heavydude

Oh well, maybe theres hope. I like all those Manos movies, was sort of motivational for starting Skydiving, despite the corny themes sometimes. Seems that with exception of Youtube the real Skydive movie business has sort of dried up. Granted there are some killer Youtube videos on SD and BASE.

About a year or so there was a thread about possibly having a Skydiving movie about DanBC. Sounded like a good idea to me. What ever happened to project?

I am not active now but was really into it about 20 yrs ago. My favorite was the deadlift because I believe I have a very strong back, arms were always sort of weak compared to rest of me. I just loved the thought of piling on all those plates !Now at 49 I am one big triathlete.. started doing those because I just needed the aerobic work and was bored during my lunchtime at work. Most powerlifters I have known get the big chunky look which is sort of anti-skydiving, I am also big enough so I need to stay away from getting bigger ! Did you ever read Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold ? Ah the good old days

QuoteOne other question, since I don't want to start a new thread. Do people ever just go hang out at the DZ for fun, even if they are not going to jump? Or is that something looked on as an oddity? Heck ya, I use that very technique to check out the vibe at new DZs before jumping there... You can figure out the pattern, how the planes load, etc. At your own DZ its handy to watch other people land , etc. AT Perris I spent many hours watching big ways, other peoples landings , etc. There are even people who hang at DZs that never jump, you can always hit the bar too(cause you aint jumpin)

Ice works wonders, you should recover in no time. One other factor to consider is that landings into a moderate wind are usually easier than no wind at all. Nobody ever told me that during AFF, with a headwind you have more time to play with the flare process. A year from now you will have it all down, it all comes with more jumps. Very similar to what my old flight instructor said about flaring a plane prior to landing, the most critical stages of landings are only a few seconds long; thats why student pilots do endless touch and goes to get the flare down.

Here is the Heavydudes secrets for botched landings... To hang out with my son more several years ago I started skateboarding, for a large old guy this is pretty funny. The first point I learned was falling correctly..rolling with the motion. Dynamic falls dont hurt when you dissepate energy horizontally. Flat falls hurt like hell. Skateboarding made me good at PLFs. Skate board goes hits a rut and stops, excellant training for running out a landing. Did that last weekend when my Black lab was pulling me a little too fast on my board..had to jump off and run it out. Rollerblading does the same effect, you are zipping along and suddenly come to a rapid stop because of grass surface, rocks, etc. got to either run out the landing, PLF or crash. Sounds silly but worked for me by accident due to all the "side-sport" training. Pads really help if you do the skateboard approach.

This would be a nice special edition of that TV show Top Shot !

Once per day minimum when turning on Cypress, cord and housing check. Recheck if someone besides me has played with my gear or a creative (bad or flaling) landing. Normally not on succesive jumps as I would be concerned about wearing tuckflaps on Javalin by opening flaps every jump.(which is just a opinion)

I felt way uncoordinated during those early jumps like you are experiencing, being a big dude I also fell faster than my instructors which didnt help. I did initial tunnel time which kind of helped... however then my AFF instructor was in tunnel with me rather than normal tunnel person. We went through all skills where I was funky. After the 10 minute session he said that I did almost every manuver required for AFF successfully in the WT. That was a huge confidence builder and I had relatively few problems afterward.

Good Luck man and may the Skygods be with you for a speedy recovery. Personally all the eventual health problems we all face as we age scares me more than anything else including jumping out of planes, scuba diving, rockclimbing or setting off demo charges.(EOD) I had some real minor health issues 3 years ago and it was really mentally taxing. Sounds like you will need a restful recovery and a bunch of jumps to fully recover. !

If you jump anywhere dusty like Socal the white colors get dirty fast. I did one cell white on my Tri and wish I didnt. However in non dusty areas it will be fine. But heck it all gets dirty eventually.

BDUs and sweatshirts are std for winter jumping in CA, lots of people wear em year round here. Lots of Mil types at my DZ, camo is real common. I use em for hop & pops as I fall too fast in RW without a real jumpsuit. BDUs are cheap and work swell.

Always bring a Bikini Top also if you are a girl ! Forget all this thermal U/W talk. Its gonna be warm here this weekend.

Isnt everybody Drunk when there on the internet...

I had two glasses of wine and them tried to pack my new ZP when I first got it...big mistake shoulda put on my gym clothes & weightliftin belt, packing a new chute sucks ! Only thing worse is dirt stains on a new canopy IIEE.

Sometimes you can be the most wonderful person at your job and it doesnt matter. I have seen where really qualified people where bypassed and the bosses surf buddies promoted instead ! Other times its just all BS making the other guy appear better. It sucks but you cant do anything about it unless you own the company

I jumped a Falcon I bought off this site for about 100 jumps, bought it for $250. Was the shizzle to pack, real nice. Landings were OK with any headwind but started to really suck w/ no-wind conditions. (lack of flare power)I replaced it only because dacron lines were getting too fuzzy/worn and bought a crispy new Triathlon. I almost cried trying to pack the Triathlon thing the first 12 jumps or so.(never owned a new chute before) I would say the Falcon is fine, but doesnt have a coolness factor at all. I always rolled the nose however on the Falcon as that and the old PD 9 cells open crisply.

I dont know if you have jumped one but the Aerodyne Triathlon is a good beginner chute also, its a 7 but packs nice opens great.

Probably not, however even in high risk stuff like BASE equipment malfunction seems rare. I read the Base fatality list online recently, realy interesting, looks like allot of pilot error in most cases.

Perris Valley which probably is one of the more active DZs in the US has a huge RW scene. Those big ways look scary to me !

At SQ1 Perris the mains are seperate from the containers. Mains are rigger rolled so you need to attach to container and propack. End of day you need to re-riggeroll the main correctly or you get a rigger to do so. Sounds like a good way to do it as then you have personally checked the whole main system.

Everybody had that same feeling starting out. Now with a few jumps down it seems like a normal activity. I dont think anything will ever equate to that first jump ! I did another right after because the rush was so intense.

Wow that is really neat, never knew that. I have a 150 and have contemplated wearing a chute while flying long XC in it, after all chutes in Sailplanes are real common. Contemplating bailing out of a sailplane was what got me into skydiving to begin with. I assume you have to have a pilots bailout rig as a regular skydive rig would be too bulky to fit a 150. I am 6'2 so not too much leg room.

Holy Shit ! You really need to do this for my sanity, this means that lunch-time hops would be a possibility. I work right around the corner. (and also some other buddy jumpers do too)

I had the same problems at about the first 50 or so jumps. Initially I jumped a stock freefly suit and dropped like a rock. Went to a custom Bodysport crater suit with full grippers, and booties.; no problem docking on variety of jumpers. Did anybody teach you knee turns also ? I learned these in the tunnel and they were by far the best RW skill I ever learned. I have been doing a limited amount of Freefly stuff now with that original freefly suit and I really have to concentrate on slowing down before pulling, its way faster than the Crater. Also Triathalon canopies rule on big people I think, I love the consistent soft openings !