feelopen

Nice! I'm climbing up AND down a 650' ladder (just to get in shape) in about 41 (best) to 48 (second best) minutes using three points of contact for safety at all times. I usually take a short break at midway, and longer break at the top, then again a break to shake out at midway down. These are included in the times. Do you just use two points? I mean when you reach up with your right arm, do you also raise a leg? Or do you do what I do: raise an arm, hold with that hand, raise the leg and weight the foot, lift second foot, then next hand up to next place beyond. over and over - 3 points always on safely. I imagine you could really cruise much faster if you had confidence to go with only two points of contact. I think next time I'll climb two points until I start to feel the burn, then switch - that might help speed as long as I don't flash pump. Climb Fast, Sleep Longer :) Cheers, CP

I know it's just a ladder, but what about the danger of the approach? Has anyone ever fallen from an antenna while climbing? I think I'm in okay climbing shape, but I still find my muscles fatiging after about 1200 feet of ladder climbing. If a person was in bad shape or really scared, I could see how they could have a greater risk of falling. Just wondering... CP

ha, ha... just can't wait any longer to heal can you?! good idea to jump into the water - just be careful you don't have to kick the object. cheers, cp

I agree with hobbes4star on this one... I always drive faster after skydiving. I think I always drive to the same level of safety based on my percieved awareness. After jumping I feel my awareness is heightened and I process and react to things much faster - so I can speed up and maintain the same safety margin. It's not just after jumping though, some days you're just "on" more than others. The speed limits take none of this into account. If I drive the speed limit I find my awareness drifting around until soon, I'm not even paying attention to the road because it's too easy to process everything. Pick up the speed and I must focus on what's going on much more closely until all of my resources are being used to make sure I'm driving safely (and not passing any coppers). In this way I feel that to a certain limited extent, my safety, and the safety of those around my car, increases as I go above the speed limit by 10-15 mph, after that I'm sure it starts to decline due to motor reflex speeds. What are all your thoughts on this? Am I crazy?

I can't help but be sort of skeptical about this page: http://www.executivechute.com/letters.html#Built%20On%20Proven%20Technology It seems to be that false sense of security issue - testimonials regarding paragliding saves are nice for selling paragliding reserves, but isn't the deployment going to be much different for a static line next to a building, not to mention all the oblects you can hit on the way down. Besides, I've seen so many websites offer "testimonials" for their products that are just plain made up by the programmer. I'd like to see people's full names and place of residence under testimonials like those, I think it would help the credibility of their claim. Does anyone know about how many of these escape systems have been sold? Blue Skies, CP

How can we ever actually measure the extent to which different concentrations of MJ effect our judgment, reaction time, etc... all the necessary things for a good skydive? How can we be certain all people react the same. And who has done these studies or talked to those researchers before making their judgment of the topic? I know that when I get all broken up and am hospitalized, they give me loads and loads of morphine and it does very little to help me. I've had them inject the the absolute max dose all at once and I didn't even get sleepy the pain actually got worse! I once had a friend who was a worldcup ski racer, he would get high before every race - said it helped him focus. He even went onto the olympics (drug free). Weed didn't seem to impair his abilities too much... But my sister, give her one puff and she's a looney! I think the biochemistry of individual human systems is far too complex at science's current understanding to form valid laws around. A law is only really valid in math. Would I jump with a so called stoner? I think it depends on my prior experiences with that person - While I would definitely be wary and exercise more caution, I also know I skied with one who was always faster and safer than I could ever be sober, so perhaps the same applies here. Just my .02 USD Craig

I've always enjoyed the way Philip at Eloy works things - he seems to be strick enough to provoke drive and desire, but laid back enough that everyone stays happy and has fun. I remember jumping with his groups when I had very few jumps and skills - he created formations I could hang with and pushed me to try new things, but not at the expense of the more experienced skydiver's fun. I must not be the only person who feels this way, or he wouldn't still be there. Maybe go around jumping at the different DZ's that have stuff like this and see what you like best. You could write it off as a business expense? Cheers, Craig

I've got one of those too, and have also shot the sorriest excuses for ammunition through it until I'm poor. As far as reliability (number of rounds fired before malfunction) I'd rate it the same as my Sig Sauer brand new, after both had fired 10,000 rounds better than the sig, and after more than 5,000 rounds without cleaning, both start screwing up bad. The first thing to wear out on my 92FS was the spring. The Sig still hasn't worn out any pieces (~15,000 rounds) but requires frequent cleaning. In accuracy, it's hands down to my Sig, while I can group 'em tight with the beretta, I do the same with my Sig 20 yards farther away. So: if you just like plinking and mass firing, go with the beretta - it's a good range toy. If you want to save you life and only shoot your weapon for occasional practice - get something that's got a tighter chamber, it'll be more accurate and as long as it's clean and you've got good ammo - reliability is fine. Take all this with a pound of salt - I'm not a cop, military or anything else - I just like shooting handguns. Craig

I've actually seen this in real life - the airforce does it often when they're training for their four-way event. cp

a guy i know takes his rig to the car wash and sprays it with the wand set on rinse. high pressure blasts dirt right off! ?

Hi, Did anyone ever complete a composite analysis of the World Base Fatality List? Sort of grouping the accidents by their most likely cause. I started looking at it and thought it would be better assembled by someone with more experience. Some people said a while ago that Tom was working on something like this... http://www.dropzone.com/forum/Related_Sports_C5/The_BASE_Zone_F22/Fatality_Analysis_P269370/ If anyone has something like this I'd love to take a look! Thanks, cp

are you implying that you're a completely law abiding citizen? do you always keep your corvette under the speed limit? i think there is a time and place for every law, as well as one to break them. yes, but think about how many MORE sites there are that are'nt legal. If Montana was the only place that still had no speed limits, would you drive all the way up there just to speed? cp

would you need a hot suit for your rig? or is the nylon of the canopy and container safe from the current?