repcool

:3:0 Did a few 2 way jumps with another member of the Skydive Everest team! We might try and pull it off in Nepal next month, just 1 month left! Simon

I just spent the weekend at Davis, Lodi and Byron. I have to thank everyone for being so hospitable and welcoming. Davis was well organized and I spent the day doing 4 way scrambles, and we took the rookie prize. Great dinner at the end of the day. Boy can that PAC carry a load well! Lodi was super friendly. I was trying to nurse a wee bit of a hangover but Bill would have none of it and got my up off the couch! Did some nice 5 way belly which was just plain all out fun! Thanks fellas I got to Byron as the day was winding down for me. I was just planning on getting a few snaps and jumping another time. Again, nobody would have any of that and even though they were backed up with Tandems they got me in on a load with no wait. I did a high pull and got to check out the bay, golden gate bridge and windfarms from 10k, very nice. My advice is if you want to go to one of these DZ's then get out there. There is no best from my perspective, they all had unique charm and character and at all of them I was welcomed by family. Thanks

A seatbelt saved my ass in a forced landing. Thats all I know.

I am heading to North. CA this Friday for some work next week. I am packing my rig and fancy jumping in the area. I am planning on heading to Davis and Lodi unless I hear of some cool event somewhere specific?? Any advice? Simon

I always hear "wind penetration" as a benefit of downsizing. The folks I see with higher winger loadings seem to sink below me in a hurry and are at equal risk of landing off, regardless of exit order, so is this myth busted or confirmed?

There were 3 Tandem slots filled, the rest of the loads (2 day and 1 night) were full of up jumpers. They were packed with wait lists to get on as a solo! I flew down from Colorado for it. I know the tandems came from New York and Maryland. The Tandem guys had raised 30k for charity.

1 - 25 - 10 years 26 - 68 - 2 years 69 - 164 - 3 months Took me a while to warm up to the sport...:-)

The $3500 is for a Tandem. I did 2 HALO jumps last weekend at Gold Coast Skydiving with Kevin of Halojumper.com and it was very decent value! Well worth it folks, it is a memorable skydive!

Time

I always wondered about this practice, getting everyone on board before start. When I am pilot of my Decathlon or 182 I make it a habit of not belting in till the engine is running. It was based on advice from an instructor that had a fire on startup. When I am sitting up in the Otter for it to start I always have that nugget of knowledge go through my head and it freaks me out.

I can tell you that I feel like I made a bad choice when I was in about the same place you were. I tried to do FF but would also do belly when the chance came. Pretty much I ended up trying so much I was bad at everything. :-) It was fun, but I kind of started over and stuck to belly and canopy for now with a thought to work on FF in the future. I am actually now on my back in the tunnel. I often have to convince some of the freefly crew to go belly with me but honestly they always have fun and mention that they forget that belly is fun. Last week on the trailer I had a 3 way together which turned into a 9 way speed star by the time we got loaded....great fun.

1:7:1 Yeah, beers for my first jump as an American Citizen. Good times, a few hop n' pops, 5 way speed star, 6 way speed star and 9 way speed star attempt, and a sit attempt for good luck.

Congrats!!! Pie??

Don't forget to SMILE! It makes what would be a failed jump a huge success.

Try the wind tunnel then!

I don't want to share my toys....

I'm too scared to do a tandem!

Last weekend I did 12 at Mile Hi, but that included 2 night jumps. Once you are off student status you can jump as fast as you can pack. These winds should back down soon. Get a kite. :-)

Wow, how did you get the cable to stay on the suit??

Hey mate, you are only stupid if you don't learn from it, else you can chalk it up to the same way most people learn!

That is hilarious!

Any DZ's offer 30k-ish jumps as an event this summer? I found one in TN which I emailed but can't find much more going on. I am off to the FAA chamber next month and wanted to try and jump this summer. Thanks, Simon

oooooooops

That's the ammunition I needed for the "keeper of the purse".

I need a second rig just during the summer, anybody ever heard of something like a 6 month rig lease\rental?