CDRINF 1 #1 February 17, 2003 I posted this on the "history and trivia" forum with no response. Thought I would see what happens with a wider audience. When and why did the break between Jacques Istel and USPA occur? I was at USPA HQ a while back and remember seeing a letter on the wall clipped from an old Time magazine (early '70's?) in which Istel lambastes the then current USPA leadership for smoking marijuana, jumping nude, and generally being out of control and bad for the image of skydiving. Anyone know the story? Chris Reed D-15996 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blewaway5 0 #2 February 18, 2003 No clue, but then I'm just a young pup, really. All I know is that it sounds like I probably would have liked to learn technique from Istel and then partied with the (then) USPA guys. Truman Sparks for President Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skr 1 #3 February 18, 2003 I vaguely remember this but it didn't seem like news and didn't seem important at the time. I do remember a push from PCA / USPA in the 60's to promote "Sport Parachuting" instead of "skydiving" because they were trying to sound like a sport and therefore more respectable. Maybe this was coming from Jacques Istel. I was pretty California / hippie oriented at the time and it all seemed like some kind of up tight, east coast, establishment nonsense :-) :-) God, it's almost embarrasing to recall how young and ignorant I was. Just take some acid and see the light ... Well, we actually did see through a lot of the bullshit, but we missed the part about how complicated the world is and how tightly people hang on to their views and how difficult it is to actually make even small changes in the world. There are still some people around who were closer to PCA / USPA but I haven't seen any of them on here. I think Parachutist should interview some of these old timers while they are still alive, and I've told them so, but I'm just one small voice out here in userland. Skr Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyhi 24 #4 February 18, 2003 Might try to PM Howard White (howardwhite?) or Skratch Garrison (skr?). They are both very mature, experienced, skydivers with a wealth of knowledge. Hopefully I put that diplomatically enough. Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AirMail 0 #5 February 18, 2003 Quote God, it's almost embarrasing to recall how young and ignorant I was. Just take some acid and see the light ... If you remember the 70s, you weren't there. Patrick-- It's never too late to have a happy childhood. Postal Rodriguez, Muff 3342 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skr 1 #6 February 18, 2003 > Might try to PM Howard White (howardwhite?) or Skratch Garrison (skr?). >They are both very mature, Mature ?? Hey Howard, we fooled 'em! They think we've grown up :-) :-) Skr Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jwilson 0 #7 February 18, 2003 Smoking pot, Jumping nude.......out of control skydivers... What could they have been thinking Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Push 0 #8 February 18, 2003 Quote jumping nude Bad for the image of skydiving? Hrm, depends who's jumping -- Toggle Whippin' Yahoo Skydiving is easy. All you have to do is relax while plummetting at 120 mph from 10,000' with nothing but some nylon and webbing to save you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
