TerminalSteve

It is my opinion that once you have the hang of closing 2nd, you have the basics for CRW. Once you can close 2nd, you should be able to adapt the angles and close 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on. The problem is, I find it quite tricky to teach. Some people get it very quickly, some people seem to take forever. Some people just seem to do completely weird things that even they can't account for afterwards. Does anyone have any tips, tricks, aides or teaching methods they use and find particularly effective when teaching someone how to dock 2nd. I basically want to broaden my ideas so I can give people the best and most helpful level of coaching I can. Cheers in advance! Steve

There are definitly some differences. The outside non-cascaded A lines for one. The hybrid only has non-cascaded center A's. Also, if buying second hand, some teams have had their own line sets made so you might find you have a canopy with a slightly different trim. The canopy may have had a routine reline at some point and you don't know if changes were made then. I will get my tape measure out this weekend and say conclusively whether there is a difference between my hybrid and CRW tris. I also have 2 hybrid 175s. They have slighly different line sets too and fly slightly differently to each other. The main point I will make is: in my experience flying hybrids and CRW tris, there is a noticable difference in the way they fly. I was always under the impresseion that CRW tris had shorter lines but I will measure mine and see. Although you can stick any line set you want on your canopy, don't assume it will fly exactly the same either. Lines stretch over time and 2 seemingly identical canopies can have their own 'personalities'.

I have a hybrid 160 and a CRW 160 and both are different beasts. The CRW tri is much more responisve. I think the line set is shorter on the CRW tri and I get the impression the trim is abit different. I don't see any problems with changing the line set but be aware it MIGHT fly differently and you MIGHT need to get used to different landing charectaristics. Only 1 way to find out! Also, if you are using a CRW line set I make an assumption you might be doing some competition or regular proper CRW. With that in mind be aware that a deployment bag 'can' cause issues during very quick sub terminal openings. I had a pilot chute that was snagged by the bridle (probably sloppy packing) and the bag wasn't pulled clear. The bag dropped in the burble (I was upright, less than 2 seconds off the door), did a lap arount my left ankle and caught my right arm (investigating what I then thought was a PC in tow) and left me in a rather interesting situation - upside down entangled by an arm and a leg under a spinning bag of washing. The pain was made worse by the fact my slider was tied for a fast opening and by the time the canopy came out I was more or less terminal. I was bruised for weeks. The pain was made even worse after my mates recovered my canopy, having watched a cow empty it's back end all over it. And then after hosing it down, a DZ dog did the same!!!!! After that I took the bag off and pack the canopy by neatly freestowing the lines in the bottom of the container. Be aware if you do this you need to keep an eye on the bridle attachment points as free-stowed openings put wear on the canopy and the hybrids lack some reinforcing tape that the CRW spec canopies have. A good rigger should be able to reinforce the attachment points for little cost if you start to see signs of wear. Also - don't try to freefall the canopy in this configuration. Unless you wan't your legs to land a couple of minutes before the rest of you! Oh yeah, and make sure your exits are solid before you jump freestowed kit too! Have fun! Hope that helps.

I have seen a spectre damaged by too much messing around with CRW. Although it's a good 7 cell and flies well with others when building small straight stacks, the canopy is not designed to support the extra stresses CRW will put on it. This caused the material around the cross-port venting to start 'stretching' and 'shredding'. This particular canopy was saved by early detection and a quick trip to the rigger. Although the owner still plays around with it, you will only find him at the top of 2 stacks on it.

Having done CF on a Thunder-Bow. I can assure you that it is an excellent CF canopy and totally compatible with all modern squares. And probably most elipticals. Not to hot for rotations mind. And I reccommend wearing at least 8 knives.

Cheers Wendy! We quite enjoyed making them. We are going to do it again, but probably use a big slow 280 static-line student kit (no PC or bridle to worry about). We want to make the dock something a little less like a controlled wrap and a little more like a sensible dock! Not that we didn't enjoy doing it at ramming speed but if we keet on doing it that way it's only a matter of time before the T-Bow swings and the dock is off centre. With those kinds of closing speeds the results would be quite exciting to say the least.

Hello all, I don't usually bother posting on forums, I have membership here because there is alot of good information floating around in the posts. But this I can't keep to myself Today I did a jump, that was an idea I had, whilst drunk in a pub in Northern Ireland (on hol at Wild Geese), when we were discussing George McGuinness' old T-Bow. After seeing a video of someone docking on an old PC I wanted to do something equally as silly. So was born the T-Bow CRW jump. Now I don't know if anyone has taken a dock on a T-Bow before. I certainly can't find any references, never mind pictures. So, is this possibly a first? But here is the fruit of our labour. For the record, the docking canopy is a 175 Tri Hybrid. I was on the T-Bow, George was on the Tri. As the photos show it was a 'positive' dock, but after some playing with the Tri's brakes, some pushing away of cells (from my face) and after putting the Tbow in 'max flight mode' the formation flew nicely! Pictures were taken from the ground with a 300mm lense and there was no video. This time... Steve

I learned to skydive here. From day 1 your made to feel at home. I was at parties with the regulars within a couple of weekends. The turbine porter is an amazing plane. 0-14k in about 12 mins. No skygod/non-skygod attitude types to spoil your day. Just gets very muddy in winter due to its location - in England!

Ive had LOADS of people say, if both parachutes fail, you will have died from a heart attack before you hit the ground. Variations have included passing out through fear before hitting the groung. No skydiver I know ever said that though

I am experiencing same problem through zone alarm pro.

I KNOW IT'S ADDICTIVE!!!!!!!!!!!! It was only money that stopped me carrying on after my SL 2 years ogo. 2 LONG YEARS AGO

I've decided, Work permitting my skydiving career begins on the 1st November (or the first weekend i have free thereafter). Does anyone here jump at the Black Nights centre? 58 days to go!!!!!!!

I'm looking at going in 2 months time. I suppose the good thiink about RAPS is that you can really drag the enjoyment over a long period of time whilst spending reletively little money. I cant wait though, I'ts sheer agony! Oh well, my time will come!

After 1 jump, being totaly hooked with but to currently too skint to afford skydiving, I have been downloading alot of videos, reading books etc. One thing I have noticed and am curious about is the distortion on many skydiving videos. Like a lense effect which makes the world seem round and bend. It also rounds of the corners of the video. What is this effect and does it have a purpose. Thanks for your help.

I'll be jumping at the Black Nights near Lancastar. What is the chance of getting a good weather weekend or two in November in England.