fmmobley

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Posts posted by fmmobley

  2. It has been 7+ years since that November event. We successfully formed a 68-Way wingsuit formation (according to the USPA rules at that time).

    I'm wondering where everyone went. I'll start with myself, see below...

    Record holders:
    Ralph Armstrong
    Avery Badenhop
    Brian Barnhart
    Riaan Bergh
    Rolf Brombach
    Elana Cain
    Paul Cain
    Brian Caldwell
    Scott Callantine
    Troy Church
    Damien Dykman
    Jhonathan Florez
    Alex Frey
    Kenneth Gajda
    David Gershfeld
    Giovanni Silvestri
    Robert Gray
    Steve Harrington
    Cate Heneghan
    Jimmy Hopper
    Sean Horton
    Richard Hough
    Shinichi Ito
    John Kallend
    Mark Krasinski
    Mette Christensen
    Martin Libelt
    Benjamin Lowe
    Ryan Maher
    Sergey Makeev
    Marko Makela
    Dan Mayer
    Randy McCoy

    Francis Mobley - I stepped away from skydiving a few months later in 2010 and left the country to serve in the Peace Corps in Botswana. I never really got back into skydiving. I am retired and live in Denver now. Last year I rode my bicycle coast to coast from NYC to Oregon.

    Michal Motykiewicz
    Jeff Nebelkopf
    Sergey Nikulin
    Andreea Olea
    Alexander Osipov
    Justin Pabis
    Tero Paukku
    Ed Pawlowski
    Philip Peggs
    Craig Poxon
    Raider Ramstad
    Simon Repton
    Joe Rodriguez
    David Royer
    Valery Rozov
    Cliff Ryder
    Dennis Sattler
    Patrick Schraufnagel
    Alexey Shatilov
    Justin Shorb
    Irina Sinitsina
    Benny Skovhede
    Brian Snarr
    Kristin Sosso
    Jochen Stier
    Stephen Such
    Michael Swanson
    Michael Swearingen
    Jonathan Tagle
    Andrey Volkov
    Alexander von Scheidt
    Taya Weiss
    Bo Wienberg
    Duncan Wright

    Videographers:
    Scotty Burns
    Mark Harris
    Matt Hoover
    Craig O’Brien
    ... Marion

  3. Yep that was Steve. I was on that load and left right before his group. Very sad.

    And we had just set the USPA National Record largest wingsuit formation. 68 in that formation. I have the certificate saying I was part of that national record jump.

    They "gracefully" retired the record when the criteria changed. But it happened, it was the record, we had 68 in the formation. I'm proud to have been part of that.

    Congrats to those on the new record but it is not the largest ever (as some news reports say) it's the largest since they changed the criteria. Not the largest ever.
    ... Marion

  5. Getting back into the sport after three years. I have a RAWA helmet with a camera box made for a Sony HC90 camera. I want to use that helmet but no longer want to use that camera. (I plan to upgrade to a camera that does not use Mini-DV)

    My options seem to be:

    1. Remove the box and just mount my next camera on top. How do I remove the box?
    2. Keep the box and find another camera that will fit that box. Does anyone know what camera might fit in there properly?

    Any suggestions and advice is appreciated...
    ... Marion

  7. Update... Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My wife and I made a long roadtrip and checked out all of the places we were considering and have decided on Denver or maybe Ft. Collins (which is not far from Denver).

    There is a good DZ nearby, Mile-hi in Longmont. The outdoor activities summer and winter are hard to beat. Also, the city is cycling-friendly. We will be moving next month or September!
    ... Marion

  8. I am in the same situation. I hope to resume jumping again sometime this year after a 3 year layoff. I have logged over 800 jumps, but I want to ease back into the sport safely.

    Let us know how your "re-entry" into skydiving goes. I am interested.
    ... Marion

  9. Quote

    I must have missed it, but what do you and your wife do for a living?



    My wife is a Nurse Practitioner and I programmed IBM I-series computers. Tish does plan to return to work. I am not so sure I will ever go back to programming computers.
    ... Marion

  11. Thanks for the input, please keep it coming...

    So far I have heard suggestions in AZ, CO, CA, WA, NC, FL and OR.

    OR: Portland was already on our list of possibles: How many months out of the year can you jump there?

    CO: Was also on our list of possibles: thanks for the suggestions of Boulder and Ft. Collins, we will visit them.

    CA: Was on our list to check out. You think we would like Northern more than Southern California? Should I be concerned about the state of the economy in CA and the possibility of higher taxes to cover the huge deficits there?

    NC: Was on our list. I would love to hear which cities in NC are recommended.

    FL: I am afraid FL is off the list. Unfortunately my wife says it is too hot.

    WA: Not sure about Washington. It all sounds great, but you say you can't jump half the time. If I could get 100 jumps in a year I would be satisfied. Is that possible there?

    A few more criteria... We don't want a congested city with long commutes, but we don't want a city that is too small either. We would kind of like it if there was a nice size university nearby. Outdoor activities we love are skydiving, cycling, hiking, skiing and tennis.
    ... Marion

  12. My wife and I end our Peace Corps service in May of this year. We had sold our house and quit our jobs before leaving the country so don't have a particular place we have to return to. So where should we live?

    On our return we plan a big roadtrip across the country to visit some recommended places.

    Things I would want:
    proximity to a good DZ
    a lot of outdoor activities available
    cycling friendly
    not too hot... not too cold

    Any ideas?
    ... Marion

  17. Quote

    ... (I would refuse to jump one freeflying) but didn't know if anyone has experience or opinions about jumping one with a wingsuit. ...



    I did all my wingsuit and freefly jumps with my Dolphin. In my opinion, it is a great container for any skydiving discipline.

    A few years back the Dolphin may not have been freefly friendly, but any Dolphin container manufactured in the last five years have great bridle protection and tuck tabs.

    I did not have any special wingsuit mods for mine either, and did not have any problems.

    If you are going to wingsuit, it might be a good idea to have a longer bridle and larger PC on whatever container you get. Even if you get that configuration the same rig could be used for any discipline in my opinion. You shouldn't need a separate rig for wingsuits until you decide to downsize to a crazy small canopy.

    Have fun and let us know what you end up with.
    ... Marion

  19. It is done, I made my last jump.

    My last day of jumping at the DZ was this past Sunday. I had a great day. I made four jumps, and managed to do my four favorite things:

    1) A freefly jump
    2) A simple RW fun jump with some of my very best friends in the sport
    3) A jump with a new jumper who needed something completed on her A card
    4) And for my final jump, a wingsuit jump (my favorite discipline.) I jumped with Gary Shaffer who was one of my instructors when I went through AFF. My wife went up with us as an observer. To make the jump even sweeter there were some beautiful clouds to fly with.

    Then after a perfect landing, I walked in and turned over my rig to the buyer.

    Thanks to everyone for the kind words in your posts. I really appreciate you all.
    ... Marion

  20. Thanks everyone for the kind words. One thing I love about skydiving are the people. I guess sharing such a unique experience draws people closer.

    Chris... if it goes as planned I hope to be gone when Fitzgerald rolls around again.

    Don... Tish will be coming out with me on the 11th. She says she won't do a tandem, but may do an observation ride.

    Wally... My wife and I have applied to join the Peace Corps, and if things go as planned we hope to be in Eastern Europe (I think Albania) next year.
    ... Marion

  21. Some of you already know by now that I am selling my gear and calling it quits. There are several reasons…
    1) I am leaving the country in March 2011, and will not be able to jump where I am going to be for 27 months.
    2) I am losing my job in August and will need to cut back on expenses.
    3) I have someone local who is anxious to buy my rig at the price I am asking
    4) I find that I am not enjoying it as much as I used to, and am not sure the ratio of Reward vs (Risk + Cost) is where it should be for me anymore. I am a little burnt out.

    I feel like I am not leaving much undone. I have accomplished a lot of things during my few years in the sport: I traveled to a lot of DZs, met some fantastic people, I tried just about every discipline, broke a few bones, and saw some very cool and scary stuff. I jumped with world champions, beginners, students, old codgers and even a pineapple. It would be hard to top 2009, which culminated in the Wingsuit Record jump in California.

    I will be making a couple of jumps on July 11 and then turning my rig over to someone who wants to buy it.

    Thanks to everyone I have met along the way for all the cool skydives, and the help, encouragement and friendship. It truly has been amazing. Skydiving has allowed me to do things others can only dream about.

    Does that make me a whuffo now? Or does that happen when my USPA membership lapses?
    ... Marion

  22. Interesting topic...

    After over 750 jumps I finally had my first a few weeks ago. Slow speed mal. After a little analysis I decided I needed to cutaway, I did so, and before I could get the silver all the way out I had a reserve overhead (RSL's are fast too).

    My biggest surprise was at how routine it seemed. I usually go through the EP motions on every jump, maybe that is why it seemed so normal. I landed normally and came back in and just worried about finding my stuff, but no big adrenalin charge. Just another jump.

    I imagine a high speed mal would get the juices flowing a lot more.
    ... Marion