tolerates it, though we still get into the occasional argument about it. She seems to think that once we have kids my skydiving activities will cease (or be cut back dramatically) and I don't think they have to. Our arguments really aren't about safety anymore. When she realized that I kept coming home after a day at the DZ she stopped worrying. Now it's more about the time I spend at the DZ. I don't think one day out of the week is excessive. She does. That's where we generally have our spats. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Thanks for all your work HH. I was kind of thinking to myself that we were slowly becoming more wreck-like in the past couple of weeks. Sure we have our debates (in which I am usually a willing participant) but they have been civil and generally on some topic of consequence. Glad to see that you want to preserve the nice environment we have here. It's why I keep coming back. Keep up the good work HH! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm not surprised, but I am angered. It's not a matter of them reporting generalities, it's a matter of them reporting things that are flat-out wrong. And "well, we're just uninformed so give us a break" is not an excuse. The newsmedia wields incredible power to shape public opinion and perception. If they see fit to print a report that is going to be read by the general public then they owe it to that public to get the facts right. If they don't know the facts, then the responsible thing to do is not to print anything. It's OK to say "the cause of the accident is being investigated." But to print "her parachute failed to open" when they have absolutely no idea what happened is downright irresponsible. No wonder we have whuffos with reporting like that. Why do you think you're always asked "What if your parachute doesn't open?"? Perhaps because of the drivel they read in the newpapers or see on the nightly news broadcasts? And if they're that sloppy at reporting something which we're able to see as blatantly fallacious, how accurate can any of the other reporting be? Why should I believe anything that's reported? I don't want to be spoon fed generalities and editorial comments. I want, and expect, facts. OK. Enough of my "accuracy in reporting" rant for this thread. Blue skies forever Alison. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

No I meant incident reports. I mean. What's the point? According to our omnipotent newsmedia with their exhaustively-researched reports, all parachuting fatalities are a simple matter of "his parachute failed to open." Nothing to learn. Nothing to analyze. It's quite easy. So why have incident reports that are redundant? 2001 Skydiving Incidents (News Media Style) -------------------------------------------- Incident #1: His parachute failed to open. Incident #2: His parachute failed to open. Incident #3: His parachute failed to open. .... ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Oh I'm ignorant. Just not in this case. I asked myself whether I should post that side comment, but I was so pissed to see yet another "parachute failed to open" article (actually *two* for the same incident) that I went ahead. Sorry about the misunderstanding. My sarcasm is very subtle, even when you hear me talking. So if it sounds like what I'm saying is totally absurd, I'm probably being sarcastic (to point out the absurdity). Here ya go! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Could the "ground hungriness" perception actually be due to the fact that it's snivelly and so you're open lower? You open lower & you have less altitude to work with to get back from a bad spot. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Gang, gang, I was being sarcastic. I wish I could impart tone of voice in my posts but I can't. I'm just sick of the same, predictable whuffo mindlessness that passes as reporting. Anybody who knows me knows how I feel about the online incident reports. They are a gold mine of information. I've read every US and international report as well as all of the Cypres saves. I've said time and again that the information in these reports could very well save your life one day. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Sarcasm alert Geoff. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Forget the door. The plane would never get off the ground with Skeet in it. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

My condolences to Allison's family & friends. I don't know why we even bother with incident reports. After all, every skydiving fatality is due to the parachute failing to open. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Man Michele, you're like me. I'm my own worst critic. That's OK. It's what drives us to improve. I won't restate what everyone else has already done a good job of explaining. I'll just say this, think about how proud of yourself you'll be when you've fought your way through all of this. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

For those of you who haven't gone there... 7/4/01 Beeville, Texas Cat-LAND Age-52 #Jumps-40 AAD/RSL?-N/A Description: This jumper was approaching the landing area too high, and was approaching power lines on the other side of the landing area. He initiated a hard turn, too low to recover, and was critically injured on landing. He passed away at the hospital, after being evac'd by helicopter. Lessons: Power lines are very dangerous, but so are turns low to the ground. Either brake-turns or flying in deep brakes are frequently preferable to a hard toggle turn in this type of situation. If you don't know what a brake-turn is, ask your instructor. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

In all honesty it wasn't a commentary on your landing skills. I just know I roll the hell out of my bad landings (must be that jujitsu training) and any dog under me would be toast. The butt slide would prolly work. LOL! Um, actually my legs get tangled up in... No. I prolly should have the one day I did a butt slide through the mud and hit at least ten crayfish mounds. If they had been dry I'd be still singing soprano. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats dove! What flavor pie you like? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Hey Michele, if you have the time, try to go to the DZ on a rainy day and ask one of the packers to teach you how to pack. That's how I learned. Our DZ was cool about letting me learn/practice on the student gear so long as a packer actually repacked it before putting it back. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie