Trae

Hi Caspar yep it was a freaky combination clusterphuck. I went in with the slider still up. I got peripheral ground rush , looked at the ground and wacked in on a soft slope ending up with my face firmly planted in the dirt. A naturally excellent plf saved my life ....that and the fact it had rained the night before. Sorry can't elaborate right now as travelling and on a pay per second link. cheers Trae

Worst? An early Raven reserve that snivelled me into the deck.. Best thing was no hurties

in reply to "Now the freeflying is breaking up the sport socially a bit, while advancing it tremendously skill wise. " ............................................. I agree with most of what you are saying but I have to disagree with the freeflyers demonstrating tremendously advanced skills bit. Sure they're good at freeflying ...perhaps.... but that doesn't necessarily translate to them being a well rounded skydiver. Many exhibit a very narrow skill set and even narrower social skills. I've seen with my own eyes national freeflying champions that could barely flat fly to save themselves. Then back on the ground proceed to tell everyone where they went wrong. In the past they would have been laughed off the DZ. This kind of delusional behaviour was common before video brought its version of the truth back to the ground. Then the unskilled loud mouth BS artists had to take a back seat. The exclusive nature of these 'highly skilled' freeflyers is also a major turn off for most newbies who may not want to do 12 jumps a day and have 2 or 3 rigs with packers etc etc. let alone be able to afford it. If we want people to return to our sport we have to cater to them not to the biggest ego's on the DZ. Too many hero's and not enough delivery. There are so many different ways to enjoy being in the air. No one group needs to hijack this sport but some do appear to want to. It puts me off and I know it puts off a lot of potential skydivers who just don't want to wade throught he small minded cliquey politics that seem so prevalent in modern skydiving. If skydiving presented as a multi-faceted all inclusive sport we would attract multi-faceted all inclusive participants not the narrow expression currently shown to the public at most DZ's. Thankfully the air is still the coolest place to be . Why the mad rush back to the ground? perhaps that's where its really happening for most.

in reply to "An immediate withdraw from Iraq would only lead to an influx of massive murder against innocent Iraqis who want a democratic free form of government by the Islamic radicalists who believe in oppression and tyrany. I encourage responses to this topic as I think we need to hold both parties in Washington accountable to find a SOLUTION, not continuous "finger pointing"" ................................................ Have a look what happened in Vietnam when the pull-out ,ahem, strategic withdrawal occurred. The purge that followed in Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia is conveniently shielded from the general population. A bit of research will expose the millions who died. We can all visit both places in peace now that the natural order reasserted itself. At the time it must have been beyond horrific. Holding back the tide has never been a good idea unless you have say the tolerance and engineering wisdom of the Dutch. It seems careless to just run away after such a caring visit to Iraq to help it so much but the only solution here is going to find itself. Hey it is their country isn't it.? Let em have it.! You can always go back and pick up the pieces after the dust settles.

Nice long baths in oversized tubs are much more fun as long as there's a view and somewhere to put the champagne glasses being the only bloke in the environment helps too.

in reply to "So I just got my A-license yesterday at 25 jumps. I'm still renting gear from the DZ, and on the last couple of jumps someone else was using the rig I usually jump (Pilot 188, loaded @ 1.17). So when speaking with my instructor about the situation, he recommended I jump a smaller canopy (Triathlon 175, loaded @ 1.26). The two times I've jumped it so far I felt "safe"... I had very nice soft stand up landings which were both pretty accurate (one was within 10 feet and the other 30 feet) " ........................................................ This sounds like the blind leading the blind. or perhaps the $$$ leading the blind. This sort of thing when extrapolated equals our currently stupid high canopy incident rate. Do yourself a favour and wait for the more forgiving canopy to become available. You've got the rest of your life to downsize . If you rush in this sport that life of yours may not be that long or enjoyable. At 25 jumps you've got a bit to learn before dumbsizing too low.

Mmm Never used a sled but a 20knot breeze and a steep slope/ cliff could get it happening. Earliest canopy I saw soared was a stratostar . 25 knots was almost a minimum to get it off the ground. Recently I've picked up on a guy who is working on a parasail that can be dumped from freefall. Hope he gets it right. Stay up all day stuff.

in reply to "Its our country. Fuck off. World police you may like to be but you have no place commenting on cultures you don't understand " ...................................................................... This sounds a bit like what the yanks might be saying to the Chinese given a bit of time. You might not need a firearm in Britain but out in the uncivilised colonies you'd be slightly retarded not to see the need occassionally . Once some-one phucks you over at the point of a gun you kinda of get how useful having one can be......DUR like some wise american once said "1st rule of a gun fight ...have a gun "

in reply to "semantics. while people have been doing it for 20 years jim has refined it, produced canopies specifically for it, and turned it into a "sport." jim will be the first to give guys like bj worth etc... the rights for the idea. as for creating a marketable sport around it no one can deny jim invented it. " ............................................................ yeah right I can deny it and I do . This type of rewriting history BS completely ignores the pioneering work done by the real inventors. Pioneering CRW enthusiasts mainly on slopes in France 'invented ' ground launching in the early 80's. Before this time suitable canopies barely existed. This type of ME generation thing is like the newbies I met the other week who invented skydiving. hey I invented scissors ... really

in reply to "Tandem has been the ruination of skydiving. " ................................................... That and Point Break

in reply to "RPG's are kind of a drag...ballistics like a frisbee. " ................................. RPG's are left overs from Hitlers panzerfausts. The Russians were so impressed with them they made about 100million of em. Wire guided ..now there's some accurate punch. It could be argued that Browning 50's gave us our world via their extensive use in WW2 Perhaps if the banners appreciated the history of the calibre a bit more they might see why some people hold it in such high esteem.

arright good to hear a bit about the place Mercer sounds good for a visit. Cheers

in reply to ".. would you mind sharing with us what he does, since you've already spoke with him? " ........................................ From the horses mouth (or it's trainer/owner) might be a better bet than second hand . It would seem like part of his job should be to prove that you all need him in the first place.

in reply to "Something to consider: I think we all have learned the lesson. That is really not the question. The question is how to *apply* the lesson in a way that can be appropriately implemented. There is no obvious answer to this. I was at Eloy for the Christmas boogie, but my habit is to get there at the beginning and leave before the last weekend, when there are so many people there that I don't know. Skratch and I left the morning of the first fatality. My application of the "lesson learned" is to limit the jumps I make with so many unfamiliar canopy pilots, and to land on the edges of the landing areas outside of the swooping patterns. " ......................... Nice risk assessment and avoidance. bit like avoiding friday and saturday nights at the steel work pubs. I have to disagree about there being no obvious answer. It is simply for those with the knowledge and experinece to be the ones in control. At the moment the power is with the newbie who can buy & fly a HP canopy with little obstruction. The answer is to obstruct the little beggars...in the nicest way poss. at the same time sharing and showing them the way if you know it. They can be rewarded with the canopy of their dreams when they show sufficient skill to have a reasonable chance of survival. Days past SO's loved grounding dangerous canopy fliers . Nowadays most seem too busy to even look up. Exert safety conscious control over new people entering the sport .... huh don't we do that?

G'day Bigway, What's the midweek jumping scene like over there at the moment ? many fun jumpers/ travellers? or is it mainly a midweek work scene like in Oz? cheers

in reply to "(You don't _really_ want a pair of shorts, unless you want your genitalia to take a significant part of the opening shock!) The idea is to spread the load around ( not just dump it all in the crotch as at moment.) Current (often only optional) wider padded legstraps are already pointing in this direction. Those early Poynter designs were using much less refined materials than are available today no doubt contributing to their discomfort. The current design of leg strap has many disadvantages as well as the male genital squash and female genital pinch if not careful. A more mature and advanced design would be able to deal with these issues. Making the gear more comfortable makes our sport more attractive as our history proves. in reply to "Such an item would look even more like "a mess of straps" than what we have now! I mean, surely you wouldn't trust your life to a zipper, which means you need some additional fasteners. Compared to that, three straps (two of which you need never unthread) is pretty simple. " The current set up is satisfactory but it can certainly be improved upon. It wouldn't have to be a mess of straps, more like a short legged /sleeved one piece wet suit. If anything it would look more integrated and be relatively fool-proof compared to todays rigs which can be put on incorrectly. Any zippers as you mention would not necessarily have to take large loads . Another example of how this may work is using a cloth bag to hold something as opposed to using a string bag . The string bag concentrates the load into smaller areas whereas the cloth bag spreads it out over a larger area-- and things can fall through the gaps in the string.

in reply to "Sounds like you are getting paid pretty good for keeping a dying part of the sport alive." ........................................ you're funny . You must have No idea how many static line DZ's are alive and well around the world. Static line courses give access to low income earners in poorer parts of the world and also in many richer countries.... places that aren't overloaded with narcassistic blinkered rich people. More likely than static line ever actually dying out is the whole sport dying off as only the ultra-rich manage to afford the high cost of AFF training and subsequent coaching dives . At a certain level of participation manufacturers will become thin on the ground and most current skydivers will be dreaming of the good old freeflying days. It's my guess that if sport skydiving ever does die off due to rediculous costs then static line jumping ( military ) will continue on as if it never noticed. "AFF is where its at" yep it's good but it's not the only thing and my guess is it never will be.

in reply to "I'm developing a portable strap which can be connected to most rigs and also be removed whenever you want," .......................................................... Good luck with it . You'll have to overcome skydivers inherent fear of change unless they see the "good " guys doing it first. Then they will push each other out of the way to be the first on the DZ with your new strap. I've often wondered if the next big step in rig design will morph the straps and liftwebs etc into an actual suit of clothing. Instead of leg-straps as they currently exist the loads could be taken by a much wider set-up that fits you like a very tough set of shorts. Likewise up top the rig could have very short sleeves and a fully enclosed front perhaps persisting with the chest strap for psychological reasons. This rig would have NO holes or gaps for people to fall out of or put things into at the wrong time. It would look more like a well fitting wet-suit than the mess of straps and buckles we are currently stuck with. Of coursed there would be wingsuit versions with their fully integrated rigs.

This is like an bullshit detector. You're a bloke and say no then you're full of it. A tantric dude and his dudette shared this priceless info ... * if you've got a gut forget it ....your stomach will come out your mouth before anything goes in it . * beginners of this fine art form have to try it upside down. Just like in skydiving gravity helps * your tantric partner can help you achieve such an aim by pushing appropriately * you can seriously put your neck out and straightening up afterwards may be difficult. don't have the references but apparently there are books on this in the arcane bookshops next to the multiple partner sex books for maharajahs . see those hunchbacks getting aroung ??? ah ha nows you knows why.

Hello Benni What an amazing spirit you are . Visualising you alone on a glacier looking for an exit point is beyond words. Benni saved me from a fall by diving to my rescue with no thought of his own safety. He got right there with me , and stopped us both rolling off the edge. Such spine. I had never experienced such selflessness before and was left with the feeling that Benni was superhuman. Condolences to friends and family. CU later Benni

in reply to "How do you give thanks? Is it just a platitude, or do you actually DO somthing as a means of giving thanks? From an outsiders point of view it seems kind of hollow without any action. " ..................................... hey it's not Sunday I gave thanks when the Christian Bikies saved me one night after a car accident that went bad . These guys must have sensed the disturbance in the force and sent a scout to rescue me . They dealt with the phuckers who'd crashed into me, They dealt with the coppers ,They fixed my car , They wouldn't let me go the next day until their priest? turned up for a chat. He told me they do this sort of thing all the time saving little blighters from falling even further down the mine. I gave thanks to a greater power than myself for helping me in a time of need. Being like those Christian Bikie helpers might be close to that action you're talking about.

in reply to "Its all about mindset. I said this 15 years ago to another group of skydivers ....its as true now as it was then..... "Skydiving isn't what I do, its what I am" Any other mindset and youre just a shortterm visitor. " ................................... OK Bozo , I know where you're coming from with this and respect the 'all or nothing' tude but when expressed out loud this attitude loses something in the 'feeling thru brain out mouth' trip. Many skydivers do lots of other things as well...da da This can make them even better skydivers . I've known a few motorheads in my time. They look at skydiving as something so tame they're leaving it for when they retire. They get to go twice as fast right next to the ground. If this sport is all about mindset then delusions are one of the biggest traps out there. ps ,We're all visitors down here.

in reply to "hi sorry to bring bad news but it seems to me that as world oil production will soon be peak and begin its inevitable decline that sports such as skydiving will quickly be priced out of existance, except maybe for the ultra rich. if you're not familiar with peak oil check these out; .............................................................. this from a recent SC 'oil running out" thread "Nope. It's all smoke and mirrors to keep the price up. AND we've been lied to as to the nature of oil formation. It's not a finite "fossil fuel" but a sustainable material produced deep in the magma of the earth. http://www.rense.com/general63/staline.htm " ................................................. If this is true the current oil crisis could last as long as the earth. Oil comes from dead dinosaurs....yeah right.

in reply to "I will never, ever, get over that picture." .......................................... This might help . sadly the wall gekkoes were being camera shy.

Along came a spider and sat down besider Did give me a little fright at first