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I suggest that you consider the Samurai. It is a step up from the Stiletto but still not as much a jump as going to a crossbraced. I went from a Stiletto class canopy to a Xaos 21 crossbraced canopy. After awhile I decided to drop back to a Samurai. It gave a noticable performance jump compared to my previous canopys, which is what I wanted. It is very predictable regarding opening compared to the Stiletto. Turns faster and surfs longer with a lot at the bottom end of the flare. The biggest single difference is that the canopy has a more negative recovery arc and as a result will dive more then a stiletto. I am surprised that there is no stock at PD of the Vengeance but I just looked and was like "wow!" but as a side, the classifieds section for dropzone.com has somebody listing a "0" jump Sam 95 and someone else has a 75 jump Sam 105. The only Vengeance I see at a couple of 89's and a couple of larger ones. Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Speed stars always sound like fun.. Is Lodi doing them this weekend also?? I also will be at the 60-wys in Lodi the weekend of the 18-19th. Should be fun! Anybody else going be there???? Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

One day a man, who had been stranded on a desert island for over ten years sees an unusual speck on the horizon. "It's certainly not a ship", he thinks to himself. As the speck gets closer and closer, he begins to rule out the possibilities of a small boat, then even a raft. Suddenly, emerging from the surf comes a drop dead gorgeous blonde woman wearing a wet suit and scuba gear. She approaches the stunned guy and says to him, "Tell me, how long has it been since you've had a cigarette?" "Ten years," replies the stunned man. With that, she reaches over and unzips a waterproof pocket on her left sleeve and pulls out a pack of fresh cigarettes. He takes one, lights it, takes a long drag and says, "Man oh Man! Is that good!" "And how long has it been since you've had a sip of bourbon?" she him. Trembling, the castaway replies, "Ten years." She reaches over, unzips her right sleeve, pulls out a flask and hands it to him. He opens the flask, takes a long swig and says, "Wow, that's absolutely fantastic!" At this point she starts slowly unzipping the long zipper that runs down the front of her wet suit, looks at the man seductively and asks, "And how long has it been since you've played around?" With tears in his eyes, the guy falls to his knees and sobs, "Oh sweet Jesus! Don't tell me you've got golf clubs in there too?" Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

I would suggest that you jump a altimeter for the visual and use the audible as a secondary form of altitude awarness. Most audibles can be attached to helmets in some way and most "newer" helmets have pockets in them for the audibles. Frap hats mostly seem to have had them for years but a basic helmet like a Protec can usually take one with a little but of thought no problem.... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

For those that dont know the RDS system that PD has been working on: www.performancedesigns.com/hotnews/RDS/rds.htm Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Done it in under four but average on a busy jumping day about 5-7min.... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Here is the last set of revisions I had to choose from. The one I ended up buying is the one in the upper right, with the clear face center. Dont have my digital camera to take a pic of the actual altimeter so I am putting the final revisions to chose from to see..... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

I wanted to follow up with the discussion that had been going on about the Evolution series of altimeters from Free Fall Accessories (FFA) www.freefallaccessories.com. I had contacted the company about looking at an old altimeter I was considering getting serviced to get it back up in the air. Through a number of discussions back and forth on E-mail I decided to purchase a Stainless Altimeter with a personalized face…. I also promised a review of it for the group so here it goes….. To start with and for you own information if you don’t know, FFA currently sells a few different altimeter versions. The Evolution I has an anodized aluminum housing (colors available) and is advertised as 27% lighter then a Altimaster III with dimensions of 2.5” face and 1”high.. There is also the Evolution II which is like the “I” only with a 3” face and 1”high. The Evolution Stainless, the one I ended up buying, is similar dimensionally to the Evolution I but is Built from Stainless Steel. In addition to the three noted above they will be releasing a new altimeter geared towards free flyers with a counter balanced movement for inverted operation. I know nothing about it but there is some information on it at the web page noted above. All of the altimeters are available with a completely custom face. On the web page they note “Anything you can imagine we can bring to your altimeter” SERVICE The level of service I received even before ordering the altimeter made me feel very comfortable with FAA as a company. They were extremely responsive to my E-mails and answered all of my questions fully. As I noted above I decided to get the Evolution Stainless with a personalized face. David, the owner promised that I would get exactly what I wanted before they shipped the altimeter. We talked about what I wanted and within a day they had a few choices for me look at via E-mail. I wanted to have some more tweaks and they did it again within a day. In total we went back and forth three or four times with changes. They held true to the promise that they would not build and send me the altimeter until I was completely happy with the design. Once the final face settled they shipped it and it was at my door within 3 days with the promise that if I was not happy they would change it. That option was not needed since the face was exactly as I wanted it to look….. The service was great to say the least, and I was very impressed. ALTIMETER As I noted above, I went with the stainless steel version. It is 6.5oz and is slightly heavier then the Altimaster III at 5.8oz. I did not notice any difference weight wise on the ground after having it on for a little bit nor did I notice it in freefall at all. The extra weight did give it a feel of durability. If you are about weight on your hands while skydiving then the Evolution I may be a better choice for you needs since it is at 4.3oz. Separate from the weight of my new altimeter, it has a couple of things that stood out right away; accuracy and the very smooth feel of the movement. I compared the altimeter reading numerous times to the altimeter in the jump plane. Each time the altitude was crossed, it was spot on. The other test I did was to start a sea level and drive up to the dropzone, about 460’. The drive starts at 0’ and through basically one big hill climbs to the DZ elevation. Along the way I could see the reading smoothly go up as I went up the hill. When I arrived the altimeter was again spot on for altitude. Though not a definitive test it did show me a high level of accuracy. The second big thing I noted was the movement, and it is extremely smooth. When adjusting the altimeter to “0” it does not have any rough feel or sticking at all. It is notably smooth in its movement both when manually adjusting the altimeter and visually during in the plane ride up (the plane ride down as well in one case last weekend) and during the freefall. CONCLUSSION The weight, the accuracy and the smooth feel of the movement give the altimeter an extremely durable feel. The ability to get a personalized face is a very nice option but that seems to only be a bonus when you look at the quality these altimeters seem to carry. A couple of other nice features the altimeters have are a Standard field replaceable lens and a Lifetime transferable warrantee. Other items are noted on the web page. In short I am very pleased with the Evolution Altimeter I purchased and if you are in the process of looking for an altimeter I highly recommend that this is one that you should consider. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Contact Blue Skies Skydiving in Bremerton Washington. They re-made one of their 182's and it has a 520 for a powerplant and a 3 bladed prop. It climbs like a crazy. I am sure that they will be happy to give you some information.... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

The bridle extension is not a must but it does help in the ease of packing and wear and tear. Very easy to get a 5-6" extension on the canopy and it goes a long way to help. Psycho-Pack is usually a good way to raise some peoples eyes if they have not seen it before. It is a PRO pack but with a roll and not a fold. I have tried it on lots of different canopies and it worked great. I have well over 1200 Psycho-packs that I have jumped with no mals and many hundres more packs for other people, again with no Mals. Like every body notes be aware of the direction of the flip. Once you start do it the same every time as it will reduce the chance to a full 360 twist in the pack... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

That it Harry, Bust my balls there, just trying to offer a gem here and this is what I get... I figured that you jsut wanted to get that picture back up on the web again, transitioning to the 3rd point ....right !!!!! I was hoping to come down tomorrow for the NW meet but cant make it, I was bummed. Hopefully your team, or a version or your team is jumping.... I forgot to send you the manual but I will put it in the mail today, sorry... Oh yeah, Back to the point of the thread and not to clutter up the forum too much, check out the articles that were noted in another post. I have seen them before from Airspeed and they are good. There is also some information at www.4-way.org Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Almost Gametime! Wanna lay a small bet Aggie? Hokies are 14 point fav..... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

That is the spirit I like to see. Hokie Supporters and a Aggie already making excuses about the weather! At least your not in the delusional world of thought that the aggies are going to win!! "Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi, Poy-Tech VPI!!!!!!" Hell, I'm just excited that I should get to see the game on ESPN! I dont get to see my alma matter much living in the NW.... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

GO HOKIES!!!

In addition.....TIMMING Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Saw the video on TV last night and the crash was spactacular! Of the few different videos shot you see the plane comming around and trying to pull the nose up all but it just keeps sinking. The pilot pops out about 3 seconds before the plane hits. It is clear to see him eject but none of the videos showed much or the parachute opening and his landing but instead followed the crash and fire with lots of "Oh My God's comming from the crowd. A few seconds later they pan over to the pilot throwing some stuff on the ground and then waving to the crowd. They reported that he had about 1500 hours flying jets and this was his first year in the Thunderbirds.. Scott C. When I say spactacular above I mean it in a firey crash way, not by any streach of the imagination in a good way.... "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

I think you will find most of the companies that make sport gear are involved in some way with militatry or similar contracts. I dont believe that the sport market alone will support a company to produce and conduct R&D on parachuting equiptment. To address your second question, it does not bother me in the least either. I think if you dig around with almost any industry thhey are going to be involved in some way with something that you may not be pleased with or are against. Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

I just bought a custom one with smily faces on it along with a few other tweeks for personalizations reasons. He did note that the lack off numbers was a concern to him and he even checked up on me to see that I had in his words "enough jumps" to be able to look at the needle position compared to numbers. These altimeters are very nice and I will be posting a full review next week and a picture of my new wrist baby. I got a customized face on one of the new stainless altimeters. I have had nothing but good responsiveness and great information from these guys. Check them out at www.freefallaccessories.com Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

could be the incident from awhile back withthe adjustable harness???? Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

www.freefallaccessories.com/ There you go! I am looking to getting my new Altimeter from them, Should be here on Friday! Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Game going on and I would like the "E A G L E S" to win but they are not looking too good now. Just got pinned at 3 yard line on a punt. Even worse is that McNabb is 1 for 6 for 1 yard. Noot feeling good love for the eagles. I dont think it helped having Sly in town pretending to be an Eagles fan getting the new season off to a start.... Philly did not even want the Rocky statue if I remember correctly. Lets see the first play from the 3 oohhh they get to the 5 with duce...... Then a quick slant that is dropped, sucks to be McNabb now/again..... Oh they got a 1st on McNabb's 2nd completion. It will be interesting. Good luck Kev, dont get too freaky tonight! Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Get the air out before starting to pack first of all.... Also, always keep your hands on the canopy at least until you get more packs under your belt and you get better at packing. If you give it a chance to escape from you it will. It is kinda like a twisted sport to watch a guy/gal with limitied packing experience dive into a ZP canopy. Just figure it will take some time and the feeling of an aerobic workout, not to mention the breaking of the damn rubber bands when you really dont need it to break. But that saiid, with a smile on my face there are some tricks but what really need to be done is a good number of packs. the tricks come from lots of packing experience and dont really translate well to words . Besides that the basics of how to pack need to be in place. Talk to your instructors or packers at the DZ I am sure they will help you out. Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

You will have a nuber of choices. There is another thread going on in this forum onthe Evolution I altimeter. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=644541;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread I have not seeen one yet but have been talking with them via E-mail as well as getting some opinions from other people. Taking both of these into account they seem to offer a great altimeter. I am ordering one and will put up a review when I get it but so far the information I have received and the great response from the company is making me very comfortable with buying one. Besides getting a personalized altimeter face is not a bad deal either! Good luck in getting an altimeter! Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

Just to be clear on the mistake that I see from the pictures, the bridle is packed under the side flaps and not over the side flaps. Also it looks like the "S" folds are too long and the ends are down under the end of the bag?? Both of which would seem to potentially slow the PC launch and generate the dangling PC described here?? That is not a good mistake given that the Javelin manual states clearly "Lay the bag in the container with the line-stow pouch on the under side. Close each side flap in turn, securing the flaps with the temporary pin. Push the tuck flaps under the ears of the bag. "S" fold the bridle evenly up and down both sides of the temporary pin and pull-up cord (FIG 13)". This could have potentially caused a problem but there is a better then good chance it still would have been fine and the launch would have happened w/o a noticeable problem. I personally think you did the right thing regarding the rigger given his recognition of the mistake but it is a good point to note. If the rigger had been less then accepting of the problem when you contacted him, then that might be a diifferent story but given the described reaction it seems you did the right thing . Thanks for sharing the info though. Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

http://www.skyleague.com/TVFrance2002WorldRecord.mpg I think the 42 is current s the 4-way record. The link is from skyleague.... Scott C. "He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"