fastphil

Cool (literally), got it on my calendar for next year...

I made several jumps with quick ejectors, and I have 350 on a PC and several hundred more on small round canopies. I like a harness to be light and comfortable, then I don't need to hop out of the legstraps on landing. Pull out pilot chutes are another great change, giving more control over deployment, not to mention making it lots faster. A rig over 16 or 17 lbs seems such a waste of gravity... And you park a car on your rig overnight so you get one more guy between the door and fuselage. The less weight you went out the door with farther you could carry your speed before flaring. I think it was called swooping before the term was high jacked. You 10 man freaks are all the same. Sparky http://s397.photobucket.com/user/mjosparky/media/Skydiving/Movie.mp4.html I like that; and going 40th out of the small door DC3 was even more fun. My favorite rig was an SST Racer with KXX reserve and StratoFlyer main. There was little time wasted under canopy, a quick front riser spin and I was standing in the pea gravel half a minute after I pulled...

I could use a little yard work

And that's the point exactly, I have fixed wing and helicopter free fall jumps at 1100 ft and felt comfortable with my light weight fast sure opening three ring equipped rig. These advancements in gear came along with a growing of the sport into what it is today. This comfort with gear and technique is what made BASE not just possible, but feasible. Skydiving is like many other sports; it was created, grew up and now I guess it's matured. I think I participated during a growth spurt...

I made several jumps with quick ejectors, and I have 350 on a PC and several hundred more on small round canopies. I like a harness to be light and comfortable, then I don't need to hop out of the legstraps on landing. Pull out pilot chutes are another great change, giving more control over deployment, not to mention making it lots faster. A rig over 16 or 17 lbs seems such a waste of gravity...

So convince me why shot-and-a-halfs provide better functionality for their purpose than a three-ring cutaway system. So far all you've given me is "it's newfangled and you don't need it" but I don't find that a convincing argument. NWFlyer has a point; the 3 ring is the best newfangled thing they ever put on my rig. And I love step in harnesses, what's the need for all that heavy metal.

...

I always thought lookin' good was important...

I would jump from an open cockpit Steerman, pulling an advertising banner, right at dusk, and use a canopy packed in the reserve tray first. A rooftop landing would be followed by rappelling to the balcony, and not to forget to help myself to a beer out of the fridge. Then over the balcony railing for a short freefall and open the main canopy, a quick canopy ride with landing in the middle of a crowded street and hop in a cab (watch the Carl Boenish films from Houston to get the real idea). To do this takes more calculation than worry, 1000 jumps is a good number to have, and remember, it’s fiction so embellish.

So with your 10 years and 1500 jumps (according to your profile). Is the 500 in a year jumper better than you now? Does he know as much? Does he a greater interest in the sport? Most of my jumps were in the few years of the late 70s and very early 80s, like Wendy said (hi Wendy), so my interest now could be described as historical, but I’ve always considered skydiving a full in or full out sport. I was always worried of the occasional jumper and would steer clear of them. For myself, I bored (burned out) and found my speed elsewhere (I did pay 10 years of USPA dues), so I really can't answer your question. However, of the occasional or student jumpers I’ve seen goof up, I never saw one hurt seriously. That includes power line landings and main opening at below 500 feet. The fatalities were typically current jumpers that jumped most weekends, had hundreds of jumps and went in without pulling the reserve; go figure.

"some participants may have misunderstood the definition of sexual intercourse" hmmm...

I think the guy with 500 in one year most likely has greater interest in the sport and is actively learning more and faster and therefore the best skydiver. I made almost 500 my first year and to do it I jumped day and night at several DZs in several states at several boogies from many different DC-3s, several twin beech, otters and cessnas (might have been a heli too) and spent untold hours at the DZ waiting for weather to clear. I had a good feel for skydiving after the first year.

But hoaxers, alarmists, and the like do get recognized

The Great Tit is an impressive flyer. I'm kind of a hybrid of the two...

You excluded the items of most importance.

Not to be confused with vertical drift, which is the actual freefall...

I skipped the A because I came up pretty fast and qualified for the B within a couple of months of my first jump. I later got the C so I could jump at nationals, but I blew off getting the D right away, that is until I heard someone say "hey, those D license numbers might go to five digits someday". In the 70s and 80s the SCR type awards meant more than a license, which made sense, they measured not only your abilities but to a point the abilities of the group you jumped with...

I was at school, third grade, and we were released early. I most definitely remember my Mom (a devout Catholic) being very upset, which imprinted in me the seriousness of the event. Those were also the days of the Cuban Missile drills, where we would curl up in the brick hallways as if to to kiss our tails goodbye. Good ole' days...

If it happened in the 60's or 70's, he was probably hoping one of us could tell him. Well, the jumpsuit does look late 70's to me. Sorry, I have to to work occassionally. That's my 1000th freefall in 1980 (I think). We believed this to be the first antennae freefall jumps, we were just putting the "A" in BASE. Rig is an early Racer, with a step in harness, Strato-Flyer main and KXX reserve for about 17lbs. Our launch platform is 1,100 ft. Smitty (Phil Smith) as photographer. Check the attached pic for the "late 70s" styling (especially the plastic reserve handle and blast handle), that was our usual jump gear...

Here's an old pic I dug up of a Dactyl Doc, doing what I would call Pythagorian CRW. I've done a little CRW with starlites, which may not be rounds but are rounder then these dactyls.

Tall enough for free fall, of course

But Cypress has red light cameras, how could this have happened

How cool is that

My first thought was pick up the soap, but it reads like you already did that

I've done that lots of times (helped clumsy women, that is)...