SkymonkeyONE

Actually, in my travels I have found out something entirely different . You see, the guys that are out there making a living coaching freeflying (Dave Brown, Max Cohn, etc) just don't care at all about competing. Both have told me that there is simply no reason to waste time doing so when they can better spend their time putting together invitational events, records, and coaching. With no way for them to make any money freeflying on a competitive level (since there is no real, paying league), those guys simply focus there efforts elsewhere. There are in reality very few "practicing" freefly teams and that is the reason why there are so few teams competing at nationals. Anomoly does well in competition for two reasons: they are great freeflyers, and they actually practice routines for competition and care to compete. There are a ton of freeflyers (and skydivers in all the other disciplines) who are perfectly capable of competing and doing well (even winning), but they just don't care to spend the time training for an event that, in the end, might not get them on the invite list for the next bigway. Chuck

is a pompous, five foot tall, bald-headed idiot.

I don't know, JP. What I do know is that I have, when the condition of the landing area dictates it, been competing in battle gear (motocross pants, gloves, long tops) since the first PPPB meet in Perris in the summer of 2001. It was at that meet that people started really losing skin on their landings, even the "controlled" ones. I have way too much art work on my legs to do otherwise and I simply hate road rash. That said, there is simply no way in the world you war going to stand up, or even run out a landing under a crossbraced canopy loaded at 2.4 in a fifteen mph downwind. You simply must have a good sliding technique or you are going to ball it up every time. I don't known a single competitive swooper who hasn't lost skin at one point or another, but you are going to do what you gotta do to get the job done. It seriously would not surprise me to see the top competitors competing in lycra bicycle shorts or running tights in order to cut down on wind resistance, just like those morons do in downhill mountain biking and other cycling. Ever see those guys wipeout? Horrific example of roadrash there, but they all wear that stuff and it offers absolutely no protection whatsoever. Me? I will keep to the battle gear and protect my 42 year old body as best I can (while still making the gates). Maybe I will get Nancy Tremblay to make me a "smarter" set of armored pants. I slide nearly every single landing I do to a complete stop on my feet. The exceptions are competition zone accuracy, where I generally stand up, and competition distance, where I reach as far as possible and generally land like a long jumper (on my feet then my ass in rapid succession) since that's the point of the exercise: maximum distance. Chuck

I have been away from my computer for four days and this thread has degraded in a way that really surprised me. I would cut the "debate" part out and start it as another thread altogether, but I just don't have the time right now. Anyway, congratulations to jay for fucking killing the record! You took the lunch money AGAIN, my brother! Also, congratulations to Mark Shimmel for absolutely blistering the old record as well (and he is a CPC guy; not a pro). I hate that I missed that meet, but there will be plenty of others. Chuck

Is that red? Damn, I must be colorblind.

Your's was very nice too, Riley!

Likewise, I would like to congratulate my boy, Golden Knight Andy Leake, for his 11th place overall finish. Way to go, fool! Ian Drennan will never hear the end of getting spanked by our boy Skimmy though, I can promise you that. Great finishes, my brothers! Chuck

That poem made me spit on the monitor, Tucker!

Not in MY cart you won't.

I knew Suzie was gone because, well, she's a girl. She's a great singer, but she didn't sound very "INXSy" when she sang their songs. What they were looking for is a front-man for their band. My vote still goes to Mig. JD is a good singer, but he's a fucking dick. Chuck

I jump a .3 on my PC 109. I keep it at .3 for AFF and for very tight formation flying, but besides those activities I keep it zoomed out to about .45 (tandem videos, general flying).

Until I get overridden, this thread is going to stay in place. I find it important that people be able to put a face and a name to known thieves in this small community of ours. There is positively no excuse, medical or otherwise, which can quantify this, or any other thief's actions. While these deplorable actions are not ever going to completely go away in this society, we as participants at these events ought to have every tool at our disposal for identifying such criminals. And believe me, this guy is a criminal. Make no mistake: this guy DID steal from people and DID get caught; there is no speculation here. Your friend could have had this go very-differently from him had he been caught in some of the other tents at Rantoul, I can promise you that. He should consider himself very lucky in that regard. Any of you who call this person "friend" who knew of his "condition" ought to be ashamed of yourselves for not keeping this guy in check. Chuck Blue D-12501

two words: "private message"

That's summer down there, Matt!

It's not me that was pissed about that; it was my far-meaner dad.

I don't jump 26" risers either. Mine are only 22 right now; I used to jump 18's. I considered going to 24's (Danny Koon is smaller than me and he jumps 24's), but I didn't want to reach that high to get to my slider. In reply to the guy right above you: yes, the factory configures linesets to go with a specific length riser in order to get a "standard" of performance. "Standard" works for the great majority of skydivers, but it's not what a small group of people interested in building up the greatest amount of speed are looking for. Thinner linesets (HMA), longer risers, and various and sundry other little tricks are what gives the top one or two percentile that little edge in competition. Chuck

SkyCAT is on my dropzone. It is arguably the third-busiest gear store in the country. The phone number is (910) 875-7231. Joey D'Annunzio is the manager; give him a call. He just got back from Nationals and a trade show in Las Vegas. The store was open and manned the entire time he was gone. Chuck

None. We use Sigmas here (which all have retractable handles). Scott Campos and I own 2k3 Racer Tandems and our handle are retractable just like a Sigma, so no possibility of loss there either. Chuck

Scott Campos posted his name in another forum. I don't remember which.

I got every single one of my Licenses and I do not regret it. It gives me something other than one number to sign in logbooks when I get bored. Chuck A-8027, B-12501, C-19820, D-12501 Yes, my B and D license numbers are the same.

That's very smacky-booty. There is simply no substitute for orange and blue. Chuckie

Take your pissing contest to PM's please.

FLETC is the middle of nowhere, but thankfully it's right off of I-95. I believe you might be a tad closer to Palatka, but St. George has some good folks.

Jimmy Tranter is no longer in Deland.

Burning to DVD, and the prerequisite editing, would take up a lot of my time. I debrief my student at an editing station, but am not about to waste time editing raw footage so they can take it home. If they want to firewire it, I will do that at the end of the day, but aside from that, if they want a professionally edited video they are going to pay for an outside camera guy. I jump my side-mounted video camera (with a .3 lens) on every AFF jump I do, no matter if I am main or reserve side.