Chris-Ottawa

I'd be more than happy to take the time to fill out a survey. If it's going to give the sport accurate numbers, or info about close calls etc.. Honestly, take 30 minutes from your thread browsing to do a survey. I'd be glad to help with the survey. I'm willing to give back to what skydiving gives me. I'm sure MANY people will fill out the survey. I'll be pleased to see it Matt! Thanks "When once you have tasted flight..."

HAHAH, LOVE IT!!! That's hilarious! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Honestly, that's not what made my choice in main. If I had to make a choice, best opening canopy by far i've ever jumped was a Pilot. Absolutely amazing. I enoyed the Spectre, Sabre, Pilot and even the silhouette for flight characteristics. The Pilot was VERY responsive, followed by the Sabre, then the Spectre. However, for what I need It's a method for me to get from 3k to 0 safely. It's all about preference, I personally didn't like the Sabre's End cell issues, that's just me though. In no way would it stop me from buying a Sabre2, I'd love to. If you offered to trade my Spectrew for a Sabre2, I would not even take a second to think about it, but I still love my Spectre. The Sabre has a VERY impressive flare as well! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Just some food for thought: January 26, 1972 in History Event: Stewardess Vesna Vulovic survives 10,160m fall without parachute http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=43941 Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

But what could go wrong with letting kids jump off the roof with garbage bags and bedsheets? Swoop the cothesline and well..get clotheslined... haha I could see swooping, there's a couple guys at the DZ here into swooping and when you hear those lines whistling, EVERYONE looks, including all the new students. Every single new person is either thinking something is wrong, or that he is going way too fast, yet they're thriled by it. "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hey Spencer, I recently bought a Spectre myself. I was jumping the Sabre2's for a while and I loved them. I loved the canopy, then openings and the landings, but the thing that bothered me were the end cell closures. I know they are normal or accepted, but I didn't like it. My Spectre flies great, lands great opens great and is a blast to fly. It'll whip me around like a rag doll. My last jump I dumped at 5000 ft and tried some hard turns. I managed to put line twists on the canopy from the turn. It took, forever to stall the canopy and it had a very noticeable stall. I love the flare. The flare on the Sabre2 I felt was a bit longer so you could hold it onger and stop the canopy. The spectre to me, seemed swoopier. I flared and at the end of the flare I had to take a couple steps. Nothing major, I'm still adjusting to the canopy. I think you'll enjoy the Spectre, I know I am. The openings are nice and soft, but looong! My first 2 jumps seemed to be josting me around in the harness, but when i jumped on a day that wasn't so windy, I didn't have the same effect at all. I love it! I plan to keep mine for 1000 jumps if I can! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

I'm thinking of a delta maybe? I also thought a track increased speed due to the wind, or my improper form. Probably both. Thanks for the info! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hahahhaahahaha I loved the 12 foot part too. I thought though, doing a pencil dive from a diving board would get you at least 10 feet. Add about 100Mph to that and 12 feet is umm......death. not to mention, in a track (to find water of course) your speed is increased, then once you go head down or feet first, it's just increasing more. You're gonna hit that water well about 125mph. Geniuses! Here's another interesting article: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm HAHAH, Thanks for that link! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hey, I agree, I am 5'8 and I pro pack a 210 fairly easily. Give pro packing a better chance. But as mentioned there is always flat packing which takes longer (usually) and takes more space, btu requires nothing about height. I have a new canopy (35 jumps) and it can be a bit*h to get in the bag. It all takes practice. Don't give up!! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Personal experience? "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hi Ron, I'm sorry if my question came off as naive, but I had no other way of putting it. I was seriously interested why it's a touchy subject. I made the other hand pull situation because it was brought up, and in a panic, I agree a D would be easier to grab, but I'f sure I could manage to pull it "IF" I had to with my opposite hand. If you gave me a solid piece of metal 3 inches thick, and told me I had to bend it to get my reserve out, then chucked me from a plane, I'd bend that rod plain and simple. (That's a joke, but as long as I could find the handle I'm sure I could pull it.) That statement right there my friend, makes me want a D, and it's something I may ask my rigger about. I appreciate the reply Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hey John, I just recently bought gear and once you get to the point where you're ready for it, it'll just happen. You'll find out which rigs are modern, freefly friendly, safe etc. There's a lot of choice. Don't necessarily follow your DZ's choice in gear. That being said, it can be good because there will surely be a rigger who can work on your rig and know how. If you're buying new, it might be a different story. For me, I bought used but very new. I found a rig that fit me and had the canopies that worked for me. I love it. I never really said, I want a Javelin Odyssey, it just happened. I did want to stick with a major brand such as Javelin, Mirage, Vector. I almost custom ordered a Wings, and my rigger had a Talon that fit me as well. It'll just work out! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Thanks! I read through that, and still see it referring to the only real "issue" is in a panic situation when you can't see it, you can feel it. And for that I agree. I understand now what would make the cutaway and reserve locations different (harness tension or not). That makes alot of sense. I also thought of if you dropped the reserve handle, the softie will grab more air, but the D handle will grab alot too. There is advantages and disadvantages to both. I can't speak from experience as I've only had 1 cutaway and it was a soft cutaway and a normal (large) D ring. I kept both handles and yes, my thumb went through the D ring to pull. I can see the advantage of that. I also practice my EP's ALL the time. People laugh at me in the plane, I'll check it 4 times in the plane sometimes. Never less than twice. PLus on the ground. Thanks for the link! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

I thought I'd pipe up here because I bought a rig with pillows for cutaway and reserve. I was warned about the extra attention I have to pay to the pillows, but I have a question. Why is everyone concerned about a reserve pillow when cutaway pillows are pretty much standard? I figure, if one is a pillow, why not make it the same? Can someone clarify on the difference, or something I may be overlooking? If you're worried about slipping or not getting a good grip, why would cutaways be made of the exact same material/method? I did read about if your hand was broken and you couldn't pull, but you have a second hand as well if it came to that. If tHat didn't work, either you would find a way or hope to hell your cypres worked. It seems that some people are dead against pillow reserve handles, while others are all for it, and some are in between. I'm basically just wondering why I should be concerned about my reserve handle and not my cutaway? Thanks everyone "When once you have tasted flight..."

The gear is certified to -30? You mean the cypres right? I can see the parachute being very crisp in -40 but not enough to make it brittle, I wouldn't think. Thanks "When once you have tasted flight..."

Sounds like fun. Ishould have mentioned this in the beginning but I'ma Northern boy, I grew up 3 hrs north of Thunder bay Ontario. I love winter and don't mind the cold, so I'm more than willing to jump. I was more concerned about the airport and or pilots/DZ. Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

That is also a definite possibility. If we could get a couple guys or gals, or even a bunch in a couple cars and make a road trip, that would be sweet. I'm sure there is other people who would kill to jump in the winter up here too! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Here's the pictures I was playing around with. EDIT: These ones do not have the "extra" altitude. "When once you have tasted flight..."

I'm surprised no one had mentioned that up to now. I also wasn't assuming that you don't know the difference between 14 and 2 k, but more speaking to the fact of safety. If you look at your alti and see 2k and panic, well it would either be a very close call, or a damn long canopy ride. It's pretty easy to see the difference between 14 and 2k (sorry to anyone who can't), but it still can cause issues, especially for someone very new. I'll post a picture of what I did with mine. I never did send my alti to get it installed because they couldn't put the glow face on my design so I opted not to do it. All I did was made the numbers bigger, made notches for each 1k marker, put in 500ft markers all the way up, and I blended the yellow zone from 3250ft to 2750 where it is basically red, looks kinda cool. (I think) Have fun and good luck! Chris EDIT:Picture will be posted when I get home... "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hey Scoop, Just a suggestion here but It may work. Alti-2 has a custom faceplate program: http://alti-2.com/AnalogAltimeters/custom_dial_faces.htm On some of my early designs, I added the extra altitude markers on the outer edge of the alti. Whether this is safe or not is debatable. If you have a hard time telling if you're at 14,000 or 2k, well, I don't think an Alti would be able to fix that. Nonetheless, it's another option. Plus you get to put some wicked designs on there and it's FREE, minus shipping. Plus Lara(ALti-2) is very friendly and willing to help you decide on a final design. Later Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

That price sounds pretty good. I'm not sure how the licensing system works over there, but Those 18 jumps would put us very close to our A license. So that sounds about right. Before you commit to any DZ though, call them and talkto them about it, or, if you can, go out there just to speak to them. I'd suggest asking what the course entails, what it doesn't include etc... I've seen one place offer an AFF course that didn't include any rental gear so they could advertise a much lower price. Be proactive and shop around, it's alot of money to spend! Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Hey, Your best bet is to go here: http://www.dropzone.com/dropzone/ Find dropzones in your areas, check out their websites or call them for prices. I always read about people who go to the US to get through it. It's all about choices but it's VERY expensive! I spent about 1600 Canadian to become solo certified. Chris "When once you have tasted flight..."

Haha. I'm still going to be mature about this and let it go, but Congratulations! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Yeah, 1.2 W/L scares me right now, expecially if it's asking for 300 jumps. It's not going to happen. My fallrate is definately under 100, and I know this is something I can improve on but the biggest thing is that I can't do jumps with anyone until I have my A. To get my A, I need 5 RW coach jumps. I don't care how long it takes me to get my A, so I'll wait for the small instructor to help me. Thanks! "When once you have tasted flight..."

Exactly, and that's why it put me out of my comfort zone. I have no problems jumping with weights, that doesnt bother me. It was the fact that I would be landing my canopy for the third time in zero wind with an extra 20 lbs, putting at a loading around 1.2 on the spectre. I honestly got myself scared and glad it didn't happen. Currently I'm uncomfortable jumping with 10 extra lbs as well. I'll hold off on my RW jumps until I can jump with the instructor who can closely match my fallrate due to his size. Unless I borrow the 150 again. Even with the 150, I'd be hard pressed to strap on 20 lbs, maybe 10. Thanks "When once you have tasted flight..."