Merrick

ROFL - I did the EXACT same thing on about my 16th jump or so. I think it was my 2nd or third jump on my first rig (Sabre 190), cranked the toggle left, cranked it back right, and the damn thing spun up like a top! lol Luckily I was still at about 2,500 so I just kicked out of them. That was about 2.5 years ago, but I still think of it often when I'm under canopy... good times! Blues! Merrick

NOTE: She wasn't talking about me here (at least I don't think she was.... Of course there was the pics Kris posted.... BASTARDO!!!). JKA - Keep in mind that while no substitute for real life, online friends are still similar. Like Pamela said, there are friends that are meant for that particular time in your life... AND, like kriss said, just try to soak up all the positive you can from them. Then when you drift apart you've gotten what you need from them. You can try to keep in touch if it means that much to you, but that has to go both ways... one-way relationships never work out (you know the kind I'm talking about). Blues! Merrick

ROFL - First thing I thought was "DAMN, that's too long to read!" Blues! Merrick

Don't actually know the story behind this, but Pam can put her Freefly suit on and you can have Pink asses attacking you from all directions. LOL Blues! Merrick

You should send a message to Pammi, she had a similar incident while we were going through our student progression (even has a nice scar on her arm to show for it). She's overcome so much BS to continue to jump as much as she can... from emotional struggles, skill struggles, to $$$ isues. She should definately be able to give you some insight!

I'm not sure what homeland security has done to the import taxes & such, but I've bought 2 freefly suits from Tad's (on two seperate occasions) and shipping was only about $25... only paid about $155ea for the suits (which included shipping to the US). I love their suits. Blues! Merrick

On this Pic, would it be necessary to sew the catch on front & rear risers, or just front? Blues! Merrick

I'd like to see a picture of this if possible, maybe even get some specs on the modification I can give my rigger. Since I put slinks on my new canopy it's very hard for me to keep the slider behind my head. I wear a Z1 and open the face shield after I'm open, the slider will slide up the back of my helmet and close the sheild... I hate that! lol I'm not real big on hooking it to my jumpsuit/helmet/or even my rig... this sounds like a pretty good alternative. Blues! Merrick

I don't know about all that... the only pilot I know of that did that was Kevin, and that was simply because he CHOSE to do so. What can I say, the boy LOVES to fly. I've heard the DZO, and several other ground crew, ask him if he needed a break as he gratiously declined. As for telling them how to fly, he uses primarily student pilots, those that are working on becoming commercial pilots trying to build hours & get their ratings. The only time I ever witnessed him tell anyone how to fly is when there was a new/visiting pilot, or when Kevin was trying something new. The man has made more than one commercial captain in his career. On the other hand, if you are a very experienced pilot, and are used to the way 'most' DZs operate... you prob will clash heads with him because it is HIS business afterall, and he likes things done his way. Blues! Merrick

Well, I promised I'd have her post the new video, but I've been hogging the computer. lol So, here it is, quite a bit better than the last, but any further advice is welcome, cuz I'd like to see ALL of her landings look like this or better.

Damn Chuckie, I'm sorry to hear that man... your 'kitty' and YOU will be in my thoughts. It's amazing how a Pet can become such a wonderful part of your family, how you can have a very human/emotional connection with them. I don't know what I'd do if any of our animals came in like that (especially Judge - sorry Pam, you know I like him best :p~).... Kudos to you for handling it so well Chuck! Blues man! Merrick

Try emailing/PMing Lewmonst or brits17... If I remember correctly they were both starting to skysurf on beginner boards about a year or so ago. I don't know if they were their own bords, but if so, maybe they've moved up by now. *shrug* Blues! Merrick

Taosson & Pam pretty much hit it head on, but since I lived there (actually in Cushing) for about 20 years, and about 2 years in OKC... I'll add my .02cents. As far as living areas around OKC, the north side is quite a bit nicer than the south, but the south will be less expensive. Living costs no matter where you are in OK are excellent compared to the East or West coast. There's plenty to do for entertainment (i.e. music, arts, bars, amusement parks, baseball, hockey...), I don't think I was ever board living in OKC. But, let's face it, the important thing is the DZ's. Facts are facts, you'll be in an area that's pretty much completely flat, so there are times wind will be a problem, but the 'outs' are endless. However, after several wind holds as a student I can only think of one that kept me on the ground after I had my own gear, so that's not THAT big of an issue. Now Cushing is an excellent dropzone for students or an experienced skydiver (read: packer, video, tandem, AFF cert...) that wants to make some good $$$ on the weekend. It's an Awesome place to learn to skydive, and damn cool place to hang out... good people, good times! They are only flying a wide-body c-182, but it also has a fairly fresh engine and wing extensions, so it climbs pretty fast (for a cessna). Hinton is a little smaller DZ, but geared more toward being simply a cool place for experienced jumpers in a Cessna state to get in some good jumps. Only did a few jumps there actually, but really liked it (I think Pam and I are in several pics on their webpage). Chickasha (which is Pegasus skydiving - I think) is a bad bad scary place from what I hear, but have never actually been there. There are stories of power lines running right down the middle of the landing area, and several other questionable 'stories.' If you're a turbine slut/brat, the closest DZ is going to be Dallas. I've been there once, it seemed like a cool place, but I didn't get to jump... was on a weather hold oddly enough! lol I know Kris and Brandon (badass freeflier from Cushing) go there quite a bit, but like Taossen said, it's about a 3 hour drive. whereas the other 3 are an hour or less. Hope this helps. PM me if you need any specific information. Blues! Merrick

I miss my get up and go bike... 93' Suzuki GSX-R750... Piped & Ported. Would wax my friend's Katanna 1100's ass! Blues! Merrick

Hey Don, I gotta jump in here, but keep in mind that anything I say is coming from someone who prefers riding with his balls in his back pocket at 180mph. LOL... I owned a 99' Honda 750 A.C.E. Deluxe a couple years ago, and literally by the time I drove it the 100 miles home from the dealership, I was ready to take it back (wished I'd known about buyer's remorse back then). The first thing I noticed was the lack of power, something I was told before I bought it that I chose to ignore, it had good mid-range power, but was sluggish everywhere else. As far as comfort goes, the seat was extremely comfortable, but after about an hour of windshield time the handlebars seemed about 12 feet wide. I literally felt like I was hanging from them, rather than simply holding on, which in turn made my lower back hurt like hell. Now, enough of the bad stuff... all in all it really was a fun bike to ride, Pam loved it, and we had a big-time riding it (around town). It looked awesome, service was great (yet I never had to replace any parts), and the price was right. I've never actually ridden the Marauder, but that was my 'toss-up decision' as well. I simply found a damn good deal on my Shadow. However, simply by looking at it, I would say it's probably more comfortable, and knowing suzuki's street engines, it probably has plenty of power. I can't say I'd recommend either, but it could be that I just didn't like the 'cruise' in the bike. lol I found an old web-page with some pics of my old shadow on it, some dumbass sprayed some graffiti all over the pictures and didn't save the originals, but you get the idea. lol Pics of my old bike (Found a better picture of it minus the graffiti) Blues! Merrick

ABSOF**KINLUTELY! lol The flare was good... even AND fluid (not too fast, not too slow - I'd have to watch the vid again to be sure), just about 4 or so feet too high. I'll make sure she posts it tonight. We definately have an interesting home life, it's a lot of fun w/two skydivers and two little wannabe's in the house... Take for instance this morning, the kids are watching Dexter's Laboratory before school, and I was standing there watching w/them. Dexter made this jet bike that shot him high into the air and he slammed in to the bottom of a jet-liner, he then fell out of the hole he made in the bottom of the plane and began plumetting toward the earth... me and our seven year old son start yelling "PULL DUDE, PULL!!!" and whatd'ya know, out pops a little round.... that Dexter, he's always prepared! LOL Blues! Merrick

Ahhh... ya' still flared too high! Blues! Merrick

Yeah, and when she gets goin, she gets me goin too! LOL I really appreciate all the responses, even the ones I didn't agree with. This is just something that's been eating at us for a while now, and it was time to get other opinions. Thanks guys. Just wanted to address this, tho in essence I agree.. I disagree too! lol I think that the ability to respond to a dangerous situation depends on the individual, Some people are just SLOW, and others simply don't have the common sense to recognize a dangerous situation, much less be skydiving. If you're typically an 'aware' person, you're aware no matter where you are. Granted, I do agree that someone like Chuck or John, will be 10X more aware of things in the air than I am simply because of their currency & time in the sport, but there are always exceptions to the rule... every jumper knows one of 'those guys,' the one that everyone expects to have very very bad karma. Even with the few jumps I do, I know every (well, maybe not EVERY) little twitch my canopy makes, and can generally tell when I'm a 'target' OR an 'arrow,' and adjust. I am a very heads-up, conscious jumper/individual, and I'd resent anyone saying that I wasn't safe.... simply because, how stupid would I be to predominately jump with the one person that means the most to me in this, or any other, world if I were putting her life in danger!!! Blues! Merrick

A better flyer... maybe, but safer? I disagree, not totally, but generally disagree. I've seen people with several 100s - 1000s of jumps running to the plane with leg & chest-straps dangling, and a half eaten burger hanging out of thier mouth. I ask, has this person really concentrated on their safety? Look at the fatalities page, most fatalities are among jumpers who have 200-500 jumps... Complacency kills. Pam and I are both are very heads up jumpers, we check & re-check each other's gear, check our handles 5 times or so in the plane, and simply watch out for one another (Like when Pam hears/sees me saying/doing something stupid). People who rack up their jump numbers as quickly as possible tend to think (even if it's subconciously) that nothing will happen to them... Yet, we find ourselves wanting to be just like them. We'd love to make 10 jumps a weekend, but our REAL life says we can't. Does our 2-5 jumps a month make us unsafe.. Hell no it doesn't... for me, it makes me more concious of everything that can go wrong, and has kept me constantly on my toes. The reason I can say this is because there was a summer when we were making 5-10 jumps or so every weekend, and yes I started to *shrug* certain things off, simply out of complacency. Sorry, just had to add my .02cents, that attitude that you have to be willing to give up everything & everyone in your life or you're not a real skydiver has chapped my ass for a long time. I love skydiving, and I'm not going to quit, it's that simple!

LOL Well, the other video was shot at 160x112 (small), its shot kinda far away, PLUS there was about 14mph of extra wind! Anyway, this landing represents about 70% of her landings, so we thought it would be best to post it. blues! Merrick OH! btw, it wasn't my PC I hooked up wrong, it was the d-bag to the bridle. just a little PC in tow to get the heart pumpin!

Funny you should mention that, I tried to explain to her how speed is traded for lift, and the more speed you have the more lift you'll get.... Shoulda videod it myself, cuz our daughter missed the nice 270 hook, too bad she started it about 100 ft too high. LOL No really, after watching the landing for about the 1000th time I realized that she's landing crosswind. Her right arm being lower than the other may have just been a bit of an over correction. I was right there in the way of the video (in purple) watching her come in... the only thing I saw was 1.) she flared a little to high, and 2.) she started reaching for the ground with her legs, and someone else mentioned 'not' looking out ahead of her (she has a bad habbit of looking straight at the ground). The video is kind of dark & choppy so it's really hard to get a good idea of what was going on, but we'll try to get a better one this weekend so she can get some help with this.

ROFLMAO - Yeah, that's what they told us too! sucker! Blues! Merrick

That's inconsequential, a dolphin or a genera would save your ass. I'd call them and complain, get them to make it right. Either they can make you a new rig while you jump this one, or they can give you some free s**t to make up for it. Blues! Merrick

Got in a few jumps this weekend, and well, didn't really have a 'problem' with my Pro-dytter, just something a little strange. When we reached the 1000' arming altitude it beeped just like it always does, but on the last beep, stayed on for about 30 seconds screaming in my ear. I've lost my book so I don't know if this is a low battery warning or what it is, but it worked just fine, at the correct altitudes, on the way down. Any ideas??? Blues! Merrick