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Dave, I was crying reading your post. It was beautiful. I'm glad knowing how much Pops meant to the skydiving family has helped you through this. I had wanted with all my heart to be at the DZ yesterday but unfortunately, I am w/o a car at the moment...it's still in the shop. Believe me, I was with you there yesterday in spirit. I know I haven't been around this year, but my heart is always out there with all of you. We'll see you tomorrow- our thoughts are with you. those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Jessica- I totally agree... I told my boyfriend how many views and responses I had to this post and he said that I must've hit on a hot topic!!! Thanks everybody for the input! I did 7 jumps over the weekend (only 1 on Sunday because of the stupid weather!!!!) All were fun and I really got the hang of the front risers vs. toggle turns, etc.... UP HIGH of course! I told you guys I'd play it safe! I did the little low s-turns in and picked up a little speed...on a couple I had to run them in at full speed though! At least I was on my feet! More in my quest to swoop next week..P.S. I think I'm gonna' get a Mirage! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Jessica- I totally agree... I told my boyfriend how many views and responses I had to this post and he said that I must've hit on a hot topic!!! Thanks everybody for the input! I did 7 jumps over the weekend (only 1 on Sunday because of the stupid weather!!!!) All were fun and I really got the hang of the front risers vs. toggle turns, etc.... UP HIGH of course! I told you guys I'd play it safe! I did the little low s-turns in and picked up a little speed...on a couple I had to run them in at full speed though! At least I was on my feet! More in my quest to swoop next week..P.S. I think I'm gonna' get a Mirage! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I can't imagine growing up that way!!! I don't know if I would've appreciated it as a child if I was a dzo kid!!!! If people think I'm spoiled now, I'd hate to imagine what I'd be like if I grew up with Roger Nelson as my dad! BRAT comes to mind. Actually, I grew up as an airport brat, my dad is a private pilot, oldest brother a flight instructor and FAA employee, and two other brothers pilots. I've been in planes almost constantly since I was 4 years old. I've found it definitely gave me an advantage that other first time jumpers didn't have. I don't think many kids grew up being as comfortable on planes as me, and it was a logical step in my mind to want to jump out of them! I think the first time I thought about skydiving was when I was 13 or 14...I was in the back seat of my dad's Piper Tripacer and the door next to me popped open! It scared the crap out of me, but it was the first time I looked out the open door of a plane at the ground. I also used to stare at the big huge cottony clouds and want to reach out of the plane and touch them. My mom used to look at them and say, "don't you want to just get out and jump into one of them?" After my first few jumps, I reminded her of when she said that...I don't think she thought it would ever come back to haunt her! :) My family's really supportive, although they always say, "we're supposed to be flying the planes, not jumping out of them" Well, I always was the blacksheep! My FAA bro is cool though, he said when he retires from the FAA he's considering being a jump pilot! He rocks!!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

They are on the sides, near waist-high hip level... they are like the leg straps, only they tighten the container vertically...ask your JM to check them before you jump again, mine had to tighten mine every time. It's probably not something you should do on your own anyway, because it's easier for someone standing facing you to do. Don't be afraid to ask...you'll be a lot more comfortable! Also, STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH before you jump!!!! If you've ever worked out before, do the same kind of stretches, that will help you not pull muscles, stc. while jumping. Remember, it is a sport! Have fun this weekend! I'm headed out to the dz in a little while! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Personally, I've always had a dark sense of humor, even before I started skydiving. I find that it is definitely a release from something that is uncomfortable or difficult to talk about. My best friend is a doctor, and he probably has the darkest sense of humor of anyone I know. It was a necessity for him in order to deal with the daily task of seeing sick or dying individuals. Just imagine doing that job and not being able to laugh at life and death! It would be soooo depressing...I agree that making light of situations makes them easier to accept, also, life is funny! I look at life and death as a game. It all shouldn't be taken toooo seriously because you never know what's gonna' happen tomorrow. When I did my first few jumps and met my boyfriend ( met him at the dz after my first two static lines...) I changed my beneficiaries on my life insurance policies at work. I put him as the first beneficiary and I told him, "look at it this way, if I die, you get an extra rig, and will probably have enough money to buy a few more!!!! I may actually be worth more dead!!" He didn't like that joke at all!!! He said he would rather have me around than any rig, which was sweet, but he definitely doesn't have as dark of a sense of humor. At least not when it comes to me...I just find I can talk about it with no problem. Also I am a huge believer in reincarnation, so I don't worry! I'll be back again anyway, and if I'm really good (good karma!) I'll be a bird in my next life!!! TWEET!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Hey, that's pretty much what I've been trying, what altitude is your 45-90 turn at? My first "accidental" baby swoop took me a good 15-20 feet, and it was really fun.. Who cares how it looks as long as we're having a good time!!!! Thanks for the tips Tee! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Good luck on the Millenium award! I know how hard good RW is, I've been doing a lot of sitflying and I always go back to some RW and it is more difficult when you only do it occasionally. It always leaves me thinking I have to do it more! This week I did a two way RW to let my sweetie practice with his new camera helmet, and we did a lot better than I thought we would. I really like all the hybrid formations I've been seeing. I talked to a packer we met from Palatka who is working at Skydive Chicago for the summer, and he told us about this "hog-flop" competition they have at his home dz for Halloween...it's hilarious! He said they have all these hotshot RW teams who think they can do it and win, and it's fun to watch them blow it apart!!! In case you don't know what a hog-flop is, the team forms a round, has to let go and each do a backflip and then form the round again. He said it sounds easy, but is almost impossible to do, no matter how good you are at RW. We're gonna' try it this weekend just for laughs. Apparently, after the backloop, everyone is all over the place and usually can't get back together...if we can ever do it, we're goin' to Palatka!!!! It's a good story about an easy-sounding formation that actually takes an enormous amount of skill. Not for the weak!!!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I almost forgot...just hang out at the dz and watch and listen besides jumping! That way the adrenaline rush won't be there and you'll remember to ask all the right questions. Also, make a lot of notes to yourself. I love to look back at my logbook and laugh at the funny things I wrote. I put funny comments as well as stuff I wondered about. Someday you'll look back at it and crack up. Just remember, there are no stupid questions. One of the things you don't ask because it seems obvious may be the thing that saves your life! Oh, also, I still get strange muscle soreness in odd places. My boyfriend had a good explanation. He said no matter what you do on the ground, it will never compare to what the air does to you, it twists and turns and moves you and your whole body in ways you could never do on the ground. Add to that once you're in freefall for a minute, you're doing these odd body positions at 120 or more mph...! When else can you think of when you are in an arch with your arms out and bent with your thumbs about to go in your ears!?!? OK, no bizarre sex stories from any of you in response to that!!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

sorry! I came home last night to jump at my home dz for the weekend ( also the last three days of my vacation!) I'd be in trouble if I didn't make an appearance there, besides, I want to hear all the Quincy stories! But have fun and just go up to him and say hi. I walked up to Olav in the lobby and told him how cool it was to be on my first Otter with him- BEER! - I also asked him what he thought of students learning RW then moving to Freefly, or just going from student status right into freeflying. All you RW people will be impressed to hear that his advice was to definitely do some RW because it helps you learn to move in relation to others in the air, and in freeflying you have to do the same thing-just in different formations and body positions. I overheard another guy ask him what he thought about EPSN/X-games dropping skysurfing, but I didn't hear his response. That's funny- when I saw him he was drinking a Heinny too! They should have him do a commercial!!! Anyway, just go talk to him-you'll be glad you did! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I like playing with my three dogs...oh, sorry I mean "kids", and believe it or not, my favorite thing to do when not at the dz is landscaping and gardening. We've been landscaping our whole backyard and it's a ton of work, but it looks really cool. The hardest thing is spending money that I could use for jumps on plants, soil, retaining walls, etc... But I do have a plan for all of those who think I'm crazy spending perfectly good jump $$$ on the house stuff! When we sell this house, we are going to get a new place within 15 or 20 minutes of the DZ instead of an hour. See! It's worth it in the long run. Every time I do landscaping, I just think of how much it will increase our resale value, thus moving me closer to the airport. Yes, I have a problem, and Rhonda, I don't think I do anything that doesn't somehow in a roundabout way relate to skydiving! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

yeah, it was good to see them in person, both jumping and just hanging out. It puts it into perspective. I was so temped to walk up to Olav and ask him to tell me a story about when he sucked at freeflying....he probably doesn't have one!!!! haha! But wouldn't it feel good to hear all their stories about when they used to flail and funnel and cork and basically screw around just trying stuff! There should be a post by all the skygods called "a story from when I sucked at freefly..." It would make all us newbies feel soooo much better! It was funny meeting him and kinda saying.."oh, yeah, I have like 70 jumps!" whoooo-who!! Olav was incredibly cool though. He doesn't make you feel like your'e a novice or anything. He had some great words of wisdom, too. But yeah, they are all people just like us. That's what makes skydiving sooooo cool. (Among a lot of other things!) those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Another good point, I have a huge amount of upper body strength and I can barely, and I mean barely front riser turn! I lifted weights 5 or 6 days a week for three years and it's still almost impossible for me to do. I've only tried it way way up at like 2 or 3 grand and I had to use my whole body to get then to budge. Of course, if you've ever tried to front riser a Monarch you'll know what I'm talking about. I actually bought it from a Skydive Chicago/dz.com'er off the classifieds and when I saw him there this weekend, he said in the time he owned it, he couldn't do anything with the front risers. A built in safety feature if you are tempted to swoop before you are ready to!!! I think when I did my "accidental" swoop, it was due to the way I turned with my toggles...tell your swooper to get well soon! Like I said to another poster, I like to learn from other people's mistakes so I can keep jumping, so thanks for the post! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

ok, all the sudden I'm posting a bunch of stuff, but this past week was the FIRST time I went to a different dz...I know, BEER!!! So I get to Skydive Chicago and get on an Otter load, and at the last minute, two more people hop on as we're getting ready to leave the loading area. There were only 8 of us on the load, and as I look to the back of the plane, I realize the two guys are Rook and Olav. Now, for someone from a big DZ this may not seem like a big deal, but for me, it was the whuffo version of meeting some huge movie star. I kept looking at Olav and thinking...."don't stare, don't stare, stop staring at him!" It was so cool. I talked to him later that day and he teased me about the entry in my logbook that read :"first jump at SDC (BEER) first jump in twin otter (BEER) etc etc..." He looked at me and said, "well, where's the beer?!?" Even though he's a skygod and the father of freefly, he's still a skydiver! He signed my logbook for that jump and I've probably looked at it like 50 times! The coolest thing was that he was really nice and easy to talk to. I told him that he was my hero and he was really modest. It's gotta' be weird to be at the top of your sport and not be a household name to anyone except other skydivers. In almost any other sport there are the "big names" and even if your'e not into the sport you know who they are...I know the names of a bunch of Nascar guys, baseball, football, and basketball players, but I don't care for or watch any of them. Too bad my whuffo friends and family can't appreciate how cool it was for me to hang out at a dz with Steve Utter, Olav, Rook, Emmanuelle Celicout, Mike Ortiz, Dusty and a bunch of others...(oh, Fiala-he's cool too!) I just have to blab about it to all of you because I have to tell someone and no one else gets it!!! Every time I got on the Otter, one or all of them were on it and it was like having a backstage pass for the All-Star load! So cool, and I think some of their talent actually rubbed off on me. I did my best freeflying this week...if any of you listed see this, Thanks! It inspired me to keep learning and working at perfecting my skills. And no matter how modest Olav is, he's still my hero! Thanks, Olav! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Don't worry everyone!!! I'm not in any hurry to learn it until I feel and my former JM's think I could (which may be never!!!), and believe me, I'm still skeptical about the whole issue...I've read every incident report about low turns, and interestingly enough, saw one go bad Wed. morning on one of the 1st loads of the day at SDC...luckily, the jumper only broke his foot in two places and came back to the dz that afternoon with his foot and leg in a cast. I watched the ambulance drive away after his landing. It does give one a lot to consider, and believe me, if something happens to me skydiving, I hope it's not under a good canopy with stupid pilot error!!! In response to Rhonda66- awesome response!!! I don't think I have seen an incident report involving a woman doing a low hook turn. I guess we all know something the guys don't??? I definitely think female skydivers on the whole are more careful about trying risky things than the guys, although there are always exceptions to every rule...I'll stay safe and no swoops yet! (I've been trying to invent a "girl swoop" that involves a not-tooooo-low turn! Still fun, but safer!?!?) those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I just got back from Summerfest at Skydive Chicago (which was awesome, I might add...) and I heard two male jumpers complimenting a female jumper on her swoop, to which they added, "you know, women just don't swoop!" Note that they were nice and didn't say "can't swoop" or "don't want to swoop"...I found it strange all the same, because I WANT TO SWOOP!!!!!! I am probably the only female at my dz who will be doing it, too. Hmmmm...will be doing it. Can't do it yet, because I'm still trying to master regular non-swoopy landings!!! I swooped accidentally once, but I don't know what I did or how I did it! I can't do a whole lotta' swooping with a 170, but I also don't want to break myself so for now that's a good thing. My boyfriend (also a skydiver, but more experienced) is not thrilled with my being thrilled with swoops, understandibly, but I'm good...not getting ahead of myself and landing pretty conservatively, albeit fast! Anyway, comments on the comment, "women just don't swoop" ???? Let's hear from all the female jumpers out there, am I alone in this or what? That comment bothered me and made me want to swoop their a$$es!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

Hi Fred! I did my first static line jump June 3, 2000. I felt pretty lost about a lot of things but the best advice I've found is what most of the people here have written, check out the safety and training boards, listen to your JM's and most of all-don't get ahead of yourself as far as being a student...I have 70 jumps now, and just downsized my canopy and started freeflying, but I don't try anything too risky or crazy. This is a sport that you have to survive in. It's not like anything else, and ignorance can kill you. I am soooo tempted to learn to swoop asap, and my boyfriend ( a much more experienced jumper) is very nervous about it, but that's good because it keeps me from doing something stupid. Hopefully the jumpers and JM's at your dz will look out for you and your safety the way mine have. Don't get ahead of yourself, no matter how tempting it is to try all the new, crazy things you see and hear other more experienced jumpers doing. You will be able to do them in time, but only if you take your time and learn in the correct sequence. There's a reason for going slow, practicing and learning. Just remember, all those swoopers and freefliers were just like you once, and someday you'll be there, but only with patience...trust me, I'm the most impatient skydiver in the world! On my third jump, my JM had to hold my legs in the plane because as soon as the door was open I started crawling out before he told me to!!!! All the patience and discipling will pay off-I promise! It did for me! For now, think conservative!!! Live to keep jumping and get better every time. Good luck!!! If you hear any terms you don't understand and need an explanation, e-mail me! Good luck and blue skies! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I just got home from Summerfest at Skydive Chicago and on the 6 hour drive back I had a lot of time to ponder such things. At one point I could see a miniture golf course/go kart track off the freeway, and I thought...it's funny how people can go do that as a big outing on a weekend and think it was so fun! My boyfriend's dad has a boat that he keeps bugging us to go on, but it's impossible for us to do anything but skydive when the weather is so nice. I just keep thinking, no matter where else I would be or how much fun I'd be having that at that moment I could be at the dz...answer...everything else is boring!!! those who fear nothing may not live...those who fear everything may never live.

I made three of my friends and one family member go out and do tandems with me, making sure I exited right before they did...they loved it and even though they returned to their whuffo lives, they have a new respect and no longer ask "so, what are you doing this weekend?" At least they said they could understand why I do it now. Of course, there will always be the ones who won't go at least try it once, but in my case, my whuffo friends who did tandems defend me now to the others! kiss the sky

none...apparently I'm the only skydiver in Michigan who has a computer....? kiss the sky

how often do you find hairdressers who skydive?!!? well, now you have. I guess I shouldn't advertise or I will get bombarded with questions. When I arrived at the dz last spring, I was a brunette (also my natural color...BORING!) As the year went on, my hair changed like leaves in the fall, only it went from brown to red (auburn) to bright red, then strawberry blonde, to my new current white blonde with lime (neon!) green with magenta stripes to match my new canopy. I can honestly say that no matter what color I have had, I always go back to blonde. I have green eyes and fair skin and can and have had every color, well, except blue...actually once I had turquoise stripes...anyway, blonde is definitely the most fun in my opinion. What's cool about the blonde is you can get light brown lowlights put in to help blend the root growth problem when you get sick of all over bleached-blond look, or get red lowlights put in for a strawberry blond, which I actually got the most compliments from. Everyone thought I was this pure Irish lassie with light red hair- with NATURAL light red hair. Little did they know how much work it took to look that natural. Anyway after the most recent 'do with colors to match my canopy, there are a bunch of jumpers at my dz who want me to do their hair cause they like the "matching thing" So in a very long response, try the blonde if you want something that is flexible and easy to change in small ways. Sure it's high maintence, but I think it's worth it. Everytime I have to do my bleach, I wonder why I bother, but when it's done I feel soooooo good!!! One of these days I'll have to put together a gallery of my many hair moods...! Hope this offered some insight! Good luck! kiss the sky

Hey Matt I will be arriving on Saturday the fourth, but I won't hit #100 until Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how many I do per day...watch me be the biggest load whore there!!!! We all have to do the dz.com big way! Count me in- sounds like fun! see ya all there! kiss the sky

I have a Vector with a really pretty Monarch175 main, but my boyfriend is getting his new Mirage G3 next Monday while we're at Skydive Chicago...guess what I'll be jumping then?!?! kiss the sky

Hey everyone, I am going to Summerfest instead of Quincy this year. Plan to also hit my 100th jump at Skydive Chicago. I already put in a request via e-mail for a coconut cream pie. I too will be following Rook and Olav like a pathetic groupie hoping some of their freefly talent might rub off on me...My hair matches my canopy if anyone wants to find me, neon (lime) green and magenta stripes!!! See ya there! kiss the sky