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I already went to the dark side The only place I still use a pc is at work, cause I have to.. Iwan

Yeah talk about a chunk out of the budget there!! ha ha.. Decisions decisions.. I really apreciate all your feedback, I will go back to my room and think about it for now.. I'll let you know what's going to happen! Iwan

Bonbon, the dinner was last night, Geno was planning to leave today.. I was wondering where you were..

Other canopies are an option, but at this point I can not afford a new one. The Crossfire2 is one of the canopies I'd be interested in as well. I am a big PD fan though. I agree on the Katana statement, it would be an option for me to go that route if it were available in a 135. Same here.. I do like the Sabre2 135 a LOT, but like I said.. the used prices are a bit out of my range right now.. Maybe at the end of the summer..

That is EXACTLY what my instructor said too.. 1.6 is about the sweet spot for these canopies, if you start loading them much higher, you lose performance.. Maybe I'll fly another season on my Sabre2 150s.. decisions decisions.. ha ha.. I have demoed them all though, the Stiletto 150, Stiletto 135 and the Sabre2 135.. I must say.. if I had the money right now, I'd call PD and get me two Sabre2 135s... Iwan

Number 1: have fun with it.. But, since I fly a lot of camera I also need a reliable canopy, while still have fun with it. I love higher performance landings (notice the higher.. not high, since I am not shit hot yet.. I wouldn't call them high performance yet) I don't know if that is a moot thing, I love beeing able to shoot across the landing area on my landings, and while speed is fun.. I get more reward out of a long swoop, note that I am not competing but this is all for the thrill factor. The more fun factor.. Yes, the Stiletto is an extremely fun canopy to fly, I've jumped the 135 for about a month and a half end of last year and I loved it.. I also demoed the Sabre2 135, and I must say that canopy at that wingloading is just as much fun to fly as the Stiletto, and I like the recovery arc better.. (I find it's longer, although not much on the Sabre2) The reason I broke down and chose Stiletto over the Sabre2 is mainly money.. I have two rigs and would like similar canopies in borth.. Sabre2s are a lot more expensive (used) than Stilettos.. Iwan

I have a question about wingloading. Currently I jump a Sabre2 150 loaded at about 1.6 and I am about to downsize to a Stiletto 135, which will be loaded around 1.77 One of the very experienced canopy pilots at my dropzone, that I have very high respect for mentioned I might be better off on my Sabre2 150 if I want distance out of my swoops, cause I would be "overloading" the Stiletto.. I would like some more feedback on this.. what are the "optimal" loadings for regular 9 cell or eliptical 9 cell canopies? Are there numbers for this out there? I am not trying to get "another answer" from you guys, the instructor does not have a problem with me going to a ST135, but he was looking at it from a performance standpoint.... Any information would be highly apreciated Iwan

That's the right answer, although I agree that the 20D is a way better camera than the Digital Rebel (300D) the digital rebel is an awesome camera. People claim they need 5fps, you don't.. it just takes a bit more effort to get the picture you want. The only problem with the digital rebel that i have run into is the buffer size, it's too small. Eventhough the specs of the digital rebel are 3fps, it is not.. at least not all the time, and that is the ONLY limitation that I have found with the digital Rebel. I know people are saying there are all kinds of problems with the camera, I have not run into one that I could blame on the equipment to this day, and I have used the camera a lot. It's been on about 450 - 500 jumps and has taken over 13000 shots already and it's still functioning like new. Iwan

Yeah I was really happy with the turnout! Good luck in your new job Geno.. we'll see you in Perris sometime soon.. Make sure to stop by in Byron too once in a while, if you need a place to crash.. let me know...

Oh NOOOO!!!

Both of you are going to be there? Dublin better get ready..

Really?

Not when the game is naked twister!! you got a point there.. I meant "games" as in mindgames.. trying to put shit in our head that makes us question ourselves and our ways.. Relationships are things between two individuals, if you don't like the individual you're with.. break up instead of trying to change them... Cause you can't...

When you ask a guy "What were you thinking" and he responds: "I don't know"... he's telling the truth. bingo. If you're pissed at us, tell us why. While it may be horrendously obvious to you, it may not be to us. Expecting us to know doesn't get anything accomplished. AMEN!!! We are not f'in psychic.. tell us how it is, that's what we do too.. (at least I do) don't expect us to read your mind, and don't play mindtricks.. GAMES SUCK

YAY!!!! A couple more nights to party at the Outback.. Dude.. we should go back there and really freak out the waitresses

He's leaving us Thursday. *sigh* He's leaving a huge void in my heart. *sniff...sniff...* I love you man... Geno Yamamoto, our local Mexican in Byron.. now you're going to be down there in SoCal what are we going to do now? No more Outback sessions in Dublin... No more weekday BBQs mid winter I'm gonna miss you dude... Make sure you have some room to crash, cause we're coming down there to bring some Byron hate.. just so you won't forget about that..

This is a personal preference, but I think a lot of camera fliers will agree with this. Go with a prime lens (fixed focal length) If you're looking at the Tokina 19-35, maybe take a look at their 17mm fixed. Also the 20mm Canon, 15mm Sigma, 14mm Sigma are all very good lenses. One of my friends (Jim Gold) uses the Tokina and he is getting REALLY nice and sharp pictures with it. As I said.. just a recommendation, but I find prime lenses a lot easier, and lighter overall. Iwan

Hi there, A couple of my friends use the Zenitar too, it's a really nice lens but you lose the automatic features that your Digital Rebel (or 300D) offers. Here's what you want to do: Set your camera to the following settings: Manual ISO 100 Shutterspeed at 500 Set the dial for the aperture on the lens on F8 This is the "general" setting, now you need to fine tune it for the conditions of the moment, so you might need to slow down the shutterspeed to 400 cause there is not enough light, or change to a larger aperture because there is not enough light. The lens you are using is a fully manual lens, the camera does not control the aperture, you do. I don't know about letting the camera pick the shutterspeed, since I don't own that lens myself I haven't messed around with that much. I have the Peleng 8mm myself, which is a fully manual lens and I am still experimenting with it. The reason you were able to do all this on your 35mm camera was probably because you had an automatic lens with that camera, in that case the settings you wanted to use did work... Good luck with it!! Iwan

0:4:1 Got 4 jumps in on Saturday in Hollister and on Sunday we decided it was time to go to the snow... Right now I'm kind of black and blue all over from attempting to snowboard, but it was a blast! I might just have to go back to Tahoe next weekend

Bwahaha.. He got "Burke-briefed" on that one It was all cleared before he even got on the airplane! too bad.. Wingi will be able to come back this year.. That was a cool jump Wingnut, I still remember freaking out about the sleeve coming out a bit.. Iwan

El Deucemeister, Is Mr. Gold going to put his online as well? I don't think I jumped with you at all in Eloy Iwan

I'm in it, I'm in it!!!! Cool video Wingnut!! Iwan

Go to Tahoe and I'll meet you out there Saturday night and play with you Sunday. Tahoe is starting to sound very cool.. although it will be REALLY busy up there with this three day weekend.. I have to work Monday. Me too

Yiehaa.. 2004 was definately a record year for me, I did more jumps in one year than I did total in the 6 years I had been in the sport! 520 jumps this year (I started off with 475 on Feb 4th 2004, after 6 years of jumping) In 2003 I made about 250 or so I think. I hope to do at least that much again this year if I can help it! Iwan

Go to Tahoe and I'll meet you out there Saturday night and play with you Sunday. Tahoe is starting to sound very cool.. although it will be REALLY busy up there with this three day weekend..