Another money sucking hobby initiated

Finally got to a place where I could restart something I started a while back in the army and never finished. Skydiving :taz:

New place has a DZ not too far away, so I decided to restart and finish getting my A license. Unfortunately it's one of those hobbies you can't just do from time to time and have to keep current (not supposed to go more than 30 days without a jump for safety) so I had to start over from scratch. Having bought a house and started school I figured it's about as stable as it's going to get and now's a good time to try again.

Instructors are awesome, father son duo. And after one jump to see where I was at they skipped me two levels saving $260 on each jump.

Love the DZ. From altitude you can see Clearlake, Mount Tamalpias in San Francisco, and the great pacific ocean.
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...pspwkfr3oj.png

First jump, pretty boring. Contact from both instructors to evaluate where I was. Had a HARD landing(1:50) that sent me limping back. Back on to the plane to jump again. Winds kicked up on our way up and were too high for jumping. Once I hit the wind took my canopy and drug me face down like a complete idiot in front of a crowd while the instructor was yelling at me LOL.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEOHQuDFO_A

Third and fourth jumps were a lot more fun. On the fourth one I was on my own from the plane to the ground. Even lost radio communication. After I deployed I heard nice looking canopy talk to you in a minute (to direct flying a pattern and land). Never heard from him again. Getting pretty low so I just flew the pattern as best as I could and landed. He didn't even realize he hit the channel button and I couldn't hear him until I got back and asked where he was haha..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZxDQMnHI4


And then misfortune. One more jump to get signed off.Could have done my grad jump last weekend but we decided to save it for the next to start fresh in the morning and get some more jumps in. Got a call pilots out sick, bad weather for the following week, then I get Lasik and can't jump for 30 days. ^&%*! Should have completed it when I had the chance.

Right. Let us examine this streak of bad luck. Sandbox deployment, diving without air tanks, high risk occupation, jumping from perfectly functional aircraft...are we seeing a pattern here?

Good for you. I tried to get my wife to jump with me last fall. Of course she was cowardly and afraid so I didn't do it.

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Originally Posted by Rick

Right. Let us examine this streak of bad luck. Sandbox deployment, diving without air tanks, high risk occupation, jumping from perfectly functional aircraft...are we seeing a pattern here?

Good for you. I tried to get my wife to jump with me last fall. Of course she was cowardly and afraid so I didn't do it.

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Lol, "she" sounds like a scaredy cat!

What pattern? What could possibly go wrong? I have great luck. Things never go wrong haha.

If I die on the old drop zooone….poke my pieces with a stick, cuz that's what I would do….Wait, that's not how it goes...

I...I mean...she is.

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Originally Posted by wilderness medic

Finally got to a place where I could restart something I started a while back in the army and never finished. Skydiving :taz:

New place has a DZ not too far away, so I decided to restart and finish getting my A license. Unfortunately it's one of those hobbies you can't just do from time to time and have to keep current (not supposed to go more than 30 days without a jump for safety) so I had to start over from scratch. Having bought a house and started school I figured it's about as stable as it's going to get and now's a good time to try again.

Instructors are awesome, father son duo. And after one jump to see where I was at they skipped me two levels saving $260 on each jump.

Love the DZ. From altitude you can see Clearlake, Mount Tamalpias in San Francisco, and the great pacific ocean.
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...pspwkfr3oj.png

First jump, pretty boring. Contact from both instructors to evaluate where I was. Had a HARD landing(1:50) that sent me limping back. Back on to the plane to jump again. Winds kicked up on our way up and were too high for jumping. Once I hit the wind took my canopy and drug me face down like a complete idiot in front of a crowd while the instructor was yelling at me LOL.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEOHQuDFO_A

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Awesome. Lol loved your Family Guy cut in. What was that smaller sail that you closed up?

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Originally Posted by wilderness medic

And then misfortune. One more jump to get signed off.Could have done my grad jump last weekend but we decided to save it for the next to start fresh in the morning and get some more jumps in. Got a call pilots out sick, bad weather for the following week, then I get Lasik and can't jump for 30 days. ^&%*! Should have completed it when I had the chance.

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Oh crud. Please don't say that you have to start all over again (and pay for all those jumps) when the pilot was out sick...

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Originally Posted by 1stimestar

Awesome. Lol loved your Family Guy cut in. What was that smaller sail that you closed up?

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Haha thanks. Glad someone else shares my humor.

That's the slider. Closing it just reduces drag as little under canopy flight. Otherwise it just kind of flaps annoyingly in the wind

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Originally Posted by 1stimestar

Oh crud. Please don't say that you have to start all over again (and pay for all those jumps) when the pilot was out sick...

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They've been so cool I doubt I will start all over. Maybe repeat one jump before grad. Can't control the weather and things happen. More on me for crossing my fingers is be done before surgery. I knew I'd need 30 days off and the plan was to get out of student status and get a jump or two extra in so it wouldn't be a big thing but... Oh well. I'll be in Mexico while my eyes are finishing up healing.

Attachment 10521

"Wing wars" in the late 70s and early 80s. Congrats on your achievement.

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Originally Posted by Old GI

Attachment 10521

"Wing wars" in the late 70s and early 80s. Congrats on your achievement.

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Is that what a 1970's wing suit looks like??? Lol!!! Cool!

Oh yeah, and Rick. It's great motivation to get over any fear you may have when you see a beautiful young 90 pound woman in yoga pants jumping out before you. :devil2:


Hell, even this is motivation. This is my instructor Jimmy and his favorite tandem Barry. Bahahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rykuLDr9q0s

It was called a "Balloon Suit". It was two piece and the jacket had vents under the armpits that inflated them. It slowed you down in freefall. I have hung up the parachutes and the scuba equipment (PADI OWSI) due to health issues. The initial "Batwing suits" that you see now were experimental in those days and had problems when the wings would not collapse enough to pull the ripcord.

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Originally Posted by wilderness medic

Is that what a 1970's wing suit looks like??? Lol!!! Cool!

Oh yeah, and Rick. It's great motivation to get over any fear you may have when you see a beautiful young 90 pound woman in yoga pants jumping out before you. :devil2:


Hell, even this is motivation. This is my instructor Jimmy and his favorite tandem Barry. Bahahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rykuLDr9q0s

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Due to the weather still not letting up and Lasik putting me out I went and bought some (short) tunnel time to practice. ($1,200.00 an hour?!)

Man, what a humbling experience. Sure is a lot less room for error in a small room compared to the entire sky. Kind of annoying, apparently I had to get signed off to practice flips and barrel rolls by myself (contrary to calling prior to a 6 hour round trip drive to make sure I didn't). After I tried one the guy pulled me out and said you can't do that without being lotto the ground and me holding you. Ugh. Couldn't clear my feet that low and being held was...frustrating to say the least.

Ah well, better than nothing. Still got to fly and look stupid! :balloon: Especially at the end exiting doing some weird long-legged funky stride chicken walk to get out haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onfrt9kjHtw

Lol cute chicken walk. Looks like fun though for sure.

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Originally Posted by 1stimestar

Lol cute chicken walk. Looks like fun though for sure.

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LOL. I loved hearing my friend cackling laughing at me. Man that looked weird. Don't mind me, i'll just be leaving now...
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...psvtlzxpj1.jpg

http://youtu.be/2WNrx2jq184

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Originally Posted by 1stimestar

http://youtu.be/2WNrx2jq184

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HAHAHA! Thanks! Looks like I won't be getting any sleep tonight lol!

Well played.

I tried to do that once but they said they didn't think the fan was large enough. We gave it a go with it turned up to high. It managed to blow all my clothes off but I never got off the ground. The guy inside was shot out through the roof and the guy running the fan still has eye problems. I didn't get a refund either.

Looks like a lot of fun.

Very cool. Hope the surgery goes well.

"That's the slider. Closing it just reduces drag as little under canopy flight. Otherwise it just kind of flaps annoyingly in the wind"

For those that are interested but don't know about the slider. it retards the inflation of the canopy until all the suspension lines have played out. It reduces opening shock./ Most, not all, have some kind of reefing system to accomplish this.