skr

>You can now enter sub-discipline jump numbers in the profile.. This seems like generally a good idea. How about a category called "Uncategorizable, undefinable, non measurable and otherwise none of the above" or maybe just "Artist" or "Innovator" for people who don't do these rigid disciplines. Who let all this discipline stuff into skydiving anyway? :-) :-) Skr

>I think now, right now, that I understand >why you have quit the sport. "Put your good where it will do the most." (Ken Kesey) is what comes to mind for one half of this thread. But for the other half, feeling like doing some good in the first place, I've been all over the map, sometimes all fired up, other times deep in the fuckits. One thing's clear, quitting the sport won't get you away from the stupidity and frustration. I can see more of that in five minutes of evening news than the whole skydiving world has produced in the last 50 years. It reminds me of the 60s when everybody was running off to India to get spiritual, only to find out some time later that where ever you happen to be at the moment is a good place to start. I still have trouble accepting that I can't change the whole world, and sometimes get really frustrated and bent out of shape at some of the stuff I see. But I also know that my effect is not zero, a few students here, a few students there is not zero. Maybe what's different now is a more realistic estimate of where I fit in the scheme of things. It's only taken 62 years. It's not that I'm particularly slow, it's that the journey is much longer than I first thought. So all that's my way of saying that I hope you guys don't give up. Skr

>Let me know if you see any improvement. >I've made a few changes. The readable, almost white text in the nav bar returned the next day. It's all OK now. As I clicked on various nav bar elements I noticed that some stayed white and an underline appeared when I put the mouse on them, while others turned dark and unreadable. I was going to file a more complete description, but I just realized that some of them are turning the "read link" color, which is too dark for that dark nav bar. I also noticed that the nav bar is not consistent across all pages, but I'm just a perfectionist and it's all perfectly usable. Thank you for this place Sangiro. Skr

>BTW the movie isn't that old :-) :-) I didn't think so either, but you and I may have a little different perspective. Skr

>My guess is he meant to say "Goldmine" :-) That was my guess too but I didn't feel right saying it outright when English is like his 3rd or 4th language, so I just spun off into other possibilities. Skr

FreeBSD 4.9 Mozilla 1.6 built native for FreeBSD, not Linux Mozilla running on Linux Emulation. Today is the first day that I noticed it, but for the last few days I've logged in in the morning, done other things and logged back out in the evening so it may have been that way and I just didn't notice. When I put the mouse on one of the links in the nav bar it changes color to a dark blue and I can barely make out the letters. When the mouse is not there the nav bar is uniformly dark with little, barely visible "|"s indicating the boundaries of the fields.

Today the text in the top nav bar which has Home Forums ... Webmail is dark blue against a dark background and I can't read it. I have to put the mouse on the area and then look down at the bottom of the window and see what URL it would go to

> Locked threads also has an educational purpose. I think this is a better approach than editing out posts or otherwise rewriting history. Knowing that what you say will be there for a long time nudges more people to think more before ... Well, you know ... I was just pausing because I was wondering what's going to happen when Sangiro meets his soul mate and runs off to some south sea island for a few years and the server crashes ... Skr

> thanks for posting that link skr I've printed out the spreadsheet Just above the link where you got that spread sheet are two articles about dealing with uppers. http://indra.net/~bdaniels/ftw/sg_skr_dealing_1_uppers.html http://indra.net/~bdaniels/ftw/sg_skr_dealing_2_tables.html Why don't you print those out and ask the people at your DZ what they think? The idea was to make a best guess at the tables and then try them for a season or two and adjust based on experience. There is more to dealing with uppers than just the procedures for exit separation. I would like to know what other people think about this approach. Skr

>OK, that's it, Phil; You've been spending WAY to much >time hanging around with Skratch!!! Hey! Watch it, kid! I've had a Cypres for four years now! I finally had to repack my reserve to change the dang battery! Grumble grumble ... who ever heard of a parachute needing a dang battery? ... mumble mumble ... Who ever heard of a man needing to walk his fish?? ... what this world's coming too ... ... ( mumble mumble ... Skr

>Your retrofit belly band seems like a way for a >small jumper to use a rig that is way too big for them. Up to a point the belly band does help student rigs fit better, but the rig has to be reasonably close to start with. You can't push it too far. But I find my rig much more comfortable with the horizontal back strap free and a belly band. When I ordered the rig I talked to John (Sherman) on the phone about it and he understood what I wanted and said he would make it that way. But it came with the horizontal back strap coming out of the bottom corners of the main container in accordance with current fashion, so I guess the guys in the back room doing the sewing didn't quite believe it. I had to free the back strap up myself. The advantages for me are that the harness fits me instead of the container, the main lift webs move around in front so the handles are not buried back under my armpits, and the belly band holds everything snug. Also, I probably shouldn't admit this in public but, I haven't really felt safe since piggy backs came out. I had about 1,200 jumps on regular gear, with the reserve in front where it's supposed to be, and ever since I got a piggy back I feel like I've been jumping without a reserve. The belly band reassures some ancient neural pathway formed in childhood that I've actually got a rig on when I jump out :-) :-) Skr

>We have a chart in the back of our Porter I think this is a good direction to go. Down at the bottom of http://indra.net/~bdaniels/ftw/index.html there is a section called "Upper Winds and Exit Separation" and in that section there are a couple of articles about this idea: 2004 - Dealing with Uppers - part 1 and 2004 - Courtney Frasch - Exit Separation Spreadsheet When this was brought up to the manager of the closest local DZ he thought it was a bad idea and wouldn't do it. I don't understand the resistance to addressing this question but it's been going on for a long time. Maybe if enough of the rest of the world moves on this the skydiving industry here in the US will follow along and PCA, I mean USPA, will come along too. I know I should maintain my serenity on this and be ever cheerful and helpful, but every weekend I encounter people following me out who, if they've been taught anything at all, answer with "wait 5 seconds and go" or "wait for 45 degrees and go" and the loading area with the props turning isn't the place to go into it. Patience ... om om om ... this is a test ... om om om ... of how well you can maintain ... om om om ... in the face of distraction ... om om om ... :-) :-) Skr

> I see far to many jumpers both senior and students not checking their gear before, kiting up. I have sometimes wondered if this reflects training or maybe personality traits or maybe just a phase someone is going through. I have always been meticulous and anal about my gear and try to instill that in the new jumpers I'm around. But I've seen a lot of incredible casualness over the years. Just a couple weeks ago during a Casa boogie I saw a guy with several hundred jumps chuting up and I thought something looked funny. I walked around behind him and neither of his side flaps were done. The top and bottom were done and the pilot chute was stowed but both side flaps were loose. He probably had a word with the packer when he got down but I'll bet he checks his gear now :-) :-) Skr

In answer to your progressing to B, C and D question: while you're going towards your A license watch all the more experienced jumpers and start finding some good role models that you can feel some rapport with and start hanging out with them. >Is the course difficult? I think AFF is a pretty steep path. It's better to think of 7 levels to make it through than 7 jumps. But start finding instructors that you feel comfortable with, tell the truth to yourself and them, practice a lot during the week. You'll be OK. Do the jumps close together and get over that initial hump. The sky is a cool place to hang out with friends. Skr

I just got a new Stiletto 170 and I was getting like 1 out 3 hard openings. I was doing all the things I knew: good rubber bands, slider all the way up and so on, and I was starting to think about a pocket slider too. Then the PD traveling circus came through and Vladi thought I was not keeping the slider all the way up and showed me a couple ideas. So now I've had 5 good openings in a row, although I still cringe and get ready every time I throw the pilot chute. I've really started watching what I might be doing that could move the slider from the time I lay it on the ground till it's in the bag. The Stiletto is apparently much more sensitive to slider position than other canopies I've jumped. I probably won't relax for another 50 jumps but if it really was my packing technique causing the problem I'll be happy because I otherwise love the canopy. I would call PD and ask for help, send it back, get a reline, have them jump it or whatever. I have always found them to be really helpful. Skr

> What is the 45 degree rule???? I think it's based on the plausible-at-first-glance idea that when the group in front of you has fallen far enough behind the plane it's OK to go. But: 1 - they never actually get to 45 degrees so it's a poor name 2 - it misleads you to think about some angle when it's really horizontal separation that you're after 3 - if there are uppers it doesn't work Down at the bottom of http://indra.net/~bdaniels/ftw/index.html is a collection of people's writing about separation. It reflects the fact that people would rather have a simple sound bite answer than a more complicated answer that actually addresses the situation. That may be unfair but I'm getting disgruntled by this trend that I'm seeing: - sound bite butt slide instead of PLF - sound bite 45 degree rule instead of better answers - sound bite follow first person down instead of some better procedure - sound bite down size instead of deciding whether you even want to and then getting some substantial training I think part of the reason is that the skydiving industry is now driven by simple corporate bottom line and letting other important factors slide, plus USPA has done almost nothing about any of this. If you want to see how much progress we've made see USPA's response to separation down at the bottom of that URL. So, I hope I don't regret saying all this stuff, but I really don't like this sound bite trend. Skr

> Bill is a minefield of experience and knowledge collected from years of not only participating in this sport but really thinking about every aspect of it. "minefield" ?? That's an interesting choice of word :-) :-) Or did you mean "Mind Field"? But you're right, Bill has been one of the real thinkers. Skr

>What's the safest way to accomplish a second lower pass I think go arounds should probably be offset from the first pass, assuming the dropzone is open enough to allow that. If you do a 180 you get back over the first groups too soon and some of the canopies may still be up there in the kill zone. But with people pulling higher and higher I sometimes wonder about full 360 go arounds that take several minutes. Probably another area that needs to be re thought some time. I was thinking two passes because all the tandems and students are in the last half of the load and you don't want them landing out. But also trying to squeeze all the groups into a single jump run by telling them to get out really close together is a bad idea. Bryan Burke's big sky theory works in our favor, but it can't be part of the separation procedures. My guess is that starting from 5,000 ft field elevation on a hot and humid day they got to the last load before refueling and saw that they were getting low. They probably didn't want to accept that they were getting too low until they absolutely had to and then didn't want to accept the mistake and shift into emergency alternatives. So they tried to bridge the gap by telling the jumpers to all get out on one pass close together. I'm often surprised even now by how little pilots understand about jumping. So I understand all that, that's how people operate. It's hard to admit mistakes, especially in the heat of the action. I'm just saying that if we think about this ahead of time we can come up with a better response next time it happens. Lots of small groups on a pretty big plane is the worst case. Skr

>And the other thing that really bugs me is having groups >getting out too close together, or if they're behind you >yelling at your group to get out faster, JUST because >they think the spot is getting too long. Having one group >take a long time in the door isn't rectifiable by having >everyone else get out on top of one another - you're just >exchanging a relatively small risk for a much bigger one. Yes, that bugs me too. It's lack of training or immaturity or something. This last weekend we had a Casa passing through and on one of the loads, about a minute before red light stand by, the frantic word came back that there wasn't enough fuel for a go around, everybody out on this pass, no more than 3 seconds between groups. I don't know how we got into that situation, it was hot and humid and climbing slow, so maybe they miscalculated or something. But I thought, if we're running out of fuel, we're edging into an emergency situation, and should stop acting like everything-is-normal-except-it's-not-really and drop part of the load on this pass and the rest on a lower pass on the way back down. There were a whole bunch of small ways. But convincing a Casa load of jumpers plus two pilots who probably weren't in a mood to listen to a lowly jumper anyway didn't seem feasible in the next 30 seconds, so we went and hoped for the best. It seems like in an open area landing out is a better idea than getting out too close together. I don't know what all the rest of the groups did, but we were second out and left normal separation and so did the group behind us. They had turned on the green light early so we were pretty short, but everybody landed OK. This seems related to the mental gear shift needed for malfunctions where the world changes from normal E-ticket Disneyland to deep spinach emergency. Skr

>What would you do? I do my best, either in person with gentle cajoling or a straight out Sport Death speech, or through a third party if I'm not a credible source. One of the hard things I've had to accept is that my influence on the world is finite and limited. Some people are not going to listen. Some S&TAs and DZOs are not going to listen. Some people listen but disagree. Maybe I'm even wrong. But you have to do your best even though the end result is not up to you. Skr

>You notice that the spot has become VERY long. >If you exit, you'd have to pull high to get back. >You ask for a go around. >What happens? Sometimes I get a go around, sometimes I get yelled at. But whether to go or not depends on circumstances. At Eloy over Christmas I go because it's wide open and they really pay attention and will send a truck out for you. At Quincy I've gone thinking that there are enough open fields near roads down there. Although one year I was in the first group out of a Casa. The light went from red standby to green go, I didn't recognize anything down there but thought it was just my lack of familiarity. We landed 7 miles short. At home by myself I would probably just go and then angle off the jumprun and track because I like to track. With a student I will not intentionally land out. We have to be inside the leading or trailing edge of their wind cone. I'm not talking about getting them onto the peas, but just making it to the clear area that the peas are in. With more experienced groups I don't see why we should have to get out too long and then abandon the plan and pull high. Anyway, it's dangerous if people start pulling and/or tracking off in the middle of a jump. So economics and turbines are a valid concern, but people getting hurt really sucks even more to me. Skr

>Coaches seem to have the greatest impact on the ground :-) :-) There may be a better way to phrase that, but I agree. And I spend probably 75% or more of the time on how to be a good parachute jumper, it seems more relevant than freefall at that early stage. ( I didn't vote in the poll, but I started teaching and putting ( out first jump students when I had 20 jumps. Skr

I've wished for the same thing. Skr

I have a belly band on my rig. It's sewn along the bottom edge of the main container. I ordered it that way from Jumpshack some years ago. When the rig came I undid the stitching along the bottom edge of the main container and got the horizontal back strap free of the container so the harness now fits me instead of the container. This also allows the main lift webs to move around in front so I can find the handles instead of having them buried back behind my armpits somewhere. The belly band holds the container in place and also takes some of the weight, like the waist strap on a backpack does. One dropzone here has Mirage student rigs which come with removable belly bands. The students love them once you show them how it works, but the local jumpmasters are pretty resistant and take them off, so I always have to go find one when I'm helping a student. I think the picture in the ad was exaggerated to make a point. I also think the harness and container design took a wrong turn when they integrated the harness into the container and made the shoulder and leg straps come out of the corners of the container. That wide over the shoulders design is really uncomfortable. I added an elastic thingy between my leg straps too. So I see the possible return of belly bands as a good trend in the ongoing evolution of gear design. Skr

> Hi Mr Garrison "Mr Garrison"? .. glancing nervously over his shoulder. Nobody's called me that in a really long time! I wonder whether anybody is left on rec.skydiving? They all seem to be hanging out over here now. Skr