SkymonkeyONE

Actually, there were three Competition Cobalts initially- a 75, an 85, and a 120- until the demise of my 75 in round one. I was allowed to switch in my H-mod 75 for the remaining rounds, thankfully, but had not jumped it in nearly two months and was not making efficient turns under it due to lack of practice. There were also at least two Crossfires in the competition, Hans Paulson doing the best of that crowd. Had it not been for one chow in the accuracy competition, Eric would have probably taken the "overall" title had one been announced. The intermediate competiton had at least five Atair canopies; two Cobalts and three Alphas. I must say that I was heartbroken when my Competition Cobalt was rendered inoperable. I had been practicing on that main all week long over the course and had it VERY dialed in. The collision tore off the left A-line, A-B cascade, left stabilizer, and D-line. All this because a cameraman was standing directly behind an airblade on the inside turn of the course when I came whipping through. This, after being warned away by the other cameramen that he needed to move back. I was low in the course and had struck the previous blade (a one-second penalty), but would have definitely kept on flying had I not snagged that guy. I was clearly inside the course and he was definitely in an unsafe location, as evidenced by him ending up in the hospital with line burns. An unfortunate string of events for both parties. Hopefully, Dan will get that parachute fixed and back to me soon. Chuck My webpage HERE

Nah. What it looks like to me is sort of a Hawkeye LT, but with a full forehead, just like a current Mindwarp. Also, the internal audible port on the other side is a sort of elipse; very discreet. On the side-camera side, there is a small ledge at the bottom to keep whatever mount or box you use from slipping down. Chuck My webpage HERE

The old school says that that you accelerate at a rate of 32 feet per second until reaching your terminal velocity at 12 seconds of freefall. Today, with all the varying methods of freefall, a person might average from 35mph (birdman flight) to over 240mph (speed skydiving). The Protrack is a neat tool to get fairly precise freefall times, though I am not about to spend $350 on one. Chuck My webpage HERE

I am much more in control of my facilities now that I am married. And hey, how much trouble can I get into in an 86 Volvo with 350,000 miles on it? Chuck My webpage HERE

The fog was like pea soup, so all the dust kicked up just covered the previously-white car. Lovely. We found lots of nice hits to get airborne off of also. Chuck My webpage HERE

Rhonda, speaking of Firestarter: do you know if Craig is going to post thumbnails of all the competition pictures he took at the meet? I bought a big print of one of my runs, but would love to get some of the others. Chuck My webpage HERE

That wreck was on at least five cameras and was shown repeatedly at the Saturday night party. Thanks for transporting me, the king of all skymonkeys, in style to SD. Chuck My webpage HERE

I hated to leave Monday morning and thus miss the festivities this coming weekend, but I was absolutely drained after the swoop meet and all the partying that went along with it. I am sure it will rock. Chuck My webpage HERE

I believe it's www.teamfirestarter.com/ I just checked it and it does not have the new stuff. I will have to see if he plans on posting fingernail pics so we can order more. Chuck My webpage HERE

If you just want to do it for the adventure of being a front-line Ranger, then go at it that way. If you want more cash and the same fun (and have at least 60 hours of college) then go OCS. Kenni Thomas (of Blackhawk Down and Somalia fame) was a University of Florida graduate that just wanted to do the deed. He enlisted in the service as an 11B and went straight to RIP and the 3rd Ranger Bn. Did his time as an action guy and got out to sing lead in the band Cornbread. Bottom line is do what you want. My old roommate Colin Britton got out one year after he failed the Q-course, spent 13 years out of the service doing a wide variety of jobs, then reenlisted as a private to get back through the ranks and into the course. Unbelievable dedication and desire to wear the green beret. He is now an E5 again and back in phase 2 of the course. Chuck My webpage HERE

I closed the Bombshelter bar every single night but once during my trip. Now THAT'S hard core. Chuck My webpage HERE

Eric and my partying sent one man to the hospital and another running for his life. The bunkhouse was not a safe place to sleep is that is what you were there to do. We split a rental car (read: off-road vehicle); a chevy cavalier. After an entire night of partying, we hopped in it and ran up and down the motorcycle trails doing J-turns and brodies. He popped a tire off the rim and got rocks in the wheel at one point. Drove over to Bonehead at 7:30 am and filled the tire back up. At slow speeds after that is was like "rattle rattle rattle". It's better to burn out than fade away. Chuck My webpage HERE

It was nice drinking with you Sam. Sorry I didn't get up with you again on Sunday, but Saturday turned into an all-nighter and then some. Next time! Chuck My webpage HERE

Dude, I was seriously nappy headed when Jack took that picture. I had Raymond Adams cut my hair the next day. Hadn't slept in over two days, but still had the energy to skydive. For REALLY cool pictures, I think Craig O'Brien has all of the competition pics on his site. Chuck. My webpage HERE

Yes, we have definitely done this thread before, but then again I always think of something dumber I have done. First: as a young 19 year old troop in Germany, a friend and I went on a tour to an amusement park (Holiday Park for those of you over there). We were piss drunk and riding on the log ride. On the way up the conveyor belt to the top, we were screwing around and elbowing each other hard in the "log". Anyway, my buddy Dan Feess (who later taught at Perris and is now in Hutchison, MN) elbowed me over the back of the log and I tumbled down the conveyor just as it was cresting the hill! I found my footing, jumped over the guard rail to the catwalk (over 100 feet up) and crouched down so nobody would see me. As the first log came up the hill with an empty seat, I jumped over the rail and into it. Incredulous, the German family in the log jumped back out of the way and let me in. When the log made it all the way to the end of the ride I jumped out and ran like hell. Luckilly, I was not caught and kicked out of the park. Luckier, I was not seriously injured. Second: While working as a lifeguard at Nags Head, NC in 1987, a friend and I were prone to high speed transits across Highway 64 from Plymouth to Manteo. At the time I had an 85 Corvette (the first of three I have owned) and he had a brand-new Grand National; both were black. His car would run 137 before the computer chip cut the fuel, so that is what we would run the entire way across Aligator Alley, not more than 10 feet apart the entire way. Long story short: we got hit with instant-on radar, ran, got caught and went straight to jail. Lost our licenses for three years and paid a hefty fine. It seems they were not impressed with our display. Another car story: 178 MPH with the top out and two girls in the car (one sitting on the center console) between Fort Walton Beach and Destin, FL on the thin strip of land that connects Santa Rosa Island to the mainland. Blew right past a pair of cops sitting near the radar station along the road. Neither bothered to even turn their lights on and I got away clean. Again, fairly drunk in a 43k '97 Vette. DUMB. My webpage HERE

A smooth carving one-riser dive of between 180 and 270 degrees followed by rear riser input to get around the corner is what wins all swoop competitions; period. Some will sit in deep brakes until their desired entry altitude, then release brakes, dial their riser dive and haul ass. Others, like me, fly along at full flight, zig-zagging off altitude to get to our desired turn-entry point. Left and right corrections can typically be made by loosening or tightening the turn radius with the "diving" riser. Come out too high still and you can go to double fronts. If you have to "stab" at all, then you are going to have a shorter surf than if you let up on your fronts in perfect time with the natural recovery arc of your main. Remember, fast does not neccessarily translate into long. Chuck My webpage HERE

Hey Fonz, for such an arrogant computer nerd, you ought to be able to upload a forum picture properly. Yours is broken, so FIX IT NERD!

I have had the opportunity to see a lot of Xaos canopies in action from Mikeal Stevens' 53 up to a 100. They are very competitive in the hands of experienced pilots as evidenced by Shaylan's victory at the June PPPB meet. I consider the Xaos a "better FX", but would probably wait for the 27 if I were going to jump ship and buy something other than Atair. Lots of people are already on the Xaos wagon: Rook Nelson, Andy Farrington, Andy Anderson, Shaylan, Mikeal, etc, etc. Chuck My webpage HERE

There are also plenty of Cobalt vs Crossfire comparisons here in the archives. Just do a search and you will find it all. Bottom line is that they both fly VERY similar. Chuck My webpage HERE

I just flew cross country to Perris and back for the PPPB world games. I checked my rig and all my other junk in my big rolling bag. Carry-on would not have been a problem either; I asked. They didn't even ask about it when they searched my bags at check-in. Chuck My webpage HERE

It is available right now. Call Jeanie or Chris and see what the deal is as far as shipping goes. It's a neat helmet and seems much more suitable for camera mounting than fiddling with shims and stuff on regular helmets. chuck My webpage HERE

OK, here is a brief synopsis: there were 62 competitors total. I think there were 20 intermediate and 42 Pros. Official winners are as follows: Pro speed was won by Heath Richardson, formerly of Psycho Cirkus and now teaching for MonkeyClaw. Pro Accuracy was won by J.C. Colclasure, as was Pro Distance. Two-man team speed was won by the team of Wyatt Drews and Jay Moledski. The intermediate competition was won by Rick (forget his last name) from Atlanta. There was a total of $6000 in prize money, with every first place finisher getting $1,200. Each member of the two-man team winning team recieved that amount; nice! The meet was outstanding and I had a blast even though my competition main was rendered inoperable on round one of Pro Speed. I was low and fast in the course (left-hand carve) and clothes-lined a guy who was standing DIRECTLY behind an inside blade as I was banking left. I went from 50 mph to zero in a millisecond and got a fair amount of road rash on my right forearm. At least three other people had wiped out in the same spot prior to me coming through, yet this person remained there shooting video even when warned to move clear of the course by other video staff. This man, the lawyer for the PPPB association, went to the hospital with severe line burns to the neck, face and upper back. I feel terribly sorry for him, yet am very disappointed that because of his mistake I was forced to jump my back-up main on which I had not made a single jump in over two months. Not to mention the fact that it ruined a one-of-a-kind main which by all rights would not have been damaged by the blade strike itself. The bottom line is that I did not fare very competitively under that other main (it has a different nose modification and you have to fly it differently). Motocross pants saved my lower extremities from extreme road rash; this was another perfect example of form following function. At least half of the competitors now wear MX pants and some type of pads. Mikeal Stevens of the Precision Xaos team got the worst case of road rash of the meet. He balled up his Xaos 53 in the corner and was only wearing shorts; what a mess! He didn't whine at all, though, and drove on with style even though his ass stuck to his sheets every night. Of keen interest is the fact that one of the intermediate competitors flew his main right into the pond on front risers, only stabbing out at about three feet off the water. He went straight in and didn't even skip. On him were his PC-1 video camera, two audibles, his Cypres and I think even his cell phone!! All were ruined and this guy had to be fished out of the pond. Needless to say, he didn't finish the meet. Also of interest is the fact that there were three women in the top seven; Kerry Farrington finishing second. Man, can that chick swoop! I did have a great time on the trip and cannot thank Nelson and Mark enough for giving me rides to and from San Diego. It was also great meeting Sam Parduhn on Saturday night and meeting and partying with Lisa (skybytch) earlier in the week. I am sure she can relate that you have to work VERY hard to stay up with me in the fiesta department. Sorry that I didn't get to meet those of you that were there but not feeling social (Bill Von, et al), but it's not for me not trying. I did not compete in the team speed event because we did not get any practices done, but that's OK as I was not really in any condition to jump on Sunday anyway. Staying in the Perris bunkhouse is always an adventure when the swoop tour is in town. This time though, some people just couldn't hang with the partying and bailed to the security and comfort of hotels. By Sunday the bunkhouse was a ghost town and I was ready to get the hell out of town. Unfortunately, I had to wait till Monday to fly home. Mark picked me up at 0500 and took me back to SD. We made it there with plenty of time to spare, so all was well. More later.. chuck My webpage HERE

I just popped into Bonehead Composites and Chris showed me the new "Optik" helmet. It looks like a much smarter option than bolting a D-box to the side of a Mindwarp. It's got a flat portion on top, kind of like the old "Da Bomb" helmet or a Hawkeye, and also a flat portion on the left side. There is a very stylish internal audible position on the left. It comes stock with a chin cup and the ratchet. I think it costs like $300 bucks. NOICE!! Chuckie My webpage HERE

I just popped into Bonehead Composites and Chris showed me the new "Optik" helmet. It looks like a much smarter option than bolting a D-box to the side of a Mindwarp. It's got a flat portion on top, kind of like the old "Da Bomb" helmet or a Hawkeye, and also a flat portion on the left side. There is a very stylish internal audible position on the left. It comes stock with a chin cup and the ratchet. I think it costs like $300 bucks. NOICE!! Chuckie My webpage HERE

All is well in Perris. More and more friends have been arriving daily. The practice has become more intense and the partying has also amplified. The last few days we have all been running the "speed" courses. Yesterday afternoon Reggie set up the Accuracy course, but only a few got to run it before the winds kicked up. We are doing that all day today, then maybe the distance tomorrow, though you can actually practice that through the accuracy course. I am keeping with true skymonkey tradition by getting hammered every night, along with my teammates. Hope some of you West Coasties make it out for the meet and to party with me. It is impossible to miss me, but if you do, just ask around. I am currently over at Bonehead Composites having a cocktail, so let me shut up before I get bitched at for tying up Jeanies computer. Later kids! Chuck My webpage HERE