CanuckInUSA

I'll trade you Curling and 3 down football for 4 downs. Curling is a lot like baseball when it comes to strategies during a slow paced game. I've never tried it (I like my sports at a faster pace), but I understand it's a real drinking game at the club level. But as I said, I'll give you Curling and 3 down football for that extra down. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey Iwan, you can lighten up on your wingloading if you lose your monsterous camera helmet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't know. I was thinking of using a ZP canopy which was attached to lines and the lines were attached to some risers which were in turn attached to a container via a 3-ring release system. This way when my canopy tries to kill me, I can cut the bitch away. Who knows where I'll be competing (if I'll even be competing at all). I'm still waiting to hear about my options of what regions will exist and their respective schedules. But I am expecting the CPC competitions to be twice as competitive this coming season as it was last year and I certainly am going to go into the season with realistic expectations of just trying to be safe and then to just do the best that I can do and not worry about the other pilots. Unless I sell my home and cutaway (isn't going to happen, at least not this year), there's no way in hell I will be as current as I was last season and currency is the key to flying well. But if/when I do find a region that I can compete in, I will be using my JVX 96 for speed and distance rounds and I'll be using my Velo 103 for zone accuracy. I'm also hoping to shed that anchor on my canopy called a dbag & pc in favor of an RDS system. But I'm currently in debt and forking out several hundred bucks on an RDS isn't in my short term future. I miss CO and this wet wintery BC pacific northwest weather absolutely sucks almost as much as the $24 hop n' pops and $34 full altitude jumps I now find myself paying here in Canada (all the while making substantially less income and having to pay way more for everything else in life). It sucks to be me. But what can you do when you're born as an ice-back ... eh? At least I'm back playing competitive hockey again and have access to some BC bud. Hey this would not be good for my winter skydiving endeavors, but I could move to Calgary and take up recreational skelton racing and/or recreational ski jumping at Canada Olympic Park. I think ski jumping has some similarities to swooping and skelton, well it's just a huge adrenaline rush. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Unfortunately the two guys who are most likely the best to be the pilots to test this canopy and give us feedback won't be unable to test it anytime soon. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I voted "clueless" since it's obvious I'm clueless when it comes to satisfying regular women who ... well appear to just want babies, families, the house in the burbs, two cars in the garage ... you know all that stability crap that a skydiver obviously lacks since we're labeled as crazy adrenaline junkies and all going to die on our next jump. I skydive because I enjoy playing in the skies. I was a private pilot before I skydived and believe it or not, skydiving is cheaper than flying airplanes (plus I really enjoy flying my canopy). So I don't skydive primarily because of the adrenaline. That's just a by-product of the jumps. I skydive because I enjoy playing in the skies. But regular women will never understand or accept this. They want their men to be domesticated. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I do not support Bin Laden and if ever caught I firmly believe that he needs to face some sort of trial and either be locked away for life or executed. But GWB supporters need to be aware of the Geneva convention crimes he and Rumsfeld have commited against the inhumman prisioner of war conditions at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Grab. But then again GWB supporters tend to be the "America is the greatest and can do no wrong" type of fools, so GWB and Rumsfeld will/are getting off scott free for their crimes against humanity. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The jumper is safe ... I'm sure he will let us know all about what happened to him, but let's give him time to get back home and absorb his experience. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm new to the Vancouver area and may or may not have an accurate view of this town (I was in the Denver area before I came here). When the sun does shine, it is a very very scenic town. But in the winter months, it rains a lot. There are worse places when it comes to the cost of living, but Vancouver is not a cheap place to live. Not even factoring in the exchange rate, I was forced to take a 20k cut in pay and I have to pay way more for virtually everything here (high taxation being the worst culprit). The streets are not as clean as one would expect and there is a real pety crime problem and depending on you view of things there is also a drug problem and the asian gangs like killing each other in order to control this drug trade. Finally (on my negative rant) getting around in a car can be a pain in the ass ass, but this problem isn't unique to Vancouver. On a positive note though, there is a lot of culture in this town, many many different people from different parts of the world for the most part peacefully coexisitng with each other. And there are tons and tons of small businesses (the Wal-Mart culture hasn't taken over here yet and fingers crossed lets hope it never does). And because of the small business environment there are tons and tons of restuarants, coffee shops and clubs to explore. I've had to endure the worst (the rainy weather) before I get to experience the best (the sunshine) so I'm trying to hold off on whether or not I decide to stay here. But I kind of had to leave Colorado involuntarily instead of coming to BC under my own free will. So you'll need more than just my opinion as to what life is like in this town. There are a few DZ.COMers in this town who may or may not chime in here. Let's hope they do. Steve ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

That there will be. 21 competitors in a regional meet. That's impressive. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Speaking of fast. I wonder how fast Mr Slaton is going in this JSX video? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I didn't have a "Rose of the Prophet Muhammad" today. Where's the closest bakery? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Distance is your strength with speed being a close second. But if you don't mind a little constructive criticism, you need to work on setting down in a positive scoring zone on your zone accuracy runs. You clearly were one of Colorado's best distance guys and there's no question that you know how to generate some good speed, But I think zone accuracy is what hurt you last year both in some regional meets as well as the CPC Championships. But I can't talk too much shit right now as I've made a grand total of 13 swoops since I left Colorado in October and don't seem to be at the level I was at in September. I got two more jumps in on the JVX today but I had to abort my swoop on my first jump due to traffic (I still got a decent swoop in for a harness turn without touching my front risers) and the 2nd jump was into a strong'ish wind. It was a decent swoop, but not what I was used to doing last season. But dang this JVX sure seems to maintain it's speed better than a stock Velo and I still have that huge anchor called a PC+dbag which I hope to replace with an RDS system sometime in the not too distant future. Nah I take that back. The JVX is a horrible canopy. Nobody else should buy it. Production should stop so that no new pilots can be on them anymore. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Not that I know anything about Silhouettes since I believe I've never jumped one, but do we need to break out the Scott Miller Navigator swoop video to illustrate that it is the pilot and not the wing which is the biggest influence? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Initially I thought it was a bigger toggle whip turn. But after viewing it more than once, it's somewhere around 150 degrees. But the turn radius isn't the important point. It's the fact that the jumper turned into the power lines as well as the fact that they did indeed toggle whip it close to the ground. But I'm done criticizing the jumper. I mean after all we're all brothers and sisters in this sport and it's better to be supportive than to judge and criticize. I'm off to the DZ now. Hopefully there won't be any video of myself pounding in. Actually there is video of myself pounding in on the net from a rear riser stall during the first speed round at last September's CPC Championships. So I guess I'm a dumbass just like this jumper. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Besides the fact that the jumper used poor judgement landing near some power lines, did anyone else notice that the jumper did a 120 or so degree toggle whip? Since when is it a good idea to toggle whip low to the ground near some power lines? Time for some canopy control instruction for this jumper (assuming that they didn't hurt themselves too much to put them out of the sport). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't believe a speed record was awarded. In fact was it even John? I seem to remember something about Scott Roberts coming in real fast. Of course I could be mistaken, maybe it was John? John, Scott, Jay, Shimell ... shit they all came in ultra fast. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Didn't Leon Lett do something similar during a Super Bowl years ago? Cross the finish line and then show boat. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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

Why do you think I moved here? Now what's this thread all about again and who stole my bowl? That's bowl of chilli since it's been a tad on the chilly side as of late. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Let's hope not. But I'm thinking of eating a "Rose of the Prophet Mohammad". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I know a number of low-time skydivers who got into BASE. It's NOT the recommended route, but it has been done. We're all different and what may work for one person might not work for another. If you approach BASE in a responsible manner, know you limits and dedicate the few skydives you plan on doing towards specific BASE training. Then yes you have a chance of survival (keeping in mind that any of us who BASE jump could die on our next jump ... just look at what happened to Tom Manship ... one of the most current BASE jumpers out there). But if you approach BASE like a yahoo shred-head ... cow-a-bung-a-dude (not saying you're like this), then we can pretty much guarantee you a trip out of here ... in a body bag. Good luck ... be smart ... be safe ... BASE is an order of magnitude more dangerous than skydiving. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm with you here Ian. Just because I managed to survive downsizing from a Sabre2 170 to a Crossfire2 139 (as AJ is talking of doing) doesn't mean I was right. It wasn't until I received some bad ass canopy coaching from Jim (that Jason every so correctly has told people time and time again to do) where Jim showed me how to find the performance envelop of the canopy and pushed my setup up 200 feet from what I thought it was, that I stopped living in the corner. I don't think I was dangerously in the corner on all of my jumps. But now that I know better, I can recognize that I was in the corner on many of those jumps. Isn't it funny that the more we learn in the sport, the more we realize that we didn't know shit back when we first started. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Okay let's forget that AJ asked this question and pretend that someone else asked it. Having owned and flown a Sabre2 190, a Sabre2 170, a Crossfire2 139 and a Crossfire2 119, I'll bite on this one. First off we know that Sabre2s are awesome canopies which can easily be swooped by any competent canopy pilot (remembering it's the pilot and not the canopy). But we on these forms have debated this topic on numerous occasions. What is safer? The canopy with a shorter recovery arc (Sabre2) or the longer recovery arc (Crossfire2) and unless I'm mistaken, the consensus was that there is more time to react to things on the canopy with the longer recovery arc. So which one is better for the (shall I say intermediate) canopy pilot with swooping aspirations? My guess is the Crossfire2 is better. But we're all different and what might work for one canopy pilot may not work for another. I still think based on his current experience level that AJ would be better off on a Sabre2 150. But will he really be better off? I don't know him that well and I've only seen one of his landings. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey AJ ... Steve here ... we met last Saturday at Pitt (I was the guy with the new JVX). I'm not sure how much I'll be around at Pitt this season since I really like to pull high when learning to fly my canopies and well we know we can't do that at Pitt (plus as long as I can afford it, I will be travelling to different swoop competitions this season). But I do believe that I'll be at Pitt again this weekend if the WX is nice (which it looks like it will be) and we can pick up from where we left off. But please remember some of he things I told you: I have no problems with guys like you wanting to become a swooper. But it won't happen overnight. There are no short cuts to becoming a good swooper. Becoming a good swooper takes hundreds and hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of jumps and it's important to dedicate time towards canopy control and not worry as much about the freefall aspects. I'm not telling you to give up on freefall. But if you're serious about becoming a swooper, you will dedicate jumps towards nothing but canopy control. You need to learn the performance envelop of your canopy up high before you bring it down low to the ground and you need to learn the slow flight characteristics of your canopy to get to your setup point before you induce speed low to the ground. And while we briefly talked about some of this this, I can talk to you more about the drills to do up high to learn the performance envelop (I some how don't think I did a good job explaining everything). Also, remember that you need to let the canopy progress through it's natural recovery arc once you get off of the front risers. I'd much rather see you come out high than see you dig yourself out of the corner. Not only is the corner a dangerous place to be, but it's also causes you to bleed off a lot of speed and not very productive towards a good swoop. I've managed to make it to 1300+ jumps without any serious injuries (knock on wood ... I've had my close calls), but I did make mistakes and it would be nice to see others not make the same minor mistakes I made (I used to live in the corner without knowing what this really meant) and of course nobody wants to see anyone make the major mistakes which can land you in the emergency ward ... or worse the morge. I don't think I'm comfortable with being a "mentor" as I'm not all that experienced compared to the bad asses of the world. But I am very happy to talk to you about swooping. I mean after all, swooping is one of my passions. However, I do think we need to talk more about fundamentals of canopy flight as we didn't really talk much about this last weekend and I would like to know more about your knowledge in this area before I start telling you about the more advanced topics. Remember I'm cool with the idea of you wanting to be a swooper. But there are no short cuts towards this goal. You're young and you have your whole life ahead of you towards becoming a bad ass swooper. Play smart and be safe ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Be pro-active. Call them tomorrow. I've been waiting for a replacement computer part for weeks now and finally got fed up last night, called the supplier and found out that they dropped the ball and never did send the replacement. If you want your goods, give them a call. I mean you paid extra for shipping to get it sooner. It would be different if you selected the standard shipping, but you didn't. So you shouldn't need to wait. Call them ... be pro-active. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over