wildchild

Congrats on finishing your FFC and your suit purchase! All of the advice here is great, and you're good at doing your homework so I have no doubt we're going to see you progress safely and with huge enjoyment. Anytime you're headed up to Joburg, give me a shout and I'm more than happy to do some jumps with you working on acro basics. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Damn that was ages ago!! Correct. I was finishing my student progression at that boogie :-). Will never forget that first KingAir jump from 12500 ft when I had never been higher than 8000 or so in our little Cessna... ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Thanks all ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

I preceded this post with the obligatory forum search, and have failed to come up with very much info... So, does anyone know what the current unofficial or official records are for a docked line (or other docked wingsuit formation)? ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

7 years today.... we still miss you like it was yesterday and will raise a glass to you together tonight. "Blue Skies. This sport glows brightly, and burns incomparably beautiful images into our memories. That brightness comes at a very high cost. It's the lives of our friends, the blood and the bones of our sky family. That's the dark side, the Black Death. There is no one without the other." A few days after doing our wingsuit course, I obviously changed my profile and got this pm from t: "Haha! You put Wingsuit flight up as your 1st choice! You must have it BAD!". Yes - I got it, and still have it bad, thanks to you - our dirty nylon crack dealer. Thank you for giving me the gift of wingsuiting - something that makes me happier than pretty much everything else! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

WOW!!! When I grow up I want to fly my wingsuit like that..... ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Now if you were a REAL skydiver, you'd have figured out how to get the insurance payout in cash so that you can spend it on more gear ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

(Reply to no-one in particular) - and a very late arrival to this! Where's the option for sex before the first date? You know...that one where you somehow end up doing it with a good friend, and the dating and relationship stuff only starts happening AFTER a whole lot of good sex? Come to think of it, I don't think I've been on a date with my current boyfriend yet! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Good stuff...at the end of the day you're the only one who can make the decision. Also, pm ianmdrennan (mod on here) who has exactly the same metal, and whose doc had a different opinion. Good luck either way! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Well, I had the rod inside the tibia (can't remember the fancy name!) with 2 screws: one in the front of the ankle, and one in the side, just below the knee. Original break was Feb last year, so it had been in for 18 months. I had the ankle screw removed in October, just before I started jumping again, because it was hampering the movement in my ankle by aggravating the tendon and causing pain. It was a minor procedure, with immediate relief (went from significant limp to no limp in 2 days). I had a lot of talks with the doc about removing the rest of the hardware, and his opinion was that if you're at risk of breaking it again, it can complicate the break should this happen. General rule of thumb for him was for over 30's, the risk of breaking was lower and didn't warrant removal, but under 30's he generally would recommend. Mitigating circumstances for over 30's being 'continuing with a lifestyle that may be conducive to future injuries'. The operation itself was nowhere near as bad as I expected - booked in early morning, went into theatre about 8.30 am and was signed out of hospital before lunchtime - and I managed to walk out on my own without crutches or anything. It's now a week later, and there's a decent amount of bruising, but hardly any swelling and I've been reasonably mobile - although the doc booked me off work for the week just in case (surgery did involve opening up the knee after all). So tomorrow I have the staples out, and it's back to work on Monday. Oh, and the most important part: I'm only booked off jumping for 4 weeks ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Well, after doing a decent spiral fracture (tib/fib) last year February, I had the nail and screws out on Thursday.... And, after expecting the worst, it wasn't that bad after all! Doc reckons 4 weeks off jumping, and I'm already walking nearly normally. Obviously there's swelling if I overdo it, but I was expecting a few weeks back on crutches. Yay! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

That is WAY cool! But hold on....does that mean that wingsuiting was not, in fact, invented by any of the dz.com wingsuit god wannabes?? ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Sigh....we miss you t. Sometimes the good ones just run out of luck I suppose. And thanks for sharing a lot of your 'stupid shit' stories with us while you were here. They've helped save my ass on several occasions. Blue skies. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

It is official: I am jealous as all hell of you all!!. I want to go too!!!! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Advice? Make sure you go and jump with the awesome people down in Cape Town - they rock ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Oh trust me it was better..... Although there was nothing wrong with jumping the Porter with the cool foreigners ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

And a pic from Alex from one of our jumps - part of the flock! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Is this better? Pic from Bruce. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

So we did some kickass wingsuiting at the AFFC . I think one of the most fun jumps was Alex and the three girls (Taya, Celeste and myself). Celeste's commentary went something like this: "Alex was on his back and the two girls were just below me all over him and touching him and I just wanted to be there too!!!" The 'baton' passing jump with Rolf was also seriously super cool... All in all a good time. Now back to work and reality. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Ok, so it wasn't a FFC, but the usual pic! Recognise the guy on the right? ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Wow! That's absolutely amazing. Any idea who the sponsor is so that we can send a note of appreciation? Or was it anonymous? ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

Yay I get to post this again!! :-) :3:1 Back in the air exactly 9 months after breaking..Three jumps, and first recurrency ever. In almost 4 years. And it was damn sweet! ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

I just came across an email I got from Tonto a few months back.... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 12 April 2007 05:00 To: Tamsyn Souchon Subject: Re: Injuries suck At the root of it all.. This is a dangerous game. People die all the time. People break all the time. We all have dead friends, and we all have broken friends. Sometimes its just your turn. Luck counts. Keep teaching safety. Learn what you can. Take your chances. There are no garentees in this life. Now smile. Blue Skies, t ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

It just won't sink in that he's gone. It's the little things that tell you the most about a person. When he, Marais and Bernard came to KZN to do our wingsuit course last year, it was freezing, and there was a tiny foreign girl doing a tandem. Without even thinking he took off his gloves and gave them to her. That same weekend I did one of my all time favourite skydives with him. It was my 4th wingsuit jump, and there were a couple of us on the load. I was flying base, and he flew up next to me, and with that big Tonto grin on his face kept on edging up the pace without me realising it. We flew sub 60 on that jump, and it made my weekend. And I think he was more excited than I was. That was the thing with t....he was always so incredibly bubbly when someone got something that he was sharing with them. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto

I am totally gutted. There are no words. So much to say and no way to say it. ____________________________ "If there is doubt, there is no doubt." - Tonto