blueshrew

The "problem area" varies from 2 - 8m (about 6-24 feet), I am guessing the 8 though. We're sending in some divers when it gets warmer, so that should at least be cleared up then.

How would you go about positioning windblades in deep water, so that they won't move around? We've thought about several options, the best of which were to either fasten it to a wheel and sort of anchor it tightly with a rope and bucket of cement, or to fasten it to a wheel and fasten the wheel to a long pole stuck in a bucket of cement. Does anyone have experience with this? Otherwise I'm gonna have to spend a jumpable day at a boring lake with a windblade .

Me too. Even when it's not cold you need to protect your hands. Anything can happen up there or on landing. Wearing gloves is what kept my hands from getting cut up during my infamous runway landing at Rantoul last year. Gloves also have a downside, at least for people who jump pull-outs. If the mouse gets dislodged for some reason, you can always feel for it on top of the container. If you have gloves on, you might not be able to find it.

I deffinitely agree with you on that, but practice is often different from theory. Everyone messes up once in a while. But anyway, that rule will apply to people that know each other better, I doubt anyone will make more than a three way hd dive with someone they don't know over here. But it especially comes in handy on track dives. On the other hand it's very good practice for one person to go on a dive with a training team and try to keep up from a slightly bigger distance. That's what I do when my b/f is training, the team know I won't crash into them, but as they move around a lot, I am still not comfotable or good enough to stick to them like their video guy, so I keep a little distance. This has done wonders for my flying the last 5 dives or so, as opposed to the 20 or 30 jumps I was just in the base. And then that rule is good, so if I mess up I am miles away when they start separating. But then again there's more trust there and these guys know me and have been jumping with me since my AFF.

Where I jump there's also another good rule in FF. If you're not directly with the group at 6000' (normal breakoff is usually at 4500-4200, start separating away from it right then, that way people who for some reason get swept away, will be a lot farther away at pull time.

I was at that same point when I had 40 jumps. My DZ only had a 170 for rental, and I wanted to get a 120 with a 1.1 wingloading. So I went to another DZ over the winter, did about 10 jumps on a 150, realized with my weight under it flew almost exactly like the older 170. I then burrowed a 135 from a friend that wasn't jumping much, and ultimately started jumping my 120 canopy at around 85 jumps. For me this canopy was the perfect choice. I landed it in a small field with barbed wire all around it, downwind, in high winds, in zero winds, and every one of those times I felt very in control of it, and never safer under canopy. A 135 can fly a lot more aggressively, but it is always the pilot and his/her reactions that will make it do so. My advice to you is to make as many jumps on a 150 first until you feel comfotable to downsize to a 135. You may find a 135 too fast for your liking, so demo first if you have the chance. And find yourself a good mentor, that can give you personalized advice and not the standard advice every student gets. Also if you are prone to extremer reflexes/reactions, I'd wait longer. That is if you don't have the ability to think for a split second before you react under extreme situations or stress. Most people fall under that category at first, so check yourself and do be honest with yourself.

That is precisely my point. You need to see what's going on under you and not what's above you, as the guy under you is the one that can throw his canopy at your face or the back of your head for that matter. Someone can always f*** up, and you may not always find everyone at breakoff. I like Trent's idea very much. Turn and start with backtracking just to clear the space behind you, then go to belly tracking for separation. I guess in sit dives, you wouldn't do that, since backtracking will only clear the already cleared space in front of you. But the same principle applies, turn then track, this time belly. As for how flat, all the people I've talked to also advised a gradually flattening track, I've never heard anyone really say flat out as fast as you can Like I said, anyone who's seen someone get injured in a backtrack separation will know it's not the safest way to go.

I figure that when I track away, my safety comes first, then that of others. So I track normally, since the danger there, is that someone opens their parachute under me and injures me, and if I was backtracking I wouldn't see that coming. Before I pull, I do a barrel roll, to make sure I don't put someone else in that situation. I have seen a broken nose on someone who backtracked, and have heard of someone else with an identical accident. So why does anyone recommend backtracking away? It just makes you vulnerable to someone else's f***ups. But maybe I am missing something and someone cares to enlighten me (though it just doesn't make any sense from any angles of thought)

I got an email from PST a while ago saying it would be shipped out starting March 12th. So that appears not to be the case anymore?

My risers are indeed shorter, 18'' if I remember correctly. But getting longer ones is not really an option, since I can barely grab the slider now. So I guess, I am cursed with my tiny arms Thanks for your help, though.

I am currently jumping a Sabre2 120 loaded at about 1.1:1. The factory setting was way too long, so I had the steering lines shortened so that I have a super slow stall when my arms are fully extended. Problem is, if I pull on both front risers until about eye level, my canopy is flying pretty much in brakes, and rocking a lot. Will this change with a smaller or different canopy? Just wondering whether I will ever be able to get a decent swoop and still flare without having to wrap the steering lines around my wrists. But don't bark at me yet, that won't be very soon, I'm just looking at the future.

That paper has been online for a while at http://www.afn.org/skydive/sta/highperf.pdf.

I'm not sure if this helps, but Rainbow from Germany also does two piece suits. They'll do any design you want. their email is rainbow@funjump.de.

Like everyone says, wait until you are off AFF to start thinking about equipment. I am not even sure you'd be allowed to jump your own helmet on student status. Your instructors and the riggers at the DZ are the best people to ask, as they will be watching your flying and landings. Where do you intend to do a course? You put base jumping as your second favorite discipline, whatever you do, do not try that first/on your own, but I guess that goes without saying.

My boss started AFF right when I got my license :) So no, I don't get hasseled.

There is no bigger fuck up than to stop trying to live, and start trusting a neat $1,000.00 gizmo. and thank YOU for cutting out the relevant end of that sentence

Sure shit happens, but I for myself take every precaution I can to make that not happen. That includes pulling at 1500m/4500ft on a new rig and going for all the handles a couple of times during freefall. If you look at the saves, a lot of them (most?) are students that had a malfunction cut away and waited ala "I didn't want to do anything wrong so I waited for the Cypres", or just plain didn't do anything. I'd say that has more to do with their training than anything. And I wouldn't call that a fuck-up on their side, it's just plain stupidity or bad training. Now I hope I will still be that precautious as my jump numbers grow (they say the people most at risk are those that are just over 200 and just over 1000 jumps). I jump as if I didn't have a Cypres, and then there is no room for fucking up. Sure that could happen, but I's say it is less likely to happen if my mind set is "ah, you know, I will fuck up eventually, so that's why I have a cypres". I have one in case I cannot for whatever reason save myself. BTW, not finding your handles, VERY lame excuse for a Cypres fire, and very embarassing, whatever happened to following the shoulder strap down?

I 'm sorry, are you saying that you cannot get unconcious, so that is a lame excuse for having a cypres???? Getting unconcious is as bad as "shit happens" can get, and it may not even come from a collision. You have a super weird way of thinking, man, if that's what you meant.

Right, I think we both are misunderstanding each others' posts. I was under the impression that you were not pro-Cypres as a last backup. But apparently you are. My post was disregarding the incident at the top of the thread, just stating that if you are unconcious your only chance will be a Cypres. But since you see the Cypres as I do, no point in arguing. One "real" cypres save is enough to make it a good thing.

I couldn't agree more about the Sabre2, it is an awsome canopy. I haven't jumped a Stiletto, but also don't really know why someone with 110 jumps would want to buy one, except for hope of being cooler. But chances are, it will make you uncooler. I'd say that trying to get the most out of a canopy will lead to some mistakes, which are better done under a more forgiving canopy than a stiletto.

Dterrick, have you been on a a similiarly sized 7 cell low-p, and 9 cell zero-p? my guess is no. it is very much possible to make a reserve that has a nearly identical flare to a zero-p canopy (see your original statement also). that is not to say that all reserves are built to be like that. flaring performance has a little (not to say a LOT) more variables than aspect ratio. as for the bickering, i made you a suggestion, maybe a little bickery, but not to the intent of "if you have low jump numbers, shut the hell up", but, "at least get informed first".

My reply was to your last post. Can you do those things while unconcious (a good pilot chute will not get you concious, and you can't locate your reserve handle when you're unconcious)? I, too, think that a cypres is for when Murphy is visiting and when everything goes wrong. i.e you're unconcious, centrifugal force disables you from getting to your handles, etc. I don't see why that's a lame excuse for a cyprus. someone knocking you unconcious is not necessarily your fault (bad separation from the guy after you, you don't see him coming from behind you, and boom).

I want one! I want one! My babies are a 5 hour flight away

Have you even read the Koran. From what you are writing, you have less than no idea what you are talking about. It is just so easy to say islamist fundamentalists have everything to do with Islam, because the media embraces that thought. But in fact apart from the name, they have less in common than apples and cows. I am a fluent arabic speaker, so unlike you, I am able to read the Koran and not a translated interpretation. So if you care for any facts on any given parts of it, I'd be glad to clarify. BTW Islam is derivated from the word Salam which means peace. The word Islam itself means something to the sort of peaceful giving in, I don't think there is an English word for it. Islam is honestly the most beautiful of religions I have studied, though that may seem hard to believe after the western media's portrayal of it. A lot of things that modern society is built on actually originate from Islam. It is a very logical and easy religion to follow. Also by the way, what you are talking about would be a soura/soureh, serah is something entirely different. And souras were not Mohammed's word. The Ahadeeth were. As far as converting someone goes, it is a sort of sin to force your will upon someone in that matter in Islam. And so you have no place to talk about this, since your understanding presumably stems from a bad gossip paper. For the average US citizen, the Middle East is such a far away place, which is a good basis for misconceptions. That I have heard of another religion (Judaism), but deffinitely not Islam. If anyone cares to clarify this (unfortunately, I cannot read Hebrew, so I can only read interpretations). I was inclined to believe this after statements made by Charon, but then I though there are too many normal Jews, and no one in their right mind would follow a racist religion in those days. Islamist fundamentalists are not the only terrorists, though. Only the American bred terrorists hurting their own country are forgotten easier. And also the US is not the only country to suffer terrorist attacks, some Middle East countries suffered islamic fundamentalism as well. As for the actual topic, in the end I do hope Bush is blowing smoke. And if he is not, honestly I am at the point where I really don't care anymore as long as it's over fast (as unPC as that may be). But I am glad to be living in a country that is not involved, and that is less likely to suffer consequences should a fundamentalist group decide to hit the countries that are sticking their noses there yet again..

Can you do that when you're unconcious?