kleggo

I"m curious to see how many of us are jumping vented canopies with ZP top skins and under what conditions are we using them. please respond if you have personal experience with jumping this configuration. i am particularly interested in seeing if anyone is jumping this configuration at 7+ second delays and if you are, why do you choose to do so. my only prior expereince with a zp topskin canopy resulted in unacceptably hard openings, ( my personal perspective ), for no-slider jumps. It had ~ 125 jumps on it and had been in the water twice. The bottom skin was just a tad too porous, leading to rock-your-world openings. thanks for your input. be safe kleggo

thanks for taking the time to reply with your help. kleggo

i think i'm going for the big way camp. who can fill me in on the hot scoop? 1.best airport to fly into? 2.any special local towns i should not miss? 3. how close to the sierra nevadas if i decide to bring a bike? 4. who makes the best paella? cheryl???????????? email me oyur phone #, i'll call you or someone else if they offer to help. thanks craigo kleggo@adelphia.net

that depends........................................ how long of a delay are you planning on taking........................................................... and how will you pack your pilot chute ?????????? he he he but seriously, i'd recommend you travel to Kapowsin for some canopy fun. your BASE canopy will likely not work well only because of wing-loading / rate of descent issues with smaller ZP canopies. I'm sure someone at Kapowsin can pull out a Pegasus or Cruiselite or ????? If Bob Lyon responds to your email, take advantage of any offer of assistance. He's a good guy. be safe and don't use a 9 ft bridle. kleggo

just as an added data point current age = 46 avg # jumps per year past 5 years = 27 first BASE jump 1982 BASE # 93 issued in ~1986?? I really can't say i've slowed down a lot, because i never made a bunch-o-jumps per year anyway. when i do jump i feel much more comfortable now than in the 80's because; 1. all of my jumps are a legal / quasi-legal sites. 2. as nick says, gear has improved dramatically therefor confidence / comfort has a direct correlation. why don't i jump more often? mainly because it doesn't take many jumps to "fill me up" with satisfaction. and i'm busy with other stuff that has just as high as or higher priority than Fixed Object Jumping. be safe kleggo

Kevin Ingley and I are interested in finding at least two other jumpers to do a "mostly-serious" Canopy rotation Team (CReW) for this years nat's at Perris. Mostly-Serious = 1. be willing to make at least 65 practice jumps. 2. have experience doing 13+ point dives ( or be a quick study). 3. be willing to travel to Perris 4. be fit enough to do 5 - 6 dives a day. 5. ideally weigh between 150 - 180 lbs (negotiable ). The CreW nationals are the 1st week of September. I'm asking here because the quantity of the interested CReW community is depressingly lean. We will be jumping Lightnings loaded at ~ 1.5 lf/ft^2. We may be able to supply Lightnings to any interested parties. and yes, If anyone can land a Lightning efficiently, it's this group. Kevin is currently a part of the US National CReW Team and i have been a past member, so the learning curve may be exciting. Warning, knowing us, Mostly-Serious can quickly transmorgify into Very-Serious. feel free to write with comments / flames / enthusiasm. be safe craig fenstermaker kleggo@adelphia.net

Kevin Ingley and I are interested in finding at least two other jumpers to do a "mostly-serious" team for this years nat's at Perris. Mostly-Serious = 1. be willing to make at least 65 practice jumps. 2. have experience doing 13+ point dives ( or be a quick study). 3. willing to travel to Perris or meet somewhere mutually agreeable. 4. be fit enough to do 5 - 6 dives a day. 5. ideally weigh between 140 - 170 lbs ( negotiable ). 6. preference given to past national champions

the most recent NY tmes book review ( 20 feb 2005) discusses the book NATURE NOIR, A PARK RANGERS PATROL IN THE SIERRA. The ranger is described as working in a river valley park in northern california, one that is now supposed to be under water do to dam development. one of the quotes is, " on his patrol smith encounters the many ways that people enjoy themselves... and also those that commit suicide, parachute from a bridge, toss a parachute wearing chicken from a bridge and throw rocks at the samaritans hundreds of feet below - who try to untangle the hapless chicken from said parachute". what's up with that? be safe kleggo

some photo's of the carnage http://www.earthsignals.com/images/kfi/index.htm there WAS som energy released here! kleggo

i know it's probably old news, but i just had a mind-bending experience. i was driving down rte 5 recently and was looking off to the left to see an old friend. i didn't see the old red / white tower sticking up into the sky. hmmmmmmmmmmm i guess i missed it when i drove by a few miles back???????????? now i see the old news that a small plane took it out! sigh................................ friends of mine and i spent many a night up there watching the fireworks at dismalland before stepping off and plummetting towards the strawberry fields below. we were all jumping comets / pegusi / ravens in skydiving rigs with tail pockets and mesh sliders. getting onto the tower was a "challenge" since it was a live 50KW AM radiator. the scariest part of these jumps???? seeing the gnarly insulating rings that protected the tower from earth ground. RIP KFI be safe kleggo

i'm curious what might you have found during your gear inspection that may have prevented an occurance such as happened in P.R.? not giving you sht, i'm just a bit confused? be safe kleggo

this is a leap ( 366 day) year ho ho ho kleggo

i'll be there if i get more indication that people will be showing up to play. kleggo

thank you all for taking the time to reply stay safe kleggo

a bit of advice please. i'm an experienced "low performance" canopy pilot. 2000+ CReW jumps, mostly on Lightnings and F-111 CreW canopies. i have about 100 jumps on stilletos / monarchs / sabre type canopies. what is your opinion of using a Diablo loaded at ~ 1.25 for WS jumps? i have no interest in HP landings. i'm looking for something that does not tend to spin-up on opening. Reports i've seen on the Diablo are contradictory regarding opening characteristics. What a SURPRISE!. thanks kleggo

i'll be there sat / sun dec 18 and 19. probably parked down in the sandy creek be in some type of van type vehicle. stop by and say hi if you come out. kleggo

[Perhaps we assume too much. Perhaps we should keep these threads on Blinc? excellent point. perhaps these postings should take the time to explain exactly what we / i mean without assuming a priori knowledge. in that case, i'll back out since i 'm not really into typing. i will be happy to discuss this ad nauseum if we ever cross paths. be safe kleggo

Rauk recently wrote Quote I almost lost a friend to a simple little rubber band do you really believe this? I spoke wiith an eyewitnesss to this incident, ( an eyewitness that showed good sense to walk down from the site because he was uncomfortable with prevailing wind conditions). . He told me that the jumper in question clearly took less than a 1 second delay prior to releasing his PC. That short of a delay is asking for trouble with any bridle attachment system IMO The black band MAY have been a contributing factor, ( Apex thinks it was prudent to discuss this incident in their announcement), BUT I think it is much more likely that the short delay was the primary reason for this near bounce. Sometimes pilot error hurts us. Sometimes Gear error hurts us. Best to keep an eye on both. stay safe. kleggo

"What a quitter! Seriously dude, I owe you myself and forgot. I hope you haven't been harboring this resentment all this time. " no way man, just talktyping out loud, that's why i put the smiley face thingy in there :-) see ya soon my friend kleggo

very cool i remember that day................. but not very clearly. was that tim that hit you that hard? or was it me jumping tim's canopy? chris j video? be safe kleggo

well after having caught at least 4 cutaway mains and 8 - 10 freebags over the years.......................................... i've decided to quit. Why? because i have now seen the very darkest side of this activity. of the last 3 people for whom i've "saved their gear", not one has offered to buy me a beer :-( sigh. it's far too dangerous to do if there's no beer reward :-) oh yeah................also on one of the recent ones i screwed up and caught the freebag with my A-B cascades one cell off-center. i flew around for a thousand feet or so trying out my flight envelope with the pc trailing behind fully inflated, thinking, hmmmmmmmm this is going to be very embarassing if i have to cut away cause i hosed catching a freebag. fortunately going to deep brakes and stalling the canopy cleared the mess. i made certain to re-catch it with my knees and not my lines. get to learn something most every jump. joy! kleggo

don't get me started on my opinion of tandem jumps......................................... be safe kleggo

hey space, a 35 mm film cannister can be stocked with many items. be safe kleggo

any one else travelling with their non-jumping significant other to Moab? we'll be there thursday evening through monday morning. my wife, maya, is hip to hiking / running / checking out the petroglyphs, but is not hip to sitting around watching. talk to us at jimmy and marta's thursday night if any plans are to be made. be safe kleggo and maya

looks like the u.s. team is well placed to become the world champions in sequential. wish them well craig