Deuce

Did 2 jumps out of an R-44 helicopter at full hover. Hilarious. You can't fly without relative wind, you can just fall. It's great fun, do it if you get the chance.

Dammit. Fellas, that's my 16th wedding anniversary. I'm taking my wife on a tandem during the day to get my first freefall kiss from her, and then just spending the rest of the evening kissing up to her for putting up with me all these years. You do know it's Friday the 13th? Any chance of getting together Saturday or Sunday?

"Not that there's anything wrong with that..." Seinfeld "Are you threatening me?" Cornholio Nah. I had a good time with you at Perris. Our ages didn't matter a whit. I haven't ever had anybody tell me they didn't want to skydive with me cause I was too old. I don't understand how a date is different than a skydive. "I don't want to hang out with JP, he wears polyester jumpsuits and listens to Journey records" Pfffft! The Mama could have laughter filled skydives with you and more! ( I will retreat at the "more" part) My wife's about 4 years older than me. The age thing just cracks me up. Uh, if I was flirting with you, was it working? Gotta maintain the skills set.

They're talking about swoop cords. They attach to your thumbs or hands and run down the inside of the sleeve to your waist. When you extend your arms they pull out like you have great big lats, and slow your speed. Probably a good idea. They are not wings.

Thanks for translating. I would have sworn that Lummy was in his twenties. Keep working on Skymama, I'm older than her and I'm not too old for you!

B-squared, what the hell is BFBS? And AggieD, don't make me come back there and drag your ass head-down out of that plane!

Burning down the ROTC hall? I think it was 1985, right after my time. Oakland Tribune and the Cal paper might be good sources. I was at Cal-State Hayward at the time, only did my ROTC classes at Cal. Quantico was easier than doing PT days at Cal. At Quantico we didn't have our peers screaming at us that we were baby-killers.

I can and do. It's interesting though, I seem to have the same problem only in reverse. Next time you're in Antioch, we'll go to this club I belong to. We do sit-kneel-stand aerobics and sing for about 45 minutes, eat a cracker and drink a sip of wine, shake hands and go have breakfast. You'll dig it. After breakfast about half the time I go skydive nearby

Hey Chickie-mama, they wearing those "Back the F*ck Up!" shirts? That could hurt sponsorship opportunities

People tend to freak when they learn I go to church almost every week, send my kids to parochial school, and pray daily. I am a Catholic. I don't care if you believe in God or not, as opposed to the aggressively anti-God folks. Religion was the cure for the Dark Ages, and the birth of the Renaissance. I don't feel any need to flame athiests or those who are anti-religion, and the multitude of people who are virulently anti-Catholic. I easily tolerate agnostics and athiests, why can't they tolerate my beliefs? Yes there was buggery in the monastaries, still is. Yes there are homosexual child molesting priests. Some priests break their vows. We are human and we will sin. My religion is just the framework for my belief that there will be a judgement when it's over. I believe those that choose to injure others will face God's judgment. That makes it so much easier for me to sleep at night. Some people get away with it in this life, for some crime does pay. I believe there will be a reckoning when it's over. My pre jump prayer is an old fire-and-brimstone prayer that's fallen out of favor. It is the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel, my guardian angel (Patron Saint of Paratroopers and other dangerous professions, including Police Officers) Saint Michael, Archangel Defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And you, prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl the world for the ruin of souls. That boils down to "help me resist temptation and choose to do the right thing" Nevertheless, after that prayer a couple of weeks ago, Skybytch grabbed my butt, and I grabbed hers right back, and we went skydiving! God laughed at our antics, methinks. Religion is just background music. Take a chill-pill, all.

You gonna die at 60? I'm not going until after 90, so I still got 6 years to middle age

Shut up Seb, you wussy, baby, puss. What the hell were you thinking when we did that 5 way with Michelle that boosted her confidence in both her flying and landing ability? I recall she was a little discouraged that day, and you BLEW the opportunity to drive her out of the sport forever! Now we are saddled with her bright smiles, and warm hugs for the indefinite future. Hell, Bytch might keep her job cause Michelle is going to probably buy gear. Diverdriver might get to fly another load full of new, optimistic skydivers, and DZO owners will have to take her money for jump tickets. She might even bring friends to Monterey to have their first tandems with you, making everyone in the loop a little cash and keeping prices down for the rest of us upjumpers. Glad to hear your back to treating newbies with the derision they deserve. Hopefully they will tell all their friends to stay the hell off the DZ too. F*ck the people who argue for being mean. You really SUCK Sebazz! JK (but Seb really does suck) JP

Wishing for a speedy recovery. And multiple refills on the meds!

Then we must cut you in half and count the rings!

[reply"Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?" It had TEETH! And it FLEW! Look at the BONES!

Dude, you could have used those neurons for something useful.

We did this at the Perris invasion and I didn't feel too bad when the crew thought I was younger. I'm 39. Don't make me stop this thread and come back there! You know, I was born a skydiver on April 7, 2001. So I'm actually only about a year and a half. I'm averaging one jump a day since I got my A license. The only thing I'd change is I'd have started skydiving earlier and not wasted all that money learning how to fly planes, cause they're so much more fun to jump out of.

WE ALL SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! You especially suck, you baby! The DZO as described is a psychological terrorist. People who see weakness in others and expoit it to cause them pain are the lowest form of life. Had I witnessed the exchange as presented the DZO would have spent the night in ER I and would have spent the night in jail. Bullies are the absolute lowest belly-crawling reptiles in the universe, and not enough bad things can happen to them. Shame. Hey Nathan, you really suck. Especially really badly.

Thanks all, for the feedback, here and in PM's. I'm sticking with the Spectre. I'm a crappy packer with crappy feet who likes to do 10 jumps a day so I need soft openings. JP

Yeah, sorry if I wasn't clear enough. I want to shut all the way down every time. I'm going to have two rigs that match, same gear. I'd sell my current Spectre and get two Sabre 2's or keep the curent spectre and get another one, or two 150's. One of my mentors lost a friend who did big canopy inputs into his second, hot rod, canopy after getting cut off in the pattern and cratered himself to death. Apparently it was clear to them that he was flying the hot rod thinking it was the mule. Any former Spectre pilots who can list their personal advantages/disadvantages of the Sabre II over a same sized Spectre? Openings and ability to shut it down to a no run landing?

:7:3 Shot 3 tandems, sold two videos, including my first full cost tandem. Got to jump on the concessions ticket and got some cash too! An absolutely fabulous feeling. Conquered my fear of being close to that hideous contraption called a tandem rig with master/student. Got close and low, sun to my back, finally remembered everything three whole times in a row. Got asked to video a 4 stack and pulled it off. Free ride on that one too. Flew as part of a 4 way base on a 12 way hybrid. First, uh, real hybrid. So I got three jump tickets and earned the money to pay for my fun jumps. My best skydiving weekend yet. Oh yeah, I got my D-license too! Hee Hee!

I'm with you AggieD, and the rock-n-roll ballerina too. A post comes up, I'm wondering "Whaaa....?" quick check of the profile, nothing there, I'm not responding cause it's a troller. It's an especially cool feeling having taken grips on a dozen of the folks we talk to here. I wish I could make that Vegas trip, but, as they say in Texas and elsewhere, "That dog don't hunt". It's really helpful to look at the gear folks are jumping too.

Hmmm. I always put a

No. The .5 won't give you fisheye, neither will a good quality .43. The lens makers try hard to not get distortion. The .3 doesn't give much distortion either. The fisheye effect you are talking about, the serious, er, the hardcore video folks call distortion, and they generally don't like it. They want lots of field in the view, but no distortion. The fisheye lenses that are fisheye on purpose are really, really big. Too big for most unmodified D-boxes big. Check out the Generationfreefly.com Diamond lens site, and they show some examples. Like the Kenko .42. I have the Kenko .5, got it from Pier, happy with it. A computer guy like you could get a nice clear undistorted frame grab from your 120, firewire it into your computer and warp it all you want. It would probably be harder to take a distorted frame grab and make it look straight. Aloha. JP

I'm going to get a second rig so I can do back to back videos. I jump a Spectre 170 loaded about 1:1.24. I believe in the advice that if you have two rigs, they should have the same equipment in them so you have only one set of flight techniques, one set of emergency procedures. The only beef with my Spectre is how heavy the front riser inputs have to be. I do a 90 degree carving front riser final release to toggles landing. I do not (read cannot) run out my landings. I'm tempted to switch to a Sabre II because it is supposed to require lighter inputs, and also opens as soft a a Spectre. I also need soft openings so I can jump all day and not wake up feeling like I got run over. I haven't jumped one, because I believe you shouldn't jump anything you aren't prepared to buy. So what do you think? Switch to the Sabre II or just get another Spectre? JP