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Thinking about it... Could be a blast... :D _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

so would you say that the lineover caused the hard opening, and not the other way around? I.e., the hard opening and resulting "wham" and spins didn't cause the lineover? Trying to imagine if that's even possible in my mind... Not sure. Of course, it's always possible that the hard opening was from the lineover and not my lack of stop-track/slow-down... Who knows. Thanks! _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Actually, I suppose it should be a WHAM of an opening, THEN a lineover that cleared itself. So there I was... Practicing free-flying with a friend of mine. I'm starting to get my sit. Slowly. Anyhow, we break off at 5,500, and I track away. I guess I tracked for about 3 seconds or so, he wasn't really near me when we broke, so I didn't have that far to go. Mistake #1: I rushed. I didn't look at my altimeter during the track, (My ditter had just sounded the 4,500 mark in my ear.) I didn't take a deep breath before pulling, something I've found that if I do, I tend to have cleaner, softer openings. This, of course, also translates into probably not properly stopping the track, and or slowing down enough. Pitch - WHAM! Full canopy, with 3 or so line twists. Kick out of them relatively easy, while cursing the pain from the opening (and yes, incredibly sore now, day after.) I look up and notice my canopy has a line over on the right side. Oh, shit. First one. "OK,"I think. We can handle this. We've been trained to try and clear it. If not, chop it. I flare hard, doesn't clear. Adds a tiny spin to it, just for kicks. I take a deep breath, and say, "OK, this is what I trained for." Put my hands on my cutaway handle, and take one more look at my canopy before putting my eyes on my reserve handle. As I'm watching above my head, the line "slides" off the canopy, and "poof!" perfectly open canopy, flying straight and true. I peel my hand away from the cutaway handle, and am like, "huh. How about that." I get to the ground, land a perfect stand-up landing without a problem. The second I touch the ground and stand straight up, my left hand starts hurting. I look at it, and notice that my 4th finger is covered with blood. Ripped a nice chunk of skin out of it, must have happened upon opening. I'm guessing I grabbed the risers (stupid) and they opened in twists, catching my finger. Don't even remember it. Anyhow... Finally, I come to the questions... 1) a 200 pound guy falling, according to my Neptune, at around 160 miles per hour in a quasi-sit. When I went to my belly and started my track, I felt myself "slow up" - you know that feeling that I'm going to have a hard time describing - the "oof" of going from a sit to belly - feeling yourself slow down. So I slowed down - apparently not enough. Was my slammer caused by (and I know none of you were there, so I'm asking for educated guesses here,) a) Not slowing down enough? b) not stopping my track? c) both d) bad body position? (Either on my own, or as a result of still being in track/high speed?) Either way - I landed without a problem... I guess I'm just worried that in the future, when I'm working on sitting, that I'm going to be worried about slammers - did I slow down enough, am I ok to open... Looking back on it now, I totally know that I rushed the opening... Causing everything to happen from there. Stupid on my part. If there was one pleasing aspect of the whole thing, though, it was that I reacted correctly when I saw that I had a lineover, and even more, when my initial attempt at clearing it didn't work. I replayed it in my mind, and how-about-that, I did exactly what I was trained to do in an emergency. Cool! Any thoughts or comments would, as always, be appreciated. Tech aspect: Saffire 2: 229 Wingload: Just at 1.1, I'm 234 out the door. Conditions: clear and gorgeous, 13mph at 3k Location: The Ranch, New York State. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Found this - It's very viral. Enjoy. Winning seems to be the fun part, as judged by everyone forwarding it. It was in this morning's pop-bitch email. http://fun.bowmans.com/poker/ _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Less than 5 minutes! Cool!! _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Going on day 18 with not so much as a drop to my lips. Whose brilliant f'ing idea was this?!? _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

I've officially lost my appetite for the next four days. Cruise: I'll eat placenta (The UK Sun) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

interesting that it's simply a question of raising the money... Very interesting... _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

just out of curiosity, how much do you think it'd be? _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Oh, come ON! He was shaking off the water in the first photo! I shot him with a Nikon D1X, that photo was taken at about 1/1200th of a second, to capture the water flying off. He's in desparate need of a haircut, I'll give you that. But he's a fun, fun dog. And a lot of fun to romp with. The part Lab part Poodle mix makes him so freakin' goofy, like the stupidest smart dog in the world. But he's fun. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Joint Dog: (Noun) A dog you used to have with an ex-girlfriend. She keeps the dog, you get occasional visitation. He's a Labradoodle. Don't make fun of me. :) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

To those (like me) who are spending this evening's Seder with family, gritting their teeth and trying manically to find the Afi Komen so we can go the heck home, and to those spending less stressful seder nights, I wish all of you a good holiday, and offer this little bit of Passover humor: A Jewish guy gets the honor of being called "Sir" by the Queen. He goes for the tap on the shoulder with her sword, and he's supposed to recite a line in Latin. After several other men do it without any problem, it's his turn. He gets flustered in the heat of the moment, though, and winds up saying "Ma-nish-ta'na, Haleila Hazeh, Mi-kol Ha le los." The Queen, aghast, turns to her first in command, and says, "Why is this knight different than all other knights??" Giggle. Happy Passover, and leave the Otter door open for Elijah! _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Distance to the Ranch is 70 miles. Don't listen to Mapquest, they'll take you out of the way to New Paltz. You can go another way. Let me know if you need more info. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

And bring napkins. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

"Once this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit." ...Is what I think you were trying to say. :) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

I found it easier after I got my license to just buy the school a small dorm-room type fridge. They appreciated it, and it was, in the long run, probably cheaper than my buying beer. :) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

You know, in retrospect - Mr. Bill was the original "Kenny" from South Park! Can't believe I never noticed that until now! _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

If he's still on student status, he might not want to try a sit with student gear - that gear isn't necesarilly the best at protecting the pin... a sit might make for a premature opening... _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Hoo-ya, sir. Congratulations. My respect and admiration. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Abs class - and actually got a blog post out of it: http://prdifferently.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/04/the_problem_wit.html _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

http://www.realboring.com/matrix-moves-le-parkour/ Heh. _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Eh. It makes for better TV. Irony is that when you meet up at the airport, you're actually in the safest place in the world. :) You don't like them, you don't sit next to them - not a worry. I'll stop now, lest I get into plugging the site on here. :D _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Too funny. Interviewed me for 30 minutes, THAT'S what they take. Sigh. :) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Well, they just plugged it, so it doesn't look like I'm getting bumped. Woo! :) _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

Well, I could guarantee YOU would be a member of the mile-high club... Other people... Not a clue. No, it's actually a video interview. You get to see my ugly mug as well! _______________ "Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?" "Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."