dove

You guys are at Lake Wales, right? I was there today. What group were you with? I was in the silvery blue freefly suit. I could have been sitting right next to you and not even known it! dove

Fastest I've done is 224 in a headdown. Not too shabby for a chika my size! dove

Hey Mom and Dad: If I died tomorrow in a car accident - you would at least know that I had lived my life to the fullest and was completely enjoying it. If I wasn't skydiving, I would be leaving this earth unfulfilled and not as happy as I could be. (Caution: use a death example unrelated to skydiving!) As parents - how can they resist. Every parent wants their kids to be as happy as they can. Have someone take a pic of you grinning your ass off in freefall. How can they deny you such joy? My parents worry about me but they say they have never EVER seen me so happy before. They'll come around. It would be scary for a parent - especially if you didn't know everything about the sport.

Nathan, I do freefly most of the time. But I went to the Search earlier this year and I'd hate to waste all I learned there. So if you ever want to do a belly jump with someone who hasn't done one in a while I'm your girl! I always bring my weights and RW suit just in case. I just never get a chance to pull them out. As long as I am jumping out of a plane I am happy! Definitely let me know when you will be up here again. Email me! Say hi to Roy for me! Have a fantastic New Years celebration! dove

OK - so my work isn't in the mag - but my mug is! I am in the Lake Wales ad. That's me in the chair grinning like crazy. Congrats on getting your work published! That is awesome! dove

Yippee! I am already manifested for midnight jumps and then high altitude jumps on the first! I can't wait to meet some dz.comers! dove

Speaking of cutting away.... I LIVE HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 A recent altitude induced divorce brought on quicker by my accident and if I am moving out my ass is going where the jumping is year-round! yippee! I love it here. I have been meaning to get to Naples - Roy is awesome! But I just noticed on the new website jumps are $20! I usually jump at Zhills cause they are only $17 there. But I try to get to Lake Wales every now and then cause that place kicks ass! I will be there on Jan 2nd or 3rd too. You coming back? BTW - what did you think of the new jumpsuit? Scwheet, huh? dove

There was a fatality on video? For sale or did you somehow get raw footage? I don't think I'd ever want to see that. EVER!

I had one last night - Christmas Eve. I think it might have been brought on by reading Kelly's recent mal experience. I was doing a solo and finished everything I wanted to do and realized I had extra time/altitude to spare (yeah, like that ever happens!) so I decided to feel all my handles. At that point it was pull time so I pulled.... MY RESERVE! Cause I had just touched it my hand went right back to it. The second I did it I realized what I had done. I watched the spring-loaded pilot chute shoot off my back and cussed myself for being such an idiot - especially since I just had my reserve repacked last week! I was also pissed cause I wouldn't be able to jump on Christmas then! Boy did it feel good to wake up from that one! My all-time favorite skydiving dream is one I had a couple of months after I started jumping. I went to a new dz and there was a group of super-cool skydiving chicks that were jumping rigless. They would just cup air like crazy around 100 ft and tip toe down out of the sky. I was like "Wow! I want to be one of them!" I don't remember how it ended, but I remember thinking how scary that was gonna be on the first try without the rig! Don't you wish?!?!?!?!? No packing! Back-to-backs all day! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've only had to chop once - first jump off student status - jump #8 for me. You are too busy taking care of business to be scared. Once you are under canopy you are so pumped on what a kick-ass job you did. The only fear I had was on the next jump at pull-time. But that wore off pretty quickly. If you practice your procedures in your head and in a harness your brain and body will take over so you don't have to worry about your emotions getting in the way. Cheers! dove

Yup! That was me - blue/silver flames! Yippee! Nice Christmas gift, eh? I just wish we could have had full altitude. I wanna fly that baby! You gonna be there on Wed or Thur this week?

I agree - Skydive Lake Wales rocks!!! I was there for a bit today (Christmas) - did this happen today? Maybe I should have stuck around for the excitement! As it was, we landed off on our jump. I have to say I've never seen so many cow patties in my life! But the dz folks were there seemingly instantaeously to get us and we all got back safely and quite amused. Happy Christmas everyone! dove

Lisa, Yippee for you! You must be SO psyched! Yeah, those nervous feelings will be there again, but they feel SOOOOO good! I wasn't off for that long when I had my collision in August but it was long enough (not to mention when your last experience skydiving resulted in an injury) to get the adrenaline coursing through my veins. It was heaven even before I exited the plane! A friend was waiting in the landing area with a camera and took my pic on landing. I framed it. You have never seen such a huge smile of pure bliss in your life. I call it my "rebirth"!!! Take advantage of the "newness" of the situation to get that first experience again - smell the air, feel it course over your body, take in the amazing sights! I know it sounds wacky, but how often do you jump just for the basic experience with the only goal to land? Hope you have fun safe jumps! Welcome back! dove

Mike, Congrats on getting in!!! I went to the Search last year. I too was on the reserve list and got in when others backed out. I wept with delight when I found out! It was very apparent to me when I was there that they are indeed very motivated by money. HOWEVER, they are also kick-ass at what they do and I don't regret the huge expenditure at all! I learned so much and was a much safer and capable skydiver when I left. They are incredible teachers and I had the time of my life. As for accomodations, you will be so physically and mentally spent after back-to-back jumps all day and workshops at night that you may as well shower there and stay in a tent. Saves time and you will want to crash! Have a fantastic time! dove

I just manifested today for midnight jumps at Zhills. Yee-hah! Wanna do a 2-way? dove

I read an incident report in an older Parachutist (about 10 years ago?) where there was an aircraft emergency around 1,000 feet and a jumper exited and only pulled his cutaway. When you review your safety procedures, review every possible scenario you can think of!!!!! dove

At least it happened in the "off" season. You'll be good as new by the time spring rolls around! Heal quickly! dove

When I was 23 I had the exact same symtoms except I also had "gray outs" where everything would turn fuzzy and black and white and I'd almost faint... I could barely hear sounds. It would last for about 1-5 minutes. I wore one of those monitors for 24 hours and of course nothing happened then! In the meantime the doc told me to completely cut out ALL caffeine. I haven't had a single episode since - that was 6 years ago! Hope it is something just as simple and easy for you! I'll be thinking of you! dove

Bill - Wow! Thank you so much for the info and for putting it so eloquently in laymans terms! I was just wondering about this very subject today as I was jumping in some sort of turbulent winds under a demo canopy! dove

Front seat of an on-duty cop car. Watch those siren buttons!

Sorry to hear about your injury Slappie. But speaking from experience here (not with collar bones, but with injuries) it will go a lot faster than you think. And I think my ribs healed faster than predicted cause I drank truckloads of milk and ate all the calcium I could! Hope you feel better soon and are back in the air! dove

Total Body Pilot at ZHills. Those guys are awesome! Great all around dz too. Check em out!

Hey. I got a Tads earlier this year cause it was such a good price. It arrived about 2 weeks later than promised. It looks pretty nice but doesn't fit me well at all. I'm not quite sure why I took all those measurements for a suit that doesn't fit! So now I just dropped it off to get alterations. I am also ordering another suit cause I don't think my Tads suit will last long. I only have about 50 jumps on it and it is already fraying at the seams. It is only 1 layer (most freefly suits are multi-layered for reinforcement at fast speeds) and I don't think it will last very long. In short - you get what you pay for. It is not an awful suit, but I wish I had invested that lower price in a longer lasting suit. Just my experience. I am ordering my new suit from Windline at Lake Wales. It is a FANTASTIC price and super high quality and I get to make my own personal design. Schweet! And they are SO nice! You can give them a call at (863) 679-9444. Hope this helps! dove

Both ZHills and Lake Wales are open 7 days a week with planes going up every day! Both are also great dz's so try them both out! Have fun! dove

Last night I took my rig to BWI (Baltimore Washington International - yes near D.C.) to see if I could get my rig through security. I wasn't flying last night but I will be next week and want to take my rig with me. I asked one moron "security guard" (basically a dolt with a blue jacket and a bowtie) and they said "No way. You can't take no parachute on no plane!" And I asked if that was a new policy and if I could see where it was excluded on their paperwork. They said you never could take a parachute on a plane - that it was common sense. I explained that I had been doing it for a year and that all skydivers carried their rigs. Since this person could barely speak English, I asked a supervisor/marshall. He put my rig on the xray and said no problem. Didn't even ask about my cypres so I didnt' even show him the card! SO ask for a supervisor or try someone else. I still have a backup plan for next week in case I can't get it on. And BTW, I called US Airlines and they said no problem at all. SO it all depends on who you get! Cheers! dove P.S. The dove will fly again this weekend! yeeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been a month!