Newbie

I don't understand how people (the one's you are talking about) can have this attitude. The more time i spend in this sport, the more i'm amazed about how little i know and how much more there is to learn. Each time i learn something, there are about 3 new paths to learn off of that topic, and then more paths off of those 3. That's why im Newbie - i'll always be one in this sport no matter how many years/jumps i have. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

You should say nothing if that person is much more experienced than you, and tell the CI/S&TA if they're less experienced than you. Deal with your peers as you see fit without exacerbating their situation. Tonto i agree with what you are saying, but re: the "do nothing if they are more experienced than you" comment, is this really what you want us new guys to do? Now im not talking about what you mentioned specifically, like newbies slamming you for doing hooks/CReW etc, thats different - im talking about if a new guy spots someone more experienced who might have forgotten something like a chest strap or something. We all know there have been incidents with highly experienced jumpers forgetting the basics. Would you really not want us to say something in this case? I told one of the instructors/coaches at my dz on my load who had about 7900 more jumps than i did that his chest strap was dangling in the plane, and he just nodded and smiled at me with that "yes i know" sort of look. But i would rather say something and get laughed at for thinking he had forgotten something so basic, than have an injury or worse happen because i didn't say anything because "the guy was so experienced i figured i should just keep my mouth shut" sort of thing. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

goddamn it, $1000 worth of damage to the door, body and window and they didnt even steal anything. I guess i should be thankful that i only have to pay the first $400 excess to have it repaired and not the whole whack. Just what i didn't need around this expensive time of year Im normally quite the pacifist and zen-like about shit, but i would so LOVE to have just 10 seconds with the little f*&£^r that did this "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

man that video was lovely, thanks for sharing! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

might be worth posting something in gear and rigging to let others know about this post in case it's more widespread among other Guner's (although given the fine workmanship Bonehead products seem to enjoy, that's probably unlikely. Speak to them, i'm sure they will be more than happy to sort it for you, they are a good bunch). "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Anyone have any numbers from 20/10/5 years back of worldwide jumpers? Do any long serving instructors find there is a lot more demand now compared to x amount of years back? Is it steady? It would seem to me to be growing, but i have no idea by how many people. How many people went to the first WFFC and when was that even? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

anyone know? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL. Sorry you didn't have a good experience with them - i guess the pants were free, but still, that shouldn't make any difference really. They weren't the cheapest out there, but i am 100% happy with my decision to purcahse from them. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

i have a 100 jumps on my Hornet 190 loaded at pretty much 1:1 and it's wonderful, cannot fault it. Packs much easier due to what others have said about the zp not being as slippery. Nice responsive canopy, wonderful natural feel to the flare and from what i can tell, made very well. Picked it up for all of $500 too, which helped If you can get your hands on one at a reasonable price, i wouldn't hesitate. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

just thought i would give them - and Ryan there in particular - some major props. After placing my order with them in the UK at my local DZ, i thought i would ask how my order was coming along - this was 5 weeks or so after it had been placed. By some strangeness, the order had never been received. "Oh well", i thought just one of those things, but i was happy when Ryan said he would try and push it through a little quicker for me in light of the mix up. So i get remeasured and the order gets faxed over to Ryan who confirms on the monday. ONE WEEK LATER he advises me to tell my friend in Texas who is taking the suit for me, to look out for it. I couldn't believe it. I mean, i guess winter is a quiet time, but damn that was seriously quick. I just took delivery of the suit today, and it's wonderful, i can't fault it on anything. I just want to go jump with it now! So, many thanks to Ryan and Flitesuit in general for helping me out. I can't recommend them enough! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

haha man i just saw that tonight - it's great, a real insight into what young kids look like under some serious pressure. 5/5 stars http://www.documentary.org/festivals/doctober/doctober2002/images/spellbound/spellbound.jpg "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

personally i think you should do whatever gives you complete peace of mind and don't let anyone influence you otherwise. If you want to yank it out and do it again, go ahead man. If someone says "what are you doing?! That's what the reserve is for", ignore them and pack that shit how you want it, it's your main that's deploying up there. If you are happy they did a good job, jump it - but make that decision on the ground - the last thing you want is to be dangling out the door wondering if you should have done this that or the other down there. Just my thoughts...

thanks for this bill, it's very useful. Just wondering, you said that guy Brett upsized to get more performance out of his canopy - was this because the lower wing loading meant he could be more experimental with his piloting, and get to learn more, because his mistakes weren't going to injure/kill him as they might have done on his other smaller canopy? I didn't quite get this bit. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

at least you didn't dream that you went to reserve, wondered why you were still in freefall, looked up to see a streamer above your head and then looked down to see the ground coming up, screaming, knowing you were going to bounce, as i did on saturday. Being a dream, shaking the stars away and peeling myself up off the floor, then slowly making my way back to the dz thinking about having a beer and wondering how i was going to tell my story, seemed perfectly normal... "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

QuoteI suppose it could get interesting if a solo decided to track off into the sunset never to be seen again....It's certainly one of the scenarios I've toyed with if I ever wanted to disappear from society. I figure I could get at least a couple of days head start before people began looking and by that time I'd already be in Tahiti. Quote that's some track you must have there quade "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

man i only found out yesterday who is was, im saddened and still shocked. I didn't know James very well, but i did know him and he was a familiar face at the dz. I was lucky enough to make a jump with him a little while back. Blues skies James, Dave "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

can't we just lay a 100 on the dash and wink, and make everything good? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

am i the only one that thinks this is so not cool?? That's some Jessica Dubroff syndrome right there. If the poor kid was screaming in the door, he shouldn't be up there - sure other paxes do that, but most of those are 18+ and are aware of what is going on, and what the consequences are. As the other guys said, when a kid still talks to imaginery people, how on earth can they be in a mature enough frame of mind to make a jump and not think they can fly out of their bedroom window?? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks for the help - someone here got in touch and thinks it might be a guy called Jared who apparently still does TM work there. I emailed Lodi to see if i can get him to confirm it was me. Thanks all. PS i live in the UK which is why i can't just go down the road as someone suggested LOL "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL! That tandem pic is great! Reminds me of what i was feeling on that first one too.... "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I want to say whats up to him. Can't remember what his name is, but he was a youngish (maybe then late 20's?) guy, who was pretty short, maybe 5ft 6 or 8 or something, with blondeish hair?. I think he told me he had 4000 jumps or something, but can't remember anything else. If anyone know's who the hell i'm on about and has some contact details, that would be cool. Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

true, that's a good way to put it. Thanks for my new signature! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How true. IMHO i don't think this is really true. No one is born a skydiver, everyone starts off as a whuffo. A lot of people remain very scared at the start of their jumping career, even though they say they love it, they are scared as hell, some people feel sick when they get on the plane with fear then get down and want to go straight up again, feel sick etc etc (which is totally understandable). I openly confess to people when they ask what my first jump was like, that i screamed like a little girl for most of the way down on that first tandem because i thought i was going to die (until i got tapped on the arms by my TI and realised he hadn't had a heart attack - long story). Some people who claim they would hate it, try it, then love it and get into it, nothing special there, other than the fact that perhaps they surprised themselves. From my small experience, one wonderful thing about skydiving is that people come from all walks of life, and all sorts of characteristic backgrounds and traits - some do it for the macho image, some do it for the freedom it brings, some like to fly around the blue playground like birds, some for the perceived kudos, some for the risk element - whatever, but everyone is an individual, i don't think skydivers are a special breed of person (apart from the perceoved view that we might be seen as special in the "special" sense of the word by people who wonder why we jump out of planes ). More open minded perhaps, but not special or a better person compared to people who don't skydive. I'd say the guy who sweeps our streets at night in the pouring rain for minimum wage while we sleep, just to keep things clean for us is probably an example of a special breed of person. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Dude skydiving is as safe as the skydiver on the skydiver. Statistically you will find that the same idiots who get killed in motor vehicle accidents would be killed if they where skydiving. why is it then i see incident reports that end "x was a very experienced, cautious jumper, who was extremely safety conscious"? I really don't like to read incidents when they say things like that. I would like to believe it's the non safety conscious people who are the one's that kill themselves, but i know it's all too often the complete opposite. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL, funny post. Not sure how it will work for you, but when i gave up 6 years ago, the first week was hellish, especially when we were in the pub and EVERYONE was smoking. However, then something interesting happened - suddenly the smell of cigarette smoke made me nauseous and it was SO easy not to smoke. Persevere dude and you'll be fine, its just the first week you have to bite down hard to get through. Er, we'll leave it there rather than mention i took it up again once i srarted jumping "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts