eames

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Everything posted by eames

  1. eames
    I've also had SuperBandz break... even on the first jump after replacing one... and I also had hundreds of jumps on SuperBandz before I had a baglock. It's that one low-altitude subterminal deployment--where a regular rubber band would have broken, but instead you have a baglock--that'll change your outlook. Sure, SuperBandz last longer and hold tighter. And replacing rubber bands is an inconvenience. But it took me only one preventable malfunction to realize that I should stop making decisions based on convenience. Jason
  2. eames
    ...and that was a rigger's opinion. Jason
  3. eames
    I used to use Superbandz... until I had a baglock. I've always made short line stows (~1.5 inches), and never double wrapped. They're just too strong.... It's a little disconcerting to find yourself with a bag spinning over your head after you've just exited at 2200'--and even if you get the canopy out, it's a VX.... Anyway, I was able to yank the risers hard enough to break the offending band and kick out of about 10 linetwists by 1500'. I no longer use anything stronger than a standard rubber band, single wrapped. I can't see any reason to do otherwise, even with HMA. If the stow is too loose, your rubber band is too big. To answer your question, Superbandz look like thick rubber bands and tubestows are more cylindrical (tubular). Jason
  4. eames
    I wouldn't say it was that smooth.... In fact, it looked like he threw the drogue to stop his rotation (look how he swings back after drogue inflation). It's not recommended (by RWS) to throw the drogue until stable. Oh well.... Jason
  5. eames
    Maybe you asked this for the sake of humor, but.... There are no degrees of alteration... an alteration is an alteration. Are you thinking of a minor or major repair? Jason
  6. eames
    The idea behind using rears is not necessarily to ride them as far as possible (until you start to descend or even nearly stall) then abruptly switch to toggles. I've seen too many swoopers (even pros) push the limit of how far they can go with rears, stall the canopy, and ruin the rest of the swoop they could have had with toggles. It's much more effective to switch to toggles while you still have a little speed--while you can still switch smoothly. You also said that he hit the ground running because he switched too early. The point at which you switch from rears has very little to do with how fast you touch down. However, abusing your toggles (flaring too far too quickly, especially after using rears) may cause a fast touch-down. Jason
  7. eames
    In flight, pull your front risers down to as far as you want to be able to pull them, and look up at the tail to see how much it is deflected. Lengthen your lowers as much as your tail is deflected. Jason
  8. eames
    Thanks... it looks like his links were just loose. Improper assembly/maintenance is bound to cause failure.... Jason
  9. eames
    ...and out of curiousity: Why are you replying to me with ZigZag's quote? I didn't say anything about "loosing" an extremity.... Jason
  10. eames
    Replying with the guy's name doesn't really help anyone understand the circumstances that caused the incident.... Was the barrel cracked? Was it even threaded? How often did he inspect them? And how many times removed is your account of the incident? Jason
  11. eames
    You know multiple people whose rapide links just came open on them? Just like that? Are you implying that the links failed? If so, please share the details of these occurances... If you're talking about people that left their links loose, well, to put it short, that has very little to do with what is being discussed here. I'm quite sure that multiple canopy components would fail long before anything from the links down.... Jason
  12. eames
    Hey Josh, I've never been to Spaceland... how close to the pond are those power lines? So are you going to make any of the big PST events this year? Jason
  13. eames
    I think Dacron is great... I put small round-braided Dacron on the lower control lines of my Xaos-27. It's really smooth, especially with a cat's eye, it doesn't go out of trim quickly, and it has great wear characteristics. Jason
  14. eames
    I'll believe I'll be staying in hotel Hyundai, or possibly the much nicer place, hotel Tent-on-the-beach, but either way I'll see you there! Jason
  15. eames
    I was there competing... I landed shortly after Andy. If I remember correctly he said that he simply couldn't get a hold on his risers and failed to react. If you look closely at his hands, this is what appears to happen to me. There's no indication of a stall--his canopy only fluttered after he touched the ground. Jason
  16. eames
    Metal.
  17. eames
    Canopy = canopy & lines & slider & links container = everything else
  18. eames
    Uh... and there are some 9 cells that will outperform other 21 cells in the right hands. It's a fairly subjective argument. There is no "best" canopy out there, 7 or 9 cell, cross-braced or not. And to apply general flight characteristics to a set of canopies based on cell numbers alone is arbitrary at best. Jason
  19. eames
    Well that just takes a load of stress off! You got my stamp of approval. So the standings will be individual and team... what about cash winnings? Individual and/or team? Jason
  20. eames
    I'm not saying that dropzone.com isn't useful, but any information gathered here must be used with a high degree of skepticism. Jason
  21. eames
    Ron: "As for me having knowledge....How do you know I have a clue?" Skybytch: "I know because I read your posts. Other than this one minor difference of opinion, I agree with most of what you post." Bad logic Skybytch. A student could "agree" with what a 100 jump wonder posts, that doesn't mean the 100 jump wonder has a clue. The fact is, you don't really know anything about Ron. You believe he's credible because most of his posts match your own philosophy. Credentials on dropzone.com are a lot different than real credentials. It makes me laugh that the majority of "answers" in these forums are provided by jumpers with 350 jumps, or riggers-in-training, etc.. It doesn't seem to matter what qualifications a person actually has, it's all about post numbers.... Jason
  22. eames
    Wow, only 22 4-way teams out there?
  23. eames
    What I do is very similar, substituting s-turns with riser dives. I've never flown a canopy with front riser pressure that was "too high" either. Meaning I can finish out my favorite turn, which is also a right 270, also on my VX. Where this comes in to play is if I'm half way through a relatively slow turn with a lot of speed built up and I decide I need to widen it out to hit my lane by letting up on a front riser a bit. On the VX it's extremely hard to get it back down to finish the turn, on other canopies it's easier. That's all I'm saying.... Hook: I also have my brakes set quite a bit longer than factory settings. We also, as you know, have very different styles, and I'm sure this plays into each of our viewpoints and thresholds of front riser pressure. Jason
  24. eames
    I thought I'd try my luck as sociologist-for-a-day. So my research question is: What is the average gender composition of 4-way RW team? I realize this is not a true random sample, but hey, I'm not really a sociologist either. Jason
  25. eames
    This is a great technique, but it's too bad that you have to do that out of necessity on some canopies. If I'm high and still short for my setup, I like to get into double fronts early then go directly into the turn from there, rather than s-turning or sinking/stalling it. Jason