mdrejhon

Actually, for that reason, some are coming just for the weekend, flight Friday night to Sunday night. This eliminates the need to take days off if you've got Monday-to-Friday work or school. There's an airfare sale going on right now, some texans found $250 roundtrip including taxes... Saturday has historically been our peak day for the boogie, with most of the festivities too. Keep an eye on that boogie-specific thread in Events forum...

Ya, you know men and thinking with the wrong head, especially if you've seen Queer as Folk back in its day. However, believe it or not, there's also the old-fashioned types too. The Rainbow Skydivers actually brings out all kinds of people, including those who you least expect to be gay. There's even a Bible Belt population. Sometimes my gaydar don't even go *beep* at all. Time to send back my gaydar model 100 for repair. I hope I still have extended warranty coverage left, it's on its last year.

Well... Are you SUUUUURE? Though, I introduced two NY state Rainbow Skydivers to each other and they went out on a date in Manhattan. One that's actually your good wholesome 'ol coffee/dinner thing, not the bedroom-on-first-date thing.

I need to go to Alabama to get my hair cut sometime. And a few skydives, too.

JerryBaumchen -- Thanks! It all depends on how we were educated. Mark is incredibly spot on with his English, as well as I. I don't know what kind of school he went to I think my English slacks off slightly when I write online, as I do write run-on sentences. However, I'm probably in the 95th percentile when it comes to English writing skills. I was mainstreamed beginning in Grade 3. I had a speech tutor, who assisted in my English writing skills.

I was. I thought they were paint salesmen. We have a 100% money back guarantee. Just show your original receipt.

Harmless? It's even better than that, you are no competition for the limited amount of women in the sport. Are you SUUUUUUUUUUURRRE? We had more STRAIGHT women skydivers partying with us at our last Rainbow Boogie, than Rainbow Skydivers. Just ask someone who was there.

Ah yes, back more than twenty years ago, the rainbow got co-opted. Well before my time, and that's another topic -- maybe a speaker corner thread to vent frustration at this. (I wouldn't be surprised if this is the main annoyance nowadays, even when rainbow-colored skydiving equipment is still common -- even among people who don't care that we are gay, just the rainbow symbollogy being an annoyance -- an interesting textbook academic discussion, but I'd rather put that to Speaker Corner as that topic can get charged.)

Not enough hints. Didn't see anyone with a hockey helmet on, eating a donut, or drinking a beer. Here is the Facebook name-tagged version of the photo. I am the one with most red in my jumpsuit. I am also known as Canada's first licensed born-deaf skydiver -- and I typically show up at big way events. (Don't worry, the banner will only be shown at mainly large dropzones where a group of us are present, and with the dropzone's permission. Perris even invited Rainbow Boogie to be hosted there, as did Chicago, and a few others.)

Although I accurately use word 'fraternity' to describe the banner (according to the Merriam-Webster, the Oxford, and Wiktionary), I couldn't find a better word. Perhaps "brotherhood"? Like the Muff Brothers, Couch Freaks, Team Awesome, etc. Some of them have their own equivalent fraternity banner... Gaydar is useful, but we need to use good publicity techniques too. Rainbow Skydivers (aka skydivers who just happen to be GLBT), are spread thin and wide. We just pulled a few out of the area to show up, and 2 of them have actually made the decision to attend our Rainbow Boogie, after having visited our corner. I'm the guy who knows the most about the state of the gay skydiving world. I know 2 gay DZO's (it may even be your dropzone), over 10 gay AFFI's. I have come to discover that there are often small groups of Rainbow Skydivers at many dropzones, there are 6 at a Florida dropzone, several at a near-New York dropzone, even 3 at an Oklahoma dropzone. (Yes, Christians) etc. However, these known Rainbow Skydivers are less than one quarter of who's out there, and we need publicity to draw in the new potential boogie attendees too... According to the Facebook Group Wall, there's been a surge of new Rainbow Skydivers thanks to our promoting. And, we're harmless to the straight jumpers too.

Buddy, this ain't Speaker Corner -- and we intend no harm. Everyone knows who we are. We have many straight supporters who love what we are doing! Our annual Rainbow Boogie is more than half attended by straight skydivers, who just love a good party with us, and they all know who we are well in advance of showing up. To address the question briefly: Rainbow Skydivers is a name that we all like, and even the straight jumpers, on average, like that name a lot. It's a great name that doesn't disguise us, in the majority of opinion (GLBT and straight included). Now back to tamer discussion.

I don't want to jump through them, but I just LOVE cloud blading, cloud surfing. Whenever I see a sky 50% full of those fluffy clouds, I request a high altitude hop-n-pop, and surf the surface of these clouds, like blading down a mountain. IT IS AWESOME! Very educational too, in canopy angle-and-line control, to prevent sinking into the clouds. Sometimes I was skimming a vertical surface of a cloud, or flying through a valley of a cloud, trying to make that "V", then sashaying or swooping a steep downhill slope, or slowly spiralling around the narrow column of puffy cotton. Be sure that air traffic is open, you're the only one in the air, and that the pilot is notified of high-altitude hop-n-pop. Most fun solos I ever had. A maze of clouds for a solid 10 minutes.

POPS? Couch Freaks? Toad Suckers? Muff Brothers? NOPE! It's the RAINBOW SKYDIVERS! We've purchased OUR OWN fraternity banner This photo shows the banner put up at Skydive Perris during the big way camp. Photo of the banner at Perris and four of us. Just 4 out of the 180 Rainbow Skydivers in our Facebook group, though. Though 3 others Rainbow Skydivers visited too, easily finding our corner to say hello!

Some dropzones, some events, and some countries, don't allow you to jump without an AAD. You can also remove the AAD during the semi annual repack when you don't need it.

Heya, Skyventure Montreal has a lot of great coaches, and is actually owned/invested in by skydivers, so you can ask them directly too -- contacts can be found on their Facebook page too: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laval-QC/skyventure-montreal/166733319501?ref=ts Be noted, there is a lot of French...

New text for the Facebook Event RSVP page: We're preparing clips for Skydive TV, and we just put up our Rainbow Skydivers fraternity banner at Skydive Perris in our corner. Not to mention, this year we've had a significant surge of new and returning Rainbow Skydivers, who have recently become interested in becoming skydiving -- just because of our boogie event! We are expecting approximately 10 newly A-licensed Rainbow Skydivers who have already contacted me about attending this event. Maybe one day, some year in the very near future, we hope we can beat the size of Independence Day -- at least when combined with a concurrent events intentionally scheduled on the same weekend!

That's safer. but you might avoid saying "track about 2500 feet" and such -- I have never heard of people say that in big way events, people can't judge tracking distance well but they can do their best track, or sense the length of their track. Also, 6000 feet breakoff is very high for a 30-way, I have broken off a 30-way at just 5000 feet, and a 20-way at just 4500 feet. But I if you're mandating higher minimum pull altitudes for safety margin, a higher breakoff is fine. Just say "Breakoff at 6000 feet, and keep trackin, pull no higher than 3200 feet. This is a long track, and will last approximately 20 second" Regardless of what you do, talk to several experienced big way jumpers (and organizers, if possible) to make sure that they think your plans make sense -- especially jumpers that visit Perris 100-way camps, and know how the people there organize them. You need to be absolutely sure that all safety aspects are covered, and not rely 100% on dropzone.com

Hmmm! There are some things that even *this* organizer doesn't know about.

Good rule of thumb, but it doesn't have to be hard-and-fast rule for the base (last breakoff wave). The base can open above 3000 feet -- the base should track relatively short as to not to interfere with the previous breakoff wave. Outer breakoff wave tracks as long as possible.... Inside (base) breakoff wave tracks as short as safe.... This gives more room for the middle breakoff waves. By this virtue, members of the base is allowed to pull above 3000 feet. "pull when in clear airspace" is the rule of thumb for base breakoffs at Perris Big Way events, JFTC, and other P3-team www.p3skydiving.com organized big ways. I think some countries may not generally have a standard 2500 pull altitude for outers, so recalibrating all the breakoff altitudes and all the pull altitudes an additional 500 feet of safety, would turn this rule to "pull no higher than 3500 feet". However, in general, for worldwide consistency, I recommend the "pull no higher than 3000 feet" for all waves except the inside (base).

That's dangerous! A typical 100-way such as the ones at the Perris Big Ways uses a system similiar to the following: 1st wave breakoff 6500, pull at 2500 feet 2nd wave breakoff 5500, pull at 2800 feet 3rd wave breakoff 4500, pull no lower than 3000 feet (Note: Add about 500 feet to all altitudes if you're uncomfortable about 2500 feet pull altitudes) It has proven time again and again, that outer waves must PULL THE LOWEST for best safety. The 400-way World Record (World Team) also used this kind "outers track the longest and pull the lowest" of system, as well. It adds both horizontal AND vertical separation, and gives outers more time to track as far as possible away from the inner, and causes a lot less problems with congestion as well, because the outers are already very far away when the inners open. I suggest creating a BREAKOFF DIAGRAM. These supplemental diagrams are starting to become standard practice nowadays in many modern big way events. For example, check the photographs of the Perris 100-way break off diagrams.

I agree with Gav. I am personally ectomorph. I used to be 148 pounds in 2002, and underweight to the point where my ribs showed through my chest muscles. That's too underweight for me... For 2002-2003, I more than doubled my food intake, while doing some gym strength training (staying away from cardio or running), and I did the whey-creatine-glutamine with the 6-7 meal-a-day thing that many bodybuilders typically do. That worked, and I gained about 15 lbs in 6 months to about 163 pounds. To kickstart my high-metabolism ectomorph body to gain weight and get rid of my "starving-ribs-chest" look, I had to: - ALWAYS eat when waking up (within 1 hr) - ALWAYS re-electrolyte yourself immediately after exercise (dilute gatorade-like concotions). - ALWAYS eat a good meal within 1 hour or less of exercise (refuel your muscles quick before body burns them up or muscle pain comes back) - ALWAYS eat throughout the day (even when not hungry) - ALWAYS eat a meal right before bed. - Total, 6 smallish-to-medium size meals. In most of my gatorade-like concotions, I threw some creatine, glutamine, and dextrose in the mix too, along with a little powdered vitamins, in recommended doses. I also used whey powder in many home made protien shakes, but don't depend on them for lifetime (it can stress the liver, etc) In fact, nutrition cost me $600-900 per month and was like a part-time job in itself, having to pre-prepare food, to prevent myself from going hungry 2-3 hours from now; or bringing lots of food with me, whenever I had to travel, or go to work. While my food intake dramatically went up (even to the point of some little bit of olive-oil and flaxseed-oil supplementation in some protien smoothies), I didn't really eat much of the fattening stuff... I had no coffee, I had no candy, I had no sweetened desserts, I never touched granulated sugar... Man, I missed all of that (I have a sweet tooth, as my friends would know).... Tons of smoothies and fruits, to compensate though.... Sugars (carb) is still important component of refueling your body, but the right sugars is needed. Though, the sweetest sweetened stuff were fruit-bottom yoghurts and flavored oatmeal powder, but that was my only guilty pleasure of factory-sweetened stuff rather than naturally-sweetened... Intentionally avoided eating too much processed stuff at the time... I drank zero, too... no beer, no wine. I kinda avoided low-density foods such as iceberg lettuce: I could not cram much of that in my tiny stomach; so high-density high-color vegetables had to substitute, for increased stomach-space efficiency... roostnureye, you're in the wrong forum. For the proper forum, go to http://forum.bodybuilding.com -- Lots of info that backs up GaVaK for the most healthy ways of gaining weight, but please don't overdo it. Just eat VERY healthy. Also, while not a hard rule of thumb for ALL body types, there is medical evidence that now show that being slightly overweight is more healthy than being slightly underweight. That said, being even moderately overweight is more unhealthy than either, there's a narrow window there. Unless you're an ectomorph, it's easy to overshoot a target weight. Remember, stay away from the treadmill, stay away from EFX, stay away from ellipticals (at first) -- you can hit those a little later, or only lightly in order to exercise your heart but not to burn too much weight -- your goal is a kickstart bodybuild stage first so maximum strength training seems to works best, before doing any bodysculpting or 'cutting down' procedure... (I actually never really did that, although I did cardio later for other reasons, but some bodybuilders did) Limit your gym visits to 3 per week (this works best for ectomorphs), because ectomorphs need about 48 hours rest between intense 1-2 hour gym workouts. Otherwise, you just burn the sore muscles away before it's fully recovered. I gained 15 pounds (7.5lbs muscle, 7.5lbs fat) on just 5 hours gym per week, and that included warm up exercise time.... But NOTE... I intentionally exercised HARD to the point where my muscles often became sore after a 1-2 hour workout, and stayed sore the next day -- so that's how intense I had to work out on various types of exercises I got from a bodybuilding book... I could have violated my diet a few times here and there with no problem (a drink, a coffee, a beer, a yummy chocolate mousse dessert), once every few days -- but I avoided all of that nearly completely for something like half a year, during my bodybuilding progression. As always, for a diet like I did, preferably _please_ check with a professional body trainer AND a doctor first, before commencing on a weight-gain diet, which ideally NEEDS to go with a good gym/exercise program, so that more of the gain is muscle than fat. Lost some muscle definition since (it's been years since I've gone to gym regularly). Today, I have slacked off, and am about 165 pounds, and probably want to go back to 160 pounds, or convert some fat back to muscle -- my metabolism is slowing down now and finally gained about 5 lbs fat, but maintaining there. I haven't been to the gym much. I really should start again, but I simply have no damn time to work on the nutrition (that's often more than 50% of the work of bodybuilding for an ectomorph -- nutrition can be more time and work than the bodybuilding itself!). But I certainly look better than the "starving-ribs-show-thru-chest" look I was in 2002... So the 2003-2003 bodybuilding kickstart on me still has some lasting effects on me. But I'm still back to a lazy eater and exerciser, which isn't that good, but at least I don't have the starving-ribs look anymore. It can be done, but it's not easy, and be prepared to spend a fortune on lots of good fuel for your body (AKA food). You've been warned!

My suggested modifications to number 6 should, in theory, solve both problems. Good point about spinning the base, that's a concern to examine too. That may make #5 better than the unmodified #6 for that. (That said, the OP wanted something expandable, and I had immediately noticed #5 looked harder to expand to a 40-way and then 50-way, but you could simply move the whacker to the outer stinger and add whacker layers) Actually, I think my suggested modification makes it look like a hybrid between number 5 and number 6. Any other people's opinion about my suggested modification? (Perhaps I need to draw a diagram) I want to hear from experienced organizers too.

When I saw the thread title, I thought you were talking about big ways. The weirdest big way I was on, was a 100+ way last fall that actually ROTATED 270 degrees (spun around) from the exit to the breakoff. Many of us at the outer whackers were having a hard time chasing our slots on that load! Yep...we got it on video. (We all knew it rotated. I was surprised that it slowly went a full 270 degrees over the course of about one minute.)

If that's true, then that's very efficient if she runs a marathon on just 1200 calories (and whatever she's got stored in muscle). I know that the 1200 calories eaten efficiently can generate more energy than 2400 calories eaten inefficiently. Such as several tiny meals throughout the whole day rather than fewer big meals, good nutritional balance so that not much excess isn't stored or excreted/pissed out... Good timing of electrolyte drinks, not too much or little.... She must be balancing her carb-protien-fat percentages in her food very well! Little things like that... Throw in a little miscalculation, and maybe it's 1500 truly, but still, very efficient if she's running a marathon. Especially if she's successfully getting close to the front. I imagine some strenous days might have a calorie deficit, slight amount of muscle get lost, but gets replenished in subsequent days, if your wife's weight is remaining stable. I have read that it is normal for some athletes to lose muscle during major competitive events, as long as the muscle is intentionally restored / slightly built up prior to the event, specifically to be lost. (Like some people burn fat as energy, but instead building muscle stores to be used up during a marathon). Happens all the time at the Olympics anyway... Works for them... Extra power above and beyond daily caloric intake, in a professional athlete, often comes from both a mix of fat burning and muscle burning, for maximum power during an endurance Olympics event... That's why many Olympics athletes claim they need a month to recover from a major event!

New Information! For all the straight jumpers, there is also a concurrent skydiving event happening simultaneously too (not gay specific): ASP - Advanced Skydive Project - Sponsored by Aerodyne & NSL - Organized by Karl and Cherie Schuch - Up to 20-ways - Advanced RW - For More Information [email protected] I am now currently contacting Karl and Cherie, about merging our groups for a 40-way at the end of the day Saturday (after our Gay Way World Record Attempt). This should also help lead to a pretty big hangar party this year. Those who have heard, even from straight friends at Skydive Cross Keys, have heard how entertaining that party was last year!