kallen

Yep, have you gotten yours yet? That one came from the jump on Saturday before the Beach Boys Concert. We landed heading away from the monument, (180 to the Tuesday jump). Karen printed a few for us as soon as we got back Saturday. One of the advantages of jumping at the host dz. BTW, I really appreciate all the folks who had to travel to be part of this event. It couldn't have been done without you. I hope we get to do something similar real soon.

I gotta get me one those big ol' flags. I believe they're in more pictures than the "USA" formation

First, welcome back and second, you are not alone. I too laid off early in my career, twice, and had to do recurrency training. It is well worth the effort. The USPA SIM says that for recurrency after 90 days, for your "B" license, you "should make at least one jump under the direct supervision of a USPA Instructor until demonstrating the ability to safely exercise the privileges of that license." I say, do whatever they require you do and get back in the air!

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the replies. I knew that you guys would know. Keith

I saw a T-Shirt at our DZ yesterday with what looked like an eye and the words "Anticipating 4:20" printed over it. Gotta be my age but, I just didn't get it. Can someone please tell me what that means? Thanks.

Quote why wasn't the USA dive,,, designed so that it could be read,,,, from the ground....???? Excellent question. We asked ourselves the same thing several times. A few of us even engineered a 2nd point so it would read correctly from the ground. But as we looked at the value of each orientation we concluded that the picture of the formation against a background of the memorial and grounds was more valuable than the live shot that relatively few people would have seen from the ground. Because the names of the 100 Heroes of Aviation were being read while we were in freefall, we could not call attention to the formation and besides, how many non-skydivers can follow a single freefall formation with a video person from exit to break-off at 5500' while 4 airplanes and 100 skydivers are in the air at the same time? Anyway, that's kinda what our team captain said so we said, "yes sir" and did what we were told.

I do. I'll PM you.

I know the organizers do but I'm not sure we could get it for this forum. Given all the folks that were there from USPA I imagine that it will get a lot of attention in Parachutist Magazine. Here is a picture of this jumper receiving his Gold Wings and Badge. Note Roger Ponce, BJ Worth, Chris Needles, Me, Bill Ottley, Glenn Bangs, Bill Booth.

QuoteAt 4000 feet I fired my smoke canister Hey Johnny, wasn't that your FIRST jump with smoke? Uh huh, I believe we collectively owe 100 cases of beer. What an awesome weekend.

I'm in. As I understand it, a smaller demo group is scheduled before the Beach Boys Concert on Saturday and the 100-way is scheduled for Tuesday. There is still a lot of work to do on the Tuesday event which may be why the website doesn't have us posted yet.

I hope this helps but I have battled a little bit of motion sickness over the years, sea sickness on an ocean fishing trip and motion sickness on some theme park rides and it appears to me as if it is nature and not nurture. My 8yo son does not have it but my 13yo daughter does. I don't know if continually subjecting yourself to the conditions will "cure" it but I have found something that helps: Look at the ground. I have found that looking directly at the ground while you execute canopy spirals or when the pilot cranks a big turn in the airplane seems to help me a lot. I believe that the ground reference reminds your brain that your body is in motion. Of course, before you initiate canopy spirals, be sure to check the air around, above and below you for other canopy traffic to make sure you don't spiral down into someone or their flight path.

I did 6 before freefall and ended up with 11 through recurrency and SL JM training. I'd do another tomorrow. I ain't skired of 'em.

***If you're wearing a closed face helmet, you'd have to be REALLY hard of hearing to not hear an audible. Nullified, Now that you mention it, I was jumping a frap hat when I bought my first audible and since I switched to a full face I have had no problem hearing it. I'm glad you brought that up, not only am I hard of hearing but I can't remember s*#t either.

I totally understand your concern and I am just representative of my own experience and the experience of coaching my wife through AFF and 160 jumps, but we both experienced the same thing. It's the sensory overload thing. If you condition yourself to pull at a visual stimuli, (altimeter) we found that you must actively listen for the audible in the first few jumps to even hear it. After you hear it a couple of times, you begin to associate it with "time to track away (or pull)" and soon it becomes automatic. But you gotta remember that audibles, like visual altimeters, are not infalible. You also need to condition yourself to timing and the 'ground picture" to make sure that you pull on time. That's just my opinion. Can anyone else help us here?

1998, Jump #300 onto the topless beach, Playa Del Carmen. Thanks, Michel @ Skydive Cancun!

I can't speak to the exact decibles in freefall but I can tell you not to be surprised that, no matter which audible that you choose, you probably will not hear it on the first couple of jumps that you use it. It's almost as if you must tune yourself into it, like to teach yourself to listen for it. At least, that's what I found. Good Luck.

Hope you have better luck than me. I just got my new Safire II last week, 12 weeks after placing the order.

John, Just my .02 but I found it easier to practice with and ultimately do the required pre-declared jumps with the canopy I was most familiar with. For me it was my 170 Zero P that I have 600+ jumps on. I have a Fury in the closet if I ever have a tight landing demo but I put the 170 in a stadium demo twice in July this year. Of course we had excellent crowd control and the entire field to ourselves. If you can consistently stick the Triathlon in the peas then I would stay focused on obtaining the rating on it. Then stay current on the Startrac and jump it when the demo conditions require it.

Anyone have any news on how the TSR is progressing? I had an opportunity to go but I had to call in scared... ...'fraid I can't make it.