superstu

Competition 2 weeks away folks hope you're getting ready cause i am! For those of you who haven't registered yet you will be able to do that between 8-8:30am followed by a mandatory safety meeting that must be attended by all competitors and judges. I'm hoping to get wheels up around 9am. For those looking for a place to stay you can stay in the hanger or bring your trailer/camper/home on wheels. The course will be set up starting Thursday the 12th. post any questions or concerns, or give me a PM. later...stu Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

nice! who are the people in the pics? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

nice! some of those swoops were really nice from waht i could tell. good editiing as well Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

i would love to do some CRW on 'slightly larger' canopies more designed for CRW, it would be fun! i have done about 250-300 CRW and even more non-contact stuff with my vx and i've seen some of the stuff you're talking about as well. but yes, slightly larger lightenings would probibly be better suited for what we are doing. thanks Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

i'll be at snohomish may 7th for the accuracy meet, however, i've only really done CRW on sub-100 xbraced canopies, so it probibly wouldn't be best if we tried with our canopies Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

alright, you guys are confusing the crap out of me. please define yaw? and what is a "perfectly coordinated turn"? and why it is considered a 'perfectly coordinated turn'? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

nice! they even had pics Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

i guess there were some pictures in the paper too but i got that online. parents supposed to send the article. if that gets here maybe i'll scan it and post the pics as well. Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

this was in the seattle times: Swoopers skim earth, and mortality By Nora Zamichow Los Angeles Times E-mail article Print view Search Most e-mailed Most read RSS The airplane had just reached 4,000 feet when Jonathan Tagle leaped. He plummeted, belly-to-the-ground, reaching 120 mph before deploying a rectangular parachute. At 600 feet, closing in rapidly on a shallow pond, Tagle plunged into a spiraling dive. He accelerated toward the ground, veering horizontally at the last moment in an L-shaped turn that took him so close to the pond that his heels skimmed its surface. Tagle, 36, belongs to an elite fraternity for whom mere parachuting isn't enough — he is a swooper. The journey starts with voluntarily stepping out of an airplane in flight and concludes with accelerating to the ground in hopes of dragging a limb in the water — proof of a swooper's derring-do. This weekend in Perris, Calif., 73 miles east of Los Angeles, Tagle is competing against dozens of other top contenders at the U.S. Canopy Piloting Grand Prix, one of 60 U.S. competitions. He set a world record for distance Friday, swooping 494 feet. In July, he hopes to compete in the World Games in Germany, which for the first time will feature a swooping — or canopy piloting — event. A campaign is under way to include the sport at the Olympics. Swoopers use smaller, high-performance parachutes that leave scant room for error. A split-second hesitation at a critical moment can mean injury or death. In the community of swoopers, breaking a leg is so common that it has become a verb, "to femur." But to Tagle, the current world champion of swooping, the sport is much like golf. Both demand extreme mental focus, he said, and the amount of time doing the actual sport is minimal. "In a day at the course, a golfer only spends a few minutes actually swinging the club," Tagle said. "In three or four minutes of canopy flight, swooping is six seconds." He said swooping is more about Zen than adrenaline. It clears his mind of everyday concerns, leaving him feeling centered and peaceful. And it has taken over his life like nothing else. Swooper Jim Slaton cannot fathom that someone wouldn't grasp the sheer exhilaration of his sport. "It's like being a Blue Angels pilot but with a parachute," said Slaton, 34, who lives just north of Bakersfield, Calif. "It's like combining NASCAR racing with aviation." Such high-performance thrills come at a price. Eight skydivers have died this year, said Chris Needels, executive director of the U.S. Parachute Association. While swooping deaths are not calculated separately from other skydiving deaths, pilot error, not equipment failure, causes most deaths. And in many cases, a turn executed close to the ground, as divers do in swooping, is the culprit. "There's a certain risk involved with the sport; we all agree to the terms of those risks, just like a soldier does," said Tagle, who has no health insurance and never has been injured swooping. "I know the risks, and I try to minimize them." Most skydivers dance delicately around the subject of danger. Shannon Pilcher, 33, has broken two vertebrae and his leg. It hasn't dampened his interest. "I do it because it's new and exciting for me," he said. John Charles Colclasure, 34, always says a prayer before his first jump of the day. He has swooped for 12 years without injury. Close calls? Plenty. Like last year when he swooped Mont Blanc in France, encountered turbulence and narrowly averted a crash. "I was definitely afraid," Colclasure said. "Would I do it again? Absolutely. If you want the excitement, you've got to put up with the risks." In February, Tagle won the World Cup of Canopy Piloting at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales. The event drew 70 competitors from 17 countries. In the course of the competition, Tagle set a record for swooping distance by traveling 479.8 feet along the pond and ground. Tagle's World Cup victory reflects how the sport continues to evolve. Before that contest, swoopers thought that lighter canopies and rigs would allow greater speeds and distances. Tagle, the newest member of the Performance Design team, wore an unprecedented 60 pounds of weight for the competition. He chose his biggest, not smallest, canopy for the distance event. For Tagle, fame has created pressure. "I feel like I have a target on my back," he said. "If I make a mistake, there's 20 guys waiting to capitalize on it." He has thought out his game plan. He must stay focused, he tells himself. He will, he vowed, swoop to conquer. Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

so when we're talking about yaw and roll from a high performance (swooping) stand point, this sounds a lot like 'wingovers'. is that right? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

awesome job guys! what were the winds like during the distance rounds? you said head winds, but how strong? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

yea, well i did 260 yesterday! yea, wuts up now! Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

lol, thanks Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

can someone tell me how to measure a vx? is it bottom skin or top skin? thanks Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

how'd you hear about it and are there more details? website maybe? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

here's a question kind of related. i notice that when a friend and my self go up with our vx's at 2.2 and go to bump end cells our canopies end cells actually get sucked toward each other. we've tried to stay as close together as possible with out touching and you can actually notice the fabric pulling toward each other. now why is this? airflow? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

i forgot to mention that it only took about 5 weeks or so. now that's service. Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

i just got mine and it's awesome as well. however, unlike you i have yet to get to jump mine because no one at our dz will fly. i too will try and post pics soon. thanks VSE! Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

Where can i find information about legal rights of drop zones? any one know? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

where do you jump? if you have 'good' swoopers at your dz just ask them for their advice. just take EVERYONE'S advice with a grain of salt. Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

G. chop that last swoop up into a learning experience and realize that your set up was messed up and hopefully you know what altitude you turned at cause now you have to start a little lower. Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

out of those you listed the only one i dissagree with is number 2, i just don't think it's necessary but i do think it would help get the point across. out of those listed i think number 5 is the best thing a 'student' of swooping could have. good points Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

2 things. first i completely agree with you on a mandatory canopy course, i think that's a great idea. BUT, teaching/lecturing someone on how to swim but not letting them actually get in the water won't make them a good swimmer. and so telling newer CP's to abstain from swooping or what ever i think won't do them as much good as letting them actually get in the air and start trying some of this theoretical stuff. because it's all talk until you find out for your self. just my .02 Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

that's one of your first swoops on the pond!? holy shit, you wanna pass some of that skill on to me? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down

who's jim and nick? Slip Stream Air Sports Do not go softly, do not go quietly, never back down