SkySlut

I thought that it was alright, especially after a couple of cocktails too. Jack was the highlight, it wasnt a typical Sandler movie because he was definately upstaged by Nicholson. It was predictable, but entertaining...perfect for a movie where you just have to passively take everything in. No thinking involved. Good rental...not worth 8 bucks though. PS:Sandlers best work was in Billy Madison or who could forget his role in "Shakes:the Clown" starring Bobcat Goldthwait and also starring Robin Williams. IF you really want to feel better about your alcoholism...rent that movie, if you can find a copy. Great f'n movie!!! "See thats how you get chicks...fist you ask them the time, then next week you ask them the date, then before you know it you are making out with them!" -Adam Sandler, Shakes the Clown

If anyone has a group membership with a password you could check on this at USPAs website. You could see if he had any ratings as well...that is funny stuff.

It depends on where you buy them, if you look hard enough, you can get a new cypress for about $800 to $900. Of course if you know the right people you can get them for cost plus tax & shipping ($650). I dont have any hard numbers on premature deployments or lack of deployment, maybe someone else can answer that one, but I believe that historically all AADs werent reliable (not like you would want to rely on one anyways, but that is a whole different topic). Cypres came out as the most reliable one and best in ease of use, etc. depending on what marketing spin you would like to quote. It became the leader in the market and it seems to be what everyone jumps with. Another thing with Astras from their website:

I know quite a few people that jump with them, but they admit that they really dont work. Most of them use them for BASE.

Astras have been known to "malfunction" and they can be accidentally turned on and off in freefall. Some people do actually prefer them so they can turn them off while they are under canopy. Cypres is more reliable and dependable in my opinion.

I cant think of a better matchup!!! Did anyone catch this on Leno??? Must have been really entertaining. I have to pick up the soundtrack for the movie "House of a 1,000 Corpses". Its got Lionel & Rob doing a great version of "Brickhouse"!!! I still havent figured out if this is a good thing or if its a sign of the apocalypse. One thing I do know is that its good listening either way!!!

Flying in deep brakes with a no-wind condition isnt going to help you very much. If you are going to be flying in brakes...make sure that you let the toggles all the way up for the last 10 seconds before you flare to get maximum lift out of your flare. If you let the brakes up too late...the canopy will surge forward, pounding you into the ground. I made that mistake once...I wont be doing that again. When you have a good amount of wind, flying in brakes can be very effective. On a no wind situation, S-turns will be your best bet. Play with these 2 methods and combine them to get your desired effect. I would also recommend carefully watching other canopies while you are at the DZ. You would be amazed to see what you will learn. Its almost like clockwork. On no wind days, people overshoot the target...on highwind days, they undershoot. I would also recommend taking the walk if you overshoot, unless its a safety issue. To work on accuracy...its going to help you to get feedback from your landing pattern & setup. For example, say you overshoot your target by 50 feet...then you go up with the same canopy and the same wind conditions, now you may want to set up on final 50 feet back than where you were on your first landing. This, of course, is if all safety conditions (traffic, hazards, etc.) are good. Then you can start to learn altitudes, angles, your canopy performance & wind conditions. Anyone can do S turns and land on their target, but you really arent "learning" from doing that and plus doing some wide sweeping Sturns can create a hazard for other jumpers on a busy DZ or smaller landing area. There is a lot more involved in this but that is it in a nutshell. Hope this makes sense and helps.

Definately go to the DZ. I have learned more on the ground and around the bonfire than I have in the air. There is always something to learn, especially with canopy control. Just sit and watch peoples approaches and see who is doing the right things and who is doing the wrong things. Then of course, there is always the beer to be drank!!!

Advanced body flight 1 on 1 coaching, Freefly coaching, helicopter jumps & Food/Beer!!!

I spoke to Lyle & Jim the other day and they said that the copies were being made at the time we spoke. That was about 3 or 4 days ago.

ripping in the competition about this issue is a poor excuse for what is really at hand here. this has nothing to do with SDC, it has to do with the sport as a whole.

Yeah, I remember that one too...so I am not losing my mind. Anywho...I am all for having a good time, but if you are fucked before getting on the plane...I will let you know. If anyone has a problem with telling someone that they should not be jumping should not be jumping themselves. We need to be regulating ourselves...then we dont have to have to drugtest ...if drugtesting doesnt work...then we got the FAA to deal with...think about it.

Yep, its a fine line you have to walk. I personally feel that if you have other peoples lives in your hands...there should be nothing in your system. I have taken care of that from a personal perspective. Skydiving means that much to me. If I know that I am going to go on a bender, I will take myself off the roster before I go on that bender. It pisses me off to see people that are "grounded" for the day and get bent because they stink like booze or look loaded from whatever they took the night before and they cant make any money. Although, I caution people. I have been onthe bad side of this before. A buddy of mine went in on a base jump, Lee Werling, and me and a buddy of mine went on a bender. We found out at about 4 oclock in the afternoon and we quit jumping for the day and we went to drown our sorrows. My buddy stayed up until 5 am drinking and I actually went to bed at around 930...earlier than the rest of the instructors and DZOs by the way. the next day i got pulled aside saying that i was up until 530 drinking and that i shouldnt have students...that rumor came from the pilot who lived in the next trailor as my buddy. totally unfair. so guilty by association and by suspicion doesnt work either...in that instance i would have rather have taken a breathalizer. I think that there should be some sort of compromise solution by a DZ. Point being...Rumors on a DZ can be as "incriminating" as a false positive on a drug test.

Not sure. I remember it recently. The guy had Coke, E/X, and grass in his system...I could have sworn it was in the past year...almost positive, but hey, could be wrong. Either way, it doesnt make a difference to this discussion and when it is publicized and it makes skydiving look bad.

Call PD or talk to Scott Miller. He can be reached at Skydive Deland. You can get his email from PDs site, I believe...if you can find it, PM me and I will give you his email or call him at Delands manifest.

good one...nothing like a fart/skydiving joke to lighten up the mood.

PD does recommend large rubber bands for sport rigs though. Double stowed.

I never use the small rubber bands. I only use the large ones. I find that, depending on the type and size of your lines, the small rubber bands dont hold well enough with one stow and they are too tight if you double stow them. The large rubber bands are really nice to double stow them. Not too tight, not too loose with either the locking stows or regular stows. The Pappa bear said "This stow is too tight." The Mamma bear said "This stow is too loose." and the Baby bear said "This stow is juuuuuust right!"

So the discussion continues...so if we are going to be self regulating, some DZs are having drug testing to be "self regulating". It seems as though people are split on this issue one way or the other. What are the alternatives to drug testing in self regulation??? If people are so heated on this issue we should come up with some creative alternatives to peeing in a cup. Any thoughts???

I am talking sport rigs. Tandem lines & tandem rubber bands (although they too are designed to break) are a different animal. Different thicknesses.

Its a tricky situation indeed... I checked in the incident reports for Rantoul and couldnt find anything in there either, I will keep looking. It was fairly well publicized and it got my attention by the sampler basket of party favors that were in their system. I believe the report said that they werent necessarily under the influence at the time but traces of these drugs were in their system and some of them were chemicals that go through the body quickly, within 24-48 hrs.

Here we go again...We are starting early on a monday morning. I cant wait until the weather gets better for everybody else in the northern parts of the northern hemisphere so we can get back to more jumping and less political trash talking. Less chat and more splat.

I didnt mean to pick on SDC at all. I know of that one incident with the instructor at SDC, but I could have sworn that there was another fatality that happened last summer where there was remnants of way more than just grass in their system. I thought that it was at SDC, but I must be mistaken. I tried to do a search on the incidents forum but the history stops in the July timeframe. Maybe it was somewhere else, but that is irrelevant really. The argument is still valid wether it is at one particular DZ or a group of them. There are an average of 30 fatalities a year, give or take and at least two of them tested positive for drugs, that is only what we know of and that have been publicized. Thats a pretty good/bad percentage, depending on how you look at it. Unfortunate really. I was thinking in smaller terms of the local community and how it affects the local DZ, but it certainly affects the sport of skydiving as a whole. So I guess I still ask the question:How many drug related skydiving deaths constitute a drug problem for the skydiving industry, percieved or real??? I also ask:What are we, as skydivers going to do about it and how many more drug related deaths do we have to endure until the FAA or some other organization starts governing our sport??? I think that we need to look at the bigger picture than politics at local DZs. Was the other fatality at Rantoul???

Go with either one...they are both fine. Make sure that you get something that is measured for you and that you get someone who measures you properly (very important), otherwise you run the risk of getting bruises and being uncomfortable. So again, I like chocolate chip ice cream, what flavor do you like???

How many fatalities did SDC have last year that they found drugs in their system??? At least one instructor and I believe that there was another non-staff that had shit in his system. I honestly dont particularly care wether a DZ has a drugtesting policy. I think that we are adults and we should act like responsible ones. I know that can be tough sometimes, but this is a job (if you are working in skydiving). If you are not working in it, whats the point of getting high before jumps? Is skydiving that boring that a person needs to get high to make it better??? I think that person should take a step back and take a look at what is really going on. Anyways, back to my original point. If Roger Nelson is doing this to combat a "percieved" drug problem, than good. He has one of the busiest DZs in the country, he doesnt need to take flak from the whuffo community or the anti-drug skydiving community either. It makes good business sense and he is a smart business man. What would constitute a "percieved" drug problem on a DZ, anyway??? Does zero fatalities w/ drugs in their system equal no drug problem...no. But does one fatality with accute amounts of drugs in their system constitute a problem...I am sure that some people would argue "yes", especially if its an instructor. Two fatalities...then you may start to see a trend. Again, I am not particularly for or against a drug testing policy, because I believe that people should be responsible for their actions and the safety of those around them. If we dont regulate ourselves, someone else will...which would be all bad. So I am not sure wether Roger Nelson believes in the drug testing policy. Either way I personally think that its just a sound business decision