freakflyer9999

Performance Designs recommendations for the Sabre 2 are here: http://performancedesigns.com/sabre2.asp

I recently bought a Gopro Hero3 and love it, but of course my old computer wasn't really up to the task of managing the videos, so I purchased a new laptop with I7 Gen 4 cpu and plenty of memory and disk space. The memory I'm sure helps GoPro Studio some but it is I/O bound and unfortunately I didn't get a faster hard drive. I do have plenty of memory (16GB) to create a ram drive, so I was thinking I might use a ram drive to speed up GoPro studio. My question is how do I config the software to use the ram drive for whatever the heck it is writing when processing videos?

Go visit DZ B. Talk to the instructors. Hang out with the jumpers. Not having a flashy marketing presence has nothing to do with the quality of the DZ. IMO, having a flashy marketing presence tends to make me think it is a tandem factory. Nothing wrong with tandem factories if you are checking off your bucket list. If you want to be part of the family, I suspect that DZ B will be a much better choice. And as far as USPA affiliation, all it takes is a few $. Yes, USPA Group members agree to follow certain rules, but in reality we all know that many of them don't. USPA membership by itself is not a mark of excellence, just a mark of having a pocket book.

There was not anything in her post that was rude. As for asking questions, your best bet is to follow her advice and go read the SIM. A lot of information is in that document and it has been learned and proven by a lot of other people's blood. If you still have questions, go sign up for a course and listen to the instructor. If all that isn't enough then just simply watch the video that I linked to and you should be good to go. Personally, I think that you owe the lady an apology, but if you truly think she was being an ass, then you are going to have a tough time learning to skydive.

Maybe you should go hide under the rock from which you came. Calling a long time respected member of this group an ass for offering reasonable advice won't get you very far on here.

Go to the wind tunnel in Austin and spend your money there learning to fly. In the long run it will save you money. There are a number of other dropzones besides San Marcos in Texas. Check the Dropzones section of dropzone.com. I haven't jumped in San Marcos in years, but it used to be a great student dz. I've heard from a cameraman friend that it has turned into a total tandem factory, but even that info was several years ago. One of the friendliest dz's in the area used to be Skydive Temple in Salado. I haven't been there lately either, but it might be worth you making a run up there.

Here is a link to the complete jump course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8F5MkP484E

Assuming that you are in the US, the pilots must have a commercial rating to accept payment. Even logging the time can be considered compensation. Of course the only way the FAA would most likely get involved would be if something went wrong, but from personal experience I know that it can happen. I was on a load that had a fatality. The pilot wasn't properly rated to fly the load and had his license suspended for 6 months in addition to a $2000 fine.

Don't forget Guy Manos

My 4th reserve ride. I had a tension knot causing a rapid spin. The jump itself wasn't all that scary. I dealt with the issue calmly as I spun on my back. As I was dealing with it, I realized that I had lost altitude awareness and was also aware that time was slowed down for me. Upon that realization I cutaway immediately and pulled my reserve. Had an uneventful reserve landing. The scary part was afterwards when I realized that the loss of altitude awareness could have easily killed me. I had opened my reserve by 1500 feet, but that was still too close a call because it could have just as easily been 0 feet.

Start selling boxes.

What size is the reserve and what is the reserve wingloading?

Several years ago I purchased an older student container for $100 that I took to the manufacturer for modification. Had the static line stuff removed, replaced velcro etc and a complete new harness (fully adjustable so I could lose/gain weight). Total cost was a little over $600 including the original $100. I then purchased a Raven IV reserve for $400 and a Navigator 280 with about 300 jumps for $500 (heck of a deal on the main). So for $1500+ I had a perfectly good rig that fit my needs. Unfortunately, I did gain even more weight to the point that the 280 was too small for me, so I sold the rig for over $2000 to another new "mature" jumper who wanted larger canopies due to knee issues. Good news is that I'm now losing weight again and will soon be in the market for a much smaller rig. I had gastric bypass surgery at the beginning of the year and expect to be under 200 lbs by the end of summer.

The most I've ever made in a day was 8 and that was enough. It becomes work after a point. I was present when Mike Zang made 500 jumps in 24 hours to set the record at that time. I assisted with several tasks to support him, but the most grueling sounds like the simplest. I was responsible for picking up the rig as he exited it upon landing, carrying it 20-30 yards and laying it on a tarp for others to load into the pickup that carried it back to the hangar for packing. I did that for 30-40 minutes and simply found that I couldn't do it any longer. I have no idea how Mike did what he did. I know that he was exhausted and in pain, but he kept it up until he reached the goal.

I no longer jump so my information may be somewhat outdated. The softest opening canopy I ever jumped was one of the first production Icarus Omega's that I bought to replace a Sabre. Even when I packed it trying to cause faster openings by exposing the nose, etc, it only opened moderately briskly. It never slammed me, which I can't say for any of the other handful of canopies I jumped.

I made my first static line jump on Feb 27, 1994. The ground temperature was in the low 30's that day, but to tell the truth the adrenaline kept me warm enough that day. I later experimented with a number of types of gloves and found that batting gloves worked well for me. A word of warning though, Gloves have been involved in several fatalities over the years including two in January of 1999. My best friend was one of those. His gloved hand was caught in a brake line and he spiraled into the ground. He should have been able to pull the other brake line down to the same level but appeared to have lost consciousness during the spiral. Just be very careful.

Several years ago I purchased an old student Vector for $100 and had the entire harness (fully adjustable student harness) replaced as well as some other work done on the container. The total was between $500 and $600 including return shipping. There wasn't any shipping to get it there because I happened to be in Orlando on vacation so I dropped the rig off in person. IIRC UPT has pricing on their website, but a quick call to them will get an answer as well.

I would highly recommend contacting John Storrie before purchasing a Prestige. In additon to being an extremely knowledgeable master rigger John does own the rights to this container. If I'm not mistaken, he told me that he destroyed all the templates for the container, freebag, etc and does not intend to support it. But don't trust my memory. Give him a call (1+ 940 484 2222)

I have been to one non-USPA dropzone that didn't want to even see my USPA license/documentation. They only thing they reviewed was my logbook.

A number of years ago, I bought an old Vector student container for $100. Took it to the manufacturer to have the ripcord/static line stuff removed, new BOC pouch, velcro replaced and a complete new harness. It was over $500, but I ended up with exactly what I wanted for less than $700 total. I wouldn't recommend this for most, but it fit my needs at the time.

I have a Kindle that I won as a door prize. Before winning it, I had actually decided that I was going to buy a Nook and probably still would. The Kindle has features I like and the Nook has features that I like. The Kindle seems to be the favorite currently in online reviews, but I don't know that Amazon will hold on to that lead. I have purchased a Nook as a gift for my son and hopefully, he'll let me borrow it some to do a real comparison. From what I know so far, the Kindle has much better battery life. The Nook has more storage and the color touch screen for navigating the device and purchasing, etc. The Nook also allows lending books to other Nook users for a week or two. The Nook currently has a significanly slower page turn rate than the Kindle, but I understand that a new software release was supposed to have corrected that. I like being able to carry multiple books with me without having to lug all the weight and volume that traditional books would consume in my luggage or backpack. Of course I still have a stack of traditional print books about 2 foot tall that I have purchased and not read. Guess I'll have to lay the Kindle down for a while and go back to the old fashioned method of book reading. Oh and I actually think that I'm going to buy an iPad in the near future. It has apps for all the major ebook vendors, so that you don't have to choose and I'm already sitting in front of a computer screen 8-10 hours aday so what's a few more hours reading. TJMaxx has them starting at $399 now, so I guess the price is about to drop everywhere on them.

During my student days, I had one particularly nasty set of line twists that pinned my head to my chest. I think it was my 20/30 second delays. I got into a side spin and deployed while spinning at a very high rate of speed. Thanks to a high student opening, I did sucessfully kick out of them though.

I was on a hunting trip with my dad and several of his work buddies when we stopped to have breakfast before starting the drive from Texas to Kansas. Apparently dad and all of his buddies had scheduled vacation for the following week, but we were leaving on a Friday in order to get there in time for opening day of the pheasant season on Saturday. Once breakfast was over dad said that he had to make a phone call to work to call in sick. He put a quarter in the pay phone outside (before cell phones) and gave his employee number and stated that he wouldn't be in that day. Then he said hold on and handed the phone to the next guy, who did the same thing. All five or six of them called in sick on the same quarter.

I don't know if they allow it at the festival, but I do know one of the pilots there who is skydiver friendly. Look up Tim Durham Five Dollars balloon at http://www.balloonfestivalvolunteerchasecrew.com/photos/photos2006_0.php It shows his location as Albuquerque, but he used to live a few miles from me. One day when he flew over my house I followed and eventually was able to make a jump from his balloon. I did have to spend some time helping crew for him, but that was fun too. Besides me, he had only taken one other jumper up, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

That's a good one but don't stop at coast to coast. Make it a big loop all the way around. I've climbed it 4 times myself but now I want to climb El Cap with one of my kids. jon Actually, since I live in Texas, I probably would make a loop starting here going to Florida, up the coast then across, etc. I climbed El Cap in my much younger days with a couple of my cousins. That was probably the last time we spent any quality time together. Good times.