swoopster33

The water is on, the pond will be open this weekend. J

I would say socal or colorado would be the closest. J

Schedule to be relased soon jason

Ian, I would throw the Stellito into your advanced catagory. There are still a lot of them out there and they still have a pretty stong following. BTW, couldn't agree with you more. Jason

Rob wrote "sometimes his judgement is off a little /tease JT" What are you talking about, i never have bad judgement, and could someone please tell my why my ribs hurt so much when i cough :-) Peace...

There is no "cut and dry" formula at work here. It's not the canopy nearly as much as it is who is under it. Work on the fundamentals, work on technique, GET COACHING. Don't get in a race to get the best swooping canopy. That race usually ends in a bad way. Listen to steve, he has some good advice. It sounds like he is in the same place you are. Listen to the advice you have recieved here, it was given to you for a reason! If i can give you any advice at all, GET COACHING. Get in a flight 1 course. Learn about the wing you are jumping, learn the basics before you ever start thinking about what "swooping" wing to buy. JT

They are in Bakersfield Hospital, not sure what room. I think Jim will be there for a few more days.....

O.k. Folks, here is the official word for the moment. Sunday afternoon Jim Slaton and Duane Hall were involved in an accident at the GLC. They were filming a stunt for a DVD that they had done many times before. There was a collision at about 60 feet that caused the accident. Jim has suffered a broken Femur/Hip. He has already had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. Duane also suffered a broken Femur and has already had surgery. He is expected to make a full recovery. Please do not speculate on any thing else, both Jim and Duane are in good spirits, with their families. They are next to each other in the same room. For now, that is all the info that is to be released. Cyndi has asked that everyone hold off on the phone calls and e mails. If anyone needs more info, please e mail me at swoopster33@hotmail.com or pm me.

Done

PM Sent

This season the rules have changed slightly. EVERYONE that competes in at least three meets in their home district will receive an invitation to CPC Nationals. See you in Colo Boys! Jason

I noticed the canopy was easier to keep in a dive on the 20's as well. The 24's just compounded it. I agree with you, i would not advise doing this either as i have already stated. There are many reasons i would not advise doing this, you have added some good points as well. If a manufacutre wants to start testing this concept and then puts it out on the market, then cool. But in my opinion, i don't really think it is worth it. I have taken this to terminal many times, and the other guys i know that have the same set up have done the same with no problems. Obviously, that donsn't mean much as my risers are new. Lets see how they hold up over a few hundred jumps. I will say that i don't think the extra stiching would cause a the risers to be any weaker, but i very well could be wrong. I also only use my full RDS on competition jumps. The rest of the time my RDS lines are rolled up in my pocket and i do take the slider off every time as well. I have not felt that the risers are harder to get a good grip on, just a little different. Chuck i agree with you, if someone did some testing and proved that it had no effect on the strength of the risers, and this didn't cause trim changes, then i think it would be a good idea for pilots that were trying to get just a little tiny bit more out of it. But as several of us have already stated, most of us just need to keep working on form! In the end, not worth it. I hope you get to come to Denver this year. Missed you last year. Jason T

When you stich the risers they go from 1 inch of surface area to about 3/16 of surface area. There is a substantial difference in surface area. However, as stated previously by myself and marks, the difference will only be noticed if you already have an RDS, HMA lines, tight swooping attire, (not a freefly suit) ect. What i noticed the most was the changes caused by the trim change. I am still not completely used to it and not sure if i like it. The canopy is easier to keep in a dive, but i don't have the bottom end that i did. Again, if you stich risers, be sure to pay close attention to trim changes. Play up high.

No problem on the info, hope it helps. Just remember that this can change the pitch of the canopy. If you put on a pair of risers that are different lengths due to stiching (or anything that changes the pitch or tirm of a canopy) play with it up high a lot before doing anything close to the ground. Stay safe and see you over the pond sometime!

every now and then....

The only reason is to reduce drag. It is true that stiching the risers can cause shrinking and change the trim. The reason is that you can stich more of the front riser than the rear riser because the toggles take up room on the rears. So, you are stiching 3/4 of the fronts, and only 1/2 at most of the rears. I have a pair of 20" risers and 24" risers that this has been done to. On both sets, the fronts are 3/8 of an inch shorter than ther rears. That has changed the pitch of the canopy by 3/8 of an inch steeper on a velo. I would advise to not try this. It can change the trim on your canopy. If you try this, take a look at the risers when you are done. Are the fronts shorter or longer? A friend of mine stiched his so that the rears are a little shorter than the fronts. So in his case, the canopy has a little flater glide. I noticed that my front riser presure whas ligher, rear riser presure was a little more, and i lost lift at the bottom end. I could also dive the canopy harder and faster with less presure on the fronts. These changes may have something to do with changing from 20's to 24's. In the end, unless you are useing an rds, have hma lines, swooping in a tight suit, it wont help much. Most would be better off working on technique!

We are going to have something going on every month through the summer. Schedule will be released in feb. I hope to see you make it back this summer.

Hey did you have your camp yet? If so, let me know how it went. Love some details, level of pilots, what you worked one ect.... Pond will be full April 1. Can wait to see you bust the record!

PM sent.

Both, i think

Every time i talk to pope he is editing, i am sure it will be worth the wait......

A few years ago a friend of mine had his velo spin up on him just after starting the turn. It was a very bad deal, he ended up pulling the reserve at about 300 feet, the reserve opened in time, the guy lived, thats another story.... Just after that happend we took the canopy (velo 75) up to alt and did some high pulls. I was filming from behind him. We were trying to get the canopy to do it again, but with no luck. However, on the video we noticed the tail flutter that you are talking about. It happened several times. We sent the canpoy and the video back to pd. They tested the canopy and could not find anything wrong with it, however the tail flutter that we saw on the vid was never explained either. I have always been curious about what would cause it as well......

The otter is flying great mark, very fast to alt. The pets arived at 4:15, very scared and a little shaken, but alive and well. They all have foster familes for the next 90 days while they are on "pet finder.com". If their familes can not be located after 90 days, they will be up for adoption. Seeing the pets come off of the plane was a very cool thing. I know what you mean mary, it was hard not to take a few home myself. JT

I wish i could come to your camp, let me know how it goes........ JT