HillerMyLife

Loved this boogie last year, definately gonna be there this year. Would be nice if peeps knew a bit more about loading(and unloading ;) ) an Otter or Van before the props are spinnin but hey...its all good. Also...Its cool to open the door for the ride up guys!! Us freeflyers won't get mad at ya!! Promise! Someday Never Comes

Both are fun but FF is a very different style of flying with its own rules and safetly concerns. For starters the higher speeds you achieve WILL result in more radical changes in body position than those at belly speeds. An example: If a skydiver is flying in a belly to earth orientation and points one leg slightly off center it may result in a medium to slow speed turn with maybe a slight difference in fall rate. Now if you move your leg the same amount in a FF body position you will find that quite a few things are happening(fast turns, great changes in fallrate, etc) most of them very quickly. At your level its unlikely that you are prepared to deal with these changes especially with others on the jump with you. You also mentioned that you managed to knee fly and standup but did you consider what direction if any you were headed in?? Its quite possible that you were not falling straight towards the ground but rather had some kind of drive(forwards or backwards) associated with your position not to mention some kind of turning issues. If you are getting a 360 degree view of the horizon(not saying you did) then your heading control still needs much work. All this is said not to discourage you from getting into FF its just that these are issues that newer skydivers usually don't consider because they don't know they have to. Continue seeking new information from those more experienced than you and you will always be heading in the right direction. Be safe, have fun, do good. Someday Never Comes

I had about 200 jumps before going to my first boogie (Couch Freaks) but I learned and jump at Perris so multi Otter/aircraft was nothing new to me. I just had to ask about jump run and any rules about the pattern I didn't know about. My advice to you is , if you have to ask...your probably not ready yet. Chicago is a great DZ and if you jump on a weekly basis you will be more comfortable by the time the boogie is going on. At that point it will have to be a "game time decision" in other words how you are feeling about it on that particular day based on ALL the variables. With all that said I usually stay on the ground at Perris when the locals are heavily outnumbered by the visitors because no matter what rules the DZ puts in place (EX: No 270's in the main landing area) there always seems to be a few that didn't get the memo. Someday Never Comes

Christy Frikken is on the Fury, great skydiver and teacher. Oh yeah there was something else about "Skydiver of the Year" or something... Someday Never Comes

Well...packing is one way to make money especially if you want the freedom to up and leave whenever you want. I'd just start calling DZ's and get a point of contact to speak with. Someday Never Comes

Actually I think flying with someone as a reference point is the only way to work on your skills regardless of body position. Someday Never Comes

Not sure what you mean by that but DZs that have friendlier jumpers(regardless of discipline) generally have more jumpers going to the DZ that those that don't. People usually end up doing the things that they're friends are doing, which is probably a pretty good barometer for how most of us chose which way we fly. Someday Never Comes

I probably wouldn't notice except that it gets brought up. Or I get asked to grab supplies. Or I stumble across 'evidence'. Generally speaking though its usually a painless process, for me anyway. And cause for small celebration. Someday Never Comes

Aw come on that was just enough to clarify while still leaving plenty of room for overanalyzation...you just gotta trust me. And hold my beer. Besides we both know she'll just do what she wants anyway and hey...I didn't tell 'em about the sea shells. Someday Never Comes

Yes we guys do like sammiches especially after sex. Don't let these responses fool ya though...there is a pecking order among men and some of us have more than that going on upstairs. Two things... I don't think you guys are spending near enough time together to be thinking about love and such. I wouldn't tell a woman I loved her after 6 months of seeing her three times a week sometimes only twice. Hell theres enough extra time left over to be dating someone else as well! Don't read too much into the exclusive bit either. Men generally don't like the booty they're getting to be getting got by someone else as well...as a rule of thumb anyway Secondly it sounds like you are in fact hung up on those 3 words which is really immature. It almost sounds like you want to hear him say it, like it was a possession or thing to get. Maybe not but if you really believe what you said about him lying and changing nothing else and you being happy then I think its kinda pointless. Its just words at that point. Someday Never Comes

Hopefully you get the point and really, it all boils down to what you think is fun. Another major difference is vertical speed, things happen much faster when freeflying because...well because YOU are going faster! Small changes to body position can have major effects/change drastically how fast you fall and what attitude your body is in especially in relation to everyone you are flying with. Someday Never Comes

So in other words he has no reserve to go to? Someday Never Comes

Uh...no actually Monday is my favorite day of the week. Everybody is back to work and I can move freely wheverever I need to go... Someday Never Comes

I agree. A break is just a precurser to a break up in my opinion. Wendy gave some great advice and I agree with that too. To the OP...Take control of your life and path and if hers goes the same way great, if not you will meet a lot of people who are into the things you are. In this situation...let her go to NY with her friend, you go to Eloy, maybe you can make some friends there too??I think so. Something else to think of however is that when you chop you need to have a reserve ready to pull next. Do you have one?? Or are you just chopping yourself into thin air?? Someday Never Comes

Wow...troll much?? I've already replied to your comments in a PM its obvious you've got a vested interest and aren't being obective. I'm over it, you should be too. Someday Never Comes

I think we essentially agree on all points. The tunnel is fly your body time no two ways about it. The tunnel has raised the bar in all levels of competition. With regards to anyone who can fly 18+ points in the tunnel when their instructors can only fly 17...in that strict regard yes they are better than their instructors simply on a numbers basis. I think altitude awareness is more than just building an internal clock and its more than just looking or listening to your altimeter. Its being aware at all points of the skydive from exit to breakoff to pull time, to turning onto final. That only happens with repeated good safe skydives...don't get me wrong I'm not claiming to be a master of AA but its importance cannot be understated. Not one of those aspects can be taught in a tunnel it simply isn't possible to train that in the tunnel. I love tunnel time but being that I'm primarily a skydiver it behooves me to spend time exiting aircarft doing things that aren't possible in the tunnel, ie 5+way freeflys,tracking jumps, and canopy skills to name a few. For me it is an environment to work on freefall skills but overall it can't replace the overall skydiving experience. Whether or not it ends up "saving" the sport will remain to be seen... Someday Never Comes

I think thats a totally subjective question really, I don't know and am not qualified to answer. However I'll bite and guess that if a jumper did the bare essential skydives and progressed immediately to freeflying with an experienced coach or two they could achieve bodyflight skills(in the sky) in 3 or 4 thousand jumps. Again not that my opinion matters at all but you asked so I figured I'd play along... Someday Never Comes

That is some sick as flying fer sure! Someday Never Comes

Altitude awareness is huge and I mean really huge. You will not learn that in the tunnel and thats pretty much non debatable. I started flying in the tunnel after my 3rd jump and have 2 times as much tunnel time as freefall time. I think the two mutually support eachother but obviously there was a day when it wasn't around and skydivers still progressed to great levels of skill. Personally I think its a great tool but there are some very distinct differences in the tunnel and the sky. For example something I'm dealing with at the moment is how easy it is to achieve forward drive in the tunnel(minus a rig) than in the sky(with a rig). The difference is night and day, for me at least. I had a friend who went to Iraq for 7 months when we had a similar number of jumps and skill. When he came back and found I was freeflying he wanted in too. 5 days and 45min later and boom, he was right there in the mix. That simply wasn't possible before the advent of tunnels. One comment in the article that really bothered me though was the Mom saying her kids had the equivelent of thousands of skydives and flew as good or better than instructors. If your parents are pumping up your ego by saying things like that(not saying all do) then I think most will recognize that as a possible recipe for trouble. Tunnel time is awesome and it has raised my level and my friends level of skill immensely but I'm sorry. 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day of tunnel does not equal even 1 skydive. I'm super excited about jumping with the kids that do go on to become skydivers(assuming I'm still around!) because it will be ushering in a new generation. As long as safety is still promoted as number 1 its all gonna be good. Someday Never Comes

I recently heard about this over a few beers at the DZ and it was in reference to supporting Republican Ron Paul. Its interesting stuff and the most obvious question that needs to be asked is "Why?" Why do the feds need this?? At any rate its just more incentive to live more and more off the grid or at least as much as possible. Let the sheep be lead where they may, it has always been that way. Someday Never Comes

FNG here but if your talking ideas I've had a few maybe they've been done before maybe not. The 2 that really stand out in my mind the most however are jumps that start as tracking but with planned "breakoffs" into straight down the tubes. Example a 2 way track with over/under crossings until 9000' then bust out a couple FF points and back into a track, back into vertical flight until breakoff. Its more or less a style of flying that no aircraft or winged animal can recreate. Another idea that has me really excited is the concept of 8 way hybrid teams. How cool would turning pieces look with hangers and head to rig docks look?? Of course that requires an extreme amount of skill and the right players to pull off but there is no reason it can't be done and its just another incentive to keep pushing our flying abilities. My 2 cents... Someday Never Comes

Yeah that avatar is dead giveaway unless he's messing with us....Signs point to no however. I'm actually wondering how the photographer kept up with him because it almost looks like he's burbling himself...the obvious answer is that he's doing it too but that just seems like such a drag. Someday Never Comes

You are getting a lot of good feedback and its good to see that you are interested in furthering your education past the A license point. That was and still is one of my biggest points of contention with the licensing system. We teach you up to a certain point and then off you go!! It would be nice to see another stage of education developed for after the next 25 jumps of a new jumpers, almost like a "We let you out of the nest for a bit, now were going to bring you back just for a bit and see where you are". Anyway I'll get off my soapbox Quality coaching and video is key for all aspects of skydiving but none more so that canopy control. If your DZ has experienced canopy pilots that are willing and able to share their expertise with you and video and critique your landings you will be well on your way to a much more controlled and comfortable canopy flight and landing experience. Remember the video cannot lie! Someday Never Comes

It really depends on what you want to do in SoCal. If you aren't planning on leaving the DZ AT ALL then no you won't need a car. You can catch a train to Riverside county from LA and then hop on the #30 bus, it will drop you off right on Goetz road. From there its a 10 min walk but someone will probably stop if they see you with gear and stuff. If you want to do things like check out the beaches, San Diego, concerts, beer runs whatever then just bite the bullet and get a car. Its a brave new world for newcomers to SoCal. When are you planning on arriving and for how long?? Someday Never Comes

So we got some Ramadi vets in this thread eh?? Well I guess I'll throw my hat into the ring with you guys. Ramadi Sep 2005-April 2006, 3rd Battallion 7th Regiment(No Shit!). That article was pretty well written. I hear Ramadi is a much safer place now than when I was there. Its good to hear. That city took too many good kids lives... Someday Never Comes