Snowflake

So do you only psychopack HP canopies? or can you psychopack lets say a safire or sabre? JG

The purple tailed otter will be making trips to altitude for only $10 a pop on August 18th and 19th. There will be FREE BEER Saturday night along with a whole roasted pig wheeee. It don't get much better then that Drop till ya party JG

"I don't see why you would want large rings on mini risers. I would think that the mechanical advantage would have more to do with the riser width and the amount of area the riser is in contact with the rings that the actual ring size themselves." The riser size has nothing to do with it it's the size of the lever (in this case the rings) that give the mechanical advantage. This is just basic physics. JG

I was just on the Icarus website and saw a video of psychopacking and it looks so easy to do compared to propacking. My question is I never see people at my DZ packing like that so I'm wondering is it safe. I would appreciate any feedback before I go and pack myself a mal. Oh yea you can see the video here he packs it in like 60 seconds http://precision.aerodynamics.com/psycho/psycho_pack.htm Drop till ya party JG

congrats you made it over the hump. The fear wasn't gone it's just so small compared to what your used to, I was waiting for this post it was around my 10-13th jump that i went up and asked myself the same question. it'll be back but nothing like it has been just a few butterflies. Now it's time for you to start rockin. jump your ass off no more 1 jump days. may I also suggest Canopy Control 150 from Skydive U (book and video package 16.95 cheap) it helped me so much under canopy. PS I can't wait to hear about your SCR it better be a no show (cough cough) Ready Set Go o o JG

go with red athough you would look good in any color. time to jump cya JG

As a wiseman once said "you'll get used to it before you get over it". Fear heh.......I'd call what I was feeling the fiest 5 levels sheer terror, but once I learned to RELAX it was all good. It is totally unnaturaul to jump out of a plane, but once your body learns that you are not commiting suicide and that you are in CONTROL of the ride it'll ease up. Remeber if a dive starts to go bad relax, arch, smile, and start over JG

I was out at Perris Saturday and I had a great time. I got to meet sinister69, unfortunatly I didn't get to meet anyone else and didn't get to hang around long enough to jump with sinister after he got his A. I'll be back though. My question is what is the purpose of the butt slide people were doing on landing? is this some new form of swooping that is getting ready to sweep the nation? someone please enlighten me "......and then the canopy opens and you float to the ground like a multicolored snowflake" JG

Ahhhh the freedom you'll love it you have no pressure to do anything you can just hang and enjoy the view. I actually found my jumps alone to be easier then any AFF jump. Just dive out and RELAX!!!!! and remember to smile or do something special like flip out on the exit and hold it for a few rotations just remember this is your dive enjoy it PS jumping your first pack is much more nerve racking but it'll open just wait and see Blue ones JG

you can try Eloy also Omars school is there and he is no slouch....Olav's school gives out AD license's check out http://www.1olav.com/index2.htm http://www.skydiveaz.com/arizona_freeflight.htm http://www.skydiveperris.com/cfreefly.asp JG

Cool Dood.....I wish I could have stuck around to jump with you, but come October I'll be back. A 7 way cheez I was doing 2 and 3 ways till 22 way back when (oh yea that was last week :-P)that rocks I can't wait to hear about your SCR. I hope it's a no show like mine (hint hint). Now my big question to all you Perris folks is what up with the butt slide on the landing? is it to practice swooping? someone please enlighten me ".......and then the canopy opens and you float to the ground like a multi colored snowflake" PS on a 4 way exit get em ta do a danish T exit with you inside it's to cool JG

Come on down to Austin where it's a cool 98 degrees and, the purple tailed otter gets ya to altitude in 15 minutes, and, theres an air conditioned packing area :-P. I was told that sweet acts as a lubricant and helps stuffing your canopy in the bag. It'll be over soon and when it starts snowing up there and it's 28 degrees out I want you to tell me how much more you enjoy freezing your arse off then sweeting like a pig. I should be working but all I can think about is skydiving do I need a shrink? JG

I owe 3 cases of beer and I am lucky cause most of the people I talked to afterwrds said you usually don't get an SCR till aroun 40-80 jumps I'm just lucky enough to have skydiving friends......Sinister I hope can get a pre or post A jump with ya Saturday......cause I know your gonna finish up this weekend JG

I think you'll be in a 4-8 hour course going over all the emergency procedures. Then before the jump 1 or both of the JM's should go over emergency procedures with you again. If this is not the case I would be leary of jumping there. I believe that this is required to be a USPA dropzone.....I'm not positive cause I'm a FNG, but I'm pretty sure. I would call the DZ and ask them about it and voice your concerns JG

I show up last Sunday to the DZ. My friend Mike said he would jump with me all day so I can work on slides and body position etc. As soon as I get there Mike and a few others invite me on a 5 way. I think cool a three way is the biggest jump I've done so far. The jump goes good we turn a couple of points and break off. Now here comes the fun part, Mike says were gonna do a two way on the next jump and work on my side slides. We dirt dive by the mockup we go over the exit it's a two way with no grips then mike is gonna come and take grips and we'll start the dive. As we start loading Mike asks for us to be first out "hmmm" I think I am a high puller still but no biggie I'll pull at 2500. On the ride up Mike keeps going over the dive a little more then he usually would but maybe he's nervous (yea right he has 1000+ jumps) the blue light comes on and we slde up to the door the six way thats going after us is checking to make sure where I'm gonna pull (they all know I'm a low jumper 20+). We get the green light and we climb out. Mike gives the count and we go as I'm going away from the plane I think I see someone else exiting, but theres Mike in front of me so I take grips. I then nod and go to release and he holds on and shakes his head no. I'm thinking what the heck is up here, just then I look up over Mike and My Jaw trys to drop to the ground but it's to far down I scream "Holy Sh@#!!!" cause swooping down on us is the six way that was supposed to be after us. "Oh my god their doing my SCR" runs through my brain and then someone is grabbing my wrist and shaking it I let go of Mike and they take a slot. I'm grining like a madman and totally blown away by how these guys are flying around me. Everyone else takes their slots and I'm in a 8 way round, grining from ear to ear at everybody. RD is right across from me and he bellows out "yahoo" and I can hear him He keys and they break. I start to backslide (always keep flying) they pick up my slack and turn the point now theres a pod on either side of me, and thats point number two (thats my Eagle). I am beyond ecstatic at this point, I check my altitude and it's almost time to breakoff Mike nods and we 180 track wave off and pull and I'm under Canopy. I'm screaming at the top of my lungs I check around me everyone is below me and were right on top of the DZ. I yank the right toggle down hard and burn off some altitude with some 360's check my spot. pull a couple of s turns and I'm landing 2 meters from the peas (on my toes of course you silly). I think to myself it just keeps getting better. I walk....no I strut back to the packing area and everyone is laughing at my reaction and congratulating me. I try to thank them for this experience but "thank you" doesn't seem good enough but I just keep repeating it to them anyway. Now I'm sitting here 2 days later and I still want to run out and tell everyone about it and the smile is still pasted on my face. I want to once again thank Mike B., Mary, Mark, Rick G., Marshall, RD, and Francois (and everyone else at Skydive San Marcos...cause you people rock)for the best skydive I've experienced so far. All I can say is fu#%ing WOW!!!!! "......and then the canopy opens and you float to the ground like a multicolored snowflake" JG Edited by snowflake on 7/17/01 02:55 PM.

God this is just like a Soap :-p....I love it. I didn't have a stable exit till my level 8's (after 3 that is) I did a real good impression of someone getting pushed out of a plane and I didn't have to do all that bending over stuff >Insert grin here< . I'm gonna be at Perris this Saturday, and would love to meet some of you people so let me know if you plan on being there. JG

John Garrison....I pick lint out of my navel for a living it's a tough job but someones gotta do it :-P. I have some funky title but basiclly I play with routers and switches and other networking toys JG

I knew you could do it!!!!!! Bet you slept like a baby that night. Yes you should submit to Parachutist, you obviously touched all our hearts. You've expressed what most of us internalized during AFF. Your gonna love level 8's I promise. Please keep posting "....And then the canopiy opens and you float to the ground like a Multicolored snowflake" JG

I think you would get a better response if you reposted this in gear and rigging with a title like looking for a accuracy canopy. In my new guy opinion(I only have 18 jumps), and from what I've read I think a 232 is close to the max for an exit weight of 155. I would be interested to hear from someone who knows what their talking about. "...and then your canopy opens and you float to the ground like a multicolored snowflake" JG

Well it's been said so many times but I can't help myself. Michele You are one bad ass skydiving mama. A reserve ride on your 3rd AFF WOW!!!! Sounds like you handeled the situation great(probably better then I would have). Now get back up there, your mind controls your body not your glands and hormones. Remeber you have handled a situation that lots of people haven't seen in 100's of jumps and handeled it quite well. I don't know you but I'm sitting here grinning like an idiot. You have made my evening. I look foreward to hearing about your level IV (I bet I ain't the only one) OPEN CANOPIES FOREVER JG JG

Congrats on the new rig (I'm turning green over here....gonna be July before I can afford one) It's gonna be a fun weekend at SSM I plan on doubling my Jumps this weekend which won't be hard since I'm on #12. I'll see ya out there Drop till ya party JG

all my life I've wanted to skydive, but for some reason I never got around to it. Well two weeks ago I changed that. My two friends and I went to Skydive San Marcos to remedy that situation. We got there early on Saturday and they gave us a brief rundown on what we were expected to do. All the Tandem masters were very knowledgable and knew when to throw in some humor to keep us somewhat loose. The jump was indescribable and so much fun that we all went again. I was hooked and this past weekend I completed my first AFF jump. My instructors briefed me thourghly and rehearsed the jump with me until I felt confident in my ability to execute my objectives for this jump. The jump went fairly good for my first jump I think. My instrctors debriefed me after the jump and were really good about pointing out the things I need to work on and making a point to let me know the things I did right. I left the DZ feeling like I had conquered the world and was ready to move on to the rest of the universe. My friend who did an AFF jump that day also drove 240 miles so she could take her instruction here instead of the place ( I won't mention their name here) 15 miles from her because of the feeling she got visiting there. There don't seem to be a lot of politics and everyone there is very friendly. I would highly reccomend Sky dive San Marcos as DZ. I will be traveling in late summer and will get a better idea how My DZ compares to others out there. Thanks a ton to Phil and Jeff my AFF instructors.