Keith Damm ?

[MikeGerwig 0]

I would like to know what has become of Kieth Damm. Keith and I started the same time at Boarderland. We teamed up together and learned how to sky dive. He was fearless. My favorite story about him is when we were discussing what we would do with a pilot chute in tow. I had said that I would first see if I could reach around and grab the bridle and pull it to open the container if that was not working I would then cut away then deploy my reserve. Keith......' fire away' reason 'you pay your money you take your chances'. I thought to myself "Is he serious". Well not to long after that we were doing a two way and closing through 3 grand. I was going to watch him deploy. He had a pilot chute in tow. Keith looked at it then looked at me grinned and fired his reserve. I watched it snake up and around his main in the turbulence then on out to deploy his reserve. He knew he had time to try something to get it to clear but he did what the said he would do. when I asked him why he did that. he said " You pay tour money you take your chances"

[airtwardo 6]

What year was that pic taken and who is who?

One or two of the faces look familiar but as far as names...I got nuthin'!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[tbrown 26]

Mike,
Great pic ! I remember when you had that jumpsuit and rig, that was with your PC, right ? haven't seen a pic of Damn Keith in ages.

I also remember the time Mac grounded both Keith and Chuck Braun for cutting away below a grand on the same jump. We all thought we were about to witness a double bounce, but as soon as the reserves opened, Mac got on the horn and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, those two idiots are both grounded for the next sixty days !" That was back when dropzones had the 'nads to do that sort of thing - and make it stick.

But who's the guy on the right ? I KNOW I've met him, maybe even jumped with him, but I can't remember his name to save my life. Was he maybe the Navy guy who was serving on the Theodore Roosevelt missile submarine ?

Thanks again for a GREAT pic !

Also, for those of you who have read the other thread about Mike, under his old name, this was our Mike "back in the day".

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[MikeGerwig 0]

I forgot his last name but his first was Al I'm on the left Kieth is in the center and Al is on the right. We made quite a few together. He was a friend of Keith

[NickDG 23]

Mac and Nina! There's a blast from the past . . .

NickD

[tbrown 26]

I like those double shot Capewells on Keith's rig.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[MikeGerwig 0]

low budget skydiving

[MikeGerwig 0]

It seams that I should say more to Toms comment "2 shots" yes 'Low budget' sums it up but there were so many who came before me and my time that gave 'Low budget a whole new meaning. You bought your jumpsuit at Sears & Robucks A B-4 harness was the state of the art. it came with 2-shots anything else was going Hi-Tech. At least that's the way I understand it.

Also I was jumping a T-10 for the first 35 then I bought a Carousell PC (short lined) used that rig until I bought a used Wonderhog . I finally bought a new Cruiseair 200. and my rig was complete.

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Mike,

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You bought your jumpsuit at Sears & Robucks A B-4 harness was the state of the art.

You got that right; my first jumpsuit was a set of coveralls from Sears and my first rig was a B-4 with C-9 main & 24 ft twill reserve. I paid $125 for the rig and used that 24 ft twill on two occasions.

But we were kewl,

JerryBaumchen

[tbrown 26]

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It seams that I should say more to Toms comment "2 shots" yes 'Low budget' sums it up but there were so many who came before me and my time that gave 'Low budget a whole new meaning. You bought your jumpsuit at Sears & Robucks A B-4 harness was the state of the art.
It came with 2-shots anything else was going Hi-Tech.

The reason I brought up the double shots is that they were altogether impossible to actually cutaway from in midair. You'd have to squeeze them together really hard in order to get the Capewell to release. Getting them both squeezed and released couldn't be done, so most rigs with double shots had no pilot chute in the reserve either. It was the old lift the reserve out and throw it if you had a partial mal. I jumped a few rented rigs with double shots and throw out reserves. They scared the crap out of me, so I was just extra careful with how I packed the cheapo main and never needed to use the reserve.

The shot & a halfs made the introduction of pilot chuted reserves and midair cutaways at least a possibility and was the way some of us were trained by the mid seventies. Though you could still have one hang up on you after releasing the other. And even if you got them both to release, you had all kinds of metal crap hanging out that could catch a reserve line (there was a fatality in upstate NY in 1974 at a demo, where Capewell garbage caught the poor guys reserve lines).

Then I think Security introduced a single shot version of the Capewell on their Crossbow system, it was like the shot & a half, but only with the covers and no cable ring inside. All you had to do was pull the covers open to get released. Not sure why those didn't catch on, any old time riggers know if there was a peoblem with single shots ?

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Tom,

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Not sure why those didn't catch on, any old time riggers know if there was a peoblem with single shots ?

It was perception more than events. With the OneShots ( and I had them on a military surplus rig because I knew they were State-of-the-Art ). The design concept was that you would pull the covers open about 3/4 of the way & then just pull them both down further to cutaway. Often ( when on the ground ) when activated they would snap all the way open and you would have been cutaway before you wanted. Or so the rumors went . . . .

JerryBaumchen

[Marisan 0]

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Hi Tom,

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Not sure why those didn't catch on, any old time riggers know if there was a peoblem with single shots ?

It was perception more than events. With the OneShots ( and I had them on a military surplus rig because I knew they were State-of-the-Art ). The design concept was that you would pull the covers open about 3/4 of the way & then just pull them both down further to cutaway. Often ( when on the ground ) when activated they would snap all the way open and you would have been cutaway before you wanted. Or so the rumors went . . . .

JerryBaumchen

Oneshots were mechanically identical to 1&1/2 shots except the activation cable was attached to the cover. You had to pull the covers open then push them down HARD to release the claws that held them to the metal part of the riser. Any system that just snapped open would have been junked. Problem was that they looked identical to 1&1/2 shots except for a bit of cable showing on the face of the covers. If you didn't realise what you had you were in trouble. A streamer at 2000 feet is not the time to learn a new cutaway system. Similar to Tapewells where you had to pull them DOWN not out as with Capewells

[DammKeith1 0]

Mike Gerwig and Tomm Allen. Keith Damm is still around. Live in No. california and have not sported the bounce in a few but still dream of and love the sport.

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[Mr.Bill 0]

Damn Keith, good to hear you are still around. Do you remember a guy named Bill Palmer? I think of you often.

Bill