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Jerry is in residence at Skydive Hawaii and looking and doing very well. SCR-21

Does anyone know where I can find a free chart or illustrations of freefly hand signals? SCR-21

Here is mine from Taft and Arvin in the really good old days, I was put out by the colorful Don Molitar D95, and was fortunate to be led along by the Arvin Good Guys. never let wishes take the place of deeds SCR-21

Was he wearing some kind of harness underneath his shorts that the other guy attached to? If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't of believed it. Amazing! SCR-21

You can check out lots of backtracking at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=2ua91 SCR-21

I saw the video and this is really terrible, his swoop wasn't that radical, even in student mode I don't see how the vigil fire can be justified-this is deadly serious-i will never jump a rig with a vigil, period. This thing shouldn't of fired-I don't see how the jumper could possibly be at fault, it din't fire in freefall, he didn't open low, it detonated seconds before touchdown, watch the video. What if it had fired when he was on the step. Adriann Nicolas was going fast when his cypress fired, this guy was going relatively slow. SCR-21

The "Sitfly" and "Backfly" videos from Skydive University are a surefire shortcut to progressing in freeflying-believe me-watching them a hundred times is worth at least a hundred jumps stumbling around without a clue about whats your doing. They are a gift from the gods. SCR-21

You actually look pretty good. If you want to achieve a shallower angle and go faster, arch your back more and bring your feet together, point your toes, and bring your hands into your body. You can see plenty of back tracking at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=2ua91 keep up the good work. SCR-21

Thank you for your many insights into the sport. I think that the crucial factor responsible for the loss of members to the sport is we no longer jump together as much as we used to. This deterioration began with competitive rw, and accelerated with free flying. In the early 60's we mostly all wanted to do the same thing, get into a big round star, the bigger the better. At the end of the day, most of us had jumped together. Now, most people at out dz have never jumped even once with even half the people that show up. There are many reasons why. In free flying large groups of different skill levels are often prohibitively dangerous or zoo dives, because basic freeflying is just to darn difficult for most jumpers to pick up in a couple of hundred jumps, and so many newbies attempt to progress in freeflying before learning the the basics of rw-because they think rw is uncool. And many freeflyers with thousands of jumps have difficulty getting into a larger rw formation, so they would rather not attempt it. Years ago it was a big deal just to jump, to be a jumper. Now I think many people quit because they get discouraged, or get tired of jumping solo, or always jumping with the b team. Maybe requiring the last load of the day to be an inclusive big way is a step in the right direction. I'm as guilty as anybody else about jumping with the same people. But I've discovered that a safe big way track or no pressure larger rw blot is often the most fun jump of the day. If you make it mandatory, then folks will sharpen their skills to get into their slot. As Jack Jeffries said, “It is all play, all of it”, and it’s more fun to play together. SCR-21

I uploaded "Stack Tracking in Hawaii" We're weekend jumpers having a blast tracking over the prettiest view in the world, you can find it at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=2ua91 I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. Aloha SCR-21

I posted some tracking video "Stack Tracking in Hawaii" at: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=guestpass&id=88fys We are all just weekend jumpers having a blast! This is the first time I've tried to upload video, so let me know if it works. SCR-21

QuoteGot Video? Yes, we have tons of video, I've made a video called "Stack Tracking", I will let you know when I figure out how to post it on skydivingmovies.com. We will try feet first tracking, I'le let you know how it goes. Thanks SCR-21

racing with the leader on his back, we often get 80 seconds or more from 14,000 ft, our best so far on the protrack is 84 seconds, and thats with the leader only wearing shorts and a t shirt, and pulling legal, we've got our vertical descent down to around 100, we've been working on flying a tight vertical diamond just like the blue angels, very fine tunining-some would say this is boring, because the object is to not move, and get in as close as you can, if you rub, you can crash the whole enchalada, pretty much fun... SCR-21

Nice, especially the first one, thanks for sharing those. Tim SCR-21

"Backflying" and "Sitflying" from Skydive University are the best I've seen, they are excellent. It amazes me that so many new freeflyers at our DZ do not study these vids, it seems like they prefer to hurtle themselves out the door repeatedly, spend all kinds of money, without a clue about how to make a stable, consistent, on heading exit, or how to fall straight down. It is like having never having been in a car and fubling with the nobs for hours trying to go somewhere, when if you spent 10 minutes reading the manual, you would discover where to put the shift lever to go forward, backward, and up and down. I did the same thing when I was learning windsurfing, I fell down 3 thousand times, then I checked a book out of the library about windsurfing, it had directions and pictures, and within 10 minutes of looking at the illustrations, I was up and away. In my opinion, if you watch these videos 10 times, you will safe yourself several hundread jumps on your way to proficientcy. Aloha, Tim SCR-21

We often play in a fast track right above the leader of the track, who is on his back, right above the leader, there is a compression wave you can ride and actually take a hand dock with the leader while your feet are in the burble that trails back from the leader at about a 45 degree angle. You need to be directly above the leader, if you slip back a couple of inches you fall fully into the burble and take out yourself and the leader, it's great fun. SCR-21

Thank you so much, with VLC, it worked just fine. Outbreak is one of the best freefly videos I've ever seen, terrific job Mr. Carpenter, and the routine at the end was fabulous, thanks again. SCR-21

I must be doing something wrong, I've downloaded it 3X in the lg format and I can't get it to open or play on anything including windows media player on my pc, I've downloaded other videos from tht same site with no problems. SCR-21

I just watched the new sitfly video put out by Skydive University, WOW! It is the best video on sitflying I could ever imagine, it is highly professional in it's production values, comprehensive, and packs a wealth of information that every aspiring sitflyer must have. I believe it will safe you hundreds of jumps on your way to learning how to fly feet down, it is amazing beyond belief. Congratulations to the team that put together this superb DVD, GREAT JOB! You can find it at www.skydiveu.com It is simply called SITFLY, for the new skydiver the companion video BACKFLY is also very good, and boy can they fly! Aloha, Tim SCR-21

Probably one of the best things out there to learn basic positions is Trace 101 by Babylon, it is easily obtainable. You have to ignore the promotions and the french smugness, but the part about basic moves is very good, and the form of these flyers is awesome, it is not the greatest ideal guide for students of freefly, but you can learn alot from it. Also Olavs Spacegames 10, if you can find it, has a wonderful section on basic freefly moves. One of the best things you can learn from Pat Works book is the inportance of relaxing. Hope this helps. Aloha, Tim SCR-21

some recent pics SCR-21

Sounds like a great party, I wish I could of been there. I haven't seen any of these terrific people for 35 years. Is anyone besides John still jumping? Aloha, Tim SCR-21 SCR-21

When I was 16 in the 60,s I was working as a gass boy, I only had a few jumps, and I was gassing Don Molitors twin beech at Van Nuys airport, Loy Brydon was preparing to jump out of the beech, and I knew he was one of the most famous skydiviers in the world, he was on a bill borad for an ad in times square, in magazines and all that. Well, I couldn't believe it, it was a hot day, he had all his gear on, and he began running around the area doing ballet turns, and singing, at that moment I knew skydivers were different, everybody was laughing and he was putting on a show, 40 years later I an glad to hear he's still kicking, and sky divers are still different. SCR-21

Not using a jump suit will help, shorts and a tee shirt will do. So many beginning light freeflyers spend money on nice looking suits that only slow them down and really make it hard for them to keep up the speed. SCR-21

When I started jumping the norm was accuracy and style, fortunately I fell in with the outlaw rw crowd and had a blast. I believe one of the greatest attractions of this sport is that it is so damn hard to do anything really well. Most free flyers I meet with less than thousands of ff jumps have never been in a 4 way sit with toes touching and held it for at least 5 seconds, sounds simple, they can't do it, head down, forget it. We experimented this past year with a series of 6 ways going flat and making a round star for the first point, then transitioning to a sit. The majority of the free flyers, some with 2 thousand jumps, were pathetic on their bellies, they didn't have a clue as to how to dive and approach a formation and make a no momentum dock. The concept of flying your slot with discipline and staying on heading is completely alien to them. There is no improvement without discipline. I think "wanna be free flyers" should master the rudiments of flat flying first if only to learn how to do something in the sport really well, like how to be perfectly stable and not move, while falling straight down. The first thing you learn in a helicopter, and perhaps the most difficult skill to master, is to hover. Most weekend free flyers don't know how to hover on any axis. The thing I miss most about flat flying is big ways. At most small dzs it's almost impossible to find enough competent freeflyers to safely attempt, let alone accomplish, anything bigger than a 5 way, it is at ours. SCR-21