Dries

wow, guys, thanks for all the great answers! helped me A LOT. As I will be skydiving for the rest of my life, so I will try to do this more slowly and safe, by trying a 150sq ft canopy. Like you guys said, a 135 will be a step to far for me, maybe it could work, but I'd rather wait some years instead of getting in a wheelchair, and bye bye skydiving career . And there is always an option to swap out the 150 for a 2nd hand 135 after some years of experience! I will use a friend's rig with a 150 and see how it goes, I'll probably like it! Thanks a lot guys! blue ones!

Hi! I'm looking to buy a rig next summer, and I really need some advice. I got 60 jumps now, and by the time I'll buy my rig (in six months), I'll have reached 100 at least. I currently rent a Pilot 170 at my DZ, and I'll soon downsize to 150 when I get completly comfortable flying the 170. I'm very lightweight: 122lbs And I sometimes wear 10lbs of lead, depending on who I'm jumping with, but it should be mentioned, as it affects the wingloading. Now as I'm very light, I got some problems going forward when there's some wind. Even with the 170 sq ft I sometimes go backwards if there's some wind. This is very frustrating, because I'm always afraid of making my appoarch to far, resulting in an exhausting walk to the hangar... So what I actually really want when buying a rig is that I have a canopy that penetrates that damn wind. So my first guess would be to have a bigger wingloading, like 1.1 or so, like many at my dropzone told. But the problem is, to have that wingloading, I need a canopy of about 135sq ft. (calculated with flyfirebird.com) But I've read several articles that said that a 230sq ft loaded at 1.1 flies safer/less agressive then a 135 loaded at 1.1. Which is very understandable. What would you guys think about me flying a 135 sq canopy? To risky or quiet doable? Also, I don't like ground hungry canopies, just the way they fly, and also, when heading to the DZ from a tracking jump that ended out far, a high glide ratio canopy gets you back much easier... and I also like to glide a little longer when flaring, in stead of agressively pulling those brakelines, giving the feeling of not really flying, but just going down... So, shortly said, I'm looking for a canopy that can get me through the winds, and that has a very good glide ratio. (Maybe to do some ground launching in the future) I've been looking around, and the PD Pulse seemed like to have a good GR, according to the PD website. I've also seen that those french Electra canopies have a good GR... Also the stilleto looked like having a good GR, but that one has a tapered wing, so not recommend for beginners I guess (I'm quiet new to canopy types, so correct me if I'm wrong) Any suggestions from you guys on which canopy and what size? I also hope that it is a canopy that I will like for a long time, so not regretting it's to big, or to slow after some time flying it... thanks in advance! Blueskies Dries

just cause 2 hase nice skydiving and basejumping. freefalls look rather slow, and tracking is more of a head down dive, so very little forward speed. parachute openings are quick, and stearing is very basic ( note that when diving the canopy forward, the player pull's the break toggles down, Ha Ha...) you can get very high with one of the planes/jets and enjoy a very long freefall, which can be a lot of fun. You all should give a try!

Thanks a lot guys for the answers! ABonito, I sent some questions to intrudair about the RW suit, and indeed, they were extremely kind and responding very quickly! I'm going for this suit!

I'm just a beginner at skydiving, so casual belly jumps is just what I like to do, just for fun. Looking for a cheap suit, and this one looks like a winner. No need to be super professional and 'super quality', as long as I can have fun! ;) Thanks for the comment, made my decision confirmed! blue skies