Andrelr

Hey Plastic Sorry to hear about your retirement. Still have a Rots team, but taking the 2-way to Teuge. Eloy was pretty cool, wasn't it? Cheers A

A couple of South Africans will come and visit again. Looking forward to it! 2-way Seq is just so much fun. Any of our old drinking buddies going to be there? Cheers Andre

Hey Linestretch My team jumps Tri 135s and they're getting a bit worn (front-to-back cell blow on one of them last weekend). Please PM me with details of a package deal perhaps. We're in South Africa, but Paypal works just fine. BiilyVance: they land just fine. I jump a Hybrid Tri 135 as my freefall canopy as well as a CRW Tri 135. All jumps at 4000' msl minimum. They're great. Having said that, my benchmark is AR7, Rubis, Icarus Matrix, etc. Compared to those... Cheers Andre

Hi there, plastic You have a great memory! Our Rubis were getting tired, so a kind canopy manufacturer made us a set of canopies that were remarkably similar to what we had before... Only two sets were ever made. They were called Raptors after a previous team name of ours. Actually still landed like shit, but we were used to that by then. Cheers A

The AR7 essentially revolutionised Rotations - a massive difference to any previous CRW canopy. Bill H's team certainly showed that in 1990. We ordered our first set in 1991 and found out what truly bad landings were really like (made worse with a 5000' DZ)! We loved them in the air, though. The French Rubis was apparently based on the AR7. We jumped those for a couple of years as well. Also pretty bad landers. Openings on the AR7, the Rubis and the Tri are all pretty much the same (my opinion). Like all canopies, you get used to the landings as Tom says, but thankfully the Tri's land MUCH better! Re the initial query: if you can get a CRW Triathlon packing manual - the tail pocket and pilot chute retraction system is identical.

Hi Donovan Nothing formal planned that I'm aware of. There's a group that takes off from Parys Airfield that are available on request. R400 a slot and showjump clearance. Cheers Andre

1995 and still going strong, despite 1000 CRW landings since then...

Cool pic. Here's one from Africa

Well done to all on your magnificent achievement! from the South African CRW community

Very bad news indeed. Eric, the years we spent in a CReW team together were spoken about at length last night when Cameron and I got together to discuss our somewhat unique ex-teammate. Go well, friend, you will be missed.

I've just come back from a weekend at Mafeking: all Boogie arrangements OK for the end of the year. The C130 and lots of other aircraft will be there. (I jumped the C130 at the Airshow on Saturday as well.)

Bumping this one to the top again... Come on guys & girls: it'll be a blast. Try a Boogie in Africa for a change. BTW, we're off to Mafikeng this weekend for the Airshow. The Herc will be there plus a Casa 212. Following up on the Boogie organisation for later this year and jumping those planes for the Show. "Practise" jumps out the Herc on Friday. It's tough out here in Africa.

Delighted you're coming through. We can talk closer to the time regarding lifts to the DZ. Cheers Andre

It's happening again! Come and Jump in the sun! For all you Northern Hemisphere jumpers who'll be snowed in or rained in at year end… For any jumper anywhere who wants to have some fun on their holidays… For anyone who wants to try our South African hospitality… The African Freefall Convention happens 29 December 2006 to 6 January 2007 at Mafikeng Airport, South Africa. • 17 seat PAC 750 - Confirmed • 10-set Pilatus Porter - Confirmed • Hercules C-130 - Confirmed. • 12000’ at ZAR 185 per jump (exchange currently 1 US$ = ZAR 7.3). That’s about $ 25 per jump. • Dave Morris is the large load RW organizer – we are aiming to break lots of African records. • All other disciplines catered for (any CReWdogs out there?) • Fabulous DZ facilities. • Great weather – midsummer down here. • Accommodation from local luxury casino hotel (special rates) to camping on the DZ. • Parties, live music and lots more. This is the 3nd AFFC, and last year was a great success. We have the aircraft, the facilities and great organisers. Come and try us out! www.africanfreefall.com info@africanfreefall.com Post a query or PM me if you need more info.

Thanks for the feedback. We have 135s and can't really go smaller given our DZ altidudes here (4000' - 5500' msl). This may be a solution. Has anyone else shortened Tri's? Cheers Andre

Sorry guys: not thread related. Your mention of competition Tri's with 50cm shorter lines intrigues me. What size Tri's? Did Aerodyne do the mods or a local rigger? How do they fly? Did you pick up any significant decrease in Rote times? Are the landings affected. Cheers Andre

I went back to my ancient history logbooks as I vaguely remember him, but alas the lowest D in my logbooks was D16, Beppe Piazzoli. This is hardly an uncommon signature in local logbooks as Beppe was an active skydiver until his fairly recent passing on.

Nice one, Tom. Well done to all!

I jump a CRW Tri 135 for team training and a Hybrid Tri 135 for RW, wingsuiting, etc. W/L is 1.5 and DZ altitude is 4000'. The Hybrid is more forgiving on landing, but given some input speed, the CRW Tri lands great. I love it!

Come and Jump in the sun! For all you Northern Hemisphere jumpers who'll be snowed in or rained in at year end… For any jumper anywhere who wants to have some fun on their holidays… For anyone who wants to try our South African hospitality… The African Freefall Convention happens 28 December 2006 to 3 January 2007 at Mafikeng Airport, South Africa. • 17 seat PAC 750 and 14 seat King Air confirmed with the potential (to be confirmed early November) of a Casa and a Herc. • 12000’ at ZAR 175 per jump (exchange currently 1 US$ = ZAR 7.5). That’s about $ 23 per jump. • Dave Morris is the large load organiser. • Tonto is the wingsuit organiser. • All other disciplines catered for (any CReWdogs out there?) • Fabulous DZ facilities. • Great weather – midsummer down here. • Accommodation from local luxury casino hotel (special rates) to camping on the DZ. • Parties, live music and lots more. This is the 2nd AFFC, and we’ve learned our lessons from last year. We have the aircraft, the facilities and great organisers. Come and try us out! www.africanfreefall.com info@africanfreefall.com Post a query or PM me if you need more info.

Hi there I've just returned from a 2 year contract in Saudi Arabia. I had a lot of business in Dubai while I was there and got to the club quite often. Great place, excellent facilities, but not great from a plane or an organisation perspective. Since they sold their Grand Caravan, they operated a Cessna 172 only with preference going to tandems. They've subsequently purchased an Airvan which has helped the situation marginally. There is student gear available, but always a good thing to have your own when you travel. The club members are good guys, but reading the forums, they are an unhappy group of jumpers. From my own perspective, I have never jumped so little in my entire skydiving career as I did those 2 years. And that's not for lack of trying. PM me if you need more info.

Plastic's comments are 100%. Compared to the French Rubis and the AR7, the Tri is a dream to land. You do however, need to put some input prior to landing a CRW Tri: front risers or a 90 degree turn to pick up some speed. I jump a 135 Hybrid Tri for my freefall jumps and a 135 CRW Tri for CReW team training. Wingloaded at 1.44, DZ altitude (here in South Africa) either 3500' or 5000'. Never any landing problems. We've recently acquired a new cameraman with 500 (non CRW) jumps to his credit. He can land the CRW Tri at this altitude OK as well. Cheers Andre

Thanks for that memory, plastic. Crimson Mist got real good after that, though.

Enough slagging my age, you uncivilised Oz bastard! When are you down in this part of the world, Tom? Good weather, good beer and Saffers are just as loud as your lot...

Hi Mark Gerrit as base (our cameraman from 2003). Me as pin. Manny 3 (you'll remember from our '98 team in Eloy). Chris 4 (from '96 sequential and '03 rote teams). Should be fun. How's your team doing? Cheers Andre