surfbum5412

Haha..to prove my point, I just had an interview today. I mentioned skydiving when she asked "Why should I hire you?" I said "I challenge myself everyday whether at work or outside of work. For example, outside of work I compete in skydiving competitions (thats a lie, but I do skydive)." Her jaw dropped and she started asking questions. At the end of the interview I asked "What stood out about me and what could I do better when interviewing?" She said the skydiving really stood out and she liked the competition, risk taking, achieving side of me and that example I used! So everyone, please shut up. Mind you, this interview was for a medical sales job. THE HARDEST INTERVIEW THERE IS! AND I WAS OFFERED THE JOB ON THE SPOT!

I'm in amazement right now. For anyone that believes you should not mention skydiving in an interview, I'm not sure what kind of positions you are applying for. Myself on the other hand, I have always applied for sales and marketing type positions, and skydiving has been interwoven into my interview pitch. You don't just mention that you like to do it though, that would be irrelevant to the job interview. You have to relate it to an attribute that is desired within the person the interviewer is looking for. For example, a few attributes that are looked for in sales and marketing people are: competitive, high achiever, RISK TAKER, TEAM PLAYER. Of course, you have to show examples of these attributes through past accomplishments within the workplace, but to not mention skydiving would be a missed opportunity to shine above the other rat-race candidates that will bore the shit out of the interviewer. Who do you think the interviewer is going to remember, the high-achieving skydiver with great work experience or the other guys with great experience and nothing else? Interviews are about building a rapport very quickly that allows you stand out from your peers. Furthermore, I have done every interview: pharma, med device, consulting, etc... From all of the research that I have done on interviewing to be able to go through the gruesome pharma and consulting interviews, all the experts say the same thing. YOU HAVE TO STAND OUT or they are not going to remember your name. So polish up a good response that incorporates skydiving into your interview pitch. YOU WOULD BE DOING A DISSERVICE TO YOURSELF BY NOT MENTIONING SKYDIVING.

Yeah, an "educated guess" would be polling the people that everyone could agree on as an "up and comer." This would be defined as a certain number of jumps within a certain period of time. I don't think using participants of a big-way competition is an accurate measure of "up an comers." Usually these participants are much more experienced, and not considered "up an comers" that are new to skydiving. My thought is that freeflying is much like short-board surfing. It is much more attractive to a younger demographic because it is much more aggressive and faster. obviously, I could be wrong. And I never meant that RW was dead, but like surfing, I feel as though less and less people entering skydiving are picking up a long-board to ride the waves in the sky. And by no means do I dislike RW or people that do RW. I love to surf, but I always ride a short-board. If someone asked me to go long-boarding, I'd go, but it's just not my thing. This is leading me into another discussion, and I think what I find really funny is that people are so afraid to admit not enjoying a different style of skydiving (RW vs. freeflying), but really it's just a matter of whether you like to ride a long-board or a short-board; it's all still skydiving.

Why is it that when someone is sitflying, while wearing a G4, does the rig hang way off the persons back? It seems like the G4 doesn't doesn't fit snugly at all in lumbar area.

This is non-sense. A lot of skydivers like to lecture people with "If you get struck by lightning" theories (I coined that term). Anyways...I was on a plane where we had to evacuate because of drastic oil pressure loss in one of the engines. trust me on this guy, while I was listening to music at the time, i could clearly tell something was wrong when everyone scrambled to put there helmets on while the door flung open. My helmet was on just as fast and I was out of the plane just as fast. So...go ahead and enjoy the music on your way to altitude.

looks like someone took it a little personal... The answer is YES...RW is dead if you're under 30 and an up-and-comer in skydiving. Everyone agree?

Recently I was able to demo one of these. I had never heard of a Vortex and immediately I was blown away. It was really comfy and I felt safe wearing it. No complaints other than, and I'm not sure if they offer the option, but the one I demoed didn't have cut-in laterals. That was a little bit of a let down.

I was looking forward to trying out the ICON because I own an Aerodyne canopy (Pilot). I can only say one these products they make are worth buying...and I'm not talking about the canopies they make. I was completely let down. First, when I was packing my canopy and placing the D-bag into the container, I immediately noticed how floppy and cheap the materials were. On my javelin, when I spead out the container at the bottom so I can place the D-bag in, the side walls down flop down. On the ICON, they do. That just says cheap to me. Second, while I was under canopy, I looked down and noticed that the leg straps had loosened about an 1 1/2 inches or more! I didn't feel safe at all after knowing that the legs straps loosened! Third, the reserve flap came open on me under free fall. When I got in the plane, that flap was completely stowed. I don't feel safe free flying knowing my reserve flap is open. After my experience, I would definitely not buy an ICON. From what I here, these things start unraveling after about 100 jumps. I now have first hand experience. I would not buy one.

If you freefly, DO NOT consider a Javelin Odyssey. These are good durable rigs, but in my opinion, they are more suited for RW flyers (freefly transitios allow air to get under main flap and flip it open). On every jump, the main flap comes open, exposing my bridle and because of that, I don't feel safe jumping a Javelin Odyssey. My next rig will be a Mirage, Micron, or ICON; simply because they are more freefly riendly due to their main flap design.

Hey Kynan, I can't believe you're still alive and have over 600 jumps! Dude, I was sure that you would have died, due to the fact that you started flying a CAMERA on jump 100, instead of jump 200!! Hey man, I was also going to tell you that maybe you shouldn't be freeflying until you get 1000 jumps. Seriously dude, lets go turn some points in the "deployment position"

Really enjoyed the Blue Skies Boogie. The registration fee was only $20 and that covered food and beer both nights, plus $17 jumps all weekend! Everyone was really nice. Brad the owner is really good about making out-of-town jumpers feel welcome. One thing I didn't like is that there were no LO's during the boogie. And a couple of times I was left stranded and started asking around if anyone wanted to do a jump. I found out how clique Mesquite was really quick. Also, I didn't really enjoy the way they manifested. People were told repeatedly not to manifest until they were packed...??? Were they serious? Just give us a call, and let us worry about that. haha. And if the person doesn't make the call, oh well, they still pay for their slot. Problem solved.

Love the helmet. Better than any other ugly contraption I have seen. I bought the Rawa because it just looks like the camera box and helmet go together perfectly. Other helmets just look awkward and look like some homemade contraption (i.e. cookie camera box). Another great thing is that I have never had a bad riser strike, unlike others I know who have with the cookie box. CON: The camera box is great and definitely low profile, but if you are using a wide angle lens (i.e .3x diamond lens) on the corners of the view, you can see the camera box. I have seen others modify the box by cutting part of the camera box view finder portion to expose more lens and thus take care of the vignette problem. It can definitely be done, but it's just something RAWA should address.

the pimp daddy sizes are the same as RAWA sizes.