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robskydiv

Most Memorable Skydiving Event

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Please post your most memorable, funnest, best time that you have ever had skydiving.
Mine came at a Mullin's Boogie. Since it was a Memorial Day weekend, it cost $169.00 instead of $99.00. There was this group from Minnesota who jumped at Baldwin Field. Chris Welker was there also & he had been to one of Kate Cooper's San Carlos Big-Way Boogies earlier that year. When he found out that I needed at least a two-point 8-Way or larger skydive for the "Eagle" award (a requirement for the "D" License, he began organizing a two-point Ten Way for me. I remember someone asking him, "How tight do you want me to hold that grip?" He replied, "You hold onto that grip like it's your last condom in a whorehouse." He made it so all I had to do was 1) give the count, 2) simply let go after the first point, than fly straight forward to the grip for the second point. We all land after the second attempt, Did we make it? I asked. If Bug Man made it in, we did. (This guy was an exterminator hence the nickname BUGMAN.) It was confirmed that he did. I hugged everybody. What a great time.

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Please post your most memorable, funnest, best time that you have ever had skydiving.
Mine came at a Mullin's Boogie. Since it was a Memorial Day weekend, it cost $169.00 instead of $99.00. There was this group from Minnesota who jumped at Baldwin Field. Chris Welker was there also & he had been to one of Kate Cooper's San Carlos Big-Way Boogies earlier that year. When he found out that I needed at least a two-point 8-Way or larger skydive for the "Eagle" award (a requirement for the "D" License, he began organizing a two-point Ten Way for me. I remember someone asking him, "How tight do you want me to hold that grip?" He replied, "You hold onto that grip like it's your last condom in a whorehouse." He made it so all I had to do was 1) give the count, 2) simply let go after the first point, than fly straight forward to the grip for the second point. We all land after the second attempt, Did we make it? I asked. If Bug Man made it in, we did. (This guy was an exterminator hence the nickname BUGMAN.) It was confirmed that he did. I hugged everybody. What a great time.



Bugman, I know that guy... Steve Crawford. I know Chris as well. Been a while since I've jumped at WTS... love that place.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Fourt of July this year - first time I put out a SL-student.

Had they been looking at me instead of the ground I bet I'd never would have forgotten the look on their face.:)

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

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Hard to choose. There have been so many.

However, the full altitude H&P / flag / sunrise jump on Memorial Day 2009 was pretty special. My avatar is a photo from that jump. The people were great, the view was great, the symbolism of the flag on sunrise of Memorial Day....it was a mighty cool jump.

Thanks to all who helped make it great: Jim and Erika Plohenin (sp?), Becky Gruber, Cali Dave Ryder, and the jumper who shall remain nameless who helped make the jump great by NOT having a Cypres fire (like on his previous sunrise jump),et al.
The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

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Tough call, but I'd have to say my first Bridge Day in West Virginia in 1984....
If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

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Costa Rica, 1996. After a dozen years of marriage and four kids, Vskydiver and I attended the Costa Rica skydiving boogie, held at an all inclusive resort with their own airstrip. For a week we had a Twin Otter at our beck and call from noon to 6 PM for all the jumps we wanted to make, all prepaid. We were there with 8 other very good skydivers and had some fantastic jumps. Mornings were spent hiking the rain forests, snorkeling, etc. Evenings were spent partying with friends, swimming in the surf, and hanging around the pool. It was the perfect vacation for a couple of skydiving parents. B|

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Too many to count...but one fun one had to do with riding a giant stuffed dog out of an Otter. 2 other jumpers were holding onto it AFF-style, me on its back, and 8 other jumpers who dove out after us built a nice formation off of it (so we'll call it a 12-way).

And then things got interesting. B|

At 6k when I was supposed to roll off the back of it as everyone else tracked, one of the people holding the dog let go just as I rolled. I found myself on my back with a giant stuffed dog wrapped around my ankle. Kicked at it repeatedly to try and get it off, but it wasn't having it. My efforts did successfully open a seam on it, however, which sent a trail of white stuffing flying into the air above it. Looked kinda like I was wearing smoke.

**N.B., a stuffed dog is tough to kick off your foot at 120mph+, but a floppy, loose piece of fabric is even tougher.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally shook the damn thing off, rolled onto my belly, tracked 2 seconds and dumped. Made it back to the landing area in one piece. Too bad we couldn't say the same for the dog.

Of course, this is at the DZ where I watched a couple of friends ride a toilet from 12.5k, so I suppose it *could've* been more memorable... B|:D

Signatures are the new black.

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brainlock on my aff 1. I actually didnt have a firm grasp it was my job to pull. no pull. @4500 instructor opened for me. was tracking so I opened with 11 line twists. I couldnt even get my head between the risers. Spent two minutes kicking my ass off. Landed hard, off target, flared late. Ate dirt. I spent a few hours thinking if I wanted to ever jump again. I decided that if I didnt jump the same afternoon I never would again. I Jumped. Perfect aff level 1. I was hooked. The rest of my few jumps have been pretty tame :)

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WFFC

Quincy Illinois


must have been 1996

only attended the Quincy event twice, '94 and '96.

but the second visit there, i was able to make THREE 727 jet jumps.....in ONE day...

got on an early lift, 'just because'... jumped with some guys from S Dakota, THEN my pals invited me onto a 10 way team to video it.... and THEN,,, at the end of the day we were dirt diving a 20 way out of an otter,,,,when a Staff member came up to our L O ( Bhudda) and said,,
" hey the jet is taking off soon, for the last load, and it's only 3/4 full... Wanna put your 20 way in it???" hahaha true story.!!!!
The L O replied,, " we won't have time to change our otter tickets, for jet tickets".. and the Convention Staff member said,,,"don't WORRY about THAT!!!, just get OVER THERE"

so we DID...:DB|
727.... and we got it for a 16 dollar lift ticket...

heaven on earth.. what a day...B|:)

jt

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It was my 25th jump I think. It was a cloudy day and started to rain on the way to altitude. We decided to jump anyway. During freefall my googles got so many drops of rain on them and I couldn't see a thing! Under canopy I took off the goggles. I was wearing spectacles under my goggles and these quickly became blurry from the rain as well! I took these off but then really couldn't see anything! Meanwhile, while messing around with my glasses, I'd drifted off-course and was a fair way short of the DZ. On retrospect, at that point I should have found a safe place to land, but instead I decided to go for the DZ come hell or high water! But with my blurry vision I really couldn't find my bearings and I ended flying directly into a barbed wire fence on the edge of the DZ, lol! Fortunately I only suffered a few cuts and bruises and the canopy was completely unscathed! I thought I was done for - I was lucky! :)

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My most memorable, funnest, best time would have to be the ’76 Z-Hills Turkey Meet; my first year in the sport. I believe that year there were 102 speed star teams entered.

Loaded with four teams (40 jumpers) each sometimes hours would pass with a DC-3 or C-47 constantly on jump runs no more than a minute apart. You could see four teams airborne at a time; one exiting, another in freefall, another just getting open and a fourth near landing.

After last jump the Herd entertained with milk jug cannons, hay bale fires and “Ride the wild Semi” (truck cruising). Add to that the wet t-shirt (pronounced no t-shirt) contests and assorted beer and N2O consumption.

All this seems like a couple of lifetimes ago and much is forgotten, but one scene burned permanently in the memory cells. My friend, Linda, was selling “As the Prop Turns” t-shirts, which pictured a DC-3 on front with the props positioned to correspond with a girl’s up front anatomy. On a cool morning she was wearing a sweat shirt over one of the t-s, and when asked to see it by a prospective customer, Linda pulled the sweatshirt up over her head, not realizing that the t-shirt came up also, and unknowingly flashed the crowded DZ. A first-class ending to a first-class skydive meet, but like they say, you had to be there…

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