Rhallifax

Thanks, Chuck. Great history. I jumped with some Spaceland folks at Lost Prairie back in 2009. I believe we did a TeXXas Star. The formation I am referring to was at Skydive Dallas last weekend. It's getting posted up now on the internet and is being called a "Texas Star." It was a 30 way with an extra group of zippers inserted. It's a pretty formation, not too complicated, solid formation.

Is a Texas Star a specific formation with a specific number of skydivers? Usually, I believe, I see it as a 5 way, filled in with 10 people as zippers, then 5 stingers. That makes a 20 way. If you put in an additional layer of zippers, making it a 30 way, is that then called a "30 way Texas Star?" Is this thinking about right, or am I out in left field somewhere? Just curious.

[Anyone have any stories about coming back later after just a few jumps and being more freaked out than ever before and getting over it?] Dan BC was just featured a month ago in Parachutist for a profile. If you don't know, he is one of the very best skydivers ever in 4 way and 8 way formation skydiving. And, he's had some personal challanges along the way. In his profile, Dan said he was more impressed with the courage of a first jump student than anything he had done in skydiving in years. For someone as accomplished as him, that really impressed me. He is, after all, correct. When you make your first jump, or even your first hundred jumps, it takes an amount of courage to enter an unknown sky in which everyone had told you for your whole life that it's completely unsafe. What you are overcoming is what almost all skydivers have overcome. And, that you want to overcome that, makes you somewhat unique among people, in general. If you want it badly enough, then you will attain it. And, perhaps, someday you will smile and say to yourself, "I may screw up this skydive, but, my-o-my, am I lucky to be a skydiver." Few others in this world know that joy.

Any hope? You bet! Most good skydivers started just like you. Good luck.

Opposite effect going from parachute to glider. When I'm on final with a glider, going over houses, trees, and power lines, looking at my alti being 300 feet AGL, make me mighty nervous. I think I want nice flat grass under me, no obstacles whatsoever. Of course, this has to do with the glide angle. The glider is, what 30 to 1? Wow. Now, if I had a birdman suit like that, life would be grand!