RedassSkychic

Swimmer's ear is an outer ear infection, so should not affect your ability to equalize your ear pressure. However, it sometimes progresses to an inner ear infection and then can become a problem. If it hurts to touch your ear its probably only an outer ear infection and shouldn't cause a problem.

If you keep alot of whole grains around, they will satisfy your craving for carbs, have more fiber and generally less calories than "enriched white flour" types. Triscuts are good and crunchy, and have no sweetners added.. only salt. Also the mini bags of low butter popcorn are good, only 100 calories and you can feel like you're eating a whole bag of popcorn (b/c you are)

I was under the impression that "sinking" a canopy was something done on old F-111 accuracy canopies. Do you mean going into brakes? This will shorten your final approach, but only if there is enough wind. Or stalling your canopy? not a good idea close to the ground. Am I missing something here? Can modern canopies "sink"?

wouldn't 3:33 have been more appropriate? Even worse.

Sounds like you have great altitude awareness. A useful tool to have! Good job keeping your head on straight during a high adrenaline situation.

It takes two generations - the first to be forced to a new approach, and the second to then see it as the norm. good point. How would you propose regulating more experienced jumpers? a similar chart that extends to greater jump numbers? Do most dropzones not have those sizes for students?

Hey! Jack Daniel's DID cause my alcoholism! "If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" --Steven Wright

Maybe if these kind of wingloadings/canopy sizes are enforced and taught early on, the attitude of these jumpers, when they become more experienced, will be different than the current attitude? That could take a long time though. It would be alot easier to change new jumper's attitudes than experienced jumpers; I think anyway. Maybe not Why do we have two threads on this topic?

I don't think this is really limiting smaller jumpers. There is a ton to be learned on a 135 within 500 jumps. I dont think its unreasonable to spend that number of jumps working on accuracy, landing in brakes, down wind, braked turns, etc, etc, even if you can't "progress" by swooping because of the riser pressure. We're not talking about forever, only 500 jumps which in my opinion is not very many, especially when talking about canopy piloting. That said, I am loading my 135 at 1.1:1, not .9. I also think a few more columns could be added to the right for the bigger boys.. wouldn't be too much trouble but might save some confusion. I see a fair amount of big boys with exit weight of 280 or more. Of course we could just extrapolate the chart ourselves. Looks pretty good to me

What are you saying, that they don't get drunk in other european countries? It is nice to be a lightweight; the other night at dinner I had one margarita and got a nice warm buzz going "If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?" --Steven Wright

Ha! No such luck! So I guess every conversation we have is gonna get posted on dz.com? I see how its gonna be! But really, he does only have fat around his middle, he doesn't have any body fat anywhere else. I think there might be negative body fat on his legs. I, on the other hand, have a nice thick layer everywhere. Helps keep me warm at night

Where your heart is

Frito-Lay has money...loads of it. Maybe they should start lobbying too. HaHa! The junk food coalition

Although a 1.1:1.0 wingloading may be a good wingloading for your experience, be sure to consider that a 149 is kindof a small canopy, and that may be a bigger factor than wingloading alone.

That one was scary! I went with them to six flags and they rode it three times... the first time I waited in line and then escaped out the other side before they went, the second time I didnt even wait in line but I finally went the third time. It was scary. but fun. It looks really scary when you're in line cause you can see the high dropoff

That would be cool if there are some meets there next year; that's about the only dropzone we might could get to w/o staying overnight. Except for Aggieland, that is

As has been said, flashing is good because it shows grips are broken. It is important for everyone to flash, not just the person who is keying. You want to try to do this close to the same time, because everyone must be broken before anyone grips for the next point. As to the key, I've found that a nod and flash at the same time works really well - its easy for everyone to see, including the judges. Its also easy to do, just takes a little coordination. The person who's keying should be your strongest (or one of) flyers and should be able to do things with their hands w/out moving. Please take this with a grain of salt as I have very limited 4-way experience

yeah, three of us have around 250-300ish jumps, and none of us have competed before; we're hyped!

don't worry, they aren't blue anymore, they're much closer to green

Yep! and we plan on kicking ass!! Thanks for the links

The difference between those sports and ours is that strength plays a much smaller role in skydiving than it does in basketball or soccer, etc. Also, height, weight and other body characteristics that seem to be different (in general) between males and females don't play as much of a role when you get in the air. This evens the playing field and gender truly doesn't matter, something I can't say for other sports. just wanted to point that out, not debate the issue

If its already past the 8th year, won't you only have to do one service on it? surely they wouldn't have you do two services in a row.. how does that work?

Sure, especially if you can get bunks in the bunkhouse that are right on top of each other. You can whisper sweet nothings to each other and not disturb too many others. Seriously, though, what if you combined it with a little getaway to a resort in Sedona or something like that? well, we have a limited budget. I'm thinking it would be worth camping to have more money to jump but that wouldnt be very romantic at all! except that we'd have to snuggle together to stay warm

AggieDave and I are thinking of going to the holiday boogie for our honeymoon! Not for sure yet though. I haven't decided if that would be romantic enough