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MadJohn, It was a Safeway bag. I remember that clearly. Just can't recall who the jumper was. Bet we saw the same jump. I remember Eric Anderson and Paul LaPut watching it too, at the Cal Club DZ out by Jensen's farm off N Livermore Rd. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

GREAT films, thanks so much for sharing them here. Really brings back the good old days when our chutes were round and we were square. 377 first jump 1968, still active. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

There ought to be an award patch, an orange and white embroidered C-9 image with a number in the middle, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 etc signifying how many CHEAPO landings you survived. I'd sure buy one. Took guts backing up in a 15 knot wind and coming down fast. I never even came close to standing one up. Beatnik is a good graphical designer but he is flying combat support missions near ISIS territory at the moment. Maybe when he returns... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Tiny canopies, big boats. Funny how skydivers flip the risk and comfort factors when they go to sea. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I found stand up landings impossible on my tired old C-9 surplus round. Well over 100 jumps on it and NOT ONE STANDUP. It was either PLF or orthopedic surgery. Easy choice. I seldom had trouble standing up my PC, after being used to such harsh high descent rate landings under the "cheapo" C-9. I didn't use any special technique. I was pretty light back then and that helped. I was told that flaring a PC was pointless. Didn't feel any positive vertical Gs when I tried it up high. Never tried it on a landing. Listen to Beatnik. He is da man on the vintage gear that most of us got rid of forty years ago. He doesnt just collect that stuff, he JUMPS it. I'm proud of my round jumps, even nostalgic. But would I do them again? NO THANKS. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Now that Bill V. has the exit traffic figured out all we need is Don K to risk another few hundred thou and put on a big WFFC party in 2020. I might even be able to score a C 97 jumpship. Ferry fuel costs from the E Coast would be quite high but maybe we could swing it. It just completed taxy tests a few days ago and has all four engines running. Fat Annie, the ATL 98 Carvair coincidentally completed taxy tests a few days ago also and will be flying again soon. Might we dare hope for her to return to a boogie? This is kinda like fantasy football. Oh well, back to reality. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The LZ congestion right next to the organizing tents got pretty crazy sometimes. More than once at Quincy and Rantoul I opted for adjacent areas. There were HUGE areas at Rantoul that you could opt to land in away from the boarding areas. I think it could still be done with no more injuries and fatalities than the old WFFCs. Would just take more coordination. Maybe more positive air traffic control and clearances for exits. I'm not ATC savvy but I'll bet something could be worked out. At Rantoul we had a military ATC unit set up in some years. I think they were from the Illionois Air National Guard. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The ultimate ride to WFFC had to have been Skip Evans's DC 3 which flew there from CA. I stupidly took a commercial jet because I didn't have enough time to spend on a multi day DC 3 trip. That chance to go cross country in a DC-3 will probably never come again. And the price was very reasonable as I recall. Oh well, sure had good time at WFFC Wish we could convince Don Kirlin to do it just one more time, the GRAND FINALE which it never had. It was a massive undertaking and it always went quite well. So many things involved in setting up and running such a massive event and so few screwups. Herding cats is simple compared to handling thousands skydivers 24/7. You gotta hand it to those who put the WFFC together every year. Yeah Beth Mahlo, that includes you! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Might be the same videos. I saw them when I was a Hughes employee back in the 70s. THANKS Jack! 377 Mark 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I heard Ron Tavalero settled in the Santa Rosa area. This may be his writing. Letter to editor in Santa Rosa paper. 377 Flawed and deceptive EDITOR: The June 8 commentary about guns (“A real problem with 3-D printers and guns”) was flawed and deceptive. To start with, the subject was computer-numerical-controlled machining, not 3-D printing. The fabricator didn’t start with a “chunk of aluminum.” He started with a pre-machined lower receiver, 80 percent complete. What he did was drill holes in this assembly, which can be done with a $69.99 drill press. He wasted $1,500 for the machinery. In the 1930s, England designed a sub-machine gun capable of manufacture in any European bicycle shop of that day. From 1950 on, the tools and machinery to build a STEN would fit in one corner of a garage. Today the material and tooling can be found at Home Depot and is present in the average person’s garage. Why, if home manufacturing of guns is worth a half page of The Press Democrat, were we not flooded with actual machine guns for the past 80 years? No one wanted to make them? They didn’t go out and commit crimes with them?The other three-quarters of the column was philosophy and how the author believes we should behave. Why didn’t you research this before printing? It would not have made it past an English 1A instructor. RONALD E. TAVALERO 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Oops, I meant right. Sorry. The full pic is in the WFFC ground photo collection on the website: http://www.freefall.com/images/webcam/dailyphotos/ground/dscn0200.jpg Why they shot me, the boring old guy who wasn't swooping, is puzzling. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Wonder if that film is still around somewhere? Lots of good films have disappeared. I recall seeing one made by the govt using high speed cameras to document structural failure in C9 canopies that were deployed way above speed and weight specs. It was fascinating but cant find it anymore. I remember how cool it was to have a skydive store with onsite rigging in downtown Vallejo. As I recall the Altitude Shop had climbing gear too. Got my MK I PC shortlined there. Really reasonable prices. Good guys. Bought my PC with a Top Secret rig for $125 from a fellow Pope Valley jumper. As squares took over, PCs became dirt cheap. Nobody wanted them. The canopy and rig had only 120 jumps. I was still in school so funds were tight. I was always a gen behind everyone else in gear which allowed be to get super cheap stuff. Speaking of free stowing lines, I saw a guy at Livermore jump a cheapo stuffed into a paper grocery bag with no line stowage. He did it on a bet. No prob, it opened fine, but I didn't see the process on high speed film. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Thanks for the explanation of how that was filmed. I always have wondered. Sure was a good movie. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

AAD is indeed a present that says LOVE! Somebody wants to see you live a long life in skydiving. When I started jumping in 1968 altimeters were optional. My first 35 off student status FFs were made without one. I had little money and preferred to spend it on jumps rather than optional gear. We were instructed to count out seconds. If you exited at 12.5 you counted to 60. If you lost track of the count, pull. Worked OK. Back then cheap altimeters were the size and weight of small soup cans. They resided on top of your belly reserve where they could re-arrrange your face in a slammer opening. Funny thing about AADs. When I started in 68 they were seen as student safety devices, used only during training. I don't recall seeing any experienced jumpers wearing them. Then the Sentinel MK 2000 came out and was marketed to experienced jumpers as well as students. I bought one ($125 new). I was teased a lot by other jumpers for wearing a "sissy box". Once the Cypres came out and could be completely concealed from exterior view, sales to experienced jumpers soared. No visible evidence of a "sissy box". Gradually AADs lost their stigma and now there is no shame in wearing one. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I wonder how many of us could have successfully dealt with a horseshoe malf on our first FF jump? Thank goodness I didn't face that on my first FF. I was happy just to find the main ripcord as I was tumbling wildly over Livermore CA on my first FF in the late 60s. Tell us more. What happened, how you dealt with it, what was flashing thorough your mind? Very cool on that DDD (Double Digit D license). Congratsl!! Well done. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Byron is your closest DZ to SF and is friendly to visiting jumpers. http://bayareaskydiving.com/ Unusual in that it does a ton of tandems yet is VERY up-jumper friendly. That's an unusual combo. One thing great about Byron is that there are so many safe places to land out. Unlikely that you will ever need this as the Byron King Air drivers nail the spots with current wind info and GPS, but nice to have. Clay, the DZO, jumps there all the time and keeps things moving. He cares about his customers and it shows. A DZ with an onsite owner runs much smoother than one without. Skydive California is a few miles further than Byron, and currently is a Cessna DZ. It gets good reviews from my buddies who have jumped there. http://skydivecal.com/?gclid=CPSf8dzOi8kCFUdlfgodjtUCdQ Monterey was not so friendly to visiting up jumpers last time I was there, but maybe things have changed. The views are incredible and the 18K jumps are really fun. Puts you very close to Monterey and Pacific Grove which are great places to explore. To be fair to the DZ, they got sued by an injured newbie jumper who blamed bad rental gear as the cause, so they are understandably hyper vigilant. http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/man-sues-marina-s-skydive-monterey-bay-over-skydiving-crash/article_c2f5feee-a89e-11e3-9225-001a4bcf6878.html Never have jumped at Davis, Hollister or Cloverdale. I hear good things about Davis but know nothing about the other two. Lodi is the cheapest DZ in the known universe and I like it, but it's a considerably longer drive for me than Byron. Tandems at Lodi are still only $100. http://www.parachutecenter.com/ We are so fortunate in the SF Area. MANY DZs to choose from and even a tunnel: https://sfbay.iflyworld.com/?gclid=CNKRvfXPi8kCFUSCfgod-acL5Q If you want to tunnel fly check online for discount coupons, there are many. COSTCO often has a highly discounted prepaid tunnel card. 377

It was just the BEST! Gave me a high that lasted a full year until the next WFFC. Then suddenly, after 2006, there was no next one. Thank goodness I was able to attend so many WFFCs before it shut down. Look at Peek's stats (below) from WFFC 2000: 5,732 JUMPERS! I was there. Ran into jumpers I hadn't seen in 22 years. Unique jumpships including B 17, B 24, C 54, and more. It was a crazy wild 10 day party. Where else could you get a tattoo at 1:00 AM in a tent? The live music and free beer every night was icing on the cake. Good food. Reasonable prices. Jumper paradise. Statistics Registered Skydivers-5,732 Jumps Made-63,000+ Countries Represented-55 States Represented-50 Jumps Made From B17 & B24-185 Vendors on Site-106 Food Vendors in Tent City-16 Units of Blood Collected for Red Cross-100 Money Raised For Unity FFA-$1,200 Money Raised For Quincy Humane Society-over $5,000 Money Raised For Special Olympics-$1,200 Tandem Jumps Made-447 AFF Students-15 Number of TNT Golf Carts Used-152 WFFC Employees-102 WFFC Volunteers-170 Number of Microbursts-1 Highest Wind Speed-67mph Number of Serious Injuries-0 Amazing that Don Keeps the website going. http://www.freefall.com/index.php It gives me hope that a miracle might someday occur. I am lucky to have my photo in the website header, third pic from the far left landing my Triathlon. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Another legend gone. Dan contributed hugely to the chronicling of now vintage parachute equipment. He also wrote extensively about small market publishing and undoubtedly helped many aspiring authors successfully navigate that minefield. When I decided to learn paragliding I went to Dan's book which was a huge help. Nice guy too. When I met him he was super helpful with questions about old military gear. He showed a phenomenal memory for obscure details. Skydiving is better for having had Dan Poynter in its ranks. May he rest in peace.

Congratulations Lawrocket. She is truly adorable! Better find an all girls school on Mars. My baby girl just graduated from college. They grow up so fast your head will spin. Take every opportunity to spend time with her as those opportunities diminish in the teen years Older brothers are good. My son kept close tabs on his little sister and nudged her in the right direction. One summer day when she was heading out of the house with teen girlfriends to hang out downtown, my son objected to her bare midriff outfit. "Who do you think you are, the Taliban?" she asked. "Yeah Amy, I kinda am" replied my son. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Get a ham license and use the APRS system. Many many trackers are available including some weighing as little as 10 grams. http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/mt300.php https://www.tracksoar.com/tracksoar-comparison/ We use APRS gear on jumps and have no probs with opening shock. See plot of my latest APRS jump: http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=16&call=a%2FAF6IM&timerange=3600&tail=900 Nice thing about APRS is your signal is pickled up and relayed all over the place by APRS repeater stations. Many are on high peaks so chances of getting your position data are VERY high. You can see it on your smart phone at www.aprs.fi Getting a low grade ham license is dirt simple and takes only a couple of hours of study at most. Free study guides abound online. Free sample tests at http://www.eham.net/exams/ 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I stand corrected Bill, delta ground and airspeed at opening alt. Hadn't considered that fine point. I grew up spotting for military surplus round jumps. We looked at the ground a lot. Without dropping a wind drift indicator or seeing local ground smoke you had only observed ground speed to tell you how far upwind you needed to exit. If you were covering ground slowly on an upwind jump run you took the exit point way out. This didn't account for wind gradients at different altitudes but it was usually good enough. These days I see jumpers watching those who exited before them but they don't appear to be looking at the ground to get even a rough cut at jumpship ground speed. I'd still like to see a digital ground speed display visible in back where we ride. I think it would help a lot in getting sufficient separation. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I love my Reflex. Also love my Eclipse. I guess I like orphan rigs. The Reflex is, IMO, really well designed. Build quality is excellent, shows a lot of care. Nothing sloppy even in hidden places. RiggerMick's Catapult system makes a lot of sense to me and I see no reason to remove it as some have done. I think it enhances safety by offering better chance of a successful reserve deployment if you have a horseshoe on your main. I know others disagree, but the Catapult videos convinced me that it is a net positive on safety. The Reflex pin protection is unequaled. Way better than many modern rigs. My rigger has no problem with Reflex reserve repacks. Although Fliteline is gone, Mick isn't and he will answer Reflex Qs and offer advice. My Reflex defintely a keeper. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Gypsy Moths is one FINE movie. Good actors, great skydiving scenes, decent plot. I have high hopes for the remake of Point Break. Loved the original. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Exit separation is ALL ABOUT GROUND SPEED, not angles. If your ground speed is low you need a long time between potentially conflicting exits. I was on a load many years ago where we had 60+ mph winds aloft. Our ground speed on jump run was only about 10 mph. It looked like we were barely moving relative to the ground. I waited and waited and waited and REALLY pissed off the folks behind me but the wait was necessary to provide ample separation from the group that exited before me. Winds below 1000 feet were only about 18 mph but they were screaming up high. How I wish there was a reliable highly visible ground speed display that could be placed near the door. It's easy to get ground speed from GPS. GPS units are now dirt cheap. Some smart engineer ought to figure out how to do this. Internal battery powered gets it out of FAA reg territory, but replacing or recharging internal batteries is a big hassle. Maybe it could power up when a baro switch senses climbing through 10K and then shut off below that altitude. That would decrease power drain. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Great article Bill. If you can convince even one non RSL equipped jumper to add an RSL ya done good. The myths against RSLs are so pervasive. You presented a logical refutation of the big ones. I've had two cutaways in over 850 jumps. One on surplus gear in the early 70s and one in 2005 at WFFC with modern RSL equipped gear. My 2005 cutaway was done plenty high. I did my very best to beat the RSL using my reserve ripcord but didn't even come close. RSL was faster than I could ever be. RSLs are cheap and add a lot of safety margin for the buck IMO. Nice job. 377