tbrown 26 #1 May 16, 2003 Hi everybody, I'm doing a Rip Van Winkle thing and have just returned to the sport after a layoff of 22 years. (I was busy raising a family, something that isn't quite done yet, but the kids are driving age now and they occasionally let me have the car to go jumping.) Everybody keeps telling me the gear has changed a lot, but I don't think so. It's definitely better, hotter, sleeker, lighter, and whatnot, but believe it or not we actually had squares, hand deploy, and even a few square reserves back in the dark ages of the seventies. What I think has changed and is way better is the thinking. The awareness and ability of what we can do in the air has grown enormously. With just a few jumps back in the game, I'm already finding RW is so much easier to do than it ever was, just because of a few simple new ideas that have come along. That's where this sport is at, it's like that little bald kid in The Matrix bending the spoons, there is no spoon, it's all your mind in this most beautiful sport of ours. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beemertec 0 #2 May 16, 2003 Welcome back!! Glad to have you. Blue Skies Steve Ok, so it's pink, but I'm secure in my manhood, and I still look cool coming in under it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #3 May 16, 2003 Welcome back! My first jumpmaster did the same thing, took nearly 20 years off from the sport to raise his kids. He regrets it, but is very happy being back, that's for sure. I tell you what, though, I love listening to his stories, though, (maybe its because I'm a history majory, or maybe I just really like stories from the 70s dealing with skydiving) but I really enjoy those stories. Anyways, have fun, watch for trolls and don't mind the sheep. --"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 37 #4 May 16, 2003 Welcome to the forums and back to the sport! She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,439 #5 May 16, 2003 Welcome back. I took about 15 years off, and have really enjoyed coming back. It's the same, yet different, in a lot of good ways. Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robskydiv 0 #6 May 17, 2003 Congratulations on the ultimate achievement of raising a family. Just two more years and it looks like you'll have alot more "free time." But don't forget about the grand kids! Doh! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #7 May 17, 2003 Welcome Back......I also just got back into the sport after taking a little break of 22 years....The child is raised... and the ex is a pain in the butt, and I am only responsible for me. Now as far as grandchildren... if and when.. they better be coming out to the dropzone to see their crazy ( or some other descriptive term they have not used yet)grandmother throw her body out of airplanes. Amazon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hooked 0 #8 May 17, 2003 My grandkids have both been out to see this crazy grandmother jump! However, they aren't old enough to really know what's going on, but they will!!! J -------------------------------------- Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #9 May 17, 2003 Hey Howdy neighbor.. Well when the weather gets better I will be making that long 80 mile drive down to K Pow more often.. I am just 10 minutes from Snohomish so for now I hang out there. I have been down there 5 times now and only got in one jump from the Otter....woo hoo LOVED IT...I hate to wish ill of any human being but Jeff Dow ( the local Pilot Mcnastie) takes the cake. The people at K Pow are very cool and really do not deserve the likes of him and his bag of little weenie bitchieness. Amazon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hooked 0 #10 May 17, 2003 Sooooo true! I read in another post that Evening Magazine will be doing a piece on Kapow, mainly featuring Andy (and some other jumpers), after KIRO's bashing of Kapow, it will be nice to see some good reporting! J -------------------------------------- Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralu 0 #11 May 17, 2003 Welcome back !!! ralu what would be a woman without her dreams.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 37 #12 May 17, 2003 Amazon and hooked, might you be around Kapowsin on the weekend of June 21st? That's when I'm going to make an appearance. We could do a chic jump! She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #13 May 17, 2003 What did KIRO say about Kapowsin ?!? That station's got something thorny stuck up its butt, they always have and always will, hell they produced the likes of Aaron Brown, so say no more... John Keister on the old Almost live show mourned the fact that the departure of Koko, that gorilla at the shopping mall in Tacoma, would deprive KIRO of their best Op/Ed writer! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hooked 0 #14 May 17, 2003 QuoteI hate to wish ill of any human being but Jeff Dow ( the local Pilot Mcnastie) takes the cake. The people at K Pow are very cool and really do not deserve the likes of him and his bag of little weenie bitchieness. I pm'd you, but forgot to say Jeff Dow was the reason for KIRO's news story. J -------------------------------------- Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #15 May 17, 2003 Skymama That would be way cool.. but bring your weight vest... I can fall FAST. Once upon a time I was tall and skinny.. well at least I am still tall . Hooked by that time I will be around there on a regular basis at least on fridays and saturdays when the sky is clear and blue. I know the sun will come out someday.....as I look out the window into the Snohomish Valley and see dark angry clouds that are determined to keep me from doing any freeflying. I have a copy of the KIRO story on video tape...it was a total hack job. Maybe they should have looked at the background of the person making the complaints who videotapes people too close to clouds in his opinion... amazing what camera angles will do. He was endangering people by crowding the runway in front of a landing aircraft with his little red airplane. Flying towards people under canopy as you can clearly see in the video is dangerous and he faked that as well. He has lived at that airport for many years.. and knows how jump operations work. Perhaps if his wife had not figured out how much of an idiot he is and had not left with someone else none of the subsequent events would have occurred. Then again guys like him prefer subservient slaves and she developed some self esteem and left. The bottom line is he has the ear of a questionable local FAA official and the Farringtons have to abide by a set of rules that very few dropzones have to adhere to. When someone tries to fake incidents and endanger people in doing so its a sad state of affairs. Amazon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
macey 0 #16 May 18, 2003 I restarted in 2000 after a 29 year lay-off for the same reasons. Welcome back!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
