need advice please

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Hell, my old Fury 220 is way cool!! That's right ladies, I'm still jumpen that bad old boy! OK, I only use it for CRW because I can't afford a Lightning.... but that's not the point.

I was recently told by one of my students (high school) that my black belt doesn't go with my brown shoes. I told him that it's not what you wear, but how you wear it! And further, If I put it on in the morning, it's in style!!

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[craigbey 0]

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What makes a canopy "cool"?
Are there some canopies that are NOT cool?

ufk22's profile lists a Stiletto. After the OP tried to insult or diminish his knowledge and experience, ufk22 replied to the OP with ...

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I've been in the sport 20 years and haven't learned how to fly a really cool canopy.

I know that ufk22 was just being sarcastic. My comment was just to remind some that the Stiletto is still a HP canopy.

Everyone has an idea of what's cool. Given the opening and flight characteristics of the Stiletto, I think it is still a great canopy after all these years. I had one for a couple of years and my SO has been flying Stilettos for about 9 years. It is cool because it has reliable openings (our experience), excellent glide and a nice flare. It is also a lot of fun on toggles.

But the Stiletto is not a swoop machine and I suspect that the OP is looking to eventually fly a canopy that is more appropriate for HP landings. That doesn't make the Stiletto, Triathlon, Safire, Silhouette, Sabre II or others any less cool. It's nice that there are so many options available besides round vs square.

The coolest thing someone can do is select a canopy based on their personal experience, not because the canopy won some event or because someone else said you need to jump canopy 'X'. Taking the question of which canopy one should fly to an Internet forum is not cool.

[davelepka 4]

Fun thread.

All the fun aside, 6 years is a very long layoff, regardless of your experience before taking a break. However, if you want to be treated like an 'experienced' jumper, how about you start acting like one?

You know how it all works, and you know you're going to need to 'ease' back into things. Get yourself a rig with a nice 150, and get back to the DZ and start pounding out the jumps.

Here's the kicker - downsize AS NEEDED. Nobody knows when that will be, or what canopies will be involved, you just get back to jumping and do what makes sense when it makes sense.

You know that you can demo canopies, you know that you can borrow rigs, and you know that can you sell and buy used gear all day long without spending much more than your initial investment. Take advantage of all those things, just do what seems right, when it seems right.

You seem to already know that you need to start off with a 150-ish canopy, so do that. It's all just bullshit until you buy the gear, get current, and make some jumps. None of the downsizing BS is even relevant until you actaully get started, and crank out 50-100 jumps in a reasonable amount of time. If you do that, and find that you're 'feeling good' and able to spend enough time at the DZ to keep the learning curve steep, then take a look at what's available and go from there.

[JohnRich 4]

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The coolest thing someone can do is select a canopy based on their personal experience, not because the canopy won some event or because someone else said you need to jump canopy 'X'.

There you go - that's the correct mind set which we should be fostering, instead of pushing people to be "cool" by jumping high performance canopies before they're ready for it, causing great carnage upon themselves and others. That's the answer I was wondering if anyone would give in response to my question. Thank you for "getting it".

[davelepka 4]

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The coolest thing someone can do is select a canopy based on their personal experience, not because the canopy won some event or because someone else said you need to jump canopy 'X'.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


There you go - that's the correct mind set which we should be fostering, instead of pushing people to be "cool" by jumping high performance canopies before they're ready for it, causing great carnage upon themselves and others

I don't believe the community is fostering that behavior, I think it comes from within the individual jumper. Young, impressionable jumpers see the experienced guys swooping the little wings, and it looks cool as shit. They want to be cool as shit, and they feel the only way to do that is to swoop the little wings.

Think about it, let's say every car on earth cost the same amount of money, how many people would drive an F1 car because that's what the 'cool guys' drive? What's cooler than an F1 driver? Maybe a figher pilot, but again, if you had your pick of airplanes, how many young pilots would want to fly a Hornet like the Blue Angles, or that Oracle monstrosity that Sean Tucker flies?

The problem we have is that all canopies do (pretty much) cost the same, and there is unrestricted access to them for all jumpers. You'll never be able to get rid of the 'need for speed' (or need for cool-ness) from new jumpers. This sport attracts the types that want to push the limits, and when you have no limits (like the state of canopy flight in the US) you get what we have now.

[Abedy 0]

Interesting analogies and makes perfect sense to me, so:

+1!
Will use it in upcoming talks/discussion around here (in RL)

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[Krip 2]

When we got back into the sport after a 10 + year layoff A old friend told me a joke. 25 years ago.

"Who says skydivers are stupid We invented a whole new way to kill ourselves "

Now everyone has buzz box's, aad's, alti's opens at 4500' and who knows what else. becuase their afraid their going to bounce.

Now 75 % of all fatilities are because people that can't land a perfectly good canopy.The incident reports are public info. What they don't show except in isolated cases are the life changing injuries from people that "survive" the landings more or less.

There's a man right now thats been in ICU for 48 days. Due to his inability to land a perfetly good canopy. Since he didn't die that info isnt even included in the stats afaik.

Here's the link http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/timsagehorn/journal

Without the USPA monoply and the waiver that may or may not be rock solid. This crap would be happening.

It is what it is. IDGAS what you do or don't do,

FWIW I had a 6-7 year layoff had my reserve repacked The rubbers looked good, I knew where my gear had been stored.

First jump back two way from 13k with a buddy on a 7 yr pack job. Terminal velocity can be you friend, I was cyrrent on my EP's. Was I trying to be Hell no I'm lazy and know my gear

R

One Jump Wonder

[ufk22 33]

Quote

Quote

What makes a canopy "cool"?
Are there some canopies that are NOT cool?

ufk22's profile lists a Stiletto. After the OP tried to insult or diminish his knowledge and experience, ufk22 replied to the OP with ...

Quote

I've been in the sport 20 years and haven't learned how to fly a really cool canopy.

I know that ufk22 was just being sarcastic. My comment was just to remind some that the Stiletto is still a HP canopy.

Everyone has an idea of what's cool. Given the opening and flight characteristics of the Stiletto, I think it is still a great canopy after all these years. I had one for a couple of years and my SO has been flying Stilettos for about 9 years. It is cool because it has reliable openings (our experience), excellent glide and a nice flare. It is also a lot of fun on toggles.

But the Stiletto is not a swoop machine and I suspect that the OP is looking to eventually fly a canopy that is more appropriate for HP landings. That doesn't make the Stiletto, Triathlon, Safire, Silhouette, Sabre II or others any less cool. It's nice that there are so many options available besides round vs square.

The coolest thing someone can do is select a canopy based on their personal experience, not because the canopy won some event or because someone else said you need to jump canopy 'X'. Taking the question of which canopy one should fly to an Internet forum is not cool.

You get it....
I curently average about 100 or so jumps a years. I talked to PD at Couch a couple of years ago about changing canopies. Told them I wasn't into major swoops (90 or fronts to build speed, that's it) and wanted a canopy with good glide, good openings, and something I could safley land in deep brakes or with low brake turns if needed for accuracy. They told me that a Stiletto load at about 1.5 (my current canopy and wing load) was still the best overall choice.
I believe that anyone doing less than 400-500 jumps per year has no business flying a micro-swooping canopy. They just aren't current enough to consistently be able to avoid a serious mistake (and more importantly, recognize those small mistakes and recover immediately, because we all make those mistakes), and even flying my stiletto, a small mistake too close to the ground can easily get you.
I've seen enough bent, broken, or dead to have much patience left with the "mad skilz" posters.
Ignorance I can deal with, stupidity I have NO time for.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.