LawnDart21

Oh well, once the wind tunnel is up I am gonna have a good excuse to go buy another bike, it'll get better gas milage than my truck on the way to work............

I regret selling my motorcycle for a second set of gear............ -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

"PROBLEM SOLVER" = 13 letters on one pillow (Mirage handles) -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

"Ebb and flow" has a bunch of meanings: 1) its of course a tidal thing, the ocean's tides ebb and flow, they go up and down 2) a company's profits are said to ebb and flow (go up and down) based on market conditions 3) more specific to the handles question, EBB: in a depleted condition FLOW: adapt to a situation While not as obvious as "Plan B"....lol I like the whole "Ying-Yang" expression of EBB & FLOW" -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Some other's I would like to see: Cutaway: ONLY GIRLS Reserve: DROP HANDLES (it's a running joke at our DZ) Cutaway: SHOULD HAVE Reserve: PACKED MYSELF Cutaway: FOLLOW Reserve: MY FREEBAG Cutaway: HERE WE GO Reserve: AGAIN Cutaway: PIECE O' SHIT Reserve: PIECE O' MIND Cutaway: LUV THY Reserve: RIGGER Cutaway: RIGGER Reserve: PLEASE Cutaway: EBB Reserve: FLOW -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

My handles: Cutaway: PROBLEM Reserve: PROBLEM SOLVER My wife's handles: Cutaway: BAD PACK Reserve: REPACK! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I spent a summmer in San Fransciso, and Craig Chequio (sp?), the guitarist from Starship lived next door to me in Mill Valley, CA. Related: At the bottom of our street, there was/is a bar. The bar was where Heuy Lewis & The News hung out and the pool table in the bar was used as the back drop for one of thier album covers. Back here on the east coast, I used to listen to Tracy Chapman playing her guitar in Harvard Square Cambridge, MA before she got signed. Most recently, the guitarist for Boston, Tom (I forget his last name) plays pool every week at a bar I used to work at for a few years. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Only lost one ripcord (funny story in above post) in 1000 tandems. No through loops lost yet, only one handle pulled per jump so far...........lol.............but that could change on any jump, right?

But the ones that do..........There is nothing better (for me) to be on like an 8 way, and look around and see 4 or more of my prior tandem students flying circles around me. As an aside, I know its hard on a busy Saturday to give every student %100 of the attention they deserve, especially if say I am doing 16 tandems back to back to back, but I have found that it can be done, it just requires alot of caffiene and a good night sleep the night before...... Taking enough time to treat every customer, 18 yrs old or 80 yrs old, like a student, is a vital aspect of projecting our sport in a positive light, and part of that (for me) is ensuring that every student I jump with has the opportunity to pull the ripcord if they would like to. If they are on the fence about pulling the RC, like they want to, but aren't sure if they should do it, I say "I can pull the RC and you can go home and tell all of your friends that I saved YOUR life, or you can pull the RC and go home and tell all of your friends that YOU saved MY life. Which would you rather tell them?" (works every time......lol) Remember, quite literally, we are gravity's ambassadors.

I've lost one ripcord. I "present" the ripcord to the student as they reach for it with my own hand gripped around the cable housing, so if they dont find it, I pull the student handle out myself, or if they do pull it, I just follow the chord out with my hand as they pull and hold on to it myself. Ironically the one RC I lost wasnt dropped during deployment, I asked the student to hold the RC for me while I dealt with some line twists/riser twists. The student said "okay" so I handed him the RC. Once out of the twists I asked for it back. The student replied "I was supposed to keep that?" -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I give every one of my tandem students the option to pull the ripcord, as long as they take my oath: (Repeat after me): "I, (name), PROMISE, NOT TO PULL THE RIRCORD, WHILE STILL IN THE AIRPLANE." I'd say in about 1000 tandem jumps, 900 have said they wanted to pull the ripcord, and again, about 9 out of 10 that said yes, do it successfully. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

PapaSmurf posts on here ocassionally Darren. I think his screenname/ID is.........papasmurf His email is on there. Shoot him an email. If bigger ways are happening in New England this late in the season, he and Dr. Pete are either organizing them or a part of them, so either way, P. Smurf would know. Hope that helps. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Lisa asked a question, why the board (as a whole, not a specific forum) was referred to as dorkzone.com. My opinion was/is (as I attempted to illustrate in my first response) was that this site as a whole, does contain a tremendous amount of "dorky" (just using a word that keeps with the theme of the question) banter on it, and at times there appears to be more dorky than legitimate skydiving threads. dorkzone.com or not, I still like coming here because, aside from all the "Frenchy's goggles" type threads, there is still also alot of good skydiving specific threads in some of the other forums. And who knows, someday if I decide to give up the sport and go back to playing golf, I too, may decide to annouce it the board in bonfire, it will probably read like this: "I QUIT! WHERE ARE MY GOLF CLUBS? (PLEASE TALK ME OUT OF IT, OKAY?)" -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Why is this board referred to as dorkzone.com? Here's one example to illustrate why: There are probably more threads on here about Frenchy's goggles than there are about RSLs or AADs...... That would be my guess. Or it could be all the "I'm leaving the sport!" or "Goodbye DZ.COM" threads.......... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Taking your landing gear (your sneakers or tevas) up and down the runway dragging them while on a motorcycle will wear down the treads on them and make for smoother slides................ -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I love Grey Goose & Belvedere, but recently my favorite has been Chopin. Here is the recipe for my favorite martini: Bottle in freezer, martini glasses as well to keep them company. You'll need olives, the big fatty queen olives, not the little guys. And lastly a bottle of dry vermouth. Step 1) Hide your bottle of dry vermouth behind the toaster or microwave on the counter Step 2) Put 3-4 olives on a drink spear Step 3) Take out Vodka of choice and martini glass from the freezer Step 4) Place olives spear in glass Step 5) Pour vodka into martini glass over olives until just under the edge of the glass. Step 6) Take dry vermouth bottle out of hiding (DO NOT OPEN) Step 7) QUICKLY show your martini the bottle of dry vermouth and then put the bottle back, because that is as close as the dry vermouth is going to get to your martini. Step 8) Enjoy your martini Step 9) Repeat until unable to spell "MISSISSIPPI" -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

That is one of the best things I have read on this board. Having been on both sides, who to believe, and at times, full of shit, I am still laughing at that quote ten minutes later. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Excellente! You will not be disappointed. Dave's and his group of instructors are one of the best things going in this sport. Best of luck, and get plenty of sleep before the course, your gonna need it! While "reasonably well" can be left open to personal interpretation, keep in mind that the basis for determining what reasonably well means to be able to earn a coaches rating (USPA & Skydive U) came from some of the best minds in our sport. I see that criteria as a foundation. If a skydiver possess the necessary foundation, then it can be built on over time. None the less, the foudation, according to USPA and Skydive U, is sufficient to safely teach other skydivers. The "powers that be" that determine those necessary skills have my confidence in thier ability to do so. The other thing to consider as well is that there exists alot of "Mom & Pop" Cessna DZs that simply do not have the volume to be able to attract the "Eloy caliber" instructors, and as such, there is often a shortage of qualified instructors on some of these smaller DZs. If you were to raise the bar on coach requirements, it would mean less coaches, and less coaches means, slower student graduations, which means less A-License grads at smaller DZs, as the long it takes someone to graduate, the more likely they are to drop out, which hurts the sport overall. So I would say that you certainly have a valid point Jen, just try to keep in mind that these courses focus not just on airskills (which they have a minimum criteria for), but they also teach the coach candidates "how to teach", which is also a vital aspect of the rating. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Try to put into perspective. USPA (and Skydive U) have developed a list or requirements (both airskill and ground skills) that must be met to achieve a coach rating. I doubt anyone would disagree (even on here) that a jumper with a 1000 jumps of which 100 are coach jumps would make a more well rounded coach than a jumper with 200 jumps and 20 coach jumps. Higher jump numbers will perhaps make a coach more efficent, perhaps a better teacher through trial and error, and perhaps a better flier, through repetition of coach jumps. That doesnt mean that at their starting point, when they got thier rating that they were not qualified to do the jumps. If someone has earned a coaches rating, they have proven that they possess the neccessary skills to be a coach. And as a coach that is ultimately where the learning truly begins as they move towards other ratings. During my riggers course with Dave DeWolfe, it was emphasized again and again, that a rigger ticket is a license. A license to learn. Same hold true for coaches. A coach rating is a license to learn to be best coach you can be, whether at 100 jumps or 1000 jumps. And who knows Jen, you may very well have the airskills to meet the requirements, if its something that interests you, go take a coach course, you may surprise yourseld, plus you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Didnt even know you were posting in the first place. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

THE CASA JUST LANDED!!! YAHOO!!! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I dunno, but I know its out there waiting for me. I am conscious of that fact every jump I make. It could be my next jump, it could be 5000 jumps from now, but I know it will happen. If you swoop, it will happen to you too, its just a matter of time. Every swooper takes a divot out of the landing area at one point or another. My favorite egotists are the ones with over a 1000 jumps that think they have some how gotten past the danger zone of canopy flight.........Just because someone has 2000 jumps doesnt mean they wont divot in the landing area....... If you ran down the list of PST competitors, you'd hear a "who's who" of crater stories as they honed thier skills to get where they are at today. To be able to walk away from hooking yourself in, versus getting an ambulance or a life flight to the ER, is who wins the tug of war, ego or survival instinct. Going to a HP canopy course helps alot too. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

YES. If you read my post.......I was saying that in that thread about the incident, alot of people said that that guy would have hooked himself in whether on a 150 or a 170. The "SAME THING" was the "Hook In" that would have happened under either canopy, that was what was said and that was what I was repeating. Whether he hooked himself in at 60 mph on a 150 or 50 mph on a 170, either way, THE SAME THING was gonna happen, he was gonna hook himself in. You are correct that a botched hook under a 170 will come in slower than a 150, but that was not what I was talking about at all. As long as we are on the subject, you could hook a tandem 400 at a 1:1 ratio and do just as much damage as on a 150 with the same loading. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Of course you do. It wouldnt be an internet forum if you didnt. I'm gonna quote myself, as I feel it bears repeating: Can you honestly say you were the same "seasoned" skydiver at 100 jumps as you are at 3000 jumps? I would think probably not. Im sure over those 3000 jumps you have learned alot since jump #100, like what teaching techniques work better than others, what types of bad things students will do in the air that you need to be prepared for, etc, etc. You stand by what you said...... So you must think you bring to the table the same level of skill at 100 jumps as you do now at 3000 jumps. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

If I recall (dont have the patience to reread that whole thread), alot of people said that it wasnt the wing loading that f'd him up, it was the HPL that he f'd up. That we would have done the same thing on a 170 instead of his 150. My reading of Zoter's post was that he was atleast thinking safety when he made the decision. Your incidents post said that your friend was repeatedly warned but would not listen. Seem to not be the same situations. PS, How is he doing these days, did he make a full recovery? -- My other ride is a RESERVE.