Casquito

You know Dom, I got so sidetracked by your "stolen" jump tickets that I forgot to get the pic. It's hanging in the back of the store if you can run by and snap a pic. There's no main packed in there now though... Glad you got your tickets back buddy! Joe

I thought of that but I didn't bring my camera to the DZ last time I was out and for now, the rig lives at SQ1. I'm having it shipped out of state to save the $500 on sales tax so theoretically it's in custody of the store. I'm waiting on the main to come in to send it out so for the time being, I'm just leaving it there. I mean really, what am I going to do with the container here at home? Don't answer that. From the posts in this forum there seems to be some rig perversion going on with you all! I'll get pics next time I'm out Joe

Hey, finally got the new rig! It looks every bit as awesome as I thought it would. The silver on the reserve looks like it might get dirty easily so I'll have to not land on my ass. I put a few jumps on it Monday and it's like jumping in my lazy boy recliner. The demo stuff I've been jumping so far was no comparison. That said, it is a PAIN to try to close that dinky container compared to the demo stuff. I think Dave was telling me all that stuff was sized for 170 and I'd been dropping the 132 in it. But I'm getting the hang of it. For some real laughs wait until my new canopy comes in and I try to pack THAT into this thing. See you out there! Joe Alex was flipping me crap for the RSL.. What up wit dat?

Does anyone know if the VSE site is down? I just tried to pull it up and no go... Just sitting here lamenting the fact that my rig is still not here....

No names, but I will confiscate their crack and relieve them of that burden for them. Thanks Dom, you are the MAN. I have to go wipe off my monitor screen now...

yeah but Kona is choice no matter where you are. I grew up in Seattle, so trust me. Starbucks is like McDonalds. There is much better out there.... sorry, edited for spelling. Drinking again....

I ordered an Infinity (I-23) back in May and was told "oh, around 5 weeks." It keeps getting pushed back and now it's going to be around 9 weeks with the move and all. I'm so bummed, since the container is oh so sweet.... So if I FedEx 10 pounds of gourmet coffee to Kapowsin, do you think you all could cut the delivery time? Joe

Your profile says you live in Glendale... if that's Glendale California and you're going out to Perris, then I can't imagine that you can't hook up with other Dropzoners heading out to jump at such a large DZ. I'll probably head out there on the 16th and 19th of this month if you're looking for a ride. PM me or shoot me an email joe

Concussions are a risk with any activity especially any that involve moving at high speeds. Luckily there shouldn't be that much to hit on a fun jump in the sky except the plane, other jumpers, and the ground. Which are not insignificant depending on the jumps you do. You just accept the risks and consequences associated with something you love. You do your best to minimize it, but it's still there. For each and every one of us. On a lighter note, there's no consensus on closed head injury / concussion in sports. There are loose guidelines, but nothing backed up by science- it's all anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt. Here's a summary from the 1997 American Academy of Neurology Quality Standards Committee summary statement: Grading: Grade 1: Transient confusion, no loss of consciousness (LOC), with symptoms resolving within 15 minutes. Grade 2: Transient confusion, no LOC, symptoms lasting more than 15 minutes. Grade 3: Any LOC Recommendations for return to activity: Grade 1: >1 week of no symptoms Grade 2: >1 week without symptoms Multiple Grade 2: >2 weeks without symptoms Grade 3 (short LOC): 1 week without symptoms Grade 3 (prolonged LOC): 2 weeks without symptoms Multiple Grade 3: >1 month without symptoms. This is assuming injury occurred during one episode. Multiple or repeated injury over several episodes are not included. Take the above with a big grain of salt. There is no evidence out there (these were compiled as a literature review of 71 articles cited on MEDLINE as relevant to "brain concussion" and "athletic injury" but included no evidence considered Class I. Or even Class II probably but they don't say...) and if you need good info, look it up yourself or pay some neurologist to give it to you. PS: I had a grade 3 concussion a few months ago and was jumping within weeks. Look at my profile; most of my activities have potential for head injury.

Make sure to pull the right pud...

I like the lifetime warranty... If it doesn't fire and save your life, they'll replace it for you. The Cypres, not your life. Ha ha

What does everyone think about a newbie gear thread that stays permanently at the top of the gear forum that says "read this first?" It was not so long ago that I got into this time and money sucking sport and had the same questions (seems like I'm still cutting tags and peeling stickers off my gear). I found all the answers I needed just doing a forum search and didn't have to post, but it would be nice to have all the info in one easy to find place for all the new jumpers. It seems at least several times a week we see the same questions over and over, so obviously it's not that easy to find the answers everyone seems to have... Anyway, here's my 2 cents: Here's a cut and paste from a previous post on the same subject earlier: I'm fairly fresh with only 100 or so jumps, but here's what I did (am doing). My DZ has a great shop (SQ1) with a demo program that lets you try out gear as much as you want for as long as you want before you buy. The caveat is you have to buy a new rig from them and put some cash down (1000+). That gives you unlimited jumps for 50-100 a month (or free if you put down 4k). The reason I did it was to try out a ton of different canopies and rigs before I plunked down thousands of $ to buy. It's hard to try all the stuff out there and it's impossible to know if you like it if you don't fly it. I think the program's great and I've been using it to the fullest. I've downsized from a 210 off AFF to 135 now, which would have been difficult or expensive if I had bought gear initially. At this point I'll probably order a rig soon since I don't think going below 135 anytime soon is a great idea. As an aside, don't be too eager to downsize and think hard about it before you do. I usually pull a little high and play with the canopy to learn how it flies (flat turns, front/rear risers, stalling it into a ball of shiznit, etc) and really concentrate on good landings and accuracy. Having gone down a few sizes in a relatively short period of time, I can attest to the fact that the tolerance for pilot error goes down dramatically and exponentially as the canopy size decreases. Just my 2 cents... Check out ebay too if you're set on buying. A buddy of mine bought an Infinity with a PD? 150 and reserve but no AAD for 2500. ONE jump on it.... what a steal. Guess the poor sap's wife didn't like him jumping out of planes.

Congrats! It wasn't that long ago that I packed my own for the very first time just off AFF. My instructor showed me how to pack, then had me try it. As I was flaking the nose, he disappeared, then returned with coffee and a donut as I was stowing the lines. After I finished, I asked him if he wanted to pull it apart and check the pack job. To my suprise, he said "nope, go jump it!" Needless to say, on the plane up, I was sweating bullets and checking my handles repeatedly and getting ready to cut away. I pulled high on that one and I've never had a deployment that seemed to take so long. It probably opened in 600 feet or so, but it seemed like an eternity before it fully deployed and spread out nicely over my head.

I can do a sit in my RW suit, but since it's the only freakin' suit I have I don't have a choice unless I want to wear street clothes. I just roll the booties in (kinda like the 80's jeans roll in reverse) and they work ok. I haven't noticed any probs in sit at all. The suit has grippers but otherwise looks like a Freefly suit (eg very pimp) and not a skin tight dealio. Makes it hard to keep up when I do a RW jump, but it works for both. Just .02 from a cheap bastard (that's alot).

I'm fairly fresh with only 70 or so jumps, but here's what I did (am doing). My DZ has a great shop (SQ1) with a demo program that lets you try out gear as much as you want for as long as you want before you buy. The caveat is you have to buy a new rig from them and put some cash down (1000+). That gives you unlimited jumps for 50-100 a month (or free if you put down 4k). The reason I did it was to try out a ton of different canopies and rigs before I plunked down thousands of $ to buy. It's hard to try all the stuff out there and it's impossible to know if you like it if you don't fly it. I think the program's great and I've been using it to the fullest. I've downsized from a 210 off AFF to 150 now, which would have been difficult or expensive if I had bought gear initially. At this point I'll probably order a rig soon since I don't think going below 150 anytime soon is a great idea. As an aside, don't be too eager to downsize and think hard about it before you do. I usually pull a little high and play with the canopy to learn how it flies (flat turns, front/rear risers, stalling it into a ball of shiznit, etc) and really concentrate on good landings and accuracy. Having gone down a few sizes in a relatively short period of time, I can attest to the fact that the tolerance for pilot error goes down dramatically and exponentially as the canopy size decreases. Just my 2 cents... Check out ebay too if you're set on buying. A buddy of mine bought an Infinity with a PD? 150 and reserve but no AAD for 2500. ONE jump on it.... what a steal. Guess the poor sap's wife didn't like him jumping out of planes. Peace J

How the heck does someone inject 10cc of anything into their leg on accident? It's hard enough to inject anything over 10 or 15 seconds without blowing the needle off the syringe. Anyway, I think people are getting emotional because of the stigma attached to HIV. I don't see a thread of whether someone should disclose their hepatitis status. Nor their PPD (TB skin test) positive result. Or any other infectious disease. Yet people are upset about this illness which is actually much less fulminant and harder to transmit than the others. Do they realize they are all incurable (maybe TB isn't... but it's damn hard to really cure someone)? Why then is HIV any different? Every argument made on the side of disclosure is a valid one. Yet how is HIV different from Hep B or C? I've yet to hear why HIV should be reported but it would be acceptable not to report hepatitis. It's simply this contradiction that makes it impossible for me to support reporting HIV and not these other diseases. If I should make that distinction, then on what basis? I have no basis other than moral judgements and individual perception. If we report one, we should report all. In theory, I agree we should all know the risks of everything in all aspects of our life, but it's not practical. They don't tell me the risk of brake failure and death when I buy a car, for instance. There is no placard on the crosswalks on my street that state I may be run over by a car or electocuted by a short circuit in the wiring of the button I push. Life is full of risks and we can never know them all. In my work, I assume every patient is a petri dish teeming with the worst incurable diseases known to man and use universal precautions. The only time I do anything different is if someone has a disease communicable by a respiratory route, in which I put on a mask. But otherwise, I don't even care what someone's HIV, Hepatitis, whatever, status is. I'd still crack their chest and stick my GLOVED hands in there all the same. Simply because I assume everyone is a danger to me and take precautions against it. Just assume everyone is infectious (they are!) and if you happen to find out someone has HIV, hepatitis, whatever, then you simply confirm what you suspected all along... and prepared for anyway. Me, I'd jump with a TM with HIV. There are alot more people with other funk (like herpes for example, and hepatitis has MANY more carriers.) yet people don't seem to care. I don't.

It's all relative... look at the world we live in. Again, I'm more afraid of catching other diseases than getting HIV. Since we're quoting references, here's the MMWR on Hep C for example. ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Publications/mmwr/rr/rr4719.pdf Sounds scarier to me. At least we have meds that work for HIV. And they're saying the estimate the Hep B prevalence is 10x higher among health care workers... Maybe we shouldn't go to the hospital either.

Maybe we should tell everyone with hepatitis to report their condition to the DZO. And those with cold sores (which is Herpes, no matter what anyone says about it) since it's infectious. And any history of gonorrhea and chlamydia too, since you know, there is alot of latent disease that doesn't get cured with the first course of antibiotics. And anyone with a cold, since you know, there's that whole "SARS" thing going around...

Don't give up jumping. Don't give up tandems. Don't take any shit from anyone. You don't have to tell anyone. As quoted above, the HIV transmission rates are far below 1% with a needle stick. Not just a needlestick, but a USED, HOLLOW needle that was used in a blood vessel (not subcutaneously or intramuscularly) that penetrates deep enough into the skin to draw blood. Just for comparison, the transmission rates for hepatitis B and C are orders of magnitude higher, yet you don't see people refusing to jump with someone who has hepatitis. Hell, most people would shrug their shoulders and not even care. Why the big deal about HIV? It's the social stigma attached to it, borne of ignorance and fear. I work in the the ER and see far more people dying of hepatitis than HIV. Personally, I'd rather get stuck with a needle from an HIV infected patient than someone with hepatitis. Transmitting it to your tandem student: pretty unlikely. You'd both have to have open wounds that are protruding through the suits. And if it happens, they can always take antiviral meds prophylactically to reduce the transmission rate from slim to infintesimal. Do you want to sacrifice your skydiving career and potentially make yourself an outcast by telling everyone (since from the responses to your question in this forum seem to confirm the popular misconception of the disease). As far as telling people, I wouldn't. It's none of their business. If they're worried about contracting some disease, they shouldn't be helping people. It's a risk you take. Besides, they should be using universal precautions anyway and using gloves. Even so, if you augered in and needed my help immediately, I'd help you, with or without gloves any day brother. Joe N. Oh, and most fractures are closed, not open.

Nah, I just work nights after I jump all day... first things first you know. I'm too tired to jump after I work all night. I just might check out the tunnel at Perris- I've heard good things about it and am sure it'll do me good. Though I don't know about the popularity thing unless entertaining everyone watching by bouncing around off the walls makes me popular. Stay away from hot chicks? Don't know about that one. Though you're right, it'd be alot easier to get people to jump with me if I was a hot chick. Would just have to get used to the "oops I thought those were your grips" line. Glad I'm a guy.

I'm at 45 or so jumps and on demo gear. Squareone at Perris has a demo program that lets you demo gear for 0-100$/mo depending how much you put down towards new gear. I signed up for that program since I'll have cash for a new rig in a 6 months or so and just off AFF a a month ago, I'm slowly moving down canopy sizes from 240 to 170 now. Maybe in a few months I'll get down to something I'll stay at then buy gear. I was told that if I got a canopy now, I should get a large noobie one that I'll have to sell when I upgrade soon anyway, so I figured this was a more appealing option. Then again, you're committed to buying a new rig if you go the demo route... It probably depends on how fat your checkbook is. Buy, demo, rent, beg, steal, borrow... do what it takes to keep jumping!

Yeah, I'm usually only there during weekdays since I have a funky schedule that doesn't respect holidays or weekends. I will be out there this weekend (Sunday) though since I work the night shift that day from 6pm. Most people I meet out there during the week are pretty 'core and experienced and I rarely meet a low timer like me. Alot of AFFs though, and freeflyers jumping solo, but not too many looking to do RW jumps. If any of you are going out there this weekend, I'd love to jump with you all. Joe

Hey all, I did a forums search on "load organizers" but didn't come up with much. I'm new to skydiving and only have 45 jumps or so, and was wondering what the best way to get into RW was. I was told that asking the load organizers would be the best bet, but at Perris where I jump, they don't seem to have much of a presence. What is their job description exactly? I'm a little hesitant to ask all the experienced jumpers out there if I can get in on their groups since I don't have much experience and don't want to get in their way. I'd appreciate any suggestions you all could give. I just got my new flashy Tonysuit with grippers and booties and everything, but end up jumping solo mostly . That said, Eric (forgot his last name) is super cool and actually was nice enough to jump with me last time I was out there.

I was out at Perris today and talked to the intructors involved in Sparky's wild ride. Apparently it was 10 years ago and they were not cypres equipped but had another aad. There was a rsl but apparently did not deploy the reserve. What a tool. That said I did my first cutaway today, but after my main deployed... line over.

I did my AFF out at Perris and did note some things after watching that hilarious ass video. 1. They hang you in mock up harnesses and make you do cutaways ad nauseum before the jump. How the hell do you reach for the cutaway when they pound into your head that you're getting rid of your canopy? As a corollary, they teach the next step is to pull the silver one immediately as part of the whole process- looks like he waited quite some time to pull the reserve. 2. All student rigs have RSL's on them and they check them as part of the gear check before jumping. What happened there? 3. All student rigs have Cypres' on them. I'm suprised Lutz didn't take off the rig and disassemble the Cypres while he was at it. 4. It's damn hard to hit the powerlines out there in the north field. He must have been aiming for them on purpose. While he was at it, he should have aimed for some other hazards out there like the 215 freeway with the big trucks speeding by. On second thought, he probably couldn't have reached it so he settled for the powerlines instead after considering the swoop pond, hangar, and water canal as possible landing sites. People do all kinds of stupid things up there and you can attribute alot of it to nervousness and the like. In his case, yes he was incredibly stupid, and gets the Darwin award, but if it weren't for his dumb comments, we'd all just get a good laugh out of it. To lie and cover his stupidity by blaming it on the JMs and the sport in general is both cowardly and supremely stupid. Did he not realize that by making the comments he did, he'd turned a stupid and dangerous mistake that, in the end, would have been a good story to tell over a beer into an incident which will effectively ostracize him from the skydiving community? He sounds like he came back asking for more, so maybe he really did want to learn. Better change his name and move away if he does. And get a facelift too while he's at it. His dumbass mug is going to be infamous at DZ's the world over.