TB99

[replyMost people are thrilled when they find out I don't drink because that makes me the designated driver. Oh yea, story of my life ... DD ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

I'm talking standard situations ... if big way teams are jumping before me, they get more time, but usually it's 2-3 way FFers that don't need THAT much more time ... Also, I was telling you this was out of the faster planes ... and on days when it's not needed, I don't count that much. I said in my last post that I usually just do the 7 seconds because that's almost always the case for me. I don't do it no matter what! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

In short, yes ... a few times:) Guess I got lucky with the ones I chose! My favorite one was when I really liked my girlfriend's best friend, lol ... they always hung out together and were really close and did and shared everything, since I liked her too, I subtlly and jokingly brought up sharing me, lol ... to my surprise, they were all for it! That was my first experince ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

I quit drinking about 3 months ago ... I love it now! I didn't quit because of some bad incident or because how I get when I drink or anything like that, lol ... I just quit because I wanted to. It saves me a lot of money, I'm not killing my braincells anymore, I still have a ton of fun anyways, I'm religious, so I guess it helps in that sense too, hehe. A lot of ppl at the DZ are always offering free beer now that I quit, figures, but when I turn it down, they don't force it on me. They've been pretty cool about it, CURIOUS, but cool. I dunno what the main reason why I quit was, but I've enjoyed it since I have and probably will keep without it now. Don't worry about it, and don't start if you don't want to! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

I usually just count 7 seconds then start my climb out ... that should be plenty of time no matter what the winds are doing (we're flying superotters and skyvans). Only time I give a second or two less time is on a completely no wind day ground to uppers (or light winds). I do, however, like to watch them as I'm waiting to climb out:) Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

This is true for a 10 way, a different story ... but a 2 way should have no problems tracking. The winds that day were very moderate, not strong at all, but not light either. We waited until they were at around a 45degree angle before we started climbing out. Not sure exactly what they were doing, but I knew some was head down some was sit, while our whole jump we managed a pretty decent paced sit (neither of us cork or anything). The biggest thing was even if he had tracked wrong, he was under canopy and still flying the jump run line. Even if we somehow ended up on top of him because of winds, and he opened and started flyin the canopy perp to the jump run (which is towards the DZ anyways! dunno why he was flying away in the first place) it would've been okay. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

True, this is what I meant by giving a riser turn to correct any off heading openings you may have! Another thing was the very next jump I saw another experienced jumper do the same thing (the first one was experienced as well) ... it wasn't as close (about 500ft this time) but I saw more jumpers whizzing by him! He had a small talk too ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Saturday I was doing some 2-way FF with a friend. We were second out the plane, made sure to give a LOT of time before the first 2-way (also FFers). We didn't even start climbing out the plane until 7 seconds had passed. So we do our jump, which was excellent! Here's the scary part ... My protrac goes off and I double check my alti, time to break (5500) ... I flip to my belly and start tracking when all of the sudden my heart goes straight up to my throat and I almost crapped my shorts. I looked down to see what was below as I was tracking and there was a big huge canopy coming straight at me! Holy sh*t I said in my head!! I veered some and tracked for another 2 seconds and pulled. I whizzed by him sniveling about 100ft away (good thing his canopy was gliding left [from my perspective]). My friend that I was jumping with whizzed by the other side of him! I was cursing up a storm under canopy trying to channel that fear out of me and get it out of my system before I landed so I wouldn't blow up at the guy. Before I even had a chance to say anything, he approached my friend and I at the same time and apologized profusely for his mistake! He knew what he'd done wrong and was really sorry. We talked for another minute and all was well (the guy was cool, was playing Hackey-Sac with him just before the jump). Everyone was safe, he knew his mistake, all was well and we moved on. Here's the whole point of the story. After your jump is done, most people know to track perpendicular to the jump run (I hope). If you don't know this (newbies maybe), now you know! Track away from the jump run so you don't end up under anyone. The thing a lot of people don't realize is that after you're under canopy, STILL fly away from the jump run!!! Before you go collapsing your slider and everything else you do before you start flying your canopy, give yourself a riser turn if you need to change direction away from the jump run. Please people, don't just track perp. to the jump run, also fly canopy that way. There's no use tracking away if you're flying right back under us with your canopy! Sorry it's so long, but this really scared the sh*t outta me when I looked down and saw that canopy directly under me coming up fast. It's a lesson for both newbies and experienced jumpers alike ... track and fly your canopy away from the jump run. I can't say it enough! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Also have to remember that winds affect everything too ... flying in brakes in a no wind day will take you farther than flying with rear risers, but it's just the opposite for a windy day. Flying with brakes when there's wind will slow your forward movement so you'd want to try and use risers. There's all different ways to try and make it back, it all depends on winds, where you're goin (upwind/downwind), the type of canopy you fly, and how you're loading the canopy, etc etc ... You have to get up on both nonwindy and windy days and H&P and see which way flies best for your particular case. I did that and found that on windy days, brakes blow (no pun intended), but when there's no wind, I can fly so much farther forward (slower, but farther) in brakes (how deep of brakes also varies with the person and canopy). Play with your canopy, learn it ... do some H&Ps so you KNOW. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

LOL, nice shot! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Me too But yea, same thing, cutaway lineovers here ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Hehe, yea, I mentioned that same thing to her in PM, Dave! Yea, it's me from the Perfect Spot from last night ... good to hear you had a great day of jumping! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Oh yea, not being able to jump today was crappy, but Real TV on TNN helped a lot! Been watchin it all day, lol ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Well, weights is a different story, but I weighed myself with and without gear and came up with on the dot 20 pounds ... I usually only account for 3 pounds for clothes, lol ... guess it's because it is just shorts and a tee:) I haven't weighed myself with my FF suit, but I figure that's about the same anyways as I jump in only boxers and a T underneath. Ahhh, how I love Florida Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Wow, lol ... who makes your clothes Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

That person is talking about wing loading. You are probably 205lbs out the door (assuming 185 for your weight and 20 for your rig). On a PD190, your wing loading is 1.08 (205 divided by 190). The more advanced you get with canopy control, the more you can start loading up under canopy (meaning, getting smaller canopies and loading it more: example - you'd be loading a 135 1.52, or a 96 sq ft canopy would be loaded 2.14, which gets really advanced! Hope you understand what I'm sayin. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

We're just saying it's a big huge reason for a lot of things, not saying poor body position is the cause to all mals or all horseshoe mals. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Hmm ... so far 5:7 and probably 5 for tomorrow ... Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Yea, line overs are pretty much the pack job .. I take great care in flaking during my pack job, because I know you can get lineovers by doing other things, but that's the easiest way. Yea, you're right, but I was thinking more along the lines of off heading openings and consistancy with openings. I wasn't thinking about lineovers:) Twists, however, are MOSTLY caused by body position, not always, but almost always. Lineovers never by position, tensino knots, well, those can be cause by a number of things .. anyways, I'm goin to stop ramblin, you get my point ... edited to add: Oh yea, and I'm talking about regular packs here, lol, not slider down, not setting brakes, etc etc, LOL .. Commen sense there Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Uh, I've seen a number of these bent already from just every day packing use! So I wouldn't count on a lifetime, but it'll definately last longer than the rope:) Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

I went from a Spectre 150 to a Sabre2 135 ... It dives a lil more in turns, opens just as soft, has a more responsive turn too (less input, faster response), swoops further even on just an arms up full glide landing, stalls are deep toggle, like the spectre, but it was harder for me to fold my canopy into a round canopy (stall) on the spectre. By the way, it really doesn't matter that greatly how you pack it ... do what you want with the nose or whatever, the thing that REALLY affects openings the absolute most is body postion, not pack jobs. When you're stable and about to pull, just look at the horizon, not ground, and while it's sniviling, keep looking at the horizon and bring your feet and knees together until that slider drops. Then I usually look up to see what I've got for a canopy. I usually don't look up right away, only will if I don't feel that snatch force right away. I dunno, just suggestions, have fun with the canopy, enjoy it, it's a blast! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Sabre2's often open nicely no matter what you do to em! They open almost as nice as a Spectre (what I used to jump). I've tried all different ways of packing it, including plenty of trash packs that looked like crap, and all beautiful openings (maybe except for 1, but don't know how that one happened). You'll love it! I just started psycho packing it too, it's a lot easier to get a brand new or fairly new canopy in the bag with this method, and it opens just as softly (when packed right), but there's lots that can go wrong with the pack, so I wouldn't recommend it. I'm just experimenting for now (only 4 psycho packs done so far), but hey, if I get consistantly awesome openings, I may switch to only psycho packing and I'll post it here to let people know how well the Sabre2 does with that pack job. Have fun with the demo, you'll never think to buy anything else after you jump it!! I was sold on the first jump, lol. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

Guess I'm #20 Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

LOL ... It was actually a pretty damn calm experience ... I never thought it'd be so peaceful when I'd finally had one! 2 days ago I had a pretty rough opening I thought I'd have to cut away from, and that really got my heart racing, but I still think I would've distinctly remembered hearing that awesome chime. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!

LOL, yea, I watched that vid of ya ... heard that sound ... I had a camera mounted, but took it off my helmet about 3 weeks prior to my cutaway, I wish I had it on tape, but oh well! Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked!