LawnDart21

The funny thing is, I used to actually smoke under canopy from time to time........I know, I know, DUMBASS, but it was actually pretty cool, just sitting back in brakes just puffing away. Thanks Skymama, that made my day! "I live to EFS" Tom

Okay, it's been 95 days since my last cigarette, and I figured I'd shamelessly promote my success. I quit on New Years eve, and haven't had one since. Not much, if any withdrawl, I was smoking a pack a day for 10 years, and I think I just smoked all I needed to smoke. Anyways, just thought I'd throw that out there. 'I live to EFS" Tom

GREATEST LINE IN A BEER COMMERCIAL GOES TO AMSTEL LIGHT (offering an apology as to why Amstel Light tastes to good) "SORRY, WE'RE FROM AMSTERDAM, WE DIDN'T KNOW LIGHT BEER WAS SUPPOSED TO SUCK."

Me.

We need to get back on track and focus our posts on skydiving.............LOL

My .02 = I know this is the "general" forum for any topic of discussion, but c'mon, this is dropzone.com, not sexualpreference.com or shouldgaypeopleadopt.com. We come to this website to chat about skydiving "related" topics like boobies and cases of beer. Leave all the touchy opinion type questions for another board. That's my opinion, as a God fearing heterosexual male with no children (that I know about anyways), I think these two threads are a waste of valuable skydiving related energy and put an overall ugly vibe on an otherwise positive discussion board. Let's just all try to shift our focus back to altitudes and airflows. "I live to EFS" Tom

I have seen (but can't find anywhere) hard plastic triangular altimeter mounts, so that the altimeter can be mounted to a the leg strap just above the tension hardware, and just below the lift web connection. I can't find the piece anywhere. Any leads would be mucho appreciated. Thanks, Tom "I live to EFS"

So there I was, watching the 2001 pond swooping video from the ranch, when the thought ocurred to me that everyone in the competition chowed at one point or another (intentionally or unitentionally, especially during the raft round), completely submerging their reserves in the pond. My question is do competitors repack their reserves after each chow? Or do they just jump with wet gear and then dry it all out at the end of the day. The end of the video showed all teh main canopies lying out in th esun drying. I was just wondering what the deal was with wet reserves. "I live to EFS" Tom

Hello Chuck, I was just wondering if you could tell me if the Cobalt has a significantly higher pack volume than say a Stilleto 120 or even better, how it compares pack volume wise to a Vengeance 120. Thanks! Tom

I hear ya Clay, I still remember the first time I saw the plane in Lake Wales last year. I'd take teh FrankenOtter over a Casa anyday. The upside, is that they took 1200lbs of paint off, and are only putting 400lbs back on. You know what that means, right? FASTER climb!!!!! "I live to EFS" Tom

I was at CSS this past week and saw the Frankeotter parked out in front of the hangar, all the paint was gone, with a grey metallic sheen like the day she was bolted together. The paint job may change, but the memories will remain!!!! "Your gonna jump out of THAT!!!!!!!!" Love that plane. Don't let teh legend fade away. "I live to EFS" Tom as a footnote, I was on a cluncky Dash 27 Otter that same day and hear a freeflier say "I'll be big pimpin' all day long in the Frankenotter". I said "did you get that line from Skydiving Magazine this past month?" He said, "yeah, big pimpin' with the Frankeotter. Why?" I said, "I'm Tom from Belmont, I'm the one that wrote that." We laughed and laughed about that all the way to altitude........

I actually know "Team Cypres Fire" pretty well, if your referring to Natiomals a few years ago.......lol.......this wasn't them, although, I'm sure it must have looked the same from under canopy! "I live to EFS" tOm

All four DZs are right next door to each other. Like four houses on a street, they are all neighbors. It's pretty funny to look at. Each manifest is like 30 feet apart from each other. The hangars for the planes are all down at the other end of the field, like a half mile away, so each "DZ" is basically a house on the access road, it;s actually a pretty cool set up. If one DZ has a full load, you walk next door and manifest there.....LOL "I live to EFS" Tom

While standing around the ole' bonfire I heard quite possibly the greatest skydiving story ever, that shows what our sport is all about. The names and location are withheld to protect the innocent......LOL Anyways, here it goes: After a competition 4way jump a few years back, the 4 way team tracks away and the videographer deploys his main. After settling in under canopy, the videographer looks down and sees the reserve out on one of his 4Way team. He says aloud to himself "Ha ha, fuck you!" He's now all smiles, when he pans left and sees another reserve out from a second team mate. He takes a fit of laughing and yells out "Ha ha, fuck you too mother fucker!". Totally amused, he scans the horizon, and sees yet a third reserve open under him from his team. He thinks, "Huh? What the?" as his laughter turns to suprise but he's still amused by what he sees. At this point, he starts feverously looking for the 4th member of his team, and sure enough he spots a fourth reserve underneath him. 4 cutaways from his 4 teammates on the same jump. To that he yells out to himself "Well, fuck that, you ain't gonna leave me out of this!" and he cuts himself away from a perfectly good canopy and deploys his reserve and lands uneventfully. After much laughter and celebration as the team walks back to the hangar, a shaken DZO stops the videographer and says "You just cutaway a perfectly good parachute, are you fucking crazy?" To which the videographer replies "I am part of a team, if they go, I go", and with that, he walked away. That, to me, sums up what skydiving is all about, loyalty to each other above all else. "I live to EFS" Tom

Maui DZ? As far as I know the only DZs in Hawaii are located at Dillingham Field on Oahu, you might want to recheck that. I've jumped there at Skydive Hawaii, and yes, the winds are squirrly and there aren't many outs. I jumped tehre with only 88 jumps the first time. I dont think it's jump numbers as much as just canopy currency. "I live to EFS" Tom

1) if you look at Dboxes like boneheads, you can see the right side is essentially flat and fits more flush with the helmet that the left side of the dbox where it protrudes on the bottom for the battery (mentioned above) 2) My less than provable theory is that most people are right eye dominant, and placing the camera on the left side make depth perception better when filming. (I was high when I thought one up......) "I live to EFS" Tom

Well, in my non expert opinion......LOL..........I only have 433 jumps.........ha ha ha.........I have heard many experts at my DZ, from riggers with thousands of jumps, to jumpers with 30 years in the sport, to AFF instructors, etc, etc, etc and they all talk about the "100 jump" jumpers and how they are the most dangerous people on the dropzone because after 100 jumps, confidence levels go up and early "skygod" mentalities begin to be formed. "100 jump wonders" as I've heard the term, are known known for offering their expert opinions to the newbie 20 jump jumpers and often times giving bad info. I've seen it, we've all probably seen it. Anyways, where I come from giving your jump numbers or saying "I'm not an expert" is a way of saying "this is only my opinion from what I have experienced, evaluate the validity of my advice using your own good judgement." So, I see all of our "I'm not an expert" statements as just that, a validation of the information as opinion rather than fact. I mean there are definitely jumpers out there with 100 jumps that have more knowledge than higher jump number jumpers, it's all about currency in my mind. Anyways, that's my .03 (sorry for the novel post, I'm not a DZ.COm expert yet.......LOL) "I live to EFS" ToM

I work for the second largest bank in the country, but if I said the name, no one would probably have ever heard of it. (Ironic, eh?) I am employee #12,374!! I mange 401k plans for clients around the country. I fly to a client, usually once a month, and go skydiving after I finish working. 13 different DZs in 12 months and I haven't paid for one airline ticket.....LOL....gotta love corporate travel........ "I live to EFS" Tom

Last year I saw a 2 foot deep crater in the grass from where a skyball impacted. The A.D. Ballmaster just couldn't get to it. Moral of the story, it happens to even the best of them.......be safe in whatever you do. "I live to EFS" Tom

My all time favorite that I've ever seen has to be "3M TA3" the car pulled up behind me and I had to do a double take. It was the funniest thing I had seen in awhile. (Kepe in mind I was looking through my rearview mirror and saw his front license plate.................... 'I live to EFS" Tom

My favorite stereotype is that casual sex happens all over the dropzone. I mean, c'mon, that never happens anymore........heh heh heh............ 'I live to EFS" Tom

Okay, question number 2. I'm wondering about the mechanics of the swoop flare. I jumped a Sabre 150 for like 200 jumps and had it so dialed in, that I could pull a 90 hook to double fronts and literally wait until my outstretched toes touched the grass before I flared (hard), I'd then let up the toggles almost all the way back up and just surf until it started to fizzle,and then flare again to stop the canopy. Obviously if I did that with my 120 loaded 1.85, I'd be wrting this from a hospital bed.....LOL.....so it's safe to say I had to alter my flare a wee bit on this canopy. Anyways, my question is, I've seen a lot of competition swoopers at Quincy and some of them would surf with there arms outstreched to the sides (elbow locked out) and get mad surf, and then others would come down over the pond, flare and then let their toggles back up to almost full flight and get a similar (long) swoop out of it. So what is the difference in arms all the way out versus bringing the toggles back up to the risers during the surf? (I am not even a "canopy nazi cadet"....LOL, I just land/swoop by feel (successfully I might add.....), so please feel free to be as information rich as possible in your responses. I want to learn as much as possible about the mechanics of swooping. Muchos Gracias!!! "I live to EFS" Tom (me on my Sabre at Quincy.....feeling for grass.......)

The weight gain thing is wild, it's like every pound I gain equals more yardage on my surf!!! (just kidding) But seriously, at 200lbs exit weight, I was used to a certain amount of surf, 30 or 40 yards and then I'd start getting ready to land it, put my feet down and close up shop. Now with the added poundage I'm finding myself fighting my mental clock and saying, "not yet, not yet, too fast still, you'll face plant, keep flying, keep flying!!" I LOVE THIS CANOPY!!!!!!! YAHOO!!!! "I live to EFS" Tom

For somebody that doesn't know shit, your pretty knowledgable....................thanks! "I have my D license, so that means I know everything, right?" Tom

Back when I was a dumb ass......LOL, I used to like to jump at 14,000ft, and open up around 10,000ft on sunset loads. I would light up a cigarette (that being the dumb ass part) and turn my canopy towards the white mountains (great view) and just smoke a couple of cigarettes and relax. Now before you go accusing my of being a total dumb ass, it was always on borrowed canopies........LOL "I live to EFS" Tom