SkymonkeyONE

Uh, he lives in Connecticut. Last Katie and I heard from him, though, he was in San Diego doing some coaching.

Rumor put to bed.

Move away from the table, fat boy.

Umm....Clay is way more scary in person. Clay is not nearly as scary as some!

Did you put the requisite "Z" in your logbook? New skydivers have absolutely no idea what that letter or any of the other commonly used acronyms stand for.

There is no air to track against at 130,000 feet. The problem is that you are wearing a LOT of gear to be able to survive at that altitude. Enough so that when the air does get thick enough that you might start spinning, it's likely that you will not have enough control input via your limbs to counter it. Chuck

111 pounds per YEAR? No way. If so, I feel incredibly sorry for you blokes. That is a LOT of money.

We in North and South Carolina already have locations and tentative dates for most of our five meets this year. They are as follows: April 23/24: Skydive Coastal Carolinas (FINALIZED) May 21/22: St George, SC (with their new pond!) June 25: Chester, SC July 30: Raeford, NC Date TBD: Parkton, NC We do not have Coastal Carolinas guaranteed yet, but would really love to do a meet out on the beach there. It must be noted that they have a wingload restriction on this dropzone and some potential competitors may not meet their criteria. Smart skydivers will notice that these dates overlap those of the Carolina Skydiving League (NSL) four-way meets; this is by design. We intend to run our meets on the Sunday of those competition weekends, thereby guaranteeing a captive audience and more business for the DZO hosting those events. Likewise, if clouds are low, there is no reason we cannot conduct our meets. All of our meets will be "standard" class. We have secured major sponsorship for our course materials and have been guaranteed plenty of prize incentive to bring the "right people" to our meets. It ought to be a fun season. PM me if you want more info on the league Chuck Blue

Wow, that's sad to hear.

Dude, if you took a 3300 mile route (one way) to Lost Prairie from anywhere in Pennsylvania, then I gotta tell you "you should have took a left turn at Albuquerque." Make sure you have the map right side up next time.

Likewise. I don't clear anything but the stabilizers, throw the main on the ground and cocoon it, roll it up like a sleeping bag and jam it in the bag. The only people I know that get slammed by Velos are the lazy freefly team on my dropzone that always has a metiulous packer pack for them. One guy on this team has at least four chops on Velos in the past two years, all of which I attribute to poor body position. Also, my velo has never gotten around more than once on me in the two years I have been jumping them. A good strong throw combined with a stable body position helps any canopy open straighter. Chuck

BWAHAHAHAHA! I have been there and done that (as far as the solid cover goes) and it's a roll of the dice where you come out if you follow the wrong guy.

It's a very good looking rig, Bill.

Derek was the former moderator of this rigging forum and co-moderated the swoop forum with me for quite a while. He did extensive live testing on the common version of velcro slider stowing and found no hesitation whatsoever on his cutaways (with his tertiary reserve for safety). Ultimately, the risk of chopping a main that is already flying cleanly and which you have already had time to pull down and stow the slider is infintesimal at best. If you run headlong into someone and get into a canopy wrap you might find yourself in that stowed configuration and having to chop, but Derek's testing results should alleviate anyone's concern about being hung up by the stow. It simply is not an issue, nor have I ever in my life heard of an actual instance where a velcro stow failed to release in a cutaway. When I was still using a non-removable slider I wanted it stowed as low and as tightly as possible. Not only to reduce the parasitic drag and to allow me full harness freedom, but to greatly aid my peripheral vision. Any of the "riser tit" options (like I have on my Sabre2 97 BirdMan rig) are fine for getting the slider low enough that my harness opens up upon chest strap loosening, but they still let the slider ride up high enough that it hangs up on my camera (when worn) and really hampers my vision to the sides. Feel free to get with the program, mister Master Rigger, and let's build you some smacky-booty removeable sliders! No charge for that tip, monkeylip. Chuck

You would suffocate in that thing. Ugh.

The red one is a copy of an original BirdMan Classic and the Yellow/Blue one is a copy of the Classic II. Not sure what the little rectangles on the knees and booties are supposed to be for on the Yellow one. Chuck

I'd have to say, "Lets put a GPS on him", and check those Neptunes..... Ed I stood right there on the ground in Deland at the end of the day during the last time I was there (during the bigways, but a day later) and timed Jay with a watch. He did it out of the Porter with many of us watching.

Jay Moledzki goes a full minute from five grand with legal openings all the time at Deland when he is bored.

I had some great times with Ralph at PIA this year. The man is a menace! He caught me unprepared on a coin check and forced me to drink with him; the bastard! Chuck

Definitely Skydive Opelika. Technically, though, that DZ would be defined as "UCLA" or Upper Corner, Lower Alabama. Chuck

completely off topic here, but since Bill Booth just posted to this thread I simply must tell you all that he is an incredible classic pianist. My wife and I sat there slack-jawed as he sat down to the grand piano in the social area on the second floor and proceded to just work the ivory to a pulp with some classical renditions, just screwing around. Flawless..... Bill, I don't know how much classical training you have, but I was incredulous at your performance. Bravo! Chuck Blue

Pete Luter in NC does nothing but jump his wingsuit. I don't think he has made a regular skydive in three years. Same for another older guy out at Perris. Same for Cancer Chris and I would be willing to bet Scary Perry as well. As far as keeping a suit rigged up, I have had a full-time wingsuit rig for the past four years. Chuck

Matt already has an S3, Perry. He was on the bigways in Deland with us.

While the larger tent was nice and spacious, I truthfully think it was overkill. I never encountered more than about 15 people at one time inside last year and think we had more than enough room the year before. My vote is for the standard size tent, but I will donate either way. Chuck

And you just figured that out, Bets?