topdocker

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Posts posted by topdocker

  4. I have it made!

    My wife and I go to Home Depot to shop on Valentine's day, it's deserted! Our first year together I bought her a chainsaw.... she loved it.

    Our wedding anniversary is on the 17th, which means flowers, candy, cards are all on sale. And it's like getting a three day warning!

    My wife also knew that an "off season" wedding was the only hope of any celebration. Smart woman, glad she married me.

    top
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  10. How about Anderson, Indiana, run bu Jim Trantor?Jumped there in the mid 80's and it was a blast. Grass runway, lots of cessnas and static line students!

    It's gone, runway is visible on Google Earth, but not a functioning airport anymore.
    Craig
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  11. I don't think the reason for people not competing at the nationals in 2-way is because they can't medal.
    the barriers to competition are:

    1) Cost- at least a couple grand to enter, stay in a hotel, go to restaurants, etc., for ALL the days CF is competing. The cost of a meet is more than the cost of a cruise, and you get catered to on a cruise!

    2) Time off work- you have to take all the time off that CF is competing because on any day, two way can be called on to compete. Weather holds can put the competition way out in the calendar.

    3) Number of jumps per day- we have in the past had to do 17 jumps in two days in competition. So an "amateur" could possibly be asked to make as many as eight jumps plus rejumps in one day. Not at all enticing.

    4) Nationals are no fun- you get up at at least an hour before sunrise, spend all day at the zone unable to make any jumps, until they need you to make a crapload of jumps right now. CF in notoriously spotted off the dropzone or very far out. The whole time more often than not, you're being told you are holding up RW loads or tandem loads.

    5) No fame- you can win all you want, nobody even puts your picture in the magazine. Back in the day, EVERY competitor was in the "Nationals Special" issue of Parachutist. It was a lot of fun to see all the teams and who had gone from one team to another.

    Maybe we could look at regional 2-way meets that earn points toward a National CRW Title. Find some format that keeps it simple, local, and fun.

    Just my humble opinions, and I got lots of 'em
    Craig
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  12. Quote

    You can't swoop in Lodi- me never go :S



    You can swoop all you want, even have a pond if you want to clean and fill it. Just don't do a turn over 90 degrees to final.

    It's like smaller carbs in Nascar, makes you have to be more creative!

    Craig
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  13. What are you waiting for? I only had forty jumps when I started doing CRW, gives you a chance to learn good canopy skills. Don't go out and do a sixty-way, but twos and threes would be great learning experiences!

    Craig
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  14. Yeah, it wasn't our best round. Not a whole lot of time to practice with the new canopies, and we don't focus on rotes too much. We added in our alternate for the whole meet to get him some practice, so the blue canopy is a stock JFX and a little "soft" for rotes.

    We are still working on the deployment system. Of course, you can put whichever system you prefer and dacron lines on a JFX and have a great crw canopy.

    Yuri's pictures show an older mod of the deployment system, and I think larger canopies than we are jumping now.

    Stay tuned, we have lots of work to do over the winter, but things are coming together fast!!

    Craig
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  16. Yeah, hard to believe.

    I hung around with Dan after I first moved out here back in 1989. He taught me a lot of rigging, skydiving, and bad jokes. We spent a lot of time in his loft, or drinking beer, or listening to rock-n-roll, or chasing girls, or talking about skydiving. Oh yeah, we got some jumps in too!

    Just a few weeks before the accident, he had come into my office, smiling like a kid who had a key to the candy store. Life was good, his planes were running and carrying jumpers, he actually felt like things were finally going his way.....

    I still think of him everytime I pick up my gearbag, made super oversize and tough as nails. It's been around the world and back a few times fro ten years now, but has never failed me. I know he's proud up there about it, but I surely miss him down here.

    BSBD
    Craig
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  17. Cool, maybe we both can get elected and solve some problems, rather than create some!B|

    There has been quite a history of rule changes and problems with CRW and USPA going back to the early 90's. Committees have come and gone, but the screw-ups some how live on.
    Craig

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  20. I think the real reason hard-core crw dogs don't wear terts for reserve malfunctions comes down to reality. There is no way to easily remove your malfunctioning reserve if you needed.

    The scenario being: in a wrap with someone and you cut away, open up a crappy reserve that mals. Now you have to get out a hook knife and hack your reserve risers, or dump your tert into the mal. Question easily answered after you drop your hook knife.

    The real danger in crw is not enough canopies or altitude to cut away, but clearing anything that is on you, before it gets fouled on your reserve handle or three rings, or you pound in. Being able to easily remove crap and get clear is the safest thing you can do.

    Certainly a tert can buy you more time to deal with things, but most feel it is not worth the extra effort, danger, decision tree branches. More easy to be careful, stop at appropriate altitudes, and jump compatible gear.

    Craig
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  21. We had a teammate who wore one for years, and only used it once. We argued for years weather it was an appropriate use or not and never resolved the issue.

    Terts require inspection every so often, as this teammate found out and was unable to cut it away and use a regular reserve. Ended up landing flat on back out in the dessert. Ugly.

    I found it to be a great pillow between loads, but thought it was a great place to hang canopies and lines on in the air.

    Jmtcw
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  22. Quote

    Come on, post some pics of this beast. No need for detailed photos giving away all the secrets, just a basic shot of canopy in the air. :P



    We'll try and get some pics up soon. Still trying to get some bugs worked out. Hope to have some quality shots we can post by next week.

    Craig
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  23. We did manage to do some rotes with them this weekend. We even have teammates looking forward to doing more rotes, which has never happened before! Since we are not a rote team, it's hard to tell, but they we're easy and a lot of fun.

    Big way??? Who knows, stay tuned!

    Craig
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  25. We knew we were doing some cutting edge stuff and people would hear about it soon enough, but this was quick!!!

    Yes, we are working with Icarus on some canopies and have modified them quite a bit, including the retract system. Everything is still in the testing stage, and changes quite a bit. So a posted pic could lead people to the wrong conclusions or to something dangerous.

    Stop in at Lodi, CA and check us out. We're the crw team that swoops!

    Craig
    Redline
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