mdrejhon 8 #1 July 30, 2008 Hello, I'm slowly reaching the real bigway leagues, including my first 49-way at the Perris P3 big way camp last May, and I am going again this September, also with a hopeful slot in the 100-way on the subsequent weekend if I jump well enough! As a deaf skydiver, what was your experience at bigways when you can't follow the video debrief on your own and need an interpretor to write notes for you? -> Did you hire an interpretor? -> Did you just rely on the buddy system, surrounding skydivers? -> How did you avoid being high-maintenance to the load organizers. Billy Vance and John Woo, can you chime in too? Also, I'd love to hear from anybody who has encountered the deaf skydivers (I believe it was John Woo and one other) that was at the 400-way World Record. Were they an inconvenience to the load organizers, or were they able to be independent without distracting too many comrades? Organizers may argue that a deaf skydiver who asks adjacent skydivers for note-taking responsibilities, may distract them from paying attention to video debriefs... So I'm looking at solutions, to help me keep moving forward! (See my clicky below too) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #2 July 31, 2008 Question for those who don't hear or see well: You're on the plane and something changes or there is a problem...how do you make sure that there is someone on-board who can interpret for you? We recently had a small issue with a "deaf" skydiver who wears a hearing aid on the ground but doesn't jump with it....he didn't tell anyone about that so nobody knew that he couldn't hear the change.My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #3 July 31, 2008 QuoteYou're on the plane and something changes or there is a problem...how do you make sure that there is someone on-board who can interpret for you?I keep a notepad in my jumpsuit pocket. I try to keep observant of conversations going on in the plane even if I can't understand well. If I see people talking excitedly in a big group, then I know something's up. If I see someone signalling something, such as a go-around or something, I'll verify that too. And if there are multiple groups, I often confirm my my jump intentions (belly or freefly, pull altitude) with a person or two next to me, to ensure that I've indeed been placed correctly on the load. If someone's talking about clouds and debating the spot through gaps, I'll also confirm if plans has changed as a result, such as a lower jump altitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jwynne 0 #4 August 1, 2008 Just a comment. I think your effort on this is commendable and I'm sure the organizers will appreciate it. I've been on many big ways at Perris where we have multiple groups that don't speak English and the organizer doesn't speak their language. Sometimes there is one person interpreting for the group. Sometimes it's one of the jumpers. Sometimes it's a nonjumper. Sometimes there's no interpreter and the organizer is trying hard to explain with motions. Admittedly most of the time this is someone who shows up with prior big way experience, but I've still seen it cause problems and communication issues. Good for you for being so organized and self reliant. I might be able to come interpret for a day. I'll have to see what my schedule looks like. Janna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #5 August 2, 2008 Quote Billy Vance and John Woo, can you chime in too? Also, I'd love to hear from anybody who has encountered the deaf skydivers (I believe it was John Woo and one other) that was at the 400-way World Record. Were they an inconvenience to the load organizers, or were they able to be independent without distracting too many comrades? Hiro Masuda from Japan is the only deaf skydiver that was on the 400 way. Being from Japan, he spends a lot of time in wind tunnels around the world rather than put up with Japan's high jump prices, and he comes out to Perris just about every year for big way camps. He's pretty much self sufficient as he knows what he's supposed to do. The organizers never really have to worry about him. Most of the time when one of us messes up on a big way, the organizer will show us the video and use body language on what to do or not do. Works for me. John Woo has a ridiculous amount of big way experience, one look at his profile page on deafskydivers.org confirms that. I do know that John and Fred Goebel are going to the World Pops record this fall. I'm pretty much out of the big way scene these days. I just can't maintain a reasonable amount of jumping to keep my skills sharp these days. However, when I was on the big ways and a change was made, usually the next jumper or two from me made sure I knew what the situation or change was. Before you start a big way event, make sure the organizers and nearby jumpers in the formation knows your hearing problem and what your needs are. I spent a lot of time being near the organizer personally so that I was not left out, but I also tried not to be too intrusive. YMMV with each individual organizer."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #6 August 2, 2008 QuoteI might be able to come interpret for a day. I'll have to see what my schedule looks like. Janna Can you do Cued Speech? That is his main mode of communication. Otherwise, it's a pad and pencil or one of those PDAs with a full qwerty keypad. The latter is what we used to communicate at the Deaf World Record in Florida."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #7 August 3, 2008 Hey Billy, Yeah, I got that confused between two. I thought I heard from someone that there was one other deaf skydiver in that World Record, but I could be wrong. Either way, it is definitely a goal to eventually to be in a future World Record (hopefully Project 500 -- can't it be 2012 instead of 2010 as has been talked about!? ). I know that the newbies in that formation have far more experience than I do, and I have my work cut out for me -- it's a matter of finances and getting the experience necessary in short order. If I manage to get myself into invitationals all 2009 long, and when Skydventure Montreal opens in early 2009, I'll be within 2 hours of a tunnel. I may actually do a dozen hours of windtunnel during 2009, as I am already capable of doing 4-ways in the tunnel (split costs - 1/4th the cost to share the chamber between 4 people, so it costs less than $250 per hour, the equivalent of 60 separate 4-way jumps all done in one day!). It's such a cheap way to stay current, at about $3-4 per minute of 'freefall'. However I know I'll still need to do lots of jumping in the sky... Just keeping it up! Jan Meyer -- (MakeItHappen, creator of DiveMaker) -- has agreed to help me during the video debriefs, so I'll have a bigway veteran as an interpretor during the September camps. Maybe this is what I need to put my foot into my first 100-way. (Wish me luck!) I won't always have the luxury of a bigway veteran doing the interpreting (plus some bonus coaching mixed into the interpreting), but if this gets my foot into the entry level of the invitationals -- then I have plenty of 2009 bigway opportunities and it makes it that much more likely for me to make it into Project 500 during 2010. Maybe not. But I'll try to "Make It Happen" John Woo just replied to one of my emails about bigway camp etiquette experience as a deaf skydiver, and that is valuable to me. I run into the risk of being higher maintenance, so it's a challenge. This will probably be the main difficulty for me between now and Project 500 -- if I make it that far. Get a good rep with all the bigway organizers without being high maintenance. I'll have many opportunities to refine the video debrief drill - without disrupting the class. Failing that, at least Canada Record should be an easy one in comparision this time around, and Perris is a wonderful vacation... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maggott 0 #8 August 5, 2008 ASL works great in the airplane! (better than any spoken language) as long as I'm not the only one who understands it! Hi Mark! Great to see you back on line! Good luck with your Big Way work. Keep me posted! Rick "Maggott" Mangan ~Maggott __________________________________________________________________________________ "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #9 August 5, 2008 Quote ASL works great in the airplane! (better than any spoken language) as long as I'm not the only one who understands it! Hi Mark! Great to see you back on line! Good luck with your Big Way work. Keep me posted! Rick "Maggott" Mangan Do you go to other bigways in the states? If I manage to break into the bigway invitationals, I'll probably be seeing a LOT more skydivers during 2009 (and my jump numbers will increase much faster too)... As far as I know, John Woo and Fred Goebel go to some of them. (I might also be going to the Texas winter Big Way camp in November too, but my finances are concentrated on two consecutive bigway weekends Perris P3 at first) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
