Jimbo

I'm curious, how did these damaged Cypres end up on Ebay? How did they make it into the hands of the seller? Did he find out about the accident and then buy them for pennies on the dollar from the insurance company? Part of me really needs to understand how they made it from a train wreck to Ebay. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that. Dave, how were you guys removing rubberbands before this handy bit of information crossed your path? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Just found out on rec.skydivin that Martin is making what appears to be a fantastic recovery. Article is here: http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=32Gp9.17667%24ue4.1072620%40bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Having trouble breaking in the new camera guy(s) Dave? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

True enough. I had assumed that they would be a serious team, training at least 3 out of every 4 weekends, doing as many jumps as the day would allow each weekend. All that and representing the DZ favorably at competitions. To the original poster, please don't think that my suggestion is the sure fire way to get anything, it isn't, but I still think it's more likely than getting a dime from the manufacturers. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Like others have mentioned, it's going to be difficult if not impossible to get any sponsorship money from the manufacturers, however you might be able to get something from your DZ. Talk to the DZO, ask for discounted jump tickets on training weekends, ask to get your camera guy an LO slot. Promise to compete in the local skyleague competitions and change your name to DROPZONE TEAMNAME. I think you stand a better chance of getting sponsorship that way than you do getting sponsorship money from the manufacturers. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

You don't have serial numbers, but are there other identifying properties of the stolen equipment? For example, how many jumps on the PT? What color was the altimeter? What kind of digital and still cameras? It may still be possible to recover at least some of the equipment. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I've heard from at least one grumpy old timer that even 100 isn't pie worthy. But I tend to agree with you Dove, it isn't just any ol' 00, it's got to be 1,000. It would lose it's meaning if you got pied two or three times a year, wouldn't it? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I know someone who recently had hers relined by Big Air. Call Brian, he'll take care of it. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Yeah well, since you're going to be there in a few days why don't you stop by and pick me up a case. I'll believe it when I see it! BTW: When are you going to make that URL clickable? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Vernors. Unfortunately you can't get Vernors on the east coast. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Me too! "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Amen! - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

What is immoral? Sometimes it's more important to get everyone landing in the SAME direction than it is to have them landing upwind. A downwind or crosswind landing in light winds isn't (or shouldn't) be a big deal. If you're in the pattern then you had better fly the pattern. If there's a smaller, faster canopy 1000ft above you he can close that gap in a matter of seconds. If you suddenly change the pattern you could kill him, and you. Nico - You're coming across as being terrified of the downwind or crosswind landing. Realize that you can do it, understand that at some point you should learn how to do it. Which would you rather do? * Injure or kill yourself or another jumper because you changed the pattern while in the pattern and had a collision? * Injure or kill yourself or another jumper because you landed upwind while everyone else was landing downwind? * Injure or kill yourself because you turned low to land into the wind? * Injure or kill yourself because you turned into an obstacle trying to land into the wind? * Get your jumpsuit dirty and look silly for a few minutes while you PLF after a downwind landing? I realize you've had some bad landings in the past, but the reality is that not every landing will be in ideal circumstances and it seems that that's what you're after. Talk to your instructors about landing downwind or crosswind, talk to your instructors about landing off, talk to your instructors about landing safely in ALL conditions. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

How did they get the horse across the ocean? "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Canadian Military? "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

14 pounds. Try that. If you have to ask then it's not for you. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

This is a decision that you will have to make at the time based on traffic (are there canopies 2100ft above you?), your position in the pattern (altitude), etc... Here's what I think you don't want to do: * You don't want to land 'against the grain' for fear of a collision. * You don't want to have to turn low to avoid another jumper on a collision course with you. * You don't want to turn low to get back into the wind. If I were the last one down, meaning that there were not canopies below me and there were not canopies above me, and I had the altitude to do it, I would probably land into the wind. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I don't disagree with that, but there are a few things to consider: * not all DZs have alternate landing areas * it is conceivable that you might not realize the downwind (or otherwise fucked up) pattern until it's too late to make it safely to an alternate landing area. All that said, it's not a bad idea to learn how to do a downwind landing. Depending on the winds it may be uneventful, or it may require a PLF or even a good tuck and roll, no matter what it's a good skill to learn and even a bit of a confidence builder. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

If the pattern is for a downwind landing then it might be better, even though it's downwind, to follow the pattern. Imagine the first half of the load chooses to follow the leader downwind and the second half chooses to land upwind. Think of the possibility for collision. You need to evaluate your landing pattern _every_ time, it's confusing at times and maybe even unfortunate, but it's not going to be the same every time. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Uh, the Infinity container is very freefly friendly, you can lift the entire assembled and packed container by the main flap - it does not open. As far as that Dash-M reserve goes, it'll be a while before I buy anything from Precision again, but that's just me. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I am neither pro nor anti RSL, I just believe that anyone should have the facts before they make a decision. That said, there's a bit of a flaw in your argument here, you can't say for certain that he would have had a fucked up opening, remember the reserve parachute system was designed to open under a myriad of less than ideal conditions. That's as bad a parachutist saying 'A Cypres would have saved his life' - it just isn't that black and white. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Hey Lisa, watch this! Scratch the Diablo off your list, replace it with a Triathalon if you're thinking about anything from Aerodyne. The Diablo is a pretty high performance canopy and easily outclasses anything else in your list. If you're really 160 that makes you about 185 out the door, you don't need to be jumping a 150 at this point in your career, there's time for that later. My recommendation would be to jump a 170 for a while, that puts you at a little over 1:1. The Sabre 2 is a nice canopy that will let you have lots of fun and leave a little margin for error, the Safire is an equally nice canopy, I can't speak about the Safire 2. Otherwise the other canopies you listed, minus the Diablo, are fine canopies for a beginner. Don't believe the hype that you can (or should) buy a canopy that you'll grow into - that's a sure-fire recipe for injury. Good luck. - Jim Hey Lisa, it's OK - I'm a little drunk at this point. "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

What are you running as an MTA on the backend? If you have any control over this _and_ you're the one who has to administrate the system then I would recommend Postfix, it really doesn't get any easier. Of course if the hosting site takes care of this then nevermind... - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I'm with Zennie on this one. Oh the good ol' days... - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.