ScottMcC

Yeah...most freefly coaches I've encountered charge $70 per dive, which includes your slot, their slot, and their fees. USPA Coaches generally charge slot + 10, which is about $50 per dive, but that's for ISP kinda stuff. Having the right coach is what matters--sometimes the best flyer isn't the best coach, and sometimes the best coach may not be the best coach for you. But having the right coach for you is definitely well worth the money.

sorry, that's a typo on my part for the price...however, with grippers and plus shipping the cost is close to 400. I corrected my post above. but it's still a lot of money... but the other issue is the design--I wanted something with diamonds like on my current (baggy) freefly pants. I may have found a seamstress type who would be willing to make me a suit for a more reasonable price though, and I'm pretty sure she won't make fun of me. If I go that route, I'd need to provide her material. Anyone know where I can find fabric similar to that used by Matter? It's a pretty heavy weight polycotton, and doesn't look like anything from a "standard" fabric store. Thanks all!

Ok, so there's been lots of talk about how the new style of tighter freefly suits but heavier fabrics, along with grippers, is the wave of the future and what not, and the consensus seems to be that Matter makes a pretty mean suit of this type (Proconcept). However, as I sit and contemplate new jumpsuits, I remember a trip to Empuria a few years ago when the dude from Matter told me he couldn't make a suit with the design I wanted because I would look like some kind of clown, and he only makes serious looking jumpsuits for serious people. He also expects 285 euros for a suit, plus options (for a total of about 400 euros), which is rather a lot of money for a poor student such as myself. So, does anyone know of a more affordable way of procuring a suit of similar fit, without having to deal with someone who accuses me of looking like a clown? (edited for price typo)

I cock my pilot chute as soon as I lay the canopy down and a second time as soon as I'm ready to close the container, and I check the window when I'm placing the pin. Why? Not just to be redundant and make sure I did it, but because a friend of mine had a kill line that would constantly slip back to uncocked during the packing procedure. Mine doesn't have that problem, luckily, but adding 10 seconds to my sub-8 min packjobs isn't a big deal to me, especially to prevent a potentially very bad situation.

I seem to recall I've met that dude a few years back...if I recall it was a Vector 3 and he's quite short, so was having trouble finding a rig that fit him. I dunno...a belly band doesn't seem necessary if your rig fits you well though, and my wings seems pretty tight. but then again, I'm an avg sized dude.

The injury was probably not due to the pullout, although if you had pain on throwing it certainly could be related. The most vulnerable position for your shoulder is the "boxman" position (abducted and externally rotated). This is the same reason that a lot of baseball pitchers have SLAP lesions--just look at what they do when they're in the stretch. You can find my story if you search...but I had a SLAP lesion in addition to significant instability, but I'm back to jumping now--but I didn't jump for over 10 months as a result. So see your friendly local orthopod and hopefully you get a good looking scar.

yeah...what everyone else said. I dislocated my shoulder 3 times, 2 of them in freefall (just popped out while belly flying). yes, it was my right one, yes, I pulled with my left hand, yes, it was my main, not my reserve, yes I can reach my throwout with my left hand, even though it's on the right side. but I got it fixed by a good surgeon, and now I'm good to go. be sure you have a good sports med guy look at your shoulder, not just your primary care doc.

I thought I read somewhere once that the higher performance canopies had higher glide ratios than the lower performance ones, but I could be mistaken. http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/stiletto.pdf (they have similar articles on all of their canopies by the way, I just chose that one to illustrate the point)

you know erica, some people have these crazy things called "jobs" that get in the way of their jumping from time to time. and yes, some people even have to work weekends. but I don't know for sure...it would help if I knew who you were talking about, but that would be rude.

MAN!!!! I should start a thread complaining about PD, it'd get me a free jump and a free demo! Unfortunately, people would realize that I love my PD canopy and that I'm just doing it because of the money.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? Pubmed, the only place to find your medical knowledge (for free). It's a bit of a pain to read if you don't speak medical though.

www.freedommeanschoice.com Karen rocks. That is all.

My experience with the Safire (I had a 132 loaded at 1.25 for several hundred jumps) was different from yours--I didn't find it to be sluggish at all. Actually, I think it is a relatively high performance canopy and I know for a fact that it is an elliptical canopy. So you might want to think a little more about flying the canopy you have than trying to find something else. But a Sabre2 is a good canopy too, from what I hear (never jumped one myself).

They're both awesome rigs. I liked the way the wings fit me compared to the javelin, but this is purely personal preference.

At the Drive In became The Mars Volta. Read all about it--click here then type in the mars volta to the search feature

I have a solution to your problem. Don't ever go to a doctor. That way, you won't have to worry about them killing you. On a more serious note, how about you compare the number of lives saved by doctors to the number of lives lost? I like to think we've got a pretty favorable ratio, but I could be wrong. While you're at it, compare that with the number of lives saved by having a gun. Now you've got my blood pressure rising again.

no...but I do have an old non-functional PC1 that you can strip down for parts if you want (heads are old and dead, but the battery attachment is ok). of course, a little cash would be nice...

I'm a big fan. Deloused in the Comatorium is indeed an awesome album, and in my opinion better than Francis the Mute. I saw them in concert last year when they opened for A Perfect Circle. Hopefully I'll be able to see them again this year. By the way...listen to track 1 of Frances the Mute immediately after listening to track 12. You'll like it.

Wow Grant, you've changed in the last few years. I'll be brief. 1) Ground training, no matter how exhaustive, is no substitute for in-air experience. A solo freefall for someone with absolutely no freefall time, no matter how much ground time they have, is still scary in my opinion. You still make the WOGs do AFF, right? If the many hours of ground training were enough, why bother to have an instructor there with them? And last time I checked, the Academy is the only place in the country that does solo freefall as the first jump. 2) I have no doubt that some civilian programs are scary, and inadequate. This is clearly an unrelated issue. However, I have full confidence in the gear at Calhan where I trained, much more than I had when jumping a rig with 2 FXCs at the Academy (I realize they've converted to cypres now, which is a step in the right direction). 3) I seem to recall a few years ago you were pretty interested in getting freeflying going at the Academy. What changed?

no it's not, cancer is. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2005f4PWSecured.pdf and this guy definitely got killed by weed: J Clin Forensic Med. 2002 Jun;9(2):82-4. Sudden, unexpected death of a cannabis bodypacker, due to perforation of the rectum. Barnett JM, Codd G. Mill Lane Medical Centre, London, UK. A forty year old cannabis bodypacker was found dead in his flat in November 2000, two days after arriving back from a trip to Northern India. On his return he had complained to his family of feeling unwell, although he had refused to let them in or accept medical help. At post-mortem he was found to have 55 packages of cannabis resin in the large intestine, wrapped in cellophane. Subsequent search of the flat by the police revealed the presence of a further 133 similar packages in the fridge, suggesting that he had concealed 188 packages in total. The cause of death was given as peritonitis due to perforation of the distal large intestine caused by swallowing the packages.

hate to rain on your parade, but no it's not: Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2004 Aug;28(5):849-63. Adverse effects of cannabis on health: an update of the literature since 1996. Kalant H. Department of Pharmacology, Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A8. [email protected] Recent research has clarified a number of important questions concerning adverse effects of cannabis on health. A causal role of acute cannabis intoxication in motor vehicle and other accidents has now been shown by the presence of measurable levels of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the blood of injured drivers in the absence of alcohol or other drugs, by surveys of driving under the influence of cannabis, and by significantly higher accident culpability risk of drivers using cannabis. Chronic inflammatory and precancerous changes in the airways have been demonstrated in cannabis smokers, and the most recent case-control study shows an increased risk of airways cancer that is proportional to the amount of cannabis use. Several different studies indicate that the epidemiological link between cannabis use and schizophrenia probably represents a causal role of cannabis in precipitating the onset or relapse of schizophrenia. A weaker but significant link between cannabis and depression has been found in various cohort studies, but the nature of the link is not yet clear. A large body of evidence now demonstrates that cannabis dependence, both behavioral and physical, does occur in about 7-10% of regular users, and that early onset of use, and especially of weekly or daily use, is a strong predictor of future dependence. Cognitive impairments of various types are readily demonstrable during acute cannabis intoxication, but there is no suitable evidence yet available to permit a decision as to whether long-lasting or permanent functional losses can result from chronic heavy use in adults. However, a small but growing body of evidence indicates subtle but apparently permanent effects on memory, information processing, and executive functions, in the offspring of women who used cannabis during pregnancy. In total, the evidence indicates that regular heavy use of cannabis carries significant risks for the individual user and for the health care system. PMID: 15363608 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Short answer: Vector good, altitude no problem. Long answer: check your private messages. Other unrelated topic: how's AM490 going? that program scares me, and should scare any skydiver. (for everyone else, it's a first jump course for cadets where you do 5 jumps, all 10 second solo freefalls from 4500)

I've known Skratch and DJan for as long as I've been in the sport, and I'm of the opinion that they're two truly amazing people. I know absolutely nothing of the matters discussed in this thread, as I have moved away from Colorado, but I really have trouble believing that DJan would ever treat anyone badly. If I'm wrong, then please correct me, and I will lose what little faith in humanity I had left in the process. Anyway, I agree with the many people that have suggested getting the truth out in the open instead of slinging insults without some supporting evidence. It's easy to call someone names, but much harder to back it up.

Bear in mind that I'm a 2002 grad of the beautiful blue zoo, and that your compatriots at the 98th didn't think I was good enough for them. That said, I think that a freefly program at the zoo is a good idea, BUT it will take significant changes to the way they do things at the 98th to make it work. First off, they need more appropriate gear. A Talon with a Classic 250 isn't exactly freefly friendly, ya know? Second, they need to split the comp team into several subgroups, ie one group that does style & ac, one group that does 4 way, and one group that does freefly. While they're doing that, the four way kids could benefit from slightly smaller rigs too. The reason I think the team should be split is that most cadets graduate with about 500 jumps, so you have to really focus on one discipline if you're going to win. Third, they need to get some people that know what they're talking about when it comes to freeflying to be instructors. I know Chad and Grant (if they're still there, that is) are both pretty decent on their heads, but the Zoo needs to recruit some really good talent if they want to start a freefly program. As to your questions, I don't see anything inherently terrible with them teaching cadets to freefly, and I think the 98th's arguments are largely idiotic.

ahh...interlacing. actually, I was having a problem with getting it to deinterlace, and found a little workaround. save your project. go to the point in the timeline where the frame you want is. type c or choose the razor tool by hand. chop the timeline at the current time, and then chop it again a little bit later. select the new clip that you've made and then right click on it. choose video options and then frame hold. choose the deinterlace option, choose to hold on the inpoint, choose to hold any filters. now do what everyone else said, and you don't need to photoshop to deinterlace it. of course, you can photoshop it to make yourself look awesomer if you so desire, but that's another issue.