murps2000

Dude - You're the one with no jumps asking how to get by for free in an expensive sport that we all have figured out ways to pay for. And you're insulting the first guy to give you some advice ??? He's got 67 more jumps than you do. I think that you can take your comment about his 5 years in the sport and shove it. This site is full of internet skydiver wannabees, and you're just one more. Sorry for any offense I may have caused. First off, I'm the first to admit that I'm a wanna be (as in I would like to be a skydiver); and this is fine, assuming I don't talk shit. Second, I don't really see anything wrong with looking for some sort of way to cut down on expenses so that it is feasible for me to enjoy what you guys do (and judging by the responses, it seemed to have worked); I'm not looking for a free way in, just a cheaper way in... Am I not supposed to buy used gear too? Also, I didn't mean to talk shit in my response to the other guy. It was more intended to inquire as to whether or not he, personally, feels that skydiving infrequently (something he appears to do) is not worth it based on personal experience. And if you cut off the quote at the comma and omit the "or are you speaking from experience?" part, of course I sound like a douche. Basically, I just think that if I would have said the same thing in conversation where I had available to me the tools of body language and intonation, nobody would be offended. Anyway, I wrote the damn thing late at night, I certainly respect his 67 jumps, and I'm sorry about the perceived malicious sarcasm in my response (it was more like friendly sarcasm that didn't go over well), I'm a newbie, I'm scum, I should just stay home. I'll delete it. *** Don't sweat that shit too much. This site is full of jump number nazis, too. For a newbie opinion, I thought your's was remarkably insightful. Wait till you get 67 jumps, then post an opinion here, and more than likely that same guy will pipe in to tell you how few jumps 67 is. Fact is, as skydiving careers go, it's not that many more than what you have. Don't get turned off to the sport because of that post. There's nothing wrong with trying to get the most bang for your buck. Last I heard, and it was a while ago, The Parachute Center in Lodi, Ca still offers static line instruction, and it's relatively inexpensive compared with most student programs. I can't speak to the quality of the instruction, but just remember wherever you go, it is just as much the students responsibility to seek information as it is the instructor's to present it. Most everything you need to know is out there waiting for you; you simply need to pursue it. Keep that attitude and you'll do fine. Hell, you've already gotten a taste of the skygod lesson, so you're ahead of the game. Also, I hope you do use my tax money to skydive. I would venture a guess that it would be a better use of those funds than much of what they're paying for now.

Does anyone know? The fact that the worldwide overall numbers of jumpers and jumps have been going down since about ~2001 - the year the X games dropped skysurfing - I´d like to know why that decision has been made? Financial reasons? TV-viewing figures? *** I'd guess it's because the ultra-luscious Vivian Wegrath stopped competing. Beautiful in the air and on the ground, I've never seen someone make a smoother transition from door to relative wind, with or without a board on her feet. Without her, what's the point?

I don't get it. Why take the extra risk in front of spectators? *** Simple. Cuz Airtwardo's a bad motherfucker.

Anyone ever try it with a rear riser and a toggle? *** I never had to land it, but I've done it up high a few times while practicing swoops and then dropping a toggle just to see how quickly i could get the canopy back under control and maybe salvage a flare. At 1.5 wl it was difficult to get right on the first try. I was surprised at how much roll authority one rear riser had while pulling the opposite toggle. I assume this was because it was easy to stall that side of the wing. As you might expect, there was also a slight yaw effect favoring the toggle side.

In Reply To Your arrogance on this subject goes a long way to show why an unfortunately large portion of the skydiving community views swoopers as reckless, inconsiderate and dangerous. Dear AdamT, I feel quite the same way about your attitude towards this subject. Not making clear boundaries between swooping areas and non swooping areas has resulted many in air and on the ground collisions in the past. Not making clear to people that they are to keep away from the landing zone unless they have business there will do even more so. (not to even mention about keeping the swoop lane clear of outsiders) It is exactly because of negleting these safety precautions has resulted many DZ´s in the US to ban swooping as a whole. You seem to think it is totally ok for people to wonder around a swooping area and it is the swoopers duty to dodge who ever feels like walking on the swoop lane. I do not think like this at all !! I think No extra people should be allowed on any landing area unless they have a good reason for it. And definetly not on the swoop lane. *** Before you make a post like this you should do a few things. First go jump at Davis and see the very well defined swoop lane. You will likely note that whether someone is standing nearby or not, you'd better hit the gates, and you'd better be in control. Second, while you're there, see how totally cool Lisa is for shooting stills and video of people landing. I always got the impression that for the most part she was doing it to help people improve their landings. Third, (and this is where you really screwed up) meet Adam before insinuating any arrogance on his part. You'd be hard pressed to find a skydiver with a higher skill to arrogance ratio. Poor guy. I can picture him shaking his head at his computer. He probably won't post again for a while, and so many people on this site could benefit from his knowledge and perspective. I've heard a saying before: When in a hole, stop digging. Swooping, like skydiving, or driving for that matter, is a privilege, not a right. You have no right of way over anyone standing on the ground.

apparently there is still very little knowledge of this phenomenon out there, how and why side-spins develop and how to get out of them if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in on *** I practiced them before I had a rating, and got into the real deal afterward. I was tired after hauling meat all day when it happened to me, and got lazy on exit. It was one of those days where you would land, take your passenger back to the hangar, and have about ten minutes to get your new one geared up, briefed and to the plane. I don't think I had the harness adjusted that well, and it didn't help to have one of those "deer in the headlights" students either. As others have pointed out, prevention by flying the relative wind on exit is the way to go, and I agree completely. In the video, however, Bill Morrisey is absolutely correct in emphasizing that when it does happen, recognition of spin entry must be immediate. It only takes a few seconds to reach a point where you won't be able to fly your way out of it. If you haven't been in one, you have no concept of how strong the forces become or how rapidly that happens. If you do not pull a handle pretty soon after that point you will begin to approach your physiological limits. One thing that I found interesting was that although it required some physical effort to get to the drogue handle, it was no problem to deploy it. Centrifugal force or centripetal acceleration, whatever you want to call it, actually helped me get the drogue out. Things settled down after that. I guess some TI's in the video went for their reserves, and I won't tell anyone what to do, but I had thought about it beforehand and that was never going to be my first choice. Of course some of those poor TI's in that video probably had no idea what the hell was going on back then. I sure am glad they contributed to that video for the rest of us. Thanks to Bill for making it.

Also want to add that betting on people bouncing is the most sick SHIT I have ever heard. yet...

Who do you all think is the best canopy pilot in the world. When you take away prototype wings etc. If everyone was flying the same wing who would be the best pilot in your opinions. *** You'll never know exactly who the best really would be, because being the best skydiver in whatever discipline doesn't necessarily mean you're the one with the most raw talent. It often means you're just the one with some talent and the most money or connections. Bearing this in mind, I think that if that same wing that everyone had to fly was a ragged out stiletto with a broken a-line tied back together and gaffer taped, my vote would be for Donnie Heckel.

I would like to know how many guys out there have met women they’ve ended up dating at the dropzone. It seems like a rather tough challenge given the very small amount of female jumpers in our sport. Not to mention most of them appear to be seriously involved with someone already. If you were successful, what was it that set you apart from the other skygods at your dz? *** There really needs to be little to separate you from other skygods. If you want skydiving chicks, the requisites are easy to summarize. First of all, get lots of jumps. Most women in the sport do not date guys with fewer jumps than they have. You can draw you own conclusions about what this says about how meaningful those relationships are, but that's how it is. Second, freefly instead of bellyfly. This demonstrates to the ladies that you are into positions other than missionary, a big plus. Also you get to dress better while skydiving. Third, get a camera and fly it. Women love having their picture taken, and it's an easy way to get your foot in the door. Fourth, swoop. This shows that you have balls, which outwardly many women may deny they care about, but they do. Fifth, base jump. See above. Actually, in some cases this can trump any other skydiver who does all of the other things mentioned above, but doesn't base. Do not be surprised if in spite of all of your hard work, your woman dumps you for someone better than you, and there is always someone better than you. But don't worry. If this happens to you, just stay in the sport for a long time and here's why: Many women seem to work through men in the sport according to what I've come to call the pegboard theory. Remember that board in gym class? The one you could climb up by jamming the pegs in the holes and pulling yourself up to the next one? Well thats kind of what it seems like some women do in the sport only the pegs aren't exactly pegs. Some climb a long way and may even make it to the top. The thing is, rare is the woman who climbs that board and doesn't eventually have to climb back down. Some even fall off the board completely. What makes this happen? The reputation earned while making the climb. So if your woman dumps you for someone way better than you, just hang in there. Chances are good that she's just a temporary toy for whomever she's dumped you for, and down the road she will eventually end up at a position on the board below your, um.. peg. Now, there are women in the sport who don't climb the pegboard, and many are good women. May you be so lucky as to find one. But my general advice is to assume initially that they are on that journey, especially if they won't date someone with fewer jumps than they have. And don't listen to any girl who says that you shouldn't be like all the other dicks out there who just want to get laid. If you play the nice guy, you stand little better chance of finding the "relationship" you hope for, and you won't get laid either. I'm not saying you should use the ladies just for sex and then toss them away. That's beyond being a dick and into asshole territory. I'm just saying you may want to close the deal before being the nice guy. If you turn out to really be an asshole and step all over the ladies, you might earn a reputation similar to that of the unabashed pegboard climbing woman. if you do and you're labled a dirt-dog you can always go back to dating wuffos. There are many more women to choose from outside of skydiving, and the entire skydiving world is a very small pond in which to be a big fish, or one with a bad rep. If you are lucky enough to find your true love within the sport, then congratulations. You've truly beaten the odds. But be aware that the intensity of the skydiving environment can make a relationship seem at first greater than it really is. in any skydiving relationship I would suggest you ask yourself a question to determine how "real" things really are. Ask yourself if you would be willing to wipe your significant other's ass for the rest of their life because they're paralyzed, and if they would do the same for you. This is the possible reality of what we do. If the answer is not yes, than harbor no illusions about whether or not it is true love. You are just spending time together for a while. Don't lament too much if at some point down the road you lose your "turn", because it was never real. Good luck, and good hunting.

New Years used to be my favorite holiday.... now it is just "the day I stopped having a best friend." I didnt even bother to leave the house because I didnt want to be a downer at anyone else's party. Man! Cliff was your best friend..? LUCKY... Easier said than done, i know, but try to think of it that way if you ever can. Especially if you have what I've come to regard as "Cliff moments". It's when you see or experience something in life that you find strangely hilarious, but there's no one to tell because Cliff was the only one who had a sophisticated enough sense of humor to get it. I wasn't fortunate enough to know Cliff as long as many others, but I'm surprised at how frequent these moments are for me. Keep your head up, bro. We all miss him.

Sunrise says they'll build a Wings for any combination you like but "won't promise it will look good" *** It might not look good, but I'll probably get one instead of a vector because of that. They wouldn't build me one that would accept larger than a pd126 with a velo103 main. In fact, they recommended I go with a pd106. They said I'd be fine. They said it lands great. I agree with your take on using a larger reserve for all of the reasons you stated. It seems that many jumpers don't choose their reserve based on a worst case scenario. As has been stated before, common practice seems to be choosing based on having two out. In the age of freeflying and audible altimeter reliance this scenario may be common, but it is far from worst case. Assuming one gets past deployment, before which reserve size is irrelevant, a damaged or fouled reserve is about the worst I can think of. In such a situation any jumper would want as much square footage as possible, because they might not be landing %100 of it.

I don't know that I can do any more.*** You can still get on the phone and call Empuria and tell them how many fleas are on your dog.

to explain landings could we say that we create drag pulling the canopy back, with the toggles and, because we are suspended from the canopy like a pendulum, we swing out and inturn change the angle of attack from that? *** Yes, we could and many of us do. Get Brian's book, "The Parachute and it's Pilot" and he will teach you about how parachutes turn. They don't have ailerons and the center of gravity is way below the wing so even if they did, they probably wouldn't work so well.

So are you guys are using stainless? If you are then can you retrofit sliders that have aluminum? If you have a supplier, then I'd rather not reinvent the wheel, because it's way more cost effective to make a thousand than four. If somebody's doing it already, I don't need to. I'll just buy them and pass them along.

Does anyone know where you can buy those rings?*** A friend of mine gave me one from his removeable slider, and wanted me to duplicate it for him. The one he gave me was aluminum and had clearly seen the effects of it's high speed trips down the lineset. His main complaint was the aluminum dust on his lines. Although weight is often a consideration in any component intended for use in aviation, I think aluminum is a poor choice for this application. I can make them out of stainless steel, and intend to for my friend, but I am interested in seeing any patents before producing any on a large scale. Additionally, I have only seen this one example, so someone may already be making them from stainless. Sorry if this isn't much immediate help, but if no one is making them out of stainless yet, and I can legally do so, I will probably start. Aluminum just aint cool for slider grommets or rings.

chickens probably like it too :) *** Penguins is practically chickens, and I bet they'd be good freeflyers. Atmospheric penguins, if you will.

Aaron Britten (sp) was screwing around with his canopy - a Jedi IIRC - stalling and recovering as he approached the DZ. At maybe 100 feet, he managed to wind up encased in his canopy, where he remained until impact. *** Pretty much true, but it happened a little higher. I saw him at about what looked like 500', and his situation had already developed. He had already pulled the reserve by then, but it entangled with the streamering main. It would have been a difficult situation to deal with even at 2000'. i would suggest to anyone trying to fly their canopy this way that they do it way above their hard deck, bring a hook-knife, and recover from deep stalls slowly into deep brakes first.

Check out Brian Germain's book "The Parachute and it's Pilot". It will answer many of your questions. Among other things, he discusses in depth the effects of various control inputs on the CG and angle of attack of your canopy.

...right off the step?*** Sorry that was a poor choice of words. I meant as soon as your clear of the aircraft, not deploying off the step. I wasn't really thinking prop blast. I was just curious as to whether the drag on a belly flying skydiver might slow them down a bit after exit before they accelerated downward appreciably, even at airspeeds slower than terminal, because it seemed like it did. But you've answered that. The jet, or a high speed pass, yes. king air, casa, maybe. twin otter, cessna, probably not.

I don't recall your wonderful contribution to skydiving of a freefall program illustrating airspeeds, but still I know you're just the man to ask: Does a skydiver's airspeed decrease for a few seconds after exit before increasing to terminal? And the practically applied version of this question: Will your canopy likely open more softly 2-3 seconds out the door than right off the step? Assuming a belly exit, not freefly?

Don't know if you'll answer me, since you usually seem to reply to my posts only when their wrong (not that that's necessarily a bad thing), but . what was the loading? I've jumped both canopies in that size(about 1.9-2.0 wl) and generally agree with your comparison. I thought the front riser was about the nicest I've ever pulled. Also, what's your take on how they stack up at shut down? The Safire2 kept it's speed longer, but which one do you think had a slower stall speed? I only had a few jumps on each, but I would like to have compared these two canopies more.

what are you using to tell the land downwind? *** Whenever you see someone land and their canopy nose dives into the ground after they come to a stop, that person just landed downwind.

A guy I jumped with in Pennsylvania years ago came down from a skydive once with a green splotch on his jumpsuit and a nasty welt on his abdomen. He said he hit a bug at around 2500" just as he was about to deploy. Whatever it was it was big, or at least it made a big mess.

What's interesting is that the older people get, the more they seem to notice everyting that is wrong with the world. Negativity becomes a mantra. *** That's because, as Grandpa Simpson once so poignantly stated, "The good Lord lets us grow old for a reason: To gain the wisdom to find fault with everything he has created"

Try both. Take a wrap with your break lines then push apart on your rears. This both slows your decent rate and flatens out your glide angle. *** That sounds like some crazy shit that I would expect from the flying hutchman. Does it actually work or are you just saying try it so someone can tell you if it does? Say Hi to Kerry for me, and Rick, Ratch, & Toddy if ya ever see 'em these days... -sean