chanti

About $6200 $1780 for AFF (had to repeat some levels) $4100 for my gear (but I bought all new) The rest for coaching jumps and ISP inbetween This was 2 1/2 years ago -Chanti-

:5:2 Did some awesome 4-way this weekend. Finally our little novice team seems to be getting somewhere thanks to coaching from one of the top FS guys in SA! (THANKS AL!) Beer owed for 200th jump (yeeha!) and for screwing up an exit -Chanti-

I get to say "I told you so" a lot in my line of work -Chanti-

I second that!!

I'm an optometrist Pros: I sometimes get to be alone in dark room with a really hot guy Cons: I sometimes get to be alone in a dark room with a really creepy crusty old fuddy-duddy -Chanti-

My only one was under reserve to avoid telephone lines in a very tight, awkward spot. Cost me my femur -Chanti-

0:1:0 I second that! How is he doing now, Bev? -Chanti-

More than likely because we had two demo jump incidents this past weekend - one broken femur, one back injury -Chanti-

Capetonian accent: "Like, how's the mountain hey?" -Chanti-

Post pics! Post pics! Post pics now!!!

:0:0 No jumping. Held my poor fiance's hand in hospital - he broke his femur during a show jump HE owes beer for his first skydiving injury -Chanti-

:1:0 So much for 4-way team training. It was peeing with rain all weekend! -Chanti-

Hey Chick! Sorry this is a bit late! Hope it was a happy happy one and thanks for the sooooooo-shi! -Chanti-

Met him on the DZ when I was doing AFF and he had about 50 jumps. Thought he was very cute but I was about to leave for a working holiday in the Caribbean so nothing happened. When I returned 7 months later he had a girlfriend . Lucky for me the girlfriend ended up having a fling with a different guy on the DZ and I offered my shoulder to cry on We're getting married in October next year

Spectra actually shrinks rather than stretches due to friction from the slider grommets coming down on opening. If the brake lines shrink a lot your canopy will fly slower due to almost being in quarter brakes all the time. You will also flare with less input than usual. Also if the canopy is out of trim you will have funny/off-heading openings. Yes, I've just had my brake lines adjusted and it's a HUGE difference! -Chanti-

I've had more drunk pastients than stoned ones ... I just refuse to see them. Also had a bipolar guy who didn't seem to think he needed his medication! Eye docs may be weird ... but skydiver eye docs RULE! -Chanti-

Really?! LOL I can't post information like that - my fiance is a skydiver too! -Chanti-

***Do you like reading student stories? *** I enjoy reading them because it wasn't such a long time ago that I was a student. AFF wasn't something that came natural to me - I had to redo 3 jumps so if students post about struggling with something or having door fear or anything like that, I can totally identify with that. When I did AFF I seemed to think that someday I would reach a stage where I thought I "knew enough" ... but it seems that the more jumps I do, the less I feel I know and the more there is to learn. Also, you can learn things from all kinds of skydivers, regardless of experience levels. If you jump with a novice, you can learn things about your own abilities that you wouldn't with more experienced jumpers. So what I'm saying is: post your stories! I enjoy reading them.

(what's the first number for?) : 2 : 1 2 Huey Helicopter jumps ... 1st time so definately beer! Awesome weekend - can't wait to do that again! sorry I'm blonde, dunno what the 1st number is supposed to represent?? -Chanti-

I love that feeling of "no air" as you let go, then hearing the wind increase as you accelerate - AWESOME!!!! -Chanti-

BEER!! Just came back from my first ever helicopter jump( a Huey)! Woohoo! What an awesome feeling! -Chanti-

3 months (though I did not have a bad break - only broken in one place) I couldn't believe how quickly my muscles became weak - if you don't use it, you lose it!!! I had physiotherapy once a week for 2 months and had tons of exercises to do. The worst part was the muscle stiffness - that took a long time to go away, and even now, 4 months later I still can't lie on my right side without pain and the hip rotator muscles are still stiff. I was on 2 crutches for 3 weeks then 1 crutch for another 4 weeks after that. In hospital for 4 days and off work for 3 weeks. I started gym when I came off the crutches and for me that was the turn-around point. I worked hard but it paid off big time! As Tonto said to me:"Exercise like you're training for the olympics!". I did cycling, running and lots of weight training on the sore leg only. A wobble board also helps spatial ability to get rid of the limp. Then there's the mental aspect as well - staying positive. (That is especially hard when all your friends are jumping and having fun!) And finally, getting over the fear when you make your first jump back ... that one I'm still trying to figure out! -Chanti-

I'm still a low number jumper, so I did a clear and pull from 11K as I was not quite sure what to expect. I love those jumps too every now and then just to be sure I can do everything I need to be able to do under canopy. I've had a recent femur break so I'm not taking any chances. Also, as we are a high altitude DZ (4.5 K) and it's summer so humidity and turbulence is high, for me a clear and pull was the logical thing to do. -Chanti-

My lines are 750 HMA, not spectra, which I understand does not shrink as much as spectra does but is more prone to breaking ... is that correct? Only my brake lines are spectra (from cascade to toggle) -Chanti-