gimpboogie

Hi, Thanks for the great welcome, and positive vibes. The online sky diving community is like the in person one, -open and welcoming. Sure -progress Thats easy for now I've progressed to bringing a case of beer every weekend I go :) First case of beer was the altitude awareness, TTO's (practice pulls I call them) and deployment @ 5.5 on my 1st tandem progression. As Angus playfully stated "you saved my life" upon landing for my deployment (he has a great sense of humor and deep serious concentration coupled with exceptional teaching skills) The second one was the back flip exit, and learning to recognize my drop zone, upper winds and starting to flare (although at 20f! thank goodness for Angus being there). Third case was the 3rd dive, with four 360 turns alternating direction and snapping them down pretty solid on heading before deployment @ 5.5 Then came the 'disaster' dive... The one where I deployed late (started @ 5.5, but couldn't find the monkeys fist (we switched from the EZ 384 to the tandem sigma -bad move-we've switched back since and I can deploy in 500f instead of 1000f now )) @ 4.5 and looked up stating 'its there, its square and its useable' [WITHOUT touching the toggles!] and began to work on strapping my legs up for landing position rather then DZ location and upper wind awareness. (still flared too early also) Then I finally learned. Realizing if I didn't, I'd kill myself on my own. 5th onward I've executed solid arches (that never was the problem, i was pretty solid when Angus failed to pull us into a bak flip after we both tried and failed -he commented 'too stable!' in my log book) deployment sequence is followed properly now and canopy control in the last dive on Sun. was actually very good, i picked my approach properly and flared for 2nd dive in a row 'right on'. Tonto helped to develop the pant design which I am going to be using. At the JSC website at their AFF photo gallery there is Peter Hewitts 1st AFF dive with Tonto and the pants are there in their beginning stages. With webbing between the legs, and later development was knee braces that held the legs @ 90 degrees @ the knees. the pants have straps on the knees with a ratchet system to pull up the legs into landing position which is knees held up high towards the chest and land on your butt (ooh yes, extra padding in there ;) ) I saw lots of video of wind tunnels (and free flying, which is what I gravitate towards). And feel confident of these pants, and our success in Feb. when we plan to go to FL (hopefully) of New Hampshire. I know Peter can sit fly, and do just about everything else in FF, and lands well.... so this is possible. Our paralysis is about the same level. Folks who have amputations have the advantage of muscle control in thighs *(unless its a hip down amputation, which gives the same effect as us)* so their flying is more similar in the leg control aspect to typical sky divers then us. In fact, the landing is where they will deal similar fate as us. I like your friends site, it is positive and not a pity party or hero worship site -thats a refreshing view to see, I can relate much better with his site then most. I'm not here on this planet to dwell on the past, or the 'what ifs' but rather to DO, and to LIVE, to the fullest each day with meaning and a reason other then myself. Thanks for the welcome, I'll be retiring for the season, got a spare chute I'm practicing packing with during these winter months. the weather pretty much closes in on us here now, anyways for these tandem dives with Angus... last weekend we went through sun, rain, hail, snow, and some moments to dive in between (while having to rush the plane in the hangar when the hail was approaching until we could haul it out and dive again), in -10C upper temps. Now it is time to create these pants, choosing colours and patterns to honour Tonto's contribution to AFF sky diving (of course sky diving in general) which is the best way to get paraplegics into sky diving. I'm so fortunate with having found Angus, (he has been sky diving 27 yrs -D472) I'm in good hands. Blue skies, -minna To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Hi everyone, It's Minna here from Ontario Canada. I did a tandem sky dive with Angus Smith on Aug. 6th 2007, and got bitten seriously by the sky diving bug. It had been about 3 yrs I seriously read about sky diving, contemplated sky diving, and imagined sky diving until that day came, but when I finally did, it was a given that I would sky dive for the rest of my life... it was just a matter of 'how' it could happen. Since I left my wheelchair down at the PST DZ that day, I had to start thinking of ways I could land on my own, during subsequent dives (I didn't intend to dive strapped to Angus for the rest of my life). Angus offered to be my AFF instructor, and he searched around for some info. He found Tonto, and through him Peter Hewitt (whose AFF instructor Tonto was). Through these connections, we discovered how to modify some pants for me to free fall safely, and are in the process of making leg braces for my knees to keep me stable in FF. I just came home from a weekend of my 7th tandem progression sky dive, and learned early Mon. Oct 29th morning that we had lost Tonto on the same day of my most successful sky diving day and the day we finalized our winter project plans. To build my leg braces and pants, go to the wind tunnel to see how this all responds in FF before I'm sent out of the plane on my own without Angus. With an attitude of gratitude towards those sky divers who share their wisdom and experiences, so that people like Angus can help folks like me to leave the wheelchair behind truly be free... I leave this intro here with you today. -minna To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works