NWFlyer

With a tunnel nearby, I tend to split the difference. 30 minutes every other week (two 15 minute blocks in an evening with a break in between for rest/debrief). It makes the drive (which isn't that far, but is still 20+ miles/30 minutes) more worth my time, but more importantly it feels like the right amount of flying for things to sink in and get reinforced without being too much so that I'm tired enough that there's diminishing returns. I've done as much as 3 1/2-4 hours over a 3-day weekend as part of tunnel camps, but that's when my entire days are devoted to the tunnel and I can put all my physical and mental energy towards it it. For the times when I'm squeezing in tunnel time after a full day of work, 30 minutes is just about right. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Radiohead "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Poo-ket. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I want 100,000 with poisoned water in wv Oh Emm Gee - Is this cute? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You've got 100 jumps and want to bribe your way into a lift in a foreign country, in a region where it's specifically prohibited, so you can, by yourself, "jump onto a beach or wherever." Sounds like you've thought this one through well enough. What could possibly go wrong? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This. My first rig fit me fine (the only change I made was to have a longer chest strap put on because it was built for a guy and the girls needed a little more breathing room). I jumped it for 7 years and it's now my backup rig. Till I got one built for me, I don't think I knew how comfortable a rig could be! But the rig is perfectly safe - all handles easily reachable, everything cinched down safely, etc. I tell people my custom-fit rig with all the comfort "bells & whistles" is like leaning back into a barcalounger when I open. My older rig is like sitting on a church pew. Both are perfectly safe but boy do I prefer one over the other (but I'm not complaining - having two rigs is an amazing luxury and I've enjoyed it for the 2 years that I've had that setup!). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Re: ambulances - I've seen them very rarely; typically, the rate of incidents in skydiving is so low that it doesn't pencil out, particularly when you look at the number of people at a big boogie (even the biggest these days are bringing in under 1000 jumpers). Contrast that with a big festival or concert with tens of thousands where you've got a big population and a high likelihood of dehydration or alcohol/drug related situations where having on-site medical personnel makes sense. As grimmie and others have mentioned, some DZs have been very proactive at getting to know their local first responders and helping them understand the DZ environment and the potential mechanisms of injury, etc. Given the location of a lot of DZs, the local hospital is often a small community hospital that could easily handle the more straightforward injuries without complicating factors, but in the cases of severe trauma, people are being transported to a trauma center, which may not be all that "local" to the DZ. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Why do you say "not the canopies"? My boyfriend is a huge fan of "closet queen" Sabres, especially for wingsuiting. People have mixed opinions on the original Sabre, but for those who love 'em, they can't get enough of them, and a ZP canopy well-maintained, something from the 90s is perfectly jumpable. There's other canopies that are still being made today - if you found one from the 90s in good shape - why wouldn't you jump it vs. one that was manufactured more recently. Same canopy same design, though (horrors) you might have to deal with the colors that were trendy back then (news flash, though - neon may be ugly, but it makes you really awesomely visible in the air!). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Check your link... the text says skydiveatlanta but the link itself is missing the first "a" in atlanta. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I skip the middle man and drink straight tap water. I rarely buy bottled water - I'll occasionally pick up some for the dropzone (if the DZ has no running water, like Byron, or has icky tasting tap water like Skydive Chicago and its rotten egg smell). But I drink the same quantity as you or more. I was in the hospital earlier this week fighting pancreatitis, which means no food, no drinking, just IV hydration. The doc had me on 3 liters/day and I was fighting dehydration headaches. I had to beg him for more ... I'm like, dude, what you're giving me for 24 hours is what I drink by noon on a normal day. And, thanks to the pancreas, looks like I will no longer have a "poison." Gotta stay off the sauce for at least a while. (Not that I drink that much, and usually wine or beer). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep, and some manufacturers are more specific than others. UPT (for one) asks the event organizers to tell them who won each certificate. I won one of their certs in 2012, thought about it for a while, did the math, and realized that 1) the discount wasn't that significant in the long run, and 2) it definitely wasn't enough for me to justify shelling out for a new container. I had friends who were buying UPT containers at the time, but the cert was non-transferable so I couldn't give it away to anyone. So I let it expire and then put it in my recycle bin (hey, I live in the Bay Area!). A few years ago I won a free Cypres 4- or 8-year service. Didn't indicate that it was non-transferable. Neither I nor my SO owns a Cypres, so I asked around to my friends to find someone who had a service coming up and sold it to one for about half of what a service would cost (and with the stipulation that if he had ANY trouble using it, we'd reverse the deal). Could I have given it away? Sure, and it would have gotten me some good karma, but I didn't in that case. But I feel like I've done lots of good karma stuff to help newer jumpers, and will continue to, so I'm not losing any sleep over that one. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

See attached. Is that too much? (Back story: I didn't bring my cold weather gear to Nationals this year, but some mornings were in the high 30s/low 40s and I wanted something to keep my neck/head warm, so I hit the only option that was open at 9 p.m. in Ottawa, IL... Wal Mart. Looked all around the entire store - workout gear, sporting goods, etc., and found nothing... then I realized they had a hunting section. Hunters need to stay warm! Voila!!) "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I haven't spent enough time in CO in the summer to comment, but I'll take your word for it. For the last 17 years I've lived in locations on the west coast that fall into the "one or two weeks a year you wish you had A/C" category (Seattle, Santa Monica, and now Oakland), and I've been so happy to live without it. I find that I'm actually sensitive to "conditioned" air now, and my sinuses will get stuffed up if I spend a couple days in a hotel or something in a climate that requires it. Those rare heat waves can suck during the day (and by heat wave here, we're talking high 80s/low 90s and dry), but otherwise, I find that I prefer it. And this year, my boyfriend got "baby gates" for the front door of my apartment that stack high enough that I can block the cats in. That now enables a cross breeze (since all the windows are on one side of the apartment), and it's way more pleasant. By night time it cools off enough to be great sleeping weather. Or I'll just do what I did last year which is invite people over to hang out in my apartment building's courtyard, which stops getting sun by mid-afternoon and is awesomely cool and comfortable then, and cook an entire meal on the grill (including dessert). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You'll enjoy packing tandems a hell of a lot more in 73 than you would in 112. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That's usually a good way to make sure your boss is no longer pissed at you. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Just to add to this, even if you can afford to buy brand new, there's often another use for that money that'll add more value to your skydiving experience. As mentioned above, I'm still jumping that 2003 Wings container, though it's now my backup rig. It's not nearly as comfy as my Infinity that was custom built for me, but it fits me well enough that it's a safe fit (stays where it's supposed to, handles are easily accessible, etc.). I'm in the position now (though I wasn't when I first started) that I could drop another 2K on a custom container, but I just can't justify that expense when I've got something perfectly good, especially for my backup rig! Instead, that $2000 will go towards team training expenses this year, including coaching, which will better support my current skydiving goals than will another shiny new piece of gear. But then again, my philosophy on spending money in skydiving matches up pretty well with my philosophy on spending money in general. I'm driving a 13-year old car that's got some dings and scratches on it but still runs beautifully. It still hasn't hit 100K miles, which should give an indication of how little I drive. Sure, a new car would be all flashy and ding-free and have some shiny new bells and whistles, but they're just bells and whistles - this car's got all the same safety features that a new(er) car would have. So why on earth would I spend money on one when I can use that money for something much more productive? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

As others have said... linked exits seem to be my shoulder bugaboo, and you did say you've been doing RW. I only do RW and most of my exits are linked. I organized a fun little six-way at the Eloy boogie this year and we chunked the exit. It sailed out of the Skyvan so beautifully that I was shocked that I had to think about whether I wanted to key it on the hill. When I came down I was raving to everyone "My shoulders didn't hurt, so I knew it was a pretty exit." I've jumped with a number of organizers who won't do linked exits with random groups because of the potential for shoulder strain, and I can't say I blame them. Chunking an exit is really nice, but if you're not confident in the skill set of the group to do it, freeflying the exit may be better for everyone's arms, and for the success of the dive. I have some damage in both shoulders, but none of it bad enough to do anything about surgically. My left shoulder had a torn labrum that was repaired surgically 10 years ago (injury happened before I started skydiving, from a blunt force trauma situation). The repair was very well-done, and that shoulder held up beautifully for years, but lately has started to give me some grief - MRI shows a lot of minor breakdown in the various connector points in that shoulder (and that's not my pull arm, so I suspect exits have been a contributing factor there). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This seems relevant... http://deadspin.com/5971049/what-did-we-get-stuck-in-our-rectums-this-year French bread!!! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I haven't friended my parents, either. 1) I don't want to have to explain every random thing I post 2) I don't want them to know exactly how much time I spend on Facebook. I do have my brother. He tends to only comment on my cat pics, though. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You only have to go to the Yelp reviews for your local dropzone to see how much some of the "little things" matter to your tandem customers. Does every dropzone need a shiny new bathroom like the one pictured in the article? Maybe not, but clean and functional goes a long way. Clear communications about what to expect at the dropzone also help a lot - a lot of the negative reviews I've seen have been around wait times, even when the wait times were due to weather issues. People need to expect to be out there for a few hours. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

And about 7 feet tall! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Couldn't have been that early as I didn't make my first trip there till 05 but I'll buy that it was with those two. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Way way more than I can remember (in fact, I'm struggling to remember where I met you... was it at the DZ.com Memorial Day boogie in Perris in 2005? ) I've even been to some of the DZ.com sponsored boogies (back when they did that ... hey, HH when are y'all going to start doing that again? ) and signed the DZ.com sign/poster that was shuttling around at the time. It still kind of weirds me out when someone walks up to me at a dropzone and asks if I'm "NWFlyer" ... often it's someone who says "Oh, I never post, I just lurk." Makes you realize how many people there are that are silent parts of this community! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Mismatched as in an orange and blue canopy with a red and gray container? Please tell me how that impacts safety in any way. As for "state of the art" it's perfectly possible to find used gear with exactly the same features as brand-new gear, for a significant discount. Your opinion is your opinion, of course, but don't go tarnishing all used gear with the same brush. And your "opinion" that used gear is somehow less safe isn't backed up by any reality I've witnessed. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

There's a number of people around here who seem to have anger management issues and take this place just a little bit too seriously... but I won't call them out for fear they'll take me seriously. That and the dead people. Even if I met them when they were still alive, meeting them now would be scary. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke