ChadFlorian

Thanks for the feedback everyone.... I'm headed out tomorrow hopefully... I think I just need to make sure I get out more often. Even if it's just to do solo's. Blue skies! -Chad

I'd like some opinions on something... Due to an essentially busy life, I have not been able to make it out to the dropzone as frequently as I would like. I find myself going months at a time without a jump lately... I feel that maybe this sport is too dangerous to be doing so infrequently. I've only been jumping a short time and I feel completely out of touch with the sport compared to when I started. I think maybe I've also lost a bit of the excitement I used to have for jumping which is why maybe I don't make the effort to get out as much... So... How frequently should one be jumping to really be safe? I know for B license holders, it's 90 days, yada yada, but I'm curious if there are other jumpers out there who don't get out regularly but still continue jumping... Thoughts?

Okay!!! Finally jumped yesterday!!! Went very well! I ended up not upsizing since I was already upsizing by the 25 pounds I lost since October... Was 200, now 175... Did 2 jumps. Both with very nice landings! Good to be back!

It might be the following Saturday... Forgot I have the kids 2 weekends in a row and promised I would take them to the state fair... Oh well... One more week...

Well, after breaking my ankle, it was time to just fess up... I screwed up and had to come clean about it.

Yea... That's basically what I figured... Just go do it!

Okay... getting ready to make my first jump since Oct 22 when I broke my ankle on landing. Obviously I'm a bit nervous about that first jump. Here's what happened on Oct22. I've had a bit of time to think it over and as much as I'd like to have something to blame, I've had to admit to myself it was completely MY fault... Some background on the day is required to set this up. I used to use my remote work days to work from the DZ and make a few jumps in lieu of coffee breaks. The DZ has wi-fi so it's just as good as working from home. I had done this probably a dozen times. Well, this day the network was down. So, I was about to pack it in and drive home to work from there. But at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to make up a story for work about my DSL being down at home and use a vacaion day. I couldn't get ahold of my boss, so I relayed through a coworker. So... it's a beautiful day in sunny Florida and now I have all day to jump! But in the back of my mind, I'm worried about pissing my boss off taking a last minue unapproved vacation day. In retrospect, this took me totally off my game and my head wasn't in the jump 100%. Perfect day. Light winds. Normal uneventful approach for landing. But I wasn't quite all there and I think I was looking down at the ground and before I knew it, I was flaring too late. I flared in time to plane out low but instead of putting my legs out in front for a but slide or PLF'ing, I had my knees up to my chest and feet under / slightly in front. My right foot contacted the ground first and popped right under me, breaking my fibula. Like a dumb ass, my first thought was, "Maybe it's just sprained. Who saw that shitty landing? Can I limp back without anyone noticing?" Ha. I tried to stand up and it just made this nice crunching sound as my disconnected foot settled back into the joint as I put weight on it. Anyway... a freind took me to the hospital (thanks, Lori!) and a plate, 5 screws and 4 months later... My ankle feels good. I'm running on it with no pain or plroblems, and I can jump off a chair and PLF. So I droped off my rig for a reserve repack and gonna go bak up in about a week. Yes, I did tell my surgeon... When I dropped off my rig, I watched some landings. I'm quite nervous about that first landing. Even though I feel I know what I did wrong (I should NOT have been jumping with other things on my mind!) And I will separate work and play from now on... One good thing this has done is slow me down. Before, I wanted to jump as many times as possible as fast as possible. Now, I just want to take my time and enjoy each jump. I also now have absolutely no desire to downsize. I'm currently at 1.1 on a Sabre2-170. And I'll be upsizing to a 190 for a while till I get my feet wet again... So... any suggestions about how to overcome those nerves about that first jump? TIA Blue Skies! -Chad

The "Firm" in my case is Primax and it came in an envelope from my insurance company.

Yeah... I just figure no matter how vague I am, the location of the injury (z-hills) will give it away. I'm sure the DZ has it's ass covered with the million waivers I signed, but I'll be sure to give TK a heads up anyway.

Mine was $20K for my 14 hour visit (surgery).. That didn't even include the surgeon, doctors, xrays, etc! INcredible! Does your insurance company know you did it skydiving? I've been purposefully vague when saying what happened in case there was any issue. I just say "I fell". I don't say that I fell 13,000 feet! But now I just got a form to fill out from a firm representing the insurance company wanting to know how, where, etc... So guess I'll have to divulge the details...

While I have nothing of value to add to this dicussion yet (I'll be testing my titanium ankle repair in Jan)... How the hell does one fall asleep riding a bike?

I told my therapist that I'm walking on it. While she wasn't real happy about it, she didn't strongly object. I only walk short distances, around the apt, etc. Most of the time I'm on my crutches. BTW, if you are on crutches for a while, you should check out www.crutchcozies.com. They make it a bit more comfy. Skydivers With A-something Titanium SWAT... Just gotta figure out the A-something...

Now accepting auditioners... I got plenty of tape!

I also just recently joined the skydiving hardware club. Fractured my fibula on Oct 22 and Z-Hills. I got a plate and 5 screws. I can feel the screw head that's on the ankle. Kinda weird. I'm walking in a boot now even though I'm supposed to be non weight bearing. Actually feels great. I have no pain at all. The therapy tweaks it a bit but not too bad. Surgeon did a great job! I hope to be jumping in Jan! But man! It sure has been a long couple of months!

In know a thing or two about bad weather... Try 4 hurricanes! Just hang in there. The good weather will come.

ARG!.... I juat had to read this thread about a helo at my DZ when I'm home with a broken ankle... I hope to be ready in time for the Chirstmas boogie!

I have the same canopy and had the same frustrations... Check out www.packingparachuts.com and look in the tips section for reverse S. This worked like magic for me. I also started a thread here that describes some of my personal tips. Search on reverse s... hth, -chad

Passed AFF in 7.... Got A at 25.... Got B at 50... All in less than 3 months with 4 hurricanes screwing up the weather!

Actually, it records the entire jump. when used in conjunction with Paralog, you get a nice graph of your speed and altitude for the whole jump. FWIW...

Honestly, I'd have to go back to sunshine and look again. The on I liked was similar to the hurricane (with the soft adjustable forehead part), but had an internal pocket. It was nice and comfy till I put the audible in. The hurricane fit real nice and I could hear the audible fine. I think if I just put a couple extra zip ties over the top of the dytter. Do you know of a similar design FF helmet with an internal pocket and extra room in the shell for it?

I've never tried psyhco-packing... Seems that if you roll it up, you will be rolling your bridal connection to the inside???

Been demoing FF helmets. The ones I've tried with internal audible pockets make that side really uncomfortable. I demo'd the hurricane and it fits great and is comfortable. I'm just concerned about my dytter flying off from riser slap... Any thoughts on this? any way to secure the dytter with more than just the clip it comes with? TIA BlueSkies! -Chad

The reverse S-Fold worked for me... Getting my new Sabre2-170 in the bag every time now. It has about 15 jumps on it. The trick for me is that as I'm getting the last bit of air out and getting that cigar shape, I make sure I have a tight grip underneath and as far up (away from me towad the bridal) as I can( I use my left hand). I lay on it and use the hand that's not gripping the fabric (right) underneath to squeeze the extra air out up top. then I lay there and take a break for a second. It's no going anywhere at this point and I know I'm going to need to focus and do the next part quickly and smoothly. Then, when I get ready, I lift myslef up and place my right hand kind of like a karate chop right on that line you would normally make the small s-fold to. And then I S-fold the part I still have gripped in my left hand right on top of my right hand, putting the big s-fold right in front of my knees, but not on top of them. Note, the slider/lines have never left my knees. As soon as I have the large S-fold in front of me, I start using my hands to "contain" all the extra fabric and keep it contained while I start working on getting the bad set up. I typically have the bridal attachment between my fingers so I know where it is and that it's not burried in the fabric. I also keep switching hands while I work the grommets underneath, but keep all the extra fabric real tight whichever hand is doing the containing. Constantly working any piece that is trying to be unruly back into place. I just keep fighting it till I get it into the bag. I'll admit it doesn't look pretty like in sid's pics (I would say that sids canopy looks well behaived and tame compared to my tazmanian devil), but it works. Once that big s is in the bag, the big part of the battle is over. I can keep it under control by keeping pressure on the bag. Then I come around behind the bag and straddle it to keep it from expanding with my weight on the bag and hands on the open part of the bag keeping pressure there. At this point I typically can't see an actual fold to put the small s fold into, but it's there. I just use a hand to push some of the loose fabric into the fold that's there, but not really visible due to the unruly extra fabric. Then I stand the bag up and fold the slider/lines portion right in there and pull the flap over it immediately. I'm constantly mashing and squeezing and area that starts to expand... Sorry if this is long winded, but I tried to describe it as best I can. For me its mainly keeping the thing tamed constantly till you get it in the bag. My pack jobs don't look ptretty by any means, but I get nice soft on heading openings... hth, BlueSkies! -Chad

I'll do one better... Assuming you're using the funds to pay for hosting... I'll host your site for free. I have a server at a colocation data center in dallas that I use to host for customers of mine as well as host my own email, etc.... Be happy to set you up with some space. PM Me if you're interested... BlueSkies! -Chad

Man!, I was getting so frustrated trying it the way I was taught. I did that well, but that was on a studen F-111, and this is brand new ZP. Seems that having the small fold inside the large fold while trying to get it into the bag made it larger (of course), but also the extra fold in there made it slip all over the damn place while trying to contain it. I needed a couple more hands! Anyway... as crazy as it sounds, I've gone from hating packing to loving it. For me it's a real sense of accomplishment pcaking my own rig. Now today we'll see how I do outside my airconditioned living room! -Chad