dharma1976

nicely done... you know whats funny I was handed a 99 FX by my S&TA last fall He said to me...I am giving this to you because I know that you wont kill yourself on it... I have a few jumps on it now...but the truth of the matter is...I wont kill myself on it better if I dont jump it for another 300 or so jumps... :-P Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I though about that I will wait to see what comes of the first gen of low bulk reserves then I will upsize Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

so whats the verdict from everyone... I like the idea of a high performance landing area separated from the regular landing area... And that is coming from a swooper... not all dropzones have that luxery though... SO secondarily perhaps we could all work on keeping a heads up on ourselves and our compadres Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I found that the sabre2 had a longer recovery arc than the stilletto as well although not quite as lifty I did 200 jumps on a sabre2 170 learning to swoop after I broke myself learnign badly on a pilot 150 then did about 50 more on the 150 sabre 2 and then went to a crossfire 2 129 AFTER Demoing a 149 Crossfire 2 for a weekend or two. jumping the 149 first helped me a lot. people yelled at me for jumping the 129 at first... johnny 1488 said "dont kill yourself" a lot Sonic from the ranch pro shop was flat out pissed at me and was very short with me for quite some time. What they didnt see since I was jumping at sussex at the time was that I had a mentor ( I learned that I needed a second set of eyes) and was getting video debriefs every day. In addition to that I went to florida and did the first of two canopy courses in 4 months... Sonic later sold me a 119 Crossfire2 when originally he hadc refused to sell me a Crossfire2 149. And that is how I survived aggressive downsizing that made people angry...(after I broke my leg the first time doing it wrong) It can be done but I would reccomend the following 1. Mentor 2. Advanced Canopy Courses (I took Brians and man has it saved my life a lot) 3. Remain teachable if someone walks up to me and says something I will still listen they might be trying to save your life with knowledge that they learned doing the same thing. Believe me they aint doing this for thier health. 4. Do some high pulls if you can, I have about 75 or so with my friend Matt it teaches you about the ranges of your canopy so much... 5. Practise up high as much as you can to find the altitudes 6. Learn what density altitude does to canopies :-P 7. Be safe and stay alive Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

Amen http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I did this last week when I got to florida and forgot there was a 400 ft difference lower from my ome dropzone and started my turn at the same height (turns out the turn was about 100 ft lower for me) is what it is we learn to adjust more in the turn time is all it takes Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

apparently old new yorkers shouldnt either as I am past 29 and therefore mooth on the lighter side the mall security guard IDing me the other day had quite the shock when he found out I was 30 and not 18... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

you know if you know me that I am the guy talking that up at the loading area...as well as figuring out wingloading and vertical separation issues in my head by eying everyone at the ranch loading zones rig to assertain the size of canopy... You be around the ranch this weekend? I am thinking sunday myself dependant on weather... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

not if I do first http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

Dude totally.... but also landing in the same direction is for the greater good as well as if one person decides to err away from the agreed landing direction for that load and hits someone who was following agreed direction it causes other problems.... on the 270 thing from the SIM That means that we need to be willing not to swoop... I bailed out of the turn I wanted to do the other day for the turn that was safe...if everythign is not right I will bail down a step or three...I will even own up to the fact that there are loads that I ***GASP*** land straight in cause things arent right in the traffic for me to do my thang...and unlike others...guess what...I am not going to get angry about it.... WE are a collective group that needs to look out for each other...all that seems to be going on since these two incidents is a bunch of finger pointing and name calling... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I like that and agree with it... noticed all that in the new version of the sim and m ost certainly agree with ya on it... Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I was about to say you can expect to get bitched at But you already did it Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I agree...in fact I bailed on a 270 on NYE to do a 90 cause there was traffic.... on a side note spizzy the FX doesnt like the extra weight I put on since I quit smoking cigarettes... :-P Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

Damn Skippy... Now the fun part comes in...explaining to people who dont want to listen why they have to do it Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

I had a nasty back spinner on a Crossfire2...it can happen I love my crossfire regardless Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

Dude that is not how we operate at the ranch and you know that... here is how we operate... a. we talk about landing direction at the loading area so that we have open communication that way we dont have the ranch landing direction which looks like a chaos symbol and gets people hurt or killed.... I can think of incidents that have been created due to people landing opposites due to the "I land into the wind and that is that" attitude that could kill people. would you rather land downwind or perhaps kill someone. remember it is not yoru landing area it is everyones try to think of the greater good and other people that is what this whole debate right now is really about... Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

as a swooper who has almost been taken out by someone who "has to swoop" and doesnt care about the low man I see both sides of this... I think that I personally am going to either... a. Keep it to 180s max on fun loads b. ask for 10K passes so I dont have to deal with as much traffic c. Pull High with my friends (I do this anyway and still have to deal with tandems sometimes) d. do more hop and pops and all this so I can do 270s...truthfully I see times I can do them and times I cant...I dont ever try to force things... New Years Eve I started setting up for a 270...when I got to my second check point I realized I was doing a 90 and that was okay.... shit if I had had to land straight in that would have been fine too... Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

swoop abortion saves lives Period the end Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

This is a big issue and we all need to stop blaming the other group that we are not a part of and figure something out together. I for one think it starts at education and do my best to pass on the knowledge that was passed on to me (including that that was passed on from the great teacher Extreme Agonizing Pain) God I cant think how many times I have sat down with newer jumpers and talked about patterns and why they are important after someone had spiralled through another group...and then explain to them abotu vertical stacking as well...and really spend the time to trully explain it to them so that they get it and understand why once they are open it is about taking your turn cause otherwise we could hurt people. And I dont even have any ratings...the only thing I have is the knowledge that some people passed on to me in the same manner. If we all can get along and come up with a way to deal with this together...perhaps we can save someones life...perhaps even one of our own... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

nicely put.... We can all do our part and talk up accuracy and patterns to the up coming jumpers... they often look up to us as experienced jumpers... so lets use that when they are fresh to teach them patterns and how to be safe with it... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

yes and thank you for calling me on it when you saw me make a mistake JP...it made me more aware of my space... Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

some have... look at the landing area at the Farm in Georgia to prove that Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

you sound like me about a year ago :-P remember to do it in person and lets also remember to give drills that people can actually do in the moment instead of just poo pooing them That way they dont feel like we are belittling their godliness... Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

Ditto especially the soda part Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

ummmmm follow your pattern and then avoidance is the only issue... so if your pattern is 1000-500-300 for your turns stick to that then take a canopy course with someone like Brian Germain or Scott Miller, both hella nice and both hella good teachers. Cheers Dave http://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.