Rant & Rave Blog
Reviews, News & Expert Advice
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Downwind Swooping Landing Pattern Issues
Landing or swooping downwind seems to be a continuing rage at many drop zones. Many of these jumpers are hoping to get a longer surf to finish a great skydive while some are the “high performance canopy pilots” practicing for upcoming competitions. Either way, this is not setting a good example for students or less-experienced jumpers. And even worse, this is leading to some hectic traffic patterns and close collisions during landing. While jumpers are trained to check the windsock or tetrahedron for the landing direction they are also trained to land in the same direction as the skydivers landing before them to prevent conflicting traffic patterns or collisions. Continue reading -
As The Prop Turns...
Incident #1: A visiting experienced jumper tells a seemingly content and happy skydiving student how he doesn’t enjoy jumping at the particular DZ they are at because of all the “bad vibes.” This jumper also tells the student to check out other DZs where the “vibes” are better. Incident #2: A regular experienced jumper comes out on the weekend to tell as many jumpers who will listen that another experienced jumper at the DZ has probably stolen several hundred dollars from her. The “accuser” has not personally spoken to the “accused” about the alleged theft but chooses to instead take the accusation public in an attempt to ruin the other jumper’s reputation and gain support for her accusation. Incident #3: An experienced skydiver posting praise for another drop zone's boogie on a skydiving newsgroup finishes off his comments by bashing a close-by DZ that had nothing to do with the boogie. Continue reading -
Jumping in Gusty Winds
On a gusty day this past weekend, three jumpers of different skill levels decided they needed to make a skydive even though tandem instructors along with numerous experienced jumpers had made the decision to wait for the winds to calm down. The winds were gusting from 7-25 knots and switching directions 100 degrees. The jumper experience level ranged from about 100 to 2,000 jumps. Amazingly enough, it was actually the most experienced jumper who in the end made the worst decision when coming in for landing. A Cessna 205 took the three jumpers up. The spot, skydives and deployments went pretty much as planned. The two lower-experienced jumpers managed to make a little canopy traffic for themselves on landing. With only three people on the load, canopy traffic should be nil if you pay attention to the other jumpers under canopy. Continue reading -
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.