Risk's back

[Jazilla]

Wow, welcome back. My first hammock was a zhammock. Risk is the reason I bought my first machine and got to building my first hammock and tarp.

[Stumblefoot]

Glad to see you are back. I join that long list of people who you influenced. I always looked forward to your reviews at backpackgeartest.org as well as the yahoo group of hammock hangers.

[Risk]

Welcome back Risk....Did you ever bag a deer with those points? Hope to see you at TD again this year.

Pan

I did. Many thanks! Deer tastes better than sheep too! Trail days is a possibility now that I live nearer.

[Risk]

Great to have you back, Risk.

If some of the newbies couldn't tell, Risk is literally one of the first folks to push the "modern" hammock movement forward...although he probably won't take credit for that. Lots of products that are in production now stem from his ideas, either directly or indirectly through the way he applied certain principles to hammocking.

Blush

His website has the first mentions of travel pods (hammock socks) and insulated hammocks that I'm aware of. His discussions with Youngblood at the original Hot Springs Hangs prompted the refinement of underquilts and I suspect helped Youngblood tweak the design that eventually became the SnugFit.

What became clear to me was that insulation without an air space between the hammock body and the hammock was much more efficient. Once I learned that the zig-zag stitch allowed me to sew on the hammock body, I was able to build some nice "down-under" hammocks.

socks... nice term. My term was a take on Ed Speer's pea-pod, but without the insulation. It was a lot simpler than suspending a piece of silnylon under the hammock with cords (the taco). So I called it a travel pod. That was the name of the baggage pod that we put on our USAF fighters when we went on trips. I see that someone has expanded the idea to bug netting. Good work!

Risk inspired me to DIY - literally my first DIY hammock came from his two-layer design - and many of the ideas on my site are just copies of his or are different applications of his ideas. I posted my progress on tothewoods.net, and the traffic from tothewoods is one major reason we started HammockForums...and even though I haven't updated tothewoods.net substantially in a while, I still get emails pretty often about how that website (and then this one) is what got people interested in actually starting to hammock.

So...there's a pretty direct link between Risk's website and the motivation for everything that came after, including Hammock Forums. Much of the community we have on this site today traces back, at least indirectly, to imrisk.com.

Risk - glad to have you back in the game. There has been a lot of innovation in the last few years and I can't wait to see what you do with it.

Jeff,

I am having a ball looking through 4 years worth of DIY design work on the site. Great stuff! I pulled out my ZHammock and slept in the yard last night. It was 28 degrees. I used my down quilt and the travel pod.

Someone suggested that I look at all the new ideas and give my take on what I like and why. I am taking notes and may do that if anyone would be interested.

[WV]

I worry that you'll feel the need to absorb, evaluate, and add to all the developments that have shown up on the forum in your absence. I say, just do whatever you feel like doing. It's bound to be interesting.

[Cannibal]

Darn glad to see you Risk!

[Acer]

Glad your back as I know I will enjoy reading your postings.

[Loki]

I'm back. I did 5 years in Texas, now back in Ohio and all excited about the AT again. I had a wonderful 4 days of great weather in the Shenandoah NP across Veteran's day and have been reading a lot since then.

Hammock tech has changed a lot in the last few years. I have some catching up to do! I was just watching a couple YouTubes by Sgt Rock. UCRs, Dynaglide, Zingit! Man do I have a lot to catch up on.

Risk

Risk,

I'n new on hammock forums; so haven't the chance to meet you yet. As a newbie, it's great reading all the 'welcome back' posts by members remembering trail time with you and your innovative ideas.

I'm glad you are back! Hope to meet you on the trail someday

[gmcttr]

...Someone suggested that I look at all the new ideas and give my take on what I like and why. I am taking notes and may do that if anyone would be interested...

I'm sure there are many here that would enjoy reading your thoughts. I'm looking forward to it, thanks.

[Risk]

I'm sure there are many here that would enjoy reading your thoughts. I'm looking forward to it, thanks.

Hi gmcttr,

I wrote something up last week from my marathon of reading about hammocks. Search for "A Risky Perspective" using the search engine. It is on the DIY forum a couple pages back now.