ccowden

I agree- grab as high up as you are comfortable and push out. When attempting rear riser landings you want to start the rear input very early so you can gauge what you will need to plane it out. Start very lightly and add pressure as needed. Never stab them. You should also be starting high enough so you can transfer to toggles if the rears just aren't giving you what you need. As you practice, you will get more comfortable with how soon, how much, rears you need. I personally don't recommend that you actually "land" on the rears for your first few attempts. I would instead recommend that you just get the feel of starting to plane the canopy out with them and transfer smoothly to toggles for the actual surf and landing. The biggest problem with doing this on a Stiletto is that it has a short recovery arc, thus not giving you much time to feel things out. But if you do it in small steps, you should be able to avoid any more landings like your last.

I guess I am talking about Skydivers Airspeed, but I am just taking educated guesses and really don't have much to back it up with except 'what I think'. What I do KNOW is that when I read an average speed of near 180 on the Pro Track, it is uncomfortably fast. And when I read an average speed of down around 145, it starts to get uncomfortably slow. By uncomfortable I mean where I don't feel like I have all the range in movement that I would like because I am trying so hard to stay at that speed. Screw this- Let's just go swoop!

When everyone is on their head and working together, the speeds tend to pick up quite a bit. Two-way head downs can really get smokin'. But when you have a mix, the speeds need to be on the lower end for it to be comfortable for the majority. This speed is what I was calling the "average". However, if you truly took an average speed over many freefly jumps of different types, you would probably see that number go up a good deal. So- Here is my worthless opinion: If you took 100 freefliers of all skill levels and needed and "average" speed to make the majority comfortable, I would say about 155. If you took 100 freefliers who were all very skilled at flying head up and head down and averaged their speeds over a number of different style jumps, I would say you would get something more like 160-170. And that's all I have to say about that.

Oh, and I tend to think the "average" freefly speed would be more like 155. But that's just my opinion.

Absolutely- without question, if you are doing a multi-position dive where some are sit and some head, the speeds should be the same. By that I mean the head down guys aren't trying to go the sit speed or vice versa. A proper sit should be comparable to the speed of head down. When people learn a sit it tends to be slow because they are flying a "sit" position. Flying on your feet is slightly different in that it you need to be able to fly with people on their heads and not just sit and let people come to you. A proper head up position should actually look very similar to an inverted head down. A sit position will look quite different. Follow? In my opinion, a sit is one thing and flying on your feet is another thing entirely. Whether you are flying on your feet or on your head, the speeds should be the same. A true sit-fly position will be slightly slower.

If you like your Sabre at all- then you will LOVE the Sabre2. Very nice all-around canopy with great openings that can be flown conservatively as well as to learn higher performance techniques when you are ready. It seems like the logical choice for you going from a Sabre and your jump numbers. Plus PD has a demo program that is second to none with customer service that is first rate. Of course this is coming from someone who is a HUGE PD fan! But there is defintely a reason for that!

That's a pretty typical opening for a Velocity. Maybe a little more "dancing" and a little quicker than normal, but not unusual.

I thought about this some more, and there are a couple things that just don't make sense to me. First- Are your jump numbers right in your profile? If they are, 1.4 is way too much of a wing loading for someone with 36 jumps. Second- You say that your steering line broke upon opening and you took a quick look up to get a visual and there was no question it was flyable. If you had a steering line break and the other remained stowed, you would have opened into a hard spin and it would stay that way until you either figured out to unstow the other brake or countered the spin with opposite rear riser. Since you left the other brake stowed, every time you would let up on the opposite rear riser you would have immediately started spinning again. You would have had to hold that rear riser the entire flight to counter the turn induced by the stowed brake just to keep it flying straight, let alone steer it back to the landing area and safely land it on rear risers. Flaring a canopy on rear risers with one brake stowed and the other rear riser pulled down to counter a turn would be a challenge for the most experienced canopy pilots. It is hard for me to understand that someone with 36 jumps just calmly did all that and decided to just land it on rears. But maybe I too am missing something.

The student actually reacted the same way every other student does. Except she said to Fritz- "You had to use the second chute, didn't you?" Which is pretty unusual. The tandem cutaways I have seen, the student usually has no clue that anything happened. She knew, but it didn't seem to change her reaction to the jump at all. It was just the same big smiles and "Holy cow, that was awesome!"

If your left steering line broke and you didn't unstow the right, you would have had to fight a hard right turn the whole flight. Plus it would keep the right side of your canopy near a stall, making it rather easy to induce one with more rear riser input. Not to mention, on opening you should have been in a pretty good turn until you either countered with the opposite rear riser or unstowed the other brake. I would think you would be much better off unstowing the right brake and flying the canopy with rears in full flight. This is something that everyone should practice before they are put into this situation. That way you know how it will fly and where the stall point is on the rears. Stalling a canopy on the rears too high on landing can be very bad news. I am actually surprised that without unstowing the other brake, you were comfortable enough with the control you had to land it. But it just goes to show how a simple execise like practicing on rear risers and with different types of inputs can really pay off when you are put into such a situation.

Just thought I would post this if anyone wants to see it. It ain't Hollywood footage, but it's kind neat! I was doing a tandem video when I caught a malfunction and cutaway. Fritz (my teammate) is the tandem instructor. You can see the line over / jumbled mess they get when I watch them deploy. I then deploy mine and look past the back edge of my canopy to see them just after he cuts away and is in freefall. You can see the reserve pilotchute come off and the reserve start to open before I can't keep the video on them. I get one last shot of them under their pretty pink reserve before it ends. Likw I said- it ain't Hollywood. But I figured it was worth posting.

Of course I was just teasin'!

Yeah! What about me Mel?! You left out my name! Oh wait..... I wasn't on it. But I bet you will think twice before you do another 'list'! You must be careful, Daniel son. If you forget someone, they are sure to point it out! But I still love ya!

Now it's workin! I can't figure this thing out!

I have used both MS Paint and Dell Picyure Studio. The pic I am trying to attach is 11.6 kb and it says it is too large and says (.32kb) Just doesn't want to let me attach it. Can't figure it out. I have attached things before, but recently won't work.

It just keep saying that the attachment size is too big. I keep downsizing it to the point that it is rediculous and it still says the same thing. Anyone else have this problem or know what I am doing wrong?

Same reason someone with 50 jumps shouldn't be flying a crassbraced canopy loaded at 2.0. There are too many added risks that someone of this level is not ready for or can fully understand without more experience. There are many added risks to freeflying with fallrate control and movement. You need experience in the air and have a very solid base of freefall time before you move to a new discipline. The same reason you wouldn't see the same jumper on a 50 way or doing a CRW 4 stack. Freeflying can be learned early in your career and done safely, but it is nothing that should be rushed into. The simple fact that someone might not understand why they shouldn't be jumping right into freeflying says pretty clearly that they don't understand the risks involved. If you don't understand the risks, it is too early to be thinking about it, in any discipline. I think the best thing a new jumper can do is to ask an instructor their opinion if they are ready to move on to something new, and ask what the best way to start would be. Yes, it is their money, but it is also the safety of others and the DZ owners business. A skydiving license doesn't give anyone the right to do whatever they want just because it is their money. This policing of ourselves is what is making this a safer sport in these modern times.

Two of my favorite things are skydiving and running. I jump every weekend and run 5 times a week for about 30 miles a week. The two are definitely compatible!

Does anyone know where you can download the software for Sony Picture Gear 3.2 Lite?

Not ALL the time, but there are plenty of no wind days that I would much prefer to take the plane to 4,000ft instead of full altitude for freefall. And if I had the choice between a full day of hop and pops to swoop or a full day of freefall jumps- I would take the swoop day.

No matter what exact path you chose to downsize, the key is to completely master the canopy you are on now before you move ahead. And that doesnt mean just landing where you want to. If that was your only goal, then downsizing wouldn't make any sense. If it is performance you are looking to achieve, then by "mastering" a canopy I mean being proficient on all aspects of that canopy. Front riser turns, rear riser turns, induced speed from front risers, accuracy, flat turns, etc........ Certainly never be in a hurry to downsize just for the sake of jumping something smaller. The only reason to downsize would be if you have become extremely proficient on what you are jumping now and cannot get anymore performance out of it. I would wager to guess that when most people downsize, they didn't even come close to getting all the performance out of what they had. I am guilty of that myself, but it was early on and before I really understood the risks involved. Now I take a very different approach and hopefully with education and knowledge, more and more people will to. Bottom line- Have fun with it and really take your time to learn each canopy. If there is one ounce of you that feels you are not ready to move on... you're not. That's my 2 cents.

http://wonderbred.net/johnsimon/

You could always go naked! Did they suggest the lined legs? I wouldn't think you would want the legs lined, but then again, I don't know much about supplex.

Man, they will let anyone in PST now! Just kidding! Tell Greg I said congrats!

Is that a promise?!