FallnAngel

Hi, PhreeZone! Thanks for the reply...I know what you mean about many of the posts on wreck dot. I was probably just being over protective of hubby, that's all :-) Either way, no harm done, and I know that Steve will be in touch with the mfg right after the holiday to get the problem all worked out. Blues skies! Karen

I might be misunderstanding you here, but I don't think Landmissle was trying to trash anyone...he was just expressing his disappointment over the canopy not being right. All that anticipation and the months of waiting, and then such a big let down, that's all. [proposition] Hey, Landmissle! If you promise to leave the tabasco sauce behind, maybe I can...ummm...offer you some "comforting" whilst you await the arrival of your correct canopy?! hehehe And, I know she doesn't hold much excitement for you, but if I'm not flying my Spectre you are more than welcome to fly her anytime you want :-) [/proposition] Blue skies, light winds, Karen

Aha! They have you on the medieval rig of torture!! I swear I had more bruises from that damn rig during AFF than I did from my crappy landings! haha Just fyi, I believe the canopy is a Triathlon 190...maybe they will let you jump the Omega 180 rig soon. That one is a Reflex & is quite a bit more comfortable. Doesn't look like I will make it out there this weekend after all...work keeps interfering with my fun! We'll hook up eventually, though...until then, keep your head up, your eyes open, and don't say *too* many "oh shit" (s) before you flare, k? Blue skies, Light winds, Karen P.S. to Lummy, Hi there! Yup, I've been jumping at Davis for about 1-1/2 years. Learned from Neill & Dan Sommers & Stig...all of them are awesome! I hope I get to meet you soon! :-)

Heya, Ernie - I used to wear a half-shell protec. I used SkyEyes for goggles, and they're really not butt-ugly, actually very comfy, only cost $15, and come in lots of different colors. I have a Z1 now and my spectacles fit under the visor, albeit just barely! They push just slightly against the bridge of my nose, but hey it's not for very long and it's not uncomfortable to me. Not sure how small your glasses are...mine are pretty small, so yours might not fit with the helmet on. Best way to find out is to try different helmets on and see. Blue skies, Big smiles, Karen P.S. You might check with your optometrist for goggles as well...mine would make me a pair of prescription ones for about $80. They had made them before for jumping, as well as for other sports like scubadiving & wakeboarding. Plus, by going through your own doctor you get a chance to pick out frames that fit you (& that you know you like) before you fork over the cash. Just a thought...

You are so welcome, Terri! And we definitely should hook up! I am going to try to go out on the 3rd...if I don't have to work, I will definitely be there. Hope to see you soon

Hi, LJ! Sorry I haven't gotten a chance to meet you yet! You're jumping up in Davis, aren't you?? Boy, can I relate to the problems you are having!! I don't think I stood up more than 4 landings in my first 40-ish jumps. Landing is still one of my biggest challenges...and I have the black bruises on my ass from last weekend to prove it...but hopefully I can give you some advice that has helped me improve tremendously. The other advice that you've gotten is perfect...watch the horizon, etc. I use my peripheral vision to get an idea of when my feet are at head-kicking height. If you're landing at the barn in Davis, then keep an eye on the flags...when you're feet are at their level , then *smoothly* flare. In the summer, you can use the corn as a guide...at least until you get a better feel for when to flare. Ok, this idea is probably going to sound stupid, but it really did help me get better: Practice flaring! If you are walking down a stairwell, practice your flare as you walk down the steps. Chances are you're still going to have some sucky landings, so *always* bring your feet together and get bend your knees. Stay flexible and roll out the landing. You'll still be bruised, but you probably won't break anything. Oh, I just remembered one more thing...I don't know why, but I used to sometimes "reach" for the ground with my feet. If I had just kept milking the flare and waited a second longer before putting my feet down, I would have stood many more of my landings. It will also help if you can have someone videotape your landings. Hope this all helps at least a little... Blue skies, Big smiles, Karen

Hi - You might try ActionAir...they're located up in Davis, CA...1-888-77action. I know that in the past they have sometimes financed gear purchases over a 10month period, but not sure if they are still doing that. Worth checking out though...and they are great folks to do business with :-) Blue Ones, Karen

Hi, Terri! Glad to meet ya!

Hi, JMC! Nope, no jumping on Sat. It was looking good at first, but then, like you said, everything fell through. We're going to try again this weekend, though. They've rescheduled the crw camp for this Sat. If you end up going to the dz, look for me! Not sure if we've met...I'm 5'9", curly shoulder-length hair, and I usually jump with the Beard twins & my hubby Steve...If you're on student status, then we land in the same place as you...we're perpetual barnies. [grin] (been jumping over a year, and we're still all landing at the Barn, go figure! hahaha) Blue skies, Karen

Hi, Sis! Glad you are feeling better now! I started jumping last year, too, at age 37...at this point in my life (with a hubby, a mortgage, car pymts, & a mother-in-law to support) I look at the dz as my playground, it's all fun...I don't even think about the stresses of work or home or anything, and that's great, it's just what I want from the sport! I think that if I were to try to do something skydiving related for a living, then the dz becomes my workplace as well as my playground, and for me at least, I don't want the 2 to be inter-twined. But we're all different,and we want different things, so in part I think it comes down to this - if you don't do this now, in 5 or 10 years will you be sitting around wishing that you had? Very few of us stay with the same career our entire working lives...so do you really lose anything be giving it a try? You can always go back to something else in the future. Blue skies! Karen

Hi, Sis! Glad you are feeling better now! I started jumping last year, too, at age 37...at this point in my life (with a hubby, a mortgage, car pymts, & a mother-in-law to support) I look at the dz as my playground, it's all fun...I don't even think about the stresses of work or home or anything, and that's great, it's just what I want from the sport! I think that if I were to try to do something skydiving related for a living, then the dz becomes my workplace as well as my playground, and for me at least, I don't want the 2 to be inter-twined. But we're all different,and we want different things, so in part I think it comes down to this - if you don't do this now, in 5 or 10 years will you be sitting around wishing that you had? Very few of us stay with the same career our entire working lives...so do you really lose anything be giving it a try? You can always go back to something else in the future. Blue skies! Karen

I commute to work in a vanpool, we had about 5 minutes before we were going to leave for the hour long drive, and the last person boarded the van. He says "so, everyone has heard the news". I'm thinking that there's some accident on the freeway, and we'll have to change our route. I had left my house to meet the van right as everything was taking place so I had no idea what had just happened. Then all 13 of us turned our attention to the radio...and I start tearing up as I began to comprehend what just took place. Unbelievable. To make matters worse, when I got to work, my colleagues & I found out that a person from our group that was "given the option to resign" was just discovered to have been making threats of physical violence against us for the past several months. So not only am I devastated over the horrendous violence back east, but now I can't be sure that my family or my coworkers or me are safe from a former colleague, someone I befriended at work. Like all of you, I won't forget that day. Wishing blue skies for us all, Karen

The conversation between those two just shows that there are freaks in *every* society. K

Heya, JMC! I'm from Skydance, too! I've been posting...ummm, make that mostly *lurking*...here for well over a year, and you're the first person (aside from my hubby) that I've seen that's from there too! Are you going out tomorrow? We're heading out there for the Crw Camp...(but I'm really nervous 'cause I haven't done crw before) Hope to see you! Blue skies, Karen

Heya, Viking! I only have 95 jumps right now...not sure what jump # you're on now, but checking back in my logbook for my first jumps off of student status here's what I did: I spent about 4 jumps just tracking, in preparation for the day when I would be jumping with others and needed to really get away from everyone...I practiced pushing my arms down, and my butt up to get as flat a track as possible. I'd track out for a count of 10 then turn a 180 and track back the other way so I didn't get too far out from my spot. Also, after I felt pretty good about my form, I introduced barrel-rolls into the track...it's like you're a spinning rocket! Lots of fun! I also spent several jumps perfecting on-heading front & back flips and learning different ways to do them. Another thing is to try center point turns, using only your legs instead of your arms and keeping your eyes on your original starting point. This also gets you ready for when you need to be able to turn tight & close so you don't hit your partners with your legs as your turning. You can also practice doing side-slides, although it's a little hard to tell if your doing it right when you're by yourself without a point of reference. But still, you can practice moving left or right while keeping a heading and at least get some muscle memory going with it. I practiced different exits also, lots of side-diving with feet on butt, and outside float exits where you need to present to the wind & get "big" as you leave the plane. Hop 'n pop exits are another good one to practice, especially if you ever want to give cRW a try. After about 25 jumps, I started spending a few jumps doing solo sitflying...definitely not successful at first, but after awhile you'll get to where you can hold your heading and do some turns and modify your fall rate. Under canopy, I practice using my back risers and adjusting my glide, flying slow in brakes, making lots of flat turns until it's automatic, making turns with my front risers...things like that. I usually plan ahead before the jump for what I'm going to practice and then spend that entire canopy ride doing drills. I always stop the drills, though, by 1500' and get ready to enter the landing pattern. Hope that helps give you some ideas...I'm sure the experienced folks out there have tons more, but those are the types of things I was doing from right off of student status. Blue Skies! Karen

In addition to the 3 types of RW that SkyMedic mentioned, there's also cRW (canopy relative work) and the ever-popular hRW (horizontal relative work) Blue skies, Karen

Great story, Michele! I hope you keep posting your adventures, because I really enjoy reading them!!

I would go straight for my reserve. My hard deck is 2000'. If I'm below it, or close to it, then to me that automatically dictates the use of my reserve. Blues, Karen

I bought new gear earlier this year, and on my first 2 jumps on it, I had a difficult time getting the pc out. On the very first time it happened, I was almost surprised at how clear & quick the descision was in my mind: I had tried once, so one more firm pull on that hacky, and if it wasn't coming out to play, then I was going straight for my reserve. That was the way I was trained, it makes sense to me, and it's the way I practice on the ground when I'm thinking up scenarios and reacting to them. The thing I learned from those hard pulls was that I already had a game plan for the situation before I ever left the ground...granted, you can't cover everything, but the more decisions you have made on the ground, the less time you have to spend deciding in the air (when there's likely to not be much time). Btw, if I encountered a total mal, I would just go to silver, no cutaway. Blue Skies, Karen

Hi - I bought a new Spectre 170 back in March, and I was really struggling to get it packed too. After the first few tries, I started looking for better & easier ways to get the job done. There was a thread here a while back that offered some good hints, here's the link to it: New canopy...@#$%! I follow the instructions from the webpage for using folds to dress the canopy down to size before making the s-folds. But I also follow the other tip from the thread where you make the 2nd s-fold first, get that into the bag, then tuck the first s-fold in between. This has worked *great* for me every time with not only my Spectre, but also my hubby's Safire. Great openings every time, and I've cut my packing time from about 40 minutes of sweaty struggling, down to about 10-15. Oh, one more thing, I just leave the nose hanging - no rolls or anything - and pull the center cell out slightly. I roll the tail 3 times. Hope this helps you some! Tame ZP's, Karen P.S. As far as Psycho packing the Spectre, I have read that you get super snivelly openings that way. The Spectre already opens slowly, so personally I stick with variations on the pro-pack.

Just an interesting side-note: Lew Sanborn is D-1, Jacques Istel is D-2, and Nathan Pond could have been D-3...but he chose D-69 instead. His son, Gary, is D-6969 (they had him slotted for that number long before they even had 6,968 D licensees.) Thought that was funny! Skydivers will be skydivers! Blues, Karen

Heya, Pammi! Well, you've sure got my attention! I missed the discussion last night...what's up with the Mirage handles? Inquiring minds wanna know Blue skies, light winds, Karen

I have a little update on the Icarus demo program...my husband (Landmissle) was in the Icarus queue for a Crossfire demo for later this year. He placed the request back in January, I believe, and the wait was going to be about 7 months. Well, last week he received a phone call from Icarus saying that they are no longer supplying demo canopies directly to customers. If Steve wants to fly a Crossfire, he'll have to demo it through a dealer (ActionAir in our area). Reason given was that Icarus couldn't keep up with the number of demo requests for their canopies. Blue skies, light winds, Karen

Jack, darlin'...you're from SF, right?? Well, drive your butt up to Davis & quit whining! (j/k), winds are 13mph out of the SE, and lots 'o folks are flinging themselves outta dem planes! Well, ok, I'm not one of them today, but tomorrow I will be! Hope to see you there! $15 to 15k on mem day. blue skies, light winds, Karen

Good point, Carl! I have a JM (w/4 reserve rides) that, every once in a while, when he's in freefall before deployment or under canopy right after his control checks, he practices an "oh shit" moment...usually with a yell and a touch/practice pull on each of his handles. Sounds like a really good idea to me. BSBD, Karen