SniperCJ

Geez, Ive got tears streaming down my face, that was so funny!

I have the bonehead chincup and I removed the original fastex clip strap from the helmet. I understand that the rachet on the bonehead is dependant on a single little spring, but I was more concerned with dumping the helmet in case of a high speed problem. If you leave the original strap on the helmet, be sure to practice removing it in the proper order: fastex clip first, rachet second. If you remove the rachet first the fastex clip could dig into your neck making it almost impossible to unclip. Stay safe JC

...but my question remains unanswered. passmore is dead, this information is not going to save anyone's life, we all know if you jump impaired you could die, therefore rendering the original post useless, it should have never been posted, IMO, because it serves no purpose... And all those "Boobies" posts, "whats your favorite color" posts, et al are SO useful! At least this is a relevant skydiving topic and gets a good dialog going (even if it strayed afield somewhat). And it is important and useful to consider the AFF-I / drug use / DZ lawsuit angle as it could affect our sport. JC

Hmmm, good questions. He's where I think I rate... packing - Above average to pretty freakin good. exits - Average to above average. belly flying - Above average. free-flying - Suck bad relative work - Pretty good. Im in my slot more often than not. Need tracking work tho. spotting - Dont really know. GPS and all that landings - Above average. Probably get my PRO rating one day. I land pretty much where I want CRW - Tried once. Scares the hell outa me. Probably try it again. JC

Fortunately I dont pull anybody over these days. I dont work Patrol.

Among all the talk about random testing and such, why has no one mentioned the fact that this guy was an AAF-I? If he went up to swoop a pond high, its also possible he went up with students high. And say said student goes out of control or whatever and the same poor reaction that caused him to hit the pond cause him to miss helping the student he is responsible for. Hmm, random testing might not seem like such a bad idea there huh? Of course the AFF-I doesnt have any money, so the lawsuit is directed at the "deep pockets" of the DZO (who of course doesnt have any money either, so the DZ closes). Bad for all of us. Test em all I say. You wanna work here, submit to random testing. You wanna smoke weed or whatever, then go skydive your ass off, but youre not working here. As for having a search warrant for your trunk goes, if we want in there bad enough, theres always a (legal) way... JC

Having been there about 3 years ago, I can tell you the pain is enormous. Lost a girlfriend to a brain aneurysm. You surround yourself with compasionate friends, you let time run its course, and you cry a lot. Little by little the pain lessens (but never goes away) and you get on with your life. Although I have a live in girlfriend, I still visit Bev's burial site on occasion. The gf understands that it is something that I need to do sometimes. JC

THe balloon was cooler than the helicopter because of the lack of engine noise. Its like jumping into a void. Way cool!

38. And yes, im jealous of you young guys. I wish I had discover this when I was 20. I'd be a DZ bum right now.

Damn, and youre all the way over there in California...

Ditto everything the other camera flyers have said so far. I had over 300 jumps and 2 cutaways before I started flying camera. The cutaways are not a requirement before flying a camera of course but having had a couple sure makes me feel more secure about handling a more complicated emergency with a camera. When you disregard all this good advice and go do it anyway, good luck and try not to kill yourself or anybody else. JC

Geez, I hate spiders! Thats the one thing thatll get my skin crawling. I have a theory as to why I'm like that: When I was a kid I would come home late at night and walk across the yard to the house (we lived in the country). Invariably I would walk into a spider web and have it draped across my face. As I went flailing my arms across the yard one question always popped into my head "Where were the spider sitting? And is he now pasted to my forehead...?" I hate scorpions too. Had one inside my pants once...but that another story... JC

Chin cup. Too unsteady without one.

I'm going the opposite direction. Ive never had hair this long before. Didnt realize it was such a pain in the ass. I'm in that awkward stage where the back is long enough to ponytail but the top and sides arent. So when you ponytai the back you get these stupid looking 'wings' sticking out of the side of your head. Any suggestions?

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of ariving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up worn out, yelling GERONIMO!"

Lets see, I started out packing 2 years ago. Packed all summer and put all the money from the DZ on my jump account and all the money from private packs was funneled back into the sport in some way (lunch, gear, whatever). I started filming 4-way, tandem, and AFF this year. I usually put half on my jump account and take half in cash to pay for repacks and stuff. My girlfriend and I have also manned information booths at different events talking to people and handing out cards and flyers. We get jump tix for those. Ive always helped out doing other stuff around there like catching tandems (on high wind days), ferrying out-landing jumpers, and other odds and ends just to help out. Kinda like giving back to the sport. JC

This was the cause if my first mal a couple years ago. Sucker spun up and started spinning me. I never saw the unstowed brake line until it was pointed out to me on the ground after the main was recovered. Girlfriend saw it from above me and said it looked pretty wicked watching me spin around like that. Ive since had a toggle come unstowed a few more times and have caught it right away every time. Pop the other one loose and fly on. JC

Oakley Half Jackets for sports stuff like shooting and running. Oakley Juliets for Cool-Daddy stuff

As long as its "No, I'm not sure you have the experience level needed on this jump" and not "No, youre not with the "In" crowd around here." There are a few load organizers out there that get into some of that elitism BS, "Youre not good enough to be on MY skydive" crap. Kinda kills the whole purpose of being an organizer.

QuoteSomething Electric about 4 way. When's the next meet? Where? Next meet is Aug 17/18 at Spaceland.

Team HazMat, the team I video for, took second handicap in their best finish ever. Bravo for a first year team! JC

Ive been climbing for several years and I agree with the advice. Get the basics in the gym and then maybe hire a guide and go to the 'gunks. The gym will probably have flyers from some local area guide services. Most will have some sort of 2 day beginner's course that will teach you a lot. Be prepared tho, once you hit real rock, you may never go back to the climbing gym again. And another bad thing, jumping and climbing both require decent weather. Althought you can climb when its too cloudy to jump! Also, if you really get into it, it can be pretty gear intensive. I would estimate I have $1000 minimum tied up (pun intended) in my climbing rack. Have fun, its as big a rush as jumping! JC

Whooo Hooooo!! Made my 500th jump on the sunset load and my first CREW jump. Managed to pull off a 4-stack rotation and even got docked on my first attempt. (got that F word in there quite a bit...BEER is on the way!) 500 jumps, First CREW, First 4-stack, First time wetting my pants on a jump.... What a freakin HOOT!! JC

Ya, as a friend of mine told me the other day: "You used to be such a well rounded person. Now all you do is skydive." I couldnt challenge her much. I used to train martial arts (TKD, Jujitsu) quite a bit. I'll say, I was pretty good at jujitsu, at least on the ground. TKD, I was ok, nothing spectacular. I still play racquetball. Not exactly an extreme sport, but its fun. I would rate myself a B player on a good day. I used to rock climb quite a bit. Rock climbing mostly takes the same kind of weather that jumping does, so if its a good day, I'm jumping, not climbing. Ive lead 5.9 and followed 5.10a. I'd say I can consistently lead 5.8 so I'm about average. Best climb I ever did was a 5 pitch 5.9 on Lumpy Ridge in Rocky Mountain National Park. That was a cool climb. I ride motorcycles, have for 25 years. Have a Kawasake ZX12R (Ninja 1200). Blazing fast bike. I also shoot competitively. Sniper competitions. Since you asked for an honest evaluation, on a good day, I'm one of the best competitive shooters in the country. I say 'competitive shooters' because there are a lot of guys out there that dont shoot competitively that would probably kick my ass...or not... Thats about it. I run some, but just for exercise (I hate it), lift some, camp some. JC

Thats kinda why I went with the 0.6. It closely approximates the 28mm lens I shoot stills, but also I want to be able to zoom all the way out as a default and still be ok. The 0.6 can get to looking too wide if you get separated on exit, but its great for the close ups and you dont HAVE to be right in the tandem's lap.