sitflyr

Not everyone who makes a jump comes away with an understanding of why skydivers love to skydive. Sometimes, people land from their first skydive so terrified that it only reinforces their original misgivings. My own feeling is that no one should skydive just to understand why someone else loves it. Nor do I advocate making a skydive in order to please one's significant other, though I've seen people do this on many occasions. People should only make a skydive if it's something that THEY want to do, IMO. To the original poster: It's impossible to explain why anyone has a passion for skydiving to someone who does not. The best advice that I can give to you is to accept that it is a part of him and be supportive of his pursuit of it. It's not necessary for you to understand why he wants to do it, as long as you are supportive. If skydiving is his passion, your continued discouragement of it will likely cost you the relationship Julie (Married to a supportive whuffo).

I was under a big old slow canopy once, when I noticed a large bird flying with me. It began to fly in circles around me! I was charmed and excited, until I realized that it was a buzzard.

It's not always as simple as giving up one's rig for a few days for $40. When my rigger moved across the country, I shipped my rig to him every repack cycle because he is the rigger that I want to perform my repacks and inspections. In order to have my rig back in my hands in less than two weeks, I paid extra for 2nd day shipping both ways. Of course, I also insured my rig with the shipper, so the entire cost of a single repack was very expensive. I finally had to stop sending him my rig, because it was too costly to do this every 3 months. Also, I worried about having my rig shipped so frequently. I really don't think that safety would be compromised by extending the repack cycle to 180 days.

"There's a bunch of them over in wreckdot,", huh? How many do you consider "a bunch"? I'm a regular there, and I've only noticed a few (very few) people there who are anti-SDC. Julie

I would be uncomfortable with a one-year cycle; but I'd like to see the US go to a 180-day cycle. I think that 180 days is a reasonable amount of time to go between inspections, under normal jumping conditions.

Chuck, Thanks for the welcome. I checked out your website-----swoopy type, huh? Bet we have friends in common. Did you compete in the Paraperformance Games at Waller last year? I was one of the judges. Julie

That, or have them come to this talkback forum and see if they can keep their chatter within the confines of a moderated forum. Anything to clean-up what ought to be a fantastic reference to all skydivers, but cannot be in it's current state. I like you Donna, as I am sure most of the people here do, but we do not condone untoward behaviour to the degree that it exists on the wreck. I can truthfully say that I have never felt the desire to literally kick anyone's ass for what they have written here; I cannot say the same for my experiences there. Do I still logon and read the NG every day? Of course, but I am disappointed with what I see and it's a very rare occasion that I ever post anymore. Chuck Blue (NOT the CGLIB-whatever NG idiot) D-12501 "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" ALF #6 reporting for duty as requested. (You sure you really want wreck people frequenting this forum, Chuck?) Regarding Donna: She would never do anything to hurt another person, nor would she send them a virus------period. Regarding AirAnn: I don't recall her taking much of a hit on the wreck, just that someone (Bruce, maybe?) questioned something about her website. It didn't look like such a big deal to me. Regarding the ALFs: There are fourteen of us, some of whom aren't even active. We are: Espen, John, Povl, Peanut, Donna, Alan, Ann, Don, Snuffy, Wendy (I think), three whom I can't remember, and me. Which of these constitute the minority of ALFs who are "decent people" besides Alan, whom you've already named? Which of us scared AirAnn so badly? Regarding disclaimers: I've only seen one. Who else has one besides Don? Regarding rec.skydiving: It's an unmoderated newsgroup. There's nobody there to protect you from being offended or having your feelings hurt. I've been offended and had my feelings hurt there before, too; but I'm a big girl and can take care of myself without much whining. I'm glad that I looked beyond the fun that was poked at me when I was a ng newbie, because I've learned much from those whom you probably think are assholes. When I lost a close friend in a BASE accident, it was Snuffy who helped me get through it with kindness and the wisdom of one who has lost much in his life. Another close friend of mine was seriously injured in Sept., and it's been Don Jardine a.k.a. "Treetop, Lord of the Skies" who emails me to check on his progress----he's never even met him. There's more going on in that newsgroup than the casual lurker knows, but you only find it if you look beyond what's on the surface. And wear a thick skin. Julie ALF #6