dudeman17

I had a Comet 228. Loved it. I got my BASE # with that canopy. I jumped a couple Hobitts, too, even had one as a reserve in a Handbury rig. Bill Gargano TSO'd a system to pack it in a 2-riser 2-pin reserve container using a diaper, and Skybill used to pack it for me. (Tacos 'n Hobbitts, haha.) Had another one of Bill's canopies, a Lumen, made some base jumps on that one too. Any chance of resurrecting the Nasgull?

Yeah, those would be the ones.

Yeah, a funny Bobby Smith story: I was one of BJ's proteges from Mammoth. So it's the late 70's, I'm a snot-nosed 18 yr old bein' a ski bum in Mammoth, meet Bob Jones, and end up comin' down to Perris with a group he put together to make our first jumps. My mom and aunt come out to visit and check things out. So at the end of the day we're all standing around where the old packing tables used to be in front of the parking lot, BJ is tellin' stories and reviewing our day, and my mom has a picnic basket full of sandwiches and cookies. Bobby Smith is tryin' to lurk his way past us to get out through the lot and head for the ghetto, and he's taking a wide berth around us lest BJ calls him over. Sure enough, BJ starts sayin', "Yeah, that's Bobby Smith, an experienced jumper, maybe he'll come over and tell some stories...". Bobby's tryin' to look the other way and pretend he doesn't hear, so he can get the hell past us. Whereupon my mom says, "Would you like a sandwich?" Head turns, eyes widen, roadrunner cloud straight at us - ZOOM - "Yeah, (stuffs face, scarf) no shit (snarf snarf) there I was..."

"...When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you understand now why you came this way..." - Stephen Stills

Grey hair and a big smile.

Kind of a funny related story from a few years ago... The DZO at a dropzone I was jumping at had a new whuffo girlfriend and I guess he wanted her to pack for him. She had one of his rigs on the floor and was packing it, pulling it out and repacking it over and over. I was just gearing up for an AFF jump, and I noticed her stuffing the pilot chute in the pouch, so I walked over, picked up the rig and said, 'let's see if you've got this down yet'. She about panicked and tried desperately to stop me, but I just laughed at her and walked off with it. Opened fine. When I got down, she was in the landing area shaking and white as a sheet.

The jumps in Carl's first El Capitan movie occurred in August 1978, so it would have been shortly after that. Some of that also appeared in Skydive!, so it was after that also. There was other El Cap footage from the 'legal' season in 1980 that appeared in some of Carl's other BASE movies.

That other gent would be Corky Ferguson. He and Bethany are excellent people indeed.

Congratulations on 50 years!! I was one of BJ's proteges from Mammoth. Came down on a trip he organized and made my first couple of jumps in '79. Went back up the hill. The next summer I came back down, went thru student and made 50 jumps or so. Next winter went back up the hill and took 'The Art of Freefall Relative Work' and 'United We Fall' with me. Used to sit on chairlifts and stare at the sky... Good luck on many more, you guru you!

Dude, hanging out in the parking lot before you jump is soooo '80's.

"...everything old is new again..."

Wow, I'm starting to get a pretty good laugh out of this myself. Look, I don't know the WS student or what was happening at the time, but from Spot's original post it didn't sound like anyone was having a panic attack, it just sounded like they encountered a problem and that Spot did in fact find a fix for it, and was just sharing it for others' benefit. As for why I teach, I'm pretty confident that my motives are in the right place, and I'm sure that anyone I've ever worked for or with would back me up on that. I've never pushed a panicking person into or off of anything. In fact, I've suggested to several people that skydiving wasn't right for them, and I've made the same suggestion to many skydivers about base jumping. Sounds like you're the one with the reactionary ego. Maybe you're just jealous of something, I dunno. But tell you what - you just chill where you're at, and we'll be just fine out here.

It's obvious that you have never met Spot. While I don't know him THAT well, what I do know of him is that I would never suspect him of being more interested in someone's money than their well being. He's a good man to have around, he truly cares. (And I've been an instructor for 20 years.) As for someone being wound up, it's also obvious that you have never been on even a highly experienced skydiver's first base jump. Take a deep breath yourself, pal.

Ya, except I never got the nerve to actually base jump the damn thing. I couldn't give it away either, so I eventually gave it to this whuffo girl I knew. We cut the lines off of it and made an awning for the side of her motorhome. Best thing that could've ever happened to it! BTW, Bill, how the hell are ya?!

Sometime in the early-mid eighties I did my one and only nude jump. The excess on one of my leg straps came unstowed. I think I invented freeflying that day. Never again.

Okay, Montana, now you're pushing it. She might not mind being called Purple Patty, but she certainly will not stand for anyone calling her dogs poodles. They're bichon frises and don't you forget it. I've suffered that mistake myself.

Huh? How are clouds going to collapse your canopy? That guy with the harp kicks it.

This Saturday, grab the dude, get that instructor with the gray hair and let's just have a little chat...

"If you ain't scared, you don't fully understand the situation." - Al Frisby

I did a naked dive once in the early 80's. We were doing about a 20-way round and I was swooping last. During my dive to the formation the excess of my legstrap came unstowed. I think I inadvertently invented freeflying that day. Ouch. Never again.

A better way(and funnier), while everyone is yelling, put your hand up to the ear and keep saying "What, I can't hear you". Gee, Tim, I seem to remember one instance when YOU were yelling 'GO GO GO!!" at ME when I was in the door, and us having a 'discussion' about it after. Hehehe.

I guess it goes both ways... I've always referred to DC-3's (and twin Beeches) as 'the Harley-Davidson of airplanes'. Then one day I was sittin' at a DZ with an old timer when someone rode by on a classic ol' Harley. He said, "There goes the DC-3 of motorcycles".

I think it's actually, 'What's the difference between a professional skydiver and a large pizza?' A large pizza can feed a family of four.