murphyka

It's that time again!!! Get your bumpers on and show 'em what you've got!

The 3rd Annual 4-way Scrambles is scheduled for Saturday, February 25th at Skydive Spaceland. Everyone with a license is invited to participate. Whether you have thousands of jumps or just got off student status. Freeflyers are encouraged to attend!

Past competions have been a BLAST and we want this year to be even better!! Email me at [email protected] or send me a PM if you are interested and plan to attend. Please include your name, email address, phone number and number of jumps.

See you at the Scrambles!!
Kimmy

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to get the word out to all jumpers that the 3rd Annual 4-way Scrambles Competition has been scheduled for Saturday, February 25th at Skydive Spaceland. Please mark your calendars and plan for some fun!

This is a great way to get newer jumpers involved in the discipline and keep our RW pool of jumpers thriving! Please encourage as many new jumpers to participate.

I will post more information when it becomes available. If you plan to attend, please email me at [email protected] or send me a PM.

Thanks!

Mykel,

We will all be thinking of you at Spaceland as you recover and make your way back into the air. You have a wonderful passion for the sky and it shows in what you say and do.

Even if you are not in the plane over the next few months I am sure that we will all hear you shouting, "Have fun bellyfliers!!" as only you can.

My thoughts and prayers are with you during the surgery and recovery. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything.

I have also received an email from this person interested in buying a canopy.

Thanks for the jumps, Eric. I had a great time this weekend jumping with everyone. You are doing great!

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He'll even be a "test drop dummy" on skydives. "We need you to fly this slot so that we can work on so & so."

Let's just say - yes, generous and BRAVE (he still jumps with me on occasion)

Jim is definitly "one in a million". He has helped our 8-way team out in more ways than you can count and never complained once when we made him creep 20 times in a weekend.

Thanks Jim for all of your contributions to SPX8 this year. I hope you will be joining us this Sunday for our jump.

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I am worried that I will not have my gear before the next tunnel camp. It will break my heart if I can't go because of my gear. Well I guess I could go and
get the tunnel time but no BIG SKY time. The tunnel camp includes 10 jumps at skydive arizona right? I also need to get my yellow card signed off. I have done everything except one. I also need to get my log book signed off. I didn't know I needed signatures for all my jumps up till 500. Nobody told me that as a student. Maybe I should read the SIM!

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Don't worry if you don't have your gear yet. The jumps are an added feature to the tunnel camp and are not what you are REALLY there for. You are there to refine or build the skills that will translate into the air.

If all else fails, you can probably find someone who will be able to lend you a rig or you can rent one at AZ if they are available.

You are going to have a blast!!! AND you will develop great friendships in the process!

Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

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(Kim, I'll keep him away from the dark side for a little while and stay on my belly with him...at least for a couple jumps)

Damn, I thought that belly flying was the dark side!

Walt

It would depend on who you are talking to....

Hey Eric ~ Congratulations on your SCR! The jump was alot of fun (5-point 15-way). We were all so excited for you.

I could tell that you were a little overwhelmed by the number of people in the air, but that is normal. You did a great job.

Now.....let's talk about Tunnel Camp!

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Please don't go completely to the Dark Arts just because you can't find anyone else to jump with this early (awiaiting flame storm for this comment )

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No need for flames...I completely agree with you!!

Eric, come find me if you are looking for someone to jump with. I am there every weekend. I do mostly RW and think that it is important to learn skills on your belly first before jumping straight to freeflying. (JMO - it takes less time to catch on to freeflying after building solid RW skills).

Blue Skies!!!
Kimmy

Angela purchased two ~ thirty day parking passes that allow unlimited entrance and exits. This is much better than $8 per trip to the hospital.

Angela is looking into the best way to set up a fund for the Estrada family. This will be an expensive journey for his family. I am sure that there will have to be multiple expensive alterations to their house to accomodate the equipment that will be needed.

I am sure that once the fund is set up, Angela will let everyone know. Until then, if you would like to contribute, please send Angela an email and she will send a PayPal invoice for the amount that you would like to give.

This is a very worthy cause. Rico has a small daughter and is also raising a teenager (who I believe is his nephew). They also need our support right now.

Above all, prayer is free and much needed right now.

Good luck with that one!!!

I have to be careful what I say or do around my roommie now....

His spoon for "stirring the pot" is too big already.

You will generally hear coaches tell the point of the formation that they want to try to get back into the plane just after exit (i.e.sit up with feet on your but to backslide into the plane)

Our team has been told time and time again that you should be able to have a conversation with your clone during a skydive. I have been flying with the same clone in 4-way and 8-way for a little over a year now and it is amazing how much communicating you can do just through your eyes. Heck, we decide where the group is going to dinner during the middle of a jump.

Dom hit the nail on the head...your attitude is going to rub off on your teammates. Go back and read some of your posts and think how you would feel if this were them talking about you.

In order for your team to progress, it would be a good idea for you all to sit down and have a meeting about your goals for the year. Has this already happened or did you just decide to throw the team together and went right to jumping?

You need to talk about each person's goal and the collective team goals...right there you will find out if the 4 of you are suited to be teammates. Next, talk about how you are expecting to achieve the goal, time, money, committment. If there are discrepencies, you need to come to a comprimise.

It sounds to me that your team did not come to team consensus on anything, especially since you have split the team down the middle according to jump #'s. Remember: jump numbers is just the accounting system that tells you how many times you have left the plane. It says nothing about a person's personal ability in the air. Don't handicap a person just because they have less jumps than you.

I also agree that an exit with grips on a chest strap is not the most stable way to exit the plane. Arm and leg harness grips are a much more stable way to get out. Remember, in the door, you are already in a funnel. Each one of you need to figure out where you are going to put yourself to get out of that funnel. It is a team effort. It is a good idea to nail one exit successfully. If you were to try a Meeker exit which is a structurally stable exit, you can easily transition to alot of the formations from there.

This has really been a great thread. I hope that you take some of these pointers and share them with your teammates. I wish your team success and fun.

Daveb, I saw some training tapes of your team last weekend when Samer and Chris were here at Spaceland. It looks great and looks like you all are having fun. (I see that you still haven't committed to the team haircut yet!)

I'm wondering what positions you have your two less experienced jumpers in?

It seems to me that there are some things that all of you can do to help the guy out that has the fall rate issues. Is this guy flying inside/outside center? Those two positions usually set the fall rate of 4-way. If he is in the center and is constantly trying to slow down for the others, then maybe the other 3 of you could help him out by strapping on some lead. It is difficult for someone with little experience to control heading when all they are thinking about is correcting fall rate.

Better eye contact could also help the problem.

As far as exits go, you could consider doing an exit camp where you do hop n pops and practice nothing but exits.

Good luck with your team!

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LOL!!! I know one guy who had the unfortunate experience of "flying on the net" verrry shortly after having blinged up his wee wee with some 'jewelry' - it hurt him too!!

HMMMMM....I know exactly who you are talking about ....Bwahahahahaha!!!!!

Wouldn't you like to know:13:2

10 SPX8 training jumps (Thanks Jim for joining...The slot is calling your name!!!!) 1 awesome 19-way for my 500th jump and Larissa's (teammate) 400th with a bunch of friends and mentors and 1 fun hybrid with Anomaly and Spaceland freeflyers...whew! still laughing about that exit. 1 training jump yesterday but then the weather shut us down.

Owe beer for brand new canopy and 1st time to do 12 jumps in a day!

Shari is a perfect example of the amount of teaching and learning that goes on at Spaceland...It is phenomenal the progress the she has made due to experienced jumpers who have offered her advice AS WELL AS her putting herself out there as someone who WANTS to learn something and PURSUED it.

Hats off to you Shari!

I think the "Jump with a Newbie" idea is wonderful. Everyone needs to realize that it takes both the experienced jumpers willingness to teach AND the newbies willingness to learn that amounts to this idea working.

IMHO, Spaceland is one of the best places to get that kind of learning!

I agree with Conway...

How do you think half the skydivers got to the point where they are right now...it wasn't by doing alot of solos and two ways with other people off student status.

There are tons of experieced jumpers at "your" dz who do it every weekend (that they aren't training)...i.e. Jim, Conway, Anomaly, Blanton, Tom....and the list goes on..

Yep, unfortunately I haven't had the best of luck with buying used canopies sooooo....the Brand New Stiletto will be arriving tomorrow just in time for training on Saturday.

I agree that the ribs are the longest to heal.

I had a seriously hard opening three weeks ago that blew out two cells in my Stiletto (which I had bought only 25 or so jumps before). I sent it to PD and they condemned the canopy.

The worst part of that story is that they guy that sold it to me failed to mention that he had just got the canopy back from PD after having a hard opening and blowing a cell. Having known that little peice of info, I would probably not have purchased that one.

Luckily, when I contacted him, he made the situation better by agreeing to pay me half of my money back.

I second that...

Here's a pic of mine->

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Those chicks aren't supposed to whoop up if they don't have their Aggie Rings, they're supposed to whoop down like the rest of the juniors.

Don't worry Dave, I gave them privileges!

I break out into hives when I drink every once in a while. It mostly happens when drinking rum. If the first drink is too stiff, oops, there they go. It looks like someone has grabbed me around my neck and tried to strangle me. Benadryl tablets usually help.

If it's stress, I think you should come jump this weekend, it will do wonders for relieving it. Plus, we haven't seen you in a while and everyone will be there for the Halloween Boogie.

Smiles!
Kim