Gimpboogie goes to a tunnel camp to do some RW(or try to anyways)

[gimpboogie 0]

So I applied-not thinking there was a hope on earth, or the skies for me to be able to go-after all they only took 12 participants to the camp...
and I have the least experience (I'm assuming-and am almost certain that it has to be true) of anyone who'd be applying to go.

I told them my progression, what has been done (of course also limitations issues with health etc.) and thought,
'no harm in sending off an email

THE REPLY CAME BACK-YES :D :D

Now the 'fun' starts-how to get this gimp ass to Montreal, where to stay, how to get from there to the tunnel, and on and on my mind wonders.
I KNEW I WOULD DO ANYTHING to get there, be there and get back.

Somehow a fellow member here said his father might be able to help me out= they were looking into a monastery where i might be able to stay....
sure I could sleep on the bus station floor or what ever is needed to fly in the tunnel for those 40 coached minutes.

So off I was trying to remember what ever I could of the holy trinity in case i was lucky enough to get to sleep a a monastery and what ever else I might be necessary information for my future guest house-


then, still remained the 'how to get there' part....

hhmmm, that wasn't so easy.
BUT it seems that I was born stubborn as any Aries can be, ramming my head in the direction of getting my gimp ass to Montreal, and back now that I had this opportunity of a lifetime!


It wasn't until this week, just yesterday-less then a week before the camp that suddenly a message comes from a lady in Ottawa who asked if I wanted to share a hotel room 5 minutes from the tunnel, OOH YAH!
no matter how interesting the monastery sounded-i still hadn't figured out the holy trinity thing and a hotel room with anyone sounded awesome-still getting there was an issue.

So we talked=or text'ted or what ever it is that we do in written format these days to communicate.

She was offering to give me a ride from Ottawa as long as I made it there somehow.
OK now this was getting do-able.
Off I went to VIA rail website- pulled out the credit card and tossed a ticket my way, as I cringed at the $$$, flying by before my eyes-knowing i will be paying for this 'little trip' for a few months.

But $549 for 40 coached minutes in the tunnel seemed like a deal I CANT PASS UP even if i have to collect beer bottles to pay for it

Now it's all set-the hotel room keeps getting fuller by the day-now we have 3 women staying in the same room-i don't care if i have to bring my winter weight sleeping bag and opt for the balcony if the room is filled-but the more we have in there, the less its costing each of us.

The trip to Ottawa costs half the price of the tunnel camp(damn VIA-if anyone wants to go visit Ottawa-next weekend is your chance for a free trip I have this 'handy' disability travel card and a companion traveler is free-too bad its not half price if i go alone

Hhhmmm.. i got all the bases covered-have transportation, a roof over my head, know what I'm going to wear (knee braces of course but what else was my question to them-didn't want any surprises at the tunnel once i got there )

We have it all covered=or shall I say I will be all covered....
head to toe and clamped, damped, and even a lot less verbose the I ever was before -perhaps to every Else's gratitude.
( i cannot speak anymore-so on the ground when not flying i use a Dynavox V communication device)


SO what exactly will I be learning I wondered?

the reply came back and I wondered-how can I do all that?

Well, i am not going to worry about it=they know what Ive done to date=what I haven't and they chose me to go so I trust that either I'm going to learn some of this stuff, or if not no one is going to sink their teeth into me for it.

here is the agenda=of what I should be coming back-having at least tried and given it my best shot to learn the following:

Apparently I will be assigned a coach. (nice-sounds like PFF again-hope they are as much fun as Fuzzy and Angus were )
And then I will do 2 sessions of 10 minutes with a coach 1 on 1 working on all the basics movements
-which to me to date have been unstable exits, stable exits, flying on my belly and not on my back, or in a built in turn with that right leg brace loose swinging a little... and trying not to potato chip when I docked with Angus [heck just trying now to potato chip while i fly alone at first-it's just the last couple of dives that i do not potato chip anymore]-they knew that also...

BUT their idea of "basic movements are:
* levels, turns, forward and backwards, side-sliding.
side-sliding? hell i still need to stop that slight back slide Eric said I have from when he flew with me.
I don't think I have trouble with backsliding but side sliding=ok.... sure... yah

hhmm.... that sounds like a whole camp for me all ready.


then I'm going to be working on basic RW skills -which to me so far has been to get up to the coach, and gently dock-and try not to potato chip when I let go.
But at the camp it is going to be*
(eye contact, priximity, simple docks, etc.
OK I HATE EYE CONTACT -i wonder if we can skip that part? and I think I am going to be good at the etc. part.
proximity-well I think I WAS pretty close to Eric in that one jump since he had to use a defensive move to get my fist out of his face on exit.
- maybe I should gift my coach with a foot ball players mouth guard before we start?

OOh but it only gets better!
(or worse depending on if your me or the coach

The second part of the camp is Relative Work.
DAMN and I thought i got rid of those relatives when I moved here to the DZ, they cant possibly mean.... or did they forget the C in front of the RW?

Apparently I will be assigned a partner (oohh great-this sounds like an arranged marriage-I allready had one of those -it didnt go so well)
of a similar flying ability (good luck for them on finding one of those!

and will do 1 session of 10 minutes working as a 2-way under our coach's supervision.
(ok this is getting interesting=were going to have an audience for our fck ups-or shall i say my fck ups)

The third part of the camp is 3-way: me with the same partner + our coach -AWESOME I've done a 3 way with Gareth and Angus so I think I can handle that.

but were supposed to be working on basic RW skills as a 3-way: proximity, levels, staying in your quadrant, etc.

'quadrant'? this turns into a space camp suddenly on the 3rd part-interesting, hope Captain Picard will be there! he's epic!

The last part of the camp is a bonus round:(ok that sounds like something Mickey -our lottery expert at the DZ-plays when he knows his numbers are coming up)

apparently they will be grouping people in groups of 3 + our coach and doing 6 minutes of 4-way.
-now that I've never done -i hope I'm NOT on the bottom-i hope I don't sink, i hope i don't crash into the walls... oohh I hope so much!
Also we will be doing a group video-debriefing with our coaches after each session of flying (or crashing into walls and taking out people!)

- At the end of the day on Sunday, we will have a general debriefing summarizing goals of everyone, etc.

ok-I think by then my goal will be to find a warm bath, and a bed without any ways going on.

The video is included in the price-so fellow friends and foes,'for some good laughs come and watch Gimps in the tunnel next time you happen to feel like stopping in at the Ramp-way Inn at PST

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

[wmw999 2,116]

Congratulations
Get some chafing cream, or make sure ande wear appropriate protective clothing.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[grannyinthesky 0]

Have an absolutely fantastic time, Minna. I'm jealous. I would so love to do a tunnel camp. You are going to do well, I just know it!!!

"safety first... and What the hell.....
safety second, Too!!! " ~~jmy

POPS #10490

[gimpboogie 0]

Hey Granny, I just noticed-you got freakn a C licence! get your coach ratings so you can teach me how to fly when I COME to Idaho -I should have myself registered with USPA temporary licence anyways and jump where you can show me where to go... then i can try to NOT take you out in FF

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

[gimpboogie 0]

The letter arrived, "Congratulations as you are the first to participate in a training camp organized specifically for women skydivers and tunnel-flyers."

Although I am still in great flying shape-since falling out of the door-less 206 3 times this month. I had decided to apply and can see how lucky I am to get to.
I hope my personal coach is a 30 something tunnel wizard who's also got a brain for complex math, physics, decent photo skills and ooh a great knowledge of vintage canopies -so we got something to talk about once were done all the learning stuff.

They went on to say "We are certain that you are going to have a lot of fun during this camp as well as broaden your experience and refine your flying techniques"-AWESOME! I WILL have fun (they are certain of it)

hhmm... wonder what experiences I wil get to broaden, because it seems to be asides from the flying techniques

They attached some document and suggested that I "take a quick look at it before you arrive so that you have a better idea of what we will be working on".... but they came in French with the promise that the English version will follow in a few hours (wonder if we will fly in French and follow up in English a few hours later giving us TWICE the tunnel time-THIS place sounds better by the minute-well by the hour at this point still..)

I been practicing, dirty diving in front of the blow dryer for a few hours now, and although my skin got a little chaffed this letter is encouraging and this will be an awesome weekend! *AND I'm going to have fun, fly my body (although the side slide will be an exciting adventure-hhmmm... ok so if i cant move the legs with the arms-might it work if I just try putting one hand well back towards the feet and tuck the other one in real tight ....now I might need a camp for that alone !

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

[gravitywhore 0]

Early on a friday morning, under a full moon with slight snowfall, had my gear bag packed as if skydiving was I going to go. Into the handicap accessible transportation the manual wheelchair with this large bag and one with some electronic gadgets, laptop, video camera's communication device and alarm clock on my lap did I go to the the large GObus station which the 2nd leg of a 4 part journey would be.
This journey's most frustrating part was the pen & paper I needed to communicate with, they in themselves were not the "issue" but the VIAtrain workers who insisted on writing back with simple large print words from their kindergarden days ... Even after I wrote,
"I understand and hear each word you speak, it saves us time in the words you can speak you choose to use, instead of writing dumbed down scribles, filling up my papers with" to which they replied by grabbing my papers and adding a large print
"YES WE HELP YOU. YOU SIT THERE. WE GET YOU. DON'T MOVE. SO YOU WON'T GET LOST. ITS A BIG STATION. YOUR MOMMY SHOUL NOT HAVE SENT YOU ALONE. BUT DON'T BE SCARED. WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.
My reply was short and straight forward-" if youchoose to write to me, read it I will not, your voice I expect you to use while still its there".

Had planned to go buy some orange juice and water since on the train they want $3 for each cup of water or juice,$7 for wine or beer and since solid foods I cannot eat-much juice will I go through on a 6 hour trip just to Ottawa.

Each time I tried to go get something quickly these excessively paternal or obsessively controlling m
Train porters came running to hold still who in their minds was a shild in an adults body to protect me from the big bad world and to ensure the path to grandmas house little dumb child won't eer-lest some big bad wolf will chew me up in this video secure station during the 2 hour wait that by the red light.

Then a miracle came, the skydiving stickers on the back rest of the chair attrackted the attention of a porter who didn't think a chick without a voice was any dumber then those with one.
Quickly we 'friends' became and questions flew my way, how do I land starting with and on from there.
The ticket master had said there were no "tie down" seats available, so he went and cxhanged my seat to a "tie down" seat in 1st class which is always available! (Seems not 2 many gimps have $ for a fare 4x that of the regular!.

On the train free booze was flowing, with wider seats, n bigger tables-free hot fancy meals I could of had-but cxhoking on filet mignon was not on my agenda!

For 5 hrs I worked (and accomplished!) On emptying their red wine supply- even soft chocolat bon bons cal my way-the kind I could melt in my mouth and and not choke!

To ottawa my destination was, to travel with the ladies going to the camp who from Gan.DZ came therew to fly.

With excitement we travelled together & there ladies never treated this gimp like my brain fell out when the voice left in such a hurry.(It had taken 4 hrs from going from a whispering slurring voice to nothing even coughing is making no sounds-burping even is like a soundless hickup).

So with great happiness we travelled without comparing the fact that one lady had 1500 dives and one with less then a 1/4 of mine.

Skydivers we all were & it turned out I was the only one who in the tunnel time had spent.
So ther with excitement and anticipation we went,
With jokes and stories to share, making our trip with expenses shared cheaper for us all and fair.

The tunnel was so awesome a whole new post it deserves, but since it seems I always have some unplanned "oops" along the way-when we were done after the last session I hurried to take off the knee braces and in this rush I pulled my catheter right out intact!
For those who've newver had one, a balloon the size of a marble it has, inside the bladder to keep it from coming out. Typically when changing it they deflate this balloon to get it out, but I pulled it through with the whole ballon intact-through that little place the urine flows OUCH!!
The ER was our stop on Montreal before we drove back to ottawa, from where the train ride was not so great.
Into the 1st class I went again for the tie down seat was taken elsewhere & the train officials again started with their childish language and calling me sweetie, asking will my mommy meet me in toronto- "no a caravan at the airport will pick me up and fly by my house so to my yard I can dive I replied fascitiously with frustration.

But the lady to sit near me in 1st class loudly proclaimed that she can't possibly "sit near someone like that" as she poined towards me and added "I won't even be able to eat my dinner fearing she might drool or make the noises those retarded people make" the fury within was so strong. It took all my might to not deck her right out with one upper cuff!

So the porters lifted me from my seat to the car behind leaving that passanger off the train to wait 5 hrs for the next one as the trsin was full. For the 1st class lady paid a large price for her fare so her wishes kicked some poorer fellow right off the traain.

The next post will be pure delight, shsaring all the skills the tunnel instructors taught, and how I dealt with the issues which had stopped me from going in the tunnel in the past for more then the little while I did.
Right now I'm in the hospital (been here for 12 days & 6 more to go-so to the nurses needs I must attend. They have schedules to keep!.
After the vampire ladys been here to prick me I will write the best part of this story yet to be heard-the skills I learned in tbe tunnel met all the planned ones except for one- with 4 people I did not yet fly-my quadrants took 1/r of the tunnel so with 3 I can safely fly with levels, docking, side sliding without backsliding now I can fly

[pchapman 261]

Your story, Minna (in the guise of gravitywhore's login at the moment), reminds me of how the word "dumb" in "deaf & dumb" has changed meaning over a century or two.

If you can't speak, it is easy for people to assume you can't think either...

[gimpboogie 0]

The 1st thing - lesrned ws thst thus csmp ws split into 4 10 min sessions-with s "bonus round" of 6 min. @ the end to do the 4 way. Till the it was sectioned so that the 1st 20 min were individual sessions with a coach. For them to gauge what we"ve learned, who we fly with the best-similsr fsll rstes (or tunnel wind speeds) (I still don't get it-my #'s were 168 to 172 Ipropablt km/hr? But then there was a number 64 & at times 65 beside it-what that means? I forgot to ask and still don't know-maybe its a % of their max speed-because that's the [ they grouped people with- they would say "so & so is a 64 so they will fly with so& so" etc.
The 2nd day was getting into doing variuos 4way formations but 1st starting with 2 way doing the box and the 360's so we can learn to turn our heads andd always watch the other person as well as learn to keep levels which turns out to be so important(and no I didn't take anyone out, no I didn't flip upside down _although someone else did-so their flip actually left me feeling good knowing I was more stable then others without flipping-may be bad to be happy to see someone else flip but I'm being honest that I felt a certain element of happiness knowing that I didn't flip-or crash into anyone-never did I crash into someone while coming up to dock-infact it was more the opposite-i was so careful to come in to dock that I would so slowly come to them, that I would fly n front of them for a few seconds before I dared to dock-i was so scared to loose my level with them-slide right past them and scrape their face with my hard knee braces-the coach said it would not be a problem even if I did because my braces are under my pants and wrapped yp with tensor bandages (to keep the angle- I still have bnot had the $ to make myself the fibre glass braces that Peter used to fly with and Dale made-nor do I have anyone to help me make them-that belongs in my other thread:) )

The 2nd day we were flying the 2nd 10 min with the 3 way doing the "cat" and other formations which I don't remember because I wasn't ready to do them-we focussed on the basic skills (I also bought an extra 10 min one on one with my coach so I could work on fine tuning the skills I learned- the tunnel is such a good learning place it honestly does cost me less then skydiving with a coach because;

1-there it is a confined space so if I started to bacslide-which I did once when - docked (and pulled her with me-my biggest "oops" in there-i just hit the opposite wall with my feet instead of in the air we would have wasted the rest of that dive because I would of had to let go and who knows how far I could of backslid so. Coming back to the coach is taking up altitude which means if I went far I may not have been able to get back before deployment altitude-thus a cost of 2 slots to top floor ($60 total) would of been that mistake but in the tunnel it took only a few seconds to correct it and move on- even though 10 min witha coach cost me $1c0 with taxes that still comes to only $19/ minute!

What I learned:

1- to move forward and back all I need to do is use my palms- turn my palms down with top of palm. Facing forward to go forward.
To go backward the opposite- put my bottom of palms facing forward as if in a "stop" signal to go backward. To stop each mulovement I quickly turn my palms the opposite direction of which I'm gpoing in and the back to flying neutral (pals facing down to the ground)

2- to turn 360's (or less) I just use my palms again. I turn my palms so they are facing the direction I want to turn in. If I want to turn left, I face my hands side ways (only hands not arms) so that both pals are facin the left. To stop I bring them back to neutral-palms caing the earth. I keep my head statiobary (in the horizontal axis) but turn it to look @ the other person at all times-half way around my turn I switch sides that I look at them.
Since I hate eye contact I was worried about this (autistics generally all hate eye contact-it is painful!) But I learned to look at their head and hands for their head shows where they are going and hands give signals.

3- I learned to side slide by putting one arm close to my body from the elbow to the wrist (and palm along with it) and the other hand I turned my palm in the direction that I wanted to side slide in! Of all the skills actually I learned that one the fastest! Which shocked mne-(not to mentiom the shocked happy suprised looks on the faces of Angus when he saw my video, Derek our most advanced 4 way guy @ our DZ who doesn't pass out praise easily @ all-he said he was thinking it was "exceptional" when he watched my video, Chad-our FF king-who is a TM and was on the Can. Head down record last summer-he coaches and said he would fly with me any day now after seeing this video-not to mention the poraise I got from Mario and Olga my teachers @ the tunnel who are exceptional teachersmActually Mario is a guy Angus consulted with before I started flying-he coaches the Lemay brothers-Canadas 4 way team who were exceptionally good @ thr worlds... Angus said I CAN FLY 4 WAY after seeing the final 10 min session - did- none of these people toss out praise like its candy on halloween so I have confidence they are genuine in their words to me.

4- I learned to fly levels with my head. Olga said don't cup because that amount of body movement was grastic and brought me up and down too much for a 4 sway session.
So I just looked up as much as I could to go downwards ,d lookedbdown to the ground to go upwardd. This brought me up and down in small increments such as a few feet-which is all that is needed to correct levels in a 4 way. Ofcourse this movement was easy to stop by just looking the opposite direction once I was at the level I wanted to be @-face to face with my partner.

4- I learned to combine these movements-which was the hardest (which is when I @ times could not dock and it was easier to start from the beginning).
What I needed to do was. Keep my levels with my elbows since I needed my hands to dock with so my hands were sort of "out of commission" for flying because the needed to be "neutral rerady for the dock- which ofcourse had to be a gentle "pinch"-like touch rsther the a "grip"... Because using a "grip" would teach me to hold on to people which is wrong-which could lead to the next bad habit of holding on to someone if I felt unstable- which would send us both tumbling. It is one thing if the dive is some "fuster cluck" which the purpose is to hold onto any doby part and tumble together, or a cartwheel etc. But its most important to learn first how to fly with others in closr proximity to keep level with them, to gently dock as if to barely pinch their clothing and let go (which is where our "simon says" comes into play-but more on that later :)

So I noticed that I fly sort of with a profile like a bird of prey. My arms are straight parallel from my shoulders to my elbows at all other times except when I try to keep levels to dock. Then my elbows control the forward and backward movement-lifting my arms at the elbows up higher then the shoulders are keeps me stationary in front of my partner so I do not backslide away from them. My head is what keeps me level to them so I need to keep my chin up. When I moved my head down to look at where I was gripping I would end uploosing level and sinking on them. So it was important that I only looked down with my eyes for the grip-this was now putting two things togehter but also changing how I moved forward and back-from using my hands to my elbows once I got close enough to dock-so if I didn't get close enough to dock before I switched to the elbows it was more difficult to get the grip for the dock because it was not nearly as effective to move forward with my elbows as it was with my palms. Once I got it correctly I would dock and she'd signal me to go backwards and to come do it again.

Finally we played simon says while staying in my quadrant (no captain Pcard didn't show up).
So Olga would switch to. One quadrant by side sliding or turning a 90 degree angle to get ther & I would have to do the same. There she woukd touch her head or nose and I would have to floow. We'd move to another quadrant and there she would come touch. My head and go back to her spot-i would follow and come to her to touch her hear. On we went sometimes folding our arms under our bellies-which I could do for a short time but learned to accept the potato chipping and wouldn't male it worse or flip etc. Somehoe controlled it while even "swimming with my arms while flying fairly stable and not backsliding.
Angus watched the video with great concentration and figures my braces should be changed angle by about 2 or 3 degrees. Which I really hope I can get fiber glass braces made for myself-gettimg the casting material is difficult. I saw it on sale in one shop but I would of had to buy the whole box-$62 worth for 6 rolls-have no idea if need that much.Newxt don't know how to keep my legs in exactly the same angle I need them to be to make the cast and how to keep them there while making this c*st. I don't have family or friends who would do this for me/with me. Then the fibre glasss. I have two 'kits' for repairing fibre glass bo*ts- there is lots of some fliud but small amounts of the patching material. And don't know where to get more and by Dale's estimate of it costing him $200± to make them I don't know when I could make them. I paid about $900 for the tunnel trip for which I will be paying months for-as my income after expenses of living is about slightly less then $300/month (so without spending a dime on anything I will have my tunnel trip paid off in April & in May I'm going to Idaho because I doubt next year I will have the strength (or maybe be alive since I've spent a months worth of days in hospital in the last 2 1/2 months)To go B.A.S.E. Jumping & this year I have the possibility to get a ride from Manitoba to Idaho - so MUST GO like I've said before I want my B.A.S.E.# before anything else before I die... I need a bridge and an earth in Idaho & with offers to stay with jumpers there who said they would love to rig up gimps into death defying contraptions and toss them off the bridge- then I want to do everything including hitchike to get there.

Meaning I think I will be jumping with these steel contraptions tied to my legs with tensor bandages till I can't jump alone. Last season they left permanent open sores in my legs where the stteel rods pressed into my legs because I jumped so much and wore them all day long @ the DZ waiting for a load I can squeeze myself into.I never told this to anyone because I don't want some to tell me to stop jumping till they healed- I got a friend with pressure sores for 5 yrs on his heels-so it won't kill me but hurts an awful lot. The one brace was more expensive and softer material but the left leg brace is hasrd steel rods with just a 1/8 inch piece of sponge which has long since fallen off so its just hard steel with sharp angles agaisnt my leg. I use lon underwear underneath and added a srcond pair once the open wound came but the steel just makes a hole in my pants I got under neath-its all to do with the forces against then in free fall.
Oohh well when I dive I don't focfus on the pain I just focus on the gain! :)

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

[gimpboogie 0]

here is one video.

i edited out the people in between, as to me they were not relevant to this excervise.

this shows its possible to learn basic RW skills without the use of legs.

by usng only the arms, hands, and head.

head was for controlling levels (not to de arch, but to rase or lower head only), the hands were essential.

wth the palms i controlled moving forward and back, towards the perso to dock wth, and away.
when docking, well you can see my elbows rase, i begn to fly wth the elbows to keep level -head, and elbows to maintain proximity and stationary for the dock.

it has been a great 2 tunnel sessions i been to, and both i learned way more then ever believed, or expected. so id say ts a success.
that t s possible to teach paralyzed people to side slide, and other skills necessary for 2, 3. 4+ way's safely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmaEwsTCDgg

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

[humanflite 0]

Nice job Minnha!!

Thats pure awesome
Respect....

[gimpboogie 0]

thanks humanfltem

i recall you from the beginning onward
it been a 3 year journey, and the tunnel was well over due,

but there were gear to acquire, lots of skydives for canopy control -i cant be up there with 20+ others n the sky if i cant figure out how to be safe wth them.

so that became the interest,
for a bit, time and money wise,

then there is the base side of my life.
it requires all of the above minus the jump tickets,
but potentially worse tickets.

anyways,

this tunnel,

i hope will be noticed by others paras
wanting to seriously try this stuff.

personally for me,
4 way etc
is not my thng.

i will do it, if it is something am invited into
for the experence,
never a bad thing
but i went to the dark side,
well at the baby-hood of my scale of experience,
its where always wanted, needed to go.

now, skydiving is about the FF and,
thus, i need to start learning atmo seriously,.
that is my goal for FF, and accuracy for canopy control

if some renegade will do crew with me, ii am iin for that absolutely,

had a few of those, and that canopy collision during a doc i turned into, fast.
yes i admit my idiocity when i know its there.

but for those who like RW and are hoping one day to be in big ways, etc.
they are the ones who are going to like knowng that they are able to learn ths stuff,
f they work at it for 3 yrs.

yah, thats a long time, but i do not feel so bad, as my buddy who started when i did
just got his 100th today.

perhaps am not as terrible at ths as i sometimes think i am.

regardless.
the worst of it all,
is dragging my butt around after i land, i can end up going long distances dragging myself on the ground wth the canopy, n gear.

now, my canopy will soon be switched over o the stratocloud with the CEW risers,
it oacks looser then my current one, which is tght,
and is a 7 cell down size,
but not vented like base canopy s-from the plane, i will hop n pop that later ths summer.

the tunnel camps are great,

awesome experiences,

and i must admit, i would become a tunnel rat if i was not a gimp.

persue it.

addictive it is.

2 hours=coached privately for less then half its real cost would think,

was a great help, and only way to make t possible,


knowing many live in countres wthout tunnels, and none close to get to...
but if YOU WANT TO LEARN WELL PROPER TECHNQUE AND QUCKLY THE TUNNEL IS THE PLACE for ths.

its amazing that i was able to learn thngs no one believed i would ever learn.

so, if you can GO TO A TUNNEL iif your ever near one.

To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works