http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~churchr/storage/santa_2.jpg
Bob Church
Good looking canopy-Loud but good looking, make the jump out of your
buddy's 172? If so, then yawl got by with one more without the FAA
swooping in on your pilot....BTW while I'm thinking about it-your
other old buddy Lodi-Mike has been a working sensi in the sport a long
time, no telling what kind of old gear he's squirreled away in his
possibles bag. Maybe he can score a dirt cheap escape rig for that 172
pilot. Well I'm out of here before my # one bootee boy fan swoops in
and kills your thread. Only other comments are:
1. Good pictures,
2.kind of early for Christmas ain't it?
3. you are kind of skinny for a Santa Clause
blue sky's, keep them coming.
You keep landing a long way from the camera!! But I love your canopy
colours, so all is forgiven ;-P
What's the container like?
Bob made it back to the Airport grass so its clearly the Camera
persons fault, probably a innocent by stander-Who didn't want to get
their shoes wet in the grass. You can tell by the runway their had
been a heavy rain but I agree on that wonderful tutti fruity canopy,
hard to notice the red suit with all those colors over his Santa hat.
Upstaged by his own canopy lol Outstanding!! He should get a sig "Out
in the sticks with Bob, the last grass roots sky diver."
I've heard of Christmas in July, but this...
...is about what I'd expect considering your involvement, Bob. ;)
Hope you had fun.
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries
The right to be heard does not automatically include
the right to be taken seriously. Hubert H. Humphrey
Actually, it was one long miserable day. I packed a wet canopy after
the opening jump then got it and my santa suit soaked for the candy
drop. All I wanted all day long was a long soak in a hot bath then to
lie around with warm dry feet and watch tv, which I did starting at
about 5pm. You can't see our living room floor for the canopy,
jumpsuit and santa suit spread over kitchen chairs in it.
But the show must go on. The folks at Vinton County give me lots of
free jumps pretty much whenever I want them, and if they want to go
ahead with an airshow in the pouring down rain I'll do my part, though
I was wondering if Nick had snapped, thinking of all those grilled
chicken dinners to sell, unsold parking spaces, all those brochures
and all that work, then the sun came halfway out, it looked pretty
good, then at 1pm, when the show starts, it started pouring the rain
down.
But if that high school band can stand out there for over an hour in
toad strangler rain until a pilot would even take us up, who am I to
back out?
You've got to get out here for the air show one of these years.
...
> But the show must go on.
...
> But if that high school band can stand out there for over an hour in
> toad strangler rain until a pilot would even take us up, who am I to
> back out?
You're the one that can die, and give a "black eye" to the general sport of
demo skydiving.
"The show must go on" indeed ... I've lost a great deal of respect for you
by your voicing of that sentiment.
> You're the one that can die, and give a "black eye" to the general sport of
> demo skydiving.
>
> "The show must go on" indeed ... I've lost a great deal of respect for you
> by your voicing of that sentiment.
Why? I didn't do anything that was dangerous to me or, especially, the
crowd. I'd rather not jump when it's wet, but I told them I'd do the
demo and unless something like weather or crowd conditions make it
unsafe I'm going to hold up my end. Wet shoes and all. They take me up
for free jumps on the nice days, I'm not going to say no because it's
not exactly the way I'd prefer it. I had a long miserable day, but I
honestly don't think I put anyone in any danger. Well, ok, maybe me
getting the flu but they'll never know so no black eye.
Bob don't strike me as a dumb ass, he was the jumper on location....It
was his call----The jump was successful, how can anyone logically
argue with success? Since it was his jump, he has a right to add a
little drama to the story that goes along with the pictures How many
times have skydivers said or heard when telling a skydiving
story....."No shit, you just had to be there--Thought we was gonna
xxxxx" in this case (drown.)
Lighten up, getting your shorts in a knot will only give you jock
itch, ask Jerry K. hahahahaha 0~;>
> "The show must go on" indeed ... I've lost a great deal of respect for you
> by your voicing of that sentiment.
Hard to believe the following is from the same individual...
"I came across a BASE photo searching for something on the web, and it
alternated with another photo that helped me recall a true story I heard
this past summer from long-time skydiving friend John Mitchell. The
photos are at http://www.sourceguardian.com/
John is a skydiver through-and-through, but like some of us has to hold
a regular job to get some jump money; he does FAA ATC.
While we were setting some wind blades at a DZ, he told me the story of
one of his co-workers who one day announced, "Ya know, John, somehow it
makes me sad to think that your kids are going to grow up thinking that
skydiving is normal."
John said that he replied "Ya know, it makes me sad to think that your
kids are going to grow up thinking that fishing is exciting.""
Jumping in the rain is no big deal. True, there's some issues which
have to be addressed but no demo jumper worth his salt is going to
jump if the evident danger gets too high and none worth that are going
to stay on the ground because it's raining - that is if the pilot is
okay to fly in it and can get to a minimum altitude. Wind and
lightning is something else but Bob just mentioned a shitload of rain.
Hats off to him for making the jump and sharing it with the rest of
us.
...bsrp
...jlk
Amen
>> "The show must go on" indeed ... I've lost a great deal of respect
>> for you by your voicing of that sentiment.
>
> Hard to believe the following is from the same individual...
Do you endorse the sentiment that "the show must go on", Mike? I thought we
grew out of that Vaudeville sentiment quite a number of years ago.
Of course, if Bob decided that local conditions were suitable for jumping at
the time, then he's the Doctor. It's the exhumation of the sentiment that I
think is detrimental to demonstration jumping, not the particular jump Bob
made.
I'm not cricising the individual jump decision, just the expression
regarding the demo that "the show must go on." We opted out of 2 demos into
a county fair over the Labor Day weekend, but those were substantial Wx
events, not just precipitation.
Of course I have enough respect that I can lose a great deal and still have
a great deal left.
> I'm not cricising the individual jump decision, ...
It was a sticky keyboard sans review before posting, not a sticky wicket.
<g>
It was just an off-the-cuff reply to my poking him a little about getting
wet, Tony.
Making an educated decision to get rained on is quite different than making
a dumb move that results in leaving the airport in an ambulance or a box,
and I expect that after all these years, Bob knows the difference.
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries
The right to be heard does not automatically include
Yer a trooper.
I went to the grocery store tonight in the pouring rain, and all I could
think was "I wanna go home." And *I* had an umbrella.
> But the show must go on. The folks at Vinton County give me lots of
> free jumps pretty much whenever I want them, and if they want to go
> ahead with an airshow in the pouring down rain I'll do my part, though
> I was wondering if Nick had snapped, thinking of all those grilled
> chicken dinners to sell, unsold parking spaces, all those brochures
> and all that work, then the sun came halfway out, it looked pretty
> good, then at 1pm, when the show starts, it started pouring the rain
> down.
> But if that high school band can stand out there for over an hour in
> toad strangler rain until a pilot would even take us up, who am I to
> back out?
As I said, yer a trooper. I jumped one time in a light drizzle, and I would
never willingly do it again. Owie.
> You've got to get out here for the air show one of these years.
One of these days, I might be in your neck of the woods.
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries
The right to be heard does not automatically include
There's not much harder than saying no to the jump. I had to do it
once this summer for winds, and the worst was that the guy who had put
the cookout together gave me a world of shit for it. He was a friend
of a friend who wanted all kinds of stuff. He was putting together a
big anniversary party for him and his wife. He wanted tandems for the
two of them. That fell through, I don't jm and the people that could
wouldn't at his place. So he promised everyone a skydiver and was
royally torqued when I said it was too windy to jump. It was
supposed to be a fly-in but all the pilots drove. That should have
been his first clue but he didn't care, so screw it.
He was at the airshow Sunday in the crowd. I think he was giving me
the evil eye, but it's hard to tell when the weather's that cold and
damp.
I won't do a demo when the weather is dangerous, but I'm not going
home because I'm miserable.
That was the reason for the one hour delay. By then it had died down
to a cold but lighter rain and the jump pilot would take us up. Still
rain, but you could jump in it if you wanted to or even if you didn't
want to, which I didn't but if those high school kids could stand out
there during the worst of it for an hour I wasn't going to turn down a
(safe) demo that happened to be uncomfortable.
Actually, I was spot on but Scott stayed back in the hangar to take
the picture with a little P71 point and click. I can't complain, it
was my camera and pretty wet out.
The container's a Quasar II, which I love.
Ok quiz time. My wife picked out the colors for one piece of gear and
I did for the other.
Three guesses which was which. Grand prize is a free jump at Bidwell
as soon as jump operations restart.
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~churchr/storage/saturday2.JPG
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~churchr/storage/saturday.JPG
> Do you endorse the sentiment that "the show must go on", Mike? I thought we
> grew out of that Vaudeville sentiment quite a number of years ago.
I don't believe in it either and I probably shouldn't have said it, or
if I did I should have explained that standing there at that moment
under those conditions, do a safe but miserable jump or go home, it
seemed appropriate for that one jump.
Bob Church
I've known him for 30+ years. I knew what he meant. You probably didn't.
>
> Of course, if Bob decided that local conditions were suitable for jumping at
> the time, then he's the Doctor. It's the exhumation of the sentiment that I
> think is detrimental to demonstration jumping, not the particular jump Bob
> made.
Let's just say that he was talking about one particular jump.
I know both the place and the people.
> Ok quiz time. My wife picked out the colors for one piece of gear and
> I did for the other.
> Three guesses which was which. Grand prize is a free jump at Bidwell
> as soon as jump operations restart.
I'm guessing that she chose the container colours, because your name doesn't
appear in the SAPS roster (Skydivers Against Pink Shit).
Now that hurt! I was talking to the dealer on the phone, picked out
the size and type, everything but the color. He was going over them
for me and I repeated them, blue and black, black and blue, black,
blue, something like that. My wife heard this and said "the only
jumps you do anymore are demos, the next one's a Santa jump. Why not
pick out something that they can see?" So I handed her the phone, let
them work it out, then finished the order.
I've got to say though, they do love it at demos.
Bob Church
> I've known him for 30+ years. I
31 years exactly as of Sunday. My first jump was on September 20th
1978 and the picture of my first landing shows me taking a 28 footer
into the corn and you running across the field towards me.
Bob Church
This often happens when you think with your emotions...Its called
having to craw fish down South
It's cool, the phrase "the show must go on" carries a lot of bad
baggage for demos but I just wasn't thinking about that aspect then.
I wasn't thinking about much but dry socks and hot coffee.
Oh, speaking of which, at least one couple did good. Harry, the pilot
and Karen, his new girlfriend and a credit to the gender, got a
several dozen donuts from some Amish place. They're incredible. The
donuts I mean. They set up a little tent selling the donuts and
coffee. No one was selling much of anything due to the weather and
small crowd so I was going to help them out and make points at work by
buying a box and taking them to work for everyone.
But I couldn't. When I asked they were sold out. It was a first rate
day for donuts and coffee.
Bob
Bad baggage for a lot of jumps, I'm thinking of the Navy SBU that went
off the ramp for Recondo off Grenada,
The seas were rough, gale force winds---Never found any of them. A lot
of people thought it was to please the Admiral
but they ain't like that-----They are trained to be cold blooded-and
without panic or fear, never quit....They can always
refuse but never do....Open the hatch and buddy and their gone--I was
just alerting craw fish that he might be a little
bit too much the other way. Look at the influence I've had on Jerry's
thinking. For whatever reason Craw fish had a
knee jerk reaction to your demo story.....It was a good one, you bring
a lot of positive things to wreck skydiving.
Maybe we just aren't used to it. I'm always on watch and will protect
your right to eat donuts, jump loud ass canopy's
and be dramatic. ;)
If you had any respect in the first place you would have e-mailed Bob
about this neurotic over reaction you had
Show's over. Move along. Nothing to see.
--
Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries
The right to be heard does not automatically include
No blood must be spilled
Bob is a grass roots skydiver out in the hinterlands hanging around a
small airport, talks a friend into taking the door off his beloved
Cessna so Bob can jump without pulling a muscle, in gratitude Bob does
a demo for a few hundred local people at the most, he gets soaking wet
and for probably no money....not even enough to support his Donut
habit.
Solely for the joy of jumping------In comes a typical USPA scum bag
and takes a cheap shot hoping to walk away
unscratched----I liken it to a hit and run driver who thinks they will
get away with running down the innocent by saying
how much respect he gives them for doing what he isn't willing to
sacrifice to jump.
~We must have this creeps
blood~
GET A ROPE
Yeah well this is the land of free speech---- so you dramatized a
little. Its entirely the other guys fault for jumping to conclusions
and spoiling a good story. Typical skydiver ego-not being there, they
assumed to much....Like anybody
in their right mind would jump if they couldn't see the LZ to spot or
jump in rain so hard the fans couldn't see the
demo....Like I said, typical arrogant skygoddy attitude----This person
should have e-mailed you rather than jumping in and trying to make a
ass out of you. Like I said typical, they ended up making a ass out of
them selves and totally pissing me off.....I will be standing watch on
them as enemy's of grass roots skydiving and freedom of speech
forever----No matter how many jumps they have or how long they have
been in the sport all they represent is being a arrogant bastard----
>Some people are just flat UN American with those chicken shit be
politically correct with your story shit, the longer they jump the
more jumps the worse it can get, if a skydiver starts out a asshole,
they don't generally become nicer-And I aim to point it out to them
one by one or in mass if I have to because I don't care what self
important neurotics, user group or DZ politic players either one
think! :(Grrrrrr The dick wad owes you a apology
~Respects you my ass!!~