Rhonda66

yeah, what he said... Rhonda

Sadly it looks legit to me...but what a bogus article. They seemed completely obsessed with the fact that other jumpers continued to jump after the fatality - should we close highways for hours or days after a fatal car accident has been cleared too? I think that was one of the worst reports I've seen yet and they're usually all pretty bad - anyone have the real info. on this incident? Sounds as if it was not a US jumper.... My condolences to the family and friends. Rhonda

in reply to: The funniest thing was one of our newer jumpers heard us talking about it and said 'Oh, that's what that meant when I saw that' LMAO! Rhonda

The JM said no way, don't do that no matter what. He said you don't have enough awareness as a student to pull that early and you could endanger others who are above you. I did pull at about 6K and he didn't pull until his regular altitude anyway, which is what I would expect. As long as you're open, I don't think the JM is going to care what altitude you pull at as far as his/her pulling altitude goes. Rhonda

Hey Ed - We don't want to scare you here - the chances of a mal during AFF are quite small - I didn't have one in my 11!!(well, 12 including the Level 7 repeat due to the JM mal) AFF jumps. Actually I haven't had one yet in over 200 jumps - It's good for you to know that it CAN happen so that you'll pay attention during your training and be prepared instead of thinking "that won't happen to me".... Best of luck with AFF - you'll have the time of your life! Rhonda

Well, at least someone got to jump then....hehe. We watched The Weather Channel until about 9am and decided it was a no go for us. Yes, we're hoping for better weather next weekend - at this rate I may take a day off this week to go jump! G'night and happy dreams of jumping to come! Rhonda

Hi - The JM told me afterwards that I did the right thing - he said if I had tried to pull his reserve handle he would have knocked me out :) and I doubt I would have been able to pull that off anyway on a Level 7. He did say that if you can you should hand motion or point to the person as much as you can. I did try to do that, but as I put my arm out I felt like I was teetering into a barrel roll so I gave up. If I had barrelrolled and the JM had to rescue me, then we probably would have ended up with a much bigger problem than what was already at hand. I know I could get the other person to notice it now if that happened one way or another, but I don't think there's much that a student can be expected to do if something happens to their JM. As far as I know, there is no specific signal, but maybe someone should come up with a signal for such circumstances - I guess you don't think about that kind of stuff until it happens.... Rhonda

By the way, I am so jealous - the weather stunk in the Northeast today so no jumping for us this weekend again... Rhonda

Hiya - Unless your parent's are DZO's or jumpers themselves, I think that every skydiver goes through this with their family. My sister and I told my parents we were going to make a jump and my parents knew so little about the sport that they weren't surprised that we wanted to do something like that and there were no objections. So we made our first tandems along with my boyfriend and I absolutely hated it - then I started to pick up on everything related to skydiving because my boyfriend loved the tandem so much that he started AFF - so I caught all the RealTV clips, the fatalities in the newspaper, etc. - pretty much all of the bad (and usually wrongfully depicted) aspects of the sport. So he dragged me to the DZ while he was doing AFF and I kept watching him and the other jumpers from the ground and it got me thinking that there must be something about this sport if he and all of the other people at the DZ want to jump so often and seem to enjoy it so much as well. So......I made another tandem jump and got hooked and I haven't looked back since... but my parents started picking up on all the crap on TV like I did and now they worry. They refuse to go to the DZ - my mom thinks I'll get "nervous and mess up" if I know they're there - yeah right, ma. They don't have to watch me jump if they don't want to , but we bring them back videos and I think that has made them feel somewhat better. They see them after I have jumped and they know I'm still alive so they can enjoy them. They know that we love the sport so they support us even though I couldn't convince them to try it in a million years. But we have convinced my other sister, my cousin, some friends and my fiance's sister to give it a try and they're all glad they did. I think that your parents will get used to the idea. Either bring them to the DZ or show them videos. They will always worry, but they will accept it if you really want to do it. Rhonda

After reading Michele's stories from the past few days, I'm just wondering if anyone else experienced a malfunction on an AFF jump and what their reaction was. Share your stories with us! Personally, I didn't, but my instructor mal'd on my Level 7. He had a big ball of crap trailing out of his reserve while we were in freefall and he didn't even know so I freaked and just backslid away while he followed me and kept motioning for me to go ahead with my maneuvers. I wanted to do something to warn him, but I didn't know what to do so I just kept backsliding, pulled high and prayed for the best. When I looked down, he had two chutes out and was in a spinning downplane. He managed to cutaway his main though, which cleared the reserve, and had a nice landing under the reserve, which had somehow managed to fully inflate - it was scary as hell and I thought about quitting because it was the first time I realized that something bad really could happen - it sucks when that reality sets in, but if you love the sport you keep doing it anyway and you learn from those sorts of experiences. By the way, the packer's seal was later found on the plane...so remember to check your gear before you leave the aircraft - even if you're the instructor.... Oh, and I got to do Level 7 again for free (hehe - I got a free skydive out of it)... So anyone else have a scary experience during AFF??? Rhonda

Girl, you have bigger balls than any guy I know! That is just awesome. You are totally hooked now... Rhonda Baker

Hey Ty - 6 is my favorite number too! Jumptown does rock - too bad the weather never does :( We skipped out on it today because it seemed too iffy so my friend will have to reschedule her tandem for next week. I saw about the Otter on the website - we're going to be at my parent's house down the Cape from the Fourth straight through the weekend so I guess we're going to miss that too :( oh well... An then we're getting married on August 4th, but we're taking our Honeymoon later in the month to go to a flight school to learn how to fly R/C planes and of course the only week that they had slots available is the week of the Pepperell CASA boogie - at this rate I'll be lucky if I get to make 50 jumps all year (including the trip to Eloy)... I think my new Vector is going to go out of date again before I've even gotten to jump it :( Did you go today anyway? I'm sure there were some experienced jumpers jumping despite the iffy weather - we just didn't want to make the drive and then sit around hoping that maybe the sky would break so that she could make her tandem - I know how boring that can be! Well, hopefully next weekend...... Rhonda

How come I just have a () under my name? Do you need so many posts just to get to (Newbie)??? I thought that was referring to skydiving experience - hehe..... Rhonda

Hi - Sorry to hear about your femur, but hopefully you'lll be able to jump again soon. Did you break it jumping I take it? Let's see - I did my AFF at Pepperell and I jump regularly at Jumptown now in MA. We go to Skydive Arizona for a week every winter and I got to make a jump at Skydive Miami - we'd like to get to Lost Prairie or the WFFC when we get a chance as well. I jump a Dolphin D2 (dark green dolphin) with a Falcon 175 presently in it, but I have a new Sabre 150 sitting in the closet waiting to be jumped when I'm ready for it. I also have that used Vector with a Sabre 170 in it that I'll probably get to jump for the first time tomorrow if the weather is on our side up here. I have 200 jumps. My fiance has a Dolphin as well (mini with a blue dolphin :) with a Sabre 120 in it and a Vector that he just got with a Sabre 97 in it and he's got 400 jumps. He does random freeflying around me when he feels like it and it's kind of neat. We'll bellyfly to 6K or so together and then he'll stand up and vanish - it's funny, I read about these people with 30 or 40 jumps doing four ways and bigger, but the largest I've ever done is a 3-way because usually we just jump together - I trust him and I love jumping with him - you must know what I mean having a husband who is also a jumper as well. So do we have anything else in common besides our names? hehe - oh, I'm 27.... I'll probably give sitflying a try tomorrow with the Vector since it doesn't sound like a great idea to use the Dolphin - the Vector does have freefly mods. so it's probably a lot safer to use, even considering its age... Blue skies - can't wait to jump tomorrow! Rhonda BAKER hehe

If you think DSl is good, try cable.... Rhonda

I think you need a D license at that one, but if you jumped there before then you probably know better than we do. Rhonda

Heya - Oh, that is too weird - I put the B. to try to differentiate myself from you - guess that won't work - lol. It's Baker...soon to be Michaud though. You don't hear our name all that much and another skydiving Rhonda B., well that's too weird... Do you jump a Dolphin? Rhonda BAKER

I hope that you get back in the air soon - we have do make a jump together as soon as you're feeling up to it again...I know you'll be fine once you are back up because you love this sport so much - I think you'll be more miserable if you don't jump. A friend of mine is going to make her first tandem on Sunday and it looks like the weather is going to be on our side for once so we'll be there. hehe - I should have just sent you an email, but I like this board so much :) Rhonda

Yeah, they have the velcro - is that the only reason that they weren't recommended before or are they still not recommended? I read about the early deployment in Rhonda's post and that's what I'm afraid of, but seeing my fiance freefly his all the time makes me think that maybe they are okay for it now though I don't want to do it if it's a ticking time bomb and he's just been lucky.... Thanks, Rhonda B.

You know, I haven't jumped my Vector once yet, but my rigger looked at it and got it ready to jump for me - He said it has freefly modifications, but now you have me wondering if it's a Vector 3 - Mine is quite old (I think it was manufactured in 1993), but it was barely jumped though I don't want to be messing around with bad reserve pilot chute launches either..... Thanks, Rhonda

Mine is just a basic Dolphin rig - no freefly mods and the same as the one that my fiance jumps... Blues, Rhonda

Hi all - I jump a Dolphin container and I've heard many recommendations that they shouldn't be used for freeflying. My fiance has been freeflying with his Dolphin for over 300 jumps, but I'm just too paranoid by the recommendations to try it myself. Anyone else have any experience with freeflying with a Dolphin container? I have a used Vector, but I just got it and I really feel more comfortable using my trusty Dolphin if I can. I just don't know if my fiance is taking a risky chance or if it really is okay to freefly it. Should I just use the Dolphin for belly stuff and start using the Vector instead for freeflying? Thanks, Rhonda

No matter what happenened, that is so awesome. You didn't freak out and spiral in or cutaway and not pull your reserve. It sounds like you may have had your toggle unstow prematurely and when you released and pulled down on the left one it may have put you into a spin, but that's just a guess - could have been anything....when you find out, let us know. I have 200 jumps and no cutaways and I still wonder how I will react when that day arrives. You know that you can handle it now. The chances of it happeneing again are very slim... You seem shaken up, but you should be so proud of yourself - Congrats. on surviving your first cutaway - you definitely owe some beer :) Rhonda

Ok, I have to ask - Your name is Rhonda too - and do you jump a Dolphin container too or does that refer to something else??? Rhonda

Hey Donna! You just get your ass back to Jumptown and jump! You know you will be so happy when you do. You know I don't get to jump that often except when we go to Eloy so every time we do get to jump here I do get butterflies. I have 200 jumps now and the week before last I was barely current when I jumped and I ended up on my back flailing on exit - it was pretty funny....and then I landed out next to the taxiway so don't worry, you're sure to do better than that and, if you don't, don't worry because it's all good :) You ARE meant to be a skydiver... Hope to see you there soon - we'll be jumping on Sunday :) Rhonda