tbrown

Seven cell canopies typically exhibit a steeper angle of decent, which is a desirable trait in an accuracy canopy. Accuracy canopies also have a much lower wing aspect ratio, usually less than 2:1, which makes them look "boxy" or almost truly square. Their airfoil is different too, they're designed for a stable sink. Accuracy jumpers seldom fly higher than half brakes. They're not concerned with long spots the way freefallers are, so "getting back" isn't a concern. Most of us are flying much higher aspect canopies, above 2:1, or even above 2.5:1, with airfoils designed for a flatter glide. Our canopies wouldn't be much fun to sink in the way accuracy jumpers do. this is also why some lower aspect 7 cells are often preferred for demo jumping into stadiums, they're more sinkable. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You might want to try the Classifieds right here at dropzone.com. I got a dandy jumpsuit for an even better price. Thing is with gear, you need to be awfull specific about what you want. You probably wouldn't want a well meaning aunt to get you a Xaos 21 or an ancient Strato Star. But you can plug in key words too, like "Sabre2". You'd probably like a little color coordination as well, I'm thinking. But happy b-day and best of luck ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

And so far the most votes are going to 4000 ft. The way we learned to hop & pop was arch, look, reach, pull. This was in the days when you could see a ripcord handle on your main, nowadays I suppose you just arch, reach, & pull with BOCor pull out. But from 4000 ft you should be able to do a tenner and you're still at 3 grand and not quite terminal. It's not gonna bite you ! Students used to do 10 sec delays with round canopies from 3500. Higher is better and it's fun to play with the canopy more, but 3500 is not too low for anything, you can do a really quick 2 way from 3500. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I think that people are intelligent enough to realize that not all cops are bad cops, and that not all cops are good cops. A story like this will, IMO, bring to light the facts that some cops are a little less trustworthy than others. If some cops don't like this then maybe they shouldn't just turn their heads when they see it happening. Jim It will also hilight the fact that too many cops think they can get away with anything they want with groups of people they don't like for being "different"; whether they're Deadheads, anti-war protesters, gays, blacks, Arabs....or those weird skydivers. You can't win with cops like them, it doesn't matter if you're keeping your act together. If they don't like you, they'll mess with you and that sucks. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Some of you Trekkies out there might remember the time Major Kira on Deep Space Nine made a holodeck skydive, with the safety features turned off. She got her ass chewed out for it too. It was a dive from orbit, in a space suit, with sort of a crappy simulated freefall in a delta down to the planet Bajor. It's such a shame they didn't have some real skydiving adventures in the holodeck, Troi and Dr. Crusher would've made hot skychicks. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

So how did your weekend go? I'm very happy to hear that your lady's OK and I'm sure you're even happier. My weekend was just wonderful. After getting back into the sport after 22 years away (took a break to raise a family), yesterday was the first time I got back into some really over-the-top skydiving. Money's been kind of an issue and I haven't jumped as much as I'd like to and I'm still renting demo gear for now. But yesterday I made 5 dives and went from a 2 way to a great 4 way to a 5 way flail, to a sorta disappointing 8 way, to an incredible 8 way. 27 hrs later I'm still trippin' about it. Best of all was meeting up with an old friend I hadn't seen in 22 years. We used to work together and I turned him on to skydiving back in 1980. He used to think he'd never do it in a million years, but every Monday morning I'd tell him the latest war stories and he finally decided to go for it. He really got into it at the same time I got out and we never did jump together. The guy was even one of my ushers when I got married (and I'm still married to the same woman, 22 yrs later). Finally yesterday we made four loads together, he's up to 3500+, compared to my 577. But it was wonderful, the dives were fantastic. I wasn't just jumping, or breaking back in. It was real skydiving. It was perfect. Today I feel like I've been hit by a truck and am popping Naproxen. Is it just age, or was jumping all day in 100 degree desert heat always that rough ? I haven't hurt so good since I was a newlywed. Blue skies y'all. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Quidditch sounds pretty close, only diff is brooms instead of pocket rocket ellipticals. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

So why don't you do a poll how many times you dropped acid and listened to the moody blues. blue skies jerry Always love Days of Future Past and Search For the Lost Chord, still do, though their later stuff never appealed for some reason. Re your poll I distinctly recall watching all the bright blue hieroglyphics tumbling out of my friend Barry's stereo speakers in his basement during the "House of Four Doors" on the Lost Chord album. Finally bought the CD the day Timothy Leary died. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In 1977 of course the 4 way switched over to a sequential format. 1977 Nat'l champs were the Franklin County Dirt Divers, from No. Carolina. Think they placed 4th or 5th at the World meet in Australia. They moved out to Cali and got into the Pope Valley scene after that. 1979 was a team called Tesseract, which I think finished 4th at the World meet in France. 1981 was U.S. Army, forget whether they won the World meet in Zephyrhills or not. Army won again in 1983, but was not permitted to go to the World meet, because Dept of Defense wouldn't allow military personal in So. Africa (this was in the days of the Vorster/apartheid government). So the U.S. 4 way team was one of the Visions 4 ways, either Fire or Ice, I forget which (Visions was the 8 way team). That was also the year that many of the more competitive teams, like France, USSR, and China boycotted the So. African world meet. FAI sanctioned a World Cup meet, which was held in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. I think Army was the 4 Way team and Mirror Image was the 8 way. After that, I think Army won both the 4 way and 8 way in 1985 and made up the U.S. team at the Yugoslavia world meet. After that I lost touch with the sport. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

***I've hit the point where I need a 12-step program. That, I believe, would be an apt description for AFF... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Maybe the morale budget could cough up a red Swingline stapler for everyone. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The glorious Fourth, Big parade and barbecue, Tomorrow we jump Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In this hot summer weather I really like Corona with a lime. A good dry martini with a twist of lemon is nice too. "A good martini should leave you shaken, not stirred." Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Don't they let you guys skydive over there ? After all we've done for them ? What's up with that ? Anyway, God bless you all and a happy 4th of July (sure hope somebody smuggled in some beer...). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You might be tempted to make the next generation 9 cell elliptical, something that might compete with the Crossfire2. Just maybe you might. A next generation Stiletto would make sense. Stillettos are 10 years old now. Never jumped one, but great as they are, if the design's ten years old it could use some tweaking, especially if competitors like the Xfire have already come out with a 2nd gen. It only makes sense... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Frap hats keep you lookin' pretty after you're dead. There's a new version coming out that uses thumb tacks instead of a chin strap..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Trust me, your package is gonna shrink right down to economy size, just like when you go swimming and for mostly the same reasons. Being nekkid, whether you're skideevin' or sunbathin' in the park (like people do in Europe) is about more than just swingin' yer 'nads. It's just plain nice. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

English is also hosed up as a classic example of technology outpacing the language. In particular the printing press. When printing presses first came along in Europe, like in Germany, there was already a standard for the written language. It was Martin Luther's translation of the Bible in the German language. Luther's Bible became the standard for the written language. In England, for mostly political reasons, there really wasn't an approved Bible until the king James version in 1611. And the plays of Wm Shakespeare. Willie the Shakes and the King Jim are the standards of the modern English language, yet both came a looong time after the printing press. In the meantime, English printers ran riot, using the local speeling conventions of whatever city they happened to live in. By the time the English tried to impoise London English as a standard, it was already too late. That's why our written language is so damned weird. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yo', Cornish Chris. I can dig that you're proud to be an Englishman and even not too happy with Tony Blair lately, especially re: Iraq. Actually, even after the overthrow of Saddam (not a bad thing in and of itself), there are still a lot of us Yanks who are not happy with the Bagdhad adventure. As one American, I do think it's OK if France, Germany, and Turkey keep their own view of things and stick to them even when the going gets tough. Maybe it's because this is an American website and most of us are Americans. But at least reading through the posts, I canhonestly say I'm not reading a bunch of idiotic "USA ! USA ! USA !" posts. Believe it or not, a lot of us here in America are put off by the boneheaded patriotic extremists. Nevertheless, we do find something in our history, and ourselves as a people that we take pride in. Never mind that the bloodiest war we ever fought was among ourselves ( to no one's surprise). Or that we have some nasty problems with racism, or that we may be too conservative or even religious. Or that we're falling into the trap of being the one great superpower. We are optimistic that we can get over all that stuff and keep going in the right direction. God bless the Queen, she could use it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I highly recommend going there to the places that helped to define this country , and listen to those men that are there to this day. They gave their lives on that ground and are laid to rest there. If you listen carefully you really can hear and feel them all around you. Amazon I was 13 when I visited Gettysburg in the summer of '69. Vietnam was still pretty hot then too. I was too young to really appreciate what had happened there, but we stood at the top of the hill where the Union forces stopped Pickett's charge. I'll have to go back again sometime. Are you surprised that so many bonehead skideevers DO have an appreciation for our history ? I'm not. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Congratulations! You can start shoppin' for a whole custom rig. Start trying out some demos! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Our fiercely capitalistic spirit. While it results in some real abuses, it also has permitted experimentation and invention. The good it's produced has far outwieghed the bad. As a people we like shaking things up and trying something new. And we have enough of a conscience to try and do something about our nastier problems. And it isn't just people who come here from all over the world - it's SKYDIVERS too, just look how many of our brothers & sisters come here to cop some vacation dives. And great American music. Everone from Frank Sinatra to Jerry Garcia. We invented rock'n roll baby! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

He sounds like a typical office drone cubical wanker. Is his name Milton ? Is he overly jealous of his red Swingline stapler ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I bought third-party AD&D (accidental death & dismemberment) insurance through the USPA. It is not covered as a member benefit, but getting it through the organization may give you better rates than you could get otherwise. I just got a mailer from USPA about their AD&D last week and think it's a good deal. I'm going to get it. I'm not licensed to sell insurance, though I was in the eighties and I understand a little about this policy works. It's a good deal because it not only covers your unfortunate demise, but will pay you some cash benefits if you're disabled. $25 - $100K may not be enough if you're left paralyzed, but it sure is a whole lot better than nuthin'. It will help you keep up the house payments while you decide what to do. And it will pay to bury or incinerate you if you die. After burying my uninsured mother in law last year, I can tell you funeral expenses are no joke. But the cool thing about this policy is that SKYDIVING'S NOT AN ISSUE. This company has decided they can accept the risk of a group policy covering SKYDIVERS. They understand that some of us will get hurt bad and some of us will die, but they feel they can handle the risk and still make a profit (or else they wouldn't touch us). The rates are really affordable - comparable to one slightly expensive lift ticket quarterly, or two jumps a month if you go with max coverage. People, that's BEER money. If we can afford $300 helmets and jumpsuits, we can afford this. If you already own life insurance, hang onto it. This is NOT a replacement and is not intended to be. But it will absolutely cover us if we get wracked up jumping. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Grateful Dead, live at The Stanley Theater, 9-27-72, "China Cat Sunflower". Jer-ree !! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !