gjhdiver

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Everything posted by gjhdiver

  1. Certainly. In describing my belief system, it refers to an absense of a belief in any single or multiple supernatural agencies, afterlife, or grand plan. I believe that we are all there is, and ultimatley we only answer to each other. My personal belief is that religion is organized superstition, but I have no more problem with a religious person than I do with someone who believes in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. It's only when said person tries to foist their beliefs upon me, or enact their favorite superstition into public policy that I lose patience with them. I'd prefer my boogies free and clear of that nonsense, but if there was a tent there, I'd just ignore it, as long as the favor is returned.
  2. QuoteI would attend, and have fellowship with others. I think it would not be such a "bad idea" at a drop zone or boogie. I'm sure the response(s) would be better than the responses here. Why on earth would you expect that ? This forum is as wide a representation of types as you're likely to see at any drop zone or boogie. I would imagine that the only people that would really be interested in this sort of thing are members of the CSA such as yourself. If that's the case, it's a complete waste of time to put up a tent to preach to the converted. You might as well just all hang together like all the other sub groups do. Pretty much every other grown up has already been presented with all the information anyway, and by the time that they're skydiving, has pretty much made up their mind about the whole thing. Now that I don't run a drop zone any more, I don't really care, because I wouldn't be availing myself of the service, but I can't think of a single drop zone that I jump at allowing it happen knowingly. Best of luck though.
  3. QuoteI'm interested in starting a ministry to skydivers at boogies similar to what Tribe of Judah does at Biker Rallies. Personally, as an confirmed atheist, I regard a Christian Ministry at a drop zone about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle. As the previous manager of Skydive City in Z Hills, I was actually approached about this and nixed the idea, and not because of my personal beliefs either. The reason was, that if I allowed a tent to be set up and even discrete proselytizing to take place, ther was no way that I was going to be able to honestly set that activity apart from the offical business of the drop zone. Also, the drop zone is an adult playground, and people go there at weekends to get away from things, let their hair down, and play, jump, drink, swear and get laid (if it's a good weekend). There was a church about every damn block in Z Hills if you wanted a nice pray of a Sunday, but I never saw much use in setting up a skydive booth in any of those either. If you're having a spiritual crisis that requires immediate triage, you probably shouldn't be at the drop zone or a boogie anyway IMHO. No matter how it's approached, religion is a divisive issue, and whilst some people might approve, there's going to be a lot of people of other or no faith that don't, and there's no real need to inject extra politics in most drop zones.
  4. Hey you lot - it's rude to talk about people as if they aren't here! Actually, you're both wrong. I know who's stalking Caroline. I believe he has a nice pink and white Teardrop container. Shall I give him your email address ?
  5. [ Not many people have as much experience as you either. Not many people have even 1000 let alone 7 thou... Well, it's true that I've spent a few hours in the air, but the planet doesn't care too much about that when it hits the fan. As I get older, and it takes me longer to heal from acts of stupidity, I actually get more conservative, not less, as the lessons stay with me longer. What I boil it down to is that you should take a long realistic look at your ability, training and general level of risk aversion, then make a gear selection based on the result. For me at 7000 jumps, I'd be confident in my 126/135 combo, but if I had 500, I'd not be using this particular setup. In fact, my first square reserve back then was a Raven I and a fine thing it was too. I even have the T Shirt to prove it
  6. Yup. Quite a few times. I've put a 113 down in nil winds, and a 143 into a very small clearing with no outs. The trick is to know how your reserves flies before you actually use it. I suggest PD's reserve demo program. I actually learned in the days of round canopies, and once you've put down a front mount unsteerable I24 and walked away, most everything is a step up from that in terms of controllability and landing.
  7. I'm tall and thin and want to reduce both the width and yoke diameter of my container. I'm getting a new Wings EXT W8-2 which is designed specifically for taller jumpers who use small canopies. It has a much flatter and more narrow profile, whilst being slightly longer. This means that it avoides the problem of having the pull located halfway up your back. I also like to wear my rig fairly loose, so the smaller the better. This is as small as I need to go to achieve the results that I'm looking for.
  8. And the front floater who fell off after 1 minute and 5 seconds. Any idea who that was John ?
  9. I jump a PD143R currently at an exit weight of 210 pounds, and I'm currently downsizing to a PD126R. The main reason is because of the sizing that I want to achieve on my container. Also, I have no doubts about my ability to land that canopy at anything but the highest elevations. I've landed much smaller reserves with no problem. It's all about risk management. I'm comfortable that I'm not exponentially increasing my risk because of the type of jumping I do, and the amount of experience that I have. I see no reason to carry extra weight and bulk into the air on every jump for the rare occaisions that I use the reserve. YMMV of course.
  10. Of course, it's all down to the plane captain you know. Tash's and Mary's plane captain must have been exceptionally talented, handsome, modest etc....