ryan_d_sucks

To be honest, when I got my first tandem video'ed I didn't know what the difference would be. Now, getting further involved in the sport, I do. And I can still say I'm glad my TM had a handcam.. I feel like it captures the entire experience more than the outside video does. Certainly for me now, the best part of watching the video is seeing/ hearing the crazy things I said right after the canopy opens. Also seeing myself fly, and my face grimmace at spiral turns its kind of neat. Now looking back, I think I'm a little less comfortable with the TM jumping out with me and a vidiot (NOT opposed, jsut more concerned). If I had met the vidiot and felt good, all would be well. But if I were to do another tandem today knowing what I know NOW, I would feel less comfortable with somone I dont know and whos experience I dont know jumping out with us. Also, I'm sure there are some dangers associated with the handcam method. However I am not so well versed in them. Bottom line: As a first time jumper I trusted my TM and was ready to jump with him. Throwing another person out there with us mgiht have made ME less confident if I had known the dangers associated with it. I greatly enjoyed the product that came from the handcam, and my favorite parts of the jump from the video are the exit, freefall, and canopy ride conversation/views. I am greatful I got to capture the canopy ride on video.

Dude, that kicks ass. 650 feet is my best so far.

Hah, I'm guessing the last choice. I guess thats what the holidays are all about?

No way. Memphis to Knoxville would probably be a 7 hour drive. It takes 8 to go straight from nashville to just chicago.

I dont know if this is worth of a new thread or not, but on the weather channel-HD (channel 362 for DirecTV) a program called Epic Conditions is comming on on 12/24 at 6pm eastern. "Near-perfect conditions for skydiving in Eloy, AZ" is all the info I could read. Might be worth checking out.

Thanks a lot Nutz, situation handled.

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Hey, I'm having my first rig shipped to my parents' home in Tennessee, and I normally jump in Indiana. So, I'm trying to find a rigger here in TN to take a look at the rig, but I'm having a hard time finding anyone, as the closest DZ's seem to be in east TN and west TN (3.5 hrs away). Does anyone know of a rigger residing in middle TN, or some sort of database for riggers? Thanks, Ryan

I was unaware that HEALTH insurance would even exclude things like skydiving. I have read and heard about people having issues getting LIFE insurance because of skydiving, but this is the first I've heard about health insurance. I guess I better make a phone call and make sure I'm covered. That seems ridiculous that health insurance would exclude a skydiving injury.

Health insurance, or life insurance?

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but does anyone know if Wings still does/ever did offer a 50% discount on containers to servicemen/women? I was talking about it today with someone at the DZ, but I can't seem to find any information about it online. Could anyone shed some light on it for me, or point me in the direction of a website? Thanks. Ryan

Hey, This may be a fundamental flaw in my understanding of how the cutaway system works, but what is the point in having an RSL hooked up to a rig that has SOS reserve deployment? If one handle cuts away and deploys the reserve why do you need an RSL hooked up to it? My understanding of the SOS is that the first half of the pull releases the 3 rings and jettisons the main and the second half of the pull (meaning once you've extended the cables completely) pops the reserve (not sure how-please fill me in). If an RSL works by pulling the pin from the reserve closing loop when the main risers fall away (correct me if I'm wrong, please), whats the point in having one if that's what the SOS does anyway? I'm asking because I've got a rig right now with an SOS system, and an RSL in place, but no loop on the risers for the RSL to clamp to- making the RSL not functional. And I also plan on asking my instructor about this next weekend, but I'm looking for some insight into it so I've got something to think about at work this week, and also some ideas to run by my instructor when I get there

I'm in the process of buying all of my own gear, so I was looking at the used AADs for sale on this site. Someone at my DZ told me there is a place on the cypres site where you can type in the serial number and get its estimated value, last service dates, etc. but I couldn't find it on there. So I decided to give them a call and ask them. Except, when I called I didn't get the airtec cypress headquarters in Ohio. I dialed my own area code instead of the correct one and after six rings heard "Allen Funeral Home, how may I help you?" Haha, is that a sign?

Shoulder injuries are no fun. I've been battling an old, now reaggravated shoulder injury since I took up skydiving. The only thing I can tell you is to go see and orthopedic specialist. Don't waste your time going to your family practice doctor, because they will just tell you to go see an orthopedic person. Also, once you get a physical therapy regiment prescribed to you STICK WITH IT. The reason my shoulder didn't heal up correctly when I had surgery 4 years ago was because I slacked on the PT. Now I'm doing it 4 times a week, and my shoulder is able to tolerate skydiving. Do you have a history of shoulder injuries?

Dry sockets are really fucking painful. I got my widsom teeth out this past janurary, and got 2 dry sockets. i shit you not, I honestly think that if I had to go back and do it over again knowing how shitty it was going to be I would choose not to have the procedure, and just deal with crowded teeth. That said, I felt great on day 3 (before the dry sockets came). Then the next day I was just drinking some milk and I washed away the blood clot that exposed the nerve ending (this is what a dry socket is). If just taking a drink can do that, I'm sure that a skydive could. And you really don't want dry sockets.. You'll see what I mean if you get them.

[reply I owned a Sabre1 for 500 jumps and it slammed me maybe 5 times... twice I dumped in a track, my mistake. reply] Why would dumping in a track result in a harder opening? I always thought that you slow yourself down while tracking. Which would make me think that if you are not traveling as quickly the canopy would be less likely to slam you. Do you get hard openings from deploying at sub-terminal speeds? Can someone please explain?

This is some great advice. I dont want to sound like an a-hole, but if you can barely afford the gear how will you pay for your jumps. A single day of jumping can set back 80+ dollars. That's for only a few jumps and one day. Now lets say you wanna jump a few days out of the month, that can easily add up to $150+. Then start adding on coach jumps, events, new toys and it really starts costing some cash. Take a step back and look at the big picture. That's the thing.. I CAN afford spending $50-$60 bucks a week on jumps. What I CANT afford is to drop 1000 on gear all at once at this point in time.. That's why I want to finance it over time at a managable monthly rate. Its not that I won't be able to afford the rig, its that I won't be able to afford it all at once until the season is nearly over. I can, however make the easy monthly payment of $50 all year to pay back a small loan (this will be especially over the non-jumping winter months). Does that make sense? Caveat: this loan is only for the rig. I have enough money for jumps, and other stuff. I also don't plan on buying plane tickets to boogies and what-not. If I decide I want to go somewhere, then that's why I've got a job, not a loan. The loan is strictly for the gear. Its not as if I am going into debt with no savings/job/alternatives for cash. I can easily afford to make the monthly payments of $50 on the loan, however, I can't afford at this point in time to just drop the $600-800 that I still need (because I don't have it yet, this is where the loan comes in). Its kind of like a cash advance. I can't afford it right now, but I will be able to in a few months... So why not just finance it and eat the extra 100 dollars that I'll pay back over the next 2 years, as well as build some credit? I know its easy to slap a label of irresponsibility on a college kid looking for a loan as a means to part-take in recreation, but I don't think you fully understand my situation and plans.

Why would you say that? I am in no debt right now, my school is paid in full. Taking out this loan would put me only $1000 in debt, which I intend to begin paying off immediately. I checked some out today and the rates came to $50/month for 22 months. That comes out to a total payback of $1100, only 100 more than the actual loan. If I can't afford to pay $50/month on a loan I probably shouldn't even be considering skydiving- but I can afford that. Assuming I make about $100 dollars a week at my part time job, i should easily be able to make a $50 payment every month. So what makes it so fiscally irresponsible? I'm not trying to butt heads with you, I'm honestly asking.

Hey- Does anybody know anything about student loans? I'm currently a college student, and I've got $1300 saved up to buy a rig. I've got a part-time job outside of school, but I'm only bringing in around $100 a week. The rig I'm looking to buy is 2 grand, plus I need to find a cypres with some years left... So, I'm thinking about taking out a loan. I don't need a big loan, maybe $1000 or less. I just need the cash quick, because its not getting any warmer, the days aren't getting any longer, and that rig isn't being hidden from other buyers.. Does anyone know ANYTHING about student loans? I know they supposedly get great interest rates, but if you get a federal student loan do you 1) have to qualify and 2) use it on school? Can someone get a student loan from a private company and use it on 'personal expenses?' Does a loan for only $1000 always require a cosginer? Before we get into the going into debt debate, I have a job and steady income. I do not plan to defer payments on the loan until graduation, I'm going to start paying principal and interest immediatley. The only reason I need the loan is because its going to take me close to 6 weeks or more to save up the cash that I need for this rig and cypress. $1000 is the most I would need. I appreciate any information, reccomendations, or insight. Ryan

Might as well skydive right? There's a finite amount of time here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths

Hey there- I am not from Indiana, but I live there now. I'm at school at IU in Bloomington. I don't know where in the state you reside, but if you are anywhere close to me, meeting up and getting some jumps done would be awesome. What DZ did you jump at? Stick with it, as far as I can tell it only gets better. Ryan

I was looking on youtube for skydiving videos relating to shoulder injuries, so I searched 'skydiving shoulder.' I got a few that I was looking for, but then I saw one description of a tandem that caught my eye. It was written by the passenger and it said '...harness slipped off my left shoulder right before exit...', so I figured I would check it out and see if that actually happened. It didn't quite slip off, but it definately looked loose. I know _nothing_ about tandem gear, but I was wondering if this looks normal? It certainly looked too loose to me, but again I don't know anything about tandem harnesses. Does fitting the harness like this pose any risk of failure/passenger ejection? You can pretty much fast forward to around 2:55 http://youtube.com/watch?v=eRx3FoOw6Bg Also check out the end! It looks like the video guy has a near miss with a rather large cow on landing.

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My mother has worked in obstetrics delivering epidurals for pregnant women for about 25 years now. Just a year or so ago she had a woman come in who hadn't picked out a name for her baby. She said she wanted to give her a name nobody else had ever had... Apparently she had other kids with ridiculous names like 'Jaquarious,' 'Revelation' and bullshit like that. So as the people in the room were delivering the baby, she heard one of the doctors mention something about the meconium of the infant. Aparently the mother thought this was the most beautiful word she had ever heard and decided to name the baby Meconium Here's what he was referring to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium No shit. -Ryan

Do you have jumpers at your DZ who are underage? How does the DZO, or whoever is in charge of the night-time activities approach their wanting to join in with the festivities? Being only 20, but a pretty good beer drinker I'm curious to see how other DZs handle this situation. And given that I bring beer for my firsts, I'd be bummed if I couldn't enjoy one at the end of the day. I say if they're not stupid about-- Personally, I don't think responsibility and age necessarily go hand-in-hand.