hajnalka

You're a bouncer? A boxer? A dominatrix? When I have trouble buckling my strap-on and handling my dildoes, No one is happy. Hence my dilemma.

Please rest assured: At the place where I was packing, the bungees were tight as could be; if they were subpar, they were replaced. We also replaced closing loops on a regular basis. In general, we looked over the gear and either fixed or reported anything out of the ordinary. Stellar gear maintenance at this place! Thanks for the information -- my fingers are still swollen, 4 days out. I've got some new techniques to try, and will def. have ice and ibuprofen on hand in the future. Many thanks, H

Taking ibuprofen before starting makes sense - thank you! (I'd only considered it after I had pain.)

Both: Pull-up cord to tie 3-rings together and sometimes - I hate to admit it - to pull that last bungee up for the final line stow. I use a closing tool to close the rig. The rigs are brand-new Strongs with 366's, and they are easy to close. I believe it's the bungee line stows that are killing my hands. I'm NOT good at getting the canopy into the bag, and so the bungees are miles away from the grommets by the time I get there. I'm hoping that I toughen up with time - any/all advice is appreciated! Thanks, H

I don't have a dog in this fight, but do want to say that 'likestojump' is one of the most fair, upfront people I've dealt with in 2nd hand gear sales. If he has an issue, I'd believe it's legit.

I was a full-time rigger for 10 years, and I've spent many days packing tandem, student and sport mains. I thought I was pretty tough ... I just spent a weekend packing tandem mains (Strongs) all day for three days. My body feels fine, but now -- 3 days later --- my fingers are still swollen and puffy. The pain is minor but I can't make a fist, and it's interfering with my job. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do? I appreciate all and any advice on dealing with my swollen fingers - how to prevent it, or how to make them better. Thanks in advance, H

I visited Tradewinds a few weekends ago as a 'visiting rigger.' I was happily surprised and impressed by this place! Facilities are very clean, well-maintained and comfortable. They have a good-sized 2nd floor carpeted packing/rigging/experienced jumper area with a 2nd story deck overlooking the loading and landing areas - very cool. They have great communication and manifest, the pilot rocked, and landing area is HUGE and wide open. Obvious emphasis here is safety and fun. The local jumpers are awesome - friendly and inclusive, and I can't imagine anyone walking in here and feeling like a stranger for long. This is a 'no politics' kind of place. Aspiring rigger Ben is smart, knowledgeable and ethical: He impressed me greatly and I hope he gets his ticket soon. He's very quick with gear advice. Overall I found this a friendly, fun, safety-conscious place. In addition the area is beautiful, and it's only a few miles from the town of Washington NC with anything you could want. Both first-timers and experienced jumpers will be well served at this DZ. I'm proud of John for helping make this place what it is. Since it is a small Cessna operation, do call ahead unless they have an event going on.

Harry, thanks for starting this thread. I hate this more than I can say. I can't believe I won't ever see him again. My dog Charlie doesn't like many people - he tries to bite most of them. But, Pete came over to my house from time to time during the past few months and he'd sit down with Charlie and scratch his ears and say, "Dobre pez." Charlie would calm right down and eventually fall asleep at Pete's feet as we talked. I'm not sure of the spelling of 'dobre pez'; Pete said it means "good dog" in Czech or Polish (don't remember.) All I know is that Charlie loved this man like none other. I'm glad I knew Pete. He was a very good friend to me over the years. I'm sad he won't be stopping in anytime soon like I expected he would, and I'm REALLY sorry that my dog Charlie won't enjoy his calm company anymore. RIP and blue skies.

Great discussion, and I love grommet to pin for many reasons. But, be careful of tall dbags that weren't meant to fit in your container that way. If the height dimension of your bag (linestows to grommet/bridle) is appreciably larger than the thickness of your bag (as packed line stows to bottom of container) and you pack grommet up, you may be stressing your container more than it was designed to take. I'm just chiming in here because I've had to fix many damaged side flaps with crackened stiffeners because of this. Seems like the bigger the canopy/container, the more chance for damage. Small/square bags, much less of a problem. If you want to pack grommet up, and your container wasn't meant for this, keep an eye on your side flaps for potential stress and damage.

Millions of people around the world worship rabbits? Millions of people around the world revere a life, however small, especially when it feeds them. Are there no recreational hunters reading this thread who identify with this? Sometimes I go out into the country with family members and our dogs in order to find, track and kill game birds; I hunt. I do it because it's how I was raised, and it's very enjoyable. I don't do it because of a dire necessity for food, and I don't enjoy the fact of killing - especially if the bird was only winged/grounded & the dogs have to find it and we have to finish him off. BUT we always eat these birds and give thanks for them .... even if it's an old pheasant rooster with long spurs I'll hang him for a few days, then marinate him When I dig into him at the table, I remember where we shot him and somehow I love the fact that I know exactly where he came from, what he ate, where he lived and how he died. As opposed to eating meat from a supermarket packed in plastic, all bright red and stamped in blue ... Most hunters I know are ethical and careful about gun safety, seasons and bag limits and making sure the game doesn't suffer needlessly because we are lax in what we're doing, and we respect the lives we take. This picture just kinda shat all over what I love about hunting. - pissed me off because these guys showed disrepect for their bagged game ... how long did it take to stage this picture? Did they at least bleed them first? Was the game then thrown into a cooler, dressed and turned into rabbit fricasee, or was it sacrificed to make a cute picture? Thanks for your recipes, by the way.

I'm leaning towards Obama and there's no shame here

2nd to last pic shows some pretty sharp slider grommet dings. Maybe your slider grommets are nickle-plated brass? These are fine with Spectra lines, but when you go to HMA you need stainless slider grommets. From what I've seen, HMA will tear up nickle plate grommets pretty fast and that can cause all kinds of damage.

I bet it would work OK, but IMO it could be a safety issue because most of us are used to the RSL ring being inboard on the riser. Some people install mains without considering R vs L riser, or placement of the RSL ring. Which is fine until they give the main on risers to a friend to jump ... and the friend hooks it up backwards based on the RSL ring inboard thing. I've seen this happen and of course it's a stupid mistake on their part for not doing a continuity check ... I've seen lots of laziness installing mains correctly on left or right risers regarding the RSL ring, and have had to switch many main risers because of this. It's not that hard to get right in the first place, but lots of people don't seem to think of this. I like RSL rings to be inboard and it looks "wrong" to me when I see a shackle connected to an outboard ring. Good thread, thanks for posting. Great food for thought.

- I know this one! Because yesterday Bernanke said (and I'm paraphrasing here:) "The average middle-class American just doesn't know how much what happens on Wall Street affects their daily lives." I wanted to break something. Anyone else heard this/have a link? To the topic, I think McCain is incredibly arrogant/grandstanding. I bet a lot of his fellow senators/congresspeople who've been working long hours for many days (putting off their own campaigns) are pissed as hell at this development. I dunno, I think we all understand that campaigning for Prez is more than a full-time job. So now McCain is abandoning his campaign, going back to DC; is going to ride in at sunset with his cavalry and help save us all? They can't sort this out or muck it up without this one guy? I'm strictly nonpartisan/have been undecided, but if Fri's debate doesn't happen because McCain decided WAY too late to care about this mess, he just lost my vote.

Just a few months ago I saw a snapped tubular kill line on a nearly brand new drogue. Jump went fine, they just landed with an uncollapsed drogue. It happened at an internal stress point and there were obvious friction burns/melting of the kill line ... I'd bet money that both drogue bridle and kill line were twisted, and the twists met in just a way that failure happened. Like Jan's post. Thanks for that. The forces transferred to depl. bag or canopy topskin from drogue release are strong and fast. In this video, the drogue bridle was definitely twisted (like they often are.) What I think: This may not at all have been a gear maintenance issue! And I'm happy when I see small, suspension-line-type kill lines on tandem drogues. Easier maintenance and packing if nothing else. I'm sure that if Sigmas are the best, safest rigs out there, they will be all we'll see some years from now. The jury may still be out, and as a rigger I have no opinion . Best, Dawn

See Lou Diamond's post.

Harry - Can't believe you filmed me in my loft That was probably the most special part of my weekend. Many tears shed ... and even though I hated being on camera at the time, it was exquisite. We shared many good times, and consoled each other during some painful losses. I'm extremely proud to have been your rigger these past 8 years. Love you, my friend. -Dawn

Dawn here. Excellent post - Lyman is working for Butler - also doing tandems and AFF at Jonesville. The man NEEDS to jump/instruct/organize .... because this is his purpose in life. I don't think anyone would question how much he's brought to the sport. It's simply what he does & who he is

Sure, as long as your bridle has enough slack for your curved pin to clear the closing loop (your referenced post, negative #1.) As sport rigs get tighter and smaller, bridle clearance gets less and longer pin = danger to me as a rigger. If you get a chance take a look at a tandem system, and see how much bridle slack it takes for one of the long flex pins to clear the loop. Should help your understanding. To me, a nice tight closing loop is often overlooked and underrated, and innovation is great as long as you test: early, often and safely.

3/4 of an inch where? Either: A. Your TI's are VERY sensitive to the intricacies of canopy performance, or B. Your tandem canopies are lined with HMA and relined all the time. Not to downplay the importance of line trim to any canopy's performance. But usually a 'built-in turn' is just that. Crossport damage, unknown history/damage, stitching, component cutting, fabric weave, etc can all play a factor. Happily the folks at PD are the experts

I agree - doesn't look frayed to me in the least. Those look like burns. I'm with Terry. I've never seen bridle damage like that. I HAVE seen both freebag and bridle get friction damage/burn holes/melting from a Cypres fire split-second after main PC throw - damage from the main bridle wrapping around deploying freebag and reserve bridle, but in that case it was obvious what had happened, and there was a lot of color transfer from red main to white reserve bridle (long streaks of red & signs of friction before the actual major burns and damage.) Good luck, glad you got your rig & Cypres back OK.

Not saying if it's a good or bad idea but people will do it anyway, so - Sew the patch onto a piece of Cordura or similar, then sew this to the mudflap ONLY on the sides/to the binding tape area. Do not sew across the top or bottom, or go anywhere near the harness, hardware or handles. Make sure it's sewn neatly - nice and flat - and doesn't extend past the mudflap top or bottom. Unfinished or hot-knifed edges should be folded under, bound, or otherwise finished so you don't have a harsh edge that can wear on anything. I've seen it done this way successfully with good results, usually to cover up some unfortunate embroidery on a used rig. I've also seen people sew patches directly onto the mudflap and they invariably disturb or ding up the stitching and harness webbing below. This is a critical junction on your rig; you really shouldn't mess with it. I would encourage you to use a willing rigger. Or at least have a rigger look at it after it's on there to be sure it's OK.

I was told by my best friend and a very good friend that because I do not necessarily believe in the god they both know and love I'm going to hell. Me too, and I feel your pain . One of these friends used 'witness' to me at the DZ and I managed to keep it light ... until a mutual friend died one day in a skydiving accident. Gung-ho religious guy spoke extensively at the funeral, and did not say ONE word about our brother who died in the sport, and who he was . Instead he saw it as his chance to blatantly try to convert to his faith and instill guilt in everyone in the packed Catholic church/convince us that the guy had somehow been "saved' while he was dying (speaker was NOT Catholic.) I knew our dead friend was agnostic, since we'd had many in-depth private conversations about these things in my rigging loft. It took all of my willpower not to walk out of that funeral sobbing as my fingernails dug into my palms, but all our friends were there and hurting and I didn't want to contribute to the drama. I believe even the priest was appalled, although he was tactful/diplomatic. I'm not mad anymore, and don't generally get pissed off at those types though I am quite sad for them. I think they're terrified of death, and are way too self-involved to "love thy neighbor." It sucks when people you care about tell you with no uncertainty that you're damned to eternal hellfire, but I just figure they're human and it's their way of getting through the day , then I change the subject. BTW, as far as I know funeral mass speaker no longer jumps, I believe the DZ environment may have been incompatible with his faith, but I'm not sure.

It's a great idea, used to be very popular. There are some out there that solely use webbing and velcro (and I've made couple of those myself, can be mounted on mud flap or leg mounted.) Still, you have solid metal or composites from the alti very near your throat and vital areas even with a softer mount. I remember a fatality in MO ? 10-12 years ago: Jumper incapacitated, CYPRES fire, and cause of death was thought to be impact of a chest-mount alti to the throat on the face-down landing. I always think of that strange 1 in a million incident when I see people with mudflap altis. Anyway there are ways to do this type of mount with velcro and webbing, which lessens the risk a bit. Over the years I've seen 100% metal mudflap alti mounts that stuck out all over the place and really scared me ....

Actually the Strong SETs (400s, anyway) have the 3-chambered cells at 1, 2, 8 & 9. No comment on your editorial comment on the canopies , but man I wish they'd at least get a hot knife.