Beachbum

need to make that a multiselect list ... LOL ... I'd have to pick at least these 3 ... fun? high energy/extreme sports love of the sport, and comaradarie As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

not gonna make that one ... but we can do that locally ... guitar ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

looks like footie pj's ... love it!!! ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

latex ... ??? .... or chocolate?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

yeah .. I had one once where I was on a 3 way with a friend and someone I didn't know ... broke, tracked, and threw out ... looked around and only saw my friend's canopy ... looked down and see a tangled mess falling to earth below me. I think that one bothered me more than ones where it was MY mal !! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Saw her out at the demo jump for the ACS walk-a-thon thing friday evening ... so I guess this was saturday evening? Best wishes to you for a quick recovery Carol ... you know you have the support of everyone out here. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I totally agree, but can see one scenario where it might be tolerable ... if said instructor/student pair are either boarding, or on the plane and something is being told to the student that could get him into real trouble ... in that case, I would think you might want to speak up (but at least phrase it gently ... like ... "maybe it would be better to ... etc." As for talking with lowtimers/students ... if asked, I may tell them my opinion ... but always prefacing it with the fact that I'm pretty lowtime too, and that they should do as ya'll suggest, and check with a JM or instructor As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Maybe not what I SHOULD do ... but I think this would be the sequence ... FIRST thing I'm gonna do is say "OH (*&#@$(&" a couple of times, while hoping like heck it's caused enough of a control difference that the pilot realizes I'm hanging there ... so he doesn't start diving for the ground before I get loose ... then I'll start worrying about getting myself loose safely (preferably in a manner which removes the canopy from the tail so it doesn't cause the pilot further problems) ... I think Derek had it right ... ??? RiggerRob ... why the risers, as opposed to the lines? I would think you'd want to cut the lines so they'd be less likely to hang on the tail as well?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Bill, Thanks SOOOO much for your posts! I only wish I'd had the chance to get some of that info 18 months ago. I was in the situation BillVon stated ... coming off student status ... looking to buy my first rig ... trying to understand the reasons for/against all the various options presented to me. I asked the JM's ... the riggers ... and anyone else with higher jump #'s about all kinds of stuff, but never got the type of info which you have provided in one clearly worded article. I'm sure going to pull the rig out tomorrow and make those measurements, etc. as you show in your pictures. Thanks again! (and also, thanks for all the entertainment ... love observing folks preparing for a tandem watching that video!!) As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

all of the student rigs at Waller are SOS ... that is one of the reasons the guy who got me started took me elsewhere to learn, even tho Waller is much closer to home! Now that I've been in the sport for a couple of years and have started to learn something about it ... I'm VERY grateful that he did that! I'm glad I didn't learn on a system that is different than what I now jump. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I can't comment on the other BIG ones, but Lost Prairie is definitely a good one (been the last 2 years and planning to this year). I've heard people who go to a lot of the large ones comment about the laid back attitude there versus most larger boogies ... and the partying is definitley present - someone already mentioned the scenery and bar dives ... and don't miss the Cock Choir!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Good luck for the weekend ... as of now it's predicted to be similar to this past one ... cloudy and windy with some heavy storms around sometime in the course of the front moving thru. Maybe I'll get down to Spaceland to meet ya ... but you also ought to know Waller is having $14 jumps for the whole month of April!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

yeah ... I'm just WAITING for that one to start ... just hoping that the state makes them meet the same stardards for beach quality sand as everyone else cause as soon as the test the silt from the bottom of that area and find all the heavy metals and who knows what else in it ... they won't be allowed to use it for beach nourishment. What these folks either fail to realize or refuse to accept is that these ARE barrier islands ... and barrier islands MOVE. If they would take a good look at the San Luis pass area there is ample proof ... I'm willing to bet that barring a good direct hit from a storm that pass will close up within the next 15 or 20 years ... it's already starting to. You used to be able to come thru the bridge, make a short jog left, then head straight offshore. Now you have to go up the beach past the water tower before you can head out without running into the shoals. The bars inside the pass are building/changing rapidly too. I know from stuff covered when I was in school in N.C. that the islands there migrate south ... and from what I've seen here, ours do the same. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

No doubt - not an easy battle ... lol ... fortunately, we're not all town people ... half our board are island residents ... as are a large part of our membership so far. Many of the folks on the west end didn't even realize that WGIPOA was claiming to represent them until this all started making itself into the local papers down there! The beer on the seawall ... LOL ... I can ALMOST understand after having witnessed several accidents of people either skating or biking off the seawall while intoxicated and unable to peel their eyes off an attractive member of the opposite sex down on the beach!! If you want to get involved ... feel free ... we're JUST getting off the ground and trying to get the word out - would be more than happy to have ya (please sign up even if you don't want to be active tho ... as you know ... it's numbers that get the attention of politicians). As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

HUH???? believe me ... WGIPOA has tried REAL hard to find any information to back up that idea ... not any! Our sand along the upper coast is so fine in the first place that it packs plenty hard on it's own. Think about it ... if you drive down on the wet sand, you hardly make any imprint in it at all unless you get REAL close to the water. As for the erosion problem (west end is losing about 5 - 8 feet a year) ... a study (the Heinz group did it) that WGIPOA themselves pushed for (and I believe helped fund) found that it is mainly caused by development ... which of course was the LAST thing they wanted to hear! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Nothing wrong with walking further in SOME cases... get back to that in a second ... the thing is, the way the Open Beaches Act reads, they can only close it if they provide "equal or better access", and for a lot of folks, there IS no equal or better access. Plus, if they DO close it off, are supposed to provide a parking space for every 15 feet they close, such that the furthest point of the parking area is not more than 1/4 mile from the furthest point of beach that parking area services. They haven't even tried to meet this ... most of the closed areas have no parking access whatsoever, or are in front of what are now subdivisions that have "private" signs on their streets. But there are a lot of people who use the beach in ways that walking is not a good option. Back to walking ... in a lot of cases that's a viable option ... but there are already plenty of beach areas that are walk in only. Hardly if any of those areas meet with the ADA ... imagine someone in a wheelchair trying to get from their car to a ramp thru sandy soil with little grass ... up and over the ramp ... then thru 50 feet or so of soft sand to get over to the part of the beach which is hardpacked wet sand. As for surfers and fishermen ... our coast is not like California where the majority of your breaks and bottom structure are fairly static. We are used to driving the beach looking for a good break ... or in the case of fishermen looking for breaks in the bars or just pods of baitfish being worked in the surf. People launch their sailboats, jetskis, sailboards, kayaks ... they carry generators for lights for night fishing ... they take grills and large coolers for family outings .. none of that is something I want to try to carry 1/4 mile and over a dune walkover! Not to mention a single parent with a couple of kids trying to go to the beach for the day ... a couple of chairs, a cooler, kids toys ... too much for one trip ... do I leave my kids and stuff alone on the beach while I fetch the 2nd load ... make the kids walk twice and leave my stuff on the beach ... what? Not to mention, leaving my car parked in an area where I can't see it along a stretch of beach where break-ins are common due to lack of police presence! Some might say that stuff isn't needed ... and that may be, but that's not the point here. The people of the state have used the beaches in this manner for longer than I've been alive ... the laws here give us that right .. and now a few developers and beachfront homeowners are trying to take it away from us. We're hoping to stop them, and MAYBE be able to get at least a FEW of those "drive thru and tear everything up" types to learn to treat the beaches with a little respect in the process. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I agree with several parts of that ... but about other parts ... have to agree with your "mixed" ...

I haven't been able to keep up with everything on here lately ... have gotten involved in something bordering on political (last thing I ever expected!). I attended a meeting in Galveston about their upcoming beach access plan, and in the course of it discovered that roughly 15 miles of beach they have closed to vehicular access was done without being in compliance with state regs. We have formed a group to fight Galveston (and any other beach infringement on our coast) on this ... Texas Open Beach Advocates ... please check out the website at http://www.texasopenbeaches.org/ and join us (no dues or anything, tho donations are welcomed!). We've only had two board meetings so far, and the site has been up for about 10 days ... and already we have information that a similar thing is about to happen at Matagorda, so we now have 2 possible battles on our hands! By state law, the beach from the water to the vegetation line belongs to the people of the state ... don't let them turn areas into private beaches!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Site looks great ... I love the homepage photo ... the hit counter is definitely malfunctioning tho ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

One thing that has been stressed to me many times since I started jumping is to learn new things at a pace that is comfortable for ME ... from that viewpoint, I can understand you being a bit p.o.'d with him! Now ... from a husband's side ... it may be that he wants to freefly ... and just REALLY wants you to be able to do it with him, so is pushing you .. maybe more than he should ... don't have any clue as to communication between you, but I'd just point blank ask him about it! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

now that's just downright bs ... LOL ... talk about issuing a challenge to hackers (and wannabes)!! Not to mention ... is kinda like blaming the telephone company for someone making obscene calls ... our country's brilliant legislators strike yet again!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

You want to give it a REAL test for slow ... ??? ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

he's going to have the 182 from Waller for this weekend ... don't know how long term that will be tho ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Well, I went and looked thru the classifieds and such, and didn't see an appropriate place to put this ... so will try it here and see what happens! Skydive Aggieland's deal for the 206 fell thru, so the dzo is now looking for a plane. He said anything from a 182 up to a KingAir ... if anyone knows of one that is available (believe he will consider lease, or purchase) please email him at dzo@skydiveaggieland.com ... THANKS MUCH!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

damn!! ... I'm sorry we were twisting your arm!!! ...