jaybird

shortbus, is it really you. whats up dan. its jason. talk to jonny or kevin, they are both good at freefly, there are some others too. maybe i can help a little too. hey see you there this weekend jaybird

they had nitron demos at the richmond boogie. i did not get the chance to fly one, however, i did talk to someone who did. they fly a crossfire, like myself, and they told me that i would not be happy with the nitron. it had the snappy turns but had a much slower forward speed. the downward speed they thought was about the same. other than that i really cant help since this was second hand as it is. jaybird

i like the material control of the psycho pack. that is what i have used on my last 175 jumps, without any problems that some think happen with this type of pack job. i actually prefer how my psycho pack opens vs. the traditional pro pack. just me though, you have to jump your pack job, so do what you feel comfortable with jaybird

wing loadings will react differently under different style canopies. i have a crossfire 149, i am 190 out the door, so i load it just under 1.3:1 this is "light" for THIS canopy. i have recently been demoing smaller canopies and have seen big differences. i jumped a crossfire 109, 1.75:1 loading, and it is much faster forward, longer dives, and much faster turns. the ground hunginess was increased as well. however, not all canopies will fly the same at the same wing loading. for example i also jumped a jedei 120. i was surprised under this canopy because it dove and had the ground rush similar to the crossfire 109. two jumpers at my dz with the same wing loading were flying next to each other, one under a stiletto 120 and one under a jedei 120, and the jedei was coming down much faster. if you are looking for a new canopy, and you say that you are a conservative pilot, then you might like the spectre, sabre, or safire. its best to talk to a s&ta at your dz that is familiar with your flying skills as well as your landings before choosing a canopy. just my thoughts. jaybird

what a weekend. we do need to get laura her three more jumps. and the two of you progressed throughout the jumps i did with you. it was great. cant wait to get to do more jumps. thanks to the both of you for requesting me as your coach, i had a blast. NOW FOR THE BOOGIE. (im doing a little dance now too) jaybird

congrats again, and thanks to the both of you for some awesome jumps. you two are coming along so fast. cant wait to jump again together. see you at the boogie. jaybird

i think jump prices are 17 or 18. there are organizers for every level jumper, great parties, great planes and much, much more. here is an email i just got ___________________________________________________ Hello all! It's time again, for the most fun you can have with your clothes on! Richmond "THE" Boogie 2001 - our 14th year!! Check out below to see just what we have in store for this year... AIRCRAFT: 2 Super Otters, 2 Grand Caravans, Mike Mullins Super King Air, Doc Linden's DC-3, Bell 220 Helicopter, 2nd jet type heli, including standby aircraft (king air, caravan). ORGANIZERS: Jerry Bird, Roger Nelson, BoXman, Billy Weber, Tanya Hannington, Scott Fritz, John T, Rook Nelson, Missy Nelson, Orly King, Steve Utter and more. SPECIALTY ORGANIZERS/COACHES: Keith Snyder from Surf Flite available for you at no charge, Jari Kuosma from BirdMan... also no charge, Orly King available for freefly coaching. Come try a new discipline, they have loaner boards, wingsuits, etc! PARTIES: 4 nights of live music, a different venue for each night! Free hog roast on Saturday night, free beer and bonfire every night! Thursday night will feature Dan Spencer, vocalist with acoustic 12 string, Friday night will feature the band, "By Divine Right", Saturday night will be featuring rock & roll blues band, the Dave Chisom Band, and Sunday will host an Elvis show. EQUIPMENT VENDORS: ParaQuip and Skydivers Unite for Safety will be hosting a huge vendor display in the Quonset hut with every imaginable vendor in skydiving! Prices on all equipment at their lowest ever! Exclusive to participants of Richmond "THE" Boogie! BOOGIE FILM: It's official, New Tribe Entertainment, producer of "Worthless Eye Candy" and "The Clouds Edge", will be producing our video this year with freefly footage from Steve Utter and RW footage from Mike McGowan... all videographers are encouraged to donate footage... get your name on the credits! SPECIAL CAMPING AREA: Does the party go a little too late for you? Do you just want to lay back and relax after a long day jumping... under some shade maybe? The Tarum Shrine Club (located 1 mile from the airport) has opened their private resort area for skydivers only during the boogie. They are planning to have cookouts and will open their private bar for Friday and Saturday night. The camping area is lightly wooded, has showers, toilets, and a pool! They will also be running a shuttle to and from the airport through out the day during the weekend for those that would like a quick dip in the pool! Be sure to ask at Manifest for details! Well... I am a little busy right now, and can't really remember everything, so if I forgot someone or something... it'll be here when you get here! :-) FYI: Our boogie flyer that is normally mailed 1 month prior to the event was botched up quite a bit by our printers and after switching printers we were able to send out flyers this past week... it's a little late... but it's better than never! If you don't receive your flyer, we apologize, however USPA does not sell the mailing list any longer so we had to purchase one from Skydiving! If you have any questions, please email us or call 1 (888) 234-JUMP! See you all there! Sincerely, Jaime Praeter Office Manager Richmond "THE" Boogie www.richmondboogie.com 1 (888) 234-JUMP hope to see all of you there jaybird

The summerfest at skydive chicago was awesome! i had the opportunity to work with max and jim (members and team captains of the 300 way team). they were working with bigger ways through the week, and on sat and sun i got to join doing a total of six 43 way dives. what an experience. and yes i owe beer. waiting for the video right now, cant wait to see it all again. cant wait for the richmond boogie, more 40 ways going on there. hope to see you all there jaybird

Before you choose a new canopy, you should definately demo a few. I jump a crossfire 149 loaded lightly at 1.3 (190 out the door). I downsized quicker than most, (been jumping this since jump 55), however, i am a conservative pilot and understand the potential dangers of this canopy. In all actuallity, like Dan has said many times, when you load one of these canopies (crossfire, cobalt, etc.) lightly, then they can really be a docile canopy, (with better openings, landings, flying ability). definatly choose what you are comfortable with though, you are the one who has to land it. jaybird just my thoughts, not even worth 2 cents

count me in!!!! ill be there wed night clear thru mon sunset load!!! hope to see you all there jaybird

Vector 3 micron / 149 crossfire / 150 dash-m / cypress jaybird

It's just around the corner. Just curious who all is going to show up. Hope to see all of you there!! jaybird

I do not feel that my canopy is really fast, just faster than most beginer canopies. I fly my canopy like i have 150 skydives, not 2000 like the extreme canopy fliers at my dz. At this point in time i am learning how to maximize this canopy's potential through the advise of more experienced pilots. i am extremely happy with my choice in canopy and size, its not dropping out of the sky like a smaller canopy, and at the same time i still get more performance than a traditional "starter" canopy (ex: triatholon, sabre, etc.) this is a canopy that will last me some time, and teach me the fundamentals to piloting faster, smaller, and higher performing canopies. i was basically just repling to the fact that so many people think that if you are on a high performance eliptical canopy at a younger jump experience that you are trying to hurt yourself. however, how you fly it makes a big difference. just my thoughts jaybird

Wow, this could be a really tough one to answer. I started to jump a larger stiletto at about 42 jumps, then went to a 150 sonic, while i was waiting for my 149 crossfire to get here. i now have about 160 jumps, the last 100 or so on my crossfire. i weigh 170, 190 out the door, so i load it at 1.3 or so. now, i dont do low turns, and i am a fairly conservative pilot under 1500 ft. i talked with several people, including s&ta's at the dz before making this canopy decision. here is what they told me. it is not uncommon to see people today with higher performing canopies at lower jump levels. there are a lot of people that still believe that it utterly crazy to jump one of these until you have about 200-500 jumps, however, that is the same thing they thought when "square" canopies were introduced. they continued to say, if you are going to jump a highly elliptical, high performance canopy at 50 jumps, then fly it like you have 50 jumps, dont fly it like you have 500 jumps. i really like the performance of my crossfire. (the little that i have used). i guess it all comes down to what are you comfortable, and capable of flying. how are your landings, stand up, on target, how do you fly under different wind conditions, and traffic congestion (other jumpers in the air). dont know if i actually clarified anything, just my two cents. jaybird

Too bad that you didnt get to jump, but super otter weekend coming up!!! so we will have plenty of jumps!!! see you two this weekend jaybird will you be getting there fri or sat

I put about 10 jumps on a sonic 150, and i am 190 out the door. i had to try every kind of packing technique to slow that baby down, and still got slammed everytime. now i have a friend at the dz that jumps a sonic and she loves it, says it opens great (although she hates a slow snivel, they make her nervous taking so long to open). so i guess to each their own. flying wise, not bad, can be snappy depending on the wing loading, ok amount of flare, nothing real strong, but better than a big f-111. hope it helps jaybird

congrats to the both of you, and welcome to the family at aerodrome. cant wait to see the two of you out there again. blue skies jaybird

Well this has been a very productive season for me. This past weekend I finished my 100th skydive of the season since march 3rd. Puts me up around 150 total. wow does currency do wonders to your ability to stay in the formation. Well, 150 down, only about 10,000+ to go!! jaybird

I am not a very big guy, but I still use them on my tony suit. It comes in handy when you are a diver on a larger way and have a long dive, they allow you to "flare" out of the dive faster. jaybird

see you sat at the dz, hope you can stay sat night for the party jaybird

i totally understand where you are coming from. until this year i always felt that i was messing up other peoples dives and felt that i had to warn them that i sucked at rw. so last year i went to freeflying cause there it didnt matter, at least with the people i jumped with. this year i tried the rw thing again at the begining of the season. i got real lucky and jumped with some people with a lot more experience. this really helped the dive. i had always tried doing rw with people that also had little experience in formation flying, and we just combined to really suck. as the sunset load was manifesting one day, i asked some experienced divers to help me get my falcon, (i bribed with beer, if i get it i buy beer), and they challanged me to try for 8 points instead of only 4. one of the other divers is an organizer at our dz, so he planned this 4 way jump in a matter of minutes, and we pulled 8 points. since then i have been able to catch more and more dives with the groups of rw jumpers and have done as much as a 2 point 21-way. ok, so long drawn out story just to say, try to jump with some more experienced jumpers, that way seems to go a whole lot smoother. sorry for the rambling jaybird

ok, the weather really did not want me to jump my new gear this weekend, but i hung out and waited, and finally got a couple in. and i love it. think im going to head out to the dz on fri afternoon and jump non-stop till sunday sunset. maybe i can set a record?! jaybird

i am 190 out the door and fly a 149 crossfire. pretty responsive on the turns, long recovery arc(dives for a long time) stiff front risers, and an incredible flare. makes for some really nice swoops. where are you located, at richmond indiana our local shop is a demo shop for icarus. he has crossfires ranging from 149(not in yet but soon) to 99. he has most of them in already. if you are not far we will have a super otter next weekend. let me know jaybird

Well, i just got word that my rig has arrived so that i can have it put together with the rest of my components i already have. A vector 3 micron, 149 crossfire, and a new tony suit. cant wait to jump it this weekend(if the weather will cooperate.) finally my own rig, now i dont have to rent or borrow. jaybird oh yeah, i guess that will be beer from me for first new rig.

damn!! really thought i was logged in jaybird