listo

Congrats and great job! Keep us posted on what the judges say about it. Live today as tomorrow may not come

...........actually, I just gave myself an idea! Live today as tomorrow may not come

Well, I kind of agree and disagree with you on this one. First of all you are right in saying that it is ludicrous to think an F-16 pilot would want to do a split-S for landing purposes. However, he/she really doesn't have to since the F-16 has one hell of an engine to give them the speed needed for the landing. Honestly, I feel like this is comparing apples to potatoes, they are both white in the middle but there are two totally different concepts at hand. The only common ground that a F-16 pilot and a swoop pilot have in common is getting on the ground safely without thumping in. Honestly, if I could strap a jet engine to my butt for swoop landings I wouldn't do hook turns either. Live today as tomorrow may not come

Well, my view was that the Olympics were originally setr forth for athletes of all nations to join at a given place every few years to participate in what was then to be current athletic games. It was a way for the world to have one point in time where war wasn't the focus of competition. After all, new sports have been added to the Olympics for ages. It is just time that swooping be added because it is a spectator sport. Unfortunately, skydiving itself is really hard to produce a spectator crowd for. Most people simply wouldn't understand what it is all about. However with swooping, the general public can see first hand what the main goal is. It was only a matter of time before it was recognized. Swooping is a sport all its own and I have a feeling that the more comps we have where the general public can see it, then the more people we will have getting into the sport of skydiving itself. This is just a win win situation. Everyone can enjoy what it is all about.

Wow! Ya know.....back when I was able to understand foreign languages........... I just use to guage now of...........I hope this works because the one time it didn't, man it hurt like hell Live today as tomorrow may not come

lol I bet your household is interesting to say the least. You guys crack me up, but it is awesome to have two skydivers in the same house though. How high was she flaring and was it a smooth flare or a stabbing flare? Live today as tomorrow may not come

sad thing is that Quade's saying would probably go over the person's head you were using it on if they believed that speed equals lift Live today as tomorrow may not come

Man......this rocks! I am so freakin stoked! yeah....he sounded a little under the weather when I talked to him I thought it might have just been a celebration that went wild last night! Live today as tomorrow may not come

I just got off of the phone with Lyle Presse. He just got back from Brazil yesterday and told me that he and Jim Slaton have succeeded in getting swooping into the 2005 World Games. Yes.....you heard correct! Swooping is also likely to be in the 2012 Olympics as well! Ya.....FREAKIN HOOOOOOOOOOOOO BABY! Lyle and Jim will be in Atlanta at Cedartown for the PST Advanced Series Qualifier and Skills Camp #1. Lyle told me that they will be giving the exact details of what is taking place as far as world recognition of swooping at that time. As it stands right now, swooping will be in the 2005 World Games! Live today as tomorrow may not come

First things first......When you exit an airplane you need to be stable. There are a lot of people that can't exit a plane perfectly stable but when they arch their butt off they tend to get stable really fast. The first thing any student learns is that he/she has to arch for stability. Reading about students flipping and flailing during deployment and ending up hanging from lines.....well, this really scares me. As far as over confidence goes, I don't think that students need to think about anything but good body positioning and a good flare. Anyone with less than 100 jumps is a danger to themselves and to other skydivers. If you fall into this category, please concentrate on what you have been taught for each jump. There will be time later on for looking cool. However, most of the time the people that look cool don't try to. The other thing is this. If you have something to say in here about something you did or what someone else did.......please lets leave out the little naratives. They really don't help anything and might confuse another low time jumper. I am sorry that you got hurt. I really wish you well with a quick recovery. It sounds like you really enjoy skydiving. Live today as tomorrow may not come

thanks man! Live today as tomorrow may not come

Any time you switch canopies, you have to start over from scratch! It is highly reccomended that when a canopy switch is made to make a few straight in approaches and then work slowly back to what you had been doing with your previous canopy. When I say slowly, I mean over the course of about 30 jumps or so. Even then, it is risky. Please don't have the misconception that you can go out and try the same things on a canopy of the same size but with a different planform, especially when going from a semi-elliptical to a fully elliptical HP canopy like the crossfire or crossfire2. It is just plain bad judgement to do that. Live today as tomorrow may not come

is there a link where we can see those pics? Live today as tomorrow may not come

My dropzone in South Carolina, Blue Sky Adventures, allows spaceball jumps. They require that a "ball master" or AD rated jumper that has passed a "ball master" eval jump at the dz be on the jump. This place is surrounded by miles of trees and swamp so a missed ball isn't likely to hit anything of value. The other pre-requisite is that ball jumps must be done over the swamp on days when the prevailing wind allows for spots over the swamp. To my knowledge, no balls have been lost there in the 4 years that they have been jumping with them there. Live today as tomorrow may not come

Hey brother, you are about my size so I will tell you from my perspective some things you might want to consider. First of all you need to look at the altitude of your DZ. I jump at sea level on the east coast with a stiletto 120 @ 2.0. Now, when I went to Alabama to jump, I noticed that I needed to do my approach about 150-200 feet higher than normal because of the different MSL level. The point of focus is that at different altitudes, your wing loading means different things. Also, winter jumping and summer jumping cause huge differences in canopy performance as well. Winter days usually have more dense air and will allow you to recover from situations that would put you into the ground during the summer. Again, the higher the wing loading, the more this becomes important. The next thing you need to ask yourself is "why am I wanting to downsize". Quite often one of the answers will be "I am tired of flying this truck and having to wear a huge rig to accomodate it", this my friend should be the first thought of reasoning to expell from your thoughts. The last thing I am going to suggest is this. You seem to have a pretty good head on your shoulders about downsizing. Would it really hurt anything to go one more season on your current canopy to really make sure that there isn't anything more you can do with it? I have a titanium rod in my femur and a permanent back injury from downsizing and doing things I "knew" I was ready to do. All it takes is one occurance of bad judgement to kill or maim you for life. It can be done under any size canopy. My overall suggestion would be this. Double your altitude you are approaching with right now. Force your canopy to fly to your desires instead of letting it "pull out" with front riser pressure. Sure, you are going to plane out high a few times, but you will eventually learn dig deep in your soul for the strength to make it do what you want it to. Larger canopies are a mother to do HP flight with, but if you are patient with yourself and the canopy you will amaze yourself and your friends. I saw a guy the other day doing 360 front riser approaches with a Sabre 170 @ 1.5 and keeping it in a dive as long as I have been doing with my stiletto 120 @ 2.0. He told me he could do it before he did and I laughed. I ended up eating my words when he did do it. The other thing is this. When you can get the larger canopies to go faster like that......well the swoops are nothing short of amazing distance wise. I never would have believed that someone could get a 60 yard toe drag with a 170 @ 1.5 of any kind until I saw this ole timer do it. It is much easier to downsize because of the riser pressures with sustained speed, but this gentleman with 800 jumps on his 170 showed up a lot of "hot swoopers" that day Live today as tomorrow may not come

......spoken like a true genius! Would you reccomend to do the front riser comparisons above 3,500? When I got my stiletto, I had to let out the lowers about 9 inches. I still need to let them out some more too. Good thing I have long monkey arms so I can land this thing. On the other hand.....I never let anyone else jump my canopy! One day I am going to be able to pull those things all the way to my feet! Live today as tomorrow may not come

Well Merrick and Pammi........I will say this to you guys. You both seem like safe and heads up skydivers. Being parents will add to your personal safety issues that you will have to constantly evaluate. The USPA sets guide lines for currency and I would say that as long as you stay within those guide lines......you should be ok. Now, to take this one step further. The things that you both have addressed as far as jump numbers vs. experience/ currency is dead on the money. I know guys out there with 700-800 jumps that I don't expect to live much longer. I honestly believe that their jump numbers give them a false sense of reality. Note, I said reality and not security. In my personal opinion, there is no security in skydiving much the same that there isn't luck either. If you take your own personal currency and way it against what you are setting out to do on each jump in a realistic manner, I don't see a problem. The thing I notice the most is that there aren't just one or two types of skydivers out there. There are as many different types as there are skydivers themselves. Not everyone is going to be able to perform on the same level as everyone else, but if we recognize what our own personal limits are without letting pride or egos get in the way, then we will all be a little bit safer. Things like gear checks, proper gear maintenance and emergency procedures is something that everyone needs to do everytime they get to the dropzone. I always tell my students as well as low timers that there are two times you need to go over emergency procedures and "make sure you do them each time please". (that is my quote to students ya'll) First time is when you get your gear on for the first jump of the weekend, the second time is when the canopy has deployed. If a person does this each time, then they will always be in a habit of checking their handles on the ground as well as knowing pretty much where handles are if you can't look at them in an emergency. (ie....in a line twist with your head pinned back looking up, it is impossible to see your handles) The other really important thing is for every jumper to have a plan (dirt dive) for each jump. Even if the plan is to just go out and see what can be pulled off, it is still a plan. Dirt dive the skydive and skydive the dirt dive. Keep your head on and don't let adrenaline take over and make you think you can do something you have never done before. In other words.....plan your skydives from take off to landing and stick to that exact plan unless an emergency defers you from your "flight plan". The most important thing about skydiving is to remember to always have fun. Never let other people's opinions or words get you worked up. You will know if you have done something wrong. If you haven't, then just say "oK" and move on. Arguments will take your mind off of what you are doing as well as take away from the fun that we are all out here to instill in our lives by doing what we do. Have fun, be smart and skydive when ever and how ever you can. If you fall out of currency, grab a coach and go get current. Don't let the skygods intimidate you......usually they are just out to inflate their own egos even more by belittleing someone else, but at the same time.....sometimes if you look beyond their words and more to the message, you might pick up something. Have fun, be smart and skydive when ever and how ever you can After all.....even the guys/ladies with tons of jumps had to start out somewhere. God didn't just materialize people with hundreds or thousands of jumps Keep it real folks. Live today as tomorrow may not come

sorry Tonto.......you won't get a rise out of me. I just speak from what I have seen as well as learned from talking to world class skydivers. When I make refference to world class skydivers, I mean people with more jumps than you as well as trophies and records to prove it. People who make skydiving their life and not just a long life with skydiving in it. I don't want to offend anyone and I have already admitted that my first posts in here were less than diplomatic and made my apologies for such. Does it scare me to see people jumping gear that is unsafe...........yes. Will I jump with them.........no. As a safe skydiver it pains me a great deal to hear people talking about jumping gear that allows risers to come down their arms and the only thing they do to correct it is to raise their arm so it doesn't go past their elbow. In my opinion, that kind of stuff is dangerous and irresponsible not only to themselves but to our sport as well. I don't come on here to try to look "bigger or better" than anyone else by posting jump numbers or saying that I know more than anyone else. That would be like going to a bar and pulling out my "toy" and asking every man in there to do the same in hopes that I would be the largest just to get a girl to go home with me. I skydive for my own personal reasons and offer sound advice, in my opinion, to those below me who don't know better. I base my opinion off of what I have seen and experienced. I might sometimes use corroborating evidence from other respectable sources as well, but mostly of my own experience. I hope that I have made this a little clearer for you Tanto

ahhhhhhhh........ a chance for me to open my mouth once more...... I saw a friend of mine have a reserve ride on a voodoo once. It landed him in the hospital with a broken arm. The reserve risers were all different lengths causing the damn reserve to fly like sheeeeet! Nobody would ever catch me jumping a voodoo. What is funnier is that voodoo didn't want to acknowledge this to be the cause of his accident even though we had proof that he was coming straight in with a properly loaded reserve. (not over-loaded by man. reccomendations) His risers were all different by as much as 1.5 inches overall from the greatest difference being on opposite sides and front to rear. Meaning that the front right was 1.5" shorter than the left rear. The two fronts were 3/4" different from each other. What would that do to flight performance? Live today as tomorrow may not come

Oh I couldn't agree more with you on that. Quite honestly I have outswooped quite a few guys with x-braces with my stiletto. I just want to go with the x-brace to see what I can come up with. It is based more on my knowledge of aerodynamics with aircraft and I like the "look" of the x-brace. They just seem more rigid with less distortion. Not to mention I love the openings that the Xaos's give consistantly. It is like having a x-braced crossfire. I have pretty much decided that I am going to go with the xaos27. If Icarus could get the openings like the crossfire I would get one of those instead. Eric rocks! That dude has his stuff together. When are you going to get him to coach you? JK Will you be at Cedartown in march? Live today as tomorrow may not come

Ok, that is what I was curious about. I guess I am definitely going to have to get that x-brace now Live today as tomorrow may not come

I knew that you can't go straight to PRO now. One has to acheive the 500 points first. What I was asking was.......during the 5 predeclared qualifying PRO jumps on the carving lane....are those done down wind? Live today as tomorrow may not come

So......are we now witnessing the door to the future opening to a new world wide recognized discipline.

I had a tandem once that weighed about 85 pounds and it was during the summer so the thermals were kickin We had about a 20 min canopy ride from 5,000.......does that count? Live today as tomorrow may not come

I am curious, who is doing the mr. Bill and with what canopy. Now if you were to do a mr. Bill from Andy while he was flying the 21.........now that would friggin rock AWESOME PIC BY THE WAY.......KEEP UP THE GREAT STUFF! Live today as tomorrow may not come