skyhighkiy

chiropractor...all this stuff.... how do you know there's something wrong w/ your bones? chances are more likely than not that you've sprained a muscle in your neck. get an x-ray to make sure nothing is wrong w/ the bones...because, as these people have testified, it'll lead to nasty things, and these kind of injuries are often slow developing. If you're not going to get x-rays, monitor for these things: increasingly less movement in the neck change in level of consciousness severe pain or pressure tingling or less of sensation partial or complete loss of movement of any body part unusual bumps or depressions seizures impaired breathing or vision nausea or vomiting persistent hehadache loss of balance if you see any of these, go get checked out IMMEDIATELY. if you're not gonna see a doctor, at least GEt lots of sleep and try to keep your head supported as you sleep on your side (big pillow/neck pillow) thihs will give your body lots of time to work on a muscle that's in its natural state (uncontracted and not stretched). Remember that a sprain is a condition where a ligament is stretched to the point where some of the collagen fibers are torn. if nothing's wrong w/ the bones, just ggive it down time and let your body heal em up. BE THE BUDDHA!

don't jump. jumping can wait, this may be a once in a lifetime (or once in a year) opportunity. of course...if it were me....priorities, man if the magnitude of a force is great enough to break bones in your legs while wearing ankle support, it would have broken them anyway. Think about how much shock your ankles could possibly "absorb" not much. Yes, boots with ankle support are a great idea, it will stop bones from sliding out of place and stop ligaments from extending farther than they should. not only are you preventing breaking bones, which is the least of your worries, you're preventing hyperextension or flexion of anything, dislocating, ripping, tearing ligaments/tendons, twisting ankles. etc. On another note. I've seen a student hit the ground w/ almost no flare under a 280 and saw another student flare all the way at about 30 feet. both PLF'd, and both came out with nothing more than a scrape from the grass. Edit to add: Something to consider (regarding the skiers having tib/fib breaks) is how YOU will be comming in under a 280, compared to how much horizontal speed a skier has. Hopefully you're not risering it in yet? BE THE BUDDHA!

I sense a deleted post by moderators in your near future BE THE BUDDHA!

Ok, I’ve seen some confusion in Bob’s posts so I’m throwing up an edit of his post with punctuation and a little bit of organization of thoughts. Here. Edit of Bobsharc’s post for those that are having a hard time understanding. To start, here’s some info. 200 jumps, jumping a turbo-z 165, wingloading just a little over 1 to 1. Interests are swooping. Ok, I was gonna buy a 150 instead of a 165 but made the decision (to go with the 165) based on the influence of others. I’m happy about my decision. I spent awhile doing straight-in double fronts and progressed (depending on the set-up, other canopies in the air, and other factors) to doing somewhere between 90’s and 270’s. I haven’t been doing bad but have had a couple scares/close calls that got the heart thumping cause I’m getting used to the performance of this canopy. I’ve had plenty of landings where I’ve come in too fast (for me) and had to stab a flare, putting me ten foot off the ground again (these usually hurt). That said, however, I did have a gentle ‘bounce’, I deserved it for jumping in flukey winds. I really wanna be like the big boys and swoop (correctly) so I pull a touch high and do lots of hop’n’pops, spending the jump wringing out the canopy. I recovered from mild induced line twists a couple jumps ago, so I’m getting to know the limits after about 70 jumps on this canopy. Anyway, I do my front riser and watch the ground, tress, people, whatever. When I realize “oh crap” that’s when I flare-more often than not, I have to stab out to prevent from hitting the ground, but sometimes I call it just before and plane out high. I know that is not the right way to swoop or learn how, but we were all at this stage (or will be) once. I haven’t had any coaching but am getting a lot of advice from people. I know enough to separate bad from good, however, and there are people I’d listen to more so I’m getting somewhat good ground coaching. I witnessed a swoop gone really wrong awhile back. He was kind of one of my mentors and it was as I was starting 90s so it shook me up a little. (he was loading a fx or maybe vx 104 at 2.6 to 1...nasty) I know that no matter how good you are, it’s just a matter of time before.!!!....more or less. One of the main guys I listen to has about 8000 jumps but isnt’ really current anymore. He loads his Jonathon 120 at 1.2 to 1 and, even being uncurrent, can make that thing talk just as good as any others jumpinx xaos, etc. at 2 to 1. From what I see, I’m not in a hurry to downsize. I know it takes time and practice and that small doesn’t mean better, fast, if you don’t have the experience. I’m glad I don’t have a 150. My 165 has so much to offer…at least another 200/300 jumps before I downsize. I have alsso worked two seasons as a packer so I think it helps to be around all the time instead of just being another weekend jumper. Sometimes I can picture myself hitting the ground the way the guy I saw did. Thaht doesn’t bother me so much because I know, sooner or later, my luck will run out. Either way, I’m gonna go ahead and keep doing what I’m doing. I know the risks and am willing to accept them because it sure does look cool. Especially to the whuffo first time jumpers that are watching. BUT, I think I know my limits (for the moment) and I’m still gonna always be learning the canopy’s limits. When I am coming in, I think I’m so safe cause I can see the ground and I know to flare before I hit (sarcasm). I just thought I’d throw that out there and see what others say about me, or just the thought in general. I welcome all opinions whether I disagree or not. This is my first post after reading for awhile so I know I owe the beer but y’all have to come to Ireland to collect! And the 2nd post I got my fire retardant blankie out so bring on the flaming. In my opinion, I reckon I’m safer on this 165 at 1.1.1 than being 20 pounds lighter and being on a 150 at 1.1.1. I don’t mean safe…just safer. I also have a kind of bet going on with skyhighkiy. It being that one of us is going to go in before the other. Not that I want either of us to bounce, but I know it’s gonna happen, it’s just about time. Being that I’m gonna do it anyway, who has advice for me to learn how to swoop with minimal risk? I keep being told (I assume, correctly) that if I have to stab out to avoid hitting the ground, I’m doing something dangerously wrong. I also don’t attempt this in unfavorable winds. IN fact, I hardly ever jump if there is wind. I prefer none at all. I think (waiting on corrections) that the faster you want to come in, the less wind. This makes for more ideal landings. Bob(the soon to be injured) Hey bob, if I said something that’s different than what you were trying to say, lemme know! BE THE BUDDHA!

unfortunately, there will always be those people that think they're ready before they are to progress. Chances are, they're the 100 jump wonders I thought I was 50 or so jumps ago. But if you really ARE trying to make sure that your jump is as safe as it can be, rather than saying "I'm ready, I'm ready, I'mr eady, I'm ready" and searching for the answer you want. there are steps you can take to ensuring a "safe" (if there is such a place in skydiving) jump. When asking my instructor about making any of the jumps we've done safe, his words were "Adding too many new elements to a jump will ensure your injury or death." his advice was to break down the jump you're about to do in to its basic elements, become adequate in each of these individually and then start combining until, eventually, you can combine all the elements in to the planned jump (i.e. Mr. Bill) example: Rodeo- 1. flying in the air with someone, 2. flying in close quarters with another person. 3. leaving the plane w/ another person and getting seperation 4. leaving the plane linked w/ another person and getting seperation 5. tracking 6. tracking away from other. 7. tracking away from others at a designated altitutde. 8. pulling clear of everyone else. there are more elements, obviously, but that's kind of a general idea of how much goes in to something like that. Someone else pick up where I left off and complete my thought. BE THE BUDDHA!

it was time 9 jumps ago just the motivation you need to start saving 5 bucks a jump andn throwing it in to jumping!!!! BE THE BUDDHA!

Here's a secret. Go to a couple boogies w/ some friends and wait around until right towards the end of the boogie when ppl still wannt to jump,but don't have the money. It's kind of like.hey...all of a sudden people NEED to jump, they don't have anything from home to sell...whao, looky here, someone selling a neptune for 150 bucks? ooh man, look, this guy has an extra helmet he's selling and wants the money tojump, look how cheap he's selling! BE THE BUDDHA!

YOu know, Irishman, I was around you so much over this last summer that I never really hear your accent or sentence structure any more. Although I did pick it up a touch, and Ryanne's pretty happy about that. Oh well, Us Americans slaughtered the language and took all the beauty out of it anyway, more power to yah Planning a trip to Ireland before next summer?! at least, I'm thinkin about it. hopefully see yah. BE THE BUDDHA!

have you heard of anyone using this techniquue that has a PVC handle? I'm just thinking that with as small as the handle is, and as close as it's sewn to the pc, that it might present some sort of a problemw tih grabbing the bridle while it's routed like that? *asking for my safety* BE THE BUDDHA!

I disagree whole-heartedly. Maybe it's true for you and some other skydivers, but I've definately not done any of the special maneuvers that we've done up high, to 'look cool'. I think it adds an element, same as ff does intead of regular belly flying, same as spinning points does to a regular 3-way falling down the tube and holding on the whole way. It's just another one of those fun things you hear about before you start and want to try later on. like the rodeos or highbrids we've done. Yes, skydiving is inherently dangerous, every element you add to skydiving makes it more dangerous, and you definately can not predict what the outcome will be every time. However, if you proceed with different maneuvers (i.e. rodeos, highbrids, ff, progressively bigger RW, Mr.Bills) as your skills develop, you can drastically reduce the risk. Yet I'm sure you don't regret doing your mr. bills, obviously you liked them enough to do four! besides, I'm willing to bet that the mess up was within the last year or so, and am almost positive that later on down the road, when the shock wears off, you'll do it again. treeman, Mr. Bills are more dangerous than just jumping out of a plane alone. Doing one doesn't necessarily make you careless....unless you do one before your skill level says you're "ready". As you progress in skydiving, you will, inevitably have a couple of "oh shit" experiences, to which you will hopefully come out with nothing more than a little extra adrenaline. EVERYONE in skydivinghas had or will have a couple. Then you will decide there's no way in hell you're doing that again, or that you need to slow the hell up and progress when you're ready. as far as actual "mr. Bill" goes, it comes from the skit "Mr. Bill" if you haven't seen it, which I'm surprised many people haven't, do a search on the internet and it'll come up w/ a little claymation thing with a guy called Mr.Bill and the other character is "sluggo" who repeatedly demolishes and mutilates Mr. Bill. the person hanging on is Mr. Bill and teh person that deploys first is sluggo. MR. Bill is called so because of the "ripping your arms off" factor

what about being w/out an instructor on your back? Huge difference. way more fun. it will be much, much different without a drogue and instructor like...turning and stuff will actually be quick, goodtimes, good times, buy beer! BE THE BUDDHA!

we have all been there at one point or another, and as you get used to it, it will become almost 2nd nature to you. BE THE BUDDHA!

all I gotta say is that I had 3 friends within one week dump their significant other because they had a problem with them skydiving. I had a pretty rocky spell w/ mine for a bit and the solution was to get her involved. then she got all crazy about the sport and bought me some skydiving stuff, man, there's a hookup for you. Priorities...if they won't accept it, it's time to go. Mine calmed down after about 50 jumps edit: on second thought just dump her man, more money and time for skydiving!!!! BE THE BUDDHA!

just throwing out what got my feet off my butt. they can telll you to arch, arch arch, blah blah blah. and you can arch while you're standing up but it doesn't feel anywhere near like what it does in the air. get on an arch board. I dunno if they had you do it yet, but get on the arch board and the instructor should be pulling on your toes to keep you arched. that's when it all clicked for me. then arch on that board ove rand over and over and over and over and over and....you get the point. if the anxiety is too great and you start bobbling all over, it's ok to stop your maneuver and just get your body position good again. then resume when you're stable. this will be WAY more helpful in you advancingn than to keep trying to do the maneuver and bobbling it when you're not stable. BE THE BUDDHA!

you can only go down, true, but when jumping with another falling object/person, you can also fall slower than the other person by body position and catch up(slow down?) to your target w/out them doing anything at all. Although I kinda understand where the advice is going, it may not be wise to put half-truths in to the mind of a student. JMO BE THE BUDDHA!

it's cool dude,I did a nekkid jump today, I still have all my apendages, :) anywho, to the pie thing, my DZ uses silly string, rather than pies, keep fro a long time, doesn't spoil, but is still really, really messy, especialy when they pull your pants open on top and spray it down!!!! BE THE BUDDHA!

well, friends, I've officially jumped nekkid, and it was an experience I'll never forget, nor will any of the other fully-clothed people on the load. Chased out a 3-way and went flying past them in Head down, smiling all the way. The shocked and surprised look I got from one of the people as a naked guy flew past him was one to be cherished. Friends, the day is good. BE THE BUDDHA!

I asked the same to a friend of mine that test jumped for years. He said the problem with pocket sliders is that, at times, or if you have the wrong size, something, I don't remember exactly, the pocket will cause the slider to stay up way too long or you'll have to do a lot of 'pumping' of the brakes to get it down. BE THE BUDDHA!

You've probably already thought of this but I just thought, since it sounds kinda like you mean pull the nose quarter way forward, that I'd throw something out for us Newbie types that may have thought something different than you meant. the friend of mine that was a test jumper warned me heavily about a part of this. He stated that the idea of doing this was to get the nose to inflate slower by doing that however, he also said that a risk of doing that is that you could pull the nose quarter too far and make the quartering uneven, sometimes pulling too much of the tail quarter towards the middle and causing the air to rush past the slider, slamming it open. He said it should work some of the time, but if you happen to pull too much...be ready for it to get you. Personally, I do like to pull it forward, but just enough until I feel a little bit of tension BE THE BUDDHA!

a lot of diversity of opinion regarding rolling the nose, specifically on ZP friend of mine that worked for the sunshine factory, worked as a test jumper, rigger, etc. etc. etc. etc. said they tried doing all kinds of different things with the slider and nose, rolling all 9, rolling 4 and 4 and leaving the middle out, rolling and pulling the slider a bit more towards the nose, all that, and it all came down to cup and quartering the slider. He swears against rolling the nose on ZP material stating that "If you're good enough to keep that nose rolled while packing a zp canopy, you're good enough to do a pack that won't slam you" I've heard (and experienced) that if you're going to roll on ZP, it's generally a better idea to roll all 9. The reasoning behind it is that since your roll has a good chance of comming out, one side can easily come out if you have it rolled 4 and 4 and it'll give you a jerky off-heading opening. rolling all 9 gives you less of that. now....personally, if I don't roll all 9 and then pull the nose side of the slider out a little bit, I get slammed all to hell, but I Have tired ZP L8er BE THE BUDDHA!

10 lb mass.... Weight= Mass times acceleration N= kg (m/s^2) or in American terms Lb=kg (m/s^2) so 10=kg (9.81 m/s^2) ? Dalailama, I don't think it's an obvious question at all. can anyone answer this though? If I have a 10 kg object, its weight is 10 kg times 9.81 m/s^2 lets say you put it on th emoon and the acceleration due to gravity is 5.3 m/s^2....what do you ppl say the "weight" is on the moon? I guess, if you measure weight in kg, then what is your formula for figuring out weight due to gravity? BE THE BUDDHA!

to clarify, did your instructors say you're going unstable just when you reach? or does any of it have to do w/ watching the alti? and when doing practice touches, are you actually grabbing the handle/ or just touching it? you may be moving your arm and hip in a different way when actual pull time comes, in order to grasp the handle. Makes sense to me. just some suggestions of things you might want to ask your instructors BE THE BUDDHA!

Is it getting hot in here?

well...for the most part, until you're an instructor and have taught both of these styles, you're most likely goiing to think that the way you learned is the best way out there...especially if you're still in the course or have JUST gotten out of it. I think both ways are awesome, Either one gets you in the sky and gets you to the point where you can progress and get better and earn your License. I enjoyed the diversity and progression of the 3 tandem, 3 static, and 4 IAF course. It was rather enjoyable and different than the usualy skydive, to do statics. Also, I didn't experience all this anxiety that people are talking about with their AFF courses. Nor did I have any of their "I'm scared to go again" because I was progressed at an excellent rate. I got the experience and joys of freefall under someone else's control, then got to consentrate solely on canopy, then do body position in free fall and canopy. It let me focus on one thing at a time, I think it let me enjoy my first freefall much, much more without having so many new elements at once. IMO: listen to why people enjoyed their progression, evaluate your personality and what would suit you, and go with that one... the destination is awesome, but it's the road to get there that is to be truly valued. good luck! BE THE BUDDHA!

I did I thought the progression was awesome. it was enough to expose me to just a little bit more at a time and I never had to worry about repeating anything. besides that, statics are only like (at my DZ) 60 bucks. BE THE BUDDHA!