SkymonkeyONE

You should actually have your "M" by today, Mark.

Damn, you silly redneck, don't you recognize an AIR COMPRESSOR when you see one? Shit, man! You mean YOU don't have air tools in YOUR two-story workshop? Chuck

WAR DAMN EAGLE!

Yes, there is a ton of '80's music that is fantastic. No, none of it was from "hair" bands.

I know many, many people who still jump round chutes (as well as square ones). As a matter of fact, my wife jumped a round chute yesterday. Chuck

I don't want to get in the middle of this, Yuri, but Matt does have a degree in Aeronautical Engineering unless I am mistaken. I doubt he is "absolutely wrong", but it is possible that you misinterpreted what he wrote. Either way, I agree with what Jarno wrote in the "fastest" thread.

I agree. You can make that much skydiving at a "real" dropzone.

A complete steal at $5,900 USD with only 5,500 miles on the clock! It's an '03 model. I have spent around $500 total on the pipe (a Jardine RT-one), an open airbox, the bar-end mirrors, and the "pasta strainer eliminator" tail section.

A smart person would actually fly straight into Fayetteville. Depending on what airline you choose, it's basically the same price to either FAY or RDU. The meet is actually in Laurenburg, but you would have the best chance of getting a ride if you flew into FAY. RDU is about 75 miles up US-1 from Laurenburg. Chuck

You are right on the money, Tree. I would not let you jump any canopy loaded at 1.4 until you had, ready to guess, 400 skydives.

That's a couple of good posts by you in a row. Also, I would like to second that Bonnie said: I keep my eyes on the student and don't really pay attention to what my body is doing to maintain that proximity. It's just automatic when you are skydiving at the "very-experienced" level. Here's what I can relate to you from my younger days: I remember very clearly thinking that I could skydive very well at around 100 jumps. Hell, it was then that I got my SLJM rating. I could do pretty much anything, but had to talk myself through what I needed to do with my arms and legs to get to that next point on an RW dive. At 200 jumps (when I got my SL-I), things started getting easier because I just had to remember what the point was called and my body would just sort of do it. I stayed very busy teaching SL students at the miltary club I jumped at, but then really got interested in four-way. At 500 jumps I had lived through a couple of reserve rides (one under a round) and could pretty much anticipate what a student was going to do, but still got smoked in the AFF course because I suffered from a "four-way mindset". What that means is that I was used to doing blind turns and having my teammates still be right there where they should be. I un-fucked myself most-haste and figured out that I had better be very proactive when dealing with any and all students. It was over 1500 jumps later that I finally went got back and got my AFF ticket. I had been chasing SL freefall students on their 30 and 45-second delays for many, many years by then and knew what it took to stay with a "loose canon". Nearly 1000 AFF jumps later I doubt that there is anything a student of any size could do to get away from me. Chuck

Mamba....period. The Z-1 is an injection-molded-plastic toy. The Mamba is a proper skydiving helmet. It's also got a much-user-friendlier latching mechanism. It's also made in America by a good friend of mine. It's also very tough! Quick story: Larry Sherling, the former general manager of SkyCAT gear shop) just had his Mamba blow (or get yanked) off his head on exit yesterday. The helmet landed from 12,500 feet about five feet from a guy on our skydive and only suffered a cracked visor frame; still totally usable. Chuck

Not in every country. You need to remember that this is not an "american" website.

I have gotten out of the plane below 2000 feet on a number of occasions (with a StarTrac), but only when a certain number of criteria were met: Airspeed; what canopy I was about to deploy; wind conditions on the ground. I don't have any problem whatsoever getting out at two grand assuming I have the right canopy over my head. I wouldn't hesitate to do it all day long with my Sabre2 97, but I would not do it (except in an emergency) with my Velo 84. Chuck

The oil tank is in the swingarm and the frame is the gas tank. What appears to be the gas tank on my bike is just a plastic dome that covers the K&N air filter and the ram air components. The bike is fuel injected and the velocity stack comes straight up through the middle of the frame.

Buell is 51% owned by HD, but the bikes are entirely the mind-product of Erik Buell. The engine is a very-modified HD sportster engine, but makes over 25 hp more. The frame is made in Italy, as are the wheels. It's an angry little motorcycle.

I think I might possibly draw 24k a year in unemployment, in between my contract jobs.

On the same note, I was just trying to logon to the Buell forums (www.buelletinboard.com) and found out some fucking moron had hacked the site and disabled the forums! Unbelievable what some kids find amusing.

You can put it on a drip, but I am not sure if I would recommend it to anyone after my experience! Who would have thought you would taste the liquor if it was infused via I.V.? No, I didn't die (obviously), and yes, I got very drunk almost immediately. Yes, it was a stupid army trick.

I actually traded my FXR, The RedBone Express, for my bagger (the gold 2001 FLTR in the pics).

I am a Harley guy, but am really pleased with some of the other american offerings these days. Glen (Vectorboy) and I both own Buells, so I figured I would post pics of mine (which I actually bought for Katie) to show off. It's a custom XB9S Lightning if you were wondering. I threw in pics of both of my bikes for shits and grins. Chuck

While I never really did any technical climbing, I did used to live in Colorado and used to boulder and hike a buch of steep stuff. I also still own my own gear and used to go to the climbing gym pretty regularly. I have been a LOT more exhausted climbing than I have ever been on any skydive. I have also been a lot more scared on a climb (at muscle failure) than I have ever been on a skydive. While I like climbing, I just don't have the time to spend doing it and I just don't see myself travelling somewhere "just to climb." It's neat, but not that neat. That said, I was really strong when I climbed (and when I barefoot waterskiied a bunch) and I ought to do something to get back into shape like I was then. Same for diving. I was a diver all but three of my 21 years in the army. I really like diving, have a PADI dive master rating, have done a lot of technical dives, and even got paid for it, but I really would not consider it as a primary hobby/sport. It's fun, but not that fun. Skydiving is far more socially rewarding to me. It's absolutely worth it for me to travel around and attend skydiving events. Chuck

Most "real" gear shops (those that have an actual building and full-time employees) have a great variety of helmets in stock at all times. What do you want? My recommendation is SkyCAT. (910) 875-7231. Chuck

Quite a few people jump with exactly the helmet you posted the pic of. Nothing wrong with it at all.

One thing I noticed upon taking my cursory glance to the other site is the huge number of moderators they have! Ugh!