PeregrineFalcon

What does "working tandem" mean? Does that mean that you spent 6 hours in ground school and they knew the whole time that the winds were higher than 15 mph and they told you at the last minute that you couldn't jump but you can do a tandem and steer the toggles? Damn, that was a long question.

Go to the bathroom before putting on your jumpsuit.

I kind of relate it to "getting my shit together" in real life. When I was 12, I said to myself, "Man, when I was 9, I was really stupid, now that I'm 12, I'm pretty smart." When I was 21, I said, "Damn, I was a fucking moron when I was 18; now that I'm 21, I've got my shit together." At age 41, I said, "Yeah, I finally got my shit together, but back when I was 36, I didn't know jack." I'm guessing it's like that with skydiving. There's so much to learn and experience that I'm guessing it's going to be similar; "Wow, I finally learned this; I finally experienced that." On a similar note, I don't feel I'm qualified yet to say "Blues Skies" to anyone. Certainly not experienced enough to get a tattoo with a three-ring or a closing pin in the design. There was this girl who did AFF 1 and called skydiving a hobby instead of a sport and this guy corrected her. She explained that she didn't feel qualified enough to call her involvement in it a sport and thought saying that it was a sport to her would be an insult to the sky gods. I totally understood her point of view.

As long as you have the logbook, you can finish somewhere else. I did level 1 in Byron, but the winds were too high to keep going. I finished up in Hollister where the winds are nothing until around 2pm but it's a much smaller dz. There are differences...Hollister has 7 levels and I "think" but not certain that Byron makes you do 8. It's the same stuff, though. Prepare for other differences in styles of teaching too. The biggest difference for me was that I was scared climbing out of a Cessna for the first time. I'm fine now, but damn, climbing on that step and holding the strut scared the piss out of me the first time. The trail was fun to watch, though.

I did a coach jump this weekend and when I pulled, the canopy turned hard to the left for no reason. I looked at the cells and lines and saw nothing wrong. (Keep in mind that I'm a newbie.) I flared a couple of times and nothing changed. I tried shifting my weight and that helped a little bit, but not enough. I did not feel comfortable with adjusting my leg straps while under canopy. That's probably something I'll have to learn to get over soon. Anyway, I needed to pull the right toggle two-thirds down to compensate. When I landed (crapily) I checked my leg straps. They were even. My coach (an AFFI) told me about lifting my knee, something I'll keep in mind in the future. He checked the chute and it was fine. The packer checked it as well and asked if I wanted to jump it again. I declined and chose another. It was a Navigator 280 with a ton of jumps, rented gear from the dz. My next jump was also a Navigator 260 also with a ton of jumps but with new lines. It handled well. Now, I know it's near impossible for someone online to know for sure what caused this problem. All I'm asking is for guesses, wild stabs at what might cause this problem. The whole thing was a pretty good learning experience for me, but I'd like to get some more insight. Oh yeah. I forgot to ask the instructor which knee I lift up!

AFF max is 225 over here. I had to lose a LOT of weight to get to the 207 I am now. I was 310 at one point. Imagine all that jelly flapping in the wind at 125 mph!! Brrrr.

Ho....ly.....sh......!!! That video kicked ass.

I hear what you're saying about the first solo being long. Mine was a sunset load. It was cool how the sun looked like it was rising as we were gaining altitude. However, because we were running out of light, we had to jump at 8k. I did a dive out with front loops (my favorite) and thought I didn't have time to do anything else. So, I just hung out and looked at the alt. By the time I got to pull time, I thought, "Actually, I did have time to do some stuff." It seems longer without a specific dive flow.

I just like good stories.

I hear it.

Why don't we just ask the Man VS Wild guy?

Winner. Nothing's going to top that.

Good post. Sometimes moral and practical applications intersect rather than conflict. They're not mutually exclusive.

Ah, ok. Is it postgraduate or undergrad? If it's postgrad, scientific departments don't look for emotional or moral answers. Go with practical. If it's undergrad, go with what I said before.

What the hell kind of school asks that for a question? I'm guessing they're not looking for an exact answer. Explaining why is most important. They more than likely give a limit to the answer in words or pages and want a concise, well-explained answer. Her answer could be practical or moral or even emotional, but it must be consitent in its logic. Of course, I'm just guessing here. What's the school? Have you tried googling "entrance exam" and the name of the school? You might get an idea what they're looking for. For example, UC Berkeley gives examples of past prompts with good and bad answers for their Subject A essays.

At last, we can have our wedding in the sky. Thank you, Gavin Newsome!

NO NO NO! It's supposed to go on your back not your front!!

And seconds and thirds...and dessert.

"So, Junior, you think you're ready for a 1.6 wing load?" "Sure, what size canopy will I be using?" "Let's go with the tandem." "But I'm going solo." "I know, junior. I know."

That link was farked up.

Yes, her name is Sandy Cheeks. The Crying Game was a movie where this guy found out that this girl he liked was a guy. So Spongebob is with Sandy and...EWWWW. Well, who knows? Maybe Spongebob swings that way.

Cheeks Gone Wild: Spongebob Plays The Crying Game You may have to think about that one.

Does the mantis position slow your fall rate?

Actually, both replies were very useful. Thanks.

Ok, this is what I heard: You can blah blah blah to blah blah blah. If not you can blah blah blah with blah blah. I'm kidding. I'll learn what all that means and put it together. I appreciate it. Thanks.