ccowden

Right on! Happy Birthday, hot stuff!

Already movin on from The Leftovers?

I personally don't think that the protesting examples that you cited qualify, but that is just my opinion. You could make a list of thousands of things people protest against, and I don't really think that a Pro-Life rally or a PETA rally fit into examples of McCarthyisms. I do agree that it doesn't always have to be the government, but just groups of people protesting a view don't cut it for me. My understanding of McCarthyism is that it is the government or like body that creates a frenzy in the public eye to persecute or stop a group of people whos opinions and views threaten them, without really having any hard evidence or even making "facts" up to support that governing body's view. Some of your examples are great, but the simple protests don't really fit, IN MY OPINION. Now the battle of Roe vs. Wade, THAT is a classic example of the government and the administration currently in power trying to keep a group of people from threatening their views. It doesn't matter if the administration is Pro-Life or Pro-Abortion, when that administration tries to stifle the group who opposes them, it works either way.

The Salem Witch trials.

Heck, I think the Patriot Act of this administration applies.

You apparently totally missed my point. I meant that I think a digital is a great tool to use for reference and help with set up. But you should never totally rely only on them for initiation points. I agree that they are great tools to use. I use one on every jump and use it extensively for setting up. But if you are just watching an altimeter for when to strt your turn, then you are only watching altitude. Ther is alot more than that going on for initiation of your turn. You need to be watching the conditions, the traffic, how deep to the target you are, how far or deep you are to where you want to turn. By using your sight picture, you take in MUCH more than just how high you are and your altitude is only a fraction of the things you need to be watching. Alot of times, due to a number of circumstances, you need to start your turn higher or a touch lower than that "perfect" altitude, so you need to be using your eyes for watching all these things. Not just how high you are.

Ok, I see what he is saying in THAT scenerio, but I was under the impression that we weren't really talking about conditions where you are stuck downwind and the wind speed is so much that it cancels your canopy's forward speed. Sure, in that case, I would agree that full flight is best. I was only talking about "normal" conditions where you have plenty of forward speed into or against the wind.

The transition should never be huge when learning high performance turns. You should be going from 180s to 200s to 220s... etc. Going from 180s right to 270s is not the way to go. Way too much changes from doing a 180 to a 270. Add degrees slowly and consistantly and never move on until you get each one down and are comfortable with approaches and initiation altitudes. I personally don't think you should ever use an altimeter for when you should start your turn. In my opinion, I think it is a great tool as a reference and a tool to help with altitudes, but your eyes and sight picture should be what you are relying on with the added reference of digital.

Wow, maybe I am not very schooled on this subject, but your information seems WAY off to me. Full flight would almost never be your BEST glide in any wind conditions, and front risers will totally kill your glide. Brakes with rears??? What are you doing... wrapping your brake lines around your hands so you can also use rears? Maybe I am wrong here, but I think i have a pretty good understanding of canopy flight, certainly not and expert, but a good knowledge of it, and I think your info is WAY off. Anyone else care to comment?

I am a tandem instructor with about 700 tandem jumps and that is one of the most inaccurate and stupid things I have ever heard about tandem jumping. Incorporating a tandem skydive into your special day would be awesome!

Billy Bob Thornton.

Have one on PartyPoker and I am in.

Dude, you are gonna have to learn that alot of women will promise sex to get what they want. You are in for a long haul if you always believe them!

Which reason? The new baby or the fact that I can't fly that good?

I actually had to turn it down.

Yes, but when we are talking about what glide ratio works best to get back to the target, ground speed is a huge factor and it absolutely matters if you are into the wind or with the wind as to what glide ratio works best to get you there.

How fast you are going is TOO simple of a test. You have to also guage your descent rate, which is much tougher to do. You have to watch other canopies in the air to compare your descent rate along with your horizontal speed. Like I said above, doing canopy flocking jumps and playing around with a buddy using different techniques is a great way to find what works best. But just seeing which one allows you to go fastest won't tell you much about your glide. If I want to go the fastest, I just leave my canopy in full flight, but that is also going to be a very low glide ratio. Even if other canopies are flying back faster than you, pay attention to your descent rate in comparison.

Well, if this is simple a poll to ask which of those 3 choices gets better glide, then I think it is pretty apparent that it is "brakes unstowed with rear riser." The place where the brakes are set is almost certaily not going to be the best position for glide and will vary greatly from canopy to canopy. If this is a poll to ask what technique gets the best glide, then you need a few more choices AND you need a scenerio. It matters alot whether you are into the wind or with the wind, how your canopy is loaded, type of canopy, how much input you are using, etc.. You will totally kill your glide if you use a little too much or not enough of any input, so just to say use rears or use brakes is not enough. You have to test and play with different techniques and find what works best for you, on your canopy, at your loading. Personally, for me, on my Velocity 96 loaded at about 2.2, I like to get my profile down by tucking my knees up and together, slider pulled down and chest strap wide like always, and use the half brakes range. I vary the input from there depending on conditions and how it feels. I like to watch the ground below me to see how fast I am making progress while watching other canopies to compare rate of descent as well as horizontal speed. But what works for me may not work for others and it really comes down to what your personal preference is with your canopy. Doing canopy flocking jumps is great to play around with different techniques and see what works for you.

Oh they are!

It has only been 4 days and I already can't believe how many new experiences have filled my heart with so much happiness! I can only imagine what is to come!

Congrats to you!

$225-250 apparently.

Yeah, I was gonna say, we could save alot of time and just say congrats to all who made the list.

Here is me at Skydive Atalnta. Picture taken by dzmemories.com.

Sweet! Thanks everyone. I am gonna check it out now.