"My 300th Skysurf" or "When Good Skysurfs Go Bad"

[Douva 0]

It's the last training jump of the day. Jason (jumpjunkie) and I are working on ending the routine with some close-up head down stuff. We've finished the routine, so I'm just geeking the camera and singing along with my MP3 player. Suddenly the front tip of my board catches his burble, and I roll forward into a stand. As I do this, he catches my board's burble and falls onto my board. He sticks out his hand to protect himself from hitting the board and accidentally snags the cutaway cable to my back foot binding. And that, my friends, is where the fun began.

CLICK HERE to view the video.

Fortunately, Betsy (my board) and I are both okay. Betsy's accuracy was a little better than mine. I was looking for her and landed in a field where I assumed she'd landed, and she actually made a soft landing at the edge of the landing area. In fact, the only damage was to my skysurfing pants. I had so much adrenaline pumping when I pulled the board cutaway handle that I pulled the rapid link right through the buttonhole the cable runs through and caused a small tear.

I realized this evening when I was logging that this was my 300th skysurf. In 300 skysurfs, this is my first real board chop (not counting my second skysurf which was on a homemade board with improperly installed bindings that popped loose). If you look closely at the attached frame grab, you can just make out the snag in the lower left corner. Obviously it wasn't Jason's fault; it was just one of those freak occurrences. I think we both met our weekly adrenaline quota on this jump.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Holy sh*t what a spin!

That was some fast action getting rid of it, though!

Eeeeek.......

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[hookitt 0]

You have very quick reflexes

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Squeak 17]

yOU DO REALISE THAT LOOKS figgin awesome
oops
Kinda like Freestyle with a board

Real glad you both are OK
Wannadoit again

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Douva 0]

Quote

yOU DO REALISE THAT LOOKS figgin awesome
oops
Kinda like Freestyle with a board

Why do you think I went with disco music for the video?

[Reply]
Real glad you both are OK

[daniel_owen_uk 0]

Could have blagged that one and said that was the end of your routine

Hell of a spin though nice job controlling it.

__________________

BOOM Headshot

[Ashtanga 0]

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Kinda like Freestyle with a board

That's what I was thinking. He might have been out of control but he maintained very good form.

[bbarnhouse 0]

Gee whiz! So glad that you are alright!

Sure you don't want to enter freestyle this year?
X's and O's
B2

[masterrig 1]

I remamber that first sky-board you made! You've come a long way, since then. On my first trip to Eloy, several years ago, back when skysurfing was really 'big', I saw a similar incident as in your video clip. On that one though, when it was all over, the skysurfer's toes were touching his knee-cap!
You did a helluva job saving yourself. Good luck, in your skysurfing endeavors.


Chuck

[Buried 0]

nice to see the board finally let go so that the spin didn't last any longer. good to hear everything/one landed ok.

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[Mikki_ZH 0]

Glad you are ok!
After I saw you vid I went to http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1788341;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread to vote Sky Surfers...

Michi (#1068)
hsbc/gba/sba
www.swissbaseassociation.ch
www.michibase.ch

[outlawphx 1]

Wow! I think I pulled a groin muscle just watching that Seriously, good job getting rid of that so fast.

[skydivermom 0]

WOW!

It is an honor to be able to say I have jumped with both of you! (even though you had to pull for me last time)

Please keep those vids and pictures coming. Glad you guys were not hurt. You make an awesome pair!

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[Hipwrddude 0]

Nice inverted pirouette. Glad to hear all is well and you recovered your board. Talk about adrenaline, I did a jump wearing ski goggles and a yellow rain coat and pants for a rap music video. I got an adrenaline shot the moment I exited when the rain coat/pants started flapping my limbs freakin' me out.
Thanks for the vid--I can show it to my peeps.

You're always the starter in your own life!

[Hooknswoop 19]

Glad you are OK, that could have been very bad. Nice reflex's

Derek

[livendive 8]

So how far away was the board when it fell past you?
That looked painful, I think I'd be walking funny today. Nice job chopping it quickly, and I'm glad you got it on video.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[racer42 0]

So other than that the jump was pretty uneventful?

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock

[The111 1]

As everybody else said, good job saving yourself. Since I don't know much about a skysurf setup, how exactly does a cutaway work? From the video it looks like you used your right hand to activate a handle near your hip. Is that right? And I'm guessing that normally cuts away both feet simultaneously, but in this case the first one was cut away early by your friend snagging the actual cable itself, and not a release handle. Is this right? Just want to make sure I understand what I am seeing in the video.
I also agree with the others who said you have great reflexes. At first, I rewinded and replayed the spin a couple times and thought "big deal, that wasn't too fast, I could react that quick too". Then I remembered I watching the slow-mo version.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Douva 0]

Quote

As everybody else said, good job saving yourself. Since I don't know much about a skysurf setup, how exactly does a cutaway work? From the video it looks like you used your right hand to activate a handle near your hip. Is that right? And I'm guessing that normally cuts away both feet simultaneously, but in this case the first one was cut away early by your friend snagging the actual cable itself, and not a release handle. Is this right? Just want to make sure I understand what I am seeing in the video.
I also agree with the others who said you have great reflexes. At first, I rewinded and replayed the spin a couple times and thought "big deal, that wasn't too fast, I could react that quick too". Then I remembered I watching the slow-mo version.

Yes, there is a handle on my hip that I can reach with either hand. It connects to a cord that routes through my right (front) pants leg. The cord exits my pants near my ankle and is connected to two cutaway cables of offset lengths, by a rapid link. The short cutaway cable connects to my front heel strap, and the long cutaway cable connects to my back heel strap. Each heel strap is a 2-ring (scaled down 3-ring) cutaway system. Pulling the handle releases both heel straps simultaneously. The cable running from my front ankle to my back heel strap is what got snagged.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[sistaluv 0]

Wow......(speechless)

Blue Skies and Terminal Memories 4 Life

[Douva 0]

Here's what I calculated from watching the video frame-by-frame: I was spinning at about 120rpm and still accelerating when I chopped the board. It took me 4 1/2 rotations to pull the cutaway handle.

Under canopy I immediately started looking for my board and thought, "What's all this crap floating around me?" Then I realized I was seeing spots.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[Rebecca 0]

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Here's what I calculated from watching the video frame-by-frame: I was spinning at about 120rpm and still accelerating when I chopped the board. It took me 4 1/2 rotations to pull the cutaway handle.

Under canopy I immediately started looking for my board and thought, "What's all this crap floating around me?" Then I realized I was seeing spots.

Daaaaammmmn! I'm still dizzy from the video. 120rpm? Now that's a ride!

You did a great job- makes a great training video, too!

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[jumprunner 0]

Quote

Here's what I calculated from watching the video frame-by-frame: I was spinning at about 120rpm and still accelerating when I chopped the board. It took me 4 1/2 rotations to pull the cutaway handle.

Under canopy I immediately started looking for my board and thought, "What's all this crap floating around me?" Then I realized I was seeing spots.

Shit! You had to have had some major headspins from that. I noticed you were still spinning after the board came off just from the momentum.

Thats great that you have the talent to react that quickly under that much stress. Ofcourse Id hate to think what would have happened if you wouldnt have.

Good luck with skysurfing dude. looks like youre doing great.

[jtval 0]

ok so now that a day has gone by, how does your knee feel?
man, it looked like your leg was going to twist off.
glad everything worked out for the better

My photos

My Videos

[Douva 0]

Quote

ok so now that a day has gone by, how does your knee feel?
man, it looked like your leg was going to twist off.
glad everything worked out for the better

My knee feels fine. My groin is a tiny bit sore, but I've had worse after a hard workout, so I'm feeling pretty lucky.

I really like the attached frame grab.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.