DHolland

oh dont forget to thank him for selling our San Diego Deep Water Port to the Chinese.

Ill take Alex Jones' position on all of this

you plan on playing tonight Bill? What time pacific time? Or are you still waiting for the software to update?

Here is an even tougher question. I have not jumped in about ten months, the dropzone I will be going to has only seen me jump once and they do not remember me or anything. My logbook was stolen along with my entire car so i have basically no proof that I have jumped. The only proof I have is my video of my first 8 jumps or so. I called the dropzone and they are not to sure what I should do. Any advice or information?

count me in. That is a pretty small buy in though.

I think you answered your own question about the fear part. Remember when you did that tandem and almost had a panic attack on the ride up? Then keep in mind the feeling you felt once you left the plane and afterward. Trust me on this, when you do your first sole both the fear factor and the reward will multiply. Before skydiving I had a horrible fear of heights, i could barely handle myself on a ski lift. After my S/l Training that fear is long gone. Besides the adrenaline, skydiving helps you overcome many parts of yourself. When you can face and overcome many of your deepest fears, (heights, death, injury, chickening out) that when you have found an experience and a sport that can last you a lifetime. Its hard to tell you what to expect because I haven't been to any dropzones in Florida. Before I started doing my training I was asking a bunch of questions in the forum here as well. All you can do is get out there and experience it for yourself. The best advice I can give you is: 1. Get that money and make reservations 2. Try and relax a little 3. Trust your instructors -Dennis

I will be pulling high with the Omega for a while then, Thanks

How much do you weigh? Keep in mind that I am still new to the sport and many others here will be able to give you better and more informed advice than myself, but I just want to know how much you weigh and your exit weight because this will help everyone determine what size canopy will be correct for you. There are some general guidelines as to what your wingloading should be for your experience level and while it is debatable and many people do load aggressively, I think sticking to WL requirements as set by Brian Germain will keep you safe and allow you to discover your canopies full capabilities before you decide to have a higher wingloading. To everyone who is actually experienced. . .please correct me if I am wrong and/or post the link to Brian Germain's WL requirements because I dont have it. -Dennis

Thanks for the advice for the two of us. Nice X-Ray, I wish i could track down the one from when I swallowed a key when i was in third grade, that one was impressive.

QuoteI have been dying to get recurrent ---------------------------------------------------------- Ya so have I, looking into a clear blue sky knowing that I will not be up there on that beautiful days; damages my soul I thought it would cost a ton of money to get recurrent but I talked to someone at the dropzone and he basically told me jumping is like riding a bike and with some instruction I should be in the sky in no time. I cant wait for my rig to arrive!

Ya that is what I have heard, the current owner of the rig said that the first time he deployed the main he almost cut it away because it took so long to inflate. I will be taking a packing course in davis (skydance) shortly, is it psycho packing that helps the canopy inflate faster? Also does wing loading play a part in how quickly a canopy inflates.

It looks like I am going to buy an Omega 240 and i will have a WL of .88. I have 18 jumps and I have not jumped since last june. I have been dying to get recurrent and I figure i might as well invest in a rig instead of throwing away 35 bucks for rentals per jump. I know the omega is a 7 cell and is similar to a spectre. I figure .88 is a nice conservative wingloading for a beginner and i just wanted to hear everyones opinion on the Omega as a first rig considering the wingloading and my experience. -Dennis

check the Sacramento and Bay Area Craigslist as well, the guy might try selling it there.

So i just finished my S/L training and i wasnt even taught no low turns, i was taught have enough altitude for your canopy to react and flatten out. I was asked what to do if i were at 75 feet and i was heading for a vineyard, i replied take what i had and prepare to PLF and land. I was quickly told that i was wrong and to turn away and land in a better spot. So i am kind of in the opposite situation and it seems we both trained at the same drop zone, just different instuctors i guess.

I guess ill be able to answer my own question in 24 hours anyway. I'm friggin stoked!

How about S/l? I am actually taking my S/l training tomorrow out of Lodi, i am keeping my mouth shut and only going to focus on what my instructor tells me so i dont overload or piss him/her off, but because of the nature of S/l over AFF do you think emphasis(spelling?) will be on canopy control rather than freefall -Dennis

Quotealways look cool. MANgenta, fushia, purple, pink. DON'T do it!! it's really not OK. Damn

ah haha, i feel better already

Well I'm a week away from starting my static line training. Ive been waiting a long time for this and feel i have learned a fair amount reading these forums. I feel there is an incredible amount of knowledge in these forums and its can be overwhelming reading post after post,so,It would be cool to have you guys/girls give a paragraph/sentance or so stating what you feel is important for a newbie to learn,think about or whatever.

Ya after i posted this realized there was a thread about this like 5 threads down. I check it out. Thanks

I figure its time to start spending my hard earned money on whats really important. Being a poor student im struggling on which method of training to use. I have two tandems out of Lodi and figure it would be the best place to get the ball rolling. They offer a traditional training program which is 500$ and does static line eventually progressing to a 13,000ft 60 sec freefall, Or, they have the 1000$ AFF program which looks sweet and seems pretty damn cheap compared to other DZ's. For all of you who have been through this a few words of wisdom would be appreciated. -Thanks, Dennis