denete

Absolutely! Otherwise it wouldn't be a discussion forum. It would be a pulpit. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Okay, here goes. Please keep in mind the "sticky" entitled "Warning on advice given here". I am going to operate as if you have read that and understand it. No, I'm not going to give skydiving advice, so don't worry. I have two hook knives, yet I have never carried them on a skydive. I know that I would like to have the option of cutting a line to clear a reserve line-over. I have studied, read, and put myself through enough "what-if" scenarios to conclude that I really do need to have one with me. Why have I never jumped with it? I have said to two instructors over the course of my 10 jumps, "why doesn't this student rig have a hook knife"? Neither responded with, "you really should have one, and this is why...". If it was really important, don't you think that they would have said so? I guess not. My reasons for carrying one (or knowing that I should carry one) are the same as several of you have mentioned. That didn't come from an instructor though. It came from my reading and thinking through situations. This is the same thing that several "low jump number" posters have demonstrated in this thread. They posted their understandings of a situation. My point is that it is possible for us (all of us) to learn something by not shooting down (angrily in some cases) the ideas presented by anyone here. There are some here who were never trained on when or even how to use a hook knife, while others were. Because we come from different backgrounds, we bring different experiences to the table. If you don't agree with the information presented, then present what you believe is correct. If you don't understand the information presented, describe what you do understand and ask for clarification. I am involved in another activity as an adjudicator. The international governing body of that activity has a philosophy on judging that makes a lot of sense. The judge is supposed to act in one of three different capacities: teacher, counselor, or critic. The capacity is determined by the experience of those being judged. To relate it to giving feedback in this forum: Young jumpers would be addressed from the standpoint that you are a teacher for them (they know almost nothing). Intermediate jumpers would get counselor-like feedback (shaping and refining the knowledge that they have), and more advanced jumpers would get critical feedback. I want to be on the same team with you guys, but I could swear that some of you don't want anyone around that thinks for themselves and shares those thoughts. I guess they could have kept to themselves and potentially gone in after making a fatal error. Isn't it better that they didn't keep to themselves? - David ps - If you don't like the "discussion" format of a forum, then you really should put your opinions into articles and submit them for inclusion in the Safety Articles area of the web site. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

They give you a big statue that you have to put out in the harbor? SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

And she's a belly flyer (it's a game we play...I lay on the couch to relax and she takes a running leap onto my stomach with her stomach and holds an arch...good balance)...gotta love the kids. I'm in the late tourney tonight.

The sad confession...I have too many computers. One of the three WinXP boxes is for PC games, one is for arcade games, and the last one is for my wife's layout and graphic design work. My PowerMac dual-G4 is for audio / graphic work, as is my G4PowerBook. I've got a Win98 box in a cocktail table and a Win2000 box in a stand-up arcade cabinet. I make money with Macs, and play games with PCs. At work I'm surrounded. A Mac-based render farm, Mac OS X design studio, Mac OS X high end graphic lab, 3 MacOS X-Servers, 2 Linux servers, my Linux workstation, my MacOS workstation, and the only group of "necessary" WinXP boxes is for the motion capture studio (due to the software we use for mocap). And...in December we pick up 16+ new iMacs. - David [ some of the mocap work from a 2004 project can be seen at virtual vaudeville. ]

Gotta start the bath, read the books, entertain the never-ending questions of a 4 year-old... ...and that's the early tournament!

No more than those who are contributing wish for it to be. A few more responses and I'll cut to the chase on my theory. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I'd rather go for proper tools for proper training. This brings up a good point, and I would really appreciate it if the "old guys" (no offense intended) could shed some light on this. There are a lot of aspects of this sport that are not directly taught to students. Instead, that knowledge is obtained through a cycle of sorts (that has been my experience so far). First we have trial-and-error at altitude, then relating our trial-and-error experience to another skydiver (wise skydiver...usually older...usually still alive), then receiving (from that sage skydiver) the explanation of what we experienced and how it is a part of the sport. So, let's leave that learning method alone and probe a new one. For the "experienced" skydivers...would you answer these questions? Humor me, and I'll cut to the chase. 1. Do you carry a hook-knife? 2. Why do you carry it? 3. Who taught you how / when to use it? 4. How many jumps did you have when you started carrying it? - David The airport doesn't need a beacon. You can see it for miles thanks to all of the lightbulbs popping up over the newbie jumper's heads. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

From everything that I've read, heard, and seen, you are absolutely dead-on right. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Hey phoenixlpr, that's a good question. How would you cut your crap away? - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

myself (...and my family)

Tomorrow, you'll find yourself passed out and missing your flight. Mark my words, you'll miss your flight. ...unless you're taking a boat. - David

I've been reading (about 1/2-way through now) Brian Germain's book "Transcending Fear: Conquering the Enemy Within". Although I think the front end of the book is a little long, the book really does give a good information for discovering ways to calmly approach things (like skydiving) and tame some of your unconscious reactions. Transcending Fear on Amazon.com - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2929038#2929038 SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

That does bring up a good point. If you are doing a pure Kevlar layup, you may want to consider putting a layer of fiberglass on the outside of the layup. That way, any sanding that you do after curing will stand less of a chance of sanding into the Kevlar. Kevlar doesn't sand down well, it just fuzzes and looks like crap. So, throw a layer of 3-4 ounce glass on the outside of the layup. One other method that I've used for cutting .75 ounce fiberglass that might also work with your cutting is to dust it with 3M Super-77 adhesive and then lay wax paper onto that dusted piece. Dusting means to spray it into the air over the fabric, and not directly onto the Kevlar. Once the two materials are together, you have a backer that allows you to cut without disturbing the weave. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Visor-man SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Thanks for the smile.

Here is a tried and true method for light-weight Kevlar (probably not what you're using on your canoe). It really works well. Get a new pair of 9-1/2" Fiskars scissors. Run each blade at a 90-degree angle against a sanding belt, moving smoothly from base to tip. Do this twice on each blade. Surprisingly, that's all it takes to allow them to cut the Kevlar. For your heavier weight Kevlar, there are some options on... http://www.jaeberly.com/id7.html ...or Fiskars Titanium Nitride Coated series shears (gold colored blades). - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Okay, thanks. There was a skydiving club at the Univ. of Georgia, but it appears that it went inactive not too long after it started. I was interested in seeing if there might be a dz close enough that might already be populated with UGA students who could get the club running again. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

N/A

Has anyone heard any possibility of Skydive Monroe reopening with a new facility? I don't know anything about the dz, except that the airport ended the lease. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I'm driving out early in the AM to get my fix. Gotta try the PAC. I thought the door was supposed to be bigger than some other single side doors.

CareerBuilder gave me the best results. Monster was like "talking" to Eliza (for those of you who remember learning to program in basic in 1980). I found that I had to spend about 2-4 hours / day filling out applications at this high-point of my job search. Right now I've picked up an IT support / programming job, am still in the process of earning a tech design job with a big corporation (a little robot-ish, but easy work), and got a call Friday from a company that wants me to do back-end web programming. The weird thing is that I went for almost 2-1/2 months without getting one single interview. I just kept at it, and when I finally got an interview, the others just started popping up. I thought about going to trade school to become a welding apprentice at one point. My wife has done some good reading on this job search, and found a piece of advice on the time-table. For every $10K that you want to earn, expect to spend one month searching for a job. Best luck to you. Try CareerBuilder. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I'm not sure how old you are, or how long you've experienced this "poor sleep" problem, but there's a good chance that you are accustomed to it. I have the same thing, and from age 14 to 35 I never felt rested. For me, I could sleep for 12 hours at night or for 3 hours and I felt exactly the same...so I just stayed up at night and worked. Then I saw a Doctor, etc., etc....now I know what it feels like to have a good night of rest. I can still fall asleep anywhere (yes, anywhere) in less than 5 minutes if I allow myself to do so. It doesn't happen by accident. See your physician, you may be very surprised by how nice it is to feel tired. Be sure that you visualize good canopy openings and practice your actions for dealing with them along with visualizing malfunctions and your actions for dealing with them. I use my freakish control over my sleep needs to spend time visualizing just about every aspect of this activity. I visualize equipment inspections, the packing process, my dives, my landing patterns, and everything. I go through a full visualization of errors as well as perfect jumps. Example: Sometimes I visualize going too far downwind on the downwind leg of my landing pattern. I also visualize what I'll have to do to correct that error. I can't be out jumping every weekend, but I sure try to make up for that in the time that I have available. Best luck. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

The two-handed version... http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/SIGNS/SIGNS_2/M1004.MOV Michigan State has a good ASL Browser site.