"Swooping is a fat boy sport!"

[Maxx 1]

A larger wing creates more lift and therefore is more efficient.. But a larger wing also means less wingload and so you must be fat to load it right.

End of my thesis.

Feet up!
Max

[SkiD_PL8 0]

A larger wing also creates more drag, as does the larger body hanging beneath it.

Greenie in training.

[Brains 2]

And then JT goes and jumps a smaller canopy and loads it heavier with lead and breaks the world record for distance. Go figure.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

We don't need to be in shape to skydive. So in that respect I do agree that swooping can be a fat guy's sport. We sit around all day waiting to get on a load, don't exert that much energy when we jump, we pack, repeat all day long and then we drink tons of beer and often consume the wrong fatty foods at night. So yah!!! Swooping is a fat boy sport!!!

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[pilotdave 0]

A tandem drogue produces just as much "lift" (upward force) as a tandem main. They just do it at very different vertical speeds. Don't swoop a drogue... it's not healthy.

Dave

[DJL 235]

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Go figure.

I figure that he's an OK canopy pilot.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[Darius11 12]

Swooping is a fat boy sport!!!

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Wow this is an awesome day. I just found out last night (according to some news show) that I am more likely to live longer then a skinny person and now this. Life is good.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

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[Brains 2]

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I figure that he's an OK canopy pilot.

You think? I was using that example to blow his "thesis" out of the water. By no means meant to slam JT, he is certainly an awesome pilot.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[kaerock 1]

Fuck yea. Who needs weight-belts? My natural weight-belt helps me haul my fat-ass like a bullet over the grass (Okay, so my ass isn't fat per-se, but you dig). ;>

Fat man with a little parachute...*rip*...oops

-R

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A larger wing creates more lift and therefore is more efficient.. But a larger wing also means less wingload and so you must be fat to load it right.

End of my thesis.

Feet up!
Max

You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

[Slappie 9]

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Wow this is an awesome day. I just found out last night (according to some news show) that I am more likely to live longer then a skinny person and now this. Life is good.

And here I am trying to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time! Maybe I need to say fuckit and smoke and eat anything I want! The world is looking brighter everyday.

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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A larger wing also creates more drag, as does the larger body hanging beneath it.

Which is more than offset by other factors. In freefall bigger people fall faster when they don't add drag to slow them down. Tiny people fall slower when they don't add weights or flexibility. The same effects of sectional density apply under canopy. Drag increases with the square of velocity so the effects are 16X as pronounced during a 60 MPH swoop compared to 15 MPH of forward speed in brakes.

Thrust is proportional to weight.

Drag is proportional to frontal area and therefore canopy size in square feet.

With sufficiently similar body types frontal area increases with the square of height while weight is a cubic function. This would increase your drag with the square root of canopy size. Weight from fat has little effect on your area so the drag doesn't increase.

The lines get longer but not thicker as the canopy grows so their drag is only increasing with the square root of size.

At the same wing loading a big person has a better thrust to drag ratio than a little person so he goes faster.

The bigger canopy also has longer lines which provide a longer recovery arc. That will have you going faster if you're not turning long enough to reach terminal velocity. It also gives you more altitude to work with which makes it easier to have a flat entry into the swoop without drag-inducing toggle input.

For me sub-optimal piloting skills have more to do with my swoop length than my missing beer belly.