Rant & Rave Blog
Reviews, News & Expert Advice
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Rigging for the Naked Skydive
(Published in Blue Skies Magazine) The range of naked skydiving experience is far and wide. For some, their only skydive ever was naked courtesy of a tandem jump sans clothes, perhaps with Fast Eddie of Huntsville, Ala. Fast Eddie Grantland has taken 111 naked tandem passengers since 1991. Number 111 was two weeks ago. For some, it’s just something to do to change it up a bit. Warren Cleary of Atlanta makes one naked jump a year on his birthday and has done so for the past four years. Says Cleary, “Me and my buddy’s birthday are one day apart and one year we just said, ‘Lets go jump naked.’” He’s been doing it every year ever since. Continue reading -
Australian Skydiver Forums
Dropzone.com may be the be all, end all of internet forums in the U.S., but Dropzone.com may be the be all, end all of internet forums in the U.S., but https://www.skysurfer.com.au/ was Australia's internet forum (since this post it is now defunct)…and it's a more interesting one to follow at times. was Australia's internet forum (since this post it is now defunct)…and it's a more interesting one to follow at times.
Recently a fellow skydiver turned me on to the forum after a thread started on "Price Wars" in "The Car Park." The gist of it is one skydiver's experience from purchasing a Pilot main canopy from ChutingStar, but the ensuing debate, comic relief and video are worth a read.
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Toggle Malfunction Prevention
Below is a series of photos showing how a young jumper at Skydive The Farm ended up with a main canopy toggle malfunction. The jumper did try to stow the toggles per the manufacturer's manual (United Parachute Technologies TruLock Toggles). But the stowage instructions aren't as detailed for canopies with longer excess brake lines. The jumper also may not have been looking at the toggles when she released them or may not have realized the brake line was looped over the toggle during deployment. Continue reading -
Skydivemag Chats With Mike Gruwell
Lesley Gale of Skydivemag.com interviewed ChutingStar's Mike Gruwell last month about the past, present and future of skydiving's largest skydiving gear retailer.
Curious about how the business came to be? Read on for the full scoop on how we all became to be G'd Up!
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The Star Skate Park in Atlanta Parent Magazine
The Star Skate Park & Shop owner Mike Gruwell was interviewed for the recent article in Atlanta Parent Magazine on how to get started in skateboarding. Check out the article link below: Continue reading -
Kona the King in 2015!
Kona is King!Continue readingHave you ever wanted to see where one of the people you grew up watching in videos and looking at in magazines grew up? Ever since I watched Rodney Mullen do a “Casper Slide to Primo to 360 out”, I wanted to emulate his style. I am nowhere near as good as him, nor do I partake in that type of skating anymore but, going to one of the oldest parks in the United States is on my bucket list of things to do. It isn’t that far away. It isn’t a Carlsbad or a Venice Beach but, this mass of concrete is the “King of Parks.” The anticipation is growing as the event grows nearer and nearer. I can feel it, it happens every time. These jitters are different though, not the pre run jitters you get right before you start down a mountain, not the butterflies you get when you do that first drop in but, the warm feeling you get when you know you are about to visit one of the “Most Iconic Skate Parks in the World!” -
The tonto Boogie Raises the Sky for charity with ChutingStar
Johannesburg Skydiving Club, November 9-11, 2013
Continue readingThe skies over South Africa were full of smiling skydivers last weekend. Two planes were flying for three days, a PAC and an “Atlas Angel” (a single-prop plane with origins in the South African military). Scott Plamer and Paul Ferriman came out to fly fast and steep with the freeflyers, and Lawrence de Laubadere and I, along with local organizer Oliver Nothen, kept the wingsuiters busy with formations, vertical stacks, and docked dives. Belly flyers did some 2-plane formations, rare in this part of the world, with some very happy campers achieving the 16-ways required for a PASA D-license. -
First Look: Sony Action Cam
Sony is making their entrance into the action camera market with the appropriately named "Sony Action Cam". My friends over at ChutingStar loaned me one to try out and see how it stacks up. The Sony Action Cam comes in two models, one that is WiFi enabled and one that is not. I got to play with the WiFi enabled version. My first impression was that it's small and light with very few buttons. The bottom is curved so it will not stand up on it's own, you must put it in a case of some sort. In other words, you can't just set the camera on the table and press "record" because it will fall over. The clear plastic housing has a flat bottom with a standard camera screw mount, so it can be mounted onto any tripod or camera mount. Once inside the housing there is only one accessible button. Pressing that button turns the camera on and automatically starts recording, pressing it again will stop recording and the camera will automatically power off in 10 or 60 seconds depending on your settings. An attachment screws into the bottom of the housing which allows you to clip it into Sony's self adhesive mounts. This mounting system is a fixed angle system, so placement of the adhesive mounts is crucial. There is a tilt adapter that can be purchased separately that allows for angle adjustment though, and I think the Surfboard mount kit also comes with an angle adapter. Continue reading -
12 for 12 Skydiving Chicks Rock 2013
Last weekend Skydive Elsinore in California hosted its 12th annual Skydiving Chicks Rock Boogie and it truly rocked! Aside from the killer party we have all come to expect from the Skydiving Chicks Rock Boogie, Elsinore was host to some of the badest organizers including formation, freefly, and wingsuiting.Continue reading
Photo by: Oliver "Olee" Finkelde -
CYPRES2 C2 0113 Service Bulletin Update
July 2013 CYPRES2 Service Bulletin. IMPORTANT Follow-Up to CYPRES 2 Service Bulletin C2 0113 – Additional included serial numbers and other important information. In a follow-up to Service Bulletin C2 0113, beginning this month (July 2013), Airtec GmbH & Co. KG and SSK Industries, Inc. are accepting CYPRES units affected by the Service Bulletin for premature updates. In order to proceed in an orderly manner and to not create a backlog, which would delay the return of your CYPRES, only units which were manufactured from September 2012 to December 2012 are being accepted at this time. Continue reading