cmnorris

It's time to start really looking forward to this boogie. Date: MLK, Jr weekend - Jan. 16-19, 2004 Place: Skydive Williston, FL (near the University of Florida campus) Host: University of Florida Falling Gators Planes: Super Otter and King Air Those who will definitely be attending: University of Maryland, JMU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Embry-Riddle, UNC, and anyone else who can still party like a college student On schedule: 4-way scrambles, hoop dives, freefly and RW organizing, night jumps, bird-man flocks will be spotted, what ever else you would like to do, and tons of "after hours" fun http://grove.ufl.edu/~blueskys for up to date info

I don't know...I'm not sure if he's seen enough mountains this year or not.

Does anyone know how much jump tickets and registration is going to be? I can't wait to jump out of the CASA.

We teach our students how to pack after their second jump. It takes a little bit of practice to remember the sequence of things, but after about 6 or so supervised pack jobs you should be doing everything by yourself just fine. Packing is not difficult and you should definitely learn as soon as possible. I'm like you...there are only 2 other people that I trust to pack my rig and both are friends. I don't trust packers since most seem to be very busy and they want to make a lot of money, but I may be a bit paranoid on that front. I am sure there are plenty of great packers, but I don't want to find out the hard way if they were good or not.

I would like to submit a name change, just a little bit different to... "Flip the Pig."

I say forget about Collegiate Nationals....and come to our (University of Florida) Collegiate Boogie.

Green pepper has a sewing pattern for a rain/wind suit that looks a lot like an old skydiving suit. It would probably be good for the main parts (and you would have instructions as to how to go about making a jumpsuit) and it shouldn't be that hard to alter. Make your first one out of inexpensive fabric. Oh, and Seattle Fabrics has some great material (supplex, polycotton, etc) for making your own suits out of, plus you can send away for the color samples.

Why does it take so long to figure out how things work? Is the USPA that convoluted?

I had my PCL reconstructed a while ago. The procedure for this isn't nearly as good as an ACL surgery. Now, most of the ACL reconstruction can be done arthroscopically (ie. no more 5 inch scars down the front of your leg). I had a cadaver ligament placed in me and I didn't seem to have a problem. Here are some tips: 1. Use crutches as little as possible even if you get around a lot slower without them. Weight bearing exercises are good for recovery. 2. Pay attention during your Physical Torture sessions and specificall ask what you can do at home if they don't tell you. And then...do them. It's painful and incredibly not fun, but you will heal that much faster. It's amazing how much muscle can be lost in such a short amount of time....you'll also be fighting inflexibility issues. 3. Let your doctor know of any unusual swelling even months after the surgery. It turns out that my body developed an allergic reaction to one of the screws in my knee about 7 months after they had been put in. 4. Be patient, but also be aggressive in your recovery. 5. You may have to avoid sports that causes your knee to rotate from side to side for a while (eg. basketball, football). Good luck. I underwent surgery because the idea of having to wear a brace for the rest of my life was not something that I wanted to accept. I can still feel a little bit of difference between my knees after a few days of repetitive hard work outs, but I have no problem with running, snowboarding, skydiving, etc. I was able to walk a few days after surgery with a brace on. I could pedal a bike about 4 weeks after and I would say that I had a full recovery after 7 months. Keep in mind that the ACL surgery is different.

PD decided to do all of this when it was sent to them the first time. I'm assuming that they test jumped the canopy after replacing the lines and decided that a larger slider would help. On a side note, I put about 4 jumps on the demo spectre this past Saturday and it was wonderful. If PD can make my canopy open like this I will be beyond pleased.

I have an FT-50...biggest drawback is that you cannot easily replace the face. After about 20 jumps I had already managed to get some scratches on there. For our club, I am planning on buying a Galaxy simply because you can easily replace the face and the style looks good too (very similar to the FT-50). As for price, it depends on where you look, but they are about the same.

Our club has a Navigator 240 that just about every student has used at some point. No complaints at all, it's a very forgiving canopy.

What's strange is that after deployment I am vertical, watching the canopy inflate properly (and peacefully). It isn't until the very end, as in the last second, that the end cells inflate very rapidly and I am swung out from underneath. It is really unexpected. I just shipped my canopy off to PD today and I have to say thank you to Donna and Kolla for helping me out. I should have a demo spectre by this weekend so that I can experience the beauty just like everyone else.

Is this true? You are not allowed to screw up?

I wish that this was the problem. However, after jumping this past weekend I've decided that the canopy will soon be making a return trip to PD. Like I said, the openings up until the very end are absolutely wonderful. I don't mind slow openings at all since I am quite used to this canopy. This past weekend one opening was rather violent and I was flung forward at the end...not a characteristic opening sequence for a spectre.