SkymonkeyONE

Quit your whining, Andrea. Katie and I spent $100 to UPS our shit out there.

I have taken three breaks from the sport, all for different reasons. I quit one time because I was too broke to jump, then another time because I was bored with the kind of skydiving I was doing. Later, I walked basically away because all my jumping friends sided with my ex-wife (their teammate) after our divorce. In all that, only once did I ever sell my "last" rig. I went without gear for about a year once, but still made enough jumps to maintain my ratings. I must also say that when I say I quit, that I mean that I wasn't a regular jumper; I had other all-encompassing hobbies, but still jumped a few times a year at my Dad's place. Nowadays there are so many different disciplines to get involved in and so many decent dropzones around, I find it easier to just "change gears" and move to a different dropzone if you are not happy where you are. My biggest advice to you would be that you do NOT sell your gear. You would probably take a big loss anyway, so you might as well keep it that way you are not sucking when you decide to come back. There are people on here who have taken 25 year breaks, yet eventually come back to the sport with the fervor they originally had. Skydiving is a very social sport. It becomes all-encompassing to many people. What runs most people off from the sport is lack of a suitable social circle on the dropzone. Well, that and lack of funds. You can always get around the funds issue by pimping yourself out on the dropzone as a packaho, rigger, or instructor. In the end, it's all about how important it is to you. If it's not, then you ought not feel bad about walking away. My breaks from the sport were very, very rewarding. I became incredibly good at several different sports, plus had a blast building several very-big trucks and some ultra-nice cars. All those were very satisifying, but alas I couldn't stay away, nor did I intend to for long. The thing that sucks most about it is that while I have a LOT of skydives, some of my best friends have nearly three times as many because they never took any breaks. Chuck Chuck

Does she have a license? If not, then she is breaking the BSR's. If so, then I can't argue with her since I jumped nearly 18 years without an AAD. I still only have on in one of my rigs.

resort to your first jump course training. If you are in freefall with others (which is most of the time), then either indicate to them that your alti has failed, or just pull when the rest of the jumpers do. If you do not see anyone in freefall around you and have no other reference, then wave off and pull. You do NOT have a calibrated eyeball. If you have an audible, then you may want to ride it down to at least your first warning, assuming the ground doesn't start rushing up at you.

Eric had a knot on one side of his canopy that held the slider up and was causing it to spin wildly. He yanked and yanked on it with all his considerable might until it freed. It is a very frightening video.

Matt, you cannot cancel downwind speed; only airspeed. Nobody in their right mind would try and run out a 30mph downwinder, but plenty have surfed them out on their asses or feet. 418 is the measured competition distance record through five foot gates (the standard for Pros). That does not mean that people haven't ripped downwinders longer than that at their home DZ's in practice.

You are thinking backwards, Matt. On your final leg, you first do "the accuracy trick" to see where you are going to end up. This assuming you are not sawing your lines and are flying at a certain degree of brake. On "real" accuracy jumps, you turn into final and assume half brakes. From there, you do the accuracy trick. If you, at half brakes, are not going to make it to the target, then you can let up on the brakes to get more glide. If you are still going to overshoot, you can apply a bit more brakes and increase your rate of sink. At 100 feet (under a sport canopy), you let up on the brakes and get full speed back up for your flare. Under larger parachutes you can simply fly in at half brakes and flare the rest of the way to land on target.

I have been here for the past three iterations of the site and started regularly posting when all we had was Talkback, S&T, and G&R. I found it a much better place to post real questions and answer sincere questions. I was asked back then if some of my posts could be used on the main page, so I agreed. I already knew a lot of people on the boards, but this site has led me to many, many new friendships over the years. I have had incredible run-ins with faceless nemesis', most of which have turned into friendships after "real" meetings at meets and events. This is a fantastic site in the social aspect. It does, though, make me crazy sometimes with all it's political and religious tripe. Chuck

Hey Sky, see you very soon. Let the festivities begin. Chuck

Kaz Sheeky is the bomb. I was very pleased to have my out-of-practice ass kicked by her at SkyQuest. She is a great swooper. Chuck

Hey Becca, How is the roof of the place? Is it smooth or rough? I doubt Greg could get a kitchen pass to attend the event.

Every single person, swooper or not, is going to have their opinion about what "the best" harness and container system is. Same with mains, etc. Flight One and Team Extreme are both sponsored by Sunpath, but they are only nine people. Team Extreme was jumping Infinities two seasons ago and Reflexes before that. Team Xaos jumps Infinity. I have jumped Vectors, Javs (standard and Odyssey) and now Wings. I truthfully don't feel I harness-shift any better or worse in a two-ring harness than I did in a four-ring. I also feel I had as much control in a properly fitting non-ringed harness. There are people out there who will argue all sides, but in the end it's just personal preference. Chuck

Agreed. I am damn sure Loic just didn't go up there one time and say "let's see what I can get away with." Speculation and theory are a part of the science as well.

Craig, your mint-colored suit makes me think of Peptobismol.

i loved them for a long time... then i started landing with rears... so i do not use them anymore..... it makes the transfer from rears to brakes very odd.... Yep, I really loved my trips.....right up to the point where I started landing on my rear risers. The problems with rear risering mixed with triple riser usage are as follows: -you have more material to grab when you transition to rears. It's entirely possible to miss your grab. -when you transition to toggles at the end of your rear riser swoop, you have a very-large gap where you need to take up the slack in your lines by moving your hands down, back, or out. On "regular" risers, so long as you are pulling your rears outward, then that slack automatically gets taken up by the stationary guide rings on your risers. There is very little "pop" on a proper transition. Chuck

Hey Becca, I think I should log my hospital landing as a class I demo; what do you think? Chuckie

I very-seriously thought at least one tire was going to blow out on his campy, plus probably one spun wheel bearing. It's fantastic that that camper made it. Chuck

Watch it, Greg. You can't HANDLE the pain that I will be bringing to Eloy! Yo, monkeylip, did you hook up right there at the DZ? Chuckie

Exactly my sentiments. You can do some bad-ass flying in a Classic. Don't go out and buy a SkyFlyer or an S3 right off the bat thinking "I better do it to keep up with the Jones's". This, especially if you are are not at a dropzone with a lot of people with the high-end suits. Being the only one on your dropzone with a big suit is entirely overkill, as you will end up flying dirty in flocks to stay back with others on smaller suits. I say don't go for anything larger than a GTi for your first suit. If, magically, you do end up being the only person on your dropzone with that small a suit, then when it comes time to upsize, you will have another suit hook your buddies up with. It's always been my opinion that you can't have enough wingsuits; I own three. Chuck BMCI

I had a bit over 2000 skydives when I made my first wingsuit flight. It was at the CSS Easter Boogie in 2000. It was on a GTi and Kim Griffin showed me what to do

Yep, that chick is a fucking moron. Yep, Katie totally had it nailed on the head when she said to me "she's picking the good looking one because he can kiss." I said "typical" and watched in fascination as old girl did just that. Screw that though; how about the trailer for the upcoming "Regular Joe 2 in Hawaii?" They are totally fucking up the concept even worse on that one, importing six brainless beefcakes instead of three. Unbelievable. Chuck

I wear my "Ice" framed Gatorz all the time, for everything. They are great for skydiving. My girlfriend wears her Batrays for skydiving as well and loves them, but she does tear up a bit when it's cold outside. Batrays are small frames. Chuck

I never saw a single Onyx prototype that didn't open like a bomb. I also never saw one that didn't have an incredibly short recovery arc. I never had cause to jump the canopy because none of the prototypes were nearly small enough for me. Hans Paulson jumped one for a while, plus several others, not affiliated with Atair, jumped it at Panama City, though it was not used in competition. That said, there is another company based right outside of Atlanta, GA that actually did some work on one of their canopies and produces one that uses the same bracing, but actually flies great. Joe Bennet at Skydive Monroe is jumping one right now and I was witness to it's performance.....Very impressive. I would not be surprised to see that canopy in full production much sooner than you are likely to see an Atair Onyx on your dropzone. Chuck

I am assuming when you say "speed up your canopy on the mountain" that you are talking about ground launching. There are a couple of comanies that make harnesses specifically for this application so that you are not dirtying your rig up, plus getting hampered by it's useless (in this application) bulk. That said, like Tree said, this is not something that the average Joe needs to be contemplating. My best-friends who have done this at sanctioned events have all stated that it was some of the most demanding canopy piloting they had attempted. Thermals, rotors off the trees, swirling winds, etc, all make for an intensive ride. I have a lot of video of people botching ground launches and ass surfing down the mountain. I also have a lot of video of people getting slammed into the ground (howdy Andy!) because of their canopies collapsing. I would say that if you have a very-open mountain with a smooth slope and few trees, you might consider giving it a whirl; I know I really want to. That said, since we are talking about what people ARE using, I can tell you that the first guys were all doing it under their Stilletos and the like in fairly large sizes. Later competitions on much steeper mountains made it possible for competitors to use their smaller crossbraced canopies. Unfortunately, the runs that made it possible to use those mains left incredibly little room for error in navigation down the mountain and in landing and stopping their canopies. Chuck

I set up in deep brakes at 750 feet (+/-) then throw hard right harness as I dive down to the right in front risers adjusting with both harness and risers for accuracy.