freeflydrew

If you notice the mouse starts to jump around the screen a little, it's because of the varying colors on the carpet/mouse pad... The optical mouse like to be on solid colors... Are you going to post a pic of the carpet?

I know that they're going to post scores here, or daily updates there, but how about some first hand reporting! For the people who aren't out in Perris, how's about a little play by play from the World Cup of Swooping? I think that I can speak for the masses by asking for a little detail here or there... Who's looking strongest? How fast was the speed round? What crazy sh&ts been going on? Any surprises or dissappointments? Even a little Pic Posting would be good! Bring it on!!! -drew

Jay and Collin are two super great guys! I learned so much jumping with Collin out in Eloy... it's good to know that they're competing at Perris. word!

the fans, at least on the skyventure one in orlando and in perris are above, not below...

I completely agree...

I think it's really a toss up between a bunch of different people... it'll come down to who's super dialed in, gets the perfect conditions, and is in the "zone". I know that a lot of people see the boys from pd or icarus taking it, but I think that there could be an unexpected upset in the competition. Look out for Andy (just won the Red Bull Wings Championships) or Jeffro (ranked #2 in the US) from Team Xaos (precision) coming out on top, or even Cameron from Australia (3rd at the Ranch Pond Swoop this year) or Drew from Australia (1st at the ranch pond swoop 1998 & 2003) sneaking onto the podium... *AND HUGE PROPS TO KAZ SHEEKY FROM THE RANCH AND AUSTRALIA... THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE WORLD TO COMPETE IN THE WORLD CUP!!! Super Exciting!!! Good Luck everyone *i was told this, but could not verify it so please forgive me if there is more than 1 female competitor or I spelled Kaz's name wrong!*

And Marcus Speaks! BOOM! now go post pics on the hot swoop pics thread!!!

Very long post!!! I think that trying to exit head down is not the most constructive approach to learning to fly head down... So the following assumes a sit or upright exit... ok? Here's why I think that it's hard to learn how to fly head down... I think that most people attempt to fly head down from a sit position, ok? So they're flying the comfortable sit position and throw a transition to what they think is head down, and end up on their back a little, or on their belly a little, or on there side a little... either way, I'm sure y'all have an idea of what I'm talking about... So why does this happen? What isn't working right here? I think that the barrier is all about speed here... Remember when you learned to fly in a sit? How weird it felt when you transitioned from belly to sit... Mushy, right? Finding the right "direction" was difficult. I think it has more to do with speed than anything else and learning to fly head down is not that different! See, when people are learning to fly head down, they tend to go pretty fast (compared to sit flying)... maybe their legs aren't really as wide as they think, or they over working their arms and under working their legs... maybe it's just a faster position in freefall... either way, they're traveling vertical or close to vertical at a fast speed... Soooooo, the first 3 or 4 seconds after you transition from a sit to head down, you body has not only switched orientation 180 degrees, it's also greatly decreased it's surface area... It's not going to be easy to control that, let alone learn a new position... You need to fix this problem where the problem starts... before you transition from the sit! Try to speed things up a little... Think of the process as 5 steps, that mesh together into one nice fluid motion... 1.From a sit... bring your legs together and straighten your body out...1 or 2 seconds (increase your speed a little) 2.Now compress your body really small like a ball... 3.Next, hold your body in this small position, and transition. You do not have to rush the transition!!! Wait for your body turn 180 degrees... be patient. ( If you rush it, you will not be vertical when you come out of the transition. If you over rotate, stay curled up in a ball and wait until you're all the way back to a sit and start over (no corking here people :->) 4.Once you've made your 180 degree transition, you will decompress your body and go completely straight. 5.Last you will spread your legs as wide as they possible go. Try to hold it for 5 seconds (literally count to 5) and then reverse the directions to transition back to a sit. This will stop you from traveersing the sky aimlessly and you'll probably get more out of it by trying the same thing over and over again. You'll also dial in rock solid transitions while you try to learn to fly head down. This is what the method looks like on the keyboard... | /\ (sit) | | (body long feet first) O (body small like a ball... transition 180 degrees slowly) | | (body long head first) \/ | (Legs wide hold for 5 seconds) | | (body long head first) O (body small like a ball transition 180 degrees slowly) | | (body long feet first) | /\ (sit) You can and should easily practice the whole thing on the ground... Definitely the legs wide part... it super helps (make sure you only keep one leg on the ground, or else it doesn't feel the same, know what I mean? That was my 46 cents -drew edited because we can

How about earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, or thunder? or the tradition, "kitty"

There is no best dealer, but I can definitely vouch for : Square 1, 2 , 3 The Ranch Pro Shop Pier Ltd. Para Gear Fly Vertical (

How about we all stop talking about Bruno, ok? Second, How about we all stop talking about Bruno, ok? Third, how about we all stoip talking about Bruno, ok? and of course, go post Hot Swoop Pics or Video without criticism, and make this the coolest forum on the website. Swoop!

It all depends on the pilot, the canopy size, and the wing loading... Relative to a cross braced canopy, a stiletto does begin closer to the ground, but that's just a relative thing...

I bet that she really needed that clarification! Everyone who read her post knew exactly what she's talking about...

Why don't you buy a used canopy in between (like a 190 or something) and jump that for a little while? After you've learned a little more, you could sell it for the same that you'd originally paid for it and purchase a smaller one. It is uncommon for ANYONE to downsize 40 sq ft....just so you know, and judging from your most recent response, you don't even know how much you still have to consider during canopy flight, and learn to pilot/land safely.... Take the safe route, not the naive one! Scott will definitely teach you a lot... All the freedom of flight guys are really great!

Maybe everyone is talking about something different here... .when I watch Luigi's swoop on the 46, it has to do with the dive, the arc, the the plane out, and the shut down, where as the shut down isn't necessarily the thing from which the entire landing is judged... It's the entire process that makes it grand or not... But it seems like you're looking more at the end of the landing process, and forming opinions of your landings and his landings from that. Do you think maybe the direction these threads have gone is because of a simple misunderstanding in what it is we're all talking about? I think there's a lot of stubborn people who skydive... it's probably in the nature of the beast, right? AND freeflybella never ATTACKED your video... she criticized it.

??

you are definitely his girlfriend, right? and just so you're not mistaken: But as you pointed out I have surpased his wingloading and judging from the landings I have seen on his 46 I have accomplished a clearner shutdown (meaning I don't have to run like hell and end up with a stalled canopy behind me), for that reason I look to my own experience when thinking about what can or can't be done in terms of a heavy wingloading" OK?

Bruno, I think that what she wrote is similiar to what most people have written (with the exception of Tree)... She's totally being constructive and seems to know what she's talking about. I mean clearly she's experienced, she has 1500+ jumps, and obviously she's watched many, many swoops... Heath Richardson, one of the best, if not the best, canopy pilots in the world is her boyfriend. She's just another pointing out what she sees... not trying to hurt your feelings, or say you're wrong or anything... oooooooooooooh whatever, it doesn't even make a difference right? LEts all go and post pics!!!here

Oh have no fear... that's how we do 6 way swoops at the Ranch... Super tight with matching canopies.

I think that PD was refing the Stiletto and ended up with a canopy inbetween the Stiletto and the Velocity... wasn't the Crossfire2 made to replace the Crossfire1 after a couple of strange incidents? And wasn't the crossfire1 developed to compete with the Stiletto? There's a cycle developing here!

I imagine that negotiating other people's pattern would be tricky... I would love to go to altitude and open right out the door and fly around to see what it's like, but landing it doesn't interest me at all.

I believe that Steel made a comment about passing Luigi's skill in shutting down a teeny weeny parachute... "I will admit that there was a time when I looked up to his accomplishments and thought of what he had done as the end all. But as you pointed out I have surpased his wingloading and judging from the landings I have seen on his 46 I have accomplished a clearner shutdown (meaning I don't have to run like hell and end up with a stalled canopy behind me), for that reason I look to my own experience when thinking about what can or can't be done in terms of a heavy wingloading" Tree was obviously responding in a scarcistic way to a completely ludicrious statement. If you've ever seen Luigi (yes, Luigi the professional canopy pilot) fly and land the little 46, and taken a look at Bruno's pics or video clip, then some of what Tree said makes perfect sense.... Because the whole thing is sooo freakin' far fetched, it's ridiculous. Professional pilots fly in their own league... that's why they're professionals! The Luigi comments, in addition to some of the other comments, make for some interesting discussion... Tree clearly capitalized on the opportunity and started pressing buttons. There'sbeen a whole lot of scarcism here.... But wait! your post is just as scarcastic!!! Does that make you narrow-minded or prejudice? Doubt it! BTW Tree's grandmother recently downsized from the 62 to a 48 square foot canopy. And, just to make clear again... I never suggested that Steel get canopy coaching. Someone else did. I simply added to their post. So let's all DROP this topic and go and post Hot Swoop Pics here

Tree is a great guy who speaks his mind... he is none of the things you wrote... Arrogent, narrow-minded, and prejudice??? You've probably never met him or heard of him ever before... you don't like something that he said, so you label him? Nice one! maybe you shouldn't contribute?

Have you ruled out that the burner not completing the job could be a software problem? I mean, I know that part of what your dealing with has clearly been pinpointed to a hardware/cable issue, but maybe that's only half of the problem... Are you using Roxio's software or the built in cd burning software? Does the cd burner read and mount normal cds, or does it not function in any way?

where is that?