SkymonkeyONE

Likewise, as a three-year PRO swooper who DOES look at his altimeter on every turn, I can say with confidence that I execute my turns at either 700-750 or 1000 feet, depending on what type of turn I hope to complete. Also, regardless of whether I am executing a 180 or a 270, the time it takes to complete the turn remains the same, as does the initiation altitude. There are very few people on tour who do NOT use and look at their altimeter to judge their initiation height. The reason for this is that on tour we jump over all types of terrain. Knowing that I throw my turn around four times treetop height here at Raeford (We have very tall pine trees, like the Ranch) does me no good when I am swooping the pond at Perris, which has absolutely NOTHING to judge your altitude by. That is the exact reason that swooping, at least at my level, has come so far so quickly. There is an absolute science to getting good results out of your turn. While the individual technique varies slightly among competitors, we all end up looking very-much the same overall. To reiterate: yes, most of us DO use altimeters and yes, we do know how high we throw our turns. Chuck Blue

Dude, you suck. You and Viking both get the shit-bird award for today!

I totally pull it off.

Ah! It's alive!

-Jockstrap? -Green beret? -Light coat of oil?

Funny tie-in here: The original T-shirts at my dad's DZ in Alabama said "Skydive Opelika, Buddy's grass strip" on the front, and "If you die, we split your gear" on back. Incredibly popular. Chuck

I have made the 500 mile trip to my dad's place, about a 100 miles farther down the road past ATL in six hours and ten minutes. My average time for that trip is a bit over seven hours. Five is a good figure for getting from pretty much anywhere in ATL to Fayetteville/Raeford

From downtown ATL to Raeford, the average skydiver can make the drive in about five hours.

Jim Cazer makes great risers. Actually, he provides a lot of the risers, bridles, and pilot chutes used in production rigs. Chuck

Cazer or Monkey Fist (Eddie Spears). Both are great. I like the Monkey Fist handles better than the regular hackey, but some don't like the feel of them. Chuck

Tell Roger he still owes me a deal on one for the time I jumped all his data-logger stuff on one of my wingsuit flights last time I was there. chuckie

My Velocity 79 goes 700 feet through a 270 with not much harness input. I can easily throw my turn at 1000 feet though and come out clean, without going to double fronts at all. It all depends on how much I slow the canopy down before throwing my turn, plus the degree of harness steer I put in. My 75 Velocity dives a bit harder, but, once again, I throw my 270 from between 700 and 1000 feet. Chuck

Jackass....

To the fence! Noice!

You look a lot like Mark Sunman (Sunman on here)

Bumper sticker seen on the back window of a black Dodge Power Wagon truck: "Back Off! I'm a SCIENTIST!"

What is the purpose of this exercise?

THAT was a great story.

I jump in sunglasses.

The first H-modded mains I ever saw were Heatwaves and Alphas. call skydive Monrow and ask for Joe Bennet

I will be using a Neptune as my alti on wingsuit jumps. There is simply no good wrist mount that works well with the way I fly my SkyFlyer 3. If you fly holding the "wingtips", then your wrist is rolled away from you. I am going to mount my Neptune on the leading edge of the wing or on a wedge. Chuck

I jump very short risers with whatever is over my head, my two Velocities included. As I don't use a whole lot of my control range anyway, I see no downside to them at all. Yes, I can still easilly stall my Velocities (75 and 79) with the toggles, so that is not an issue. What is most important to me is being able to QUICKLY get my slider down and stowed and having my dive loops up near full arm extension. I have two-inch longer risers on my staff rig (Stiletto 107) but don't like that I have to fish around for the slider. Chuck

actually I thought of a downside: packing. I am sure you can roll the main liftwebs off to the sides, but as I have not tried it yet, I can only think of that as a problem. Chuck

Is that a joke? While I can see how holding that one positin would, in fact, help, it is certainly not the fastest or most efficient way to build those muscles. Wide arm pushups, lat pulls, flies with dumbells all help. What do I do? None of the above. Swinging around from trees in my manner keeps me extremely strong in the shoulders and forearms. Chuck

The boss beat me to the punch.