ramon

If you have to ask.................. YOU OWE! Best Policy is to keep your trap shut unless you are jumping new gear, new big way, first CReW etc, real skydiving firsts. Or if you just like to buy beer...come to Skydive Spaceland..ha ha. bloo skies ramon

ROFLMAO. The worst kept secret in skydiving. "or saying if your canopy opens hard you must be packing wrong...." "We all know who does this. I know of one company that calls it an anomaly." Ramon

Anybody going to the Freaks Flock Together boogie in Dallas April 28th? The theme is hybrid dives (RW (tightsuits)and Freeflying together). There will be Icarus Demos and Wingsuits to jump. Should be a fun time Anyone want to freefly? bloo skies Ramon

hah! I have yet to see a broken leg here (although) I have seen some very very dirty jump suits (sometimes mine). yuk yuk Old DZ had some education problems I think. bloo ones ramon

My radio did not work on my first two jumps. They used paddles on the ground. I have seen this many times at various dropzones due to a multitude of reasons (batteries cheap radios other mixups). Regular tandems may choose to instruct canopy skills or just fly you around and collect your money for the ride. AFP instructors instruct on ground and in air. I think students are more "heads up" under canopy after beginning AFP. I'm not an instructor, but the instruction given at my dropzone is definitely more complete than what I recieved. Me, I think I played a lot of video games... bloo ones

I agree. I saw a lot of student mess ups where I learned (AFF), and my current DZ (AFP) has much better canopy pilots coming off of student status. BSBD ramon

I was ordering some rigging equipment from Para Gear (Tee Bodkins, temporary pins). I ordered some Finger Trap Fids, so I can learn how to finger trap, but the website said they were made of plastic. They didn't have any metal ones. Does anyone know where I can get metal ones? I don't want to bother my mentor to make me any, he does too much for me already. thanks ramon

They do rent BASE gear there. :-)

That really sucks. I'll drink one for him at the Freaks Flock Together Boogie. Blue Skies Black Death. Ramon

Wow I am an enthusiast now. I must be obsesive Comulsive, but not chronicly so likes some other posters rmaon

If you did not have any of those you would probably be a very boring person....or a vegetable. bloo skies ramon

Florida 813-788-4444 or whatever number is on the website. They were cool ,they let me have the canopy for two weeks since they did not need it back immediately. Good luck Ramon

Never mind. I found the "Basic Profile page" Not intirely intuitive. thanks ramon

Sangiro, I uploaded a cropped picture and pasted the URL in the only spot I could find in my profile which was website URL. Obviously this was wrong. Where do I post that URL for my picture?

Yeah, my dad decided that since I skydive (and live in the US where he can't tell me "NO!" from Mexico) my littlest brother can't "rock climb". Oh well. bloo skies ramon

Let the Games begin. May the strongest most capable Brain win. Swoop Dog ramon

hmmm But skydivers that pound into the ground under a good canopy intentionally trying to hook it with out enough experience. Big balls or....wait...a contradiction.

I left a Cessna directly over the DZ at just above 2.5 (maybe 2.8) and I did a three second delay. No biggie, but I definitely prefer 3-5k so I can play a little more under canopy.. My main opens so slow though I would not want to go any lower.

I think the 24' Phantom round had mesh on the back of it that required some pH testing. There should be some blue marks on the webbing and some marks made by riggers that tested it. I beleive it was supposed to be tested twice in a row with no adverse effects for the life of the canopy. Good luck ha ha ha. ramon

Very very slippy stuff. I think he calls it "blue" fabric although it comes in different colors. I really improved my packing habits when I was jumping it . I have no idea if it is exactly the same as PD. You can call him, he is usually working from noon to 9:00PM. He'll tell you anything you want to know. bloo skies ramon

Some DZs do have sky surf training offered. Skydive Dallas has it. I don't know where you live, but if you are in Florida or California there is probably a DZ that offers it within driving distance. bloo skies ramon

I just put 25 jumps on a 150 loaded at 1.5. I can only compare it to an Alpha and a stilleto at the same loading. The openings were fantastic. very brisk yet soft....not a snivel, snivel whack , but a constant slow opening. It seemed to turn faster by pulling the rear riser than by using the toggles. I couldn't really do a barrel roll in this canopy at 1.5 because of the softer toggles, but on my alpha which is very snappy I can get above the canopy fairly easily. In other words the brakes are sort of deep compared to an Alpha with medium brakes and a stilleto with light brakes. It executes braked turns fantastically. I was clearing a trailer park down wind at about 350' I flew a little away from the trailers did 90 braked turn to a cross wind landing, and realized I had enough altitude to do another 90 into the wind. That samurai pulled it off great. Riser pressure was less than a stilleto, but a little more than the Alpha. It dove a fairly long time probably about the same as my Alpha or longer, and longer again than a stilleto. Because of the slower recovery from a dive you can hook higher and maintain speed more with a double front riser before you plane out. Planing out must/should be initiated by an aggressive bump on the toggles otherwise your landing will be clunky. It took me about 5 jumps to figure out where to flare for the sweet landing where as it took about 2 for the stilleto, and the alpha always lands sweet. But to it's credit the samurai holds on to some speed after a dive and it beggs to be surfed. The parachute seems to want to stay in a very slight dive for a long time unless you impose toggle input (or maybe if you intitate a dive it recovers to a steeper glide angle until you pop it back to normal flight). At 1.5 I was getting back from some horrendous spots. This canopy really does great with the brakes released and pulling the rear risers out and down a little. The canopy also performed really well in turbulence. Everyone elses Canopy would be bucking but mine would be solid, even though the ride was bumpy, it was flying in control. I liked that. I told Brian I did not like the slider colapse tabs as the are hard to grip, but your rigger could sew somthing on them. For me 150 sq ft of airlocked canopy was a pain in the ass on a windy day after I was on the ground. My buddy has no problem with his 135. When I get one it will be a 135 at 1.7. bloo skies ramon

Several of us have discussed this with Dan and I think I know where he is coming from, but since his parachute is labeled "Double Diamond for experts only", it is misleading. The main (number one) characteristic affecting a ZP ram air canopies performance is loading. Some canopies marketed as high performance simply perform like a normal canopy at low wing loading. It was my opinion that lightly loaded elipticals (not semi-eliptical, but more pronounced) was not recommended because of higher possibility of instability in turbulence. It may be that the Cobalt (although marketed as high performance) is very docile when lightly loaded. I have jumped a very lightly loaded stilleto and it was a cream puff although I would not reccomend that for a lower time jumper (really relative anyway). The cobalt may infact be more stable lightly loaded than a stilleto which has a pronounced curve on the leading edge. The aspect ratio (length/width) can also affect stabilty at light loadings. A seven cell which is low aspect ratio (more square than rectangular when compared to a 9 cell) should be more stable in turbulence. A samurai is pretty stable when lightly loaded also. I jumped one at about 1.25 and it was like a student canopy. Also a sabre or a Safire when highly loaded will really fly fast. Some canopies really come into their purpose when highly loaded (FX, ALPHA, Cobalt), but lightly loading them may or may not make a noticible difference in performance to a low time jumper. Whether or not a Cobalt at 1.2 flies the same as a sabre at 1.0 that is the realm of aredynamicists, but I myself think of loading mainly. One thing for sure is that a Cobalt is very easy to flare and land, But I never had any problems on a Sabre. A samurai at 1.5 or a Safire was trickier. A person will get sick of their first canopy after a year or two (depending on how much they jump) and so I recommend getting a used main and jumping your buddies equipment when you get a chance to see how othe parachutes fly with your ability. When you are ready to downsize, get your self the exact main that you want (custom colors etc and have fun). be safe Ramon

None of the Fatality reports in the past 5 years have any cases of that. Plus during a repack, your rigger is supposed to inspect the entire main lift web. Any main stiches that even appear to be coming loose are to be re-stiched. It is probably more likely that your risers would fail where the rings are attached. But you (and your rigger) should inspect them for wear. bloo skies ramon

My first chute was a triathlon loaded at 1.28-1.3. That is a little high, but it is a very forgiving parachute to load like that (couldn't fit 190 in my container). I was fine. The Safire is tricky to land and flare. Scott (of Scott Grip Fame and Dale at Spaceland) both have Safires. Dale was busting his ass all weekend on his and Scott spent 100 jumps learning how to land his and now he wants a crossfire. He found a stilleto (not recommended for you) much easier to land. He talked to Icarus and they seem to be thinking about re-designing they way they trim the lines. Derek has a big Safire that he lans with no problem (he has 2000 jumps), but they seem to have a very deep flare that causes a couple of hard landings if not timed right. There are lots of used Triathlons and Sabres out there. Everyone I know that has a pocket slider on their sabre seems to have very nice openings. My 2 cents bloo skies Ramon