skron

I saw some skydiver suncatchers and ornaments on Skydivestore.com and EBay and thought they would make great wedding favors. My fiance and I are both jumpers. However they are $15-20 a piece. Does anyone one know someone who makes these or can get them cheaper if purchased in a large quantity (150ish)?? I would really appreciate any help you can give us on this. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Congrats on jumping your own pack job for the FIRST time! BEER!!!! Remember they WANT to open...really they do. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Have you checked out Blue Skies Mag?! Its along the same lines as Skydiving. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I don't see why I couldn't get out over the swamp or something. I would obviously ask about it first and get safety pointers instead of just doing it and asking later. As for the people saying an orange won't do damage ... you might want to see the jai-alai episode of jackass where oranges got hurled. I think that is what people are saying. If you are going to do it, just make sure you are not over anything you don't want to damage. Swamp sounds like a great place. I'd have to guess that an orange would fall straighter than the pineapple with all the bumps and leaves on it?...? Well behaved women don't often make history.

I believe you are correct Rover. I began jumping a camera around 250 jumps while freeflying. Then I went to tagging along on RW jumps and videoing for free to learn. I just recently jumped with my first tandem (BEER!). I have been going out with the tandems without a camera to concentrate on learning how they fly. Soon I will go along and video the video guy on tandems. I have found it to be a good (and safe)progression. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Merriah, you sent me some things once on beginning freestyle along with a video, which I really appreciated. If you have any new documents I'd love to see them. I have really been enjoying freestyle. I'm definitely not good enough for competition yet, but I have been able to get a lot of the moves you suggested I start with and a few others I came up with. Thanks for your help! If anyone knows where to see more freestyle videos can you post here or PM me, I think I've watched all there is on youtube. Well behaved women don't often make history.

At his jump numbers this advice is irresponsible. If you already have an AAD, use it to jump, jump, jump, and jump some more. A camera is nice to have eventually, tunnel time is not skydiving (I know I'll get ripped apart for that but I have my opinions about tunnels....sorry), a new canopy is pretty, but jumping as much as possible is the only way to improve your skills. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Engineer I'm not, but I do try to be a responsible jumper. Anytime you take an object out of an airplane you should consider using a spot over an open area in case you were to lose it. I believe it could kill someone if it were to hit them on the head, but even if it only knocked them out or dented a car or hangar, do you want to be responsible for that damage?? Skydiving gets enough bad press, do us all a favor and air on the side of caution to avoid more. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Wow! That sounds like one busy day!! Well behaved women don't often make history.

Is it a Safire or Safire2? I too went from a Sabre to a Safire2. I made the mistake when I first got it of packing it like I packed my Sabre, rolling the hell out of the nose, and on those jumps I ended up with off heading openings and line twists. If it is a Safire2 you should not need to roll the nose at all. Just push the nose in slightly then roll your tail. It may not even make a difference but I always make sure the seams of the tail match up before rolling. Also make sure you are not rolling any of the nose into the tail...that can slam you. One other tip, when you roll the tail pull it out and roll it straight in towards the center of the canopy not off on one hip. Well behaved women don't often make history.

If you already have sinus issues jumping will definitely make them worse. I only get what you're talking about when I have a sinus cold, but last summer my ears clogged really bad. When it didn't go away after a week I went to my Dr and he said my ear drums had collapsed. He put me on antibiotics or something and they got better,but he said if it happened again he wanted to put tubes in. You should definitely consult your own Dr. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I started sitflying at 25 jumps. On jump 49 I broke my back when I dumped immediately after coming out of a sit. Obviously I didn't fully understand the dangers of the higher speeds of freeflying. Not to mention I now have 502 jumps, I am a good freeflyer and freestylist but am hesitant to get on RW loads because I am not confident with my belly skills. I don't think there should be a 'general standard' for freeflying. First of all like any other standard, if it were set at say 100 jumps, that limit would be pushed by many to 75 or 50. Also, in skydiving, it always depends and the student (and student should mean someone learning any new discipline no matter how many jumps) should defer to their instructors for guidance. One jumper may be ready for something at 100 jumps when another might not be ready for the same thing at 300 or more. Maybe this belongs in another thread, but one other thing I can't help but notice is the number of people with less than 300 jumps referring to other jumpers as their students. This just scares me. And before you fire back with Coach Rating requirements, I am fully aware of them...but it still scares me. I know at 502 jumps I have so much more to learn, I am not ready to have anyone else be considered my "student". Well behaved women don't often make history.

We had 26 at Rochester Skydivers in upstate NY, which is a good turn out for a small DZ in March in NY. We don't usually jump at all on Safety Day in order to keep everyone's attention, but it was actually about 50 degrees so we couldn't help ourselves. We only made 3 loads since many didn't bring their gear. We had a couple people get recurrent and the first tandem of the year. It was a great day! Well behaved women don't often make history.

OP, where in NY are you? As JimmyT points out upstate NY can be very different to different people. I jump at Rochester Skydivers and I love it. Its a small one cessna DZ, but its a great place to start jumping. There is also Frontier further west and Ovid to the east. PM me if you have more specific questions. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Wow, I got slammed every time on my Sabre. Try having another experienced jumper you trust pack it for you a few times after telling them the problems you've been having. If packing doesn't solve it, demo other canopies. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Despite the fact that its the same price for hip only or hip and chest, do people recommend the chest rings? I don't swoop now, but I plan to in the future. Are they necessary if you loosen your chest strap after opening? Well behaved women don't often make history.

I am also interested in buying a new custom G4. I am in upstate NY where the closest local gear shop is the Ranch (4-5 hours away). Any online suggestions? I'd be interested in not only the cheapest, but who is helpful in making sure you're getting what you want. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I'd have to agree with Pilotdave...demo demo demo. Try a few different docile canopies. As far as 7 v 9, I would say 9 but that's just my humble opinion and I'm not all that experienced myself. I know a lot of jumpers who love their Spectres (7 cell). I loved my Triathlon that I jumped when I started until I tried a 9 cell. They have so much more lift on landings. Idon't know all the technical details, but I really like how a 9 cell lands as opposed to a 7. And depending on the canopy they can still give nice soft openings. You will probably get plenty of opinions, but what it comes down to is personal preference. Demo, demo, demo. Well behaved women don't often make history.

The Neoxs is my first audible, so I can't compare it to the Optima, but I can tell you that I love it. I have never had any problems with it. It was very easy to learn to use and is easy to change while in flight if needed. The swoop alarms are great for beginner swoopers. It also has volume control that is plenty loud enough at any of the settings. I hear mine loud and clear every time... and the best part is its one of the cheaper ones on the market. Well behaved women don't often make history.

People on welfare that sit home on their ass all day. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I jump all winter in upstate NY and yes it is damn cold. I use Square1 winter weight gloves with their glove liners underneath. I also put one of those little hand warmer packets on the back of each hand (the back not the palm). This seems to work pretty well, but I don't know of any way to completely escape the cold in the winter up north. If you want to jump all winter you have to expect to be cold, and I've found that the first jump of the day is always the worst. They get better as you go...kind of like doing a canon ball into a cold pool, you have to gt used to the water. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I know we have gotten a little of the OP topic, but it has raised a question for me. I am from a small DZ, I have jumped other places, but am not fully aware of other DZ's practices. A student at my DZ recently had a cutaway and had to pay for the lost gear. A freebag & pilot chute, and lost handles. The cutaway itself was questionable whether it was his packing error or if it could have been cleared, but he is a student and he felt he needed to chop so I feel he did the right thing. When he was told he had to pay for the gear I was surprised, but thought it made sense. Is it customary for students to have to pay for lost gear or does the DZ usually pay for it since they will end up making their money back on other students? Well behaved women don't often make history.

If it was a lineover or other gross packing error: You would have an ethical obligation to stop working and spend the rest of the day trying to recover the lost gear. Ethically, you should try to find a compromise with owner and work off the cost over time. Then you should get some more training from a rigger on packing technique. ------------------------------------------------------- As a packer, if someone I packed for had a mal and cut, I would absolutely feel horrible if there was even the possibilty it was my fault. I would absolutely go out and help the jumper and others find the lost gear (I would whether I am the packer or not). I would absolutely NOT pay for their lost gear. Working jumpers are a little different, since they often don't have time to pack for themselves, but as an experienced fun jumper if you use a packer it is up to you whether or not you trust that person enough to jump that pack job. Packers CAN NEVER gaurantee a nice opening or that no malfunction will occur. Every jumper should know how to pack and should also be aware of the risks of letting someone else pack for you. Packers should not be responsible to pay for lost gear unless there is ABSOLUTE proof that it was a blatant and reckless packing error. Well behaved women don't often make history.

Keep in mind Renegate that you are posting in a CRW forum. You are asking advice from people who have seen many wraps, injuries and even deaths. They are not saying "we are better than you" "we have so much more experience that you"...but they are and they do. New jumpers (including myself until I got injured freeflying too soon) want to everything right now. I understand that feeling, but we have to keep remembering this is a dangerous possibly deadly sport and we need to listen to those with more experience than ourselves. Yes in these forums sometimes you get critisism you didn't ask for, but mostly what youare getting is concern for the safety of yourself and others. I have only been around for 1 1/2 years and am already tired of reading sooo many incident reports. Imagine how tired you get after 5, 10, 20 years. Most of the experienced jumpers that are replying to your post are replying appropriatly. You really shouldn't even have a camera on your head yet, let alone filming something as complicated as CRW. Take it slow, there is plenty of time to do everything as long as you do it the right way. Well behaved women don't often make history.

I tell people all the time how glad I am that I started at a small DZ. Being in upstate NY I didn't have much of a choice unless I wanted to drive 3 or more hours, but now I am so glad I didn't. At my DZ I felt like part of the family as soon a I walked in. I got personal attention from the DZO and my instructors. We don't have sport rig packers, so I learned how to pack before I was even done with AFF (I have seen jumpers from other DZs with 50 or more jumps that needed assisstance packing). I learned better canopy control because of our small landing area. After I got my license I could go to any DZ and be confident I'd be able to land where I was supposed to. I now have over 350 jumps and I still get instruction from my AFF instructors without even asking. The list goes on. I have been to several big DZ's (including ZHills where I had tons of fun), and yes as a fun jumper its great to get more altitude and a big plane once in awhile. My home DZ will always be a small one. I like the family feel. Everyone watches out for everyone. If 5 go up and there are only 4 canopies in the sky we instantly know who is missing and are panicked until we know they are ok. If you are a visitor at a big DZ, its very possible that no one would notice if you didn't come back. IMO its better to learn small and visit the big ones on vacation later. Well behaved women don't often make history.