Pammi

Thanks for asking JT! I've wondered about that myself...I have family in Colorado and thought about going to see them sometime and, of course, jumping while I'm there. Is it true that your canopy flies like it's one size smaller? (I saw where it was said that it will open harder and fly differently becaue of the thin air...but does it fly THAT much faster?) Pammi Our webpage

Hey! I resemble that remark! Haha! My parents STILL haven't seen me jump! Part of it is the distance, granted, but c'mon. At least they act like they care when I talk about it now! :) Mom worries about it a lot, Dad thinks it's cool and wishes he could do it, but also says I'm giving him heart problems (rofl). My two brothers think I'm a freak, but they've always thought I was a little off. I almost got one to jump (Mom was even going to pay for it..a tandem!) but he ended up making excuses why he couldn't come down and do it. Oh well! As long as they accept that I'm doing it, it's all good :) I haven't pushed the 'come watch me' too much before now cuz I'm just now standing them up regularly. I certainly don't need an audience watching my face plants or butt slides. hehe I would love to do CReW again with them watching this time. I thought that might be more fun for them since they can't really see what goes on in freefall unless you video it...they can see a canopy stack or down-plane from the ground. As for friends...well...it's kinda hard to keep them when you're gone every weekend to jump. Tehrefore, most of my friends are skydivers. Oh, and yes, it sometimes scares me watching Merrick jump, or hearing how he nearly swooped into someone. It REALLY scares me that my kids now want to jump too, as soon as possible. I'd love to say "no", but that's completely unreasonable since I do it...oh wait...I'm the mom...I can be unreasonable if I want to! LOL! Pammi Our webpage

I wonder what 'really' happened. Doesn't say much more then the normal news garbage of course. My condolences also to the family and friends. Our webpage

Nope, not me either... Our webpage

Speaking of funny sites...Xybe, your's is hilarious! I love it! Welcome to the board :) Pammi Our webpage

Wow. I second that Mouth! I have been so busy actually having to work that I hadn't gotten to this thread yet, so was getting emotional already as I read it, then I got to the last couple and ... well, wow. Michele, they all said what I would have, and most more eloquently too. They are so right! You don't realize as a whuffo that skydiving is not just falling...to quote Buzz Lighyear, it's "Falling with style!" LOL! I had SUCH a hard time during my progression also! Tangled in my pilot chute, low pull, spins fast enough to make me literally sick! You WILL get it! Promise! You know why? Because you are already a skydiver. Don't ever think otherwise. Skydiving is a thing of the heart. An appreciation and love of the air, and you obviously have that, along with the intelligence and determination to master it. I will always remember what I was told when I kept screwing up my dives and wanted to quit. "So what's the problem? You screwed up, so now you have to make another skydive? Um, that's a bad thing?" Follow your heart girl. Pammi Our webpage

Hey Kels! I met someone from up your way last week, during 4th of July. Can you believe he came down here to OK to vacation?! He apparently started out jumping here but lives up your way now. His name is Ron Carmello. If you see him, tell him hi from 'Lowpull Pam' at OSC! He hangs with the freeflyers, but other then that, he's okay :) LOL! Just kidding! I love the freeflyers...they are teaching me the 'dark side' a bit :) I'm loving it! Anyway..he's a great guy...I'm glad I met him! Pammi Our webpage

ROFL! Uh huh...he's got a little kink in him! hehe Our webpage

Hey Littlewing...Congrats on the jump! Isn't it nice when it call comes together?! Yup, Merrick and I jump at OSC. You actually checked into buying my rig before :) I also think I might be checking out Hinton though. Our webpage

I'll keep that in mind, Chuck, and make sure you aren't sneaking up behind me for a lick if we get up there to NC! LOL! I definately can use the help getting it in the bag tho. My slippery Sabre is still a pain in the a** to keep ahold of, especially with small hands! Our webpage

You got two jumps in at Henton Sis?? How was it? How big's the plane, fast the climb, how high...all the goods on the place! May have to go check it out! Still would love to see Dallas too honestly.... BTW...kiss my a** on the air-conditioned packing. I wish!! I drip sweat and stick to my canopy! Ick! Pammi Oh, btw...That's a Ford for ya! I like some of their products' looks...but I hate their service! Trust me, I know...my ex sold the things and I couldn't even get anything fixed when he worked for them!! Our webpage

Getting off the subject in a way, but I'm not understanding how driving a fast car like motorcross at all? Have you actually ridden a dirtbike on those tracks? Good gawd! I'll tell ya, I tried. I'm thinking, "Hey, I rode dirtbikes and other motorcycles some growing up, helped break horses, etcetera...no problem! This will be a cinch!" Holy shit! Not close. Those 'whoops' or whatever the hell they are will kick your ass! No, I didn't wreck on the track...I kept it slow and was having a good time. Then I got cocky. Hey, I got this, no problem. I was friggin riding the thing to get the gas out of the lines because we were done for the day, just up and down the road going out to the track. What do I do? I start going faster, and faster...ah man! There's the end of the road, gotta turn or hit that gate! Major wipe out. Now, I can drive a fast car! Woohoo! That's fun! But definately not in the same class as a dirtbike, especially on a track! My personal moral of the story? It wasn't the bike that got me hurt...it was my own cockiness! I don't think you can group anyone simply by weight and number of jumps to determine skill level. There are a lot of other factors. There is attitude...are they the type who likes to 'live dangerously' or gets overly cocky when they start doing decently, or are they the heads-up type who know they have a wife and family to be with so aren't going to take chances to show off or forget to respect their canopy? There is skill, currency, talent...any number of things. This thread started out as a way for us to discuss types of canopies, not critisize personal decisions on downsizing. While I appreciate everyone on these forums caring about us as fellow skydivers, as my dad always said, opinions are like assholes...everyone's got one. We definately have always appreciated the input from everyone, but in the end, it's up to each of us to make the decisions suitable for us. Who's next up here? *smile* Oh, and Spectre...How many jumps do you have again? The S&TA has over a 1000, and I have no idea how many our DZO has, but I think they might be a tad more qualified to give advice then any of us A-license holders are. Pammi Our webpage

Hey Sis! Yup, like we talked about, we'll be there! And the Pimp Mobile would be perfect!! This will be a blast girl! Our webpage

Absolutely! It is www.freefall.com. You can pre-register there also. Our webpage

Merrick and I will be there the 9th-12th. It would definately be interesting to meet some of you guys from here if any of you plan on being there that weekend!! Our webpage

I don't think the point Merrick was trying to make was that because he rode a sportbike/dirtbike and the like that it is the same as flying a canopy. I think what he was trying to say was that he knows himself, better then anyone else could I might add. Even I can't know what it's like to be him flying his canopy...how comfortable he is with it, his skill level, whether he feels confident in his abilities to handle whatever situation might arise. However, I think HE knows what he's capable of and NOT capable of and I trust his judgment. He's not the 'gung-ho' show-off type to jump into something without considering the possibilities first. So I guess all I can say is that, knowing him and how 'in tune' he is with himself and knowing what he can and shouldn't be doing, I trust him to make the right decision. I've seen other divers urge him to jump when the winds were a little higher then he was comfortable with and he had no problem saying "no, I don't want to do this," and I've seen him tell people up until now that he wasn't ready to downsize. If he is now considering it, I'm behind him. Our webpage

That's hilarious!! Our webpage

Um...Quincy!! Our webpage

Well, I am jumping a Sabre 135 and haven't had any 'spankings' yet. I'm fairly certain it's not my 'packing skills' helping with that either

Does anyone know of anything going on for the 3rd-4th in Oklahoma/Missouri/Kansas area? Did have plans for the 3rd that have since been cancelled and am trying to decide if we might go up to Derby, Kingman (KS), Tulsa, Henton, or somewhere else. (Texas maybe..?) Suggestions if anyone is around today? Pammi Our webpage Edited by Pammi on 7/2/01 11:51 AM.

Just my opinion, as impartial as possible considering I'm his wife, Merrick has always been a very good canopy pilot and has been standing up his landings nearly every single time, regardless of the wind conditions. A fact that, trust me, I get to hear about every time I face plant mine :) Now, as his wife, I really would be freaking out on him if he were trying to 'downsize before his time' :) He's been very smart and conservative about it. There have even been people recommend, say a 150 to him, which he smartly declined. Anyway..thanks for the help guys. We haven't had a lot of opportunity to see other canopies jumped since there are mainly Sabres at our DZ. Pammi Our webpage

Oh yeah, definately...as our DZO once said, most people do 5 or less jumps then quit once the 'novelty' has worn off (and it no longer impresses their friends to say "I skydive") Definate whuffos if they quit because it no longer gets them the cool points they want, or they find out it's not as easy as just falling out of an open door! Thank heavens my kids think skydiving is cool too...they can't wait til they can try it :) Our webpage

Can't say that I agree with that one. So if I quit now, for some reason that perhaps was out of my control or I had obligations that required the choice for one reason or other, would that make me a whuffo? I don't think so. Wanting and having is not necessarily the same thing. I will always WANT to skydive, but if Merrick hadn't financially made it possible for me, I would've never been able to pursue it as I have. Or, if my children for some reason decided that it scared them immeasurably for me to be jumping and it wasn't something I could work out with them, I'd quit. I'm sorry, I love skydiving more then anything else I've ever done in my life next to my family, but like I said...next to my family. If it came to the choice, there would be no choice...but I don't think I could ever be a whuffo again. Our webpage

He really said that?! Wow. You know, one of the things that I didn't realize when I first started skydiving is how much thought and concentration it really *does* take. Good grief, just figuring out the spot (without GPS of course) makes my brain cramp, and I don't consider myself unintelligent (although slightly lacking in common sense sometimes *G*). Skydiving has actually taught me patience and about mind/body connections. A lot of my problems in my student progression stemmed from trying to get my body to do what my mind was trying to tell it to while still paying attention to other things at the same time. Gosh, I could go on and on, but I believe I'm preaching to the choir here. I don't know how many jumps this 'gentleman' got before his accident, but perhaps it's best if he NOT continue skydiving if he's considering doing so. Nothing scares me more then someone who doesn't take accountability for their mistakes so they may learn from them. If it truly was out of his control, then I apologize, but I've always been told that you usually get hurt because of a combination of several things you did wrong. I'm sure there are exceptions, though.... Anyway...don't let these people stop you from doing what you want to do. There is nothing wrong with those who don't want to skydive saying so...hey, I am not particularly interested in scubadiving either, but I'm not going to tell someone else they are stupid because they enjoy it! How silly is that? Pammi Our webpage

I hear ya there Kev! However, I don't believe we'll actually be landing in the water...just taking a boat out and jumping in then someone is gonna throw an older DZ canopy over us. I sure don't want to jump in with MY rig! Bye bye Cypres for one! Our webpage