tikl68

Yes the person I am referring to updating the info is Tanya.

Yes. Unfortunately our dear Lisa "moooo" H. passed back in Feb 2020. She was fighting some health issues and sadly lost the fight. We miss her so much. Elsinore has been my home DZ since 2004. I was fortunate to be able to go on one of her tandems with here, and enjoy her company at many boogies. We are waiting for the present health/pandemic situation to get under control in order to go through the process of saying good bye to our dear friend, due to it happening right at the onset of covid-19. I am not on FB but have close contact with some one who is close to Lisa's next of kin and have been getting info from her. She is on FB and will most likely post info. there. BSBD

We will miss you Ms MooOOoooo.

You hit it on the nose Joe. Those are accurate and legit scenarios I have seen. My dad was a jumper in the 70's into the late 80's and was a static line instructor for the last 8 years in the sport. So it did burn him out. The other side of that is some of the people he jumped with are still in the sport and now I jump with some of them, and they are in their 60's and 70's. Bud Lewis jumped in to his late 70's (79) to be exact. Pat Moorehead made 80 jumps in a little over 8 hours in one day for his 80th birthday and that was in 2015 if memory serves me right( I was part of the ground crew/support) and he still jumps, and packs for himself. He started back in the 60's. His wife also still jumps. So it is up to the individual to find ways to keep it interesting.

Yes that is true. I also have my coach rating, and it is to give back to the sport. I have a Mon-Fri. gig that pays my bills so I dont do it for the money. I waited til I had about 400 jumps before I got my coach rating. I wanted to make sure I was solid. My first 2 years/250 jumps back in the sport, I only jumped on weekends "Excell" camp was happening. One year in to "Excell" camp I was asked to be the coaches asst. when they had a big turn out as far as participants. One year later I became a regular coach in the camp in 2007. We have had a lot of success over the years. Some of the participants have become coaches, and some have gone on to win metals at Nationals on teams. It is the best money you will NEVER spend.

The main reason Elsinore started the "Excell" program was jumper retention,specially in RW, and the bad ass person who went to management with this idea(Melanie Curtis) wanted to give back to the sport and her discipline. It was also to help young jumpers gain much needed skills, with out breaking the bank. There is a difference between someone who is just a weekend fun jumper wanting to improve their skills in order to be safe, and have a basic understanding and foundation to be able to hold their own in a random fun jump at any DZ with the LO for the day, vs a jumper with a goal to gain basic skills and more in order to consider getting on a 4 wy team, which then requires more specific "coaching" and is usually with the rest of your teammates and the cost is split.among the team. Coaching for a team is intense and time consuming, and the coach, has spent a considerable amount of time and money obtaining the knowledge and skills that they are passing on, and most of the time it is part of their income.

At my home dz, Elsinore, we have a program for exactly what you are seeking. It is a program called "Excel" camp. The purpose is to build skills for a solid foundation of basic RW skills, whether you just got your license or have 500+ jumps. It is FREE coaching. You only pay for your jumps. You learn proper techniques, how to dirt dive, 99 percent of the time the coaches shoot video for a proper debrief. There is no rushing. It is best to sign up at least a week in advance so we know how many coaches to have in order to keep the ratio of coach to student and the groups at a size best for learning and safety. It is usually on week end day a month. You can find the scheduled days on the Elsinore web site or on FB.

Yes they both have pretty consistent winds. Oceanside can be a little bit on the stronger side (10 knots) + now and then.

San Diego has new ownership and the vibe has changed and thats from friends of mine that are long time regulars there and yes they tend to cater to their tandems. Oceanside is pretty much a tandem factory. Very little licensed/fun jumping going on there. They DO not separate hi performance landings from regular landing airspace, and they put 16 people on the PAC which is na bit on the cramped side. Elsinore has been my home dz for 14 years.and I also jump at Perris. They both have their pro's and con's. Comes down to personal preference. If you would like company while jumping send me a pm.

Same here. I would not trade growing up on a DZ,going to boogies, and being around skydivers for anything. I also packed T-10's, and PC's under dads supervision.

Yes I know what the SCM is. It is not what the OP was referring to. Again you post info. that does not relate to what was requested, it's simple.

Yes that is it. But when you are at the DZ and trying to organize, I would rather have a book that is less sensitive to dirt and dust, and not have to carry around my phone or some other type of expensive electronic device to get damaged or lost.

You must be Schizophrenic!!!! You make no sense. I own the book he is referring to. It is merely a book written by an experienced formation skydiver with pages of possible/ popular formations from 2 ways up to 16 ways for people who might not have a vast knowledge of possible formations, to be able to engineer jumps that add variety and a challenge. It has nothing to do with the sim or any training literature. I am an LO at my home DZ and it is very helpful at times and I sent him a copy. Your a kook.

Why? couple reasons. I always looked up to the sky as early as 5 years old and wanted to be up there. Dad became a skydiver when I was 6(1974) and then a S/L instructor in 1977. When? 1985 age 17 did 2 S/L jumps with dad as my instructor. Took a long break and got back into the sport in 2003 and have been active with no break since.

I bought one, I think it is the one you are referring to that you saw, at my home dz gear store,square one. It has formations from 2 ways all the up to 16 way and everything in between. I use it when I organize and need to get creative, with odd number groups, and just want to think outside the box.

Tightening the leg strap might help but I doubt it. Remember it is rental gear, and most rental gear usually does not fit the majority of the people that rent it. If you max out the leg straps, while on the ground you can twist your upper torso from side to side rapidly, and if the rig flops around, it is not a good or safe fit. When you rent gear you have to try and balance fit(for your body) and size of canopy for your experience level. One thing you can do if you continue to rent to try and help the situation depending on the gear store you rent from and their selection, is to get there first thing when they open and have more choices instead of whats left over.

Correct. And a "check in" would not have changed the outcome of the incident at Elsinore, would have only meant the body would have been recovered earlier.

I have been the first person to get to an injured jumper many times. I have been trained in first aid at many jobs, and also attended the seminar Rich put on at Elsinore. Gear is never worth someones safety!!! On one occasion I responded to a jumper(in her mid 60's) that had a rough landing. She was talking and laying flat, face down. I knew her personally and she asked me to try to remove her rig as it was brand new/custom. I said I will try but your health is more important. I was able to reach underneath her and push the leg strap webbing back through the friction bars on both leg straps and the chest strap WITH OUT moving her or placing her in more danger. We picked the rig straight up with no trouble. While she was recovering from bumps and bruises she sent me a thank you card(her husband ,also a jumper delivered it) thanking me for taking care of her, and getting her rig off so it did not get cut off. Other scenarios, it was not possible or safe to remove the rig. Cutting it off was the only option. The knowledge and experience Rich has is far from, as you put it "home brew opinions". You obviously are not aware of his former line of work. When EMT's show up and we explain what happened they usually have a lot of questions and need more info to understand MOI. The EMT's that usually show up at Elsinore we are familiar with and vice versa, and they attended and helped with the seminar that Rich put on at Elsinore.

+1

Giving out misinformation is his/her SOP.

Comparing miles driven to jumps made to quantify/compare risk is kinda like adding apples and oranges. I have been driving for more than 30 years, and was a delivery driver for more than 10 of those years, so my millage is higher than the average driver, and I have not been injured, but was in two accidents where I was hit by a drunk driver two different times. I have been skydiving for 30 years total with a 16 year break after my first 2 jumps in 1986, and have gotten one bloody nose from contact on a 6 way chunk exit. I know more people injured or killed on the highways than in skydiving. So those are my experiences. One of the other aspects is risk management, and on the highway with millions of other drivers as potential risks to manage, and you are exposed to that risk for a longer period of time, it is more LIKELY you will be injured or killed on the highways, than to make ONE skydive. I think the comment has been incorrectly stated and incorrectly quoted which has led to this being blown out of proportion. The way it should be worded is "you are in more danger of being injured or killed on the road ways, than if you were to make one skydive". In the last month while on the way to work,listening to the traffic report on the radio, there were 3 fatalities on different days, while people were just going to work thinking about the day ahead of them at work, and taking for granted the risk of JUST DRIVING TO WORK. If you got injured twice in a short period of time landing your canopy skydiving might not be the sport for you, but sounds like with your driving experience, NASCAR might be more up your alley.

Lodi is not a USPA member to begin with. They were investigated about 3-4 years ago for not maintaining their planes and fined a large sum. I speak from personal experiences when say I am not a fan of the dz or how it operates or the locals.

The comment about driving to the dropzone is more dangerous than making a jump is not as you say "a common BS tactic people through out". You ARE in more danger on the road way of being hurt or killed than to make ONE tandem jump. One of the reasons is people are VERY complacent while driving and doing crap like,texting,putting on make up,shaving,reading notes out of a three ring binder, all things I have seen myself. Not to mention people driving while under the influence. I could go on stating many references and personal experiences that prove your statement wrong, but see no need. I dont know the number of fatalities around the world, but the average number of fatalities in the US in the past 8-10 years was 21 a year, compared to approximately 4 million skydives made in the US that same year including licensed skydivers,aff students, and tandems. So do the math, thats, not even 1 percent. It actually came out as .0000025 . At least half of those fatalities were landing issues whether it was just a mistake on a inadvertent low turn or a mistake in an intentional HP landing. IMHO many of your post you give info. and speak as if you are very experienced. Looking at your jump numbers and when you registered on this web site and your time in the sport, I would humbly suggest to gain more experience before dispensing some of the info you do in your responses.

All the info given is pretty accurate, aside from the DZ in Oceanside. No offense to Oceanside,they just dont have rental gear, and you need a B license to jump there. Most of the TI's there are AFF rated also but the DZ does not have any student program. Its either license jumpers, or tandems.

JMHO. It is a gimmick. No offense to the creator, but I teach the AFF packing course and have for 11 years and was a full time packer for 4 years. It is all about technique. Still to this day when i am jumping and see some one struggling to put it in the bag I will usually approach and ask if I can help, and show them some very simple techniques and if they use them for the remainder of the day they usually struggle less by the end of the day and thank me and say that no one has ever shown them that before. One of my AFF packing students was a petite Japanese girl and she had to take her packing course on a BRAND NEW canopy due to the dz replacing a bunch of the old tired ones. I had to show her some different techniques to handle it, and to be mind full to keep it under control and it starts with rolling the tail before you even set it down. Then how you handle it on the ground has a lot to do with it. She had no problem and when she got her own gear, that was all brand new she again had no problem dealing with it. How you handle/manipulate it and dont over handle/fondle it makes a huge difference.