joodyblu

You make some really good points. I have only been on one jump, a tandem, but three members of my family are totally hooked and were after their first tandems. Since I'm not at that "hooked" point, but completely support the rest of my family. I do as much to promote and support our dropzone as I can from the ground. It seems whenever business moves into any sport, especially one which calls to people of independant spirits like skydiving does, you run the risk of creating "tandem factories", because tandems do pay the bills and buy the "nice stuff". But there are still dropzones that have a near perfect mix of enough tandems to pay the bills, and still retain the "spirit" of skydiving, which not only keeps the fun jumpers and club jumpers in the air, but also rubs off on a good number of first-timers and makes them want to go on to AFF or SL.

Has anyone heard about some rigs stolen from a DZ in Colorado over the week-end? Tacky, tacky behaviour.

"Farmer is probably not the right word as Brush has only sagebrush and cattle"--I beg to differ with you on that statement. Brush also has thousands and thousands of acres of corn, alfalfa, sugar beets, and wheat. So, it is a full service agricultural area--be that as it may, our Farmer McNasty does not have crops anywhere near the landing zone. He's mad because he lost a good portion of free grass that his cows had previously been grazing on. He will find another bone to chew on now that there is effectivly no DZ at Brush due to too many circumstances to go into in this forum. I have also heard that on the first day Steve and Maria opened, some poor woman actually landed ON McNasty's fence, breaking a hip or pelvis or something--but that's something that I didn't see with my own eyes, so should probably be categorized as 'rumor'? At any rate, that is just one incident that our Farmer alludes to in his many, many complaints. Trust me on this, he is not the main problem out here.

Here-Here, Mikey! The people who were there know the truth and have told the truth. I think we have a pretty good idea where the "third party info" is coming from. (I thought this had all been settled?) Still, I'm amazed at how many people seem to know exactly what happened, and how it happened and I don't recall that many people being there that day, do you?! The Farmer McNasty situation is more like a bug on your windshield at this point, there are bigger things on the plate right now.

This is probably one of the most thought-out posts I've seen yet on these boards! I've been quietly sitting back reading dz post for some time now, and I have been reluctant to join in any discussions because I have only jumped once, and it took having tons of faith in my tandem master, whose also a very good friend, the fact that my daughter, son and husband all jump, and just about two years of fighting it with all I had in me, to actually get onto a plane knowing I was going to willingly jump out of it. I did, after all was said and done, enjoy it. But it is not for everyone, and I totally agree that trying to encourage anyone else---trying to push anyone else--into it is something close to irresponsible. It is a dangerous sport, or at the very least, it's an extreme sport, and when things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong. I know the absolute enthusiasm you all feel (like I see in my husband and son, espedially) tends to overflow into nearly every aspect of your lives, and I imagine its hard for those of you who are "hooked" have a difficult time understanding why everyone wouldn't just love it, if they'd just try it!! But I do agree--passive encouragement is fine. Those who have even a tiny bit of desire to try skydiving will do it in their own time, and it's best not to make them feel cornered into it.