psuCory

Sorry if it sounds that way (it wasn't intended that way). This was intended to raise 2 issues; 1) scheduling... an earlier announcement of dates (i.e. more warning) would let more people schedule the time necessary to compete. This being the first year of CPC it is understandable that things are a little unorganized. 2) Make 3 of 4 meets or you can't compete in the finals. Why limit the competition? Yes the requirement, in theory, should help attendance for the first 4 meets, but the other side is that it limits competition for the finals. Put these two issues together and you have a problem with extremely limited competition a the regional finals. In our division I wouldn't be surprised to have only 1 or 2 people qualified to attend the finals. What kind of competition is that? Fixes? 1) announce the schedule earlier (April is just too late in the year) 2) Eliminate the 3 of 4 rule. 1 out of 4 (to prove that you can compete safely) would work.

There is a fix for this problem... announce the schedule a bit earlier. This is the first year for the CPC, so I understand that things are in a state of flux. I hope to be able to make all (or at least 1) of the meets next year. Sure I can complain though it might fall on (understandably) deaf ears, as these rules were announced last year. Though excluding anybody that is qualified (i.e. safe) from a competition just doesn't make sense.

And there... we see the problem with the new system. Not that I would be in the winners circle (there are so many talented canopy pilots out there) but, the removal of the single meet, or pre meet, qualification system, completely eliminates 90% of your competition. I saw the texas schedule AFTER my team had their planning meeting... my only chance to see competition WAS a make up meet... and given the REVISED schedule.. I have 0 chance at competing at a single meet. And I am just 1 of many many more. While the initial idea of these meets sounded great, their reality is.. very short of ideal. In a given region, the best swoopers work within the industry... mine is Texas)... our schedule was not announced until late in the season.. well past our chance to attend. What you wind up with is second rate at best. If there was a planned meet (like the old Red Bull meets) at a given DZ, well prior to the season.. the attendance (and competition) would be much much higher. Let me clarify this bit... I'm not trying to disparage the attendees of the "Texas swoop meet 1", but limiting participants to those that can make a series of meets (at a moving DZ because the DZOs do not want a given organizer) is insanity. Those that plan a year around this system will win. I have no problem with that (other than the entire thing happening at 1 DZ because of the organizing attempt). But you have to have a qualification system for those of us that can only make/afford 1 meet (i.e. non working weekend) so we can come in to the finals/and or any given meet and compete with our peers. This attend or fail system is a SERIOUS drag on most of the swoopers (of high caliber). Weekend travel requires money, missing a weekend (busiest time of the week) is more money lost... Are you willing to go net -$1000 for a competition (not counting travel costs)? No? Neither am I. Bring the "accurate" judging to the local arena, and leave the competition national (and well announced). April is about 4 months too late to announce the years events. 4 annual meets, with required qualifing runs required, allows those that CAN do, and those that can ALMOST try, a chance. I hope yall have fun this initial year, and learn what it takes to run a real organization. This years plan if continued will probably lead to good things, this years process.. if continued will probably piss off the true talent enough to quit.

That was the Other one she blew up

beer.

Hi Josh, Mid season I'll be going digital... so there will be more images of the team easily available. In the mean time.,,. stay away from the landing area with that camera! (joking ). I've bustd my ass 3 times (1 stalling a demo katana, 2 slipping on some mud, 3 recovered canopy collapse from 15 ft) in the last [roughly] 2 years and you were there for 2 of them with that camera! - cory

Hey all, If you've done some editing you know what it's like to search for music to use. Sometimes you have that exact song in mind, sometimes you have no idea. Well, other times you know you want something that is "like" another song but not the same. Is there an online "if you like xyz you should like bfe band" search engine? Amazon almost works, but it usually recommends the same band only, with the occasional "users also bought" To paint a true tapestry in sound you have to really search for the 'right' sounds. I wind up DL'ing and listening to a lot of music (both good and crap) to find what I need. Quick FYI: I'm creating for personal/artistic/team purposes only, not for sale... so I'm not beyond "borrowing" a few tunes via P2P services. Happy editing

Ya bastasd! I just came in from a smoke break... looking out at a zero cloud zero wind day... and had to walk back into my cave (office). Now, who said anything about swapping

Hey... I've already got dibs on the wife .

2:21:? 2 - canopies killed. One broken linen on my (relatively new-to-me) Xaos. Uneventful opening.... what is that... fuck... a line broke... it's flying pretty good, land it (no issue). Gotta call Precision in the morning. Second one was a bit more interesting. Pitch.... nothing... nothing... damnit I must be tr . Now I know that some canopies have been known to open hard, but a Crossfire isn't on that list. I can feel that I'm flying pretty much straight, but can't see.

Yep... had those characters on my mind for awhile... finally I had to make it permanent. If you do a search you can watch the progression of it's placement. I originally thought about a leg band... but after discussing it with people (real world as well) and the artist who eventually placed it, I went with the current location.

And the original... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=7879; linked to avoid unnecessary attachments

Well, comparing the event dates to my team schedule... It's a perfect match! If a weather day occurs the listed alternate events are scheduled after nationals, which means that ya'll still might see me. Same personal rules apply; make the gates the majority of the jumps and walk back to the packing room... anything more than that is a personal bonus. Yoshi, hope to see ya there man... mind if I go first ?

Thus my resistance to putting on sdmovies... It was going to be all out release (not really an option though) or private viewing only.

Fair enough... like I said it's just mental musings at this point. My thoughts are pretty much in line with what has been posted, in that it probably isn't worth it at any price. At least I have some great footage for the team's end of year video . PPS... Me too

Ok here's the deal. I've got some footage. And it's pretty...no it isn't pretty, it's harsh. It's of myself in a bad situation, but I lived. Additionally there is outside vid of the 'situation'. As most vid guys, cash is always an issue, and I think this might just be a "quick cash" avenue. So the questions start: 1) I know it makes our sport look bad by releasing it to "public" eyes... how do you come to a monetary figure for that? It is a survival story, but I can already see 'their' announcers spinning the details. 2) Model release isn't an issue for my view.. as I'm the model. But there is an outside view, which is quite extraordinary. The vid guy that got the outside view deserves to be paid (if the original intent - get paid - is to be followed) at a fair rate. Do you calculate that at a % of total vid release cost? 3) to start the video, either of them, properly we have to show a tandem happening. This to me means that we have to get a model release from the TM and the student. Is this a correct assumption? And would a $ figure that covers the tandem + next tandem be enough for the rider? For the TM, I don't even know how to calc a $ amt. Is there a standard equasion for active participants in for-pay videos? 4) What programs are still marketing the "near snuff film" video? If I can sell this to more than 1 network, obviously the return on "selling out" goes up. Answers and discussion (here and PM) are welcomed. ... yea I'm selling out. But I'll be back,.

1) What are you testing your burned disks on? Try the DVD on another player (or your computer - Windows Media Player will play it) and see if the same results occur. 2) What media (DVD+R(W) DVD-R(W)) are you using? I've had mixed results with DVDs burned from VS8. Burning to DVD+R media produces disks that I can play on my home DVD player and computer, but other peoples players seem to dislike it. When I say they dislike it, I mean that the pixilation effect happens on some, and others can't read the disk at all. Burning to DVD-R media results in disks playable on my machines, and others without issue. Remember, some players prefer one type over the other. A second issue (I think this is the case with my +R disks) is that some blank disks are of a poor quality. I bought a spindle of HP brand +R disks that I think might be low quality, resulting in poor burns. 3) What mode are you using when capturing? I'm not in front of my home machine, but if memory serves there are a few options for capture. One of them is best suited for DVD output the other is meant for online (WMV?) format. 4) When publishing/burning, what quality option did you choose? I usually burn at the highest quality (lowest compression) offered, because space is not that limited. If you chose the highest compression, I would think that some pixiliation would be evident.

To start off with, let me make this clear: this post is not a rejection of Brian's WNE chart. He has much more experience in canopy flight, canopy design, aerodynamics, human physiology in flight, and human psychology in flight. And of course, I am viewing this through my own "rose colored glasses". But, and of course there is a but. There is a critical flaw in this poll. Actually there are two but's: 1) We are forced to make the assumption that the WNE as it stands applies to all people (i.e. everyone is equal). Sorry, umm, reality talking... we aren't all equal. Maybe in the Orwellian sense we are all equal... but some are more equal than others. We are not all equal (when in comes to physical things). Anyone care to debate this? While the WNE may be a good (great?) reference point... we need to know upon which criteria it was based prior to making a fully informed decision. The "chart" accounts for #jumps, wingloading, and elevation. There are many more, easily considered factors that should be assessed. For example, currency, nobody will dispute the fact that currency is a huge factors in the ability to "survive"smaller canopies. Somebody with 1000 jumps (the defacto standard for jumping at 2.0) who has been jumping for 8 years (125 jumps per year) officially qualifies. Would anybody want a 125 jump per year person jumping a canopy loaded at 2.0? I wouldn't be that comfortable with it. What about somebody who has 600 jumps in the past year? With an eye, and mentor, on progression? 500 jumps is definitely extreme to be at 2.0, but I would feel more comfortable with the 1 year 600 jump guy than the 8 year 1000 jump guy at this level. Should we add .1 for every 300 jumps in the last year? Given the second example above this would be 1.5 (for 500 jumps) + .2 for 600 jumps in the last year, which = 1.8. How about we add .1 for every 200 in the past year, which results in a 1.9 for our guy with 600 jumps in his first year. What we are getting at here is that the "average" or "mean" person is not everybody. You have seen those around us with MANY MANY jumps that would not be proficient, much less safe at the WNE, even if their jump numbers were divided by four! Granted they are not average, but they do exist. Yes I realize that the WNE is reference for a MAXIMUM, but a maximum for whom? Everyone? Sorry, no. I'm not buying that one either. So to exist those that are "gifted", be it a great self awareness of elevation, or extremely quick reflexes. 2) The second flaw of this evaluation: Even with the full load of information it is incredibly hard to make a fully informed decision about themselves (be it self fulfilling prophecy or failure to realize failure). Anybody with more than 200 jumps that says, "I never surprised myself/overestimated my abilities" is, frankly, full of shit. For all of you that think you are "above the average" (which by definition is 49% of you) please realize that about half of those in the 49% below average group... think that they are average or better... and they don't realize they are fucked. What does this all mean? Why did I actually type out all this? It's because you have to think and ask questions! Damnit. You can not evaluate yourself dispationatly! You need outside evaluation by someone who knows what they are talking about when it comes to canopy flight. Don't ask someone on a message board, that has never seen you land! And sometimes you can't trust those around you with "thousands of jumps"! Find a professional that knows how to TEACH (YES TEACH) canopy flight, and get an expert opinion! What does this mean? If you are still reading... then you are probably of the group that is above average and want's to learn how to do things properly, so do it, just do it. If you are still sitting there reading, thinking, "I'm definitely in the upper 49%". Are you that sure you are special? Read up a few paragraphs... "Anybody with more than 200 jumps that says, "I never surprised myself/overestimated my abilities" is, frankly, full of shit." I mean that.

I'm still not sure about it. My choice depends upon availability to an extent. If the Xaos is in use on Saturday (it's owner will also be flying video for TSL), then I'll hook up and stay with the old canopy. Last time I went back to the other canopy it took half a day's worth of jumps to force myself to turn low enough . But once I get everything sorted out, the old one can really be made to perform. Something I can't say about the Xaos yet.

Hmm going big eh.... Yep, yep... definatly need video . Let's see, you could (after saying, "Hey yall watch this" of course) spin a 630, flip backwards, hooking your lines with your feet (wouldn't be the first time ya' tried 1 way CRW ) and perform a mad hand drag... the entire distance of the ditch. Easy right? Hehehehehheehh.... Myself? I'll be happy to make 3 of 4 gates (having 30 to 40 jumps on the Xaos... hehehhe... yea right), and keeping a reserve repack for more than 60 days .

Hey man, don't worry about that one at all... I've got last place all wrapped up . This little adventure is more about fun and learing than "winning", at least on my end. So... in one weekend I'll take a first place (thanks to a wonderfully fun 4-way team) on Saturday, and an ego destroying, and probably soaking, last place on Sunday. Oh, and Yoshi.. dude that was a sick landing. If you want it converted to a web friendly version just let me know and we can take care of it this week. -CK

Hey Conway, I'm guesing you see "about:blank" in the address bar... it was a freakin nightmare trying to get rid of that thing on my home pc (at the time these removal programs didn't exist... so it involved a lot of registry tweaking and hidden program searching). These days it is a bit easier to remove. Check out http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=231124#post231124 and http://www.securiteam.com/securityreviews/5RP0L0UD5U.html or perhaps http://ask-leo.com/archives/000280.html

I don't have a dropzone.com t-shirt.... but I'll be at Skyfest anyway . White freefly pants (yes, they are still white despite that ditch dunking last weekend) or a BRIGHT yellow camera suit (and I mean BRIGHT... those at Spaceland and some at SD Dallas know it ) . So add me to the list! Oh add.. MurphyKA to the definite list, and Rebecca to the Probably list.

Don't worry Kimmy... do you really think that I would let that one slide by? And yes, it will be at the worst possible moment .

Dude, rock on! Best of luck to you in all your new ventures... Don't get too busy though... save time for the occasional (ok, a lot of) hop'n'pops!