Genie

I remember OFiddle!!! Hey Beth how are you doing? And Peanut and Lucky arent together anymore ? Aww :( That was sweet at the time i was hanging out on the rec.. And i remember the cat passing thread too... that was funny... And Dan Rossi's were also good... another one i remember of his in addition to the ones above was the time he was helped out to the aircraft with the white stick, and sun glasses.. helped to seat himself in the pilots seat, and then then told the three static liner students to get in... and they all did, completely unpreturbed by the fact that a blind guy was going to fly the plane :) Nice to see you/hear you again Beth.. and when i clicked into your profile i noticed your I love skydivers post.. hmm Muff Brothers St Patricks day 2012 is sounding enticing :) i was at the 15th annual one i think.. still have the tshirt somewhere :) Genie

Argh!! Still dont know whats happening, and its looking now like I wont know whats happening til Saturday!! So.. bringing my license and a sleeping bag, just in case, and if meeting my mate doesnt work out I'll take a trip out to Teuge - thank you all for the suggestion, and hope i get to meet you all, if not this weekend, then one in the future maybe :) Thanks! Genie

Woot! Glad to hear it Jimbo!! Yes we did have some good conversations and i missed them, good to see you again /hug.. Dunno if we could have the same kind of conversation in public here tho ;) but i see we have PM's too! :) Drop you a line in a minute or two ;) Genie/Noelle

That was a fun trip! never forget arriving at Delmarva at about 12 midnight, wandering out toward the decking and hearing a drawl saying Hi, you wanna Marguerita???" Only one answer for that question :) And Major congratulations on Baby and Doggy to you both, thats great news :) Really happy for you!

Of the people who used to post on wreck, most are out of the sport or dead. It used to be that when one of us died it was skydiving-related, but now it seems more likely that we are succumbing to cancer and such. The half-life in the sport is only a couple of years, and most participants are around no more than 7 years (I should track down the source of those stats). Anyhow, the de-evolution of rec.skydiving was so repellent that many people lost interest in an on-line skydiving community. For the rest of us, DZ.com has taken the place of recdot. All things being considered, I prefer getting banned now and then to putting up with the endless drivel on recdot. It would be nice to have a killfile, however. Blue skies, Winsor Hi Windsor! I do of course remember you well :) The drivel towards the end really was too much but i had a lot of laughs from rec.skydiving before it imploded like that...My independent soul does rebel somewhat at the concept of moderation, but the rec was a very cautionary tale as to when it can be necessary, when others choose not to regulate themselves. I did lose interest myself for quite a while in online skydiving communities, but i realised recently that i have been very lax in my reading and learning in recent years, and the things i *think* i know, may have all changed now.. so I might be becoming a little more active again now perhaps.. ;) Still great to hear from those I do remember. Winsor, you always stood out as articulate, well spoken, and able to reason an argument all the way to the end. Always enjoyed your posts and thoughts :) Genie

Hey Colin!!! Taken part in any more drive by water gun shootings lately?? I can recommend you as a wheel man if necessary :D I might be coming over your way in the next while... have you on Skype, so ill catch you there ;)

R.I.P - a preacher and we called you Rev yes?? Yes i remember you!! You were just a whippersnapper back then lol! Good to see you again!

hey Wendy - still CRWing then i assume? :)

I remember you too Wendy, I liked your posts :D

If you see him, tell him to come by and say hi :)

Gregor!!!!!! How are you!! You were one of the people I was thinking of when talkign about the kindness of strangers in my 12 years post :) Still remember how kind you and your wife were... long time ago now - still at delmarva i see ?? :D Tracy and Martin arent there anymore are they? Heard something about that...

It was 12 years ago today that I first left an aircraft in flight, and flew to earth under a parachute. A cold, clear, blue skies, day with the dark closing in about 4.30 in the afternoon, and I had not got to the drop zone until 11am that day. A late night in the local pub, after completing the first jump course the day before made getting up a little more difficult. I wasn’t very hopeful about getting to jump when I saw how busy manifest was, so I was thrilled to be told to gear up at about 3.30pm, with the 288sq foot Manta and heavy cumbersome student harness. I was the only first jump student on the last load of the day. My jumpmaster was there, a guy doing his 2,500 foot hop ‘n pop to finish his static line progression, and one guy grabbing the chance for one last hop n pop before a week of no jumping until the drop zone opened again next weekend. I remember the jump clearly, falling off the strut as I tried to move further out, canopy opening and swinging under it, releasing my toggles, pumping my brakes, looking around me in awe at the setting sun, and the beauty of the countryside and bog below me, finding the dz, being talked down and landing, skidding in on my ass, and then just sitting there on the grass in the big student field, bemused by the wonder of it all. While they shouted at me on the radio to Stand up! And I never heard them. It took John running towards me shouting “are you ok?”, for me to realise I had to re-join the real world again. In the last 12 years I have racked up around 220 jumps – no sky goddess here! I realised early on, that I would never be a world class skydiver – and that was ok. It meant I could relax about jumping, and not have to push myself. As long as I am safe in the air, competent enough not to hurt myself or any other, I am content. Life has provided distractions along the way, returning to college full time and new relationships, but I have never quit jumping – to me it’s an important distinction. I sometimes just didn’t jump for a while! I can always go back and there’s always someone there to say hey “how are you, long time no see, so….. you jumping?” Along the way I have been so privileged to jump in drop zones around the world, to jump with world class skydivers, and world record holders, to go to places I would never have otherwise seen. I went to Kenya on a skydiving trip: “You’re going on holidays to Kenya by *yourself*?!?” “No, I’m going with 150 skydivers; I just haven’t met them yet”. And I could do that in the certainty that skydivers like helping other people to jump. That I would have a fun time with fun people, and boy did I! I have been blessed by the kindness of stranger skydivers in so many ways and places, from lifts, to places to stay, to getting me to airports, to collecting me and taking me to drop zones, to giving me free accommodation. I have returned the favour – or paid it onwards to other skydivers in return :) /waves at Bill Von, remember your trip to Ireland ?? :) and I’ve been thrilled to be part of this group. I once saw skydivers described as a “tribe”, unifying characteristics overriding any distinctions. I thought it was a great description. During my time in jumping I have met pilots, nuclear scientists, bank robbers, tattoo artists, dentists, doctors, truck drivers, construction workers, accountants, students, psychologists, physiotherapists, software engineers, receptionists, tree surgeons, farmers, army, special forces of 4 different countries at least, etc. etc. – and no one cares what anyone else does – other than being able to look out for each other, and support skydivers business in preference. I have met people from all over the world, and then met them again on the other side of the world :) I have done things that I would never have done otherwise because of skydiving, including travelling through Asia for 4 months – where I bumped into the refugees from the Thai Boogie on St Patricks day in Hua Hin and had a hell of a party :) Skydiving and skydivers have enriched my life more than I can possibly say. And on a day like today, after two sweet jumps yesterday, in one of my favourite places in the world, I’d just like to say “Thank you”. To the people who, in 1956 in Ireland, set up the Irish Parachute Club, to all who developed it and grew it in the last 55 years, to all who have done the same for the sport worldwide, for every up jumper who jumped with a low timer, and encouraged them a little to keep going, to everyone who loves this sport, to everyone who has ever left a plane in flight in control of their own actions and responsible for their own lives - THANK YOU ALL! Glad to get that off my chest :) Genie

Chuck? is that you?? ! Hey! Sorry to hear about Treetop, i still suspect him for being the guy who very kindly got me something sent to me in the mail, which i do still use :D And Peek, Wendy, Remster - all names ringing a bell.. its been a while... i eventually gave up when every single thread devolved into a Snuff/David "oh yes it is!, Oh No it isn't" pantomime sketch... havent been back since.. It was fun back then tho.. i dont think i wrote too many inflammatory posts myself, but I did seem to find myself in the middle of some of them :D And then at one stage in a quiet little dz somewhere in the states, someone said oh ive been dying to meet you since i heard you were coming, i read all your stuff on the wreck - and i nearly died on the spot lollll Still jumping, but still in my "Skydiving is a journey and not a destination, and im just strolllling on down the path.." Monday will be my 12th anniversary of my first jump, and i have about 220 jumps now lol :D Couple of breaks from jumping here and there.. the year i went back to college to do post grad in 1 year fulltime, instead of 2, and after I broke my ankle on landing and ended up travelling in Asia for 4 months - Score! but still love it, still love the people and the places :D Great to say hi to you all again Genie

Hey all, I used to be Noelle from Ireland on the wreck... still any of you old bods still around?? (waves and Bill Von who she knows is still here :) I'm thinking of Treetop, Jim Bozo, Snuffy (still alive?) David (still fighting with Snuffy?) Peter from Oz, Marc of weightvest fame, among others - you know who you are :) How many still around and active here instead now?? Looking forward to catching up with y'all... Genie/Noelle

Get the train from Schipol, some one will come and get me from the train station and organise sleeping arrangements for me?? Now that sounds about right for standard Irish Skydiving hospitality :D The weed would be ok - except I'm a little worried that being dutch, when you say tons of weed, you mean metric tons :D Hot, fit, sexy, skychick, check, check, check and check :D Well i would say that wouldnt i?? Havent had any complaints so far tho ;) Sky chick yes, skygod nooooo... :D Oh oh oh.. and i nearly forgot - ik spreke kleine bitsch nederlandese :D - does that help?! thanks you guys, i really appreciate the options - and hey if your weather is like ours we can sit inside and use up those metric tons of weed instead :D Genie

Sounds great but i wasnt planning on bringing a sleeping bag.. but i guess i can :) necessary to book beds in the bunk house? At least i now have some options so thanks for that :) Dont suppose its open friday night for bar and bunkhouse by any chance as well? :) thanks Saskia, appreciate your assistance, more than I can say. :) Genie

ARGHHHH -Typical isnt it?? And i wanted to go this weekend coming, but the person i was meant to meet had something else on... Coz that would be one good night out in the Dam :D Are there places to crash (aka sleep) at Teuge? and the possiblity of renting/borrowing equipment perhaps? Still trying to figure out what to do :) Thanks for your reply, much appreciated! Genie

Hey all Im a female Irish skydiver, who is going to be in Amsterdam on the weekend of the 18th of November. Original plans to meet up with someone, now look slightly in danger and having already paid for my flight I was thinking of going over anyway... and then it struck me to see if there are any nice Dutch Skydiving bods who might be around Amsterdam on the 19th and be up to having a couple of beers and sharing "No Shit! There I was" stories???? Actually you dont have to be Dutch - any skydivers who might be based in Amsterdam would be all cool n hoopy too :D Hopeful thanks in advance Genie - used to be rec.skydiving as Noelle, but thats a long time ago now ;D

I met Cap'n Jim in March 2001 in Z hills... I cant claim to have known him too well - but i always remembered him with fondness and gratitude. This sucks the big one... to Phantom - Blue Ones and fly free.. And remember all - "When theres white caps on the swoop pond, dont manifest me!" Genie

To the man who showed me what muff diving really meant :) To the man who extended the luxury of the Swamp to this visitor, To Muff Brother 65 - HIm! Him! FUCK Him! To Johnny: Blueskies and thanks bro. Fly Free. With Love Genie/Noelle

[reply]Try this one..it got me thru my last year on the hellp desk........ scroll down to "bofh"...every time I get a ID 10 T I just think of these... http://www.sysadminday.com/ *** I have good news for you Bill! Simon is still writing them and the 2000 to present ongoing can be found on www.theregister.co.uk under the BOFH link. Enjoy! Genie

Ten out of ten to you for checking that. Actually my decision altitude when starting off was 1800 ft and ive never mentally changed it. I wasnt thinking about using the flatline to tell me if you are at this altitude with a mal you need to chop now. I was actually thinking of it specifically as a "you have gone low. if you are hearing this sound pull your reserve handle NOW" partially to help reduce the possibility of a two canopy out because i will have cypres too... Is that the way everyone else uses them? first noise break off, second noise pull, third decision altitude for a mal? My feeling is that, unlike the higher settings you may want to have for your Pro-Track, at decision altitude it's no longer a matter of IF you've lost altitude awareness, but that you need to be reminded that you need to take care of any malfunction situation NOW. my thinking on it was not to rely on it as a warning altitude so much, but as a " IF you hear this noise (while still in freefall) pull your silver handle NOW. I set mine to activate at 1,800 ft AGL and almost never hear it. I sometimes hear it at the end of a long snivel on a minimum altitude deployment, but I'm also aware and plan so that if anything happens at those altitudes, I'm not going to fight it -- I'm going to chop it and deploy my reserve. There is nothing so useless as altitude above you. thanks for the reply - hope you will elucidate further :) thanks Genie

As always you say it perfectly Wendy. I didnt know him but i sure have eard of him and his innovations in training etc. He has had a huge influence on the sport, and im sorry hes gone too. Sincere condolences to his family. Zhai 'helleva Roger, Wind to thy wings, Genie

Hi there im recently back in the air after about 9 motnhs out due to college. I have a protrack (present i havent jumped with it yet) and im getting a cypres cos a good deal arose from a guy upgrading to a cypres2. I have about 100 jumps sprad over about 3 years, including 2 longish periods of not jumping - this last 9 month and one of about 3 before. My question is about the flatline on a protrack.. I was thinking about what height to set this at. Because i am also adding a cypres to my gear, and have read a hell of a lot of discussions about the risk this can add with low altitudes (note havent pulled low yet, but theres always a first time). I was considering setting my flatline to 1500ft - on the grounds that if i hear it i go for silver immediately. I would be very interested in hearing the pro's/con's etc on this course of action and peoples opinions on the idea. I have jumped for the last three years without either an audible or a cypres.. ive enjoyed being independent and responsible for myself, (and was also broke :) but as im hoping to be doing more RW etc in the future both devices seem to be a good idea - i HATE seeing someones foot approaching my face! But i dont want to get reliant on either... Suggestions? Thanks Genie

Theres a web site you need to read. You will relate and it will relax you - promise. www.techtales.com. Click on the telephone, and then click on the Tales from Techs icon on the left had side. Its archived monthly to about Sept 95 or so.. I think you will be able to relate - and enjoy! Genie