LawnDart21

In response to Apoil's less than positive remarks, all I can think to do is to quote the movie "Singles".....LOL "All this negative energy just makes me stronger. This band is unstoppable. Next week, we rock Portland!" - Matt Dillon Thanks to everyone else for you support, it's gettin' easier every day! Yahoo! More money for jumps! Take care all! Bles Skies & Warm Tropical Breezes, Tom

that's supposed to say "100 percent intact"

My grill is 0 intact thank you very much......LOL. Although.....I almost lost a few of the old "ivories" when I face planted in the peas in Carolina over Thanksgiving. Demoing a 120 Vengeance, surfing over the peas, smoking fast, cathc my trailing foot in the peas, and them WHAM face first into the peas. I stood up and spit about 6 or 7 peppbles from the pea pit out of my mouth. Ithought they were my teeth, and there was so much blood, it took me a minute to firgure out there were rocks.........

Forgot to add this attachment to the post.

Okay, so anyone can make out in freefall if your docked on your target, but how many of you have tried to make out in freefall without docking? It's way more fun. "If at first you don't succeed........then give me back my spliff, your wasting my weed." - Overheard in tent city at Quincy. Tom http://www.geocities.com/skysurfer4288/index.html

Are they spinning props? Attached to a Casa? Just checking...........LOL Thanks

Thanks Clay & Skymama, 'cause I'd never turn away a free...I feel compelled to tell you Skymama that I'll be in Lake Wales, FL the 24th-27th of January with a Skydive Pepperell mini new england boogie. If that's your home DZ, I love Corona! Tom

Okay, so not too much to brag about up here in ice cold Boston these days........But I did manage to quit smoking on New Years Eve, 10 days and counting and still haven't fallen off the horse. I think my exit weight has gone up 5 pounds since then, but atleast I don't smell like an ashtray anymore. Peace! Blue Skies & Warm Beer, Tom

Okay, so I have signed up for an AFF Cert course for end of July 2002. From reading the USPA training info and talking with AFF instructors, I can already tell the course is going to be insanely difficult. (one AFF instructor I talked to said that by the end of the course he attended, none of the jumpers would even talk to each other because they were so stressed/angry with each other). Okay, with that said, I'm writing this to ask for advice/tips on things that can make the AFF Cert course go smoothly. I'm studying all the material USPA sent, and have watched the video countless times, and have been doing practice jumps, but I want so see if anyone has any specific ideas and techniques to keep the course positive. Thanks in advance. Blue Skies to All, and to ALL a Good Flight! Tom

I'll preface this by saying I have yet to personally make any base jumps, ie, I don't know much about base jumping....LOL With that said, I've heard 1) base canopies have a much shorter snivel than a skydiving main, 2) a winged suit base jump would slow down the fall rate significantly, ie 200 ft above ground level deployment going 120mph would be fatal, but I'm assuming it might be possible to deploy a base chute within that altitude if the wing suit had slowed the fall rate enough (can't birdmen slow their fall rates to like 60mph?). So, there you have it, in my totally uneducated opinion, I would say that "yes" I think it's probably possible to do that. I'd never think of even trying it, but I guess alot of our sport is about pushing limits, right? "There are a lot of old skydivers and there are alot of bold skydivers, but there are very few old bold skydivers......" Blues Skies, Tom

Too funny, all this time I thought that was a pic of me on the Skydive Houston website! I had done a bunch of board jumps there that were videod and photod and saw the pic on the website a week later and just assumed it was me! Ha ha. I'll be down in Houston working again in February, so I'll try to make it out to the Dz and bring my skyboard. Maybe we can do some board RW? Cheers, Tom

Okay, so now I'm not sure if that pic was me anymore........LOL I know I borrowed that green and white jump suit from Roger, and those definitely look like my black white Vans sneakers, and my Mirage and invertigo, but then again you never know.........Thanks! now I'm gonna be up all night staring at the computer! Ha ha ha ha ha BluesSkies! Tom

Thanks for the positive feedback on the article Zennie! Muchos Gracias. It sure has been a long strange trip this year! ha ha ha Oh, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news though.....LOL.......but that picture is actually a pic of me over Skydive Houston in Waller from last March. Roger had just taught me how to use the beginner board and Kevin took the pics along with a video. That was my 2nd board jump ever......I was pretty nervous! I love the Super Otter at Houston, that thing rocks. Somebody asked what kind of job I have that I can hit all these DZs.....I work for a bank, it's pretty boring most of the time, but I have clients all over the country, so when I fly out to visit I usually bring my rig. Hawaii was the toughest trip this past year, let me tell you.........LOL Thanks again for the compliment on the article! Blue Skies to all and to all a good flight!!!!!! Tom

Hi Pammi, I just wanted to say thanks. My girlfriend gave me one of your necklaces for Christmas and it kicks ass. (It's royal blue and white with a couple of blue tye dye-ish beeds, way way cool). It was the best present I got this year, 1) cause it came from her and 2) because everywhere I go, people comment on how cool it is (outside the DZ too!!). Anyways, sorry to hear your closing, but I understand where your coming from. Stay high, pull low and sleep with your rigger's girlfriend! Thanks Pammi! Tom

Our unoffical DZ New Year's eve party started at 6pm and ended about 5am New Years day............the stories could go on for days..........

We had perfect weather up at Skydive Pepperell (30 miles north of Boston), it was clear, a full moon and zero winds. Only problem was that the ground temp was also zero......F*%Kin' FREEZING. We decided to get drunk intsead. Not an exciting story, but hey, at least it's a start, right?

My handles on my new rig are Cutaway: PROBLEM Reserve: PROBLEM SOLVER Whuffos always ask me if I look down and read the handles before pulling them. To which I usually respond "The irony here is that I never learned to read"

Still freezing up here in Boston. Gonna jump tomorrow, even though the exit temp at altitude is currently hovering around negative 12 degrees farenheit at the moment..........anyways, I digress..........okay, so what is the coolest thing you've seen on a cutaway or reserve handle? Like "Plan B" or "Eject" My old rig: Cutaway Handle: "Bad Pack" Reserve Handle: "Repack" Blues, Tom

Okay, so I've jumped the Frankenotter maybe 50 times over the last year, and I agree with all the "FrankenFans", it's one of the fastest Otters out there (I saw it take off from practically a total stand still one time in Lake Wales, I mean, way less than 100 yards and the thing was airborn.......), but I digress, anyways, it's 30 degrees here in Boston and I figured I'd use this down time to see if anyone can confirm the FrankenOtter story. I know it's owned by Paul at CSS, but what is the history and is there any confirms on exactly how many different planes it actually comprises? I've heard 4 planes and 5 planes. Anyone know for sure?

I have yet to chop the board, (knock on wood), but I did lend it to another (experienced) skysurfer who chopped while under canopy when the board's drogue release open up on him as he was disconnecting from it. He let it go from about 3000 ft directly over the landing area, and it didn't seem to come down very fast or hard at all. Granted, I still wouldn't have wanted to get hit with it while mowing my lawn mind you.....LOL...... Stay high, pull low, and sleep with your riggers girlfriend." Tom

I recently got an email from my home DZ stating that due to the recent hike in insurance rates following the 9/11 attacks, that the DZ may be dropping their third party liability insurance for the 2002 season and if that happens, then the DZ would ban skysurfing as a result, unless the individual skysurfer (in this case, me) went out and got my own third party liability protection coverage. Okay, so here are the questions.... 1) Has anyone else heard anything about the loss of third party liability insurance lately? I think there was something on USPA.org, but I can't find it anymore. 2) How and where could I get third party liability insurance for skysurfing? 3) Any other suggestions or advice would be greatly appreicated. Muchos Gracias Tom

I'm just curious as to what the staff at your DZ thinks about your hook turns. I can't imagine any DZO being too thrilled with the idea of a low time jumper hooking it in over the landing area, especially on a PD 190. And why are other jumpers allowing this on their DZ? Low time jumpers are dangerous enough on landing, I can't see too many skygods letting you get away with hooking over their turf. The bottom line is that you are putting yourself and those you jump with at a considerably higher risk by being dumb and hooking a canopy not primarily designed for hooking. You may think you can handle a 150 elliptical, but the truth is, you can't. Not right now. You may still go ahead and jump a 150 HP and be fine, and think I'm just being a dick, but there will come a landing when somthing will be misjudged, but on your 150HP, you won't have the same margin for error and your gonna end up hurting yourself. Just take it slow, you have your whole life ahead of you to skydive. Learn as much as you can from each canopy you jump before you move down. Again, I'm not trying to bash you, I can understand you want to be as good as you can, as fast as you can, I'm just tired of seeing skydivers getting hurt or killed in otherwise avoidable situations, and this whole thread sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Believe me, I went through the same thing recently, I did 300 jumps my first year and I was itching to get down to a Crossfire 129, but I waited and practiced on my Sabre 150, putting over 200 jumps on the canopy. I'm still jumping it today, and with 400 jumps (I'm a newbie too), I'm waiting for my Vengence 120 to be delivered this month. Could I have jumped the 120 200 jumps ago? Sure. But would I have been able to handle the same inflight emergencies under 120 as the 150? No way. You arejust now hitting the apex of yoru learning curve on canopy flight, take the time to do it right and learn all you can about the canopies you are flying. Okay, sorry if this was a bash, I just want you and all of us for that matter, to be as safe as we can in the skies. Blue Skies and Safe Swoops, Tom

Small world eh? I was down in Houston working for a few days so I brought my rig and made some jumps in Spaceland. I actaully ran into my AFF level 1 JM there too that day. I'll be back down in February to work again (I'm stuck in freezing Boston.......) in Houston, so I'll bring my rig and we can do some freeflying! If you ever get up to Skydive Pepperell in MA this summer (perhaps our end of August Casa Boogie?) be sure to let me know in advance so I can put together an "AirAnn" announcement at the DZ! Cheers, Tom

Thanks Ann! Happy Holidays! (I jump in Boston, but was down in Spaceland last season and we chatted on the Otter on a couple of loads. I think it's great what your doing with the AirAnn Fresh Air Awards, I've been following it on your website, your really making a difference "up" there. :-) Cheers, Tom

Gievn the holiday season, I thought I'd post this and share it with everyone. I was raised Catholic, and although I don't go to church as often as I should, I definitely feel close to God, and it was actually when I started skydiving that I really felt His presence in my life. It was on my AFF Level 1 jump, riding to altitude in a Cessna with my two jumpmasters, that I closed my eyes to say a prayer, I wasn't sure what to pray for, and this just sort of popped in my head. I've said this same prayer in the plane (usually around 5000ft for some reason....) before all of my 400 jumps, and it has basically become a ritual for me. I guess it makes it easier for me to step out the door knowing I'm not going it alone. I often get caught making the sign of the cross in the plane before exit by jumpers, alot of times 1st time tandem students. They usually inquire as what I'm doing and I typically respond "I always jump tandem, I'm bringing God with me, just in case." Anyways, here's the prayer: A Skydiver’s Prayer “Lord protect us, as once again, we take this leap of faith and step out into the great unknown, so that we may know Your glory through human flight. Please see that our parachutes open cleanly, guiding us safely back to earth. Watch over our pilots, and bring them back to us safely. Should this not be your design, should today be the day that one of us meets our judgement, Lord, please know that we are truly sorry for our sins and thankful for this life in the sky that you have given us. Embrace those that are left behind and let them know we lived free and can die without regret. We pray that we be absolved of our sins and granted entrance into your glorious Kingdom of Heaven, that we may know your love and glory for all time.” Amen. Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good flight!!!!! Tom