Zennie

I like skreamer's idea. Some of us here know ways of making a person's computer life...um... interesting. Not that any of us here have ever done that kind of thing. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I've heard a Southwest pilot do #4. Wonder if it was the same guy. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

There are a couple of companies that make cutaway-able BASE rigs. The Vertigo Sorcerer, for example, is one. Go to www.vertigobase.com and check out their infor on the rig. They even have a movie clip of a BASE cutaway! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Quitting may be throwing the baby out with the bath water. There's gotta be a way to change your account password. Hey bossman, there is a way, right? Just remember to logout and remember to tell the browser not to remember passwords and you should be OK. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Misunderstood you "both sides" question. Yes. I taped up all the holes. Both sides of the helmet as well as the back and top. Just did it on the outside, not the inside. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I just taped up the outside. Held up just fine. As far as mounting goes, I mounted the bracket inside the ear holes like you. Used tie-downs to secure it (lock on the outside). My ear holes weren't quite big enough so I cut out the excess foam with a razor blade. I would really recommend securing the mounting bracket. I've found my helmet "opens up" a little in freefall. Don't want that thing falling out! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Ooop. My bad. I remember reading about it and knew it was in the Dallas area so I assumed (yeah I know what happens when you assume) it was SDD. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Man is Dallas having a string of bad luck or what? First the plane (which thankfully resulted in no fatalities) and now this. My condolences to all you guys up there. Hang tough! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Yep. I mounted my ProTrack inside my ProTec and had the exact same problem as you. The answer? Duct tape. Lots of it. Duct tape all the vent holes and make sure your helmet fits snugly. I'm able to hear my alarms just fine now. Plus it makes the ProTec look "mean". ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Woohoo! Congrats! Great feeling isn't it? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I thought so too. I had a radio attached to me for my landings. One possibility is that the radio receiver's battery died or it wasn't turned on. When my bro-in-law did his AFF #1 several years back his receiver's battery died on him. Got down OK. A little of both. There are two sets (if I remember correctly), both attached to the same brake lines. They'll let you "help" with turns and landing flares. I'll tell you what, those tandem canopies are a bit#$ to steer. They're frickin' huge! So, yes, I had at least played with the toggles a bit and had ab basic understanding of approaches before setting out under my own canopy. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

As much as people like to knock AFP for being expensive, I have nothing but praises for the program. By the time I had my own chute on my back, I had done 3 freefalls, so I was already used to the environment. During those tandems we talked about setting up and performing the approach and landing. So again, by the time I was working my own canopy I had at least been exposed to, and talked through, it in a "real-world" setting. AFF has obviously produced very talented and safe skydivers. But I know I am grateful for the gradual approach of AFP. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Like me? Just kidding. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats man! Yeah it's an awesome feeling to be free to do what you want now instead of making an instructor happy. Recommendation. Do a fun jump -- go up without any sort of jump plan (other than pull altitude - duh) and just bust out moves. That's what I did. Kind of liberating. I did a couple flips & rolls and wound up spending the second half just freefalling and watching the ground. Funny thing was how *close* the ground looks at pull altitude. You see it coming up *fast*. Kinda freaked me the first time. I'm going "Dang. Is my alti working? Seems awfully low for 4500 feet." I still say to myself "No way this is 3500 feet." ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Congrats man. Keep us posted. Freefall rocks! BTW. My guess is that you won't have any problems with freefall since you've spent some time in the wind tunnel. Did they have you work on turns & alti-control in the tunnel? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Funny you say this. Because just this weekend I did what I said I would never do... jump a rig w/o a Cypres. I'm building up a rig and one of our packers had a Sabre 150 for sale and offered to let me jump her rig. Didn't really have a whole lot of choice since I don't have a reserve yet for my rig. So I jumped her Racer sans Cypres and pulled at about 6000 (mainly to have a chance to play around with the canopy). Pretty much belly-flew the whole way and just watched the tandem that went out before me (which was kinda fun). ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I definitely want to do Bridge Day. Is it possible to jimmy up your normal skydiving rig to jump it? Or does everyone there jump a BASE rig? I know Liz will never let me spring for a BASE rig. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Oh yeah he got video. I told him that was a must. Just hope he can get a copy to me soon! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Well, my bro, after hearing me yammer on and on about skydiving finally went to do his first tandem on Friday (the 13th!). Said he loved it and wants to do it again. Looks like another one is hooked. 'Course he is my bro and our family is kind of the adventuresome type anyway (we've bungeed together & my Dad races cars) so it's really not surprising. I did give him fair warning that if he took it up be prepared for *serious* wallet-drain. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Happy b-day dude. I turn 36 this Tuesday. Writing a big honkin' check to the IRS. Now there's a nice birthday present! Of course, on the flip side, I should be jumping my own rig finally next weekend, so that negates it. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Can I throw in my $0.02 here? There was a discussion about this on wreck as well. I guess one person's "group of friends" is another person's "clique". I hang at a pretty good size dropzone and yeah, I've noticed that people sort of "cluster", but I've never felt that I was being excluded or snubbed. The groups seem to form along interest and experience lines. The freefly folks tend to hang with other freefly folks to talk freefly stuff. RW folks do the same. As far as jump groups go, people of generally similar experience tend to jump together. A lot of it seems to be kind of a comfort-zone kind of thing. People tend to like to jump with people they know. After the jump they naturally tend to hang together & debrief. I don't see anything wrong with this. Of course, I notice people saying "Oh, so-and-so is such a thus-and-such." or "Can you believe what so-and-so did?" But again, that's just human nature. I try not to do it, and I take it with a grain of salt when I hear it (and don't relay it on), but maybe that's just me. If that's "politics", maybe people are overreacting, but then again, maybe it's worse at other DZs. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Just got a new (used) container and it looks like I'm going to need a new pilot chute. I'm considering going with the Monkey Fist. Anyone have any feedback on it? ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

I'm sure given my nick most people can gather where I'm coming from on the spirituality issue. Did skydiving change me? No (other than becoming totally obsessed with the sport ). But Zen/Tao has certainly helped my skydiving! ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

Before we get too deep into an argument about swoops, let me just say thta my intent wasn't necessarily to say swoops are bad (or good). Just that these things happen to people with even tons of experience. And people with tons of experience make mistakes from time to time. Unfortunately in our sport, mistakes can be very unforgiving. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie

My condolences to his friends, family and all the folks at Deland. This guy had 4700 jumps. By no means a novice, and I'm sure he had done swoops many times before. But it only takes one mistake. It's a very unforgiving maneuver. I guess my hope for no low turn fatalities this year isn't going to be fulfilled. ------------ Blue Skies! Zennie