christoofar

I've noticed lately, including with myself... that dislocations of the shoulders (or worse, the elbow) are very widespread with this sport. I had my right shoulder pulled out of its socket last Nov. 3rd from a bad RW (2-way with my partner holding onto me like a gorilla instead of relaxing). Couple months ago I showed up to the DZ on a Friday to make a lunch jump before going back to work and was met at manifest with a foreign jumper with a forward dislocation clutching his shoulder and wanting to go to the hospital. I reduced his shoulder for him. He said it slipped out when throwing his arms out to do a front flip. My dislocation seems to be healing up some... I can't do RW anymore b/c I can't accept the risk of losing control over my left hand and having no use of either arm in case it happens again. Since last November, I had my shoulder slip out in the plane once already (I was leaning out of the door looking for a spot). Orthopedic surgeon is recommending reconfiguring my muscles (detach from shoulder blade and wrap them over my shoulder and reattached to my clavicles... anyone hear of this procedure?) or to replace my entire shoulder; but that will limit my range of motion and take me out of skydiving probably permanently... unless I alter my rig so I can deploy with the left hand. This sucks! -C In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

I've also found that kitty likes to leave his hair all over my damned black Vector (he's black and white). Dunno how much tape I've had to buy to clean it up before I head out. How embarrasing! =) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

At least the guy is patriotic! :) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

We've all been there. Like you, some of us are STILL there (like ME! :). Packing large canopies into those little d-bags has always been a bitch. Sometimes I s-fold in reverse, sometimes I s-fold, normal. When you do find a good rythm to your packing (helps if you have your own rig) you'll start to get faster. When you keep changing rigs (like when you're renting) it's hopeless. Try sticking to the same kind of conatiner while you're learning. I learned packing on Racers and Vectors... those are fun to close! (*POUND POUND POUND POUND --- CLOSE DAMMIT!!! *) =D In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

I won't say where, or from what DZ, or anything like that to not hurt the offended who might be reading this post. But please: LOOK UP AFTER YOUR OPENING. Not too long ago I witnessed a very experienced skydiver biff on the ground (as we all do from time to time). This was a little bit different: Everyone on the ground saw trailing lines and nasty-looking end cells and witnessed in horror as the jumper setup for landing. Sure enough, he flared and the canopy collapsed. Luckily the jumper landed backside on the rig, which helped cushion the blow to his back (imagine falling off an extended steel stepladder!). Lucky for him, he walked away! I'm not an ST&A, but I'm pretty sure it's always good to do a canopy control check (right360, left360, flare, look at the cells, lean back and look at the lines). It was quite ovbious this experienced jumper did none of that and just kept facing upwind to prevent landing out. For whatever reason the jumper didn't chop is probably a lame excuse. The day you're afraid to pull your reserve when the time comes is the day you'll probably die. In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

In case you get bored with land, there's an outfitter in NM that lets folks do solo canoe on the Rio Grande, they're located near Albuerquerque (it was YEARS ago when I did this). You canoe down 45 miles or so and stop before you get to Texas, it's beautiful. Just remember to stop before you get near El Paso and all those nasty Maquiladora plants! =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Hey hey hey, just chillin' =o) Grounded right now b/c I've been too busy lately. In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

NO KIDDING! It was 68F on the ground but the wind was blowing at 20MPH or so... up there much worse. I had to crab all the way back to the DZ (I was about 2.5-3 miles out). I'm glad I didn't land out. I got warmer when I put the helmet back on (I tied it to my chest strap). =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

I'm looking into the newer Coolpix cams to see if there's a way to get a remote release to work on them. They are very good cameras. Right now I'm looking to see if any ccd condoms will fit a newer coolpix well. In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

It's a Nikon Coolpix 950. It doesn't have a remote shutter so I just put it in my flightsuit and pulled high (gave me time to pull off my helmet, say cheese, and zip it back up). Not bad for a newbie, huh? =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

I took a new pic today. High pull @ 13,000 ft. =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Anyone have any idea what candidate places might host the freefall convention? Current thinking at my DZ is that it's going to stay in the midwest somewhere. I'd sure like to know early so I can get cheap airfare. =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Hey how's "Team NXperience" for a SCR team? When you get > 300 jumps you get kicked out. =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

http://www.christophersawyer.com/bobbit8.wav In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Sometimes when my favorite skypals aren't out at the DZ I get stuck in a rut and do nothing but HPs (hop & pops) at 5,500 ft from an otter. This happened two weekens in a row. Yesterday, I got bored and decided to break the trend and do a high pull at 10,000ft. Boy was I nervous although I shouldn't have been! I'm used to sitting next to the jump door and staring hazily at the ground for a couple minutes, throttle going low, crank open the door, and handstand myself out the door, do a front loop or two... wait 'til 2.7-3 and dump. This time I was in the back, couldn't see anything but the back of someone's Racer... and it seemed like the higher I got the more nervous I was, and that "last minute hand shake" everyone does before they leave the plane made it worse. What's up with that? =o) I agree about the whole skydiver-scared-about-bungee-jumping thing. I'm scared of heights (yes I'm a wus) and I can't bring myself to want to do it, esp. after seeing the those video clips on TV of bungee accidents, although... now I think about it--I have no problem watching Break-Away! over and over. =o) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Congrats on handling that mal! If you had a Raven on ya you coulda applied for the t-shirt! =) I have to ask: What kind of body position were you in when you finally did pull? I'm wondering if your body position caused the mal or the pack job. 150 jumps and couldn't find the pilot chute... hmm (packed funny?). Oh well, streamers are scarry! Glad to see you're OK! =) -C In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

It seems like all of South Texas has been stuck in a big fog zone. Funny how it started right after I'm all healed-up from dislocating my shoulder! Could it be karma? =) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

While we're at it, why not build an online OLAP cube against it? =) I can build an online logbook for anybody using ASP and SQL/DB2, but the remaining question is: Will DZOs accept electronic logbook entries, and what authority will determine that an eletronic witness is valid? The e-stuff is good for keeping your own records, but when you are < 100 jumps and want to float around to other DZs, you are usually (depending on whose running the place) asked to produce your logbook, and the signatures and USPA numbers are looked at. That said, I do hate keeping up with the logbook, and it sucks when I forget to bring it to the DZ and have to write stuff down on stratch pads and staple it in the book later. Since I take my HP Journada with me everywhere, I've written a small utility for the PocketPC that helps me remind myself what I've done so I can write it down in case I forget to lug around that black spiral. -C In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Thanks! :) My shoulder hurts like fire... but if I take my meds I can't drive or go to work... and no work, no skydiving. One of those "damned if you do" scenarios. :) In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

Last weekend was bad for me, too. Last Saturday my RW partner on a 2-way twisted my right arm and disclocated it in freefall. I couldn't reach the BOC so I used my left hand and grabbed silver. I was jumping a Racer rental with two Ravens in it, no AAD, no RSL. I had to land the reserve with only one working hand, but at least I had enough alti to practice flaring on heading before I landed. Got some Ketamine (special-K) in the hospital! :) -C In God We Trust. All others pay cash.

It's a good idea for AFF and static lines students to stick with belly flying for a while and RW'ing with very experienced jumpers. Although I do some head down every now and then by myself, I don't feel safe enough to freefly for fear of freefall injuries. I had a freefall injury last Saturday @ the San Marcos DZ when my RW partner pulled my right arm out of my socket, leaving me with only one working arm to pull my reserve handle and fly the reserve canopy back down. I can only imagine the nasty things that could have happened to me freeflying and smacking into something/someone with only 40 jumps on me. I had no RSL/AAD.