skydivecat

I agree completely, I don't want to be near anyone else's shit up there. I fly a large canopy with a low wingloading, I'll watch a chop from above/afar to get a sight line on it until 1500ft, then I am in landing mode. He effed up, he got talked to, he learned from it. I was just saying he wasn't intentionally TRYING to "catch his buddy's main" which a lot of people have wrongly said about the incident. That is a great way to get yourself killed.

FWIW I was on this jump, flying near the jumper that flew into the main. He was NOT trying to catch it, he was trying to watch/follow it, underestimated his canopy's descent rate vs the cut mains, flew to close, and accidently became entangled. I can assure you that it was not on purpose. Lesson's were learned and it showed how quick good intentions can go to shit up there.

He is arguing just to argue. This is why I rarely post on this sight anymore...

I almost didn't bite, but here you go: http://jezebel.com/man-poses-as-woman-on-online-dating-site-barely-lasts-1500707724 (clicky please, I should really know how to do this...) This is a really interesting article about a man who posed as a women on an online dating site. Def not the same thing, but this may give you a clue as to how it can feel being a woman on a DZ. Guys always bitch about the special treatment women get (which I admit I do see happen) but on the other side, its not always that fun to be treated like a piece of meat thrown into a cage full of dogs. THAT is an entirely different thread unto itself though...

Totally agree! I was lucky enough to be on the Illinois Women's State Record last summer and it was a huge deal to us! Most bigwayers have 1000s of jumps, which you need to be able to safely be a part of anything like that. We had girls with as few as 230 jumps all the way up to 1000s, the majority being in the 300-500 range. It gave all of us something to work toward all season, knowing that the record attempt was coming and honing our skills trying to "earn" a spot. The way our camp was run it provided us with the skills needed, practice in small groups, and a huge accomplishment for us even if it was "only" a 35 way. And as far as women getting their own records, for a sport that is predominately male, it was such an amazing experience to be working with 34 like minded ladies and to be a part of something like that. Don't like it? Make an "all male record" and submit the paperwork, I'm sure the USPA will publish you for it. Go to every state if it bothers you and set what you feel should be a "minimum record" that needs to be broke. Its not like we get anything out of it besides the experience itself, pride, and seeing our names published for the record (which BTW was more than enough for all of us). It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to put a lot of these things together. If you celebrate the small victories in life, its a hell of a lot more fun!

Makes a lot of sense, and it seems to be supported by the Southern Arc projected by the satellite that it pinged off of.

Skymama, next time I see you I am buying you a drink! Glad you are ok!

Well I mean, when it is deserved, it is DESERVED!

Now they are blaming it on a cargo hold full of lithium batteries... wonder how long they will run with this "new lead"

What I think doesn't matter and I have no idea what, if anything, was wrong with the canopy. The fact that the student thought that something may be wrong and continued to mess with it past the point of instruction is why I think he should have chopped. The Instructors tell you "if you have a low speed malfunction, 2 practice flares. If by then it's not fixed, check alti then cut away." In this case, all turned out fine, but I don't think a good end result necessarily means the actions and thought process were correct. I agree that as you gain experience there is a little more gray area as in what to do/try in different low speed mals. For a low jump number student, I think it is dangerous to go against what you were taught to do.

that's the thing, he didn't cut away. THIS TIME it worked out, but I agree with everything else you put and think he was lucky that it did turn out the way it did.

health

I do not jump in Europe so I will let someone more familiar with the licenses over there answer that question. There are skydiving specific helmets and jumping your BMX helmet is not a good option. While you are a student the dropzone will provide a helmet for you on all jumps. Go, start learning, and ASK YOU INSTRUCTORS what type of helmet would work best for you and for them if you want to buy your own. This is the number one piece of advice we can give you because the people teaching you have the only opinions that matter. Here on the internet they are a dime a dozen and what is allowed accepted one place may not be the same at another. I wouldn't even be thinking about the gopro/mounts yet either, you are getting way ahead of yourself. Most dropzones that I jump at require a 200 jump minimum before you can jump a camera. If you use the search function at the top right of this page you can find the answers to a lot of questions regarding this. Go, enroll, start jumping, start learning, ask questions, but do it from your instructors. Try not to get ahead of yourself and try to keep perspective as to what is important (learning to safely skydive vs gopro mounts and lower costs). Hope this helps, good luck!

29

Read my mind.

How bad is the sprain? I did the exact same thing (badly rolled ankle playing soccer) 3 days before a weekend of jumping and I did 13 jumps that weekend without any major problems. I wore an ace wrap, took a lot of ib profin, slid in my landings if they weren't an easy stand up, and did just fine... I won't say it wasn't sore as hell after, and there were definite moments of discomfort, but to me it was totally worth it.

Fitz was GREAT for meeting people last year. I met more than half of the dz.commers I've met at that boogie. Spence, Skymama, normiss, gonzo, ski, popsjumper, billy, jmmytavino, the pirate wenches/hookers, and many more I am sure but I don't know there screen names.

I feel like most of the girls on here would have quite a bit of overlap of people on that list. Some good advice I have received though is don't antagonize the crazy. I've only been on here since late 2011 and I immediately was able to come up with 5 names...

Aw, why thank you!

Although I loved my skydiving cat avatar, I do very much enjoy my DPH pic, figured I could change it up for a few days...

i feel a little bit bad for you guys, but at the same time i am really entertained... no guesses were correct and my 'source' decided to msg me the full image so, um, enjoy?

As far as buying new gear, to each their own dude. People will give you a TON of shit for any decision that you make as far as what you buy. Sounds like you are making appropriate choices for canopies/windloading, other than that don't let anyone tell you whether it was "right" or "wrong" to buy new or used. I was given the opportunity right off student status to buy new and for my circumstances, mentality, ect. it made sense for me. I took a ton of shit and was told I wouldn't last one full year before I sold it and downsized out of it. Guess what? 3 years and 300 jumps later, I'm still jumping it and I still have room to downsize another sized main if I want. Not planning on downsizing for at least another year, so I am easily going to get 5-7 years worth of jumping out of my first brand new rig everyone told me not to buy. It is great to get opinions, and I know that my case isn't the typical, but sometimes you do know what is best for you and don't let others make you second guess that. I'm not saying that every noob needs to run out and buy new gear, but never feel like you have to defend that decision to others! It is your money, spend it how you see fit.

Ask and you shall receive! I got asked to share this submission with you guys hoping the upload from my phone works...

It depends on whose view you take... To my entire family I am the evil demon child with a very skewed perspective on things. I am happy, healthy, successful, love my life and live it. Just because I don't "conform" to who and what they think I should be and should be doing, it doesn't mean I am "fucking up" my life. I just don't live it to their standards or approval, making me the family outcast. I am really ok with that.

I'm with Spence. I am friends with this jumper also and after seeing the stills/video, any thoughts of this being a "funny and harmless prank" have left me. Viewing of it should be made mandatory for anyone who thinks this sounds like a fun idea. I don't want anyone touching my gear unless I ask you, or unless some sort of emergency calls for it.