Spizzzarko

Nice crotch shots dude. It's makes me wonder if you are some sort of closet peaking freak.... No really, Nice shots dude. You have come a long way. Grant

Check it, I want you to go and look at the horizon tomorrow morning. Look at it while standing flat on your feet. Then look at it on your tip toes. Notice how your sight picture changes. Now keep the sight picture of the horizon on flat feet in your mind. Your next jump should be a hop and pop fro the top. Now practice flares, and only flare as much as you need to keep the sight picture the same as when standing with flat feet. If this is to much to wrap your head around, try to feel what it is like in your harnes whil not giving any inputs. This is a one G (the force that gravity exerts on your body). Now feel what it is like in your harness when you are flareing. If you feel a lot of pull in your leg straps (more than one G) then you are probably climbing, and flaring to much. Your flare should induce not much more than one G on your wingloading. Another thing that I see people do wrong a lot is to not flare all the way. Go out and take a camel back full of margarita, and just watch people land all day long. I know, It's like watching golf on TV, but it can be exciting, and you can actually learn alot. Not only should you observe what inputs they are giving to their canopy's but look and see what the canopy is actually doing. YOu will soon learn that you can tell more of what they are doing wrong by looking at the canopy itself, and less at the person. A canopy should be flown into the wind symetricly, and smoothly. If one part is lower than the other, it's an uneven flare. If there is a lot of flare all at once, then they were probably in corner. Learn to observe the rcovery arc on the canopy's. You will notice that most people are still in a dive from a front riser input when they give toggle, or rear riser input to dig themselves out. Now when you sober up from the camel Toe (I mean Camel Back) of Margarita, thn go and do another hop and pop from the top. Do a turn (it doesn't really matter what type you do), and LISTEN to your canopy. Actually close your eyes and listen. You will notice that your canopy will take quite awhile to recover on its own from this input. I believe the Scott Miller Course says it tkaes close to 10 seconds for a canopy to recover back to it's own full flight from an input. Another thing you will notice will be that people don't truely fly their canopys on final approach. They tend to point it in the general direction that they want to land, and expect that the canopy will take them there. If you are not continously flying your canopy then you are wrong. Fly that thing untill you get back into the hangar and pack it. If you let the canopy do it's own thins, it will ut you into a bad situation, that you may or may not have the flying skills to get out of. Don't let yourself get into a situaiotn that you have to pull some skills out of your as that you may not have... Bennn there and done that, it's not cool. Take my word on that one. Also please be carefull on whom you take advise from. There are many self proclaimed canopy experts out ther, but that doesn't mean they are right. Seek professional help if you are still having problems. Sometimes On DZ.com it's the blind leading the blind, so you have to learn from who ever makes you feel the most comfortable. I hope this post helps you out in some sort of way, but the biggest thing is for you to go out and keep trying. DO NOT get frustrated and quit. It will come to you some day, and then it will be as natural as breathing. Untill then good luck and be careful. Grant S. Adams

Didn't mean to imply that you were, but some of us who have been around for awhile, have just seen to much shit, and if we can prevent another Femur, Spinal, Compound, ECT ECT ECT we are going to do our best to do that. It doesn't just hurt you, when you break yourself, it hurts the whole sport. It makes it hard to make close freinds when then people you associate with can get hurt badly and possibly killed. It doesn't help when those people dont listen to other people telling them that they are fucking up by the numbers. So the moral of the story is to not do stupid things.

OK, Let's throw something out there for the sake of conversation. What about entering your turn a little high. You do that long carving turn, but your so high, that your turn rate is not fast enough to keep the canopy diving. You are getting to the point that your fronts are building up a lot of pressure, but you can still work them. WHAT DO YOU DO?????????? Do you remember those stupid choose your own ending books that you read in grade school? A. Continue with the harness turn, and hope that you make the gates? Turn to page 92. B. Continue with fronts untill the build up so much that you cannot continue the dive? Turn to page 38. C. Snap the turn around the rest of the way with double fronts as fast as you can, and hope that it gives you the dive that you need to make the gates. Turn to page 51. So let's talk about this rather than sunglasses in this forum. I know what I would do, what would you do?

Dude, Don't be a dumb ass... Remember what your AFF JM's told you.. Don't cutaway below 1000'. Just fire the reserve. Go back to basics man, they will save your ass one day. Besides, other than a canopy colision why should you be cutting away that low? I had a friend die last summer from cutting away from line twists low. He impacted the earth at about the same time his reserve freebag did. Just because some new safety device comes out on the market, doesn't mean we can all go and lower our decision and cut away altitudes. Don't get me wrong, I really am impressed with the skyhook, but use it as a last resort.

Who care about the gatorz, I find that they actually have a slight distortion with my vision. I do not wear them skydiving, and I have 20/15 uncorrected vision. As for the turn question, you are going to lose more altitude the longer you turn.

No I posted that earlier...

I put one jump on the Katana, and in my mind I was comparing it to the stilletto, but when I got down, I thought it more resembled the velocity. Fun canopy. I would definately buy one if I went non cross braced.

I would say the worst malfunction, is any malfunction I'm having. All in all Malfunctions are DEADLY, so arm yourself with the proper knowledge of Emergency Procedures. Ask yourself what would you do in a double canopy wrap at 1000' if you were the bottom jumper? If you cant recite what you would do and why, then you may want to refresh your knowledge of your EP's. From 3,000' on a small canopy that is spun up in a malfunction, you really don't have much time to sort things out. Trust me I know, and I was reminded of it this weekend. As far as the scariest malfunction, I would have to say a canopy collision down low. I have seen way to many people with close calls. Situational awareness is not something that people are born with, It's a learned process. Open your eyes under canopy, and look around some. YOu would be amazed at what all is going on around you. That is all.

I'm kind of enjoying the thread...

Ahhhh Sooooo I see. That's a cool tip.

I think he dropped something... Oh that's it, it was some names...

The bathroom should be ok if you run a bead of caulk arount the bottom of the toilet, and the side of the tub. That's just me thinking though. I do like tile also, but I wouldn't want to tile the kitchen. I just don't want to be replacing tiles when a pot or pan or glass gets dropped, and it cracks a tile... Tile does look nice though.

physio training is an invaluable tool to have. It weel help you notice the onset of hypoxia symptoms a lot faster than if you never had the training. It also tells you how the body takes O2 into it's system.

BUMP!!!

Dude, I have gone back and forth on the issue, about snapping, and carving. Now I kind of do both. I start my turn out slow, and get about halfway through my 270, ensure I have enough altitude to finish the turn, and then I snap the last half around. It seems to work for me... We will find out on April 23rd though!!!

Just a question... Why are you thinking about Pergo, what are the other options out there? I'm thinking of doing my kitchens, front entry way, and bathrooms of my house (approx 500' square total), but I havn't really researched it to much yet. As far as the wife getting the last say, I know what you mean. I will have to convince her on the entire project. She fears change...

That's a lot of canopy for someone with 750 jumps.

Cool 3. BUMP UP YOUR PULL ALTITUDES, AND YOUR DECISION ALTITUDES. THERE IS NO GAIN SKYDIVING BELOW 3,500'. Revised 3. ALTHOUGH I CAN NOT TAKE EVERYONES SITUATIONS INTO LIGHT, THERE IS NO GAIN IN CONTINUING TO FREEFALL BELOW 3,500'. Hope this helps you out. TAKE HEED

Good for you... I also see that you are jumping a crossfire 169 or something like that. The smaller canopy's eat up more altitude very quickly in a malfunction, or diving line twists. Wheather you exited lower than what I have said or not still doesn't make it any safer for you. Someday you will understand what I'm trying to point out.

But a couple people have said it might be better to get a 120 or so if I want to practice hook turns as the canopy will turn and recover faster, making it easier to judge the right height and I won't have to keep it in a dive as long since it will turn faster making it safer because I'm diving it for a shorter time This logic is just assignine... If you listen to these people then you can get yourself killed. It's just like the blind leading the blind. Take a step back from the situation, and think about what you just said. If you think for a second that it doesn't sound stupid, then maybe you had better take a long look at what your doing in the sport and why. For every one out there: 1. YOU DO NOT NEED A SMALLER CANOPY TO LEARN HOW TO SWOOP. 2. LEARN THE BASICS FIRST, THEY WILL SAVE YOU LATER. 3. BUMP UP YOUR PULL ALTITUDES, AND YOUR DECISION ALTITUDES. THERE IS NO GAIN SKYDIVING BELOW 3,500'. 4. DON'T LISTEN TO EVERY DUMBASS AT YOUR DZ, OR HERE ON DZ.COM. A LOT OF THEM HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. 5. SPEND THE MONEY, AND GET GOOD CANOPY COACHING. 6. ALWAYS FLY YOUR CANOPY, DO NOT LET IT FLY YOU INTO A BAD SITUATION. 7. MAINTAIN A HIGH LEVEL OF SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK AROUND DURING CANOPY FLIGHT. 8. KEEP YOUR GEAR IN TOP CONDITION. REPLACE YOUR LINES OFTEN AND BUY QUALITY GEAR TO INCLUDE A GOOD HELMET. 9. DO NOT FLY INTO THE EARTH AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. IT HURTS, AND YOU DO NOT PICK UP THE CHICKADEES THAT WAY. YOU CAN ONLY GET SO MUCH SYMPATHY SEX. THE DUDES ON THE WINNERS PLATFORM GET MUCH MORE SEX, THAN THE BROKEN DUDES. 10. THINK BEFORE YOU TURN. HURTING YOURSELF IS ONE THING, BUT HURTING OTHERS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. Consider this your code of swooping conduct. Good luck.

I got my main back, and it looks like there is no damage. I did the math, and I was loading my PD-113R at 1.94. It landed nicely. There was a little twitchyness on final approach, but that was me doing the inputs. I told myself to "Relax, your OK" and the twitchyness stopped. Like I said in another thread "As far as tempo's and PD's go, like I said earlier, I have landed both and I like the PD's better. Look at this thread even... Look how many people are talking about tempo's stalling, having a built in turn, and what not. You really don't hear about to many PD Reservse blowing up like Ravens do. You don't hear about to many PD-R's stalling on landing. You don't hear about to many PD-R's requiring a grip of toggle input to just fly straight. All of these traits are UN-ACCEPTABLE! A reserve should fly straight, and not stall above your shoulders. If you had a main that stalled with your toggle inputs above your shoulders, would you land it? If you had a main that had a built in turn that required more than 50% toggle input to keep it flying straight, would you land it? I wouldn't land either of those, so, is it to much to ask of canopy manufactures to build a product that fly's correctly? The people out there that continue to purchase these inferrior products are condoning this practice of manufactures making & selling shitty products, just to make a buck. All in all it's your life, and what you wear on your back is your choice, and I really don't care if you live or die, but I have made the choice to jump with quality products. In this sport you get what you pay for, so if you'r looking to save a few buck's then your going to pay for it elsewhere." SO TAKE HEED!!!

From what your saying, the sabre sounds better. If you feel the sabre does all that you are saying it does, then stick ith the saber. You don't need a special canopy to learn how to swoop.

I tend to fly around in brakes and rears until I get to my base leg of my pattern. ThenI go into full flight. I like to have an extended base so that I have all the speed of full flight when I do my turn into final. This seems to give me a little more power into my swoop than when I turn to final from brakes. I'm glad that the other posters here are respscting the Velocity for what it is. This canopy is for the canopy flight purists out there, and should not be taken lightly. Please be carefull with it, and dont let the canopy fly you into a bad position. You need to always be two steps ahead when flying the Velocity. It's fun, but as soon as you disrespect it, it will bite you in the ass.

Having lots of line to stow can also means your cat eye is higher on the brake line.