Deuce

My Dude, If you like the Akita, look into the Shiba. Japan has about four kinds of dog, and they are all just different sized Akita's. There's one bigger called the Hokaido (sp), the Akita, a compact, and the Shiba. My Shiba's are great, about 28 lbs (beagle sized) they don't shed, but they blow their entire coat twice a year. They are super, super smart, clean like cats, and they don't bark for no reason. They were originally bred to chase small game out from underbrush. Shiba translates as "little tree" or "brushwood". If your gonna take the time to train 'em I really recommend the breed. They are the most popular breed in Japan because they are pretty good in apartments. JP

A freeflyer at my DZ has one of those Skypimp helmets, and it seems to be made really well. The quilted liner is pretty sweet. You can D-box the camera, or just put a camera condom on it. I bet you're going to whack it a whole bunch of times with it up there, so you should probably think hard about having the Skypimp manufacturer make you a hard box, or get the D-Box from Bonehead. Skypimp makes a really cool enclosed sidemount, if you don't already have the TRV, think twice about that one. JP

Argh. Rhonda, I couldn't agree with you more. Training is the key, and Muenkel doesn't seem have the time to do it. Puppies need reinforcement all day, not just in the evening, morning, and weekend. I've got a pair of Shiba-Inu's (a japanese breed still pretty rare over here) and I don't have time to do the training again. On Saturdays I SKYDIVE, and it's not fair to either expect someone to watch them or tie them up at the dropzone. He's probably going to have to leave the puppy crated in his apartment, or it'll shred his stuff while it anxiously awaits his return. Cats are better for apartments (hard to admit for a dog person) and fish are better yet. Best of all is a warm hug on Saturday from a SkyDiva. JP

Stop with the foreigner stuff. You are a citizen of the nation of the sky. The tongue switch Pier sells comes with a 2.5mm jack. To make your life easier, get a camera that accepts that jack. I got a Nikon N70 and had to solder up a jack to make it work. I like my Nikon cameras, but that was a pain. I think most of the Canon's have the 2.5mm jack, and some of the older Nikons. Check out all the great webpages listed in the thread on "got hired by a four way team" You also don't need an autofocus, just auto advance and auto metering. Buena Suerte! JP

Robbie, thanks after the fact. Your website was a big help when I was setting up my helmet and getting my mind right to get into freefall photography. It was also nice to learn enough to be able to understand the camera flyers when they were talking among themselves and I was shamelessly listening in. Your articles are really helpful. It was a good feeling when I showed up with my helmet that the pro camera flyers said "cool, nice job" "Hey, jump just the video, then the stills and then the camera suit, one at a time" I have watched them recoil at times when low timers (like me) showed up with a video helmet. I had been picking their brains for months before I assembled my gear. It was nice to not have them say "that knucklehead is going to crater himself". I've found all camera flyers to be helpful. I do crack up when someone asks a question and then argues with the answer they get. "What stills camera do you use" "Brand X" "Brand X?!, That's stupid, Brand X sucks!" Thanks to everyone who responded. JP

Don't. Really. JP

Use this forum to get contacts at the Zones you are going to jump at! I recently went to Perris and hooked up with some fantastic people. I had two great days of freeflying. One couple I met is going to come up for a weekend at Byron. It's easier to get past the "how many points have you successrully turned on a 10 way" here, on the web, than it is with a person standing around in their gear. How's your sit, how's your head-down is also easier here. Ha! My sit is OK. When I was in Perris one of the guys says we're going to do a head-down, and I have to pull off that one cause my head down is still pretty disfunctional. Small yellow bus disfunctional, you know? Push your limits, but try to let somebody else be the one to crash a skydive. Tell the people you're coming! I'll jump with any DZ.commer who visits my home DZ! JP

Beauty!

Holy cow. You rock. JP

Thanks, Josh. I am clear that any points that don't get on the video don't count. I was trying to make the point that one of the reasons I'm looking forward to shooting camera is that I'm competing with my last flight, not another camera jumper on the same flight. I climb learning curves fast because I compete with myself. If I competed with a pro like you I would probably get discouraged and quit. I got started skydiving late in my life. I will probably never catch up to the people my age who got started 10 years ago. I am my own harshest critic by FAR. So if I screw up a big way, telling me how stupid I am is not going to make me a better skydiver. It's "You idiot! NEVER reach for the grip, stupid!" vs. "Hey JP, next time drive with the outside arm and don't reach for the grip, when you reach for it it will just get farther away" The dynamic on this team sometimes was (I think it's changed since) "You screwed that up!" without the follow on of how to do it right the next time. I think I'm making this sound like a negative thing, and it's really not. I know I can be a dispassionate sounding board for the members. I want them to win, and I'll help them do that by observing and videoing their jumps. "Yes, you goofus, you WERE too far out for them to get your leg grips. Next time..." I dig your website. Do you exit the Otter with your team, or on set? Thanks. JP

Wow. When we meet up, you will not buy any beers that night. Thanks for the astoundingly thorough response. No, they're not paying me. I'm paying the discounted team jump ticket rate. As soon as I get consistent enough I will "demand" that they pay my slot. I really like the idea of a written deal. This team is in it's second iteration because of emotional and performance drama. I was originally asked to join as a competitor, but I'm just not wired for the "that's not good enough!" kind of feedback involved. My main competition was and is always myself. My question is always "was that my best effort?" if it was, I'm happy. If it wasn't good enough for someone else, too bad for them. I've got an asbestos ego that only my wife can burn. I'm hoping to get enough good footage and experience that I can persuade the video concession owner on my DZ to let me work for him. I'm thinking since I'm learning at the expense of these guys it's OK that I'm paying my own slot. Thanks, Quade, I appreciate your feedback. JP

Thanks Sniper, Thanks Phree. One thing that remains constant is the phrase "just don't let it be me". Yeah, I guess they might get annoyed with me crashing into them. Thanks for the pointer on exiting with the group. That makes perfect sense. The step seems to be far enough back that I won't get contact, and will prevent me from leaving without them. I've got a PC110, so I've got the means to transmit the video to whatever. JP

Four of the guys from my "pick-up" RW group are getting into competition and have asked me to be their videographer. I'm psyched because I'm trying to work my way into getting paid to video tandems, AFF etc. So far I've video'd inside and outside RW 2 to 12 way, and inside FF 2 to 5 way. The team is jumping out of an Otter that is equipped with a camera step (I don't have that many jumps out of the Otter, mostly King Air, C206 and Caravan). What's the drill for competition 4-way? I'm thinking mount the step, exit on the second count of a three-count, track up over the group and hover at the edge of the burble? Any cardinal sins you know of would be greatly appreciated. I am always happy to learn from the mistakes of others and not repeat history. I'll be grateful for some "never" do this and "always" do thats. Thanks, JP

Bad things don't always happen for any reason other than that bad things happen. I'm really sorry you have to go through this. That which does not kill you, makes you stronger. Really. And the hill is steepest near the top. Gut it out to the summit, and then relax and enjoy the view. Avoid rebound relationships! Skydive! JP

I got my first rig with all the safety stuff I could get. Big risers, RSL, Cypress. I had to send it back to the factory for some service and a good friend lent me his second rig. I was really fired up that I had a buddy that would lend me something so valuable. I have to admit, when I did that first gear check on it and it didn't have an AAD, I seriously thought about skipping jumping that weekend. I told my group that I was jumping without a cypress, and they had damn well better pull my handle if they freaking knocked me out. My next goal is to get a second rig with a cypress so I don't have to do that again. If I manage to crater myself I don't want it to be because I got miserly on gear.

Four judges on the ground judge by the distance from the jump run, that was parallel to the runway, to where the parachutes open. Parachutes must be open before 2K.

At my DZ, Byron in Northern California, we host an annual tracking contest. The focus of the event is safety and how good, fast, flat-tracking can save your life. There's two classes, under 300 jumps and over 300. There was a women's class, but the skydivas at Byron don't need no steekin women's class. And I won the novice class! Har! What a great day! I ended up long and tried to get back in half-brakes, but was still long, so I did a braked turn to flare a nice stand-up landing in high turbulent winds a quarter mile from the DZ. Great day. I got caught out that it was my first first place victory in skydiving so I immediately took my winners purse and bought a case-and-a-half of beer. Great numbers for the weekend. :10:1.5

Well, Bonzo, first you return to California and find that your former student WON THE TRACKING CONTEST AT BYRON! HA! And YOU taught me how to track! You must first find willing meeker monkeys who will grab each other where you say and jump when you say GO! Try a closed accordion with a cat on the guy in the door. Front float and rear float reach in and grab the outside leg grips on the door jumper. The door jumper grabs the inside grips on the floaters. The second in the plane has both inside leg grips on the door jumper. BUT YOU MUST DO THIS EXIT IN BYRON AND FEEL THE LOVE! Your monkey, JP

Yeah, what Gus said. At a DZ recently, I participated in some organized RW. I am a competent belly flier. We did An 8-way and a 10-way. We had good dirt dives and funneled everything and didn't make a singe point. My humble observation was that the mix was bad. Only a quarter of the jumpers were skilled and the rest either had no skills or were really new. When one of the jumpers asked the organizer how to fly a particular formation his reply was "relax, it'll eventually come to you" I liked his attitude, but if somebody is looking way up with their head in a star formation, they will probably fall out. They won't know why, they will keep failing and they'll go do FF. Freeflyers wear cameras and they will tell the new person what they're doing wrong with their hands and feet, they will correct it, and they'll stay with FF because they can see the improvement they're making. Newbies will stick with it if there's some success in it for them. Keep them in small formations until they get the basics, then go bigger. The freeflyers I have met and fly with won't take 7 other strangers out on a head-down. Why do we do 8 ways with students right off AFF in RW? I'm a big fan of both disciplines. I think the 3D award is a great motivator to be proficient in both. Lordy. I shouldn't ever type hungover like this. God bless America.

You know, it's really more about the lens than the camera. If you don't like the quality, maybe just upgrade the lens. I've got an N90 too, and I wouldn't attempt it. I've never used the remote stuff on it. There's another port above and to the right of the 10 pin, do you know what that ones for? JP

Yepper, tough guy, go for silver. Infidelity is an absolute. "Affair" sounds like a whole lot more than a "whoops! How'd we end up having sex?" kind of thing. My heart goes out to you. Best of luck. My main skydiving partner just went through hell with his ex and we were talking about how during freefall all we think about is the skydive, all the other nonsense gets pushed out of the picture. If you find yourself thinking about "that evil bitch" during the skydive, maybe you should jump another day. The two stages of a broken relationship: Anger and drunkeness. Chow. JP

Hey Freakster, sorry to be the only voice encouraging reconciliation, but I hit bottom and sunk into the mud a couple of years ago in my marriage and managed to salvage it. I could not possibly imagine it could ever be good again, but it is. REAL good. You may be sorry you didn't try to salvage it later. Now, if she took a pair of scissors to your brand-new custom colors canopy, harness, and container, she might be a toss-out. Listen to your own voice, my divorced friends all encouraged me to dump her and sue, and that would have been a mistake in my case. Best of luck! JP

How did you put your picture on your name in the posts and not have a picture in the mugshot gallery?

I'm thinking about getting a camera condom from Pier for my PC110. Is it more hassle than it's worth? Anybody get one and get rid of it because it sucked? Anybody think it's the coolest thing out there? Thanks, JP

Caren, I have an N70 that has a two pin connector. The schematic is complicated because it allows the remote release to operate the two-pressure shutter release. The first, light, pressure activates the meter and autofocus, and the full pressure releases the shutter. Since you are probably going to use a manual lens set to infinity, you can bypass the autofocus feature. I didn't want to spend all the money, so I soldered my tongue switch with a quick disconnect right to the camera. I close the circuit by pressing the tongue switch and the shutter trips. This would not work if I wanted to use the autofocus. I got the wiring diagram for the Nikon switch just searching the web for "Nikon N70" That would probably work for you for your N90. The N90 is pretty big bucks to start a wiring project on, though. Good luck. JP