Jen1129

Excel camp is great! You will learn lots of basic RW skills. I don't know the new schedule though... contact Mel (curtismelaniej) who runs the camp.

I can't imagine how anyone could read that without being affected by it. I was touched by Adria's death. I did not know her, and I won't claim emotional attachment from the fact that we jumped at the same dropzone or I may have sat next to her on a load. I was touched because I am her age, and I can only imagine what my family would have felt if that happened to me. In my opinion, those who think "If I'm gonna die, at least I'm gonna die doing something aaaaawesome!" don't realize how many people would be hurt, and how badly, if that happened. And it gives the rest of us a bad name... those of us who plan to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn't happen to us. Yeah, I could have a total malfunction. I could get hit by a truck. But I am doing everything I can to make sure I don't become one of those completely avoidable fatalities. Since I am a 100-jump wonder, that means I listen to my instructors about gear choices, about when not to get on a load if the winds are high, about why I shouldn't jump a camera anytime soon. Some of us do listen. I have taken a canopy class, and next time I go to the DZ I am going to do some hop and pops and practice flat turns and landing accuracy. Hey, I want to take my grandkids to the dropzone someday to watch me jump... and I'm 26. Regulation or no (and I'm too inexperienced to have a qualified opinion on that subject), those who have seen people get hurt or killed too many times do have an effect on some of us... and we do listen.

It bothers me to hear people say Paul Hamm's medal is "tarnished." He did absolutely nothing wrong, and it is unheard of to ask an athlete or a team to "give up" a victory when the mistake was not theirs to begin with. As others have said, there is no way to know for sure that the Korean would have won if the scores had been changed. He did make another error which the judges did not count - and even if he had been given the extra points he was "entitled" to, who is to say he would not have choked in the last round given the pressure of being in the lead? It's a dangerous precedent to set to try to change results of a sporting competition after the fact. Does anyone want to see the Super Bowl results changed the morning after based on a video replay?

He shouldn't give the medal back. The tape review also showed that Yang made a mistake that would have cost him 0.2 points if the judges had caught it. You get into a sketchy gray area when you try to change results after the fact based on a video replay. Does anyone want to see the Super Bowl or NBA finals results changed the next morning because a replay caught a penalty or foul that should have been called? I don't believe Hamm's medal is tainted at all.

I lived on Maui for 6 months last year. Visited Kauai, Lanai and Oahu while I was there. Kauai is beautiful and very rural. If you are looking for somewhere less touristy, that would be the place. Lots of rivers, waterfalls, etc. We went kayaking (one of my favorite activities in Hawaii.) Maui has about 100,000 people on the whole island so it has a small / medium size town atmosphere. Definitely go up Haleakala and watch a sunset or a sunrise. There are great places to snorkel, one popular option being a day trip to Molokini (a small island off the coast). Lahaina and Wailea are popular places to stay, with Lahaina being more touristy and Wailea more expensive. Both are good snorkeling places also. Lanai only has two hotels, both VERY expensive. We just went for a day from Maui on a snorkeling boat. (Both Lanai and Molokai are within ferry distance of Maui.) Oahu is of course the most crowded and touristy. North Shore is nice though... that's where I did my first jump! Also, if anyone has any frequent flyer miles anywhere, check out if the airline is partners with either Hawaiian or Aloha Airlines. You can get a round trip inter-island ticket for about 5000 miles.

I break by 4500, pull at 3500. I have just over 100 jumps and I want the extra time to react if I see something unusual above my head.

I am so sorry... I have 4 cats and I love them like they were family. Well, they ARE family. Anyone who has loved a pet will understand.

Yep... I completely agree... I ordered a custom Sabre2 170 in February. It was completed on schedule but did not pass one of their inspections and they had to rebuild it, so they sent me a nearly-new demo canopy (I didn't even have to ask) that I could use, at no charge, in the meantime until my canopy was done. The demo arrived in time to jump it that weekend. They then rebuilt my canopy within another 2 weeks or so and I was jumping it within 3 weeks. Both Kolla and Sandy were SO friendly and helpful too!

Greg, that pie was just hovering in front of my face and it was just instinct to push it back towards Darcy! Glad it made a good story... Rosa, I already got a lot of the pie on Darcy but if I'm around for her 100th... watch out... :)

Star Crest... something? Don't remember what the R stands for. Anyway, it's building an 8-way round after an exit with no grips. I believe part of the SCR ceremony says something like "you are a crappy ass skydiver and the only reason you accomplished this is because everyone else on the jump was skygods." Definitely true in my case considering there were 5 instructors and one more person with 1000+ jumps... And Mark, Marie gets the credit for organizing the jump and especially for putting up with my whining about "but I want a biiiigger jump and I want viiiiiideoooo..."

Thanks everyone... Mark, thanks for the encouragement... support from you and the other instructors is a big reason I made it to 100... Chris, I heard about that 16000 foot jump... but I still like my DZ better, yours has too many trees. Darcy, I was happy you were on the jump with me! You'll have to get video of your 100th since I probably won't be back in time... Rosa, LOL, it does look like I am missing clothes on my 1st jump, but I was wearing a tanktop since the jump was in Hawaii!

This Saturday I got my 100th jump, and also my SCR!! Here are a couple pictures... as well as one from my 1st jump for amusement. The jump was a blast... thanks Marie for organizing, Jonathan for video and pictures, and Mark, Darcy, Lito, George, Bart, Erin, and Marie for going on this jump with me! (And yes, I bought beer, and Darcy pied me... thanks...)

I couldn't say it better. I was a girlfriend who wanted to do one tandem and later got hooked, but the fact that I had absolutely no pressure put on me to jump helped so much. My bf told me many times that he would never tell me to jump or not to jump, and that he would support me either way. It HAS to be something she wants to do for herself and not for you.

I am curious too... I am anxiously awaiting my custom Sabre2 170 which I ordered early February...

I'll be at Elsinore Friday for sure and either Perris or Elsinore Saturday... getting some coaching with Mel's camp and water training Friday night!

From my first jump, Greg Windmiller (DALAILAMA) and Chuck Blue (SkymonkeyOne). Trust me, it took a LOT of patience to get me through that jump! Then from Elsinore, like Darcy says everyone there is great, but Doug Forth (confidence and expertise), Mark Guinto (fun! and always patient with answering my questions), and Bryan Harrell (canopy control!) stand out the most.

My first jump was at a tourist tandem factory, and they did not want to spend any time training me on the ground. I think I met my instructor 10 minutes before the jump. When I started asking questions about "how do I know how high we are?", "when do you pull?", 'where is the ripcord?" I was told "it's a carnival ride, don't worry about it." Only when I persisted with my questions and told them that I wanted to KNOW what was going on and to NOT just have a carnival ride, did the instructors start actually talking to me. Although I loved my first jump (and came back, obviously) I would have definitely appreciated if it had been at a place where I could have had a little more time and instruction beforehand.

Chuck taught my first jump course (which I totally enjoyed), and yes he did cover a lot about canopy control. I think the thing was that when I listened to everything Chuck taught me, I had NEVER flown a canopy myself and so it was all mostly theory to me. So when he talked about landing patterns or maneuvers under canopy, it was hard for me to picture how to do it because I'd never done ANY of it. I guess I would have liked more canopy control instruction as I went through AFF (after I'd had a chance to experience a small amount of canopy flight) and my progression towards my A. It could be just me... I am definitely not a natural with the canopy stuff, which is one of the reasons I am going to take a canopy control class in the next month. Oh and my instructors have always answered any of my questions about canopy stuff, even if they weren't jumping with me that day... but I'm sure I don't always know what to ask!

Congratulations Darcy and Javier!!!! More people to jump with, whoo hoo!! Jen

Wow, that sounds great and exactly the kind of thing I need right now! I'll be out of town this weekend but I am definitely interested when you get the other dates set up!

Great job with the standup landings! It will get easier... I stood up about 1 of every 2 or 3 landings till something clicked at about jump 40 or 50. And yes, it does get easier when you downsize, but like you I was (and still am) in no rush... Pretty soon you will have your A and we will have to do some jumps!

Thanks for your reply! Yep, I have had soft openings and this felt different... at the point when I reached for my cutaway it felt like it wasn't opening at all. I estimate I was within half a second of my "beer" cutaway. I was definitely not planning to ride it down to my hard deck... I knew I was losing altitude pretty quickly. I don't know what happened to make it eventually open (someone speculated it was my change in body position when I reached for the cutaway handle). Wish I had it on tape!

Thanks... that is a good point and exactly why my hand went to the cutaway handle. I knew I was not being slowed down much, so I was losing altitude fast. I did, however, have a good canopy by 2500 ft which is my hard deck.

You could always get two cats... I am gone a lot, and I have two cats and they keep each other company when I'm not around. Plus, then they tend to chase each other instead of tearing up stuff!

Thanks Terry, and thanks for helping me get back up in the air. That 3-way and pulling high was exactly what I needed to get my confidence back. I'm sure you're right, and I think the confidence will come with time and more jumps. I learned a lot from that experience!