yardhippie 0 #1 July 28, 2008 Skydiver: Me 979 jumps. 7 years in sport. Javelin OJK (I think) 1 year old PD 143 1 year old PD Velocity 2 years old approx 250 jumps. Loaded approx 2.1 Helmet: Hawkeye with side/top mount. Video PC 105 in a D-Box Canon 10D with Tamron 28-200 lens I was doing video/stills for tandems Saturday and after the second jump I watched the TI deploy and away I go on my back roll over wave and pull. As my protrack is beeping in my ear that Im going through 3500'. i felt what I thought was the bag leaving the container, but no canopy. Just as I begin to turn my head to see what kind of ball of shit is behind me KABOOM! I use those words b/c WACK is just not descriptive enough. I've got about a twist and a half in the risers, but my canopy is flying straight. Im thinking, thank goodness I can kick out of this one and as I start kicking, it starts turning. Of course in the direction of the twist. i can feel it speeding up as it wraps up another one. Ok, fuck, I'm on my back, I've got about 2.5 twists in my risers and it's not getting any better. Reach right/left. Pull right, pull left as Im rolling to my belly. A lovely white PD143 appears on heading and above me. I check my altitude and see 2.1 on my neptune. Good. Now is when I begin to asses the damage to my body. My neck hurts so bad I can barely turn my head. I try to fire my still camera to get a picture of my reserve (I'd never seen it before) and nothing. I reach up to find that the opening shock from my main has ripped the camera out of its mount. I dont know the brand of mount, but I picked it up off of another videographer I jump with. I follow my main/freebag down and land standing up in a nice grassy field. After watching the video, we've decided it wasnt a brake fire b/c the canopy was flying straight, and you can make out the brakes still stowed. Its kind of tough b/c the camera fogged up quite a bit. The canopy was packed by a visiting packer, who had been packing Velos early in the week and flies/packs his own JVX. I was told he'd been packing soft openings earlier in the week. I'm still in quite a bit of pain. Very obviously muscle related b/c ice and warm have been comforting. I can only speculate as to why it opened this way. Just a reminder that even when things SHOULD be find, they dont always end up that way. Somewhere in a field is a Protrack, a 10D Canon with a Tamron lens, a nice UV filter and a 4GB Extreme III SanDisk CF card. Just a little scary if that was over a populated area and that had hit a home/car/or person from 3000' +. Peace.Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD "What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me "Anything you want." ~ female skydiver Mohoso Rodriguez #865 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #2 July 28, 2008 Good save (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
icevideot 0 #3 July 28, 2008 Hippie I'm glad you are okay. You may want to get checked out though. Especially if you experience any numbness or tingling from anywhere between your shoulders to your fingers. Ice and heat effect nerve dysfunction as well as muscles so that doesn't guarantee anything. Sorry about the camera but how is the Velo? As long as you save yourself new gear can be aquired. Speedy recovery, Robin"... this ain't a Nerf world." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iluvtofly 0 #4 July 28, 2008 Guess now wouldn't be a good time to bring up my SCR video again. Just kidding. In all seriousness glad you're alright. Could've been much worse. Take it easy and heal up right. It really sucks to push a recovery and then it gets even worse because you didn't take care of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yardhippie 0 #5 July 28, 2008 The Velo is no worse for the wear. I should have the line set checked though. Thoughts? The person who packed it was working on getting it all straightend out before I was back from the rigging loft. I wandered off to relax and chill, by the time I was back it was daisy chained up and ready to be stuffed in a bag. He said he didnt see anything, but then again, he's not a rigger. True that you can replace stuff, but not people. It just sucks cuz I cant afford to replace that stuff now. Just as I was beginning to enjoy my vidiot role and was making some extra cash to supplement my fun jumping. Dont know if I mentioned it but I needed cypres batteries too. Keep in mind all that proper gear maintenance is not only essential to your suvival, it is not cheap. Dont kid yourself, and whatever you do... do NOT cut corners! Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD "What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me "Anything you want." ~ female skydiver Mohoso Rodriguez #865 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrismgtis 0 #6 July 28, 2008 Hey, you're alive . Glad you made it out alright to jump again another day. Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033 Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #7 July 29, 2008 Dude you had a chop on my Birthday...THANKS glad ya not ded You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mouth 0 #8 August 3, 2008 Dang it be careful Yippie. I'm glad you are ok but take it easy for a bit please. That said...any ideas what caused the problem? Did you inspect the D bag etc? Snags? BE CAREFUL and I mean it. -- Hot Mama At least you know where you stand even if it is in a pile of shit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
