drenaline

Had no jump buddies, so did a lot of backloops, frontloops and rolls, and a very nice long track. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Wow!, looks great in the webpage. I have some Q's, is the lens tinted? when will a pic of the half swoop lens be shown? Can I get it with the pimp daddy option? and ok here is the crazy Q: Can you paint the Bonehead logo with the skull on the helmet? Thanx for the answers. Gonna be the first in Panama to buy a boomerang hehe! I can see theyr faces HAHAHA!!! MINE MINE!!! "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Hi michele, I jump a spectre with a 1.13:1 wingload and here is the conclusion I made: Spectre opens are: snivel, snivel snivel snivel snivels and then opens. For the packing I always do a good propack with 9 rolls at the tail (which always come undone when I lay it on the floor, really hate that its a pain to pack new ZP) "DO NOT ROLL THE NOSE! (from PD Manual "17) If your canopy opens too slowly, then leave the nose hanging neatly flaked; don't roll it at all. This leaves it exposed to the airstream and will help the canopy inflate faster."), if you can lay the tail on the floor without the tail getting undone I might recommend 6 rolls, that thing opens shmooth almost always. If you still loose to much altitude at openings you can put less rolls to the tail. If it still looses to much altitude, you should email PD about your problem (they might wanna know how you pack) and they will give you some recommendation, I read that one person got a new smaller slider. About the streamer I really don't have too much info on my brain but I think I read that if you can see the slider it means you have a canopy that will open (sooner or later, so check altitude); if you don't see the slider then go to the red and silver, its a streamer. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

I have a friend that wears his glasses with his Z1, he has small frame. I once had to wear glasses that had big ugly frame and the Z1 didn't fit. Have another friend that uses prescription glasses with the Z1 (the one I tried to use). Its all about the frame size. Go to a store and try the helmets with your glasses, you might find one that fits. Hey contacts are cool, but the operation is much better! "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Gotta love customer service. Its a before, during and after thing. Before: they answer all your emails, answer your calls, call you back, promise you everything. Be sure to ask everything here. DURing: they answer almost all of your emails, answer your calls, never call you back, and always lie to you about the shipping date, and sometimes charge you a lil more than stated "sorry but the price I told you was only till 2 minutes before you called". Any doubts? ask them NOW! AFTER: don't answer your emails, sometimes don't answer your calls (secretary: "am sorry sir, but the person is not here please call later", sales man: "thanx hon, remember his voice"), call back? what is that?, its been shiped! (don't ask when or how.). Any Q's? don't bother, go to the dropzone.com forums and ask there. Not going to give names. Sorry. Don't take me wrong now, I have seen companies that always answer and have great customer service. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Hey cool page! Hey can you put some more videos? maybe one with music by metallica? Lemme check out the new stuff. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Kinda late for my post but oh well. I have never seen people argue or been uncivil here (unless they are pissed at students making low turns front riser turns). I have learned alot about skydiving thanx to the forums (thanx people). What I have seen are instructors and riggers posting what they think and debating it to a conclusion that will help newbies (like me) and also help them as instructors with theyr students (very good feedbacks). Inside the talkback forum I read stuff that are funny, instructive and sometimes I read something that piss me off but oh well life is not just fun and games, so I ignore it and read something else or post my opinion without been aggressive. Do some reading and you might get my point of view. Thanx Sangiro for the dropzone.com! I would really like to buy you a jump ticket but me have no money, but if you come to Panama I will buy you some beers and drive you to the DZ. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Hey what about Buyers beware? send the money, starts the waiting, and waiting, and waiting and waiting... "mmm... I think I lost my money" "I did I did, I did lost my money" "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

HAHAHA! the five left five right CUT! makes a great addition! thanx gonna try it, I sure hope I remember am in a car! Hey nacmacfeegle that works alot, and if you give them the goggles and tell them to stick theyr head out of the window, they love it and want to skydive!.

I dunno if you have done it but it's really fun to go in a fast car at full speed put on your goggles and stick your head out of the window (in the passenger sit of course, have a driver for that and make sure there are no cars outside), you get to feel the speed, the wind, the pressure, almost like sticking your head out of the cessna for the spot. Been on earth for to much... gotta jump gotta jump... "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Does it work? gonna try it here in Panama. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

First of all, I wanna thank you all for the replies. That would be nice, problem is that there are only 17 skydivers in my dropzone and the only thing I can borrow (and been doing it) are the weight vests, the belts are an innovation here that nobody has. The vest I tried were kind of uncomfortable with the shoulders, but its only temp. (I can live with that), once am on the plane and the adrenaline starts pumping I forget about that and just concentrate on the jump. I asked about the belt cause one of my coaches told me that it can give you a good arch in a better belly to earth position, and that got me thinking, so I asked. Something got me thinking, (am very ignorant about the belt) are there any problems with the belt getting caught or causing problems reaching the reserve handles or the reserve ripcord pillow? and what about the Q that nacmacfeegle asked about the unintentional water landings? "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

I hafta buy some weights (the other skydivers weight too much), told them to get on a diet and they almost killed me, tried to drink alot of beer so I could get fat and it went no good (but it was kinda fun), so I gotta buy them. My coach told me to get a weight belt that they were good and all, but not so sure of how good they are. Can you give me the Pros and Cons of the vest and the belt, please. Thanx. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

What I did for my first rig (the one I own) is to get the cheapest thing on the market, cause its going to be a rig that will last me for who knows 100, 150 jumps? and then going for something a bit smaller. Cheap stuff: used Dolphin container (20 jumps $350), used reserve (1 jump $350), used spectre (50 jumps, got a good price $900), new kill line pilot chute (with hackey, new cause you can use it with other canopies), new jumpsuit (its new cause it will last almost forever) and a new cypress (don't want to take chances). What to get? well read the gear comments and if you can you should demo (that I couldn't do here, bought it blind folded). Don't spend too much money on your new rig. The less money you spend the more jump tickets you buy. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

What I did for my first rig (the one I own) is to get the cheapest thing on the market, cause its going to be a rig that will last me for who knows 100, 150 jumps? and then going for something a bit smaller. Cheap stuff: used Dolphin container (20 jumps $350), used reserve (1 jump $350), used spectre (50 jumps, got a good price $900), new kill line pilot chute (with hackey, new cause you can use it with other canopies), new jumpsuit (its new cause it will last almost forever) and a new cypress (don't want to take chances). What to get? well read the gear comments and if you can you should demo (that I couldn't do here, bought it blind folded). Don't spend too much money on your new rig. The less money you spend the more jump tickets you buy. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

WOW! got my english all wrong. Native language spanish. lemme check my dictionary. Hey that will relax anybody! don't you think? HAHAHA just read the sentence again (with the real meaning) "just calm down and breed, and talk to everybody about how fun it is" "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

If you wanna see the teaser or trailer make a search for the movie in www.imdb.com "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Don't worry dude, its quite normal to have some fear at first, thats when your common sense (survival to unknown stuff) tries to talk you about nice things right here on earth but your adventure side is screaming for pleasure. Remember we are humans not birds. It just takes time, don't quit. If you ask around in your DZ, you will find out that they were all scared the first ## of jumps, for me I was scared my first 12 jumps (S/L jump 2, 3 and 4 scared tha hell out of me, it even made me wonder if I liked the sport), after that it was only fun and pleasure, for others are the first 20, 100 or even 200 jumps. Now my only fears are driving a car (see the statistics and you will know why) and spiders (gotta hate them). ADVICE: try to remember that if you follow all the rules nothing bad will happen and will realize that its a safe sport; do deep breath to calm you down; don't let your heart beats accelerate, just calm down and breed, and talk to everybody about how fun it is; read the SIM or other instructional manual, the more educated you are about what you are doing, the safer you will feel; in the plane be relaxed (sing, talk, sleep, scream "WOOHOO!! BOOBIES") and concentrate. Have fun and Blue Skies! "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Best wishes for him and his family. About the safety thing well, me been a new licensed jumper I gotta say that safety starts when you say the first "hello/hi" to your first S/L, AFF, tandem, IAD instructor and ends never. The instructor is like your guru, he takes a big part in safety awareness to the students and jumpers. It all depends on what the jumpers see in the DZ, if they see conservative jumpers that do all the safety stuff by the book well thats what he's going to learn and teach and talk about (and even get mad when he sees others doing other stuff), but if he sees people doing crazy near death stuff and getting applauded well you can't blame him, cause thats what he sees and learns. (sorry for kinda repeating things) I think that something good to do, would be that every time you talk about the great swoop you made, the 100-way that just happened, the freefall stuff you have just learned... try and always add a comment about safety and who knows maybe including examples of what has happened to others or even yourself. The more you talk about it the more we learn from others mistake. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Blue Skies! congrats and welcome to the best sport there is. At first you will wait one month then you will wait a couple of weeks then you will do it every day you can, best drug there is and its all natural! "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Way cool, reading a thread I made about learning and in that page everybody insults everybody. Funny. HAHA! "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Some people care and some don't, you can't force people to care, it's theyr lifes. Depending on the environment of the DZ the student starts to care more or stops to care. The learning program has different steps or categories, each one includes theory and practice. The idea of this is not to give to much information at the same time to the student because that might confuse him, so you teach it little by little but still teach it all (correct me if wrong). I made S/L but I think I can remember the manual. That part is included in category C of the SIM (jump 3-4 in AFF, jump 6-7 S/L) but if you still wanted to know then its never wrong to ask, a student can always asks for assistance and understanding and a good instructor must explain it to you and answer all your questions, if not then change instructor. To get your USPA A license the SIM says that you must learn how to pack your own 'chute (with assistance category F (jump 10-12AFF, jump 15-17 S/L), without assistance category G (jump 13-16 AFF, jump 18-21S/L); once you pack a parachute and have the understanding of how a pack job works then you can pass to category H. They must of done it if they graduated. Hookknives: If you like CRW then its a must. If you get caught and hang out of the plane by a safety belt well I think you can try and cut the safety belt with the hook knife, its also use to cut S/L in case of an emergency. If you like to swoop and use high performance canopies (elliptical) I would really recommend the classic "look red, look silver, pull red, pull silver", with those canopies and high wingload you will go down very fast, don't waste time cutting lines, the time that it will take you will be more or less the time that it will take your body to make a really big hole on the floor. (correct me if wrong, am an A license but I ask alot and read alot) Yes there is equipment awareness, in the USPA course you get the knowledge once you get to category C, you will get a lot of theory about the equipment, in category E you should get an open parachute orientation (lines, bridel, label, risers, slider, etc.). Its recommended that a FAA rigger gives you these lessons but if not available, then your instructor should give you that session. Yes there are verbal exams in each category. I really dunno if you have to do it before passing to another category of if you can do it whenneva you want, but what I do know is that you need to pass each one with 71% or more of correct answer to get the USPA A license. The book that I use is the SIM (Skydiver's Instructional Manual) has the first license course and recommendation for other skydiving disciplines. If you took the course from another organization, you should get theyr instructional manual. Again I repeat I am an A license Skydiver that ask alot of questions and read alot so I might be wrong on some of the issues. A good correction if am wrong would be good. DISCLOSURE: This is not an advertise or a way to promote the USPA organization. I get no personal interest or economical by such organization. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

When you live in a country that has only 20 skydivers the best thing to do before buying a rig is to read the stories on the gear forums and read the reviews. Thats how I bought my stuff, blind folded, knowing only what the dropzone.com reviews said and what the others skydivers knew, no demo no nothing, just pure trust and it worked, got myself a cheap dolphin and a great spectre. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

Do a lot of research and simulator tests, before even thinking of trying it (remember there will be no red and silver) and try to talk to a wingsuit manufacturer to help you (they have simulators, and some research made). About the people saying no, well remember that there were people sceptic about "jumping the silk" and look at us now. What you must do is to listen to theyr advice and take note. Now that I think of it, would be fun to be a test pilot for that, who knows maybe a billions of dollars pay check? if its anything less then don't count on me. Me no-lika broken bones. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline

I dunno how much this works but here it goes: first like others said YOU don't say anything, let your lawyer do the talking. A good example I like to give people to make them see its not dangerous is to show them car crash statistic, how many people die in a year cause of a car crash and compare it with the skydiving; every day a person dies in a car crash, not every day a skydiver dies. It's all in the statistics. "Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?" drenaline