apoil

Even worse... If clay lays himself out by flying a canopy beyond his ability, he'll just stay at home and post here all the time... wait... maybe this has already happened.

In a lot of ways, her injury was one of the most scary I've seen. (It was right in front of me). Why? Because all it looked like was one of those landings where you come in a little fast, hit a little hard on your feet, land on your butt and then get up and walk away. I mean, if you can break your leg that easily, without hardly even knowing it, that's just scary. Get well soon...

I've got over 800 jumps. I progressed very slowly to this point. Most recently, I put about 260 jumps on a safire (technically elliptical but only slightly) loaded at about 1.5. While I didn't entirely "squeeze every drop of performance out of it" I was doing front riser carves and getting a nice swoop out of it and felt perfectly comfortable flying and landing it anywhere both aggressively and timidly. So I didn't switch to an elliptical at a low wing loading, but I progressed to higher wingloadings very slowly and carefully and then moved to ellipticals. Either way is fine if you think about it. I demoed a samurai at the same wingloading as my safire for 10 jumps. Sadly it wasn't being offered at 50% off retail. Also at the time of my order I wasn't sure that I wanted to go with airlocks. The nitron is one of those canopies that supposedly "flies big". So given that I was comfortable under a 135 I went for a 120 Nitron. I don't regret this decision, in fact, I almost feel like I could go a size or two smaller, but I'll wait. I'm also jumping every single day into a dz with a very large landing area and plenty of big fields as outs. I wouldn't have switched to this canopy under other circumstances.

I have also just begun jumping a Nitron loaded at close to 1.7 It's my first elliptical and I feel entirely comfortable flying it close to the ground. It's got a good glide and moves pretty quickly. My openings have thus far been a little erratic and I'm hoping that after a little break in they will settle down. I also need to learn to "fly the opening" a little better. To do harness turns, I really had to twist my legs, simply shifting weight was not quite enough. The flare and surf are good, although not as good as on the Samurai I tried. Again, I'm just settling into the proper technique. The slow flight is definitely a strong point. It's comfortable flying slowly as well as hauling ass at full glide. At the discount prices Precision is selling them at, they can't be beat. Also, it's a weird canopy. Not a lot of people are jumping them, and it will draw some stares. The HMA lines are like angel hair pasta. And they don't cascade so there's a bunch more of them at the riser attachment. The winglets on the topskin, and the mesh over the end cells are features that are entirely unique to this canopy.

I guess this would explain why there's so many chopped line overs every day? There aren't are there? So where's this increased risk of a line over and how do you know Wolmari reduces it? When I lay my canopy down, I run my hands along the length, you can feel where the lines are. I keep them nice and straight and in the center. The "excess" that you tuck in is safe. There's no lines there. Provided you have proper technique, and it obviously doesn't need to be that good (evidence: line overs are very rare) you are not migrating any lines forward. The most important thing to do is when you first wrap the tail around, make sure that you aren't pulling any lines around in front of the nose - THAT's the way line overs happen. If you keep everything in the back you'll be fine. The propack is an established packing method and works well. The wolmari "technique" is probably no worse, but it's unfair to tout it as a solution to a problem that isn't really there.

An 8way is a very very big freefly group, especially if you are mixing head up and head down. An 8way sit is not as much of a big deal if everyone is an accomplished sit flyer. I've got well over 500 freefly jumps and I wouldn't go head down on an 8way or hop on one unless the other folks on it were more experienced than I am. Also, maintain discipline at breakoff, especially if people are off level. Don't just go flat and and start tracking in a rush because your dytter is beeping. There's a lot of time from 5000 feet, take a breath, look all around, locate everyone else on the jump, and then pick your tracking direction and smoothly and safely transition to it.

I read the wolmary web page, and quite frankly I don't get it. A line over malfunction is already a VERY low probability occurrance with a standard pro pack. The wolmari pack is a solution to a nonexistent problem. It doesn't enter into the packing sequence until after you've laid the canopy on the ground. At that point a proper pro pack is not going to induce a line-over. Emphasis on proper.

Perhaps it's because relative workers are generally quite old and haven't figured out them durn new fangled computer thingies?

Yeah, everyone loves to trash the USPA, but they didn't do it to make money, they did it to address real inadequacies in the way people were trained particularly between AFF and their A license. Remember? They were the things people used to bitch at the USPA about before they introduced the ISP. Lack of canopy control training. Lack of a consistent sequence of instruction in basic relative work. Not every dropzone has a culture where brand new graduates are taken in and encouraged. I was given the option of skydive U. But an optional expensive coach jump versus having fun with my equally inexperienced friends was pretty much a no brainer. The coach program has a sound foundation. Australia has an even more intensive mandatory sequence required for your B license. People grumble about it, but no one feels it's unnecessary, and you can go to any drop zone and round up 8 people with 100 jumps and crank out points and turn pieces with them. (unless they are freefliers :)

get coaching! You think it's expensive? It's the price of between three and four jump tickets. If you made those jumps yourself you would maybe get stable, but you'd also be developing bad habits. And don't try to muscle it too hard. Freeflying requires that you feel it out a little more, but that said, try to keep your feet flat and pressing down hard against the wind with your back straight. Don't take shit from the wind. It can't push you around like those bullies in grade school.

That's not what don said. This is just an extremely foolish narrow minded view on your part. You don't even know what constitutes a drug. Some drugs are illegal, some are controlled, some are readily available. In all three instances there are some that are quite harmful, some that are hardly any more harmful than anything else you might eat, and some that should be used with caution. You are just parroting the standard line you've been fed: "drugs are bad.. mmmkay?"

$50 is quite low if it includes both jump tickets.

If this were rec.skydiving I would call you some very nasty names at this point. Out of respect for the forums here I will simply say that you really should have made that VERY clear from your initial posting. rumors can easily get way out of hand in this sport.

If you had a wang that looked like that in the chilly air of freefall, you might just be smiling despite the pain.

sounds like they are saying that freeflying is asking for trouble. I don't have a problem with that. Whuffos would say jumping out of a plane in the first place is asking for trouble. They are right. Someone who never jumps will never have a low cutaway from a spinning mal. Know the risks, and only undertake what you are comfortable with.

Let's leave his private life out of it.

Actually, it's funny what you notice when you watch a film like that. Hmmm... twin otter with a Perris Valley sticker in the door. Ok she's doing a solo skydive so she's obviously off student status but potato chipping a lot so probably just before or just after her A license. At deployment time she nearly has a horseshoe malfunction when the pilot chute and bridle goes in front of her hand. She pulls the hand away in time for deployment. Sad Trivia: Alex Jordan, the star of that particular film later committed suicide. Not by skydiving.

reminds me of a joke from some comedian: The difference between Charles Manson and every woman I've ever dated is that Charles Manson has the decency to look like a nut the first time you meet him.

I believe there are GPS based devices used for hang gliders, paragliders and ultralights that will track your flight path. These would probably be workable in a birdman suit. Depending on their resolution (whether they are accurate to 5 feet or 50 feet) they would also work for regular skydivers, but they are probably a few hundred dollars or more.

Here's something ironic. There's another drop zone near gainesville. Palatka. Palatka is normally a turbine drop zone with a King Air going to 13500. The USF skydiving club however has made a commitment to jumping at Williston. This is not an unreasonable situation if they can negotiate a favorable agreement (although in this case, they don't get any special financial breaks, unless it is in the form of under the table kickbacks). Well they actively discourage people to go to Palatka by basically saying that Palatka has a poor safety record and you are risking your life by going there.

Actually, there is one that I heard recently. Most people are right handed and have considerably less gripping strength and digital dexterity with their left hands - which is used for the reserve. I never noticed because I'm left handed and have nearly equal strength in both hands.

[soapbox]Geez! How 'bout a little credit for someone even trying? Obviously you're way above ever having been addicted to anything. If you haven't been there you have no right to talk.[/soapbox] The things I'm addicted to, I either remain addicted to, or I quit. When I quit I didn't go begging for attention after only 10 days. No 12 step programs for me... one step - I quit. And that was it.

Now that's impressive. I've learned not to pay any attention to anyone who says they just quite smoking because every single last one of them is an incurable junkie who starts up again in a few weeks or months or whatever. 10 days without a cigarrette. I'm not impressed. And I'm not going to be encouraging. Smokers do little to encourage me while they poison me with their second hand smoke and ashtray breath.

So you use your triathlon to take the kids to soccer practice?

It should be everyone's goal to have more skydives than posts. If your numbers are skewed, you need to get out more.