gpdm

Don't worry about it, at our DZ most of us drink a lot of beer, which leads to a lot of water the next day. Cases of bottled water are always appreciated.

I managed to do a tib/fib break in the left ankle in September of 1995. They put in a steel plate and eleven screws, was in a hard cast for six weeks, walking boot for four or five weeks, and then an air splint for a few more. Did physical therapy after cast came off, which helped a lot. Doctor said OK so I jumped again in March of 96 with no problems.

A Firebolt 218 loaded at 1.15 once opened with line twists that rapidly went to hell and threw me around the sky like a ragdoll. Even big, lightly loaded canopies can ruin your day. That reserve repack was the best damn fifty bucks I ever spent.

Put a ParaFoil into a full stall at about thirty feet from the ground trying to land right next to the hanger. That bought me a steel plate and eleven screws in my ankle. Luckily those things are so damn big they have some drag even when stalled, could have been a lot worse.

Been lurking the forums for awhile, decided a malfunction today was a good reason for my first post. Fourth jump of the day, hop n pop from 4000. Pulled at 3500 and canopy opened in a turn and started twisting up fast. Brakes were still stowed, slider down more than halfway, spins were getting fast and starting to dive. It did not seem fixable, so got it chopped at about 2000 feet and RSL had me open under the reserve in no time. The main is an elliptical loaded at about 1.15 to 1, I think that fact helped with giving me a reasonable cutaway pull. It was only the sixth jump on a brand new canopy, luckily we found both it and the freebag in a beanfield. Examination on the ground looked like the line groups on the left side had hitched around each other, possibly due to a line dump, but who knows. Had a fast reserve landing in a beanfield, but all turned out well anyway. I was using tube stows, but am going to switch to small rubberbands like recommended. You can bet my packing will be scrutinized much closer from now on also.