bluetwo

Wow, yeah that's true........ So what specific malfunction was it? Did you find the main? How was the reserve ride? _______________________________________

It generally only takes me a few moments to realize that the conversation has gone one-way. Sometimes I keep on going with it because I love talking about skydiving, especially in drab and boring places like work. _______________________________________

I'm pretty sure everybody would be worried if you weren't at least a little nervous. I just got started too and my coach tells me I still get the freaked out look before each jump but I feel myself relaxing more as I go. Welcome to the forums and feel free to read as much as you can. There's a lot of good info here!! (and some bad info too) _______________________________________

Welcome to the forums mang!! Read and explore, there's a lot here. Whether you decide to try a tandem or go straight into a student progression you're bound to get hooked! Looking back sometimes I wish I had skipped the tandem jump at the beginning but then again it was a good experience all the way. At the risk of looking at it from a purely financial aspect: skipping the tandem can get you a good bit farther. _______________________________________

Welcome to the forums K! I know what you mean about reading up on stuff and I definitely get very in depth with it sometimes. Skydiving is great for that IMO. Glad you're hooked! The very passive, nonchalant skydiver... well whatever. Read all you want because you'll probably never run out of new stuff to learn. _______________________________________

Nice video! Welcome to the forums and blue skies _______________________________________

So the article is in the Newest Parachutist issue or is it in the one with the chick on the helicopter skid? ...I haven't gotten the very newest one yet. _______________________________________

I wish I could... I'm just here because I'm curious too though really. Thinking I'll watch this thread for a bit. I just did my unsupervised jump where I didn't have any stability goals so decided to try tracking a little. I just did what I saw another student get instruction on, palms down, arms in and chest cupped and toes pointed... I'm pretty sure I was looking where I wanted to go so I had my head up. There were a couple of times where it felt like I was nearly straight up and down, which as they say only feels that way but still, it seems like tucking the chin would be bad in that situation. _______________________________________

Welcome to the forum!! It was the same way for me, did a tandem and got hooked completely! Actually I was never expecting to do more than one jump but that was back in May and I haven't stopped jumping since. Good luck deciding where to go..... _______________________________________

This thread has made me realize one thing: I'm actually ok with the way hot chicks get the special treatment around the DZ because that just confirms the straightness of it all. _______________________________________

I think it's awesome you got some tunnel time in before getting very far into your progression. At least for me it was a great way to explore the effects the wind has on the body. Welcome to the forums and happy learning. _______________________________________

15 minutes of tunnel time did wonders for me. Congrats on getting a great start and welcome to the forums! _______________________________________

WELCOME!! Sounds like you're hooked for sure. Enjoy and blue skies! _______________________________________

Welcome to the site!! There's a lot of good stuff here IMO. Enjoy! _______________________________________

Welcome to the forums!! Definitely spend some time reading up here. Filter any posts that don't seem right but I'm pretty sure the Safety and Learning to Skydive sections are full of good solid info. I've never once regretted reading in my down time. http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Learn_to_Skydive/ May we all have fun learning, getting experience and Blue Skies! _______________________________________

I basically resorted to getting some tunnel time after I starting trouble with turns in free fall. It might be beneficial to do it first or maybe blending it would be best. I say just go find out and let us know how it went. _______________________________________

Good luck for sure! You can do it though, at least for me, doing turns has been the hard part. Have fun!! _______________________________________

+1 I'm getting through that one in my spare time and it's a great read and it's full of good info. _______________________________________

I know what you gus are saying, believe me. I'm fairly sure in fact that I have more message board experience than about 80% of the people here. Just look on ANY car forum and you'll see my name and despite the fact that I've forgotten more about cars than most people will ever know I'm still always willing to answer somones question if I'm sure I have a good answer for them. What bothers me is when people are super quick to tell someone off and especially when it's obvious that person just doesn't have the patience to explain the thing. Why even waste a post? Those same people are the ones who are quickest to complain about how there are too posts on the board already? It's counter productive in every way. Those things said, I DO actully know that I should include the words, I've searched but can't find or maybe I'm just missing it, and generally people help me out. What I'm getting at now is that NEW people don't know these things. They are "required" to read the Forum Rules but I think we all know that doesn't happen. About 99% of the people here probably never read them. So you can talk about forum rules and read first threads all you want, if you really want to waste your time doing so. _______________________________________

See, you guys have been doing this for a while and it's been working out for you so do what you do, that's cool. Just go on patting yourselves on the back and justify being bad people in the name of safety. SIM this and I'm-better-than-you-because-I've-been-doing-it-for-a-while that. You're only proving my point anyway and making yourselves look bad in the process. I know I'm right and that's what matters to me. We're not even talking about safety in particular here anyway. We're talking about anything that can be covered on this board anywhere and how the right thing for you guys with experience to do is share your knowledge instead of going out of your way to be a prick. Basically I'm telling you what your mothers obviously never told you: if you don't have anything good to say just shut the fuck up. _______________________________________

I agree with you to a point. One thing that I believe in 100% is that people who are harsh unnecessirily just have absolutely no class and no character. Metaphorically speaking: those people are just hiding in the bushes like some stalker waiting to pounce on a victim because they want to prove some dimented point. Like people of certain race or backgrounds who just wait for that opportunity to go off because someone said the wrong word; they're not genuinely, rightfully, appropriately offended. They're just drama queens and attention whores with nothing better to do or maybe they want to tell everyone the story that they lived but the only outlet they can come up with is the playing the victim route. I'm not trying to say this about anyone in particular in fact I haven't even seen anyone as bad as I'm talking about on this message board. I have been posting on other message boards since 2002 however and I've pretty much seen it all. I just have a serious distaste for shitty people and I hope my post here makes any would be noob-bashing bastard stop and think for a minute. _______________________________________

That goes the other way quite well also ... I think some people are too lazy to use the search function and read what others have already said about a given subject, but instead expect people to reiterate just for their benefit! If someone already bothered to share their knowledge and experience, why do you think them lazy because they don't care to retype it just for you, when their original thoughts are easily available to read if you weren't too lazy to do so? ... ;) ... To use your teacher analogy, a good teacher ... once he/she has taught something might very well tell a student to do some research, then come back if they still don't understand. I think what you don't understand about message boards is that a lot of times things that have been answered don't apply in the person who is askings situation. I don't disagree that there questions that have been answered already. Some questions only need a simple search to find the answer but others are too vague. People come on message boards to chat, ask questions and hopefully get answers initially. Those who are just jaded and bored with life are quick to put somebody down and the new person may or may not continue to read and post. Some people coming on this message board are posting on something like this for the first time too. You should also realize that people just like to get feedback on their individual situation regardless of whether every other person who has ever jumped with through it or not. I don't understand what is so wrong with just acting like a decent human being, even to people you don't know. _______________________________________

I think people who say things like - search noob! - are just too lazy to share and discuss what they know with other people. Its a good thing school teachers don't just spout off to their students that they shouldn't ask questions because it has already been asked before. I say if it bothers you to share your thoughts and ideas then move on to another thread. People learn by doing, asking questions; getting experience. _______________________________________

I started at 33 but damn, I wish I had started as a teenager. I'd probably be at least a little farther along by now! Welcome and have a blast!! _______________________________________

Welcome and congrats. I hope the tunnel time helps you out a lot in free fall. I know I've always felt like I could use some. See ya around. _______________________________________