jdfreefly

On the stairsteps, remember that it does not have to be a perfect line, the best thing to do there is to cheat it so you are in a U rather than a straight line. This can greatly decrease the amount of time it takes for the top guy to get to the bottom slot. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Sorry dude, I was busy healing! I really feel that one of the most important things in getting better, is video....lots of it. You are basically learning to walk all over again. You are asking your body to be controlled and act in a way you never have before. The level of body awarness required to become proficient is amazing. You will swear your arms are straight out from your sides, but they will be behind you. You will swear that your knees are bent at a 90 deg angle and your shins are straight down, but in reality, your feet will be somewhere under your ass. Video will help speed this process up. Of course, the best way to get video is to jump with an accomplished and experienced freeflyer. Avoid jumping with some yob just because he has seen fit to strap a camera to his head. This can be potentially dangerous/deadly You can learn this stuff by just repeatedly chucking yourself out of an airplane, just as you could, with no former math or physics training, sit down with a pencil and a pad of paper and rediscover the laws of gravity and thermodynamics. But there are better ways to go about it. Get video, get it from an experienced coach, and watch it a lot. I used to bring my tapes home on sunday night and force my non jumping roomates to sit through them. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I am a little hurt that Team Methane did not come up in this discussion. We obviously have to start traveling more. Methane Freefly - got stink?

First of all, I find it very telling that most of the people who are against this rule have an A license listed in their profile, and around a year in the sport. Just about every D license holder who has weighed in on this is for it, and some of them have 10+ years in the sport. Flame away if you lowtimers want - but there is something to be said for experience. I don't think a 30 day grounding is a good deterant either. But I don't think it is meant to be a deterant. I think it is meant to give the skydiver 30 days to sit on the ground and think about the ramifications of having a cypress fire. Also, having people be thirty days uncurrent is nowhere near as dangerous as having skydivers who take a cavalier attitude towards altitude awareness. Most of the skydivers in the north will go more than 30 days uncurrent at some point this winter. I have always said that I have a cypress for one reason, so I can walk away from a sport that would have killed me. I started in 97, and back then, every dz I went to, it seemed to be a forgone conclusion, that if you had a cypress fire, due to a simple loss of altitude awareness, you were done. No grounding, no probation, you were banned from that dz. Furthermore, many dzs had a policy of calling and informing other dzs in the area that you were banned and for what reason. For some reason, that policy seems to have changed. I'm not sure why, but I know I don't like it. Now we have people getting bent out of shape over a 30 day grounding. WTF? Methane Freefly - got stink?

First off, things you did correct! The best thing I saw here was that you didn't stop flying. I have seen landings like this be a lot worse because the skydiver stopped flying after the first point of contact. Good job on recovering things after your first mistakes! Also, your aproach was not very radical. If it had been a more radical aproach, you might have been hurt. Keep your aproach conservative for at least a couple of hundred more jumps. Now the bad things! Judging from this aproach, you don't yet know what the "right picutre" is. If you did, you wouldn't have been where you were. Being at a stage where you are going to make mistakes is what learning is all about. But while you are learning, WEAR A HELMET AT ALL TIMES. And once you think you know what you are doing, keep waring it, because chances are, you aren't out of the woods yet. Keep it safe. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Don't leave out the important details,.... How was the huricane party, and did anyone take the time to kick Kro in the shins...if not, please see that it gets done. Glad to hear you weathered the storm ok Methane Freefly - got stink?

E) Don't die. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Really? I have never heard this before. Could you provide us with a link or a quote to prove this? Methane Freefly - got stink?

Think you are too good at this shit to get hurt? Think you are ready to move forward even though the majority of the people out there tell you that you are not? Yeah SkyHigh, I'm talking to you. Make sure you read the whole thread or you will miss something. http://www.freefalladventures.com/CrossKeys/skydiving/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=121 It is way too fucking easy to bite off more than you can chew in this sport. You think you know what you are getting yourself into, but you don't. Will we be having an "I told you so" thread for you too? Methane Freefly - got stink?

Yeah dude! I remember you there. That was what you said then too! The end result was a broken heel bone, broken tailbone and a very badly dislocated foot. I'm walking again and in rehab. You saw it, could have been a lot worse. Methane Freefly - got stink?

No video of the actual impact, but a friend has a nice shot of me laying on the ground awaiting an ambulance. Foot bent at an impossible angle. Audio: Doug - "Daless, what happened?" Daless - "I lost a toggle." Doug - "And then what happened?" Daless - "I went in." Methane Freefly - got stink?

I just have this to say, learning high performance landings at the stage you are at, is like learning to do differential calculus without learning basic algebra. You are trying to build the second story of a house before you've put in the ground floor. You cannot possibly have mastered the basic canopy survival skills you will need to do this properly. I am all for a fast learning curve when it is apropriate, but with the plan you are on, it is very likely you will be skipping some of the things that can only be learned over an extended period of time. Canopy flying is not a sprint, it is a marathon. Come up with a plan that will have you doing high speed landings until your knees are too old to handle it, not one that has you doing them until you cause your knees to no longer be able to handle it. I understand your enthusiasm, but you are not indestructable. Methane Freefly - got stink?

What is the difference if you run it out or slide it in? It's the same thing. 4.0 wing loadings are great for proving it can be done, but for pure "swoopability" I would think they suck. The fact that none of the leaders in any of the national comps are using wing loadings anywhere near that high should be a clue to us. I don't think any of the top ten at last years world cup were over 2.5. Correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, the fact remains that a swoop as long as the one JC pulled off is of serious note. Regardless of what the wind was doing, as long as it was withing comp parameters, it is a world record. How can anyone question how remarkable that is? I would guess my longest to date is around the 200 foot mark and that was on more than a 5mph downwind. I think about doubling that and it just blows my mind. Absolutely fucking incredible...I mean shit! Damn! Fuck! Methane Freefly - got stink?

The problem is, that no matter how hard you try, your decisions affect others. You can take full responsibility for your actions, but that does nothing to ease the suffering your friends and family may feel when you fuck up. I take full responsibilty for my accident. But that has not stopped it from being an emotional drain on those around me.... Basically, I guess I am saying that for most of us, deciding to be a skydiver is a selfish decision. But then, I always was a selfish bastard. Methane Freefly - got stink?

First of all, I knew I went to bed too early. Second, you should have, but you didn't. I think the head judge was too busy staggering around and throwing balls at people to notice me anyway. Methane Freefly - got stink?

When Craig came back to Crosskeys after having been gone for a while, I walked up to him, and started to say, "Craig, it's good to have you back." But I stopped in the middle and instead said, "It's....ok that you're back." He laughed and told me I was a dick. He was always saying to me, "Daless, I love our relationship." It was a joke we shared and it always made me laugh. On new years in sebastian one year, he had recently been dumped by his girlfriend. They were both at the party and I spent the better part of the night hanging out with him. Every time she would walk by and he saw her, he would cry out, in a choking anguished voice, "It hurts soooo bad." Then he would clutch one of us, and pretend to cry in our shirt. When I first met Craig, I stayed as far away from him as possible. Not because I didn't like him, but because so many people said he was a wet spot waiting to happen. I didn't want to become friends with some one who would be soon to be checking out. But for me, not liking Craig was impossible, and I tricked myself into believing he was out of the woods and would keep surviving no matter how far he pushed things. He would tell you himself that he was a fuck up, but when he was at his best, he was a great person, a good friend, and a kind soul. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Daless is crossing his fingers and praying to god that Shani says yes...... Methane Freefly - got stink?

Well, there are more whites on wellfare in this country than there are blacks, at least that is what I have been told by the liberal smut peddelars. It is not a race issue, it is entirely a class issue. No one cares in corporate america if you hire a minority, they do however have an aversion to hiring people who talk like they are from Chichester regardless of what color they are.( I assume you know what people from there sound like ) See, the thing is, if you make it a race issue, you will leave half the people who need help behind, where as if you make it a class issue, I suspect a lot more people would get the help that they need. Making it about race just pisses people off and encourages an "us vs them" kind of mentality. That mentality ensures that nothing will get solved. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Don't try and hijack my thread. read about it here: http://dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1135333 After 2 months and some late nights drinking and discussing this accident with friends who saw it, I have some more insight and I will get around to writting it up so I can post it. Methane Freefly - got stink?

very related: Be on the look out for young jumpers rushing to make a load. When I see it, I will run ahead and wait in the loading area till they make it. Then give them a gear check. I caught a young jumper with a missrouted chest strap this way. The cool thing about doing it this way, is you get them just before they board the plane. It seems to have more of an impact this way. The girl I caught brings it up every chance she gets. She was very humbled by it but not ashamed to share the experience with others. Also, if she stays in the sport for the rest of her life, she will remember me for taking the time to look out for her and her boyfriend, who were both rushing to make that load....kind of a nice feeling. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Learn to carve. Asside from learning what too low looks like, I think it is the most important survival skill for swooping. It gives you the ability to avoid sudden unnoticed obstacles and it creates a higher level of comfort with your canopy. I am never really comfortable under a canopy until I know what kind of carve I can throw and still pull it up to a nice landing. Oh yeah, hold onto your toggles like your life depended it on it. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Flaring with only one toggle on a velocity is ill advised... Methane Freefly - got stink?

BUY A FUCKING HELMET!!!! And not a shity helmet either. Buy a good helmet, one that you would be willing to put on and slam your head through some drywall. I landed a velocity 111 with no flare at all...none....I just whacked right into the ground. People running out thought I was dead, or worse. I gotta believe the hawkeye I was wearing at time helped me survive without a head injury. Yes, you can wear a good helmet and die anyway, but you never know when shit is going to go bad and it just might save your fucking life. Methane Freefly - got stink?

One of my friends, who is white, has 2 kids. He is in the marine reserves and works as a teacher at a corectional institute. He lives about as close to the poverty line as you can live. He runs out during his lunch hour and cuts a few lawns so he can afford diapers and formula. Are you trying to tell me that his children, have an advantage over the children of Will Smith or any of the other black americans who will be sending their children to ivy league colleges? Horse shit! People making it a race issue miss the problem. It is a class issue not a race issue. It has been made into a race issue so the rich can keep the poor fighting amongst themselves and run off with more of the fucking money. As long as you keep making it a race issue, the problem will never be solved. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Better family life, better friends to lean on, who knows? You didn't grow up to hate other races but plenty of other people did. I hate to go quoting the bible but this is where turning the other cheek comes into play. Hate begets hate. Side note: I used to work as a pizza delivery guy, in fact, that paid for my student jumps and my frist 100. I worked in a town with a college and a ghetto. A lot of things that happened at that job made me start to hate black people. Ocasionally, I would find myself thinking very racist thoughts, hatefull thoughts. It is an easy trap to fall into. It sounds like this is something people here are all to familiar with. You can't let it happen. It will poison your soul and rot your life. The only way I was able to keep some perspective was to think about how really sad it was that an eleven year old kid in the ghetto felt the need to spit on the pizza guy because he was white. Makes me just as sad listening to an uneducated white trash teen girl talk about how the, "damn niggers are ruining this country." What kind of family must she have? Makes you want to scream it is so stupid. I have never been for any affirmative action policies. I really feel they only divide us, make the group you take from resent the group you give to and make the group you give to feel less about themselves because they suspect they didn't really earn it. I will always think it is a problem of education. Ignorance breeds racist thought. Ignorance breeds hoplessness, which leads to rage. Methane Freefly - got stink?