any sky divers here?

[BigRiver]

by all means walt... SHARE!

What I've done in my years is fairly tame compared to skydiving.

Not much to it, but deep water spearfishing was about the most extreme sport I can share here. Worst case I experienced was shooting an amberjack at 180' and getting pulled down to 226', as per the computer.

Done other milder stuff.....hiked the John Muir Trail (250 miles that took 26 days in the Sierra Nevada Mountains), Windsurfed, 11 day float trip through the Grand Canyon.

But jumping out of an airplane? Man, I don't really care that much even going up in a plane.

[NickC]

walt, thats just as extreme! deep water spearfishing... MAN would i love to try that!

i was looking into striper fishing one day online, its something ive always wanted to do due to there shear size and the fight people speak of. i came across a group of people that spear fish them under water as they hide in tall groups of underwater plants that are kelp like. it looks like the COOLEST thing EVER to be able to hunt underwater like that!

that is pretty amazing that the fish dragged you close to 50', how big was the amberjack? thats got to be a big fish to have brought you down like that!

[NickC]

As for the actual jumping, The Army decided it would be a good idea to see if they can throw me out of an airplane a few times... I'll see how well I do.

I imagine Rich will blog my successes daily...  (he has  connections )

thats cool that you will get to experience this through the army although im sure it will be set up a little different that the leisure jumps i take part in. im curious to hear what your take on it is after you complete them! when will this be?

[bikemancs]

As for the actual jumping, The Army decided it would be a good idea to see if they can throw me out of an airplane a few times... I'll see how well I do.

I imagine Rich will blog my successes daily...  (he has  connections )

thats cool that you will get to experience this through the army although im sure it will be set up a little different that the leisure jumps i take part in. im curious to hear what your take on it is after you complete them! when will this be?

Yeah, the Army does Static Line jumps, where the ripcord (?) of the chute is hooked to the plane, opens automatically (unless it doesn't then you gotta pull your reserver)

I "start" on 24 April... which is about 3-4 days after I get back to the USA from Korea/Australia.  It's a 3 week course pending that I don't get recycled. 

[BigRiver]

It's a 3 week course pending that I don't get recycled. 

Holy Crap......I hope that doesn't mean as in recycled back to the earth, as in "dust to dust".

[bikemancs]

It's a 3 week course pending that I don't get recycled. 

Holy Crap......I hope that doesn't mean as in recycled back to the earth, as in "dust to dust".

no... it means that I fail one of the weeks...

Airborne is broken up into three weeks (or phases)
1st week is Ground week, which is mainly learning how to land properly
2nd week is Tower week, which is learning how to exit, how to land and how to control the chute
3rd week is jump week.  Ideal is 5 jumps in 3 days. 

[Tommygunz]

I want badly to be attached to a jump unit sometime in my career..

Something about " jumping out of aircraft to go blow shit up" sounds like a really cool job description