SkymonkeyONE

Katie and I will be dragging Rancho Deluxe down there.

I have participated in at least ten ash dives. No one ever gave us any grief about it.

This only ever happens to me when I wear gloves and it's one of the reason I only rarely do wear them. If it's very cold at altitude I will wear them, but I pay extremely particular attention when I am putting my hands through the toggles before disengaging my brakes. This problem can be greatly alleviated if one stows their excess brakeline securely. If your excess is out there flapping in the wind, it's far more likely that you, like a dumbass, are going to reach up and through the excess with your hand as you are trying to grab your toggle. Try to unstow after doing that and you have just created a knot that you will likely not be able to untie prior to landing, particularly under your sub-100 pocket rocket. Seriously, stow your excess securely and take great care when you reach up for your toggles after opening. I have caught gloves in the loop at least ten times in the 24 years I have been jumping and had to land on rears because of it (with the glove still stuck in the knot on one side) at least once that I can remember. Chuck

You mean the beanie hats? Guess you should have been at the PIA symposium. I was flying them like frisbees to our loyal customers.

Skydiving as a sport is totally inconsequential as compared to other, seemingly less interesting to us activities such as bowling. Fact: there are only roughly 36,000 dues-paying members in the United States Parachute Association. That's it folks, and you can bet your ass that about 1/4 of them don't even jump anymore and simply like to keep getting the magazine. By comparison, there are 30,000 people in Cumberland County, NC (Fayetteville, Fort Bragg) who pay dues into the PBA (Pro Bowlers Association) and compete on the local and regional level. We participate in a very, very fringe activity. Chuck Blue fringe participant/competitor since January 10th, 1981.

Nice one, Jay!

Yes, the PHI is an acrobatic suit. Jari and his brother were jumping the prototype a lot last year in Deland.

That's a great statement. "Back in the day" (early '80s) it was not vogue at all to jump small canopies. Those of us who did volunteer to test jump the tiniest *gasp!* 150 square foot canopies were told we were dumb. "How you gonna do CRW with us after we dump from our 8-way under that thing?" When everyone was jumping (and even swooping, formerly just called "turf surfing") Raiders, Falcons, and Units no one seemed to care that their rigs were hanging off their backs. With the dawn of "real" high performance canopies (Excalliburs, BlueTracks, Evolutions) we still only went as small as 150, sometimes 135. Same when Sabres and Monarchs came along. With each progression, the manufacturers made sure to warn that "this is a high performance product, not to be jumped by persons with under 1000 jumps." Ultimately, when the first fully elliptical canopy PD came out (the Stilletto), they absolutely mandated that one possess 1000 jumps on a square before jumping it. Why any newbie out there today thinks anything has changed concerning the term "high performance" and "jump numbers required" I don't know. Ten years ago even the most vanity driven skydivers were still hesitant to jump the most high performance mains. Now it seems every smelly freefly kid with a nose ring on the DZ simply must find a way to buy a crossbraced canopy, even though he is just off of student status. There is simply no shortcut to acquiring the neccessary experience to fly a sub-100 main, no matter what you paid your "pro" canopy coach to tell you. If you do not possess the experience that comes with actually landing a parachute over and over and over, then you are just asking for it. Chuck

No relevence to jumping out of airplanes at all, so I moved this to bonfire.

I was talking to Alaska Jon Devore about those things at PIA. He said that, oddly, the cone head helmet he jumps does not affect his freeflying at all.

You better watch yourself buddy, or her boyfriend will kick your ass!! "SMOOTHNESS" doesn't mess around....or least I've heard that. Hey, have you heard that Scott is getting a new Velocity?

While it is true that the Deland office is shutting down, that does not mean that the company is not maintaining it's presence in the USA. Every service previously available in Deland, FL is still happening there under BMI's Ray Dutch and Pine Pinear. Likewise, all of the new stock suits that I had at the PIA symposium are now displayed and on sale at Raeford Parachute Center in SkyCAT gear shop. As there are two east coast chief instructors and we both work out of Raeford, that was the logical place to bring the retail goods. Ed Pawlowski maintains a fleet of demo suits on the west coast and runs BMI training there. Each and every BMI in the USA has access to the full demo fleet and are available to take orders for new suits and all the other products offered by the company. The only thing that has changed is that Jari has moved overseas and has simply shifted the day-to-day operations over to the European office. Chuck

The reserves displayed made out of the new fabric packed incredibly small. They had three reserves packed in identical freebags on display. The 143 made out of the new fabric was exactly the same size as the "current" 106. Unbelievable. They had one Z-braced canopy hung up on display. The bottom line with that canopy was that it is a penta-cell. Five individual chambers per line group. Very thin profile, way less line drag interesting brace design. No, I didn't take a picture of it, but as it was on display at PIA I have to believe that pics will probably be up soon on the PD website. Chuck

I had over 500 skydives when I challenged the course in '88 and had no problem whatsoever with it, but I know at least three people who attended the regular, long course with over 1000 jumps and failed because they could not fly a rucksack. Actually, I can think of at least one person with 3000 jumps who failed it. I won't mention his name, but will tell you he regularly jumped a black and gold parachute that said "army" on the bottom. Ultimately, flying a rucksack is simple; certainly on harder than doing tandems. You just have to be entirely confident in what ability you have. Guys with under 15 jumps get rucks hung on them in the MFF course and they pass.

I've got your back, Kollz!

Perry will have demo suits at that event as well. For that matter, either he or Tammie will be at every event in Florida for the next two months with suits. Chuck

I touched and played with all their new stuff at the PIA symposium and was incredibly impressed.

It's supposed to drop down into the 20's here in Fayetteville/Raeford this weekend, but I did a tandem today at two in the afternoon and it was nearly 70 outside; nice. It's been the warmest season on record here. Chuck

That's a really nice picture. Nice, efficient body position as well.

very little pisses me off more than some toggle-whipping moron spiraling down past me into the pattern under a Stilletto 135 then levelling off at 500 feet directly in my way. I have no idea what their hurry is to beat me down, even when I am trying my damndest to stay up and out of the way of slower traffic. Likewise, these same people seem to revel in setting up straight over the entrance cone to the swoop lane and then coming to a jerky stop right dead in the middle of it only to stand there and stow their brakes. Ugh. Quit it. Chuck

Strangelove, Blasphemous Rumors

You would not fucking believe how cheap used, and I mean barely used, campers cost. Go by any large RV place and ask to look at their trade-ins. My 30-footer is a 1999 model and I bought it two years ago for seven thousand dollars. There is a guy at my DZ that paid eleven grand for a FOURTY footer (tow behind) with a big slide-out; it was three or four years old. Once again, you can find fantastic deals on trade-ins at big RV places. It's better in my opinion to buy from places like that because they are going to at least make sure everything in the unit works. Chuck

I will reiterate the "sooner is better" comment. There is no 30-amp power on the airport and the 10-amp recepticles you can plug into are on weak breakers, so don't even think about running your AC. I am bringing my 5k generator just in case it gets really hot and I want clean power. They have us park RV's over beside the T-hangars, but you cannot block the doors. There are a few water spigots alongside the building, but bringing a splitter would be a smart idea if you are not one of the first to arrive and want water. Chuck

I will be working a military contract during that boogie, but I don't see any reason why she can't be there barring work commitments. Chuck

On any given day I switch between four, sometimes as many as five different mains. I do tandems under two very-different-flying mains, jump my Velo 79 for AFF and "other" stuff, and jump my Sabre2 97 for wingsuit jumps. For demos I jump a StarTrac I and when I was still in the army I jumped an MC-4 (370 square feet) quite regularly. Ultimately, if you are going to jump around as much as I do you simply have to do some practice turns and flares at altitude to get the "feel" of the canopy again prior to landing. It's not really a big deal. Chuck