rendezvous

oh ! boy ! you had to say that didn't you

It could also be that the adventure in Africa started getting to some and they left looking for something less adventerous and more laid back.

I think it's more complicated than that. At a macro level it's a function of availability, affordibility and the size of the population, just to name a few parameters. Take for example the US. If you think about the ratio of white skydivers to the total while population and then apply that same ratio to other ethnic populations you'll see that their representation comes out to be much smaller. This is ofcourse a very crude method since the actual minority population available after you factor in social conditions, income groups and other economic factors comes out to be much smaller. Outside the US, there are other factors that influence the interest in the sport such as the ease of availability of flying operations etc. e.g some countries in Asia are well established in Hang gliding, Paragliding, white water rafting, mountain climbing, rock climbing, scuba diving, skiing etc but don't have skydiving due to a lack of recreational flying infrastructure or the logistics and cost involved with flying operations.

Thanks. That gives me a bette perspective on how the various canopies are placed in the market.

Just relax. Don't be in a hurry. You'll have plenty of time. After all you are starting out at 3.5K and not passing through it at terminal. The first 1000 ft of a skydive take about 10 sec. Don't get intimidated by the how low it is. You'll see you have adequate time up your sleeves.

Not started base yet but quite interested to do so soon. Just wanted to know what is the height range for the cliffs out there.

#1. How do you do a hook turn? Hook turn crudely put is initiating a toggle or front riser turn that takes you through a 90 degree turn or some multiple of it. Since the canopy dives in a turn it builds up quite a bit of speed before it begins to flaten out. Done high up, it's quite docile if you stick to less than 360 rotations at a time and are well aware of your air space and other canopies in it. You will loose a lot of altitude though. Done close to the ground, at your experience level IT WILL MOST DEFINITELY KILL you, and that is being modest about it. Even out of curiosity, do not try it close to the ground. #2. How do you do a hook turn without killing yourself? Once you've accumulated hundreds of jumps understanding how canopies fly, what they do and how to handle them in different conditions ( rear risers, front risers, down wind, off landings etc ), you go talk to some very experienced, and mature swoopers at your DZ and they will guide you through the rest.

You've got quite an exhaustive list of steps for your strategies ( past and present post ). Pretty good. Waiting for the next episode , may be "Here's my under the reserve strategy" LOL ! ... No, really good job.

Would you classify Safire,Saber,Saber2,Hornet as intermidiate. Which others if not these would fit this category.

I'm trying to understand how the various canopies in the market can be grouped to form groups that represent about the same level of performance. Can some put the more common canopies talked about in some order. Thanks.

*** I just think it's wrong that one be required to have an AAD vs being strongly encouraged to have one I agree.

Should a Stiletto loaded between 1:1 and 1:1.2 be flown by someone with slightly over 200 jumps or is it still too high performance for that jump number. Also, should be be flown by someone with 50 plus jumps if it's loaded at 1:1 or less.

I had started in April and didn't get my "A" until end of October. Pretty much took me the whole summer. Well most of it was spent doing AFF since I was on a 2 Cessna ( with one perpetually broken ) DZ and could jump only on the weekends, that too not until the tandems had been taken care of. It felt like it had lasted for ever.

cygnusbase, Your kind of example definitely helps me answer some of the questions that run through my mind about how BASE may be viewed in a relationship when it matures to the point of marriage and kids. It's nice to know that the sport actually extends over a wide spectrum of people and is not stereotypical. Ofcourse, I'm not talking from the point of view of the passion that all BASE jumpers share for the sport. I want to take up BASE jumping, I know I have a passion for it, have had it for a long time but I still want to understand the various angles to it and it's easier to gain a perspective on it by hearing from others who have already been there.

***No kids. Not from lack of trying, mind you LOL ! good one.

If married and/or have children how do your families react to the sport ? What does your spouse say about all those night jumps ? etc

Definitely one of the dives I find to be the most fun.

Very impressive. Infact this is actually inspiring.

Actually I want to know that too. A rigger in NYC would be very convenient.

I second that. Sky's the limit ! ... it's my home DZ and it's got some great people and a nice Grand Caravan with a Cessna 182 and a King Air as back up.

I flew out of Newark Airport for the WFFC. At Newark my rig got a good hard look. They checked everyting on me down to emptying even my wallet. I had a fax from USPA with a copy of a letter from American Airlines and the CYPRES letter. Initially the TSA agent said that Parachutes weren't allowed by the airlines but when I showed him the fax, he went back and made a few calls. Came back saying that as long as the airlines was fine and there wasn't any compressed gas canister it would be fine. So they then checked for compressed gas. One of them wanted to open the reserve but the other guy who'd read the fax from USPA that said that the reserve was packed by an FAA certified rigger decided against it. They scaned the rig a couple of times and had some concerns about the spring loaded pilot chute as it looked under the Xray, but then were quite satisfied. They were actually quite interested in knowing more about skydiving and all the formations we do and were very polite through out the process.

A bunch of guys ( 11 in number ) made reservations at this DZ ( not giving names ) to do tandems. The day they were to go the weather turned out to be bad so they called in and the DZ rescheduled it for them. They went to the DZ on this new date but it once again turned out to be a rainy day. They stuck around until about 4:00 pm after which they decided to leave. They say the DZ wanted to charge them a fee for leaving since it hadn't yet called it a day. Is this normally the policy at DZs ?

I have a triathlon and it's opened hard on only one occassion. That was due to very sloppy packing on my part. I don't have to do anything special on my pack job. It just opens smoothly on it's own. I don't think hard openings are a part of the triathlon's history.

Congratulations ! It's going to be a lot of fun and a shit load of money from here so join the ride.

The CNN coverage said that he "skydived across the channel"