Deuce

I ended up charging the guy $20 for the footage we got, and we gave a discount on his buddy's video and used some of that footage. He was OK with it. That covered costs, no profit. It's a Tony suit with a custom very big "D" wing. I didn't visually inspect the attachment, so I don't know if it showed wear that would have alerted me to the problem. I felt pretty good about getting the other cord off, but what I should have done then was grab the cuffs of the sleeves and used them to fly the wings. When both cords were off and my arms were out in boxman the deflated wing pulled the sleeves up to my elbows. If I had grabbed the cuffs right away, I could have flown the wings that way. And Jason, my knuckleheaded packer-friend, did you get your shoulder reinstalled? Gosh, I had to pack that last one myself!

I have a couple of 150's that are fairly new, and I load them just over 1.5. Each has about 150 jumps on them. My first 200 jumps were on a Spectre 170. It's the only canopy I've owned, and is the only canopy I plan on ever owning. I fly camera every weekend, and fly a very heavy camera setup for fun. The openings are very consistent and on-heading (with one dramatic exception) Very dependable in turbulent conditions. At our boogie last September I flew through something like a dust devil and had the 170 completely collapse drop me about 20 feet and reinflate. I was too busy flying it to see it, but I was told it was a crowd-pleaser. My DZ is windy and turbulent and I really like the way the Spectre handles it. Flair is great, and the canopy can be very accurately landed. I generally do a 90 degree front riser to final approach and can get a decent surf. I do it mostly to just get a better flare, not to impress the chicks. Mad John, a big-time organizer and local, swoops his through the pond, and occasionally into it They are great casual CRW canopies, we use them for that on our DZ regularly, so riser and brake control is superior. And I wouldn't want to be jumping anything else with a heavy helmet on my head. I also look at what the veteran camera guys are flying, and lots of them are on Spectre's.

Hey, dude, I saw you driving off the DZ on Saturday, now I know why you looked so forlorn. Don't sweat it, it's nothing 10,000 jumps can't fix!

The swoop cord on my right wing. It's this kid's 18th birthday, he's tall and skinny and he's on our smallest tandem master. Great ground and plane fluff, red light on, set up low in the KingAir door.....Snap! I feel the tension go out of my right wing just as the pair's shoulders clear the door, I get a great exit shot, faces, plane in the background, and the drogue comes out and I'm falling out like a safe. I snap the left hand cord off and do the RW beachball and almost get back in it, but don't, get on my back and slowly separate until they open. So I've got ground fluff, plane fluff, a great exit and a landing. Virtually no drogue fall. This is my first malfunction of photo/video equipment in about 200 tandem videos, I've never had the cameras not get photo's/ video, and the damn cord failed just up from the bar-tack that holds it on. So what kind of a refund do y'all give in this situation? JP

That, very likely, is the next Governor of California. Great pics Katie.

I got the drunkmonkeylip phone call as I awaited darkness and fireworks on the left coast. Smackbootiedoodlicious, baby! Hey, Monouno, get Jari to come out to Eloy at Holidayboogie time! Between the two of you I might even dislodge my head from my ass in a BM suit! Bwah! Happy boogie dudes! INCOMING! JP

Thanks all, skydive photography is the bomb. Great subject matter! Wingy, that's Vinnie the Anvil. On his belly he can stay with anybody head-down, and he can slow it down to subsonic for regular belly stuff. And he can carry TallGuy on his shoulders and walk around. Mutantsunovabitch! Fun stuff, and we'll do even better next time. Viking, I think it's $299 a year. Worth every bit. I declare the Shutterfly income and the credit card income from tandems and it makes my life easy at tax time. And their quality is easily as good as anything I can generate on my Epson 2200. Even bigger stuff Clay got the huge print and said the quality was outstanding border to border.

It's "laid" Arty. Maybe that's been the problem all along...

Buy them all! 20 X 30's please. Hundreds and hundreds of them! Clicky below.

Left-Top, you goofus. Hawkeye, not Diver.

But....but....eye candy is nice to look at even if you're not planning on playing with it! Something along the lines of "It doesn't matter who loads your gun, so long as you S/O pulls the trigger?"

Pernicious pixie. Eeeeeee-villllllllll.

You are absolutely right. That is not conservative wingloading. I was thinking about my Spectre versus a Velocity in terms of conservative. Performance on everything available is very high, so maybe there's really no such thing as conservative. Just very fast and mach.

Beauty. Oh the power, Oh the speed.

PD Spectre 150 at 1.5 PDR143 Reserve at 1.5 I demoed the 143 and landed it fine, and then I had a chop from under a spun-up Spectre on my back and landed it fine (Jump 488). I strongly encourage people to demo jump their reserves. My stuff is pretty conservative, and I'm no swooper so I thought I might be one of those folks with 3000 jumps and no reserve rides. When I had one anyway I WAS SO GLAD I had "done this before" and had landed that reserve. I'm also glad my Spectre and the PDR are similar in flying characteristics. I think the difference between a 27 cell cross brace and a PDR might be pretty extreme. I will never know.

I hope so too, Bill.

Lemme know before Saturday. I'll be out about 8:30 and will get it done before the tandems start. JP

Station Wagon politics. Whoever has the biggest stick is driving and looks back at the kids in the backseat waging the local version of jihad. "Dammit kids, don't make me pull this thing over!" Humans will stop fighting wars about the same time human children stop fighting in the backseats of station wagons. Bah. Got sucked in.

How about a beer bottle cap that spins with a light underneath it? You could fabricate one out of diamond plate and just take a small motor out of one of the major appliances that's on your porch to spin it.

Yeah, but does Corrine like those pictures of herself? I know I look nasty when I'm skydiving because of the comments that you guys make after I get all cleaned up. Case in point...at the boogie, there was a guy who sat down next to me at the luau and introduced himself. I reminded him that we had met the day before. He thought for a moment and then said, "Ooooh, you fixed your hair!" I think we're moving quickly into subject matter that may belong in the sanctity of the Womens forum, but check this out: While skydiving, the objectification of women is reduced almost to zero. That is, the performance pressure is on skydiving, you gotta do the exit, fly your damn self, close your grips, fly your pattern and land. Regardless of sex, you gotta do those things, and except for some hopeless chauvenists, gender doesn't matter. So in the landing area, while packing, etc. a person who is fun to skydive with may also be a girl. That's what I like about the skydiving pictures. 1) that skydiver 2) is hellacute. And yeah, Corinne likes the Motorcycle pictures, you gotta laugh and "remember the time we rode through Lake Alpine?" When we're all fixed up and on the town, we're just objects, judged on our appearance. And that really doesn't say much about us. Although the fuss you put up about Evan packing with his shirt off showed how you and Cora put the Object in Objectification.

Dang, Chop, I was all philosophical having learned that a freind of mine got hurt, and NastyClown took a shit in my thread. Very unlike you. It's all good. Come up to Byron Saturday and skydive. Have a great 4th weekend!

I talked to her on the phone a while ago. Yeah, hardcore. She was more preoccupied that the paramedics cut off her new jumpsuit than with the arm injury. That was very, very, sweet of Dr. Amy to go visit and reassure her. And for Bytch, and Viking and company to go to the hospital. LTDiver was the hostess with the mostess overnight. How fortunate we are to have this extended family. She's done for the summer. She's flying home today and when she gets back to GA, she'll see her doc and find out whats what. That SoCal DZ.com team is really tops. Prayers and vibes Lisa.

I've got a Batrack and a Hawkeye LT. I've got 20 jumps on the Batrack, and about 300 on the LT. The LT needed a complete re-line to make it fit my face well. It's comfortable enough, but the chin cup will release sometimes due to the placement of the latches. I had to shim the top Stroboframe mount to get enough angle to video and photo tandems. It's a little heavier than the BatRack. The BatRack is better for the bigger loads. The three point latch-down really secures the helmet to the skull, and is comfortable for how tight you can get it. It's better if you have more stuff to mount. I've got a sidemount PC120, and the 10D and a big 550EX flash up top. The new chincup is not comfortable and I'll be improving it somehow. So, the LT is fine and you can get it in cool marbled colors that will last forever. The colors on the Boneheads are painted on, and scratch off easy. Mine is basic carbon fiber black. Between the LT and the Optic, I'd just go with fit. They're both fine helmets. I think the Optic is lighter, and that matters a lot if you get snappy openings.

What's wrong with my avatar anyway? It's just not skydiving! You're gorgeous, but we want the helmet-haired look! There's pretty, and then there's pretty skydiver. My favorite pictures of Corinne are on motorcycle trips with the big smile with the helmet right of the head, or the post tandem pics. Leave your prom pictures to the prom website. Skydive!

Bon Voyage.