Beachbum

leave friday to start the drive up ... I haven't been on here much lately ... who else is making it up there?? We will (unless SOMEONE forgets to pack it) have a Texas flag at our tents ... drop by! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I think it depends a lot on the person's situation. As a total newbie, you don't know what all to ask, so must rely more on things like who do people around the dz seem to have the most respect for the opinions of ... who do the JM's talk to when THEY have questions ... things like that. I think a more experienced person will do as one of the above posts mentioned ... rely more on personal knowledge of the people and their experiences. If I had to go in cold and ask only 5 things, at least one would be a fairly complex situational question that I could use to guage their thinking a bit. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

places where AAD's are now required - anyone know if the government stepped in and did it, or was it done by their equivalent to USPA ?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

congratulations!!! .... don't know about you ... but when I jumped mine for the first time ... had me a LOT more nervous than even my first jump did! I felt a huge relief when that bugger opened right ... and was even on heading. I know it's not the official event, but to me ... that was when I really felt graduated. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I STILL don't understand this one ... ROFL ... just how in heck did they end up naming a haircut style after an oily, algae eating, bony baitfish ?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I can understand that ... some of my friends are diehard tubers after one canoe trip ... claim they didn't have enough time for beer drinking in the canoe ... LOL. I'd love to head up there with a bunch ... as long as it's not during the state record attempt, or while I'm in N.C. for my nephew's wedding! Bring that harp along ...

well ... from my perspective, yes - answered ... but not really what I'm asking ... looking for other's takes on it. I haven't personally been to a dz that requires helmets ... but at my stage in the learning curve, that's not an issue for me ... I'm GOING to have mine on for now (and it's been a good thing too ... first jump on my rig I got hit by a cross gust when I was about a foot from the ground and slammed sideways ... helmet probably saved me a concussion!). But I sure understand your point. To me, things like that should be left to us to choose and deal with the consequences of our choices. I hadn't thought about the swoopers, since most of the people I've watched do so start their hard descent well below cypres range ... but knew the crew folks don't want a cypres fire at a crucial moment. I guess that's part of why I asked the question ... if we wait for the government to step in and mandate AAD's ... will they be willing to allow exceptions for crew and swoopers, or other situations where they really don't make sense? I doubt it! I'm certainly not in favor of an across the board requirement for AAD's ... but I can see where it could be forced on us if we/USPA don't do something first, so I'm willing to TRY to keep an open mind in spite of my normal "don't dictate what I can/can't do" attitude. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

don't worry ... we won't tell Clay ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

awww ... you edited it (or took it off ?) ... I already started responding to it ... now I know why it didn't want to work!! Obviously, I'm in the "want the choice" category. And yes, I sometimes do have a problem with someone telling me what to do without me having the ability to question the authority ... LOL ... I'd have had major problems if the draft had not ended when it did! as for .... you said it yourself ... I think we're way over regulated as it is, in terms of things that should be left to people to decide for themselves and take responsibilty for their decisions. Granted, part of that is probably fostered by the way our society has gotten rather overly prone to scream for lawyers every time something doesn't go the way we want it to (and I WISH I knew a cure for that one!!). I sure as heck don't advocate someone jumping off a cliff with no rig whatsoever, but I also don't think it's up to me to decide that someone isn't allowed to do so. I can certainly think of much more boring methods of suicide! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

that might work ok on the players ... but the engineers would figure out that they could build a bridge over it to get to the house ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ohhhh ... now THAT one hits close to home with me ... LOL. I lived in N.C. for a while and became quite a Heels fan (you have to admit ... Dean was a GOOD coach!) ... if they could ever keep their good players from jumping to the pro's early ... they MIGHT get back to the old glory. Can you imagine what they'd have been like a couple of years ago if Stack, Carter, etc. hadn't all left early? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

congrats Dave!!! ... welcome back to civvy life. I guess if you miss it TOO much you could probably talk someone into coming to your apartment and rousting you in the middle of the night once in a while ...

no thanks ... as I said ... I'm not one who likes to have anything shoved down my throat ... give me choice ... but I also hate to see people that might've been alive NOT so. Mainly was curious how others felt about it ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

but the Buckeyes provide such great enjoyment for me ... a good friend of mine went there, so I get to watch him agonize over their frequent failures ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

This has probably been discussed out here before, but with some of the things happening lately, it's on my mind NOW (and I'm bored during a very windy weekend) ... so ... I've always been a very pro-choice/take responsibilty for myself sort of person who doesn't particularly care for having someone tell me I have to do this, or use that, or whatever. Tho my jump numbers are kinda low thanks to my ear, I've been around this sport a little over 2 years now. Because of the type of person I am, I felt I understood those old timers who seem to bristle at the idea of using an AAD, and felt it should be a matter of choice. BUT ... the more incidents I read or hear about where someone goes in when an AAD would most likely at least have gotten a canopy over them, the more I start to think maybe this is one situation where I would tolerate being told I have to use one (I DO have one in my rig, but it's by choice). Aside from the possible lives it could save, it seems to me that it might also help keep Unca Sam from getting in the business of regulating skydiving (seems to be working really hard these days at keeping people from hurting themselves under the guise of enjoyment ... lol). I think it's bad enough that they REQUIRE me to wear a seatbelt (not that I don't ever use it, but it should be my choice) ... but when I was told that Houston now requires bicycle helmets ... that's just going TOO f!@#'ing far!!! Anyhow ... do ya'll think it's time to start requiring an AAD for sport jumping? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

too bad you didn't get to see it ... you're right ... was a very entertaining game to watch As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

tubes .... rafts .... ????? BORING .... more fun to solo in my canoe and avoid those long periods of nothingness between the rapids!!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ok ... I understand ... LOL ... you have to admit tho ... they didn't deserve to win that one ... with both Divac and Webber fouled out before the OT ... and still not able to take it from the Kings ....... would be nice if one of the Texas teams would make it out of this round tho ... I was hoping it WOULD be the Mavs, since they probably have as good a chance as anyone of taking the Lakers out As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

hmmmm .... does your profile need updating ... or should you not be a SPURS fan?? .... LOL ... (not that they're gonna last much longer either tho) ... at least it was a fun game to watch! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ROFL ... well ... there's your new name for the board ... "Tyrana" ...

I read the same thing and it also caught my attention. I'm only 145 lbs., so had similar problems with lack of drive into any wind on student gear (smallest canopy they had was a 215) ... even landed backing up twice, so I was very eager to get my own gear. After talking it over with JM's and just about everyone else I had much faith in the opinion of, I got a Triathlon 160, and have found it much easier to get good landings with than the larger canopies. Yes, it WILL turn much quicker, etc. (and is also a whole lot more fun to fly!) ... but I agree with one of the other posts ... (something I feel applies to ALL canopies) I think that as long as you don't freak and do something stupid, you ought to be fine at 1:1. I did a lot of high pulls and playing with it the first few jumps on it and so far at least, I'm quite happy that I did go down to 1:1. To me it's more a matter of recognizing your limits and not pushing them TOO much at one time (have to push them some to learn!). As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

hadn't heard about that ... Waller, or Spaceland?? I PM'd you about the ground crew stuff ... but got errors ... let me know if it didn't make it. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

still haven't gotten that done?? ... SkyLetchette? ... LOL ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

What JumperPaula failed to mention is that she did those 2 jumps up at Waller (her FIRST jumps there) ... but ran off before beer light time ... LOL ... was good to finally meet ya tho! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

well ... ??? what did you decide? I'll be at Waller (Houston) tomorrow ... assuming these danged clouds move!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?