CanuckInUSA

I know not all Christians feel this way. I'm just in a squirrelly mood. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Ya I guess you're right. What could I possibly know about being an immigrant? And what could I possibly know about being motivated in my professional and personal life? I guess 41 years of life including 20+ years working in the IT business, working hard enough to be able to own my own home (the bank doesn't own it, I own it) means shit. All praise the mighty Gravitymaster as the rest of us are not worthy of his world-wind wisdom. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm agnostic, not an atheist. Do you know the difference? And what does this issue have to do with freedom of religion? It's not like the bill was forcing healthcare officials to administer the pill. It was just forcing them to inform rape victims of all their medical options instead of keeping people ignorant. Oh but I forgot. The Catholic church has been keeping their followers ignorant for centuries. Why stop now. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I have two skydiving rigs and two more BASE jumping rigs plus a partial Ground Launching setup. I'm thinking that I need one possibly two more BASE setups (one for terminal jumps and one small BASE canopy for swooping at the bridge) and of course I'm thinking that I need at least one more cross-braced skydiving canopy. Different jumps require different tools. There is no one size fits all in this sport. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Because you are stereo typing immigrants. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Your view is that illegals work harder than legal immigrants right? If so, yes you are wrong. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Every day is Bridge Day in Twin Falls Idaho. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

No I was basically saying "stop stereo typing people". Obviously if you read what I wrote, I was not siding with Mexicans and an open border. In fact I'm not happy that Mexicans are allowed to freely come and stay here while the Feds turn a blind eye. But the Feds don't give a shit about you or me. Otherwise they would be doing somthing about this problem instead of letting the private citizens start their own border patrol. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Colorado Governor, Republican Bill Owens a devote Catholic has decided to ignore the "Separation of Church and State" issues and decided to force his religious and moral beliefs on the Colorado citizens he was elected to serve. The state legislature attempted to pass bill to ensure that all hospitals to inform female rape victims about emergency contraception "the morning after pill". Under House Bill 1042, all health care providers in the state must offer information and referrals on how to get pills that let rape victims avoid pregnancy. The key words here are that the health care officials were to provide "information" to the rape victims. It did not state that the health care officials were required to administer the pill. But Owens under pressure from the Catholic church decided to veto this bill. More on this story can be read here as well as a slightly more out of date version here. Thanks Bill. I'm looking forward to the day when you pass a bill forcing the rest of us to attend Mass on Sundays when some of us clearly believe our time is better spent at the DZ. It just blows my mind that Pro-Lifers like Owens believe that female rape victims (already traumatized from their ordeals) feel that these women should really be kept ignorant as to their medical options available to them after being raped. Who in their right mind thinks that children born through rape is a good moral thing? Why do Christians and Catholics continue to feel that the rest of society must follow their religious and moral beliefs? I don't see Jewish people, Hindus, Buddhists and shit even Muslims going around telling everyone they need to follow their religious and moral beliefs. But the same can not be said of Christians. Oh ... the bible is fiction. Deal with it. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Jim Slaton and Nick Kamenski. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

That's the same thing that I'm working on and the same thing that Jim and Nick have told me to do. Practice ... practice ... practice ... and yes April 23rd is around the corner with me looking to (hopefully) finish ahead of people with more experience than myself. Will it happen? Time will tell. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Disagree ... Now just because I'm here legally and am a slacker doesn't mean that your analysis is correct. I'm a slacker because ... well skydiving has a way of changing your views on life ... but also because corporate America has abused and exploited me in every way. I'm a software engineer who's been asked (in past jobs) to sacrific my life and my sanity to make some other bloke rich. It's just not worth it. But some of us legal immigrants did work hard when we first arrived here. But when hard work is reward by exploitation, one needs to question what the fuck we're doing here to begin with. On a side note, I have a friend from Mexico who's here illegally and we've often joked that his future in the USA is much safer than my future in this country (I fully expect to get deported sometime within the next few years once the INS decides that my time with my temporary work visa ... with no set time limit ... is up). Of course I'm not really complaining. I knew the rules before I got here and sooner or later I'm going to say "fuck corporate America" and go do some other job in some other country which may not pay as well, but at least I won't need to worry about working my ass off to make some other joker rich. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I voted "Horseshoe" but I believe any sort of high speed mal is the worst kind (not that I have any experience with a high speed mals ... and I hope to never have experience with high speed mals). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

My last round of coaching (as well as a conversation with Nick K when he was in town a couple of weekends ago) has been geared towards me breaking my habit of doing long carving turns in favor of a more snappier front riser turn onto final (both Jim and Nick have told me that I will build more speed this way ... both PST swoopers). But I do agree that a carving turn is a good technique for the mid-range swoopers and people learning to swoop. So I'm not really arguing with your point while I'm arguing your point. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Dang ... looks like you've had a tough 24 hours since you started this thread. We've all made mistakes posting stuff on DZ.COM and well slamming PD was your mistake this time around. But let's go beyond that now and start trying to focus on the real issue at hand. It sounds like you want to start jumping a more high performance wing? Question: have you ever received any canopy control coaching and better yet have you received any high performance canopy control coaching? If you haven't might I suggest you start looking into this ASAP. Why swoop through "trial and error"? We don't know you (at least most of us don't know you) and we don't see you fly your canopy. So we shouldn't be judging people we've never seen. But you also need to understand why people do what they they (you know the canopy nazis) and that's because many people before us have made mistakes, been jumping a wing that they weren't ready for and gotten hurt or killed. And many of the people here are just trying to prevent you from being another USPA statistic. What you really should do if you really want to start flying a more high performance wing is to arrange some sort of high performance canopy control coaching, let the coach see where you are in your progression and let them help you set out a plan. Hopefully you know that 400 jumps is shit just as my 900+ jumps is shit compared to the really good guys and gals out there. But coming here to DZ.COM and complaining that PD wouldn't let you jump one of their demo high performance canopies wasn't productive and neither is asking the DZ.COM masses what is the best canopy for you to be jumping. Only you and a reputable canopy control coach know your current skill and experience level and will know which wing is best for you right now. Have fun ... be smart ... swooping is very unforgiving of the errors we make up there. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Think about what you are doing when you pull down on the brakes versus the rears. On the brakes you are only deforming the tail. It's very much like using flaps on an airplane. It allows the canopy to fly at a slower airspeed. But with the rears you are shortening the C and D lines and thus changing the angle of incidence of the canopy. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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

You sure about this? I seem to know plenty of people (myself included) who like PD products and like PD customer service. Are they perfect? No ... but they are the industry leader for more reasons than just making good canopies. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Mastered is a loaded word meaning different things to different people. Personally I think you should have done 270s on other canopies before you graduated to a cross-braced canopy. But that's just me. I'm sure others will disagree. I can only hope that you are trying to push the limits of your canopy doing 90s and 180s. Otherwise you have no business being under a highly loaded cross-braced canopy to begin with and really should have been learning to push the limits on larger canopies. I have never seen you jump and therefore don't want to judge you (so my comments are more generic rather than specifically geared towards you). But there are way too many people out there jumping cross-braced canopies who don't even come close to pushing the limits of the canopy they are jumping. Personally I feel that cross-braced canopies should only be jumped by those who have pushed the limits of their larger canopies and are now ready to push the performance envelop of the much more efficient cross-braced wing. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

stupidity + guns = death. Happy ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

That is a cool pic. I'm definitely not there yet. Maybe by the end of the summer? But not yet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I may get in trouble with the canopy nazis with this post, but canopy type can influence the lost altitude and longer recovery arc more than the canopy size and wing loading, meaning there is more room for error and making it safer. I grew up swooping on large Sabre2s. But I never did 270s ... at least not properly with them. When I wanted the divier canopy, I went to a Crossfire2 and yes downsized at the same time. So maybe you should ask yourself if a change in canopy type is a better option than downsizing? I see that you are a reasonably experienced instructor/coach and I'm willing to bet you have some skilled. So why couldn't you be jumping something like a Crossfire2 129? I'd also include a Katana, but that is a downsize to the 120 contrary to the "learn on a larger canopy attitude" already agreed upon in this thread. But who knows? Talk to the experienced swoopers around you, seek some high performance canopy coaching and why can't a 600 jump instructor/coach be jumping a Crossfire2 and/or Katana canopy if they want to learn 270s. That's what I did. Have fun ... be smart ... PS: Steve can now be seen running away from the canopy nazis. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

For me the problem with doing 270s on a larger less wing loaded canopy has everything to do with the smaller performance envelop range. As an example, I've easily got a 100-200 foot window (maybe even more) on my highly loaded cross-braced canopy to play with my turn rate once I get to my setup point. The window on a larger less wing loaded canopy is going to be radically less (maybe only 40 feet). So it's important for those on these larger wings doing 270s to first dial in their canopy performance envelops up high and then recognize whether they are high or low at their setup points. Oh and the drills I mention above in a previous post should also be used for people working on their 180s. It's really no different (as is it not different for turns above 270). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You need to learn the performance envelop of your canopy before you start doing 270s low to the ground. To do this, you'll need to pull higher than you normally would to get some practice 270s in at altitude. Before you start your hook take notice of the altitude you're at. Then start your turn and try to hold onto your front riser until you can't hold on any more. Once the canopy loads up, let it recover and take notice of how much altitude you lost. Once you've done this a bunch, try to add time to the equation. Do the same drill trying to use the same turn rate and this time take notice of how much time it takes from when you initiate your turn to when the canopy recovers. It should take 5-8 seconds from start to recovery. Do these drills a bunch and try to refine them into 270s. Then at some point you'll be ready to start doing 270s low to the ground. One point about the turn rate though. Every jump is different as we can never be in the same part of the sky on every jump. So it's important for us to recognize at our setup points whether we've arrived there higher or lower than our ideal setup altitude (learned by learning the performance envelop of our canopy). So if I'm low, then I know I need a faster than normal turn rate to have the canopy finish the hook turn on heading and with enough time for it to recover by itself. And if you find yourself too high, you may want to increase the turn rate to lose the extra altitude. But always err on the side of caution. Swooping is very unforgiving of the errors we can make up there. Good luck ... have fun ... be smart. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Of course do this all up high before you bring it low to the ground, but try initiating your turn by leaning in the harness before you start pulling down on a front riser. It might make things a tad easier. But know this. Every canopy will load up at some point where you can no longer hold onto the riser. It may load up a little faster on a canopy with a light wing loading. But even the small highly loaded canopies load up on a front riser dive. Learning to swoop on the 135 (including 270s) will make you the better canopy pilot in the long run and you'll know when you're ready to downsize to the 120 instead of asking us. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over