frost

Considering my canopy choice, I am sure you'll have something to fall back on for "harassment redirection"

Not only do i NOT feel under-appreciated, but in fact I am deeply touched and humbled for being put on the same list with my personal heros - Chuck, Ian, Spizz, Justin, Aggie Dave... I could only dream of that a year or two ago!

It looks like the first comp will be the busier one. New York is will be representing with at least three pilots this time around :) I am excited!

As any experienced packer will tell you the cause for line twists (and all other opening issues) is bad body position.

Add me to your network :) I have membership there for next year and have a bunch of hours already scheduled. I posted some of it in the advertised section http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/page.cgi?g=Tunnel_Time%2Findex.html;d=1 and on http://www.gottunnel.com/ViewTunnelTimeMonth.aspx?yyyymm=200801&wt=SkyVenture%20New%20Hampshire. Personally, I'll need a couple more sessions before i feel comfortable doing two way freeflying in the tunnel. Some people that come with me might be interested though.

Not so much

Come on Chris, leave the birds for a few days and come down for Feb 9th to Lake Wales to warm up for the next season. I booked my tix for that weekend, flying down just like i did a year ago. But at least this time i wont be a total noob to the FL swoop scene and Loud Dan wont laugh at me when i ask him "Are you Chris Hayes?"

One of the most anticipated emails of the year has finally come in! I thought I'd wait for Al to post the details here, but i guess he is still getting the site up to speed. Come on, buddy, get the site up so i dont have to post the quotes here :) In short, Al Berchtold is now running the FL Canopy Piloting Association. Chris Hayes, the man responsible for creating one of the best canopy piloting leagues in the world, has finally decided to give up professional swooping and skydiving in general in favor of a more simple country life. Him and Michelle have moved back to Canada and are now enjoying some of the best activities Canadian outback has to offer. Chris has recently been seen working as a guide on the bird watching tour. When asked about his skydiving plans, Chris said that he lost interest in it a long time ago and that his true calling was always working with nature and animals. He added, somewhat emotionally, that there is just nothing quite like watching the birds sing... Yeah, right. :) Anyway, we're still here and once again the South East CPC is the place to be - with some great coaches for each of the events. If you are getting into competitive canopy piloting, trust me - you will not regret coming down to the South East. I flew from NY for all five comps last season. I cant say enough positive things about my experiences competing there. I have been waiting for the new season to start since the CPC finals in CO. Here is the schedule and details from the email.... ------------------- Meet #1 Feb 9th- Florida Skydiving Center, Lake Wales - Jay Mo will be coaching! Meet #2 March 8th- Skydive Palatka, Palatka - Isaiah McCauliffe Team Fastrax Meet #3 April 12- Skydive Sebastian, Sebastian - Tommy Delibac Team Element Meet #4 May 17- School of Human Flight, Tallahassee - Scott Roberts Team Fastrax Meet #5 June 14- Skydive the Farm, Atlanta The meet schedule will be the same for all the meets, weather permitting for the 2008 season Registration is open on Friday before the meet On the competition day there is one mandatory practice load for all people who are showing up on the day of the competition and do not get to practice on the day before. Everyone must make at least one practice jump to see the course before competition. I'm going to be setting courses up on Friday mornings, so your welcome to come out and practice. And if you want them up earlier...come help me out and lend a hand! Competition day All times are approximate 8 am registration opens 9 am practice load 9:45 Competitor briefing 10:30 Competition begins ------------------ More details can be found at http://www.cpafl.org/

What happens if the canopy has no stabilizers? Less lift, less efficient wing?

Just your canopy choices, sizes and wing loading mapped to your jumps. I'll start Student gear 280-220, ~20 jumps. My first canopy - PD210, ~20-150 Safire1-189 151-300 Jedei170, 301-500 Jedei150(SW/ET), 500-660 Samurai136, 661-800 Xaos21-120 @1.8:1, 801-938 VX114 @ 2:1, 938-960 VX111 @2.1:1, 2.2(winter weight) 961-1350 VX96 @2.5+, 1351-1935 JVX87 @2.8, 1936-2100 VX97 @2.4, 2100-2560 JVX92 till now @2.5 the jump numbers, although logged are probably approximate, since I did not count a bunch of jumps on demo wings. Also, I have had two rigs for work and fun for a few years too, and the second rig always had a comparable main canopy, i.e. main VX97 - back up vx104, Currently my main is JVX92 with back up JVX96. -------------------------- In your post, you can comment if you want - looking back now, do you feel you were too aggressive? Slow? Anything you would do differently? Suggestions to new pilots. But please let keep it on topic? Both posters and moderators :) Thank you! And all you Pro pilots and CPC future pros... come on spill it :)

Contact Chris Hayes or check out http://cpafl.org/. He organizes the FL CPC comps. I dont think the schedule has been developed yet, it's still too early. But it usually starts in Feb. I am from NY and attended all 5 regional comps this year. It was worth the money and time, trust me. You'll meet some new folks, participate in a well run event, learn a lot and have a great time. Chris is a great pilot and a coach, you can pick his brain. Most of Fastrax team shows up, Jay Mo was there for one of the events as a coach...

Hey, here is an idea. How about calling Icarus directly and finding out from the source, instead of guesses and unfounded rumors?

Break it down by home towns so everyone can be a home champion.

Does this mean that the EST finals were combined with the World Cup to pick the EST overall champion?

as i wrote above, I am getting (more then) half way with Sony HC3 and Royal .3 Try using your zoom slowly and allow the camcorder time to keep the object in focus. SoFPiDaRF - School of Fast Progress in Downsizing and Radical Flying. Because nobody knows your skills better than you.

Yes, i use Royal Lense .3 Like i said, using Royal Lens .3 on a Sony PC1000 or Sony HC3 you WILL be able to zoom in half way (or even a little more, if you do it slowly) before it cannot focus anymore. Use Auto focus and zoom in SLOWLY.

Royal lens .3 will act identical to the similar way cool piece. It'll zoom half way then get out of focus SoFPiDaRF - School of Fast Progress in Downsizing and Radical Flying. Because nobody knows your skills better than you.

Pretty cool vid from sydneyskydivers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpptsYpmB5M SoFPiDaRF - School of Fast Progress in Downsizing and Radical Flying. Because nobody knows your skills better than you.

See, i think the problem is not "when it looks low, it is low". The problem is when it IS low but it doesnt look like that to the pilot (or he thinks he can still make it). A few hundred jumps just isnt enough in most cases to recognize that sight picture. Sometimes a thousand or more is not enough... Please, use BOTH visual AND audible DIGITAL devices for your swoops. They are so cheap compared to the mistakes they can help you avoid. I personally think that two very simple things combined can prevent the injuries and fatalities resulting from low turns: 1. A set of TWO digital altimeters: a visual AND an audible. 2. Personal discipline on this simple rule: "If it beeps and i am still too far from my turn point, i will not execute the big turn".

Harry, it has nothing to do with JVX or any other canopy. It's the suggestion that the opening issues are due to worn or "out of trim" HMA lineset that's incorrect. HMA offers some of the best dimensional stability compared to any other line type, it doesnt shrink or go out of trim, at least not sooner then the lines break due to wear and tear :) That is one of the reasons it has become a popular choice for high performance wings.

Thank you Dan!! And Christy, she did the video, right?

This whole deal is disgusting. Jim Slaton handled it in the worst possible way. Respect to you, Kevin, for staying professional and cool in this. Those who can think for themselves even a little bit have made their decisions even before you posted this. Good luck in whatever you choose to do in the future, bro.

that one looks like Joe's slider... To OP: there are a lot of RDS threads here. use the Search function to find them.

Please STOP saying that ESPECIALLY with 6 jumps on it. Even if it was true, it is definitely not something a less experienced swooper should be getting out of this forum. Ian, you should split this topic into separate threads, if the forum engine allows that.

dude... The freestyle pics of the PST are SICK!! Great, great work! Noah pulling on the strings is funny!