Zeek-

Sorry...forgot to check back for a couple days, but it looks like bob.dino and I would agree. For quite a while, I was scared to go anywhere near the front risers, even double fronts, on anything close to final. I'm pretty sure that, once upon a time, I remember reading somewhere that a good rule of thumb would be to let up on both fronts about 10 seconds before flaring. Again, I'm nowhere near the voice of experience but, after trying it quite a bit in the past year or so, that seems *really* early to me. To give you some perspective, when doing double fronts for extra speed and not turning, I'd say that, on my canopy, that number is closer to 3 seconds or so. So I'd second bob.dino's thoughts and say try it high. But, if you're looking for some perspective that's a bit closer to the ground, I think that 300' will give you that perspective with PLENTY of buffer to spare. I can say this because I'm jumping the exact same canopy, but loading it up a touch more than yours is. Give it a try. And be careful but, once you do it a few times, double fronts are no shit. You get a taste of the fun with much less risk, in my opinion.

Zoso, First, I am definitely not the world's expert - so take this with a salt mine. That said, for 500 or so jumps, my accuracy isn't bad - and I jump your exact same canopy (Sabre2) so I'll offer my $0.02. 1. I second Andyman's advice with regard to the risers. Learn them. Use them. They are huge. 2. Second his advice again on altering your crosswind leg, and on experimenting with making that leg a bit lower. Knocking the altitude down with that particular segment (within reason) may help you see "the picture" a bit more clearly and you will probably find yourself nailing the landings a lot more. 3. This said, although the lower crosswind may be of help to you, when doing a straight in approach, I personally am finding that I prefer to be a touch *high* on final and to dive the canopy with double fronts. I say this for a few reasons: - Speed is fun. :) - If too high, you can always shorten things up a bit but, if you're short, you're short. It's much easier to lose the altitude than preserve it and, with just double fronts, you can really bleed off some serious altitude very quickly *while* maintaining your accuracy. Try this up high first to get used to it, and remember that you'll be surfing the ground a bit more - so you'll need to aim a bit "shorter" than you might normally be used to. This sounds counter-intuitive, I'm sure - and others will probably disagree, but I feel like my accuracy is actually a bit better with a small amount of added forward speed. It makes it easier for me to judge the target and you may find this is the case when you do it also. - Learning to dive the canopy will get and keep you out of the bad habit of "sashaying" on final and make you a safer, more predictable pilot. - Did I mention, speed is fun? :) Whatever you do, my not-so-sage advice is that you should try to stick to one canopy as much as possible for a little while because switching back and forth all the time WILL mess with your perceptions. I hope this is helpful to you. Z

Does this mean those little pink mints *weren't* mints? Uh-oh. (burp...)

Yeah - what you said. I'm pretty much in that same boat exactly, and it's hard for a sport like this to *not* change your life. Anyway, let's be honest. You've got to be a little touched in the head to be jumping off of cliffs, out of perfectly good airplanes, etc., and that's part of the magic of all of this for me. It's hard to find the kind of comraderie that we get in this gig. The allure of that is almost as big as the flying itself...for me, anyway. So I'll buy you both a beer, and tear it up upstairs with you, too. And I don't even like beer. (I know, I know....) -Z

Great article, Joe. I've daydreamed a lot about how cool it would be to turn my (our) addiction into something I could actually call my day job. Won't be holding my breath for that just yet, but getting a peek at how it all worked out for you sure is interesting. By the way, FWIW, Good Stuff and skydive.tv are actually what started my little obsession a few years back. After seeing those photos, that was it...and my wife has been cursing your name ever since (just kidding...hehe). Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to your other articles. Also, if you're ever looking for future extra crash-test dummies, I'm up for a bus ride or two - and will be on the next plane out there.

Another thought: Maybe L&B made the Optima louder on purpose. Since all their Pro-Track users were deaf, they needed to up the ante to keep the volume "perfect". Haha...j/k.

bob.dino: Yeah - saw the info regarding pitch ajustments in the manual...thanks. And it's helpful to know that the Optima is indeed quite a bit louder. Think I'll see about giving the Pro-Track a try. @mjosparky: Thanks - I think, but I *did* ask all of those questions in advance, and that point is kind of moot by now. Regarding OSHA, your point is well taken, but if 90db+ is harmful, it's harmful whether you're at work or drag racing. I've heard nothing but good things about L&B but, if the company itself is stating that placing the audible next to your ear while on the ground is potentially harmful, then it's potentially harmful period - ambient noise or not. That's something anyone thnking about an audible should consider, that's all. MB38: Good to know, and thank you. The more experienced opinions, the better.

Hi... Just picked up an Optima audible altimeter and, although I like it, initial assessment is that it's WAY too loud. I've read up on the subject a bit and have seen some arguments from people that seem to feel it should be this way but, in my opinion, there's no way continued exposure to something this loud is NOT damaging your hearing - earplugs or not. Has anyone else had any experience with this? Also: Interestingly, this audible comes with an option to change the frequency but not the volume. Nice touch but, if I were forced to pick one or the other, I'd much rather be able to adjust the volume instead of the pitch. Are there other audibles out there that have such a feature? Also again: I tested the Optima on the ground next to a friend that owns a Pro-Track, and this person was also very surprised at how loud the alarm was. He feels the Pro-Track is not nearly as loud - and this makes some sense since minimum volumes are 115db and 110db for the Optima and the ProTrack respectively, according to L&B's website. (The decibel scale is logarithmic.) Has anyone had a chance to compare the two? FWIW, I normally wear a full-face on every jump, always use earplugs and still have most of my hearing (huh?). According to OSHA and NIH, anything above 85-90db falls under the not-so-good category, which definitely yields some food for thought. Thoughts? Opinions? Any would be much apprec... Blues, Zeek

Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to reply. I forgot to mention in last post that I see this topic has been covered in some depth before now, but it never hurts to have good, up-to-date info and there is plenty of that right here. And btw, the "missing" fabric that I could not remember in my previous post is supplex, if anyone was wondering. Skybytch: Yeah, that approach (the slow suit/fast suit one) sounds like a very good idea. As for the people I am jumping with now staying down with me, I wouldn't say that this is a huge problem under normal circumstances - but then we are probably making routine adjustments to the point which, by now, nobody is even aware that they are being made anymore. Of course, we do have the occasional oopsy and, at the upper end of my range, there aren't too many who can stay with me. But, under normal circumstances it's not out of control - just enough of a concern that it should be addressed if I'm going to be shelling out $$ for another toy. I think I will try to make this suit a slightly slower one (with swoop cords, maybe?), and keep the older one around for the faster stuff. sundevil777: Not sure what you mean by TAS vs. SAS, but my range is roughly from 108 or so, up to maybe 130ish (flat) with an "average" (relaxed) fall rate of roughly 118-120. And what do you think of swoop cords that I mentioned above? ParaskiChamp: I have a coupon for some Tony Suits and will sell it to you cheap. :) Thanks for the info....good to hear all sides of the story. matthewcline: PM sent! (or will be, in a minute) Thanks a bunch... rmsmith: Thanks muchly. :) After this, I *will* have more than one suit at my disposal, and I am definitely looking at possibly getting some kind of small wing that can be used optionally. And, btw, how will poly-cotton be (in terms of speed) when compared to supplex? Once again, thanks to everyone. I appreciate all your help.

Hello, Just looking for the $0.02 of anyone experienced with regard to some choices I need to make with buying a new RW suit. Currently I am jumping a Bev suit and am not unhappy with it, although there are a few minor things in terms of cut and color that have brought me to the decision of buying a new one. After doing the homework a little bit, I think I've narrowed my choices to either another Bev or a Tony Suit...and I am leaning slightly toward the Tony, just to try something new. A bit about me: I have 300-something jumps, am roughly 6', 200 pounds and, while I don't fall at supersonic speeds, I definitely tend to be on the quick side. This is accentuated by the fact that I'm usually jumping with lighter people and so I sometimes need to watch it to make sure I'm not going low. On the other hand, just finished up a bunch of tunnel coaching with Shannon Pilcher and Thomas Hughes (well worth it, btw) and have been told that my fall rate is actually fairly close to optimal for team stuff. Until then, I'd thought of myself as maybe a little bit too quick but, having been told this, I'm obviously re-thinking things. And so a lot of my concerns are related to messing with my fall rate. A few things I'm wondering about, if anyone has the time: 1. If anyone could provide me with a crash course in fabrics, it'd be much apprec. (I have cordura in the legs and spandex on the forearms on mine...but that's unfortunately about all I know. There is another material in the chest/abdomen area, but I'm unsure of what that stuff is made of. Sorry I'm not able to provide more info on this.) 2. Tony has two suits I'm considering, the Pit and the Swoop Suit. Pit is supposed to be a faster suit with competition in mind, and the Swoop is apparently a more middle-of-the-road suit that'll give you a wide range. I'm tempted to go with the latter because of the people I'm jumping with, but also don't want to mess with things too much - especially after being told from a couple of the best around that my fall rate is pretty good. And also, I've heard some very good things about the Pit. Has anyone had experience with either of these? 3. One of the pluses on the Tony side of things is also the newer, supposedly improved booties they are using (Airspeed booty?) with their competition suits. I've noticed a definite difference (size, flexibility) between the booties on some of the suits the top guys are wearing and the ones on my own suit. Any thoughts/suggestions here would also be really appreciated. 4. In particular, if anyone has happened to own suits from both of these makers, I'd be really interested in hearing your opinions. This will be my second RW suit and, since I plan on having it for a very long time, I'm definitely trying to do the homework in the detail department. Thanks very much in advance for any information/opinions/diatribes any of you can provide, and Happy Holidays... Z

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