cmnorris

Hate to even bring this up, but... Washington DC is not a state - they don't even have a counting vote in Congress

I did a night jump when it was -10 C at altitude. However, during the day, then 55-60 F (depending on the wind situation) is my cut off. It may be bright and sunny out, but if it's that cold then it is a depressing day in Florida for me.

Does anyone know of any bikini laws in Panama City Beach? I was told this weekend that my new bikini may be against the law there. Apparently, other Florida cities have laws against thong bikinis.

Looking to put together a small class for new skydivers on basic gear maintenance, such as cleaning cutaway cables once a month and keeping gear out of sunlight. Does anyone do something similar to this? I would like to find an outline to adapt for our club members' experience levels. Thanks.

Me and my new bikini will be there since I, sadly, do not have enough jumps for my D license. It should be just as fun to sit around on the beach and watch, though.

That's the same problem that Jeff had up at RIT and once again it's the same thing that James Madison University is now facing. How have other clubs managed to get their university to support them? I'm not sure how we (UF) did it since our club has been around since the 1980s. It seems like stressing that the club is purely social and educational in nature would be the way to go. Since you probably aren't going to use campus as the DZ, the DZ that you do jump at assumes full liability (hence the pages long waivers we all fill out). Our club only has to come up with a $1 million insurance policy when we want to make a demo jump onto campus.

Is there a rigger's course being offered during the summer (May - mid August)? The only ones that I have seen advertised were happening during the spring.

What ever happened to the Collegiate Skydivers Association "movement"? I know that people talked about it for a while, but I never heard what the outcome was. I have had 2 people in the last 3 months contact me for info on how to start their own club. It's too bad that there isn't a "central place" to go for ideas, suggestions, and support. By the way, I would like to update the collegiate club contact list (the one started by Maryland). So...if you belong to a club, please post info or just send it to me.

I learned to skydive by doing the tandem progression. Since I had been around the dz for a while my tandem instructor knew me well and pretty much put me through the progression at cost or for less. So, for my 100th...I did a naked tandem with him. A little twist on the old tradition, but definitely memorable. He enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, and my bf shot video of it.

Here's another tip...find out about what your school offers in the way of insurance. We did a demo jump onto campus and I stupidly went and got demo insurance from the USPA (over $500 for one day for $1 million) since that was what our club did before. It turns out that the school's insurance policy would have covered us. As for outside insurance policies, don't do it. It's better for your club to say that you only educate the public by providing info on skydiving and where to go for skydiving. Let the dz worry about liability issues...you don't need to worry about it until you get club gear that you allow people to use.

I'm looking into renting a beach house...I'll let you know if I find anything.

It was the second round where we should get a bonus 5 points just for holding onto that exit. Maybe we need a more sympathetic judge next year.

I just wanted to thank all of the clubs (Maryland, Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech) and everyone else that came out to our boogie for making it such a big success. We definitely had a great time...even in the cold - I must admit that it was a bit nipply. I also wanted to thank TSO-D, Gowear, Alti-2, Mirage, Aero Tech, and Bird-man for sponsoring our event and donating some great prizes. See everyone next year.

With the boogie rapidly approaching (this weekend) I just thought that I would give some updates. 4-way scrambles competition will be held on Sunday and it will consist of two rounds. Which ever team averages the most points wins (simple, huh?) and the top 3 teams will receive trophies with an exclusive design by me (extra incentive). Brian Germain has confirmed that he will be giving his canopy control seminar on Sunday early evening. The rafts will soon be inflated and the hula hoops are ready to go, so we will be having some fun.

There's a guy in our club that is from Sweden...he mentioned that he only payed about $7/jump.

Is this true? I thought you had to be able to pack to get your A license. Or was that just a trick cleverly conceived by our DZ to get people to learn how to pack? Seriously, though, I don't trust anyone else to pack for me...even in the Florida heat. However, during summer I try to avoid the hours between 11 and 3. It wipes out a big chunk of the day, but at least I don't find myself suffering from heat exhaustion!

What size boogie are you thinking about organizing?

I have a problem with the way Collegiate Nationals are run. The University of Florida has a strong skydiving club, but we were unable to compete for the following reasons: 1. I couldn't find out how much the registration/competition fees were before late October. Large universities like ours demand that we outline any travel budget well in advance. A month and a half planning time was not enough. 2. Fees are too expensive. Fewer and fewer students are competing due to rising fees. How many other skydiving events can cost a novice competitor $120? 3. Rules are not well defined, specifically for the 2-way event. In the current competition manual the fact that there is only one class for this event and that this event is limited to those with fewer than 100 jumps is not mentioned. I do agree with the idea of canopy control being a larger focus for receiving an A license. I also think that perhaps doing an intentional cutaway could be helpful as well. I know that I am rather nervous about having my first major malfunction. Maybe we (our club) will see you the next time we head down to DeLand.

As always: "You don't have to be a college student, you just have to be able to party like one!" .... or at least be able to tolerate other people having fun. We would love to have you (and everyone else) show up for all of the shenanigans.

Was it the girl's fault? Just curious.

I am thinking that I may want to run it by legal services because I know that if anything happens our club could be in a lot of trouble with the university. I know that drug use last year was a tiny problem (only 2 people were involved) and landing issues always come up at every boogie that I have attended. I just want to make a list of rules so that no one can say that they were not informed beforehand. Here's another one: This DZ follows a left hand landing pattern. Are there any other reminders that would be good to include? Keep in mind that newly licensed jumpers will be there so I would like to make sure that even obvious (to more experienced jumpers) things are covered.

Everyone please give me your opinion on this: I've been planning the collegiate boogie which will be taking place in Jan. Since we are a college club and I don't want anything to cause trouble for us and the university I'm planning on making up a "supplemental waiver" that will be in addition to the DZ waiver and it will contain some boogie "reminders." What do you think should be on it and would you be offended if you were asked to sign something like this? So far, this is what I'm thinking of including: 1. Direction of landings will be determined at the beginning of the day and will be adjusted throughout the day, if necessary. 2. Illegal drug use is not condoned, however, if it must be done, you must do so outside of the fence. 3. Since this is a collegiate boogie, many jumpers on your load may be relatively inexperienced. 4. Unsafe behavior, as determined by the S&TA, will not be tolerated. At the end of my little list, I think I'm going to add something like this: Large skydiving events are inherently dangerous. The University of Florida Falling Gators, the University of Florida, and the University of Florida Board of Trustees will not be held liable for anything that happens on the dates of Jan. 17, 18, 19, and 20 at any location. It's almost rather sad that skydiving has to be this way. Oh well, tell me what you think.

For all those wanting to perfect their canopy control skills (and who wouldn't want to be perfect under canopy? ): Brian Germain will be giving a canopy control seminar on Saturday (Jan. 18) for all those who are interested. He will also be bringing up some Big Air Sportz demo canopies and will be glad to do some coaching as well.

My relaxation technique...I "wiggle" in the air. I found that if I do something silly in the air that puts me in a good mood, helping me to relax. I've also found that quite a few people found it amusing as well.

Not much if you have the right assests.