briangilbertson

His event is on May 11th so I would like to have them by the 5th or so. If anyone wants to fly a banner I can see if I can get one made. Anyone have suggestions for where to get tubes made? Thanks! Brian

I have a 6-yr. old friend that I met back in October working as a magician at a party that was hosted before Gavin went in for his 5th craniotomy, he has now had a total of 7 as well and chemo and steroids since last April. We're throwing a wrestling event benefit for him as he's a huge wrestling fan. At the show I'm going to have a large projection screen and I hope to show videos and photos of people around the world encouraging him to keep fighting. If you guys can help me out by writing "Beat Joe Bully" or "Fight Joe Bully" on a banner or yourself while skydiving, etc. that'd be super awesome. Please send video links or photos to [email protected] http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/04/13/boy-battling-bully-brain-tumor-lives-marine-biology-dreams/ (edit to make link clicky)~skymama

Go all the way up and pull high....get used to your canopy until it's 2nd nature....then go spend some time in the tunnel too.

or anyone still looking for a place? I found a perfect place to stay but it's too much for just me.

Lynn, Todd was a lucky guy to have such a wonderful lady that loved him so much. It was great to see you last weekend at Joe's.

Anyone have an extra couch available? I'd love to split a room at the Oceania across the street from the party. Brian 612-242-5646

I would if I was in the area. It's an awesome view there and the people are awesome!

We came upon this dropzone based upon an invitation from the dzo's daughter. This family had an excellent crew of packers and riggers at the Puerto Rico Freefall Festival this last year. We drove from Minnesota to Z-hills on our 3 week trip and decided that we'd go out of our way to see what this smaller dz was like before heading home. Within the month we've also stopped at Chicagoland, Atlanta Skydiving Center, Skydive The Farm, and Skydive Atlanta. I'm so glad we decided to make this last trip, only a short distance from the beaches of Jacksonville. Today is a Tuesday..I woke up in Titusville to find out that fun-jumpers are not welcomed at Skydive Space Center Mon-Fri., I called Skydive Jacksonville to see if they'd take up fun jumpers and he told me to call Palatka. So instead I called up Packing Cathy at the Jumping Place to see if she was open to fun jumpers. I was pleasantly suprised to hear excitement on the other end of the phone and was told to hurry on over. As I pulled up Cathy stood at her doorway and welcomed us with a wave. Inside her instructor was going over the jump plan with a student. As soon as I was done with my paperwork I was shown the aerial photo and brought outside to be given a complete debriefing of the dropzone. With absolutely no waiting we were up in the air for 2 hop'n pops. This dropzone sits on a municipal airport free of large hangars and traffic....one huge grassy area with a paved runway. The airport had a dozen planes, at most. The aerial view here is unmatched....ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! Other than jumping in Puerto Rico for beach jumps this has got to be my favorite view thus far. I've never met a dzo so excited about doing what she does.....you can tell how passionate she is about this place. After the afternoon of jumping we went out for dinner with her family and were given a tour of the cutest town of St. Marys. If you want to take a vacation from the large dropzones full of turbines and lots of people then this is a great atmosphere for a change of pace. The town is full of B&B's and worth visiting despite the fact that it has a great dropzone. My hat goes off to Cathy and her family for making this great new dropzone!

I showed up there this morning with the hope of sneaking on their King Air if they had tandems on their books. The owner had posted a sign on the door that said they DO NOT ALLOW FUN JUMPERS mon-fri. I wish they would have had this on their dropzone.com listing and on their website. When I visited their site there was no mention of hours of operations. This is the second time I've shown up and haven't been able to jump despite great weather. Simply put the great pricing to great altitude on their dropzone.com listing is not what it's cracked up to be if they won't even let you on the plane. Go to Z-hills or Deland for a good time!

Definitely worth the trip and we'll definitely be back. It's like being a tandem or AFF student all over again...they treat you like they'd love to have you back. I brought a friend with from Minnesota and she wants to go back there to do her AFF. Their Pac750XL gets you to altitude quick with only 6 people in it. Manifest is a pleasure to work with, their staff is ready to join for freeflying, and they have updated student gear for those still learning. The pilot's spotting was superb. If for some odd reason you land off though the town of Hickley is one big landing area.

Eloy is definitely not the place to go as a student....unless you like an unfriendly gear store and $180 coach fees per jump....prepare to get RAPED!

If anyone has a dytter for sale at the boogie please let me know =) Brian 612-242-5646

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gotta love the bare feet!

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The opportunity is available this weekend in Minnesota and I want to encourage my friends to do this "once in a lifetime opportunity" I remember when I did my heli jump at Z-hills that the pilot was concerned about our "jumping" and emphasized that he wanted us to just fall back instead. I also have no idea how you attach harnesses in the restricted space that a helicopter would present, especially with such a large rig on your back. This would be the first time doing a tandem-jump from a helicopter for this tandem-master & I've heard that he's bringing an experienced jumper down first with him. Has anyone in here done tandems from a helicopter? What challenges does this present?

Should I bring a second rig with? What kind of frequency should I expect? Thank You!

When he moved in did he make sure it was ok to bring his pet gerbil?

If he jumps a pink or lavender canopy and doesn't mention that he got a good deal on it.

This sounds very similar to the Stephen Hilder case back in 2003. On a side note...what's the proper amount to tip a packer?

I didn't know his name during my rides to altitude but nobody has made me laugh like he did on the otter. I enjoyed sharing many flights with him at the Thanksgiving Boogie. When I read about him, not knowing his name, on here only one asshole came to mind and regretfully it was him. "Fuck the tandems!", I remember hearing in response to one of his comments from his clan. As a newbie to the sport it was my first time seeing the sloppy rigs overflowing for crew work. He's probably looking down at us right now with soap in his mouth. I'm glad to hear he died doing what he enjoyed!