SkymonkeyONE

No, "BoogieGod" was the same design that Danger is talking about I think. The shirt in question had a guy standing there in flip flops, sun glasses, his gear, and had a bunch of people standing around him begging him to jump with them. People in the background flying into trees, etc. I wore mine till it literally fell apart in the washer. Anyway, Caledonian was bought by the Thomas family long ago and they have every single print ever done by them at Twin Graphix. The shop number is 813 780 7339. I don't think they have a website up. Chuck

Two Chucks agree that this is a good boogie

Agreed. Well, that and to swap from suit to suit.

Another few thoughts here: -I made over 800 wingsuit jumps where I pulled at 4000 feet. Reason? A couple of horrific mals where I was truly glad I had that extra bit of altitude. The extra altitude gives you the buffer you need to deal with stuff like a towing PC or a brake fire. I pull around 3000 now, but I jump a much more managable canopy. -I have had quite a few wingsuit flights where I towed my PC for longer than I liked. My action, for quite a few years now, has been to arch, bring both of my hands in close to my handles (or on them), then wiggle HARD left and right. I have never had one instance where even a completely de-cocked kill-line PC would not deploy then. Granted, I did hum one down to 2000 before it came out of the bag, but my hands were already on the handles at that point. -Towed PC's generally come from weak throws. Chuck BMCI-4

There I was, no shit, buying some custom t-shirts from the boys at TwinGrafix (J and Scoot, Pat Thomas's sons) when I saw that they had a ton of the old Caledonian screens in the rack. I was looking for my personal favorite: the "boogie god" shirt that I wore out a decade ago when they told me that they had every one of those screens somewhere. Awesome. They will reprint any of those shirts anytime someone wants them. Chuck

"coffee and donuts at the white house, airborne"

Exactly what I said

I was 17. That was January 1981

I am glad someone seconded my opinion.

All of us that work at busy dropzones know people that hum tandems down to the legal pull altitude, then spiral down to land. I simply don't get it. Why in the world would you want to pull down in AFF traffic, then have to weave your way around them? Likewise, I don't get it when the heaviest tandem load does not exit first (among tandems). If every TI opens at the same altitude, the heaviest pair will always land first (unless there are some toggle-whipping morons intent on landing first). Whatever. Set an SOP. Set the exit order as heaviest to lightest (regardless of video). Call your landing spot (if there is wind and you need shagging). Don't hook-turn your tandem. If you ARE in the same airspace as AFF students, then steer your ass away! Don't expect them to know any better even though the rules of the air/road/sea dictate that you (as the TM) have the right of way. Keep your head on a swivell. Etc, etc, etc. Chuck

Use the bigger wing. The wingload you mentioned is PLENTY heavy for distance.

I just heard that Nick won the PST even in CO. Awesome. I also heard that the last 360 of his big-rotation turn was at 400 feet or lower and very-scary. Live long and prosper, Jedi. I, as an old guy, won't ever be trying to emulate you guys at the top of the current ladder. I hate to admit it, but I can't recall a single time where I ever even busted a distance run of over 325. Seriously. Respect. Chuck

whatever the fuck the packers have. I started out with "you can't break them" superbands, but those are 500 jumps down the road. I have never noticed an opening difference in the past seven years since I have been jumping sub-100 mains no matter what shit I have on my D bag. Odd, but totally true. The only thing that has mattered is whether or not I could stow them "just right". Not too loose and not too tight. All four of my rigs currently have a mix of rubber bands, tube stoes, and super bands. Chuck

Don't lie, BigNose, you know I was the one that gave you the hint about the position of the legwing connection. PS: Chuck Blue Ruint My Life!

send me a link to that soundtrack, Amish! Nice one.

I offer straight AFF, tandem progression, and hybrids of varying degree at my private school. More times than not, at least this past year, it's been more of a hybrid program with one CAT A/B tandem (COA, PRCPs,RT,LT,forward mvt, lock on, wave and pull) tandem, then on to a cat B/C1 with two instructors, then back to just one instructor for the rest. Having my own training gear (tandem rig, AFF rig, etc) allows me to do whatever I feel is prudent to get the student safely through to their A license. It does not suck that I don't have to share any of that money with anyone else if I do tandem progression (which is two or three training tandems, then straight to C2/D1 with one instructor). It also does not suck that I have so many other super-qualified AFF guys on the DZ (Z-hills) to help out when I need someone to fly reserve side. If you are a solid tandem instructor, solid AFF instructor, and have your own gear then tandem progression is a fantastic methodology. The SIM and the four-page A card allow for an infinite number of posibilities. Chuck

Lots of chow!

Typical Robi. Fantastic, totally-smooth flying. The last exit over total fog cover was nuts though.

It's an individual challenge. Jeff is free to jump whatever suit he likes; he chooses his own personal creation: the SM1 (these days). Robi jumped a very-modified Super-V2 last time. I am not sure whether Gray Mike jumped his S3 or his Mach 1 last time. Regardless of altitude, I am sure Jeff is going to be jumping his SM1. Regardless of altitude, I am sure Robi will jump his SV2 (if he is here).

I am totally cool with both races, Glen. Like I said, I have gotten in the habit of just busting out five grand "hop and pops" on slow weekdays when there is no one to flock with. What's super-cool about those is that all the non-wingsuiters get to see you NAIL IT out the door and go forever. I am in the habit of getting out early (before the swoopers) pop hard and go left about 100 feet, then let the swoopers fall past me to the right and open. It's a fantastic visual and everyone in the plane is like "holy shit, that dude is still going (and going, and going). Nice. Chuck

You can either rent a trailer (decent RV campers) on the DZ from Pip and Judy Redvers (they have around eight) or you can just stay with me, Kevin. I have plenty of room. Pip and Judy charge $25 a night. Chuck

Just a couple of observations about my boy, Kevin: -He had at least twice as many skydives as any ACTIVE jumper on the team. -He was already fully sponsored by Mirage and PD prior to accepting the offer to do TEx. -He loathed doing it, but he got a haircut to be on that team. -He had reservations about at least one of his team members ability -He is one of the most seriously dedicated jumpers I know I haven't heard anything about this, but if this rumor IS true, then I can promise you that Kevin had good reasons to bail. We spoke a very, very long time about his involvement on the team at PIA this year. He really impressed me, again, with his dedication to the project. Chuck

If you have EVER competed in a pro meet, then you are going to be required to compete in the open class (just like FS). That means ECPA, PPPB, PST, PSN, RedBull or any other money meet. If you have never competed professionally then you can still compete in intermediate no matter how bad you might be sandbagging. Chuck

I have jumped both, but have much, much more time under a Cobalt/Alpha. Both open about the same (which is to say nice), but I always got a longer swoop out of the Atair canopy. Toggle length is about the same on both. The crossfire flys about the same as both of those you mentioned.

The indisputible rules of the road/air/water are that the least maneuverable vessel ALWAYS has the right of way. Experienced skydivers must ALWAYS yield to tandems and students. There are positively no exceptions. Seriously. Chuck Blue D-12501, TM/SL/AFF-I, PRO, S&TA, and a formerly exceptional pro swooper who is now old.