BlindBrick

For about the past nine months, I've been pondering downsizing real hard because I was getting nowhere with my front risers which were absolutley unbudgeable due to a 1.3 WL on a 269 sf semi-elliptical wing. A lot of people on here have given me various suggestions on what to do, with the most common being starting from brakes or leading with a weight shift. None of them worked, but I kept trying them them anyway. What I didn't realize was that I was learning even when I thought I was banging my head against the wall. I never realized it, but I had gotten to the point where grabbing a riser or doing a weight shift is something I can do without thought, and I also got to the point where I could feel the little prelude my canopy does before it stalls in brakes. It just sort of spontaneously came together today and I did a weight shift then riser grab right as my canopy went pre-stall. The moment I did I knew it was just what I had been needing all along. The riser came down damn near effortlessly and almost before I knew it(way damn faster than I expected for that huge of a canopy), I had come about a full 180 degrees. Before today, I was postitve I needed a smaller, more HP canopy. In my heart, I knew I really didn't have the skills to downsize yet, but had just about convinced myself that if I was ever going to get anywhere with learning front risers, it was my only choice. Thank you to everyone who gave me the tools to prove myself wrong. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

5'11 and ~340 out the door with the suit. Speeds were verified by my Vigil and multiple recording alti's. Lou, I'll try to get a pic of the suit this weekend. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm a big guy and once my dzo realized my belly terminal was 180 mph, he made me get a suit that would slow me down to 120. After trial and error, it was discovered that the only thing that came close to doing the trick was a freefly suit with a huge zp wing that spans from my wrist to shin level on my lower leg. until a couple of weeks ago, I just tracked like a regular skydive. But then, i decided what the hell and fully extended my arms as I hit my track. Now I understand why they call wingsuits "nylon crack".

Got tp agree here. I've seen video of my friends and I landing at the same time. We've all got ~1.3 WL's, but my 269 comes in much faster horizontally. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I doubt it. If anything, regular Coke is going the way of New Coke. Dasani flavored water, Blak and the new version of Tab are attempts by Coke to stay in the soft drink market, which is rapidly moving away from traditional sodas. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Actually a lot of the stuff that makes Vista revolutionary rather than evolutionary requires what is considered a ton of RAM and a cutting edge vid card today. You are goig to need a fairly beefy machine to run it at its full potential. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The packers at my DZ are my riglets and I figure if I trust them enough to let them apprentice under me, then I have no reason not to trust them with my main. I've also let another rigger pack my reserve for me back when my real job was 12+ hours seven days a week for weeks on end. I needed some repairs too, so I just sent the whole caboodle to the master rigger I apprenticed under and let him get me back up and running. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

What a waste, NASA ran those experiments years ago. they did discover, quite by accident, though that your typical metal ball-point pen has tremendous penetration power when dropped from above 100 ft. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I was told that minis were a bad idea for those with an exit weight north of 300. What I've wondered is if that was based off exeprience with the "old" design or with the newer models too. I'd defintiely like to go to minis when I get my new canopy this summer, if it's a viable option. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

It's also something that should be tested on the ground. Depending on the riser design and slider grommet size, there's a potential for binding the slider up on the toggles. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I fly a safire II 269, It's a very nice canopy. At a 1.25 wl, it flies as conservative or as sporty as I want it to. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've jumped both a Spectre and a Safire II, the Safire II has the better openings, IMO. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

They've been around in Europe alot longer than in the US. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've been fortuante enough never to see anyone bounce, but there's been three times when I was 110% positive I was running towards a corpse. Despite that, I knew I still had to try to help. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

thanks -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You don't "need" to, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd really like to see it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Man, that brings a whole new meaning to the old punchline about fucking one sheep. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Ok, a little background here: I've been dating a wonderful young woman for about a month now. Wasn't sure if we were very serious or not so I had just planned to get roses for Tuesday. Well, over the past week, it's become clear that we are becoming more serious. Today, it came out that this past week she spent several hours researching skydiving so she could get me a relevant gift for Tuesday. So obviously, something more than flowers is in order. Fortunately I had a bit of inspiration. This weekend she got me a gift that was a set of 52 cards that have romantic ideas on them. She doesn't know it, but the one I drew this week says to give her a romantic moonlit picnic. It's too cold here to do that so I need to fudge a bit, and this is what I was thinking: What I bascially want to do is turn my living room into a moonlit glade. So i thought I'd find a large piece of the green turf carpet to serve as the grass. I'd then totally ring this with plants and artifical trees to create the "glade" effect. For stars, I have a lot of those white christmas lights that I could wind through the branches of the trees. And for ambience, I have a noise generator that can do a "babbling brook", and I'd use rose petals and tea lights to mark a path from my front door to the glade. Once in the glade, she'd find a picnic blanket with wine and cheese for two. Following that would be a meal I prepared with ingredients purchased from her favorite organic food store. This idea is something I've thrown together in just a few hours, so i need to know if it's stupid or might work. also, if there's anything I'm overlooking, I'd appreciate a heads up. thanks, -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

QuoteIs the MSW something that someone with enough experience and ability could disregard? Quote Depends. In general, max's should be respected, but some canopy brands have an arbitary max weight in the larger sizes that doesn't increase regardless of the actual size of the canopy. For example, The Safire II max weight tops out at 300 lbs on a 169. Despite being a full 100 sf bigger, my Safire II 269 is also placarded at 300 -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

and you are how big? or..what is your WL on the 322? Yeah, I am interested in that info. Right now I'm tryign to decide between the Flik 322 and 350. A 350 would give me around a .9 WL while the 322 would be a hair about 1 to 1. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That Rawa, sans camera box, actually looks almost exactly like the helmet worn by the A-Wing pilot who turned the bridge of the Executor into a drive though in RotJ. And to answer your question, you'll only be dork if, while wearing it, you repeatedly tell your jump pilot to "stay on target." -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Just out of curiosity, I know that there are now several different flavors of HMA out there, from the stuff PA uses, to MEL's stuff to a custom braid that a dz.commer had made. What's the spec's ont he differing flavors. ie strengths and dimensions? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I have about 120 jumps each on Telesis I's and an RTS. I also have a handful of jumps on student Vectors and Jav's. Overall I prefer the RTS. I've listed why below. I bought an RTS because I jump unusually large canopies and it was the only "in stock" rig that any US manufactuer/new gear dealer had on hand at the time that would work for my canopies. While I expected the craftsmanship to be top-notch because it was a Mirage, I was prepared for it to be inferior to a true sport rig. Boy was I wrong. I love my RTS. The overengineering has let my rig easily weather some of my less than perfect HP landings, and it is incredibly comfortable. The flaps and covers are bulletproof and the "pindow" on the reserve flap is awesome even for an "up" jumper. Recently I had the chance to get a great deal on a G3 staff rig, but I passed on it. I'm just too satisfied with my RTS. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not just slider down. I finally got to see the BD '05 video and my MT-1 just looks all funky and scary as it's inflating. It's in the first jump section at 39 minutes. I'm the B.U.F.F. with the redshirt and chrome helmet. Watch the opening, it's just ugly, ugly. Definitely broke me of any lingering desire to do anymore BASE with the MT-1. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

It got so bad that MTV actually launched a seperate channel to play music vids on. It's called MTV2, IIRC. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."