Reaperwear

Alti-2 could learn something from them, 4-6 weeks for simple repairs, come on! I'm thinking of selling my Neptune when i get it back. I just bought a Viso I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=81571;d=1 I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

I am a new TI, I got my rating with just over 500 jumps, with the first 300 or so spread out over many years, I made over 200 jumps right before getting my rating, and I am 42 years old. I too was very nervous I knew in my heart I had the ability and other very experienced TI's told me I did as well. I just did not know what it would be like to have someone on the front trying to fly them or landing them. I now have 171 tandems ( I just had a cutaway last weekend, the right side was waded up with a tension knot. I did not pack it) I am feeling pretty comfortable with what I am doing although I keep in mind this is not a normal skydive ( you never know what a student will do on their first jump). When i first got my rating I tended to be a quick draw trying to get the drouge out too quick, I have learned to be more relaxed and take my time to make sure a little more stable. My best advice is to pay attention, ask lots of questions, master the decision tree, practice practice, practice. My first few real tandems I had to ask myself what the hell did I sign up for? But I'm much more confident now, yet I prepare for the worst every time. I don't think jump numbers really are a good measure of someones ability, It is how do they handle situations, how serious do they take what they are doing. I had three cutaways before i got my rating so I felt I felt I could deal with emergency situations but you handle them differently with a tandem you have to keep your head in the game, and you and more importantly your student will be fine. A couple other TI's as well as myself said it took them around 100 tandems to get comfortable. Good Luck with your rating. Hack I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

I hope your son got a good Tandem Instructor, you had said before "Manager was a little blah. Hoping the instructor my son gets will have a little bit more enthusiam." I think that is a very important part of the experience. Did the TI and video guy take the time to get to know you more than what is your name? and here is what we are going to do. I hope you truly wanted to give them a little something extra because they went the extra mile and not because a bunch of people here think you should. I hope your you and your skydive again soon. Blue Skies I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

that made me laugh... I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

While i have joked to friends that I'm a human carnival ride. How much time do you spend with the guy who runs the zipper? how much experience and training do you think the guy who runs the zipper gets, and if things start to get hairy i.e. a malfunction who do you want the guy who runs the zipper or me. I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

No you are absolutely not expected to tip. I agree too that it is tacky to even bring it up. We rarely get tips, although we get paid a very small portion of what you pay. Some of us go to great lengths to give all our students/customers a great memorable experience. It would be my privilege to share our sport with you and your son. And if someone tips I usually buy our support staff of packers & catchers beer at the end of the day or lunch, they are paid even less. I hope you and your son have a great day skydiving. I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

Personally I think Chicagoland Skydiving Center has one of the best front pages loads fast, very large easy to read graphic buttons for Tandem, AFF, and Licensed jumpers, beyond that it has lots of good information available as well as pictures of their DZ. just MHO I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

SDC has great instructors I think you should address your concerns with them and they will be best to advise you. They know your skill level and know best what's going on during the boogie. I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

When i started jumping in 1990 I quickly got my A license and then my B License but never applied for any awards or licenses past that. After 300+ jumps I went to a boogie (one of Mike Mullins Boogie til you pukes for those of you who remember them) made 12-16 jumps I do not remember how many and I lost track at the time, and I did not really care I loved skydiving and had no desire to teach or get awards, at that point i stopped logging my jumps. I found that all i needed to get into a boogie was my USPA license and one or two logged jumps. To get good slots on any jump I needed to really prove myself in the air first anyway no logbook can do that. Due to life obligations I stopped skydiving for 7 years, i was fortunate when i wanted to get back in the sport the DZO was a guy I was on student status with back in the 90's he got me back in the air quickly and painlessly. but he also got me interested in helping the DZ getting my coach rating and now my tandem rating. I really enjoy my new roles around the DZ, but can not help to realize that if i had done a better job of logging my jumps and getting my licenses how much easier and quicker I would have had my TI, (hell i had all the requirements for my D in the 90's when you only needed 200 jumps) That being said I am an honest person who only logs the jumps that happen with in the past day or so. When working on my D license last year I sure wish I had all those jumps i did not log, but I didn't so I had to make a few extra jumps not really that big a deal. But how many times have we known someone who brags about all the jumps they maid in the last year and you know there is no way they did it, they padded their log book in order to get a rating or even just for unearned bragging rights I think log books are very valuable asset that you never know when or even if you will ever need. Your goals can change dramatically over time. Matt i feel your pain but welcome back I know how you feel coming back after a long layoff Blue Skies I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com

Not all coach jumps are equal and not all coaches are equal. At our DZ coach jumps only refer to jumps with jumpers who are still on student status 5sec. delay or above. The coaches job is to observe and help debrief the student, the coach will spend time with the student before the jump going over the dive plan and as well as a canopy flight plan. After the jump the coach will debrief the student and work with the student on improvements or the next level. While they are on student status the coaches slot is covered plus $5 to cover packing. After someone has graduated we try to keep them paired with coaches or instructors but our slots are not covered. These jumps are debriefed as through as needed, this is when we pay it forward. IMHO the student has paid a lot of money to get to this point and has showed they are dedicated to the sport and need us to show that we are here for them even when not being paid. That all being said the coach rating is a relatively easy rating to get and does not really take that much skill or knowledge to get. I have seen coaches with 500 jumps who are not worth a damn and i have seen coaches with 150 jumps who are very detail oriented and do an amazing job. After all teaching the basics is a lot easier to do than to teach the finer points, it takes experience (not just total # of skydives but experience in instruction) to notice the little things that a student is doing to really be effective. I think we are all coaches to some extent, don't we all let our fellow jumpers know if we saw something they could improve on? I bet we all have people we love to jump with just because they can teach so something. In summary, I don't have a problem with someone on student status paying my slot (it is in the price of their jump they do not pay me directly) especially since I think I have something to offer them, I would never ask for my slot to be paid for by anyone off student status so many people jumped with me in the beginning and never asked for money and so many still do jump with me that offer me more knowledge. Blue Skies I refuse to tiptoe through life, only to arrive safely at death. www.reaperwear.com