Kalrigan

So I've never been to a boogie, but everything will change this weekend. I'll be going to 3 of them in the next 4 weeks: Maple Bacon Beaver Jumper Boogie in Burnaby Niagara Falls, Summerfest in Chicago, and Dropout in Montreal. I come from a smaller DZ, so I won't be used to having a million canopies in the air, the most I'm used to is probably 17-18. I have no problem landing far away from the crowd if needed, is there anything else I should prepare for? Psyched and scared at the same time haha.

Why pull on it when a better check is to do it visually? Just like Trafficdiver said, I know a few people who route their strap in a funny way, it kind of covers the silver from an angle and it's not too easy to see at that point. With friends it's fine being annoying and just tug it and see if it works. With strangers, I just try to watch carefully.

I have a habit of looking at everybody's cheststrap on the climb to altitude. Well, anyone that's in my sight. With strangers I usually just look and make sure I see silver, with friends sometimes I actually pull the cheststrap to make sure. I know some people don't like being touched hence why I avoid doing that with strangers, with friends though we pull eachother's cheststraps to check.

I'm glad you decided to upsize, but still hear me out. You and I are at about the same level of experience, except I'm way lighter than you are, and jump more often than you. That WL is fucking terrifying just thinking about it. I currently still jump a 170, and I weigh around 155lbs. I have a 150 purchased, took 2 canopy courses with PD's Jay Moledzki (who by the way is a fantastic instructor and guy in general) yet still haven't jumped the 150. Don't be silly, that's really dangerous what you're doing. I'm not even talking about the Max Weight Limit, that WL alone should put some fear into you. Be smart, be safe. Take a canopy course or two as well, they're incredibly beneficial.

Does anyone know if G3's smoke visor is polarized or not? I jump an analog alti but been interested in getting a VISO.

*high five* Summerfest is gonna be my first one too. Excited and nervous to be honest. Not sure if I'm 90% excited and 10% scared, or 10% excited and 90% scared. Never been at such a big event, hell I have yet to jump at another DZ than my home DZ. I can't wait though, long drive from Toronto but it will be worth I hear.

Just relax, breathe, and look up when you leave the plane. Oh and don't forget that it's a hop and pop. :)

Thanks for the detailed reply budd, winter it is then. I'll see if I can make it in December/Jan.

Chris, what's the best time to visit Skydive Dubai (desert campus)? Overall weather and what not. If you were to pick a month a year, which one? I'm looking into visit soon and would like to jump.

I was very happy to see Frozen win both Oscars. Yes, I'm a grown man who enjoyed Frozen, a lot. I was also very very sad for Leo DiCaprio. :(

I've taken naps on plane rides, I even have pics of me taken because I "fell asleep" on the ride up, even during my journey to A and B license with coaches. I'm not sleeping per se, I'm just relaxing and zoning out. I relax better like that, not only can I focus more after a bit of rest, but also it's easier to visualize the jump when I close my eyes. After I open my eyes, which is usually a couple of thousand feet before opening the door, I always check handles (about 23593285932895 times) before leaving the plane.

Where in Canada are you located? And what's stopping you from going?

Cool thanks, I guess I'll get my ass over there next January or something. Enjoy your new gear.

Yeah I'm familiar with the dropzone license restrictions but I don't feel like waiting for my D to go. Gave up on the palm and I'll just hit up the desert campus. Based on those prices I should just grab my own gear, that's quite a bit for rental. Is there a fixed fee for all day rental kind of a thing like other DZs have? Or does it not matter if you do 1 or 10 jumps and you still pay for each?

How much is rental in Skydive Dubai? I'm planning to go some time soon and I'm debating if I should bother taking my rig through a 14 hour flight. Planning to jump quite a bit, 4-5 days worth if not more. Also when is the best time to go?

Scary as fuck. I'll pass on that one.

I'm loving Pilots. That's all I've jumped for the last 35-40 jumps though, so what do I know? :P I do hear Pulse is great, packing wise and flying wise, but I decided to stick to Pilot because I was familiar from the rental gear.

You won't be allowed to jump at the Palm in Dubai. D license is a requirement for that, so if you don't mind jumping at a place where the view is 98% sand then go for their desert campus. I'm not sure about accommodation at or around Skydive Dubai.

When some of my closest friends and I talked when we were young, skydiving was one of the things we always wanted to do, except we were kids and the country where I lived had no DZ. I moved to Canada by myself at the age of 18, went to school and got busy. As a broke student I had no money to afford skydiving, so I never bothered even going for a tandem. Finally finished school, got a job, doing well, it was my buddy's birthday and the idea was to skydive on his birthday. We talked for so long, now we can, so let's do it. And we did. We landed, and they were excited and happy. I landed, realized this is what I want to do by myself, without being attached to anyone. Here I am. Now I'm broke again, for different reasons though haha. I'm dying this off season, I just miss being in the plane, opening the door, jumping out, and just being in freefall. :( My friends are going to Z-hills in February, and everytime someone brings it up I feel sad because I'm too broke to go from buying a rig. :(

I jump because it makes me happy, it makes me feel free. Free from life's every day bullshit. Free from stress, work problems, people's drama and all of that. Not once have I jumped out of a plane thinking of something else, I've always been in that moment. Skydiving has opened my eyes to many great things in life, one of them is how to truly feel alive. Ever since I started jumping I haven't wanted to do anything else but that. The friends I met are also definitely a big part of why I jump. They're family now, and seeing them always puts a smile on my face too. I love those guys, and can't wait for this shitty winter to be over so I can jump again.

I would say take a size up, it will be more comfortable.

A friend of mine left his logbook open on the table and I saw 2 entries with yellow highlighter on them. I asked "Why the highlighting" and his response was they were the jumps he should never forget because "something happened" that was a learning point. Not every jump will go as planned, the trick is to know what you're doing to the point you survive it, and learn from it. Important lessons, each one. Our margin of error is EXTREMELY narrow, so never stop refining your skill A highlighter is a great idea. I either use a red pen for those jumps (regular jumps get written down with a black or blue), or I just draw some weird things on the page: stars, skulls, whatever else that would grab my attention.

Every mistake you make or a shady jump you have you will learn from it. I have 3 jumps that I will never forget, they were stupid, and I know I will never repeat those mistakes again. Make sure you do that, learn from it. It is an experience. In my logbook I wrote those jumps down with a line that describes wtf happened and how possibly bad/wrong it was and I will always remember them. For the future, don't change your jump so close to getting on the plane, especially after you have planned it and rehearsed it. That can get you, especially when you're new. I learned not to do that, plan the jump and jump the plan. Period.

I'm sorry but that's horseshit and pretty childish. It's a record, your BF has no right to it, no one does. Disrespectful? That's ridiculous. What's so ridiculous about attempting to break a record? In Texas or not, it's stupid to sabotage a record attempt because of jealousy or whatever.

Awesome, thanks for the information guys. My wife has an I-4 brand new and a hornet 150 in it right this second, but about to put a safire2-139 in it. The 150 fits fine. its older so easy to pack now and it has room to spare. I could sqeeze a 160 in it no problem. I currently have an I-5 with a safire2 159 in it and it wont take anything smaller and not have too much wiggle room. I can almost line up the grommets without threading the closing loop. Hope this helps on sizing for the real world, not a chart. My canopy has 40 jumps on it by the way. Interesting. What kind and size of reserve does your wife fly?