robap26

All the time. His initials are TW. I have done bad things to him in my mind every day for the last two years.

Yes but... If one is good then two must be better....

YES, agreed.

What I have noticed over the years is that they are going to do it anyway. If I refuse to give them advise that is just going to make them go out and do it sooner and without knowledge. It's hard to say " swoopin's bad M'kay" when my conservative approach is a 180 and that's all they see. The last few years I have been talking to younger jumpers about swooping, not encouraging them but answer their questions honestly. The old timers and DZO/DZM think this is terrible but I disagree. I would rather give them knowledge and guidance and help them learn safely then watch them learn the hard way. The WILL do it anyway, I may as well try and help them stay safe. I do think some people try to hold back the young up and comers for the wrong reasons, and jealousy is part of it. You can see it in their attitude; "You don't deserve to be in our club". It can be hard to see a low timer achieve in 200 jumps what took you 500. It stings a little when I jump with one of my former AFF students and they are better on their head then I am. But the proud feeling is a lot stronger then the small sting. I have sort of a protege that has about 700 jumps now. I have worked with him on his coach rating and taught him how to shoot video and of course swooping. By next season he will be my equal in filming, and by the season after that he will be my equal in swooping. This is a little hard on the ego but I'm not going to let that get in the way of being happy for him. And Hey, when he beats me to the PST he can teach me. I am always going to have to deal with this sort of stuff. I am not a risk taker or a natural athlete or a hot-shot. I do things slow and careful. The hot-shots and the naturals take bigger risk and learn faster and generally achieve more in less time. There are a lot of guys who are not as "OK" with being beat as I am and they tend to discourage the youngins. To you youngins... If you get that bad vibe from someone just go somewhere else for your advice, please don't do it on your own. A jack-ass will say "you shouldn't do that...PERIOD" The correct answer is " this is how that works and these are the steps to get you to that point".

For a long time I used just my first two fingers in the toggles. When I started doing rear riser landings I found that having only two fingers in the toggles was not a good enough grip. Often when I would transition from risers to toggles I would nearly lose the toggle. I was stubborn and didn't want to put the toggle over my whole hand. It just felt funny after having done it the other way for so long. After actually dropping a toggle on a landing I decided to break the silly habit and put my whole hand in the toggle. Dropping a toggle for me was just a little tumble but it can be very nasty. My advice; use your whole hand. By the way, when I was being stubborn and not wanting to change my technique, I asked Shannon Pilcher the same question you are asking. He gave me the same answer I am giving you.

After reading all the way through this thread I have forgotten most of the points that I wanted to make. First off my favorite set-up is a 270. I also like to use the 360 by setting up for a 270 and then doing a 90 one way and then 360 back around. I often use this if I reach my set-up point high. I will use harness input for the first 90 so I don't build up too much riser pressure. I think 270's are fine to do on any size canopy. They may not be any faster then the 180 on the bigger canopies but people still need to work on them before they downsize. I feel like if there are still things to be learned from a given canopy then you are not ready to downsize. Turns bigger then 270 are probably best done on canopies that will hold a dive. So I think a person should probably hold off on going big until they are jumping a high performance canopy at a fairly high loading and the 270 approach is like second nature to them.

I have been fun jumping in Lodi and Davis. I'm not sure which one will be my home this season. I quit at SkydiveSF when the drama got too much for me. I have been following your lead and bringing my students to Lodi lately. I may just do a small private student operation there this season.

This is a shot of a girl who flipped on exit and needed a little help getting back on her belly. I usually just put a hand up and push them back over, but this time I got a little fresh with her. Hot young girl. Sometimes you can't help yourself. When she saw this on the video she laughed and her equally hot little friend made a pouty face and complained about me not grabbing her ass.

I think those padded shorts look like a "must have" piece of protective gear to me. Thanks for the link I think I will be getting those.

Yeah, I just read through the forums at CP.com. I guess that the new weight rules will be released on Feb. 28th. From what I get from the discussions it should not affect me too much. my exit weight is 225 and I wasn't planning on using any weights.

I will be jumping a Velo 103 loaded at 2.2 This will be my first year competing and I plan to get to all five NORCAL events. I am not sure about CO. My goals are to have fun, learn a lot and not hurt or embarrass myself. What's up with the new weight classes? I haven't heard this.

I have over 1000 jumps on a Vengeance 120 loaded at 1.8 and about 40 on a Katana 120. My primary canopy is a Velocity 103. I found the Katana to feel a little softer (less rigid) and the Vengeance to feel more like the Velocity. The Katana seemed to turn a bit quicker but developed less speed in turns. Both canopies are capable of laying down nice swoops, even close to the Velocity. I found that the Katana took on a whole new attitude at higher speeds and was very fun to swoop but it seemed almost dependent on that speed and suffered at lower speeds, where as the Vengeance lands great with or without speed. I do a lot of flying back from long spots so glide in rear risers is very important to me and I feel like the Vengeance will get you further. I also feel like the Vengeance is more stable in deep brakes. I didn't have a chance to do any CRW with the Katana but I can tell you that the Vengeance is a very stable canopy even in very slow flight or with cells pinched off by other bodies. Also, the air-locks really do their job in rough air. I think both canopies open funny. The Vengeance has a tendency to start off with a nice snivel and then BANG!! slam you into a hard dive in one direction. It doesn't spin up like a Stiletto though. I think this is where the higher aspect ratio and slower turn rate help out. The Katana does a lot of searching and surging and will open off heading often. The whole opening just feels rough and ugly. Although I would not consider it a hard opening. A few final thoughts. These canopies are both very good and I would recommend either. They are actually very similar, more so then I think other people will admit. If you need a 107 Katana you need a 107 Vengeance also, not different sizes for each. Also I understand that I have a lot more jumps on the Vengeance and I know every little nuance. I really know how to fly it and get everything out of it and I have tried to keep that in mind when comparing the two. Here is a little explanation from John LeBlanc, PD Vice-President. This is part of an email to a customer who had a similar question about the Vengeance. Keep in mind that John is answering a specific question from a jumper who is just beginning to get his feet wet (so to speak) with high performance canopies, but who has many jumps on a similarly sized Stiletto: There are several reasons why the Vengeance did not take off as well as the Velocity, some of which might influence you in your next choice of canopies. First, though the airlock concept was very popular when the vengeance development work initially started, interest in the Airlocks dropped drastically prior to the completion of the Vengeance development. People who wanted high performance were more attracted to the crossbraced designs such as the Velocity. We could have foreseen this trend better had we done more market research into exactly why people who wanted an airlocked canopy more than a Stiletto. There were two different reasons: One, people wanted more dive in a riser turn than the Stiletto, and two some people had an almost religious belief in the ability of airlock to improve safety. Well it turned out that the market saw more performance as being synonymous with "more dive," and they also seemed to incorrectly assume that it was the airlock which created the dive. Several things happened when the Vengeance was finally introduced. First, we did not believe that Airlocks would totally prevent canopy collapse, so we did not market them that way, unlike the makers of previous airlock canopies. Second, the Velocity made it to the market before the Vengeance, and took most of the high performance market with it. Third, when the Velocity had much more dive and more overall swooping performance than anything else out there, it took the incorrect idea that airlocks create more dive and threw it out the window. Fourth, the Vengeance had more dive than most people transitioning from a Stiletto really wanted. It actually dives pretty close to a Velocity, but with less speed in the dive. Fifth, The aerodynamics which created the dive in the Vengeance also slowed down the responsiveness on the toggles more than initial customers liked. True, it will turn quite fast, but it takes a lot of effort on the toggles compared to a Stiletto which is quite nimble. The market did not accept that very well. Sixth, some customers did not like how the airlocks make handling of the canopy on the ground (after landing in winds) more difficult. Seventh, the Katana has taken the bulk of the this narrow market between the Sabre2 and the Velocity. The Katana is currently only available up to a 120, but it really fills this niche much better than the Vengeance ever did. The front riser pressure is lighter, the rear riser power is better, the toggle turns are more responsive, and the opening qualities are more refined. So the market for the Vengeance is really quite a narrow one at this time. It mostly goes to devotees of Airlocks, and to people who fell in love with their previous Vengeance and just want another one. Unfortunately, a few Vengeances go to people who are not educated about the canopy's unique characteristics from the current perspective. Several of these customers end up disappointed with the canopy as it did not meet their expectations. For this reason, we would rather discontinue marketing the canopy, especially since the Katana is a much more up to date alternative. I hope this has helped a bit. You will love which ever one you choose.