lauras

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Everything posted by lauras

  1. I pack my husband's Velo 111 with a ginormous PD logo & a PD143 in a W-8. It's snug but not slow down a reserve deployment tight. A W-5 would be a wrestling match, I think. My 2nd set up is a W-5 with a Sabre2 107 with Dacron & a PD106 & while it doesn't fall in, it looks good & filled out. So...guess it depends on what size reserve you're putting in & how fat you want the rig to look. Do call Sunrise and ask though...there were a bunch of size changes from 2005-2009 & it drove me craaaaazy.
  2. Oh yeah, and my screws came loose from my first fusion's plate, which my surgeon found when he opened me up. Lots of stress on the neck from openings. I'm fairly sure it's more than even most doctors realize.
  3. I am fused C4-7. First round in 12/03 replaced & fused C-5&6 & then had to revisit and fuse the levels above and below 1/10 after continuing to jump post-op. I love skydiving, I can't imagine my life without it but I've slowed WAY down and given up my favorite thing to do in skydiving (4-way training) as a result. My hands go numb & my shoulders & neck hurt like a mutha after 5 or 6 jumps & I pay for it the next day. I have about 2000 jumps since 1999 with over 4 years off for pre-op good behavior & post-op recoveries. I won't lie - it fucking sucks. All the damn time. Buuuut, I won't give it up because I know what air time does for me. All that said, you have no experience in the air. You don't know what it will do to your body. I know what it will do & has done to mine so I can assess my risks. I'm a rigger & instructor so I've rearranged my gear & who I jump with to minimize as much damage to myself as I can. However, I do know that the next jump could bite me permanently. Are you prepared for that?? I go back and forth DAILY.
  4. 14 teams jumped 4 rounds on Sunday in some of the best (and hottest) weather we've had so far this year. We had a fantastic day thanks to all of our local jumpers that pitched in and made sure our newest skydivers were brought into the fold. Lowest # of jumps: 36 Highest # of jumps: 10,000+ We had some freeflyers & wingsuiters that joined in for the day. We love watching you guys turn points! Our awesome sponsors provided the following prizes: 1st place team: The Sinking Gators - 100% off TonySuits Pitts Special & SOCOM Parachute Team challenge coins 2nd place team: Snot Rocket Surgery - 50% off Wings containers & SOCOM Parachute Team challenge coins 3rd place team: Wardrobe Malfunctions - Sunshine Factory gift certificates, Nylon City packing tickets & SOCOM Parachute Team challenge coins Last place team: Nylon City packing tickets & Skyleague gloves Video drawing (yes, just for our video guys/gal!): 100% off TonySuits camera suit or jacket Random drawing for all participants: 2 1-year subscriptions to Blue Skies Mag 50% off tunnel time with coaching from Tunnelcoach.com 2 - Larsen & Brusgaard SOLOIIs 2 - Larsen & Brusgaard OPTIMAIIs 2 - Larsen & Brusgaard VISOIIs with wrist cuff Janine & the Hard Dock Cafe catered dinner afterwards for everyone & TK & Debbie kept the dedicated Otter flying all day for us. Video was provided by: Jay, Martin, Charity, Randy, Josh & Pink Floyd. Thank you to all that participated this year! We really do have the friendliest locals
  5. Just to clear up any confusion (via Facebook & Skyleague)... The Scrambles will be taking place this SUNDAY at 8:00am. There will be a FSL 4-way meet on Saturday, hosted by Skyleague. This is a separate event and you will need to bring a team & video for the FSL. You just need to bring yourself for the Scrambles. We hope people will be able to participate in both! We're also very happy to announce that for this year's random drawing, all Scrambles participants will be eligible to win one of 2 VisoII with wrist cuffs, 2 OptimaII, and 2 SoloII, all generously donated by our primary sponsor, Larsen & Brusgaard! You can't win if you don't play so come on out!
  6. Mark your calendars! Oren's running his 9th annual 4-way Scrambles this Memorial Day weekend (SUNDAY, MAY 29TH). All levels are encouraged to participate - just have an A license, 4 jump tickets and $25 to cover video on every round. A number of freeflyers and CRW dogs have participated in the past so don't be shy if you think your RW skills are a little rusty. 22 teams were assembled last year and this year should be just as great! The Format: - Show up at Skydive City/Zhills at 8am SHARP, Sunday morning - Register with Oren & hand over your tickets & $25 (exact change would be great) as soon as possible. - You will be assigned a team according to your experience level. Each team is comprised of an experienced 4-way competitor, 2 experienced to intermediate jumpers and 1 rookie. We try to distribute as evenly as possible to keep things fair. - 4 rounds are jumped during the course of the day & judged. There will be video on every jump. Points are tallied on a score board. - No ringer teams EVER. The competition is very tight and almost every year 1 or 2 points separate the teams. Plenty of prizes as usual. Last year's top 5 teams won prizes from Sunrise Manufacturing (Wings),TonySuits, Sunshine Factory, Sky Systems, Skydive City, Nylon City, Paragone Rigging, Bonefish Grill & incredible random drawing prizes from Larsen & Brusgaard. Contact Oren at okalbATYahooDOTcom with any questions or if you'd like to register early.
  7. Oh, Burt...who am I supposed to be ethnic with now?! See ya on the flip side...
  8. Yeah, I think he's been jumping out of planes for much longer but on the dope rope
  9. This past Saturday was the 50th anniversary of Norm Olson's first freefall (he had a number of static line jumps before then.). Norm is Skydive City's (Zhills) most active fun jumper, excluding staff & other professionals. Mind you, the man's 78 years old and he's at the dz at 8am ever weekend, ready to jump & waiting on all the slackers to show up. Norm founded the Navy Leap Frogs demo team and had 2300 skydives before retiring from jumping for well over 20+ years. He came back with a vengeance 4 years ago and has participated in a number of POPS, SOS and other big way records & camps. It will be no surprise to me when he hits 3000 sometime next year & I want to be on that skydive! If you ever get a chance to come by Zhills, I highly recommend that you get a jump in with Norm. He is the most awesome, no bullshit & outright fun guy I've ever met. We've got plenty of the old bulls running around on our dz and they all get respect, especially since they're so much fun to jump with and they love to crack a beer at the end of the day. We're so lucky! Happy 50th Anniversary, Norm! We love ya, man! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/photo.php?pid=2558834&id=124376830059
  10. Despite the dodgy weather all week (high winds, lots of rain & all kinds of related excitement), 13 teams were assembled for the 2009 Scrambles. There were a lot of new faces which we were happy to see and initial responses indicate everyone had a pretty good time :) Two rounds were completed before a huge storm rolled in and everyone hid out in the bunker to watch video & distribute prizes. This year's King of Scrambles is Ari Perelman! His team, BuRod's Nightmare, crushed the competition and displayed some very nice flying. The team included: Janine Colombo, Daniel Hagerman & Yvonne Saa. 2nd Place was taken by Team Bling Bling with team captain Craig Sagalow, Brian Lieberman, Ben Foster and Steve Snow. 3rd Place was taken by Inflicting Pain with team captain Rodney Cruce, Quinn Lamb, Hooper & Sebastian 4th: SkyTaters 5th: SkyDogs 6th: Ruffells Have Ridges 7th: Meatbomb 8th: Full Retard 9th: Red-Headed Step-Children 10th: Easily Entertained 11th: Clusterf*@k 12th: Motley Crew 13th: Can't Remember S$#t Thanks to our incredibly generous sponsors, this year's prizes were: 1st: 50% off Wings Certificates & $25 Certificates & T-Shirts from Sunshine Factory 2nd: 30% off Michigan Suits Certificates, a free jump from Skydive City & a free pack job from Nylon City 3rd: 20% off Michigan Suits Certificates, a free jump from Skydive City & a free pack job from Nylon City 4th: SkySystems T-shirts, baseball caps & beanies 5th: Performance Designs T-shirts Last: 50% off Michigan Suits Certificates SkySystems also provided reusable water bottles for teams 3 through 13, along with a huge bag of stickers, patches & notepads. Performance Designs furnished everyone & their mother with enough pull-up cords, stickers & lip balm to last until next year's Scrambles. Random Drawing Prizes included: - 30% off Certificate from SkySystems - 2 $45 gift cards from Bonefish Grill - and last but certainly not least, Larsen & Brusgaard generously donated 2 Visos, 2 ProTracks and 1 AltiTrack. An awesome pork tenderloin & chicken dinner was provided for the Scrambles participants by the dz, TK, Janine & Oren. The whole shebang is organized every year by Oren Kalb but this event can't happen without the help of: - Skydive City - Manager TK Hayes - Manifest Chicks Debbie Dellibac & Laurie Clark - Pilot Marko Jakkola - Video Jockeys Scotty Pratt, Martin Scrzypczak, Igor Mazia & Pip Redvers Thanks again to everyone at Skydive City, our wonderful sponsors and our local jumpers. Skydive City hosts numerous events during the winter season for all visitors to enjoy but this particular event is mostly composed of locals. It's a great way for everyone to re-group after a busy season, meet the new jumpers and get some fun skydives in together. Stay tuned for next year's meet! http://www.skydivecity.com http://www.l-and-b.dk/ http://www.skydivewings.com http://www.sunshine-factory.com http://www.michigansuits.com http://www.skysystemsusa.com http://www.performancedesigns.com http://www.bonefishgrill.com EDIT TO ADD: Ari, as this year's King Of Scrambles, you get to push Karl into the swoop pond the next time you see him.
  11. Hey stranger! Yes, this is a once a year event. People have asked us to hold Scrambles more frequently but we think it would lose quite a lot of the anticipation and fun that the event generates. Our sponsors are really generous and we don't want to abuse that in any way by hitting them up for donations again and again. Also, Oren's head would explode if he had to manage that kind of chaos more than once a year If we don't see you this summer, come on by around Thanksgiving. The Turkey Meet is a great time to compete as well. 10-way, 8-way & 16-way events dominated the holiday weekend & it's an awesome time. There are always organizers putting pick-up teams together so no need to show up with 7+ friends (although they'd be more than welcome).
  12. NEVER try to predict the weather at Zhills! How will you know if we're jumping if you're not out there jumping?! Just as an fyi, the dz generally doesn't call events until the morning of. The weather guys/gals here are notoriously vague..."temps in the 60s to 90s, sun, some clouds, possibility of rain & thunderstorms" every day from April through October.
  13. Mark your calendars! Oren's running his 7th annual 4-way Scrambles this Memorial Day weekend. All levels are encouraged to participate - just have an A license, 4 jump tickets and $25 to cover video on every round. A number of freeflyers and CRW dogs have participated in the past so don't be shy if you think your RW skills are a little rusty. 15 teams were assembled last year and this year should be just as great! The Format: - Show up at Skydive City/Zhills at 8am SHARP, Sunday morning - Register with Oren & hand over your tickets & $25 (exact change would be great) as soon as possible. - You will be assigned a team according to your experience level. Each team is comprised of an experienced 4-way competitor, 2 experienced/intermediate jumpers and 1 rookie. We try to distribute as evenly as possible to keep things fair. - 4 rounds are jumped during the course of the day & judged. There will be video on every jump. Points are tallied on a score board. - Sally Hathaway (former Team USA 4-way champion) will provide free coaching for the teams. - No ringer teams EVER. The competition is very tight and last year 1 or 2 points separated second through ninth place. Plenty of prizes as usual. Last year's top teams won 40% off Wings Certificates & Wings tee-shirts; 30% off any Aerodyne Canopy Certificates & a free pack job from Nylon City; 30% Michigan Suits Certificates & PD tee-shirts from Paragone Rigging; 20% off Michigan Suits Certificates; 50% off Michigan Suits Certificates and the random drawing was held for: 2 free pack jobs from Nylon City, a helmet bag from Paragone Rigging, 2 30% off Certificates with tee-shirts, tube stoes & lanyards from Sky Systems, and a L&B Solo, Optima & Viso. Aerodyne also sponsored goodie bags for every participant. Karl Meyer dethroned Bu Klinge and is the current King of Scrambles. The team captain that defeats him gets to throw Karl in the swoop pond (I haven't told him this part yet, shhhhh). Come witness the drama! Contact Oren at okalbATYahooDOTcom with any questions or if you'd like to register earl
  14. I got my motocross soft collar after asking one of the Golden Knights about his at Nationals. I'm fairly sure that his skill set's up there. I've had cervical fusion and along with a remaining herniated disc I am always one bad opening away from never jumping again. Think of the collar as a precautionary tool that could help in the event of something nasty happening or even just the regular wear & tear from openings. It stops my head from snapping all the way back or forward. There's enough give for normal movement since the collar's just foam and it in no way affects my ability to see under canopy, while doing 4-way, AFF or whatever else I'm up to in the sky. As Oren noted above, it attaches with a velcro strap across the front so I could and have easily removed it under canopy and stowed it in my jumpsuit in seconds.
  15. You pay for pack jobs, not openings... no refunds! I don't know why anyone would use a packer that said or believed that.
  16. Add to SDU: Chromy @ Deland Ari Perlman @ Deland/Sebastian Sally Hathaway @ Zhills All very active jumpers & tunnel coaches. All highly recommended.
  17. Christine Freiherr & my experience on the Fury 8 project was made so much richer by meeting wonderful people like Brooke. She was a bright, shiny smile from the moment we stepped on to the dz and we looked forward to seeing her at every camp. I'm very sorry to hear that Perris has lost one of it's best ambassadors. Laura Song
  18. http://www.performancedesigns.com/store_files/accesorystore2.asp?product=PROMO,CALENDAR,PD,2009
  19. Indeed. I wish the same could be said about the supporters in the ballroom. Undignified, ungracious and clearly disgruntled that their vision of the "right" America has lost its hold on the majority of the citizens and the world.
  20. Thanks for the posts & PMs everyone! Hmm, I think a raffle is definitely an attractive idea. We also have access to a local band that's just been signed by Maverick (so they don't suck ) and I think I'll hit them up as well... Keep them coming, please!
  21. I'm hoping to gather some fundraising ideas from DZ.commers that have successfully held auctions, solicited donations, etc. This is specifically for a charity event to be held at Skydive City sometime during our Christmas Boogie. ANY and ALL ideas are welcome as I've never done anything like this before. Lelia & Rick Ginder are long-time Williston / Zhills jumpers. Their youngest son, Dale, was diagnosed in April at the age of 6 with Duchenne, an absolutely heart-breaking disease for a little boy to have. Duchenne is a type of muscular dystrophy (progressive muscle disease) that robs boys of the use of their muscles and strength and eventually their lives. Dale will be in a wheelchair by 11 or 12 years of age. Since the heart and lungs are muscles too, these boys will suffer cardiac and respiratory failure. Boys with Duchenne rarely live past their late teens or early twenties. There is presently no cure for Duchenne. Current treatments are long term and can have difficult, unpleasant and crippling side effects. 100% of all proceeds will go towards Duchenne research, not directly towards any individual or family. Please take a look at www.curedalesduchenne.com, PM me for verification or check out www.skydivecity.com & scroll down the homepage for further information. Thanks in advance for any advice & suggestions!
  22. No problem. You've got a lot of good resources both here and at the dz so like you said, ask around, get advice, try & see what works. Rinse, repeat!
  23. If Steve doesn't have an A yet, he's jumping alone or with a coach (paid or unpaid), even at the Farm. Steve/Finch: find Oren at the dz next weekend. He'll hook you up with some friendly locals (with ratings if necessary) to jump with & learn from & you'll be doing some nice rw this winter season. It's hot as hell still so it's been kinda slow & most of the local organizers (who don't charge $) are away doing stuff like travelling to big way stuff around the country, working, training for Nationals, etc. Also, you can always ask the ladies in Manifest if anyone's around that you can jump with & they'll help you out. You'll have a lot of people to jump with on the weekends starting in mid-November and *tons* of people all week long by mid-December through Easter. Don't be shy...ask any of the staff or Manifest to point out an organizer to you and he/she should be able to help you out once you've got that license in your hand.