snakeeater

are you referring to venezuela being part of the "axis of evil"? but you're right, leaving your country is dangerous. there be dragons.. @jakee: some even make chocolate and cheese.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

why not leave the U.S. for a week or two? Empuria has a nice x-mas boogie. the weather's usually shitty but tha atmosphere is unique. venezuela has better weather and cheap tickets. i'm sure there's plenty of other places around the globe.. of course only if they let you out.. http://sianews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3023 "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

we're not all bankers, you know. and if they teach it, they use the german names. but don't worry.. i'll find out, somehow. however.. looking forward to do some jumps in venezuela, soon "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

thanks for the hint. now, i only have to find out what wire transfer is.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

I'll be there at the same time. I think i talked to some jumpers from rio this february.. and yes, they do speak english. and after all, the green light is the same in all language ;-) @droquette: i'd be interested in seeing that video, too.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

well... you don't want to be robbed carrying three weeks skydiving in cash with you. considering venezuela not as safe as switzerland, i think that's something to think about.. any ways to transfer the money without using the "bank exchange rate"? i think iread something about "wire transfer" on the website.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

a perro-burger on the street or some salchipapas. all forr less than 50c maybe even some anticucho.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

Pollos Copacabana! 1/4 fried chicken with fries and platanos for less than $1.50.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

so where u goin'? does that mean you can't jump there? that would suck for sure.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

call it dog. i know someone who called his dog cow (vaca).. that animal is famous in the whole town.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

my left shoulder popped out while body-surfing (coming from a landlocked country..guess how much experience i had with that) this february. had to watch the brazilian boogie from the ground, three weeks later.. i haven't jumped yet due to lack of opportunities but i feel pretty confident about it. the shoulder feels almost as did before it dislocated (was the first time). i didn't really think this could be a problem until i read the posts here. i guess i'll be careful on my next jump, then.. does it make sense to see a therapist six months after that happened? "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

she pretty? that might have been the reason for you not to relax.. maybe you want to do a solo at the begin of the day next time. just to get confident. it takes a while and a few jumps to really relax in freefall (or at least it took me a while). so, my advice would be not to put too much pressure on yourself until you feel really "at home" in that element. forget about that A licence for the next few jumps and have fun. that might help.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

The only think that sucks about Sushi is that its not filling... I end up eating and eating and eating... and then the bill shows up. there was a nice place in rio de janeiro where you got "all you can eat" for a decent price. you only had to pay extra for the pieces you didn't eat (but order) until then, i thought sushi wasn't filling, too wow.. gotta try it out next time i go to eloy. couldn't find decent food anywhere. (sorry, you uys from the prop.. no offense) i'd eat sushi every day in switzerland if i could afford it. a few pieces cost already more than a jump ticket (and they're pretty expensive, too). "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

..and that's what can happen if you check it: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3779384a4560,00.html still, if they won't let you take it as carry-on, there's not much you can do about it (you can take a bus, tho) as far as i know, most airlines pay less than 1000$ for lost luggage. not speaking of the ruined trip.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

ever closed your eyes in freefall? for a few seconds and with enough air under you. it's a weird feeling. try tracking in different angels, or backtracking, doing curves, etc. and get your ff1 asap. then, a whole new world opens up .. and they won't let you try a sit, even just for a few seconds/jump? with a freefly save rig, i don't see a problem there. but of course, the DZO is always right, so don't listen to me.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

That will be lots of fun if you find out just after buying two bottles of Jack D in the duty-free.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

Looks like we all have little faith in the chance that any skydiving disciplines will ever become olympic. But.. Would you all see it as a good thing if it did? I mean.. look where many famous well-paid professional sports are.. do you want to go there? Of course it would be nice to actually be able to earn money with skydiving. Or to win more than a few thousand bucks on a competition. But there might be a trade-off.. Part of what i love about skydiving is that you can go on a dropzone and do a fun jump with a world champion. Try playing a round of golf with tiger woods.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

waaah.. good point. The freestyle snowboarders had the same problem in nagano '98.. but eventually changed their habits (at least for the olympics). Sure, "going olympic" would have an impact on the sport.. you'll see swoopers dress like cyclists or ski racers "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

so many old veterans around, makes me want to ask more newbie questions.. Thanks KC.. I had read about that fatality but.. how many swoopers do actually get the mentioned 36 m/s vertical speed on their swoops to cause a cypres fire.. 1%, 10%, all of them? I can understand you wouldn't take that risk on a swoop, even if it's small. Are there other cases than swoops where modern AADs caused injuries/fatalities? I agree that "these electronic gizmos" aren't perfect and need further development while the sport and the habits of its participants develop. But isn't that true for any part of our equipment (just think of all the "freefly-save" rig design issues)? Sure, younger people might have less fear using electronic devices.. I remember how my granpa freaked out when he was told that he's having a pacemaker installed (no offense, granpa ) "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

I'm really happy that my skydive instructors didn't train me like a sheep. I don't think sheep would be good skydivers. You must be jumping in a weird place to get that impression from "my generation" jumpers. (I'm 28, have a cypres and always turn it on before jumping) "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

Always jump with my cypres on. I haven't done any jumps with that much difference between take off and landing altitude, yet (gotta go to st.moritz next winter). I did a few jumps with a borrowed rig without cypres and it didn't bother me much. But last year i saw a friend being saved by an AAD after being knocked out in a freefall collision. Don't think he had bad training or was stupid.. shit just happens sometimes. being new in this sport, i would be interested for the reasons why some of you turn off their AADs on hop n' pops.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

from the brazilian boogie this spring.. not a FF photo, tho. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

don't know how good it is. last summer, a friend of mine (runs a restaurant in my town) heard that i'm going to empuria and meant that it's a must to have a meal in that place. saw some images on the web. the food quite freaky.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilumb/sets/339010/ but then again, you were there.. so tell me: is it as a 'must' to go there? "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

Empuria rocks.. and so does the x-mas boogie there. not the time to do shorts-and-t-shirt-jumps, tho. but defo a bunch of good jumps and great parties. I always went there alone and always had lots of fun. plenty people to jump with and even some cute ladies in town at night. I was usually busy enough jumping, so I haven't seen the Dali museum in Figueres, yet (great artist, imho) and never seen the beach at daytime, either. As far as i know, the weather is a lot better (less windy "tramontana" days) from april-november., but even the winter might be a lot better than on most other dzs in europe. too bad that ryanair doesn't fly from zuerich to barcelona. I wouldn't mind getting a flight as cheap as you brits do.. however, sometimes i really hate the fact that i'm thousands of miles away from that great dz, now. guess i won't have a chance to jump from the catalanian sky before next summer. but well.. maybe they have the wind tunnel ready by then.. bluest damn skies.. btw.. has anyone been to the "el bulli", the world-famous restaurant in Roses? "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"

great idea with the ad.. why did i never think of that? getting free ballon jumps for some whuffo entertainement.. "He tried to kill me! He tried to f***ing kill me!"