grimmie

Dave Breton...thanks for helping me out, too many rum dee dums over the past 16 years!!!

Glad to hear Moe is still swinging 'em in Vegas!

Hey Shell, I was thinking about (while looking at some 25 year pics) all of the long lost regulars from the Prairie. What ever happened to ... Death Grip Dave (AZ jumper, didn't he get married there one year?) Splat (he did crash in Belize 3 yrs ago!) Dav3e Ruckert (is he still down under?) Tess(Jean Guy's love!) Dan Carroll (Spokane skydivers) Meathead (if I get on an airliner and he's flying I'll pee my pants laughing!) Cal (does he still jump?) And I'm brainlocking on the guys name that used to bring his boat but married the girl with a bunch of kids...help me out here... Double D ( I heard he's a cop now?) Naked Mike Moe Nuts (I heard he died a few years back) Big Burke Bowden(he told me about LP 17 years ago! Thank God!) BT Taylor (of "wannabee" fame) Damn my memory is going! How about some help MadJohn.....anyone...

What about Aerlie Beach by the Whitsundays, do they still operate?

A liver transplant at the Lounge by Pete Hill...now THAT would make for good boogie video!!!!! MadJohn-I hope you are practicing and bring $20! Shell666-little Sis, I'll be there on the first Saturday! Are the STOCKS making an appearance???? "Buys Beers" is pussying out and sailing in the TransPac race to hawaii...I told him to send beer $$$$$ anyhow with Doak for not making it! And piss on staying sober!!!! What a F#@$%#d up idea THAT is!!!!!!!!!!!! See all of you DICKHEADS soon!!!!

A LO has three priorities for the jumpers... Live Learn Laugh And those of you that haven't started organizing will see how hard it can be to attain those three goals when your time as LO comes!

Point Break II! Bodhi funnels the POPS load base...coming soon to a theater near you!

What the F@#K is an Ion Microprobe????? Dude, you need to come to LP and have a MICRObrew!!!!!! and besides, there are Doctors at the boogie like Pete Hill that could give you a microprobe....

You Canuckians are sure a goofy lot... But I suppose I'll go to this Lost Prairie thingy anyway...

Thanks for the info. I first learned of it at the Niagra Falls Museum years ago. He also did a jump from a plane over the rapids, but landed onshore and got booed according to lore. Still a pretty big set of balls for 1908! pm or e-mail the Skydiving Mag. info if you still have it. Thanks!

In 1908 Bobby Leach, a Niagra Falls daredevil jumped from the Steel Arch Bridge (180ft or so) with a parachute.

happythoughts, Great point about TV and endorsments. I traveled home from a World Meet once with an Airspeed member. He had just won RW Gold. I hoped we could get through the throngs of fans at the airport when we landed! Wow, I couldn't believe the fame and fortune!! He must have invested it all in the stock market or something because he went back to living in a trailer at the DZ...how humble of him.

When I jumped a few times in 1980 there were dickheads at the DZ. When I jumped again in 1991 there were assholes at the DZ. Every year a jerk off or two slip through and attend my boogie. Who gives a rats ass? It's just a reflection of society...a certain percentage of humans can't help themselves, no matter how old they are or what generation they are from. Hell, when I had the Bent Prop Bar and Grill there were jumpers that thought I was a prick half of the time! The only thing I see wrong these days is that some of the newer jumpers get irritated when a fellow skydiver points out a safety/training/gear issue to them. When I had a hundred jumps I listened to what the "Old Farts" had to say. Most of those old guys are still jumping their asses off too. But take a close look at skydivers. You put a couple of hundred of them in a little log cabin bar in Montana, all drinking their heads off and guess what? No one wants to pick a fight with anyone else...and hell, half of the guys and girls have stolen each others girlfriends and boyfriends! Try that in other sports, or careers (cops, firemen, nurses,etc) It would be mayhem! So I'll keep taking my chances at the DZ because 99% of the jumpers I know are the greatest people I have ever met. And the newer jumpers are supposed to be full of piss and vinegar, hell, it would be boring if they weren't. And some of the wonderkids have kept my EMT skills sharp over the years. Skydiving sucks at marketing. Those fat, bald poker players are known worldwide...but just ask John Q. Public who Dan BC , Craig Girard, Olav Zipser or Jim Wallace and BJ Worth are. Our sport is not spectator friendly, except for swoop events. And maybe really big ways. And we also have a bad habit of killing our most well known skydivers. And why would you become a full time DZ employee to make an owner tons of $$$ while you don't have two dimes to rub together after a student injures you on a tandem landing and you can't jump for 6 months. And after giving 20 or more years of hard work at the DZ you don't have a retirement plan or health care. So why do we still jump? Because the sky still thrills us, our friends still like us and if we don't keep jumping we will miss something or get talked about! And skydiving is a great way of life... So Sparky, get out that ratty old orange jumpsuit and get in the plane!

Kat isn't the first nor the last skydiver to sue someone in the skydive world. It has happened after jump plane crashes, student injuries and fatalities and yes, even a Canadian team member sued his team mate after a collision, and was awarded a hefty sum. There could probably be an entire section dedicated to who has sought legal action against whom in this sport.

Canuckian priorities... Funneling a skydive. Drinking John Deer radiator water and calling it beer. Eating chicken wings...for breakfast. Watching Lord Stanley rest in California. Bitching about American beer. Paying high taxes to pay for their glorified health care. Watching 'Slapshot" on their old Beta player. Thinking 'The tragicaly Hip" is a great mega band. Flying South every November. Hoarding booze and smokes when they come to the USofA. Watching their Navy on manuevers in the West Ed. mall. And my favorite of all time..."you want to jump with us...who are YOU???" "Oh...an AIRSPEED member..I suppose it would be OK!" (And you're just sorta old if you just got that one!) Remember kids...jumping with canuckians is like sex with a fat girl, it's kinda fun until your friends see you doing it!!!!!!!!!

A few summers ago I was at Perrine making a few leaps with some friends. There were a couple of nice looking young ladies hanging out with some jumpers. In the afternoon the girls were PCA'd off the bridge while wearing bikinis and no helmets. The swimwear was for the water landings they were to do because the guys didn't think they could land the big Mojo 260's on the grass. Boy did we look like dunces in our helmets and long pants and shirts! I really enjoyed the part when the one attractive young lady nearly drowned because she didn't know there was a cutaway handle on her rig. We debated if we should jump and land next to her and help, since her dispatchers had no gear. Oh, wait...I'm mistaken. Two of the guys had gear, one wearing a really nice camera. They did a 2 way to help. The camera dude had an off heading and went back under the bridge and pounded in on the north side, west of the bridge and the other guy wrapped the pilot chute around his arm. He opened at about 50ft and splashed down also, nowhere near the girl in trouble. It was quite entertaining watching the old dude in the boat try to get 2 girls, one nearly pulled under by her canopy and one guy who had a load of poo in his britches. And all the while the camera guy yelling for help 'cuz his camera got wet or something. Man that old guy in the boat was pissed off!!!!! True story. I was there with some very experienced BASE jumpers. They politely approached the guys and asked if they wanted to borrow our helmets for the girls. We had some extras. A lot of attitude was given so we just hung out and did our leaps and watched the carnage for a few days. I spoke with Don the boat guy after his experience rescuing them. He was really mad and asked those guys and girls to not jump anymore. How retarded do you have to be to make him fear for you? Bikini BASE school...I think I'm gonna start one!

If you have spandex on the lower arms and in the lat areas just wear a long sleeve cotton shirt under your jumpsuit and a pair of long pants. Layering works. Just Nomex won't stop radiant heat from scorching your skin. Gloves and full face helmets will protect you very well also, and turn your back towards the flames and let your rig absorb the heat. And pray the smoke won't kill you first...

No. I really have 42,376 jumps like George Foreman!!! (and you ARE old if you just got this joke)!!!!!

Go to bed...don't you have school in the morning!!!!!!!??????

As the "Official, Unofficial Entertainment Director" of LP for many years it will be my duty to uphold tradition. We will party our asses off, go to the fire tower, funnel a Mad John load, drink way too much Lang, hold many poker games, smoke smelly cigars, tell tired old jokes and no shit there I was stories, recall the days when Shell666 and yours truly wowed the crowd with our bar dives, call at least 15 people "Dickheads", drink too much tekillya, make fun of Canuckians, Eh!, tell at least 5 Littleman jokes, spend way too much of a morning being ill in a smelly little green port o potty, hear really stupid stories by the fire, beg Stinky to keep the bar open at least for 2 more hours at 3 AM, listen to Pete Hill and Jag's worn out screams, pie a new jumper or two, hang out at the dock on a couple lake loads, throw a few Canuckians in the lake during those times, have a breakfast at the Saddle Tramp, moon the girls in Camp Canada, sing songs that only make sense to us, see lots of friends you like better than your own relatives...and... Toast to our friends with heartfelt love... See you guys soon...

Fly Free my Friends...

And once in a great while a demo load goes to Lang unannounced!!!!

Mesquite, NV Perris (tunnel), Elsinore, San Diego CA

This has been a very interesting thread to follow. Resumes have been posted, opinions given and some scary points of view also discussed. One thing that gets lost in the swooper vs, non-swooper debate is one simple point...people are trying to impiment some things that may save a life or two. But all rules, regulations and advice in skydiving come down to one simple thing...YOU...the individual. I have read about the Canopy Control Course. If that is implimented then every single jumper on the face of the planet needs to take it, from AFF student to AFF instructor, and evryone in between...even the hot shot pilots. I witnessed a canopy collision between a Golden Knight and a French 8way team member once. Damn it was ugly and loud, but they both lived. You think those two guys would know how to fly canopies... And then I read all of the folks posting that CRW training will save everyone. I witnessed CRW teamates collide violently right next to the peas at about 3 feet off of the ground after a training jump at the CRW Nationals years ago. It was horrendous, but they both lived. I guess not wrapping during roatations wasn't exciting enough for those Crew Dogs... And I read all about the pattern work. Downwind, base and final. I witnessed a gut wrenching canopy collision at a Christmas Boogie once. Luckily they both survived, barely. The guilty party was an AIRLINE PILOT. And a world renowned balloon world record pilot. You would think he could fly a pattern... Which leads me to another thought. Those collisions where back when a Sabre 150 was hot stuff. And now we have some real rocketships in the air. A few points to ponder. 1. Have canopies have passed average jumpers abilities. 2. Many high time jumpers still have a hard time standing a landing, but they usually don't fly an eratic pattern. 3. Are tunnels creating amazing flying skills until the parachute pops out, and then confidence overtakes ability under nylon. 4. Are parallel jump runs putting way too many race cars and station wagons in the sky together? 5. Until someone witnesses a collision, does it really sink in what can actually happen to you? 6. Is the skydive over for too many jumpers once the toggles are in their hands? 7. You can always tell a skydiver, but you can't tell them much... I run a boogie once a year for 10 days. I stress the landing pattern and make everyone look at the LZ before they jump. I stand in the LZ for a few days "guiding" certain jumpers. I have seen two bad accidents happen right in front of me in three years. Both powerline strikes. Both jumpers admit to careless mistakes on their part. I sent one jumper home that travelled the farthest to attend the boogie because of severe safety violations once. So when all is said and done, courses are held, patterns are laid out and BSR's instituted it comes down to one simple thing...YOU, the jumper. Let's all get our heads outta you know where and fly safe. If you can't land straight in, you're on the wrong canopy. If you can't fly a pattern buy golf clubs. This isn't an "us vs. them" issue, it's a staying alive issue. Be safe everyone and see you guys in Lost Prairie!

If you get hooked on jumping it will cost you $180,000, give or take a few thousand, all the friends you currently have and at least 2 wives...enjoy!