thrillseek

CHOP CHOP CHOP!!!!

for a second, i thought you were gonna give me shit about losing a complete rig in freefall! ...like i haven't heard enough about THAT one...

I totally agree. The gear isn't an issue. If they can design parachutes to heavy drop a tank, i'm sure with enough looking this guy can find a tandem-type rig that'll suffice. The real issue here is his personal safety. I'm sure that any dropzone that may have turned him away did so with safety in mind and not ill-intentions. With someone of that size (wt), a landing that a 180 lb guy screws up on a little could really hurt someone 120 lbs heavier. Jumbo, I salute you for wanting to skydive and encourage you to pursue it. Just do so with realistic expectations, and your own safety foremost in your mind.

yeah, but if at first you don't succeed, try again. If you still don't succeed, quit...No sense in being an idiot!

IMHO, you shouldn't be allowed to jump if you don't know how to maintain and pack your gear. Personally, i'd rather have my life in my own hands. I started packing for myself at jump number 8, which was a malfunction (someone else's packjob). Maybe you'd have a different outlook if that had happened to you?

Now, if i could only attach a JATO engine to it...

We are working on a trial version that has limited capabilities for people to try out. As far as cost goes, the man-hours alone would put this product into the $2000-$3000 range. There are some software packages on the market right now that will run you $2500, and nothing in this price range. The programs are difficult to learn for some people. We designed ours with simplicity in mind. Trust me when i tell you that it is NOT easy to just "throw" something like this together. Getting all of the kinks out alone has taken close to 3 months of testing. In the end, if i were on the other end of the deal, i would gladly spend the $550 to have it all done for me.

Hey everyone...i finally got the website up (and actually working) for my manifest software business...take a look and give me some comments, ok? www.manifestmanager.com

Boobies??

I'm pretty sure that their sponsorships cover a lot if not all of their jumps...there's probably enough left over to pay the bills + etc...

don't forget to bring an extra closing loop if you have one!

so, does this mean i can get a tandem certification with 225 jumps?? woohoo!!!!

maybe a full length picture of the lobsterboy?? ha ha ha

E-mail me with the specifics and we'll get your story in there! A.T.

*Get better with my camera *more stable sit, stand, and head down *Compete at Nationals *afford better gear *place in top 3 in collegiate nationals before graduation *open my own dropzone in the Carribean *finish my skydiving book *sell manifest software to as many dz's as possible *Meet as many cool skydivers as possible Guess i'll be busy for quite a while!

wow! good post...that's what we're looking for, but we need photocopies in your handwriting...scribbles and all!

I am still looking for people who want to be published in a book about skydiving that i am writing with a fellow skydiver. For anyone interested, i will be working on it at Rantoul. What we want is either a.) your favorite personal skydiving story or b.) GOOD photocopies of your 2 favorite logbook entries. The idea is to have a collection of things from around the world from all kinds of skydivers--new and old, famous or not...basically if you hurl yourself out of airplanes regularly, we want to include you in our book. Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer and i'll give you info on how to become involved. Everyone who is in the book gets a free copy!

hmmm....recycle and get $214 in cash....that's 11 jumps at WFFC and $16 left to buy more beer, and the cycle continues...woohoo!!

Yikes!

It all depends on the situation and angle of the other jumper's approach. At 30-ish jumps i made the classic error of turning radically in this situation and was lucky to have only broken a small bone in my ankle. With turns as welll as other things, i refer to a Sgt's advice from my time in the army: "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast".(i.e. don't over-do anything) Truthfully, you should be scanning the skies LONG before you get to the 100ft. mark in order to see and adjust to these conditions. I have turned away from the peas lots of times in order to help out the air traffic situation...no shame in walking back, where there is a LOT of shame and danger in everyone fighting for the same landing area. View your canopy desent as something that requires a "threat assessment" and you will be safer in the long run.

Remaining current is a very important safety factor. Given your case, i would treat my first jump back after such a long time as a student jump. (not trying to suggest that you aren't good or anything) If you look at it like a first timer, you'll be focused on the basics. Talk to an instructor and ask them to review procedures with you. Make sure you get some time in a training harness to review your malfunction procedures. Seems to me that this is sort of like riding a bicycle...you'll be a little rusty at first, but it ought to come back to you fast. Good Luck and be safe! Welcome back!

If you've seen the movie "Cutaway", most of it is a bit sensationalized. However, the part about cutting away all of the bullshit is right on track. You'd be amazed what you can do without in order to maintain this lifestyle. Cheap beer, cheap food, cheap dates(if any ..), cheap gear to start out, and just being dedicated to the sport are some of my secrets. As a college student from a family that can't even afford to send me to school, i have been able to make 225 jumps in a year in the sport. I wouldn't have traded one second of freefall or one dollar spent!

I just got my new 11 cell high power sail in the mail today from Sails Unlimited (french company--very obscure!)...i'm thinking about base jumping it from my neighbor's 3 story roof. Ha ha ha Some people are too stupid to realize that they are in over their heads.

A crossbraced canopy is not a killing machine... Let's be real here...You are blaming an advanced design for injuries and fatalities when it is the canopy pilots and ONLY the canopy pilots who are at fault for these incidents. The crossbraced design was created to give rigidity to the smaller wing surfaces. The designs go through rigorous testing by extremely experienced skydivers. If a canopy collapses on final, we shouldn't be so quick to blame the whole concept. As we saw with Icarus, occasionally, a wing surface doesn't perform as it should and steps are taken to improve or replace it. For any of you sceptics out there, I do not jump a crossbraced canopy, but would gladly do so because i trust their designs.

After reading the posts on this, i have to say that i think everyone is getting away from the basics... How many of us has ever had a funky opening that we wanted to blame on our gear?? How many times, upon reflection did we realize that it was due to our own pack jobs or bad body positions?? Come on people!!! Are you guys really trying to suggest that a *circular* pilot chute would be the most likely cause for Nick's line twists?? If i were a betting man, i would say that when he went for the hackey, he shifted to his right, causing the twist...if not, he had a built-in line twist with his packing...the only other possible/likely culprit was a leg strap that wasn't even. Now, i am not a skygod, but i do have 225 skydives where everything has gone wrong, and that one is new to me