grimmie

Bruins/Bolts looked like a Saturday night beer league game, not a NHL playoff game tonight. Most fun to watch!

It looks like the first week of March, so we won't conflict with the Dubai 250 way. We lost our LZ in Belize one condo at a time over the seven years. We'll be able to house 200+ participants in one great all inclusive resort, the Hotel Barcelo, Montelimar. The runway is next to it and the beach is gigantic for an LZ. I'll have the info up on our Facebook page and a new website in two weeks. I'm meeting with the Nicaraguan government next Friday. They want to make this a national event. It's going to be amazing. I posted now because there was a rumor going around that it was being held in Costa Rica next year. And yes, we sell out early all of the time. This time we'll have plenty of space for everyone "B" license and up.

Spread the word and training like a TV preacher! Call if you need any help or have questions.

yes and yes.

I have a Tsunami Skydivers Facebook page also. It has updates, photos etc. for Oceanside and the upcoming Nicaragua boogie. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Tsunami-Skydivers-Inc/161011600629172

...Nicaragua. 2012 Beach landings, all inclusive resort. Stay tuned.

Eric @ Neon Wolf Studios in Santa Monica. He does all of mine. He's inexpensive and good.

The city wants me to go through a Conditional Use Permit process. They had contacted the local FAA airport compliance office and recieved word they could make me apply. This involves a public hearing and approval from the planning commission. It also takes 6 months to a year. I have been working with Randy Ottinger at USPA HQ. The FAA office in Washington, DC is over ruling the local opinion and says I don't have to apply for a CUP. There are also a lot of other variables to the plot that are too lengthy to discuss. And yes, don't you love the skydiveoceanside.com SLYRIDE website. We'll get there. The city attorney has no legal issues with it and the risk management dept is OK with all of it. The resistance is coming from the planning dept. They are the ones requiring a CUP. It has to be done in a way that I can operate there for a long time, without the city having a way to evict us. It's right at a year in the works now. I suppose that's right on schedule for most of these airport access issues. I should really know more by the end of the week.

Bet you didn't tell Gordie that. Don *Sentiment expires June 13, 2011. No, but I did call him an old man, and he laughed, and then burned me with a sick move for a goal, flipped me the puck out of the net and said "look'n for this, KID!" Priceless. Went to lunch with him too. Great stories about the old NHL days. If I can get my scanner to work I'll post a pic of us together on the ice. It was about 20 years ago. Go BOLTS!

Call Troy Hartman.

I'm a Pens fan. That's why I despise the Wings. But on the flip side of that I think Stevie Y was one of the best players in Wings history and admired him. And I also skated with Gordie Howe once.

Don't tell him that. That's part of the problem. We know that statisticly you're most likely to die under an open parachute. We also know that those deaths are spread around pretty evenly between solos and collisions, and HP and non-HP, so there is no one 'magic bullet' we can look to in solving the problem. Anyone not 'toe-ing the line' in terms of canopy control is part of the problem, regardless of who they are or what they fly. The guy you responded to is flying a HP canopy at 1.5 WL with 250 jumps. Don't tell him to fly with care, because that implies consent. Tell him to stop being an asshole, stop adding to the problem, and get back in the middle of the bell curve and fly something even remotely appropriate to his experience. Don't suffer the fools lightly. That's how we got here, and continuing to do so is how were going to be stuck here. This is the land of the free, and we tried to be free and easy with this canopy business, but it didn't work out. We gave it a fair shot. Over the last 20 years, the first 10 could have been looked at as an 'adjustment period'. New canopies, new technologies, let's see if everyone can just figure it out on their own. The old guys need to figure how to transition from F-111, and 'the establishment' needs to figure how to teach the new guys coming into the sport how to deal with these new canopies. So that's the first 10 years. The last 10 years hasn't been any better, and now it's time to give up on the idea of 'natural selection', and stop being so 'free'. For years, virtually every other country on earth has had strict on-going educational requirements in place, and even stricter limitation on what sizes and types of canopies any one person can jump. Now it's time that we got on board and did the same. Of course this means that for the most part were in the hands of the 'powers the be' waiting for them to get their shit together and get some structure up in this bitch. God only knows how long that's going to take. Which brings me to my original point, what we can do on the grassroots level is not telling guys like DocPop to be safe and have a blast. Tell him he's an asshole, and he's most of what's wrong with skydiving. He knows what he's doing is far outside 'the norm', what's his next move outside 'the norm' that he will deciede is OK, and just do it anyway? I don't want to find out, so I'm not going to encourage that type of behavior. Neither should you. Dave, I told him that because I think he is a troll. And if he isn't then the guys at his DZ need to intervene. There's a lot we can't overcome on the internet. If I met Doc Pop in person and saw what is REALLY going on, then I would intervene. And for the record, since we have never met, you will never have to encourage me to stop idiotic behaviour at the DZ. I do it all of the time. Ask this year's Boogie in Belize infamous "load 3" jumpers how I view idiot behaviour under canopy. There is only so much you can do. That's why I pointed out advice from older jumpers. When I was a newbie and Jim Wallace spoke, we all listened like that old EF Hutton commercial. Everyone listened.

I am happy the Sharks won, as I hate the Red Wings more. I really hate the Canucks and the Sedin sisters. Go Sharks!

This post shows your lack of knowledge and lack of regard for people trying to educate and help you. Sometimes with different groups and different wing loadings, there is a lot of traffic created by the groups trying to get to the same LZ in a lot of congested traffic. Back in the day when old farts used to speak, we young uns used to listen. A LOT. I had this very conversation with Bill Jones the other day at SOS. If YOU saw Bill on a DZ, you would wonder what an old fart Colonel Sanders look alike guy was doing limping around the DZ. If he offered you some guidance, I would hope you would accept it. The problem with the young hotshots is that they don't want to listen. I have many cocky, atheletic dead friends that had canopies bite them. They were warned by old farts. You see, the thing about being an old fart in skydiving is that we have made it through some stuff. A lot of stuff. Hell, Sparky has landed all types of canopies in a lot of small areas around the world. He has more time in the DZ shithouse than you will ever get in freefall. The reason a lot of posters in here are passsionate about this issue, and our sport and guys like you is because we have seen what happens. I'm tired of watching friends breath their last gasp of air while I'm trying to help them. That's why we are concerned. Some old farts might get their rocks off by posting, "You're gonna die, punk" here on Dorkzone, but hey, remember, these guys jumped rounds and belly mounts and are a bunch of twisted dudes. Most of them have seen more friends die than you have jumps. Yeah, things aren't like the way they were back in their day. Myself, I want to help with my ideas and listen to others ideas. Maybe that next canopy collision we can prevent will be mine, or yours. Step back and relax. Fly that 135 with care. Learn it and enjoy it. Be careful. And just for the record, this 50 year old fart is usually down first on his Katana 120 loaded at 1.8.

That is a very valid point, and one I have been trying to make for a while now. And at a very busy DZ someone from the second aircraft might be the first one down. Another reason FMD doesn't work very well. If we split up LZ's, we will have to look at jump run directions, groups first out, seperation and wingloadings. It's common sense.

Wonderful post. I always tell jumpers it is actually easier to be part of the solution than part of the problem. It must be a LOT of work. Thanks for the efforts.

If you hook it in, get in a canopy collision or some other type of mishap like two out, you will want a full face helmet for sure. That's just my observation from patching up wrecked skydivers for 21 years.

Lots of nail biting in San Jose. The Caps of the West!!!!

When I host a boogie there are a few clauses in the waiver. One is that we can charge your credit card for medical care if you are incapacitated due to a skydive incident. Another is that if you don't follow all of the safety rules, you will get your jump tickets ripped up with no refund. A DZO can pretty much play be their rules. Don't like it, go jump at another DZ. I would like to see someone take a DZO to small claims court over a few jump tickets. Bolas has been to the Boogie in Belize, and as far as I know followed all of the safety rules. And I think I have the strictest safety rules going in regards to canopy flight. And where would we put the fine money? How about in a fund to help raise fallen jumpers kids. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming regarding that FAA letter.

Nah. Not yet. I'm hoping that JR's comments last night pissed Marleau off and we'll see something amazing out of him tomorrow. A game winner would be fitting. Now????

Another landing gone bad in Chicago... Epidemic.

I prefer the "Twelve Days of Jumping", but hey, that's just my opinion.

That episode launched Rome into the limelight and advanced his TV and radio show to the masses. I think Pierre Maguire, Milbury, JR and some of the others should be fired. They suck. I miss the calls of Gary Thorne, but not his pompous assed partner Bill Clement. Doc Emrick does a great job. Watching hockey on TV in the states is lame. NHL Network does a fair job of covering the games.

Sharkie fans are getting pretty nervous!

To be truthful I find that the vast majority of "swoopers" are pretty shite "canopy pilots". It's a rare bunch that really becomes a master parachute pilot. Sure "swoopers" can bust out a fatty beer line swoop, but the will bitch and moan that it's not safe to "straight in" their parachute, they can't manage the C and D license accuracy requirements on their current canopy, and wouldn't have a clue how to safely "sink one in" if their asses depended on it. +1 And most of today's swooper types you speak of wouldn't know to shit or go blind if they had to sink in and land in a really tight area due to a bad spot or other conditions. There are a great deal of weekend warriors that can't land their own parachutes safely and on target unless there is ample room and a nice breeze, IMHO.