Hammitt

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Jump Profile

  • Home DZ
    Yolo
  • License
    D
  • License Number
    4233
  • Licensing Organization
    USPA
  • Number of Jumps
    1300
  • Years in Sport
    31
  • First Choice Discipline
    Formation Skydiving
  • First Choice Discipline Jump Total
    1300

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  1. Did it still have the sea anchors? Mine did. I think I paid a $100 for mine. In fact I still have it out in my shed. Since the sea anchors are sewn on after the fact, you could take them off if you were very cautious with a seam ripper. It took me about a week doing a couple of hours each night to take it off. I had three rides on mine. One at Yolo and two at Pope Valley.
  2. I have one of those in my shed with a Unit as a main and a 26 foot Security LoPo with a four line release for a reserve.
  3. The canopy pattern is definitely familiar. The name Mary Olny come to mind, but that is just a WAG.
  4. Nick was a very good friend of mine. I made a lot of jumps with him. I also made a few jumps at Lincoln. The Cessna 182 was named Catfish. Sandy George ran the place back then. My favorite Nick story was at Pope Valley. We parked our vans next to each other and on Sunday morning Nick woke up and got out of his van. He reached into his pocket and pulled out about 15 dimes. He looks at me and says "Deane, why do I have so many dimes in my pocket?" I said "Nick, you were drinking 90 cent drinks last night." I sure do miss that guy. He was one of the nicest guys i ever met.
  5. I remember that meet at Pope. It was the only time I got a chance to jump a Loadstar. That was one mean climbing machine.
  6. I remember doing a demo jump into half time at a professional soccer game in Sacramento in the late 70's. I believe they were called the Sacramento Gold. They were playing at American River College that year. It was an evening jump during the summer. There was no wind that night and it was very warm. I had a red smoke tucked in my jump suit so I could dangle it after I opened. Well I opened a little low that night and didn't get the smoke out as soon as I would have liked. I opend it with about 30 seconds or so of canopy time left and I guess it must have been a one minute smoke canister. Well, the smoke was still going strong when I landed in the middle of the field and kept going at least 30 or more seconds after I landed. I managed to fill the whole stadium up with red smoke and the second half of the game was delayed at least ten minutes.
  7. I had three reserve rides on a 26' navy conical and one test jump on a 26' Security LoPo. All four had a four line release. The Navy Coni and Security LoPo handled and landed about the same. I did a Plf on one landing and stand ups on the other three. I still have a Security LoPo packed away in an old Classiflier in my shed.
  8. Hey Pete, remember the time you had to refund Steinmetz his money?
  9. I haven't heard the name Lyn Beckhorn in ions. He was the jump pilot on my first jump. It was at Yolo in August of 73. Thanx for bringing back a fond memory.
  10. That's Mike Dodson in the Black and White jumpsuit and Red Rig int the first and second picture. He lives just a few blocks away from me. I see him a few times a year. I started jumping in 73, but I never made it to Antioch.
  11. All three of my reserve rides were on a 26' Navy Coni with a four line release. Very steerable and great forward speed and soft landing. I did do one test jump for Security on thier 26' Coni when they were developing thier Sierra gear. I remember one of the toggles hung up, but not enough to chop it. What we jumpers won't do for a free jump. At the end of the day, I much preferred the 4 line release.
  12. I started jumping in 1973 and by then XBO's and TBO's were a rarity. I remember seeing a TBO at Pope Valley probably in October 1973. That was my first visit to Pope Valley. The only person I remember jumping a XBO at that time was Leon Delisle. If I recall correctly, Leon bought it from Mike Truffer. He didn't jump it much as it seemed to have a mind of it's own. Seems like they were very hard to keep in trim. This was a problem that PC's didn't have. I remember Leon going to a Black and White PC soon there after.
  13. I started in 73 and as you said had about 50 jumps on cheapo's before I purchased a used PC. It was in a style rig with a 26' navy coni with a four line release. Pretty much a hot shit rig at that time. I bought a pair of Para boots, but didn't really need them. I had Andy Werbeck short line it for me after I had about 50 jumps on it and started wearing nike's instead of the para boots. I weighed about 170 and usually did nice tippy toe stand ups as long as the wind wasn't too high. I did have a few back up landings when the winds came up, which was normal for Yolo in the afternoon, and as was said in one of the other responses, that's why we wore hard hats back then. It's funny how jumping rounds made a pretty good spotter out of you.
  14. Two of my three cut aways were at Pope Valley. The first one at Pope(my second overall) was from the Yolo Beach. We flew over to Pope and jumped in to have lunch. That was a pretty cool thing to do. Anyway, after I pulled and realized I had a wad of junk over my head, I cut away. When I looked for my blast handle I couldn't find it. I knew it was there somewhere, but I sure couldn't see it. I reached down and found the cable housing. I knew that the blast handle was at the end of it and sure a shootin it was. I pulled away and there was my beautiful Navy Coni fully opened up over my head. The four line release worked as advertised. I realized later that my harness was loose and that's why it shifted when I cut away causing my blast handle to be lower than I expected. My second cut away at Pope was a Saturday night at the O out of the DC 3. I spotted the load and the spot was just about on top of Pott's Peak. I remember when I decided I had to cut away I was hoping that I had the spot right and that I was not over Pott's Peak at opening. Pott's Peak was about a half a mile or so south of the runway and the peak was about 1500 feet in altitude above the runway. For some reason I remember jeanne mcCombs being on that jump. As it turned out my spot was good and I was over the runway and not over Pott's Peak at opening. Did give me a few seconds distress though.
  15. I found mine. They also have the Expert, Jumpmaster and a 250 bar. Never did get any number bars after that. I never did put in for my Gold Wings. I do kinda regret that now.