NeedToJump

Extending upon Nightengale's quesiton about someone who has never heard of Christianity or Jesus. What about Noah, or Moses, or any other person in the Old Testament which is still part of the Bible but before Jesus was born. When God spoke to them (as it says he did in the Old Testament) I guess he just forgot to mention that they wouldn't be able to go to heaven for another 3000 years because his son had not yet been born to die for their sins? Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I'll be there all week next week. There's always people hanging out at the bar during the week (not too late though) and it's always fun there on weekends. You'll always find beer there... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

It all depends on what I'm doing. If I'm freeflying I like to pull around 3500 to 4000 to let the other groups that before me land. If I'm doing 4-way I usually pull around 2500 - 3000 so I'll be one of the first ones down. Generally I pull between 2000ft and 4000ft... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

You'll definitely want to stretch before going into theh tunnel and after your done. Keep the entergy level up and stay hydrated. The coach's job is to constantly push you, but know your limits and know if you're being pushed too hard. Let the coach know if you're getting too worn out. And slug is right, bring lots and lots of money, you'll be wanting extra time... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

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Agreed, and he if wants to kick my ass, bring it on Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Yeah, that's basically what I was trying to say.

I wasn't sure where to write this since there's no place to review a gear store that I could find so I figured I'd just put it here. I recently bought a new Katana from The Skydiving Outlet - DeLand (http://www.tso-d.com) and had a great experience buying from them. The service was very friendly and I was allowed to use the computer there to figure out what colors I wanted for the canopy. I was also asked about my current canopy experience when I said that I wanted to buy a Katana. It made me happy to know that they will not blindly sell any canopy to anyone. After deciding to buy a stock Katana so I could get it sooner I asked about the Soul Flyers DVD as well. I got to actually watch most of it there so I could decide about it for myself. I ended up buying a Katana and the DVD. I went out to get money and by the time I got back to TSO-D (about 30 minutes later) my new canopy was there waiting for me. I highly recommend TSO-D for any skydiving related purchases. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

LOL, that made me laugh. I've always been a PD snob, but I have no problem trying other canopies to help me reaffirm my decision Actually, most of my jumps on the Katana I've been open above 10K, but yeah, usually I like to pull really low - 3.5K Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Cool, thanks for posting that. I got a 35 which puts me right on the border of average and high risk since I just changed what canopy I am jumping and have less than 50 jumps on it. Seems fairly accurate in my case. It's interesting though since I jump a 120 that if I downsized by 1 foot I'd be in the high risk category. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Thanks. My distances are better on this canopy but I have to work a lot on accuracy now (I keep overshooting now! ) It's definitely a fun canopy and I look forward to the next comp too. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Nope, not kidding at all. They were soft and slow but I personally just didn't like them. I kept wondering if it was ever going to open until it finally did. You either love them or you hate them... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I've put a couple jumps on a Crossfire2 109, 119, and 129 a while ago. I can't really compare them though because those jumps were a while ago and I just remember that I didn't really like the Crossfire2's openings. I haven't jumped the Samurai or the Nitro(n). Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

About two weeks ago I got a Katana 120 demo and put 20 jumps on it and absolutely loved it. I had about 250 jumps on a Stiletto 120 before that and about 400 jumps on an St. 135. Compared to the Stiletto 120 the Katana opened better (although it's less forgiving of body position.) The turn speed with both toggles and risers was comparable to the Stiletto, but a little bit less responsive. It has much lighter front riser pressure and slightly higher rear riser pressure. The two biggest things are that it is MUCH more ground hungry than the Stiletto and stays in a dive much longer. According to a Neptune the Stiletto in full flight has a vertical decent rate of 24 ft/sec and the Katana is 33 ft/sec. It has a really nice flat glide on rear risers (for making it back from a long spot) and hangs really well in deep breaks. It also has tons of flare power - much more bottom end than the Stiletto. I definitely like having the longer recovery arc as I can start my turns much higher up and adjust them more easily. If I am 50 feet too high in my turn, no problem. It is easy to keep the Katana in a dive and lose very little speed. My experiences with the PD demo program were great - everything went very smoothly. Anabel and Kolla - you guys ROCK! I bought the canopy from TSO-D - Arlo you absolutely rock too!

I just got back to my place after being in Titusville all weekend for the boogie. This was one of the best weekends that I have had in a long time. It was a great boogie with a lot of really good jumps and great people. All the staff and organizers did an amazing job of putting together such a nice boogie. Fabian, Juliiana, Peter G, Joao, Kaz - you guys ROCK!! I got to do some really nice medium way HD jumps (4- 9 people), great canopy jumps (canopy relative work but wihtout docking - 1.6 - 2.1 wingloadings...) and a nice carving course that we set up today. What a great weekend!

I've stayed on the sidelines just reading this thread until now, but this sort of statement never makes any sort of sense to me. Isn't God supposed to be forgiving and loving? Aren't we supposed to have free thought and be allowed to make our own decisions, you know, free will? Why then would God punish us for believing the wrong thing? I do not believe in your views of God, but if they turn out to be correct why would I be punished for thinking for myself and coming to my own conclusions about spirituality? If you have a kid and he makes a mistake, you don't banish him and sentence him to eternal torture and suffering right? No, you would explain to him what he has done wrong and allow him to learn from his mistakes. And no, I am not saying that I am mistaken in my believes, nor am I trying that say that anyone else here is. I am trying to understand what consequences there could be for having my own beliefs and why. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

My progression: Student status: 260 - 170 ~ 30 jumps At around 30 jumps I went to a Sabre 150 loaded just over 1:1 - I went to this canopy way too soon, but had no idea at the time. At about 250 jumps I went to a Stiletto 135 after trying a Sabre 135, St. 150 and St. 135 - loaded this at about 1.3 At about 600 jumps I went to a Stiletto 120 loaded about 1.45 I just (this week) switched over to a Katana 120 loaded about 1.45 with about 900 jumps total now. I plan on staying on this canopy for a while. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Do you expect that that will change? I didn't, I do now. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Jay very consistently does a 540 approach. I'm not sure if he builds up more speed than if he did a 360 but most of the time he does a 540. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I can do all of that on my current canopy, but I'm not ready to downsize yet. I won't be downsizing until I feel I am wringing every last bit of performance out of my current canopy. Being able to do everything on Billvon's list may mean that you know your canopy and that you -can- safely downsize, but it doesn't necessarily mean you -should- downsize. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

You're going to be jumping this weekend? Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Wingloading a certainly a cause in this, it may not be the biggest cause but if is a cause. Under a smaller canopy a jumper has less time to react as the canopy comes down out of the sky faster and da smaller canopy is also less forgiving of a mistake. Would this jumper have been hurt under a larger canopy? Probably, but this jumper probably would not have been hurt as much. There also would have been more time under canopy to decide what to do. I agree that DZ awareness, landing patterns, final approaches, flaring techniques, etc. are the main causes in this situation. However, as Kelly pointed out, it's not that she couldn't handle that wingloading in good situations, it's that she couldn't hanlde it in this particular situation. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com