Possum

Members
  • Content

    33
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never
  • Feedback

    0%

Community Reputation

0 Neutral

Gear

  • Main Canopy Size
    266
  • Main Canopy Other
    Flik

Jump Profile

  • Home DZ
    Here and There
  • Licensing Organization
    Me
  • Number of Jumps
    174
  • Years in Sport
    6
  • First Choice Discipline
    BASE Jumping

Ratings and Rigging

  • Pro Rating
    Yes
  1. Not sure who told her she did everything right, but it was certainly no one from our crew.
  2. Ray, you're point, summarizing between you're two posts, seems to be as follows: That the Perrine is the easiest jump ever, and people are getting hurt because we are putting sub-standard jump students off of it. While I agree wholeheartedly with the first assertion (yep, Twin is as easy as it gets), and suspect that you may be right about the quality of some of the folks making their first jump there (particularly if they're paying 100$ for their first parachute experience ever), I don't think you've gotten to the heart of the matter. In fact, I think commentary like your first post is part of the problem, accurate as it may be. I think I had the dubious honor of being the first hospital injury of the weekend- although, thanks to some timely Demerol, I actually got there after the broken-pelvis dude, who hammered in 30 or so minutes after me. In short, I made a slider up flat-n-stable (of the previous millennium), took a 3+ delay, did not have time to turn in, and pounded in cross/down wind and sprained an ankle that had been previously injured on multiple occasions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank gweeks for half piggybacking me to the boat ramp, as the boat itself was not running on Thursday. Anyway- what pisses me off the most about that jump was this- Due to an injury in October, I had made exactly 2 jumps in the last six months, the last one at least a month and a half ago. I was certainly in your category of experienced jumps in need of a quick Twin-style reccurrency. And I could have had it, had I had the goddamn good sense to take a few slider down, 1 second jumps, landed on the football field and re attuned my LSJTMMGMSA. This sort of reasonable thinking, I'm afraid, never actually came into play. My only thought was to whether I should do a flip or not. In fact, all I really thought about was how easy the Perrine was, and what sort of new stuff I would try. I had after all, taken 5 sec. canopy rides there before with no problem. So rather than get recurrent and then have a blast all weekend, I spent most of the rest of the time(I did hobble out and make a water jump the next day) sitting in a hotel room, disgusted with myself for what was, in hindsight, clearly a silly-ass combination of dumb and arrogant. As the weekend went on and the injuries mounted, one of which was the comp. fracture to a new (and very heads up, despite a shitty chain events she set off with what was almost certainly a packing error) girl who was with our crew, my disgust combined with a sort of mind-numbing sadness, which culminated with Monday morning's trifecta of shit. Or maybe that was from 5 days of Vicodin and beer. In any event, what I am getting at is this: I think that because the Perrine is so easy, because it is such a comparative "cake walk," many of us have had a fairly skewed perception of risk when we are there. Or at least I am completely certain that I did, and several other experienced jumpers I talked to expressed the same sentiment. I would assert that this sense of the Perrine as a cakewalk might manifest itself in; the nature of the jumps we choose to take ourselves; the type of folks we choose to put off; and how we act around the fledgling jumpers we make there.
  3. I don't think this thread mentioned "smart" or "safe" up until this point- ergo, no need for smug commentary.
  4. Possum

    Water tower

    hmmmm......where might one purchase these "opposing thumbs" of which you speak? BR? Vertigo? Thanks in advance, Mitch
  5. Possum

    Water tower

    The biggest problem with H20 towers seems to be getting past the ladder guards on the botton 20-30 feet. I think most city planners are more paranoid about their water supply than tower manufacturers are about antenna access.
  6. Thanks to Tim (who also chatted with me about the boots over Mem day) and the other Hanwag devotees on this forum. Also thanks to Johnny U for letting me try his on in Moscow, and to Marta for selling them to me. Just got 'em a week and a half ago, and this morning they absolutely saved my right ankle. Cheers fellas, Mitch
  7. Possum

    Team injury

    Hey folks, bummer news here- my team, Cross Keys O2 Project, lost our inside center to what amounts to a season ending injury this past Saturday. We turned a 12.5 average with the full dive pool at our last meet a month ago. We are looking for anyone who has flown at or around this level that might be interested in doing some training camps in New Jersey in preparation for US Nats in Oct. Of course IC experience would be a big plus. We basically jump Majik's continuity plan, with our slot switch memory in the front piece. If anyone is interested, please drop me a line. Mitch
  8. Hey, anyone have the ssl meet scores? They're not up on the NSL page yet. Thanks, Mitch
  9. "I think the easiest, most consistent exit is a star, three out, one in: the inside (IC) gives the count, holds chest straps of middle (OC) and rear (T). Front (P) holds on to aircraft with right arm, already presented, OC grips P arm, T grips OC arm. On exit, P and T get IC grips, and IC releases chest straps. " I like close to the same setup, but as a Stardian, instead of a star. Its easier for the point to get his/her hips into the rel wind. IC takes rear chest strap and point's right arm gripper, and OC takes point's leg, rather than his arm. Other than that, the grips and positions are the same as Dave's Star. I think one of the strengths of both the Star launch, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Stardian launch, is its simplicity of grip taking, which helps newer jumpers relax in the door a bit better, as they are not as confused about which grips to take. I've used the Stardian while coaching several scrambles teams, and it has worked every time. Mitch
  10. The heck with you guys. My team got rained out this past weekend. The only breakthrough I made was when I finally finished folding a month or so of laundry. Which sucked. But I'm not jealous. Now all my socks have a home. Yay. Mitch
  11. Also, if you ever plan on doing 4 way in the tunnel, you basically have to know the letters and some of the numbers, as that is the best, bordering on only, way to write your dives out on the white boards.
  12. Dude, I hate to break this to you, but the unbridled use of letters and numbers (which can be quite useful if you're on a serious team trying to turn points) just makes you look like a 4way dork to the rest of the skydiving population.
  13. The only thing I have to add is consider the weight distribution on your feet. I think there is a tendency to weight the foot (usually your left) that is next to the door. This is intuitive, but also detrimental to exiting with your hips first. If you balance more of your weight on your far leg (usually the right) you will have allot more power available for blasting your hips out. At least thats the advice my IC gives me on those exceedingly rare situations where I exit from inside the aircraft.
  14. I think the replies to this post got significantly weaker following its forum shift. Booo! Mitch