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rhys

Who is the most interesting person you have taught to pack?

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I have been training our Maasai guard to pack tandems over the last few months.

This man had no clue of what a parachute was before we met him but now he does the tidiest pack jobs around.

Considering he doesn't speak very much English and I speak bugger all Swahili I think I have done really well.

He will be able to upgrade from a house made from cow excrement to one made from bricks in about a year through packing parachutes!

I'll post photos later.

He has killed a Lion as with his bare hands (actually with a knife and or spear) as part of the ritual of becoming a Maasai warrior!!!
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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The most interesting guy for me was "Joe". He just didn't get it.

I worked with him for two days and he couldn't remember from one minute to the next even after breaking it down to one step at a time. I got another guy to try thinking maybe it was me just not putting it to him in way that he could understand. Nope. I went back to trying.

Long story short - I finally took it on as a major challenge to a) find the teaching method that best fit his learning style, b) excersize my patience, c) never give up, and d) not let my frustration show no matter what.

"Joe" finally got it but it was a long, arduous journey.
At the end, he tipped me $20...I took it.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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I've taught an old Korean war vetran how to pack. I think he is 80 yrs old.

Still can't get it.



If he still can't get it then you haven't taught him how yet, have you?:P
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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you guys are talking about maasai warriors and killing lions with your bare hands and shit.
the closest thing we have to a lion are the ferrel cats running in the alley's. holy crap!

the most interesting person i taught to pack is my girlfriend. yes, she is still interesting and no, i won't post her picture.

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I taught a blind man how to pack. No kidding. He came to our DZ & did about 15 Tandems over a period of time. He translated the Vector Tandem Waiver into braille & gave us a bunch of copies for the day he brought a large group of blind friends to do Tandems.
I noticed he was always feeling everything. He went all around the airplane & could name every part. He wsa very curious about everything including parachutes. I had packed blindfolded quite a few times to win bets, so I started thinking....he's been blind all his life, he will probably catch on fast, and be better than me. I thought about what I was feeling for when I packed blindfolded & used that info to teach him. The first parachute he packed start to finish unassisted (but very supervised) was jumped by an AFF student.

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i did my aff down in Mombasa and have done a few jumps as a student at wilson in Nairobi. How'd you end up there?



the job was advertised on the classifieds here.

We have just got our own plane now a 210hp Reims Rocket 172.
So fun jumping will be feasible once we have the door made. Are you still in Nairobi? Have you got your own gear!

give us a bell +255 787 640 511
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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We have just got our own plane now a 210hp Reims Rocket 172.
So fun jumping will be feasible once we have the door made.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Door?
Why do you sissies need a door?
I have made dozens of jumps from (180 hp) Reims Rockets without doors ... and that was in Germany!
Last thing I heard, Africa was way warmer and way more comfortable than Germany!
Tee!
Hee!

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I knew a blind roofer, but this is the first I've heard about a blind packer. That is a great story.

I always enjoyed when tandem students would watch us pack. They often would ask if you needed any special training to do that. I would usually answer, "I hope not."

I'll have to remember to tell them of the blind packer. Thanks.

While they are all interesting, I haven't taught many unusual students. I did have a gal stop by the drop zone. She had just moved to town with her family and wanted to help out. She was an Air Force rigger, but had done all cargo stuff with huge rounds. she had no personnel equipment experience or ram air experience. We mostly did tandems and didn't have a big AFF throughput. I decided that I would start her on tandem rigs since she would get the most work that way and would therefore be more likely to come back the next weekend. It worked and she did a great job with the tandem packing. She would stow the lines by holding the bag between her legs and drag the container (on carpet) towards her. I finally decided to show her the differences with the student gear so she could pack that as well. After packing student canopies for a few weekends she said, "I don't like packing student gear. I prefer packing the tandems. It just doesn't feel right having something that small between my legs."
Packin' Jack
42nd Lost Prairie: The Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Skydiving
25 Jul - 3 Aug 2009
2007 photos: http://www.skydive.com/prairie/pages/prairie.htm

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Don't know if "interesting" is the right word, but most memorable: the first person I taught to pack...

VERY attractive, 18-year-old girl from west virginia, who always walked around in daisy dukes and a bikini top and had a cute southern accent.

Meanwhile, I was an awkward 13 year old boy who was always shy around girls, and for obvious reasons had enough trouble just keeping my jaw off the floor, let alone trying to teach her to pack.

Talk about trial by fire! But I did it. Teaching people older than my dad when I was 14 or 15 was always interesting too.
"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

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Door?
Why do you sissies need a door?
I have made dozens of jumps from (180 hp) Reims Rockets without doors ... and that was in Germany!
Last thing I heard, Africa was way warmer and way more comfortable than Germany!
Tee!
Hee!



Yeah i know, I would love to take that bad biy uop now and jump without the door,

Everybody may assume things are easier to do in the third world but unfortunately the corruption takes dollars to feed it.Therefore there are more regulations than are necessary. You can go and do your own thing but when they come down on you you will have wished you never had. you want to see the amount of stickers you need on your windscreen to make your vehicle legal to drive here?

They don't have regular income tax so to speak so they tax those that are onto it enough to run a business with dumb ass regulations that don'rt make sense...end rant.

I really enjoyed jumping the twin otter in mombassa with no door. i wouldn't want to do 6-8 tandems a day with no door though
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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