lyosha

just had my cypres maintained, cost me CHF 220.-, that is roughly EUR 200.-, shipping included. you're being ripped off by jack the rigger. as to the OP: the cypres may cost more, but i'm pretty certain it will ALWAYS fire when it has to and wont when it's outside the parameters, e.g. slamming the trunk closed in your car while still turned on. with EVERY other AAD, i would not be so certain. The problem with the Cypres is that noone outside of cypres knows those "parameters". Cypreses have fired both too early and too late, with absolutely no explanation from Airtec aside from "it fired when it was supposed to". People have died. Vigil, on the other hand, in detail explains how their device works, what factors affect when it will fire and allows you to download the data yourself. Complete transparency. Go with Vigil in my opinion. Transparency matters. More than you would think.

Just want to say that Peregrine actually supports the Dolphin very well. They no longer make them exactly, but they do make the renamed Triton. Which is nearly the same thing slightly updated and filling the same market niche, (basic, inexpensive, few options) as the Dolphin did. Mike Furry's creation lives on and is still supported. Although there may be other good reasons to retire the older ones. They seem to be hit or miss. Very hit or miss. But their new Glide container is very sexy! Although they're still trying to work the kinks out of it as well.

255 lbs for half the sizes. Lower than 300 lbs for Optimum, but hardly "low".

wingsuit.

1. Stay away from racers if you are a newer jumper. Or aren't a rigger. 2. Dolphins should be retired. Support for them is very poor since the guys that bought the brand never made them. 3. Wings rigs make good first rigs because they tend to be cheaper. But you get what you pay for. You may not want a wings for your second rig. But by then you won't be asking online for advice. I hope. 4. Never heard this, probably no substance to it. 5. If you are a new, yes. 6. Lots of people jump 7 cells... Although 9 cell Zp tends to be most people's first choice in first canopy.

Interesting - what do you mean by "inside the PC" and "outside the PC"? Those could mean a few different things...

I'm a big boy. I got some (like a second at times) hesitation out of an ~8' bridle + 28" zp PC, so I bought 10' bridle + 34" PC and stowless D-Bag. No more hesitation. F111 PCs apparently work even better. Use same setup for freeflying. Length of bridle doesn't impact your openings, and neither does size of PC. At least that's what my experience has been.

When I read this article my first immediate thought was "this is about Jim Hickey"...

My experience is there are some very animated riggers out there that think that the PDR is the golden standard for reserves, some of who have the opinion that a PDR is better reinforced than a Smart. I haven't fondled any reserves myself, so I have to go with word of mouth :-/ Personally, I'm probably getting a Nano in my next rig. voilsb conducted the type of test that I would conduct to figure out which low bulk reserve to get and that's what he came up with.

Hi guy! 6'5" ~200 here. Going through poised exits in AFF was a pain in the ass. I had maybe one good exit where I didn't go unstable. It's hard as **** to exit in an orderly fashion when you barely fit in the door. Switch to diving exits as soon as you can, they'll make life a lot easier. If not that ask your AFF instructor to do outside floating exits instead. Things get easier as you get better at flying your body, you just have to suffer through AFF poised exits for a few jumps :)

Well, if you did your searching, you'd come across this post made recently: I followed up with the guy via PM and he said his next reserve will be a Nano. As far as Smart reserves go I haven't spoken to anyone that really likes them better than PD or Icarus reserves, so take from that what you will.

Exactly. It's essentially a 7 cell Katana. You'd recommend a Katana to a low-time jumper? The Katana is a highly elliptical wing. No, I would not. It's twitchy and has one hell of a recovery arc. I'm okay with a steeply trimmed square canopy though... The Storm is less elliptical than a Sabre II and has a shorter recovery arc. What exactly makes it "more aggressive"?

A Sabre II at equal wingloading to a Storm would not be more aggressive. I have both, with at least 1000 jumps on the SabreII, and triple that on the Storm. There is nothing 'boring' about the Storm. To the OP, talk to PD about why they rate it as it is. Or, spend some time searching the forums. You'll find several posts from many people who have actually flown the Storm. You'll find several posts explaining why it's not an ideal first canopy. PD will send out a demo, but you'd do well to have an email or phone conversation with them first. PD will give you their sales pitch. Every canopy is the best ever and the Sabre II is a better swoop machine than a crossfire (plz no brand wars thnx). Realistically the only thing "aggressive" about a Storm is its angle of attack. Aside from that it might as well be a seven cell Sabre1... Like I said, a couple of my friends looking to be more conservative than getting a Sabre2 have gotten Storms (loaded at ~1:1) and love them because they are conservative. Take from this what you will. They are different canopies. Try both, try to survive, pick the one you like better and go with it.

I would disagree that storm makes a bad first canopy. I know a couple of people that have gotten them. Typically these are people that want a more boring, docile canopy for a more predictable ride to the ground. A Sabre2 would be more aggressive...

You can usually get 4-7 jumps on most weekdays if there isn't rain and the winds are 15 mph and below. There are usually people who take sick days (or are "working from home") there and tandems on the books. On a very beautiful day more people show up, and there is more variety in the types of jumps done. Check the weather. Ranch has notoriously high mechanical turbulence, so my suggestion is to stick to student wind rules if you're under a lightly loaded canopy or a canopy close to minimum manufacturer suggested wingloading (specifically crossfires loaded at 1.4 sometimes have issues). This is the most reliable forecast: http://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?Submit=Go&sta=KMGJ&state=NY

I have been in jump planes where after everyone grabs a seatbelt one person is left without one. I have also been on jump planes with seatbelts I could not use due to my wingsuit. I haven't seen anyone flip out in either case. Aside from that people tend to remind each other to wear them. It should be noted in the one recent crash in the area the most injured person was wearing a seatbelt. Might have been the cause of his injury.

*7-cell It's made from low bulk fabric From the squirrel website: "Porcher Sport PN9 is the highest quality low-bulk 0-3cfm material available" Yes, low-bulk It packs ~2 sizes smaller than equivalent ZP. Meaning you don't have to have two containers if you want a much bigger canopy for wingsuiting.

*7-cell It's made from low bulk fabric

That's really awesome, except looks like it was made on the same factory as fx helmet from square1 meaning it's awful :( I hope someone picks up on the idea though and makes a legit camera helmet! :)

Grellfab.com Good first mount. Do your research about the things that can go wrong.

I'm slowly inching my way to getting into HP landings, but not quite there yet. There appear to have been lots of exciting things happening for people who are already great swoopers. But do any of you think the landscape for the road up to a VK/Leia will advance and make life more more blissful for those still on the path and not yet at the destination? Anyone have any read on the future of the crossfire class of canopies?

I have ~200 jumps with mine. I love it. Get one. It's just smart. I jump in the rainy northeast of the USA and got the uncovered version and would HIGHLY recommend doing so unless there's a good chance you are going to literally land in water (that having been said I took mine to bridge day as well). I've flown through plenty of clouds and soggy days with mine. Three advantages of getting the naked mount: 1. It weighs less. Less weight = good. 2. You can see the blinking red light at the top of the camera. This is actually a super super useful side effect of a Grellfab mount - I've never said "Is it blinking?" on a plane. Keeps attention on skydive where it belongs. 3. No case to fog up on you. One disadvantage: You cannot land in water.

Are you guys gonna try and break it at Burning Man? I seem to recall some kind of naked world record jump there last year...

Thanks, if you see the latest version I added some flanges on the inside for screws but not enough surface area for adhesion as you say. I did try to model a broader base with a larger diameter circular foot to increase the radius but the boolean geometry operations failed at the time. I now know it was a surface direction problem that I have fixed. Any additional suggestions would be welcome. This one seems pretty good - and not too expensive. http://www.sculpteo.com/en/print/rawa-vision-mold15/yYEjKU4k?uuid=NuwSU6e0JSyWlyi5lxg7Wf Hmmm... I might be wasting my time :-) That's an improvement on the original mount. Perhaps I should just tear off my existing mount, I'm starting to regret my use of JBWeld :-) Let's see where this journey takes me. I have some flanges to add... You're not wasting your time, but that's there for some ideas. I think the guy that made that also made whatever file he used to make it available for download. Check here for more detail: http://www.watchthybridle.com/2014/08/gopro-anti-snag-mounts/

Thanks, if you see the latest version I added some flanges on the inside for screws but not enough surface area for adhesion as you say. I did try to model a broader base with a larger diameter circular foot to increase the radius but the boolean geometry operations failed at the time. I now know it was a surface direction problem that I have fixed. Any additional suggestions would be welcome. This one seems pretty good - and not too expensive. http://www.sculpteo.com/en/print/rawa-vision-mold15/yYEjKU4k?uuid=NuwSU6e0JSyWlyi5lxg7Wf