petur

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Everything posted by petur

  1. The one with the visor on the full face helmets is a good one. Read this cutaway report which relates to that matter. Here's what comes to my mind: Gloves: Not too thick! You must be able to feel your handles! Also keep in mind that the surface in the palms of some gloves, Neumann for example, stiffenes up and becomes slippery in cold conditions. Get a good firm grip and pull... Clothes: There's no need to put on layers after layers of clothing, that will limit your ability to move freely but keep in mind that it can get cold during flight to altitude so use common sense. For best results the outer layer should be wind-resistant as the wind chill is your worst enemy. Your neck, wrists and ankles may become vulnerable to cold during flight under canopy... and lips are prone to dry. Audibles: The batteries are quite sensitive to rapid temperature changes. I've experienced this during flight to altitude when my dytter complained of low battery level although they were relatively new. Keep a close eye (or ear) on your dytter during flight. Altimeters: I've experienced hesitation in my Alti III in cold conditions. So if it feels low, it is low... Don't take any chances! Exit: Anything you step on or hold on to during climb-out might be extremely slippery. Clouds: If it's cold enough... they hurt really bad... Landing: If your landing area is covered by snow your altitude awareness is greatly reduced. Spend some time placing markers in the snow if there aren't any... you won't regret it... unless you like surprises! Packing: Your gearbag will be your best friend since your fingers probably won't be. "Wind Chill" and other weather calculators here Petur - Iceland --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  2. Hmm... we had a tandem with two canopies out which entangled and the pair crashed pretty hard on a pavement in 1996. Both survived but the passenger sustained some major injuries. Oddly enough, the media coverage somehow resulted in a great increase of new students that year... never before (nor after) have we seen such an increase. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  3. Yes dude, do not underestimate what stress can do to you. At the early age of 21 I had a breakdown... until then I laughed at people who told me to relax and think about the stress factors in my life! 5 months later my "eyes turned skywards"... Take good care of yourself, mentally and physically! That's rule number 1... for if you don't, not only you but everything else will collapse. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  4. Yesterday I was surfing and found http://www.noexcusesrigging.com for some odd reason. They have some pretty neat detailed info and photos on a few rigging related scenarios: http://www.noexcusesrigging.com/ResInsp.htm http://www.noexcusesrigging.com/user_errors.htm http://www.noexcusesrigging.com/97JMRIG.html http://www.noexcusesrigging.com/GearCheck.htm http://www.noexcusesrigging.com/DeploymentDevices.htm --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  5. petur

    Mushrooms...

    This is interesting: http://www.mescaline.com/synth/ An excerpt: (with 300 mg) "I would have liked to, and was expecting to, have an exciting visual day, but I seemed to be unable to escape self-analysis. At the peak of the experience I was quite intoxicated and hyper with energy, so that it was not hard to move around. I was quite restless. But I spent most of the day in considerable agony, attempting to break through without success. I learned a great deal about myself and my inner workings. Everything almost was, but in the final analysis, wasn't. I began to become aware of a point, a brilliant white light, that seemed to be where God was entering, and it was inconceivably wonderful to perceive it and to be close to it. One wished for it to approach with all one's heart. I could see that people would sit and meditate for hours on end just in the hope that this little bit of light would contact them. I begged for it to continue and come closer but it did not. It faded away not to return in that particular guise the rest of the day. Listening to Mozart's Requiem, there were magnificent heights of beauty and glory. The world was so far away from God, and nothing was more important than getting back in touch with Him. But I saw how we created the nuclear fiasco to threaten the existence of the planet, as if it would be only through the threat of complete annihilation that people might wake up and begin to become concerned about each other. And so also with the famines in Africa. Many similar scenes of joy and despair kept me in balance. I ended up the experience in a very peaceful space, feeling that though I had been through a lot, I had accomplished a great deal. I felt wonderful, free, and clear. " (with 350 mg) "Once I got through the nausea stage, I ventured out-of-doors and I was aware of an intensification of color and a considerable change in the texture of the cloth of my skirt and in the concrete of the sidewalk, and in the flowers and leaves that were handed me by an observer. I experienced the desire to laugh hysterically at what I could only describe as the completely ridiculous state of the entire world. Although I was afraid of motion, I was persuaded to take a ride in a car. The driver turned on the radio and suddenly the music 'The March of the Siamese Children' from 'The King and I' became the most perfect background music for the parody of real life which was indeed the normal activity of Telegraph Avenue on any Saturday morning. The perfectly ordinary people on their perfectly ordinary errands were clearly the most cleverly contrived set of characters all performing all manners of eccentric activities for our particular hilarity and enjoyment. I felt that I was at the same time both observing and performing in an outrageous moving picture. I experienced one moment of transcendent happiness when, while passing Epworth Hall, I looked out of the window of the car and up at the building and I was suddenly in Italy looking up at a gay apartment building with its shutters flung open in sunshine, and with its window boxes with flowers. We stopped at a spot overlooking the bay, but I found the view uninteresting and the sun uncomfortable. I sat there on the seat of the car looking down at the ground, and the earth became a mosaic of beautiful stones which had been placed in an intricate design which soon all began to move in a serpentine manner. Then I became aware that I was looking at the skin of a beautiful snake--all the ground around me was this same huge creature and we were all standing on the back of this gigantic and beautiful reptile. The experience was very pleasing and I felt no revulsion. Just then, another automobile stopped to look at the view and I experienced my first real feeling of persecution and I wanted very much to leave. " (with 400 mg) "During the initial phase of the intoxication (between 2 and 3 hours) everything seemed to have a humorous interpretation. People's faces are in caricature, small cars seem to be chasing big cars, and all cars coming towards me seem to have faces. This one is a duchess moving in regal pomp, that one is a wizened old man running away from someone. A remarkable effect of this drug is the extreme empathy felt for all small things; a stone, a flower, an insect. I believe that it would be impossible to harm anything--to commit an overt harmful or painful act on anyone or anything is beyond one's capabilities. One cannot pluck a flower--and even to walk upon a gravel path requires one to pick his footing carefully, to avoid hurting or disturbing the stones. I found the color perception to be the most striking aspect of the experience. The slightest difference of shade could be amplified to extreme contrast. Many subtle hues became phosphorescent in intensity. Saturated colors were often unchanged, but they were surrounded by cascades of new colors tumbling over the edges. " (with 400 mg) "It took a long time to come on and I was afraid that I had done it wrong but my concerns were soon ended. The world soon became transformed where objects glowed as if from an inner illumination and my body sprang to life. The sense of my body, being alive in my muscles and sinews, filled me with enormous joy. I watched Ermina fill to brimming with animal spirit, her features tranformed, her body cat-like in her graceful natural movement. I was stopped in my tracks. The world seemed to hold its breath as the cat changed again into the Goddess. As she shed her clothes, she shed her ego and when the dance began, Ermina was no more. There was only the dance without the slightest self-consciousness. How can anything so beautiful be chained and changed by other's expectations? I became aware of myself in her and as we looked deeply into one another my boundaries disappeared and I became her looking at me. " --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  6. There's no such thing as a "silly question", only "silly people"
  7. Don't worry about how to say "bjor"... we'll teach you... Worry about your "kronur" though, a 0.5L can of Miller GD costs 196 kronurs ($2.4) from the liquor store, that's $57.6 for a case of beer. That (beer price) and the cold shitty weather causing such a short jump season is probably the only bad thing about living in Iceland... hey... given that... I just realized... living here kind of sucks! --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  8. "Elska Þig!!", pronounced "elska thig" in Icelandic, which means: Love you!! Good guess though :) --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  9. My girlfriend (also a jumper) gave me this for my 24th. birthday last november, to have on my desk at work. Thing is though, I haven't quite been able to concentrate on my job as I used to before I got it... strange? --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  10. petur

    300-way photo

    Anyone know the exact date / time of the record? --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  11. Oh, I did that once... really hurts! --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  12. Levenworth? I'ld hand them one of the nine chutes off the shelf and throw them out of a plane... ...and then decide where to put them. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  13. Try this: [B][URL "http://www.lemonbovril.co.uk/bushspeech/"]Make your own Bush speech![/URL][/B] --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  14. Honest!!! --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  15. Two phrases: "When in doubt, WHIP OUT!" "When you're unsure, you're sure! CUT AWAY!" --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  16. Yeah! Balloon jumps are a totally different experience. The fact that they're usually performed at the break of dawn and you don't hear/feel any wind since the balloon travels with it makes this a unique experience. I recommend falling backwards and just letting go of it, feel the acceleration... it's the "fun / tingling / butterflies in your stomach" feeling you used to get when swinging as a kid, multiplied by 10 [URL "http://vitleysa.online.is/?content=pictorials/deland2002.html"]Some ballon-photos from Lake Wales in this gallery[/URL] --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  17. See attachment... --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  18. Well, from what I've seen and heard, I think the general rule of thumb is to chop immediately if a lineover occurrs. My first post to this thread clearly shows that giving it at least 1 try to resolve is worth it. My student training in the U.S., February last year ('01), did not include anything on fixing lineovers, simply cut it away immediately and go for the silver. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  19. Ok, this might sound ridiculous, but what appeared to be a lineover was apparently fixed last saturday. We had a first time static-line student exit a C-206 from 4.000'. From the ground it was ovious that the right side of the canopy was deformed and the canopy began to spin immediately after deployment. The jumper himself saw what appeared to be a lineover. In spite of direct radio-commands to cut away and deploy the reserve, the student decided to pull the toggles a couple of times to full brakes which resulted in the line gently slipping over the right edge and the problem was fixed, uneventful flight and landing after that. The student was flying a 280 PD 9-cell. Has anyone else ever heard of a lineover fixed during flight? --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  20. By what you have described, I think this is something for you and your instructor to figure out. Many new jumpers describe very similar problems, potato-chipping, involuntary turn to one side, some backslide etc. The suggestions to solve the problem are almost the same every time: Practice on ground, listen to your instructor, visualize the dive during ride to altitude, RELAX and remember to breathe... In the meantime, while waiting for better weather conditions, I suggest you grab a couple of skydiving movies and drink a few beers... (omg, did I say "few"?) --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  21. Sounds really strange since all I've heard about Wings containers is that they're very freefly friendly. Take a look at their website [URL "http://www.skydivewings.com/"]http://www.skydivewings.com[/URL] and contact them as Skybytch suggested. The tuck-tabs on your reserve flap might be something worth looking at, especially since it's a new rig and they should secure the flap during even the most radical freefly maneuvers. One thing that comes to mind is that if the reserve chute is of a smaller size than recommended for this specific container type or the reserve closing loop is way too loose, it might result in a scenario where the tuck-tabs do not get enough grip under the flap. Anyways, if this problem persists and seems consistent, you should definately have it inspected if your preferred style is freeflying. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  22. Wow, sounds like a cool skydiving movie [URL "http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057507"]Skydivers, The (1963)[/URL] "A couple own an airfield which makes its money on skydiving in the middle of New Mexico. They are having marital problems because the man is cheating on his wife, but remains true to his wife. The woman he is cheating with is jealous of the man's wife, so she seduces another guy to conspire with her to kill him. Meanwhile, the wife is cheating on the cheating husband with the husband's old Army buddy..." --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."
  23. I'm not surprised you guys "forgot" the movie Out Cold (hint: Don't rent it!). One scene shows a guy having a dream about jumping from a helicopter, snowboarding down a hill and over a cliff, and then deploying a parachute and landing on top of a ski lift. --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second."