Treejumps

I guess what I don't understand is what you are worried about. Are you concernced tht you won't get the performance out of it? Given what you fly now its going to feel like a rocket. Until you have hundreds of jumps on a canopy you won't know what little difference lines, RDS, or the extra jumpsuit bag feels like anyhow. I think you are worrying about things that are of little concern to you. If you are not already performing speed generating landings (double fronts & FR 90s) and doing them damn consistently, you really should not even consider a high performance canopy. A XF at 1.4 is no canopy to start learning swoops on, even a barge that size. Also, if you cannot slow down to 120 or so to deploy you've got much bigger concerns than line drag to consider. 160 is almost the limit of operational integrity of most gear (275 is the highest sport TSO), and none of it is tested with more than 275#s in the harness. 160 is freefly speed so if you can't reliably slow down to below that you are just rolling the dice. I know for sure that I would not jumnp if I thought there was a good chance on ewach jump that I would be opening at FF speed. Side note: I had a xf 149 that I loaded at 1.8. It opened great and swooped a long way. Be careful.

Good guess. Look, but don't touch.

*** I'm not hugging "Tree", he's not my type.

There are a slew of machines similar to that one on E-bay. I bought one and thought it was a piece of shit. Very clunky operation. The presser foot raiser was on top of the machine, and the worst part was that the "reverse" actuator was the same lever as the stich length adjuster. If you want to reverse you have to loosen the finger screw on the lever, reposition, reverse, and then relocate the lever back to (hopefully) the correct length. For long runs of heavy canvas like sails, it may be OK, but for detailed small pieces it would be very cumbersome. I would reccomend a good quality home machine like a Brother or Singer. Spend $150 to $200 and you have a machine that will do all the repairs you want and do so smoothly. My 2 cents. Cya

*** Are we going soft? I would say so. It seems that unless every last jumper agrees that a given incident is bad juju, or a flagrant ethics or standards violation, you just can't say anything about it. If you you do say something, the offending jumper and his crew will flame you and then you are the dick. After all, they are base jumpers and can do anything they want to. They are cool, cooler than you or me, so who are we to judge them? Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Hey whats up you guys? I'm looking for your web site Chad so I can check out those couple thousand pics you took. Also, I "lost" the video of my diving board jump. Would like to get another copy if possible. Thanks again, it was great hanging out with you two. Tree

Any idea on what happened? Sounds like a respectable S/U delay with line twists and that he hit the wire with his body. Or maybe a S/D with line twists. Bummer. Heal quick.

*** Wow, your standards must be pretty low Quote I was thinking the same thing. Maybe there is another Scott, Gregor and Tree running around here ruining our reputation. Have good travels Abbie, and we'll catch up again later.

Thats an awesome video. I wonder how often they get rope burns? A rope between the legs could be reallt bad. Very cool stuff.

Ahh, another fan of Bill Murray and Stripes.

Good to meet you too James. Thanks again for the cool shirt. Cya, Tree

Hey that was a pretty good piece, especially since I didn't have to listen to the commentary. I didn't realize you were the guys in town prior to BD. I thought that living room looked very familiar. I remember that Belgium guy went off the exit point while I was working. Thanks for carrying our injured out of you know where. Cya.

Yo Abbie, We have a nice grassy landing zone at a tall A. Drive in, drive out. Drop me a line. Cya.

Dennis McGlynn of Gravity Sports fame made Gravity Packs. These were rigs that looked like book bags for stealth entry. This goes back probably 10 years, before my time in the sport, but I'm sure there is someone who can tell you more, or maybe a pic. Cya.

No one has jumped it. There were 2 sets of plans while the scaffolding was up. One involved a friend who was a security gaurd at the site, and the other involved sacrifical gear and underwater breathing devices for escape. AFAIK, neither took place, and I was in on one of the plans. Oh well, it will need more work in 30 years, and I'll be waiting for another shot.

We had this dicussion a while back, and I say yes. If you are on the dole (man or woman) you should be Nor-Planted, or otherwise prevented from creating babies that you cannot take care of. I know that many will dissagree, but if you are on welfare you can't take care of yourself, and that means you can't take care of your offspring. The idea that everyone should have the right to live how they want to (including having children) extends to the point where the indivdual can manage and pay his or her own way. Look at the situation we have in the US, primarily in the inner cities. 80 percent illegitimacy rates that will never go down. Thats 8 of of 10 children born out of wed-lock, and in most cases without a father in the picture. This is what subsidizing the creation of life gets you. Until we get this problem under control this country will never rebound. The crushing expense of welfare and the jailing of the criminals that are continually milled out in this fashion are a burden that we cannot afford to keep making more of.

Congrats Gardner, Way to fight the good fight!

Hey Keith, Sorry to hear you got hurt again. At least your's is a base injury ulike Yuri, who is simply slowly deacying from his advanced age. Hope to see you around, Tree

Yes, but Kaz competes at the highest levels. If we are talking open competition, bring it all on. Weights, jet packs, and Bushes baked beans. I thought we were talking about CPC, which I also thought was billed as a feeder comp for PST. Hey wait a minute, are you calling me chunky? And despite being 2.something on a 120, and a pretty decent swooper, there were plenty of average size guys on 79s and 90s who cruised right on by me. I think you are right about reasonable limits, but as always, the devil is in the details. I hereby change my mind and say let people wear weights. Its no different then folks buying too small a canopy. Besides, there will be more used larger xbraces on the market in case I ever need another back up canopy. Cya.

I think it is totally fair. What you are saying is that instead of the 2 pilots honing their skills and having the better one win the day.... let them strap on weight in hopes that it helps them make up for poor/lack of skill. On any given day I'll place my bet on the guy at 1.8 who has taken the time to dial in his or her canopy. Consistancy always wins. When Craig G. won the Ranch meet in 2000 (I think it was 2000) on a Stilleto, it wasn't becasue he had the fastest canopy made or the highest wingloading. It was because he was consistant. When Johnny Utah won that Redbull event in Chi, it was consistancy over "going big". That is the differecne between using weight and not. Considering that most swoopers only get 75% (if they are lucky) of what their canopy can do, I think it is totally fair. When those pilots are all wringing every last bit out of their wings and the heavier guy keeps winning, well then they would both be in the Pro class. Until then, you skinny folks keep eating McDonalds, or, just get the chunky swooper you just can't seem to beat hooked on meth. Cya.

This is a tough call because it all comes down to personal abilities. Unfortunatly, new swoopers are notoriously bad at knowing what their personal abilities are. This is why we have seen the battle over wingloading regulations. Its the same argument, but instead of getting smaller canopies without being able to fly what they already have, now its just cheaper to strap on weights. Does everyone recall the novice (under 200 jumps) who was "training" at the Perris swoop park with 20# of lead on a sub 100 xBrace who hooked it in trying to hit a set of 5' gates? If the CPC is trying to be the entry level swoop comp, then weights should just be banned. In the Pro Tour its no holds barred, and it should remain that way. When I qualified Pro a couple years ago it was just speed, distance, and accuracy. Within 2 years it was all about freestyle. With the seemingly endless changes to rules, and a new circuit, club, or association to join every few months, I lost interest. Weights are just one more aspect of an already highly challenging endeavor that 90% of most swoopers can't actually take advantage of. Crack, on the other hand is something that every swooper can benefit from. With nearly a dozen different swoop related web sites (CPC, PST, WSA, JS.com, SHockwaveprod,etc, etc,) your going to need to stay awake a long time to read all of that. Anyone ever notice that swoop comps never happen at 4:20? A coincidence? I think not.

Hey Will, Nice! I probably have more jumps from a King Air than any other plane, so I really like them. That sounds super fast. Nice job at the Ranch. You coming to BD? Cya.

Great to hear you're coming. BD will be all the better because of it. We get in town Thursday. Cya then.

I'm in for $50 I just searched for flights and found tickets from LAX to BWI for $272.00.

Damn Nick, I thought I was finally going to get to meet you. Can we pitch in and buy you a ticket? Sure wish you could make it. Cya.