SkymonkeyONE

Well, it says that you are from Raleigh, NC in your profile, so you have several choices. Yuri ("outrager" here on the forums) lives in that area and he rules in his suit. Myself and Bobby Pritchard are right down the road at Raeford and we are both Instructors. PM me and I will give you any more info you need. Chuck Also: the wingsuit forum would have been a better place to post your question.

Jari has been overseas for a while in both Finland, then Sweden for the Herc Boogie. I think Kim is in Florida still, but I may be mistaken. Read the "Richmond Boogie" thread and you will see when Jari is returning. Anyway, the deal is listed on the birdman site under the "news" page. It is also listed in "Skydiving". Chuck

Clint landed on the back of an ATV last year at Quincy during the week; it was cool. I snapped a series of pictures of it from under the AirZone tent right next to the pond. He and J.C. have also done a similar stunt in Lake Elsinore where he landed on the back of a SeaDoo. Both of those dudes are riots to be around. Chuck

Jari, I have taken leave, so unless my current luck holds, I will be there with you. Do you know what route Kim is taking out there? Is she flying or driving the van? Chuck

No

Who else is going to be there?

Nothing to it, my brother! PS: let's get together and fly our suits soon. Chuck swoop lord on hiatus

Well, I would just have to say that it's simply demand over-riding supply. Simple economics. Atair, while very popular overseas for some time now, has just come into its own here in the USA over the last two years. My first Atair canopy was actually to me in under three weeks from the day I ordered it, custom colors. The next one I got took about four weeks, and the next one five. Still, that's certainly better than the 13 weeks that I waited for my old VX or the ten I waited for my Vengeance. I think that whatever is "hot" at the time is going to back up, no matter how many Eastern European women (atair) or Hondurans (PD) are sewing them. Same goes with BirdMan Suits; they are hot and people are really getting into the discipline. Dude, all I can say is DAMN! I sure am glad I gots mines! LOL! Chuck

never heard of a Cobra.

and my Post whore crown....he'll probably catch me inside of a week..... I gotta tell you, that Peanut ain't half bad. I was on his 200th jump at last year's Quincy. Also, as a member of the exalted Alabama Gang. Chuck

Actually, if you go by the USPA sylabus for your prep, yes, you will have your student demonstrate a couple of PLFs (at least you had better if you are attending the AFF cert course under Billy Rhodes). I will make any non-airborne personnel I teach go out to the tuffet and do PLFs into the pea pit. If they don't know it, I teach them then. Chuck

No, that is not what he means. What he means is that the air inlet is rotated more "under" the nose of the canopy by way of cutting back the bottom skin in a sort of zig-zag fashion at the A-line attachment point. In this instance, it makes for better openings. the competition model is sort of a "double H-mod". In prototype form, it just snivelled WAY too long, but flew outstanding when inflated. By cutting the bottom skin back at the A's, the canopy opened faster and even smoother than a stocker. A.J. Roq, a rigger and swooper who posts here, did his own full comp mod to a stocker and got by without modifying the bottom skin by changing to a smaller slider. He says it works great. Chuck

"Every one you turn down is one you missed, and the worst I ever had was wonderful. This applies to most things in life, son." Buddy Blue D-597

I broke two fingers and a tailbone a bit over a year ago, but that's it in 21 years in the sport.

Three rides in 3050 jumps: one CRW wrap, one rigging malfunction, one BirdMan chop. Chuck

Hey Rev, Old Don Jardine is quite the hippy. Whodathunkit?

The dude on the left in the last picture is Josh "Seamonkey" Seagraves, my roommate. He reports that he had a fine time. Chuck

Around the dropzone, I keep my head in constant motion looking for other traffic. Generally, we have very little trouble along our swoop corridor. The most problems I get are from morons toggle-whipping Stiletto 120's trying to beat me to the ground under my 75; not cool. For a while, we had problems with dudes going through my airblades and getting in our way. That was fixed by the DZO stating that you were forbidden to go in the blades unless you had over 1000 jumps and my specific permission. I rarely have to bail completely, but do in fact have to modify my approach on occasion to avoid traffic. Having a swoop corridor with many outs is a plus; setting up high is another smart move. Chuck

Notice that I did that same fuck up twice in a row! Nice!

I work on the DZ all weekend, every weekend unless I am out of town on other business. I do a bit of everything, but mostly AFF and tandems nowadays. We get $30 a side for AFF and $30 for tandems. If we are not backed up, I will generally repack my own tandems and student rigs ($10 a tandem and $5 a student rig). I don't generally teach FJC's anymore at the DZ, but I am pretty sure we pay $10 per student per class, up to six students at a shot. I stay as busy as I want on the weekends, but still leave plenty of "me" time. Raeford pays by the month now and is "over the counter". That being said, I just avoid the hassle by getting paid in jump tickets seeing as how I don't really need the money anyway. I have a LOT of jump tickets. I have only been tipped three times ever and tried to turn it down, but to no avail. The only places where this really occurs regularly is Hawaii and Las Vegas as far as I can tell. Anyway, I got a $40 tip one time and was really surprised by it. I don't think I have ever seen a packer tipped at Raeford either; very few people use them here anyway and the sheer military contract volume keeps these monkeys rolling in dough. I am quite sure that two of our packers make more than any instructor on the DZ, but then again they can't really say they are skydiving for a living, which to me is the whole point of being on the DZ. Being in the air is why I am in the sport. I certainly don't need the money. I also work for my dad everytime I get back down to Alabama. I don't get paid there, but then again I have never paid for a single skydive in my life at his DZ. People who have worked for my dad will attest to the fact that he will work you to death if you let him. I was supposed to retire from the service in May and go to work full-time at Raeford. That will have to wait until they raise stop-loss, but I am more than ready to become a full time DZ monkey. Chuck

Like Justin, I was terribly susceptible to poison ivy/oak/sumac when I was younger. I still get tore up badly when I don't catch it in time now, but when I was younger it would puff me up like the michelin man and I would be a walking ooze-ball. Very ugly to say the least. Anyway, none of the home cures was effective with me, and prednisone was the only thing that would truly dry me up. That being said, if I got the shot, I would be magically healed in less than a day, minus the scabbing from my incessant scratching. Will it spread from scratching? You bet your ass it will! I don't even want to talk about how bad it can get. Ugh. Nowadays, If I get a tiny bit on me I scrub it with alcohol and then cover it with a bandage so it won't spread. Chuck

I love it when we reinvent the wheel. Another con of those bags was that everytime you deployed, the suspension lines were pulled out through the velcro closure, thus fraying them at an accellerated rate as they ground over the "hook" portion. Not something I would recommend with today's tiny lines. Then again, if you are not paying for your equipment, who cares, right? Chuck

0:15:0 It was hot on the dropzone this weekend and I am smoked. Nothing freaky to report, but my last jump of the day was a five-point six-way sequential dive with a tandem. It was Nicole Rafferty's birthday jump and her fifth tandem. Great video and tons of fun. chuck

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I have some very entertaining pictures of the Loveland family that I have yet to post. Those, along with some others that I took over the course of the weekend; very funny stuff. Chuck