mrken

I consider to be one when I pitch on the hill (always stable tho); lol or I guess when the lift ticket is cheaper and says "hop 'n pop 4k" on it.

AFAIK (there last weekend) it is still: Nothing over 180 in the E-W landing area (main) Nothing over 90 in the N-S landing area (alternate)

Another jumper made a claim that constantly looking through a blue filter sends signals to the brain to inhibit the release of serotonin and dopamine; thereby hastening the aging process. This smelled of sh** so I asked him to cite supporting evidence. He replied that an article claiming this was published in Men's Health magazine. After digging through their archives and multiple failed attempts at googling for this information; I am left to assume his claim is false. I was just wondering if anyone has heard anything about this?

Followed it today and made it back to the LZ with enough time to follow a predictable landing pattern no problem, thanks! jump 100 yay!

So I am curently 200 lbs and falling pretty fast as it is. I'd like to order my own jumpsuit but it seems what i've been reading here that a baggy suit will make the learning process more difficult? Should I go for a tight cut ? Will this cause that significant of a speed increase? I suppose I could play it safe and just select "Medium" for bagginess?

Yeah I was mulling over in my head now and working a little calculus and I can see how it could create Dicey/Darwin situation for me; won't be doing that, it is high traffic here too. Thanks guys.

Well no offense but thats why I asked and said I was going to ask a coach/instructor in real life before attempting either route regardless. In my head the first idea I was thinking that since im last out and had horizontal seperation already I thought that staying within sort of the same area would work; thanks for pointing out it wouldn't. The pattern way you corrected me with seemed to have more risk to me because I started thinking about people drifting or tracking off during formations; I guess id just need to be sure of my distance through my references before turning 90. Like I said I haven't done either method and have just been staying perpendicular; being new I just thought of it as staying in my pocket of space vs getting closer to others. Thanks Yeah not trying a wingsuit for long time; going to get a coach though when I do.

Newb question: On all of my tracking dives I have been flying perpendicular to the line of flight the entire time; consequently leading to opening balls-far away from the LZ. I am mainly focusing on body position and practicing wingsuit style wave-off/deployments; wanted to toss out a couple ideas and get feedback as to their level of idiocy: Would it be okay to track perpendicular for like a 10-15 count, then do a 180 and track for another 10-15, rinse and repeat til deploy time? Or would it be okay to fly out perpendicular for awhile, achieving some horizontal sep. and then track parallel, but a distance away from the line of flight? I realize this option increases risk. I appreciate any feedback and will for sure ask a coach in rl when I get a chance too.

Just remember the PLF works while you're walking around after all the drinking Grats

I just got my A license there when the Christmas boogie started. I pretty much went tracking on every jump so I could go out last and sit in brakes to land in the student area since I was a bit intimidated by being around so many pros and didn’t want to screw things up for someone else. This is a bit of a multi-faceted rejoinder as your post triggered a slew of memories and emotions; forgive me if my post appears disjointed. I guess this all depends on the type of path you have traveled, and your priorities. I myself have full blown PTSD and mild claustrophobia. A nut-ball came into Denny’s (Tucson, Oracle & Orange Grove) while I was studying with my math tutor and waved a rifle around. We were all being ordered to go into the kitchen and lay on the floor when the bathroom door opened and a pregnant woman stepped out. The gunman spun around because of the noise and opened fire, killing her. Two years later; I was heavily sauced and trying to sober up at another Denny’s (Speedway & Dodge) with three friends when one pulled out a revolver to show us (there was a back smoking room we’re they would blast the AC and not serve you for an hour, wanting you to just leave) the new grips he got for his Model 10. I feigned interest, held it then laid it back down on the table. My other friend (leaving names out) then just picked it up, held it to his head and smiled at us. He pulled the trigger. I decided that Denny’s would forever lose my business :/ I tried counseling too and medication. I can say that if you still want to try medication, know that you need to take it faithfully for weeks before it can really work. Unfortunately this adjustment period and side effects often discourage people from faithfully taking SSRI & SSNRIs. They aren’t the final answer. If you think of your emotions as a curved graph (like a cosine function, [yeah I’m a nerd]), you’ll still have your ups and downs, the meds will just decrease the amplitude. Try different psychotherapists; they’re not created equal and you can maybe even find one good enough so that you can work out a stable paradigm that doesn’t require medication (my boat). Jumping saved my life in different ways. You certainly cannot control all of the variables in a situation, but through my mistakes I think I am starting to learn that you can gradually minimize them by improving your planning before you even board the Otter. I am a new jumper, and I’ve been able to draw the conclusion that every “oh shit!” situation I have been in so far has been a mix of poor (or lack of) planning combined with being a newbie. I’ve started writing little flow charts in my diary to retrace how Bad Decision A lead to Bad Decision B; in hopes that I will learn to avoid that route again. Sometimes watching the fun and cool videos of the very talented jumpers inspires me to turn off the computer and drive up to Eloy. It was actually a google video I stumbled upon of an amazing female freeflyer (leaving her nameless as I blush now ) that motivated me to sign up for ASP(AFF) course there. I can say that jumping to me is safer than riding a motorcycle in Tucson; I learned that there is a hell of a lot less control when a pickup truck full of rednecks decides to deliberately swerve into at 30 mph because you ignored their drunken requests for a wheelie at the previous red light. When the light goes green and I see a formation go out in front of me I sometimes think “Is this normal? Are we a little retarded for doing this?” Sometimes I laugh it off, sometimes the nerves work against me a bit (maybe because I am still so new) and I just remember that by being here I am able to escape all of the drama at work and college; and that makes me smile. I’m then at least able to take a deep breath and say “Alright, lets not get a Darwin Award” and go out. Then I am falling out in that very open beautiful blue and all of my tension slips away. It’s even written into my psych report that it is an acceptable form tension mitigation and stress relief. I know I certainly feel relieved when I pull up to Eloy, if only for the fact that the drive on the highway there felt statistically riskier.

Thanks

Also, is the coverage pro-rated? Meaning if you lose the rig and make a claim, will they use some depreciation formula to cut you just a couple grand?

My main concern is just that I am going to be staying at the University of Leipzig for a month also. In my old dorm hall a girl was finally busted with a duffel bag full of ipods (my shuffle included) laptops and wallets/purses. I've just been paranoid since then and my last roomie was a mouth-breather that couldn't grasp the concept of locking the door when he left. I'll look into it further and also check Nationwide, thanks for the replies.

I've found numerous threads on rig insurance; but they pertain to jumpers in the UK and have linked companies over there. I called my State Farm agent to expand my Personal Equipment coverage to fit my rig (which covers my laptop anywhere I go) and they said they no longer cover rigs because "parachutes are high risk" State Farm then referred me to ETNA & Traveler's, whom both said no. Help? Please? I've already lost one sanity point :P

I had it on with the lens up (edited first post since the first helm was an A3, not a FD) for most of the flight and then flipped it down on green light/my walk to the door (I was tracking so 2nd last out).

LoL I guess it is possible that I could have been breathing heavily and it was causing them to fog. I could try using the anti-fog spray that I use on my paintball mask.

I recently demoed a OxyA3 and a Mamba; during FF both helmets were soaked with moisture and I could barely see. I assume this is due to saliva escaping my mouth and hitting the inside of the shield? I mean the air now only coming through that center mouth piece feels like a jet you'd get nailed with at the Dentist's! Does wearing a close face require breathing through the nose? I have annoying allergies so I am always stuffy :( I never noticed this before with my open face in FF as I am happily giggling and gulping air!

The newer boneheads use a black plastic buckle, not the metal seat-belt style usually pictured (I was told at my local pro shop this may have been due to the old buckle coming undone during FF). The fit the helmet is feels perfect (haven't bothered to cook it yet), and nice and snug when I have my SOLO and OPTIMA loaded into both audible slots. The only minor complaint I could have about this helmet is that the sexy matte coating shows scratches and nicks quite easily compared to the Mindwarp that I put through a couple face plants during AFF :)

Okay so I was able to at least get a signal and record the canopy portion of my jump this time (progess!) But still didn't get the freefall portion :( Also Im thinking about fashioning a leather/nylon wrist strap and mounting the unit to my wrist instead; though it will be a bit bulky. I hope this will work better.

Hello, I am a newer jumper (recently got B license) that wanted to focus on improving my tracking skills and wanted to see if my distance covered is improving. I have an old Garmin Etrex Summit from my hiking days that I wanted to use for tracking derby (as I am too poor right now to buy a foretrex, blew all my $$$ on AFF/Coaching). So I searched here on the forums for "etrex summit" and quickly learned that firmware updates were available for my unit. I went and installed those updates with no problem. I think modified the belt clip case that I purchased with the unit by removing the belt clip and stitching on a thick cordura band in its place so that I could easily attach the unit to my chest strap. Unfortunately there are some issues I am still fuzzy on and also was not able to obtain a signal in the plane or during the course of the jump [Looked down at the unit under canopy to see "Please Wait....Tracking Satellites :( ]. Since I am tracking I was seated to go out last, within view of the cockpit and also next to a small window. So first....when exactly should I turn the unit on? Before I got on the plane or when I am close to altitude? Secondly, the Etrex Summit has a similar but not identical feature set of the ForeTrex; mainly I cannot identify how to actually record a track from a specific/time or point. It seems to just always be recording, whereas on the ForeTrex it seems that you can actually set it to a RECORD mode. So I am concerned with it recording unecessary parts, like the plane's climb to altitude. Can this unit be used successfully for tracking? Otherwise i'm thinking about ebaying it at a loss to just cover the cost of a ForeTrex 101 (I no longer hike/geocache anyway). However if anyone here can offer any help/advice to getting the most out of my Summit; it would save me a headache and possible loss of $$$. Thanks, Ken