gatorbait

Not pissed here, I have had many heated discussions about this very thing with my husband (minus the smoking). We grew up in a very different world, with alot less risks. I can remember doing everything as you achild you mentioned, & it was fun, heck its some of the best memories of childhood I have. Would I let my own kids do it? No, why...b/c there are 10 times the child predators & other crazed wastes of human flesh then there were when we were growing up. It s no longer safe to let your child go to the park alone, for fear of kidnappers or even worse murders who lurk out children. I love my children with every last breath I have & I will go to any length to protect them, even if it seems extreme in others eyes. I would rather raise my kids on the more sheltered side and have them to raise, then to let them run a muck and be taken from me prematurely.

I imeediately don't have any respect for mothers who don't quit smoking when they are pregnant. That in my opinion, is the bigest display of ignorance. Especially with all of the education that is offered today.

LOL I so agree....well said!

I did it for years and never had a problem...then I switched to the black SkyBandz (which work very well also), then I designed a stowless D-bag and have never looked back! I would like to see that design...intrested in making one for a vector 2? Thanks!

Does any have any freefly mods on their Vector2? Or do you know of/seen any? I am wanting to put tuck tabs on and get rid of the velcro for the riser covers, also wanting to do something to keep the reserve flap from hitting me in the head when I sit fly.Any response will be greatly appreciated.

I think some of my problem may be my husband too, I mean he isn't doing anything to me, he is very supportive & has been more than helpful in learning, he is my best friend. The problem is my pschy...my husband just made his 100th jump and he flys like he's had 1000's (not my words, coming from several more expierenced jumpers at our dz) He always being invited on freefly dives & formations. He really intimadets me. Even though he is completely trying not too. The only thing that keeps me somewhat from being totally overwhelmed is I was with him when he completely blew in 2nd aff. I doubt if this is something that ya'll can help with it just helps talking about it. Since he works at the dz where I am going through AFF. he will always be there when I am jumping. He is also very protective of me and wants to go on all my aff loads. My JM's are cool with this b/c of hos flying skills...okay that the end of my blab.

Hey michele, I can so relate to the signals and nodding & nothing thing, I remember doing that...your funny story perked me up and restored my faith a bit. There for a while I was so feeling like I was the only one who messed up their first dive. I am always way too critical about anything I do, my husband told me tonight that I am trying to hard, you know the old saying K.I.S.S "keep it simple stupid" he said I am making it way harder than it really is... next week will be better...fingers crossed!

the first prcp I felt the hacky, went right to it, 2nd time tried to pull my JM's alti off, on the the 1 to 10 stable scale I was about a 6. I was arching from my shoulders & towards the end was digging my knees in. Thanks for the advice, it does help with the confidence, especially when its positive advice.

I just watched the video from my first AFF jump that my main JM filmed. It is so obvious that I am in total la-la land during my jump. I can remember what I needed to do running through my mind, but my body just wouldn't do it. I managed to get two PRCP's done, and then my reserve JM pulled me at 5700 feet b/c he thought we were too far off to make it back to the airport if I pulled any lower (his words). The whole dive flow is completely engrained in my head (my husband has been jumping for awhile and has helped me alot at home). I am really disturbed and am mentally beating myself up over this b/c I am totally in love with skydiving and want to take it as far as I can. My JM's passed me on to level 2 and said that I did fine for my firt jump and my husband said I did okay. I just can't get past this. I can't wait to get in the air again, I just want to make sure my brain is with me. Any advice?

Thanks for all of the great insight & advice! What ya'll addressed are some of the same concerns for us. Both my husband& I had the advantage of staying in the same schools from kindergarten thru graduation. I am really up a wall on my feelings on this. Up until skydiving & becoming part of a "dz family" school stabilty was extremely important too me. Now I find myself seriously asking if it would be that big of a deal. We have also discussed homeschooling. MY father in law is close to retiement & has been an educator for many years. He already offered to help. We have asked several long timers at our dz what their opinion was and they were mostly supportive of the idea and thought it would have been awesome if they could have grown up at a dz. This is clearly becoming a big inner turmoil for me, my kids are clearly my first priority in life, but skydiving is so addictive...oh what to do...

This is something that has been the topic of alot of discussion between my husband & I ever since I started jumping too. We have a small screen-printing business dedicated to skydiving apparel that is our main staple, my husband is REAL close to his coach rating. Our big issue is that we have 4 kids all 7 & under. What we have disscussed is selling our house & our truck & getting a nice motor home. They are several big ones that would accomodate us just fine & all of our screen-printing equipment is portabel so we could keep doing that out of a storage facility close-by. I would like to see what ya'lls opinion is on this. If you think it would be hard on the kids or so on. But I would love to do it.

I say Orlando too, I have flown in that one and it is what helped convince me to go ahead & jump. We just moved here from Lakeland which is just a few minutes SW of Orlando. The staff at Skyventure are all very proffessional, if you let them know that you are working on your AFF they will help you alot. Also Skydive Greensburg will have a wind tunnel up & running as of Memorial day weekend. So if your anywhere near Indiana, check us out!

Oh dear Gawd...that is so FUNNY!

Hi & welcome!

Here in Indiana, I just filled my truck up for 1.26 a gallon, it has been below a 1.30 for almost a month now...gee I can remember when 1.30 was considered outrageous!

Thanks for your "tactful" insight.... I will be able to jump often after I make it through AFF. My husband works at our DZ & I have already been given a job at manifest & answering the phones. That will allow me at least 2 free jumps a day. B/c we are a young couple & have our own football team (4 kids), we just didn't have a big wad of cash laying around to shell out at once. I am working off part of my classes, to help with the expense. My husband has been jumping for awhile & a good friend of his "gave" him his spare rig in exchange for some favors we had done. It is in like new shape & will be great for my first rig.

Yeah that was done by me, and I guess the people who thought that it would be cute to be negative and make smart remarks about it just goes to prove that the skydiving community isn't 100% perfect, thanks for shattering my image...oh well I guess 90% is close enough. I have had alot of very kind people help me out, not only on Ebay but from our home DZ as well. I am the type of person that helps anyone and everyone when I can, if it's giving some one my last quarter or just a nice word to make someone's day a little brighter. I am not afraid to ask for help, nobody should be. Even though I have only done the ground school for my first AFF jump & 1 tandem, I am totally accepted at our home DZ. To AirAnn: Thanks so much for your kind & encouraging words, after reading this very depressing & negative post, you really uplifted me. Restored my faith, that these "jerks" for better words thought it would be funny to try & destroy. When asked yesterday by one of my JM's why I wanted to learn to skydive, I told him, b/c it is truly amazing & there is nothing else that can be compared to it. It is like one of the ladies on the women's forum said, "that is is like falling in true love for the first time." Thanks again for your encouraging words, I plan to be around as a skydiver & a friend to most for a long time. To the ass cheese (you know who you are): I really hope that are paths never cross, to take unnecessary hacks at someone who is trying to make it, was so uncool. There are already plenty of people who are against skydiving that don't know anything about it. We don't need negativity inside our group. I am a part of one of the greatest DZ's around, I don't need your money or your support to help me out. Check your negativity at the door

In that case no, but to me physical apperance matters somewhat. However, when I met my husband, even though he was atteactive he didn't appear attractive b/c of his "asshole air", not until he cam down to earth and asked me out in a very gentlemanly way, did I give him a second thought. 6 months later we were married, that was 5 years ago. We have a great relationship & are best friends. But to me looks are only skin deep, but it is also the thing that first makes you notice a person. However if this lady is someone you have clicked with already & you know shes a really nice person, then it shouldn't matter. And unfortunately there are people who go on looks alone, for what ever reason, that don't go past the cover of the book.

I would just be honest, honesty has always been my friend. Besides, bad breath can sometimes be cuased by something underlying that can be serious. It shoukd probably be checked out.

Skydive Greensburg is having a huge bash. It also going to be the grand opening for their new wind tunnel!!!Skydive Greensburg

what size does it fir & how much do you want for it?

I would love to know too, that is my goal as a skydiver, to become a camera flyer. I hope there is something, if not I hope one comes along soon.

Our home DZ is 30 minutes from Indianapolis International Airport. All of our pilots fly on the same channel as the commercial planes & obey the same rules. We have to wait our turn & so do they. There have been times when we couldn't go any hight than 11,000 b/c there are so many commercial jets in holding patterns at 13,000 & higher. I think if it was thought out completely by everypne who would be involved, it wouldnt be that big of deal. My grandma owns a quit a bit of land & we are planning on opening a DZ on her land in the future. Hope you got something useful out of my ramble...

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Put a picture with your name? I would like to put up a pic of my tandem jump yesterday and can't figure it out...