3mpire

right on! if you see me around say hello!

Thanks, Joe--good stuff!

I noticed you're out of Kaukauna, WI. I grew up in Green Bay, but have been living in Seattle since 2000. What is the skydiving community like in NE Wisconsin? I don't get back much but once I'm licensed I was planning on making a return trip.

what really blows my mind is when you talk to a kid like that and you say something along the lines of "yeah, you know, when 9/11 happened, shit was crazy" and they look blankly back and you and you realize they were in elementary school in 2001.

airathanas - thanks for the tips -- sweet 3 ring necklaces, btw. that's pretty cool!

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Oh, and don't complain when you see female novice jumpers offered all sorts of help and invited on far more jumps (or types of jumps) than you or the other newbie bro's are. It's a fact of DZ life, dude; accept it.

hmm. i was counting on my dashing good looks and stunning personality to really carry me. i guess i'll have to rethink my approach

thanks for the tips!

Ha! Hey Mike! That's funny that you're on the forum. For some reason I didn't think many people from our DZ would be on here, but shows what I know!

I'm SO STOKED to be on solo status. I think the last time I saw you it was in the east field after one of my 15s. Now that I'm on the caravan I think it'll be easier to get to know more licensed jumpers (though I've met a bunch of cool students along the way, and I'm sure a good crop of them will be coming up behind me, too).

My goal is to try to get 3 or 4 or 5 jumps in a day so I can really get to work on practicing maneuvering in free fall. Have you had any trouble getting that many loads in a day? Have you had your checkout dive yet? Have you run into many others from our DZ on these forums?

Thanks for the advice, I like the idea of finding people on both ends of aggressive/conservative and splitting the difference. i've already experience a little of that through my instructors (some teach you to do something one way, another will say "i never do it like that, I do this instead").

Ive totally noticed the wall between students and licensed jumpers, but I understand it. I'm not put off by it, because I know I'm learning. I'm going to focus on getting better with each jump, and hopefully people will respect that.

Hello world -- I was just cleared for solo status and am ready to start practicing for my checkout dive, which I hope to make before the end of August. I've had a great experience so far!

Since I'm about to graduate from the small student pond and jump into the pool as a licensed skydiver, I wanted to ask everyone the following question:

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were about to get licensed?

My instructors have been great and I feel like I have a solid framework to go from, so I'm confident about the basics of maneuvers, emergency procedures, canopy flight, etc.

I'm more interested in the intangible stuff that isn't in the SIM or the DZ student manual that I've been reading. What customs or courtesies do new jumpers unknowingly violate? I know there are a lot of informal rules or etiquette that i'm totally ignorant about, and i'd rather learn about that here than at the DZ after pissing someone off! Any pointers would be great.