CanuckInUSA 0 #1 September 20, 2004 I just got back from a short two day high performance canopy training session with Jim Slaton out in Perris Valley and I've got to say that it was money well spent. The weather conditions were far from ideal what with the strong winds we had to deal with the entire weekend. But it was still good and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't ever had formal training/coaching in high performance flight to seek such training/coaching if swooping is something that interests you. Jim taught me: 1) How to find the performance envelop of my canopy. 2) Showed me many tricks to add to my tool box for flying within this envelop. Now anyone who saw me land this weekend, you'll know that I still have plenty of work to do before the ooos and the aughs come from the peanut gallery. But Jim has armed me with some excellent information and the rest is for me to get out there and practice. I hope I can make it out to his ground launching camp in November (too many fun things to do and not enough vacation time) as ground launching sure looks like the equivalent to the tunnel for the free fall folks. Good stuff I tell you (the coaching I received), good stuff. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peej 0 #2 September 20, 2004 Gotta agree with you there dude. I did the course with Clint when i was out at Perris and i would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who has the time/cash. Apart from fixing my position in the harness he taught me to find the "power band" in my canopy as well as getting me to a consistent set up point every time. Plus there were loads of hints and tips about flying the pattern, losing altitude, checkig wind direction if you can't see wind indicators, etc. I firmly believe that no matter what your level it will make you a better pilot - epecially newbies like me! Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
volo 0 #3 September 20, 2004 Though I've only been actively swooping for just 3 to 4 months, I'm definitely looking forward to getting an opportunity to receive some formal swoop and piloting training. It's tough to find that kind of training where I live at (Louisiana), but I was chatting with Ian Bobo at last summerfest about trying to get over to Florida (or wherever the PD boyz might be) and getting some training. I have a couple of friends who are relatively new to swooping and they ended up getting some training with Ian this past year. They said similar things about their training being well worth the money. It's all those little tid bits of detail in swooping that set great swoopers at the local DZs and the Pros apart from each other. Hopefully someday I can travel to get some canopy training sometime soon. In the meanwhile, I'm just enjoying the hell out of my new Velocity and lovin' those high hop n' pops with my friends. Safe swoops and blue skies!!Jason Jerusalem life@jasonjerusalem.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
