aztechalo

It's been so long I can't remember. Thanks ahead of time. M

I've been out of the scene for a while now and have given up to the dream of getting back in , so I've decided to sell the gear that's been sitting in my closet for 3 years. I've advertised here of course, but are there other sites that work well? My Google search turned up a bunch of crap that doesn't apply and I have a short attention span when it comes to research. Thanks, M

Nice pictures. Glad to have his body out of my barn and back in the air where he belongs. Blue skies, baby. "We'll just link knees and exit as a sit fly. We'll figure out the rest from there" (Classic dive planned in the plane and particurally funny if you ever saw him try any sort of flying that wasn't RW. Exit looked like 2 monkeys and a football.) "I got fives and tens"

I can't believe no one talked about this: When choosing the kind of weights, you have to decide how much stress you want to put on your body, particuarly when you're walking around on the ground. Belts are generaly harder on women's bodies. The weights sit across your hips, stresing your core muscles and your lower back. It also causes your back to arch more when you're in the air. If you're flexable to begin with this is really going to be a problem. It's almost a guarantee that you will have sciatic nerve problems and lower back pain. You have a better chance with a vest. I would recomand buying the tightest vest that you can. If the weights are swinging, it forces your body to work extra hard to compensate for that. The spine and supporitng mucles are constantly rebalancing. Also get a vest where the weights are high on your chest/back. It allows a greater area of the skeleton to absorb that weight. The other option is to get weights sown into your container, if you own your gear (an as you'r a small person I'm guessing you've already bought your own gear, rental gear is a nightmare). The up side of container weights is that you are guaranteed to take your weights of as soon as you drop your rig and you won't carry that weight around with you. On the other hand you will always have to jump with that weight. I have to say, weights changed that way I jumped. I already owned the tightest jump suit on the planet but when you're so light weight, it doesn't change things. I didn't notice any problems with my canopy controll (more then the usual). I was flying a sabre 150 and my exit weight was just higher then yours is going to be with weight. I just put on the vest and jumped the first time without considering how it would change my canopy controll, which in retrospect may not have been smart but I was in the hands of experts, so what's was a newbie ot do? Good luck with the weights, it'll make your life so much easier.

I understand your pain. As a once tiny student, I would be the last person down on every load and could have landed the 175-210 canopies that the DZ had to rent, without flairing, so the urge to buy my own and down size was strong. At 13 jumps I bought my own gear (with leg straps that fit!) The rig I bought had a 135 in it but once I did the math for my exit weight, I was at 135 and decided I was not the kink of flier who was ready for that. I found someone to trade with me who also had a Sabre but hers was a 150 and she was ready to downsize. After trying hers out I decided it would be more then enough canopy for me. It was faster but not dangerous, the openings were nice (even for a Sabre), and I felt safe. So take that story however you will but my recomendation is that you test fly canopies from largest to smaller. And find someone to coach you as you learn. I had someone on radio for my first 5 flights or so (then again, I was an exceptionally bad canopy pilot). Good luck.

Do you know who? I haven't had a chance to talk to his mom, due to my work schedule. (and I feel really bad about it) I know at least one friend from NC has expressed an interest, to me, about coming out here for this celebration. Marsha

I would like to try to put together a little west coast celebration on behalf of Sam, for those of us that missed out on the NC deal. I'm sure most everyone would like to do it at a drop zone, but seeing as I'm out of touch with the skydiving community, these days, I don't have the resources. Sam (as you may already know) has taught at Hollister, Monterey, and Byron. If anyone has the ability to set up a day we can use one of these drop zones (I'm thinking BBQ and jumps) I would love to talk to you. If we can't use a drop zone, the beach in Santa Cruz was one of if not the favorite place for Sam to be. That I can set up and get permits for. If anyone is interested or wants to help out you can e-mail me... aztechalo at yahoo.com Thanks, Marsha "I got fives and tens"

Does anyone know where I can find a good weight vest? I'm a small woman and I must have weights that sit up off my lower back. I would really like a vest that has the weights in the back of the vest but I can't find someone who makes them (but I have heard of them). If you know of a manufacturer or just a skydiving seamstress who makes vests let me know. AZ