SkymonkeyONE

Chris Grenner and those guys jump out of Cessnas all the damn time. I am sure he will pipe in and give some tips. I try to avoid it, but here is what I have done on the few occasions that was all that was flying: I sit in the "student" position, then put my feet out with the leg wing collapsed; feet crossed left over right. I cross my left arm over my chest and sort of roll out forward and towards the rear, catching a bit of air with my right wing to get me away to the left of the tail. After about one second, I pop my wings and fly off. I was not comfortable trying any sort of poised exit; the dive worked fine. Chuck

If you are referring to what specific brand, I can only give you my recommendations, as everyone on here will have both good reviews and horror stories on every brand out there. I used to wear Tony Suit Pit Specials, but ended up changing over to Michigan comp suits as my primary suit. Both can be had for about the same amount of money and both are great, as are Bev suits, Zoot Suits, and several other major manufacturers. Less known, but outstanding, are the suits that Tim DiAnnunzio sells under his Paraclete banner (formerly Diveralls). I have one of his newest comp suits and have owned about six others over the years. Another small company that makes good suits is AirWear by Wendy. Her suits are quite nice and very affordable. She is also one of the few jumpsuit manufacturers who will do mods to other suits without bitching about it. She has a small ad in the back of every Parachutist and Skydiving. She built my skysurfing suit for me and it has held up for over a decade. Chuck

Every manufacturer out there makes fast comp suits. People in need of a faster fall rate generally go for a nylon front and spandex forearms. Chuck

Rob, also post it under "jumpsuits" in the classifieds as well as "misc." That being said, I will allow notices of wingsuit sales or wants here in the forum until HH tells me I can't. Our flock is small enough that I don't think things will get cheesy or cluttered so long as we keep it solely wingsuits. I know that without a specific wingsuit section in the classifieds in can be a pain to locate them. Another good source for used wingsuits is in the wingsuit forum on the BASE board and sometimes the marketplace on www.bird-man.com Chuck

Back when I was competing 4-way on a regular basis, I was also shooting video for other teams at meets just to keep busy and sometimes defray the cost of my competition fees. Back then (late 80's- early 90's) every video guy I knew was doing the same thing. The video guy was TRULY an alternate; not in just name. He or she was expected to have equal skills to the others on the team. Back then, in the VHS-C days, teams would often split the cost of one camera rig and rotate jobs to maintain currency in all positions. This made for a more well rounded team that wasn't sucking bad if they had an injury or a member that couldn't make a meet. I, unfortunately, can never wear a camera helmet again due to the neck injuries I sustained from jumping my Sabers and Monarch's. Today's teams are far more specialized and clinical in their training regimen. Odd, though, that team averages aren't really any different at the recreational/semi-serious level than they were over a decade ago. I still see some teams with FS skilled video men, but more and more all I see are hired guns wearing the camera. Not that I think that is bad at all, just different than it used to be. Anyway, to answer the original question, I say that the video guy is most certainly a member of the team, so long as he is either a true video/alternate, or a full-time vidiot for the team. chuck

You mean that he made a couple of jumps then someone ratted him out for being under 18? Very lame. No problem here at Raeford, we train plenty of 16 year old skydivers.

Yes, everyone is required to do hop and pops, though I have met a guy with 500 jumps who has never jumped below ten thousand feet. Obviously, his shit was pencil whipped. As for low shows: I feel they are an absolute neccessity. What the hell are you going to do if the engines quit at two grand? Get the hell out, of course. But, if are not able to exit in a stable postion, then you are hosed. Around here, we REGULARLY lauch 4-ways out of the Cessna from 3 grand on weather days. Chunk it, turn one point, track and dump by two. Nutty? Not at all. Our static line students have absolutely no problem whatsoever doing low jumps because their first jumps were from three grand. They get over that anxiety early. Hell, they start out thinking three grand is high, since that's their first experience getting out of a plane. Chuck As for the actual "pushing" out of someone who is clearly nervous, that is bad juju. Now, having someone crawl out on the step then balk is plenty of reason to start hollering at them. They need to exit over the spot or they will end up landing out.

I generally sport a very-custom blue metallic with neon orange flames BoneHead Mindwarp. It has blue velvet "pimp" trim. I keep a Pro Dytter in it and always jump in sunglasses; generally RayBan Predator 8 wraps (like the Golden Knights are issued). I also have a custom painted original, non-flip Factory Diver that I wear in the tunnel and for fast 4-way sequential. I also wear it when it's cold outside, which is very infrequently here in North Carolina. Chuck

Absolutely true. Just because people don't incorporate and hang a shingle doesn't mean that they aren't more than willing to teach and coach. I freely give my time to anyone who asks, as do most other professional swoopers I know. At least where I am, when someone does something assinine, I am the one that is tasked by the DZO to go over and school the offender. Still, even the most experienced canopy pilots get injured on occasion. Generally, it will be the result of nutty wind conditions, but occasionally someone biffs in trying to avoid other traffic. At Raeford we have a system in place for setting maximum wingload according to experience. It was adopted by the military S&TA on Fort Bragg and applies to all servicemembers. Does it help? Yes, but the great majority of canopy mishaps which lead to injuries are from novice and intermediate jumpers under larger canopies. Basically, people forgetting their training and just failing to fly their canopies all the way to the ground. Chuck

the Newer Infinities are very nice rigs. Just about everyone at my dad's dropzone jumps them. I just about bought one instead of my last Jav, but wanted a 4-ring harness and loved the cut-ins on the Odyssey. Chuck

If the demo you got had a short toggle stroke, then it had either been dumped in a pond a bunch of times and shrunk up, or were just re-set too tight by someone who had previously demo'd it. Either way, nothing you said even remotely defines the way my two mains fly. Stall? I have never stalled a Cobalt; stock or otherwise. Still, I am not saying you are mistaken; it is very possible that you got a bad canopy that had in fact been either dunked or toyed with. Where do you jump? I will have that main sent to me for testing. Chuck

I am a complete BoneHead fan (I own two), but I have to tell you that I think the Boomerang is one ugly son-of-a-bitch. We have one in SkyKat that I tried on and played with. I think the worse thing about it is the bulbous back-of-head look and fit, like the current generation Mindwarp and Havok. I really like the internal audible location and don't mind the lens, but all three "new" helmets would be much better looking without the pointy rear section. Switching to the "last year's" Mindwarp style as a base would greatly help I think. Maybe Chris will read this and take a hint. Did I mention that BoneHead rocks? Chuck

2 (kick ass parties I attended):3:0 Weather blew in Saturday afternoon and it really curtailed the jumping. It rained cats and dogs from yesterday all the way into today, in spurts. Oh well, one of my jumps was a tandem for a friend's 18 year old daughter (she had a blast). Chuck

Nice. That is a very stylish jumpsuit he is sporting, too! Can't go wrong with orange and blue. Chuck

Uh, NO; don't; not if you are wearing Tevas or other Sandals. it's completely gay and is reserved specifically for Soccer players and other candy-asses. There was a guy at Bill Rafferty's party in the bar last night (a local radio DJ as well as a skydiver on the 82nd parachute team) who got caught wearing socks with his sandals. We all started chanting "take off those socks" until he buckled and removed them. That habit came directly from soccer homos and somehow bled over into mainstream acceptance; very unfortunate. It is absolutely not cool, no matter how often you see it on MTV. Chuck Blue a person that generally does not wear shoes at all and is proud of it.

I have eaten a lot of monkey (really) in Panama; outstanding. They cook it on little hibachi's outside of nightclubs and call it "carne de res" (roast beef). Served like a shishkebob, it's just want a drunk needs at three in the morning.

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday and today, but we still got off four Otter loads and about 10 Cessna loads before it got too shitty. It rained cats and dogs all last night and into the morning, so I stayed at home today. Still, Bill Rafferty had his 45th birthday party in the bar last night and it was off the hook. Very nutty.

Not at all. Skreamer, Froggie, Zennie, triple F, and Freaksis will beg to differ. Clay didn't find out about dropzone.com until well after the "old" site was long gone. Chuck

I have owned three Javelins, four Vectors, and several "other" containers. My current two containers are both Javs. One Odyssey and one 1998 XRS. Neither of the two have ever had flaps come open, but I have seen some larger ones that have that problem. What that stems from in all of those cases was a too-loose main container. The smaller ones, especially in the last several years, are very tidy packages when you have them set up with correct size main and reserve canopies for that size. As for dropzone preferences, that is just how it goes. Raeford used to be nearly completely Jav/Stilleto, now there is a great variety of gear on the DZ. It just takes a couple of people jumping other gear to get people thinking differently. Nowadays, there is absolutely not a "best" anything. Chuck

Perris, The Ranch, Coolidge, Opelika, etc.

April, if you are talking about where to stay during the pond swoop nationals, I recommend camping on the DZ. You would not believe the shit that goes on there. As for hotels, there are several right out on the NY state throughway at New Paltz. We had a room there last year and I don't think it ever got slept in but once. New Paltz is about 8 miles from The Ranch, if I recall correctly. Chuck

I can name at least five dropzones where you can skydive from 13,500 for $15, but that is not the point. The point is whether people should bitch or not about the amount they spend at a boogie. I never bitch about money unless something key (like the free beer or food) falls through.

I love a good boogie. I have absolutely no problem paying an entrance fee, so long as there is entertainment and chow/beer. Lift prices, in my opinion, should not be any higher than the dropzone normally charges, though, if there is an entrance fee charged. I don't mind paying $20 a jump at a boogie if there are some interesting aircraft or other special draw. It's pretty damn cool that so many dropzones are offering cut-rate prices for turbines on a regular basis. For those of you interested in amassing numbers, that is your best bet for a skydiving vacation. For those of you in it for the pure spectacle, making new friends, and blatant nig-noggery, boogies are for what you want. Chuckie

Well, I spent two and a half hours in the wind tunnel yesterday and two hours in there this morning. Only got booted in the head once (spinning pieces) and of course it was free. Can't bitch. My wife's health is improving. I have 29 jump tickets in my logbook waiting to be used, though I rarely pay for jumps anyway. I own two BirdMan suits. I have plenty of AFF and tandems lined up this weekend to pay for my beer, etc.

[hijack] speaking of dogs, there used to be a dude that jumped at Barnwell, SC with his dog all the time. He wore the little nipper across his belly in a thing that looked like an arm sling. He loved the freefall, but would shit all over his master on opening; nice. I think the dude's name was Woody. [/hijack] Chuck