tdog

The problem is - I can't think of a better one... Relative Workshop was the first name I knew in the sport, because when I was reading books learning about the sport, it was the name that stuck in my brain. The others slipped away... As sport skydivers, we know just about every container out there by model name, but knowing the company that makes the container is more difficult - I still get confused who makes the Wings and Javelin. Both have the sun in their name, but I don't identify with those names... If you asked me who makes the competitors rigs, I honestly would have a hard time with some models... The names are not catchy. If the RWS name change is indeed for those lucrative military contracts, the sport business can still DBA (Doing Business As)... Someone else had a line I like: "United Parachute Technologies Home of the Relative Workshop" Someone else said something that I disagree with... That people don't buy rigs because of the name... I call BS. I have seen you write and say on skydive radio - something to the effect of - skydivers don't care about safety, but follow fashion trends (in reference to belly bands and the change to smaller three rings). Names, teeshirts, logos, and who jumps the rigs - do sell rigs... Want proof - go to different DZs. Some DZs you see more of one brand, because maybe that was the student rig brand so students knew the name, or maybe the gear store pushes that brand more or the instructors jump that brand... Without naming brands, I can think of two that I don't see at home but see in Florida and Eloy a lot. This change reminds me of the 1985 move Coke made to the "New Coke" flavor. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7209828/ I still remember my grandmother's stash of the "good old stuff" that she stockpiled fearing Coke Classic would never come back. Some might say that there is no such thing as bad marketing, and the "New Coke" was just a marketing stunt - and others claim that the "classic" that came back was really a 3rd flavor that was cheaper to produce (change in sugars used), and the "new coke" was just a distraction... Whatever, it was a major change of the best known product in the market. I just remember thinking when I read the new name... "That is a tongue twister, I don't see people putting that on their car or teeshirt unless the logo is real cool." I think when companies like "PD" are changing their logo to be more "trendy" - and go from "Performance Designs" to "PD" - the posters who have commented "RWS" may be a good name, might be right??? I just like the name "Workshop" - as it means to me, "innovations", "freedom", "change", "ideas" - etc... I agree "Relative" = normally belly flying skills, which a lot of people don't identify with (freefliers) - although we are starting to see RW work in freeflying... I don't know, I am stumped... ;-) But, I tend to agree, my heart is not in the new name for a sport rig. You don't see snowboards, shoes, clothing brands, sunglasses - without catchy names these days... You said yourself on Skydive Radio that you like selling rigs to sport jumpers because they choose your rig, where as military jumpers are issued your rigs... I think, despite what we would hope, that there is a lot of "fashion" in rigs these days, and brand identity sells rigs just as much as the safety aspects behind the rig.

I don't know about that... I had an analog that broke. It read 2,000 feet high, and was moving with me in freefall... It was a solo fun jump working on some freefly skills. Since my speed was dynamic, my "body clock" could have been really off... I had an audible and eyes that told me time to pull. If I had not trained my eyes, or had a backup, and believed the analog... I would have pulled low... I took the analog on a few more jumps to see what it was doing. At 11K or higher, it just kept climbing, as if the plane was climbing... But it wasn't, so - the length of time on jump run would determine the error margin. Made me think I like the concept of a digital that "fails safe" to a blank screen, an error code, or something... So I know, "I am no longer altitude aware - pull." Just my two cents... I still BTW jump an analog, but since I am buying a digital to better dial in my canopy work, I kind of regret not doing it sooner... I honestly have done coach jumps with students post AFF with neptunes, and I did not mind... They knew how to read it... (For the record, I had a Neptune change modes on me in freefall and it became useless - but again, I simply looked over at other jumper's neptunes and continued the 4way... I knew it was "not useable" as opposed to not knowing the dial was 2,000 feet off... Broken analog scared me. Not useable digital I adapted to safely.)

I love my gatorz... I am also one to damage/lose expensive shades... Oakleys died/scratched all the time with me. I throw my Gatorz around. The lenses don't scratch (well I am not that mean to them, but definitely more mean than I used to be with my Oakley) The durability is awesome. I have 100+ jumps on them this year, and I wear them driving and working outside. Only once I felt air under them (runny eyes)... Most of my jumps are belly (tracking, head down-ish dives to formations, or AFF)... I have a few sit flies in them too. They are the best thing I have purchased yet in skydiving as far as durability - and they work on non-skydiving days too. If Oakley made them this good, they would lose $$$ because you would not need to buy a new pair every few months.

Open source parachutes... Free, so as long as you compile them yourself... You get to choose the version you like, and contribute to the source. God, now we all have to learn how to sew.

And when you could not "control alt delete" your main, you would have to unplug it with a hook knive so the reserve could reboot.

That's hilarious... Now, of course, we will have to wait for Service Pack 5 for the reserve to operate as planned when the main closes...

Take away... No, that would be simple, the error message would have come across my screen: "Unable to connect to server X.X.X.X because MDAC no longer supports IP addresses." That would have been simple.... No, it just slows down to the point it was taking 21 seconds to authenticate using trusted (windows) authentication, which timed out the application until I recompiled it with a longer timeout and a trace to see what was going on, whereas using (the lessor security plane text password) SQL authentication, it was instant authentication. Of course, when it appeared to be an authentication issue I started troubleshooting the domain Global Catalogs and Domain Controllers - as I did have a server run out of hard drive space earlier in the week and I thought Active Directory could have been corrupt since the server hard crashed. Here is the MS post I found that saved the day:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4942162778167603560

Of course you realize the Apple iParachute would have just one handle instead of three. Ya, and the magnetic power cord, I mean, three rings, would disconnect whenever you tripped on the cable...

All I can say is, after troubleshooting a needle in the haystack all day.... Hint to SQL admins... Data Access Components 2.6 no longer supports IP addresses in the connection string - you must use the DNS name of the server... 12 hours wasted over a 10 second fix. To all non SQL folk... This thread could get funny.... Finish: If Microsoft made parachutes....

Wow - what a way to make a first impression. Without knowing my pecker size and brain size compared to yours, I see in your profile you are from Colorado... Denver area by chance? If so, Private Message (PM) me via this site... I teach/jump at Mile High Skydiving a lot... If you come up to the DZ, I will show you step by step how a parachute works on deployment and flight... I will also show you how it gets packed, and how all the gear works. I have a lot of video of what it looks like from my camera helmet too, we can slow mo it and you can see it really happen. If that peaks your interest, you can then do a tandem jump with my friends, who again, may have small peckers but are great guys. After that, we have a first jump course every weekend for AFF level 1. Again, PM me and we can meet at the DZ...

Any website for this tunnel yet? Marketing materials? Etc?

Maybe the demo guys want to keep how to do demos secret in the same way BASE guys keep their exit points secret so they don't get burned down by idiots? But, maybe you demo guys could put together a demo manual... Perhaps the USPA could publish it?

I never have had sand, but how about the soot from the holiday boogie bonfire. Or the feathers from an owl. or the mosquitoes and flies of the Perris desert. or rain. Recirc is the way to go.

I have a 170 I load almost exactly the same as yours. The openings are very nice. The slider stays up a while as the canopy slows you down, then it comes down very quickly. It felt slow at first, as my "old" canopy's slider always came down quickly, no pause... The pause of the slider staying up made it feel slow. But after I realized that it was predictable, I am happy with it. Granted, my canopy is 35 sqft bigger, but... I will say, this is the first canopy that I can feel who packed it night and day. My favorite packer at the DZ packs much harder openings than I do... I wonder what he does differently... I guess I will watch him some time. If anyone wants to see - I have about 10 openings edited together to show another friend, from my camera... PM me for the link.

Canopies or containers??? Two different beasts... I have 500 jumps on a Aerodyne canopy. (Pilot) It held up well. Looks maybe 100 jumps old. Only comment... They had a serial number plate that - all the silk screen ink - and serial number writing - wore off in 200 jumps. Never wet. So, when I sell my canopy - the buyer will have to believe me on what it is, because everything (size, serial number, make, model, warning messages) is all just blank now on an orange plate... I told the Aerodyne rep at a boogie and I got a laugh, "so what"... Also, a few e-mails to Aerodyne corporate were never returned, when PD responded the same hour on the same question... Since the serial number is not required to save your live or make it fun to fly, I can't really say I am upset that much. So - I believe after jumping the product, that it is not quite as good as say a PD in customer service and workmanship, but I have no regrets on jumping it for so long.

Ok, which ones of the many you list do you jump?????

No, the Mesa Airlines Flight attendant called it (seriously): The "Barbie Dream Jet". Don't forget to dream.

The landing area is huge. There are plenty of friendly people. I don't think you should have any problem there - so as long as you have a handful of jumps under your belt.

Have faith in a strong arch, and when you do the exit, arch like you do in the tunnel. Most skydivers went thru AFF without the tunnel - you will be one step ahead of them. The AFF program was designed for students without tunnel time - so those with time normally nail the dives. Oh, don't fear the exits, if your exit tumbles with your instructors, they will help you roll over, but with strong tunnel flying skills I bet you won't need the help. You won't fail an AFF level for an exit. If nothing else, if the exit tumbles, you will give your instructors something to do. So, don't worry... Go jump.

http://break.com/index/bathroomprank1.html

Labor day weekend - the last weekend of summer... I thought it would be fun for instructors to post their happy stories from the summer. I just got my AFF rating earlier this year, so this was my first summer working weekends as a AFFI. I think I taught over 100 people in the FJC and maybe 100 AFF jumps too. Today I looked around the hangars and realized the impact I had in skydiving, for better or worse, there were students I worked with everywhere I looked. I saw three finishing their A licence cards. That alone felt good. But there were two students this weekend that made me feel real happy. #1 This student attended the FJC I taught on Saturday - and he did his AFF 1 and 2 that day. Sunday he did AFF3, AFF4, AFF5, AFF6, AFF7 and two solos... Today he did a few more. I did his level 7 - and it was one of my most fun skydives of the summer. He just was having so much fun in freefall, and got the diveflow done by 10K, so we geeked out and both were laughing and smiling and high fiving in freefall. #2 Today I jumped with a student I worked with in the beginning of the summer - AFF3, who had failed level 3 two times prior, and had trouble with level 1 and 2 also. He was just not able to get "in the game" and stumbled over the dive flow and his responsibilities. I was scared to do his jump - because I did not think I could tell him he failed if he failed again. But we started practicing the jump and I was confident he was ready. He got on the plane and as we took off he put his index fingers and thumbs together with his hands in front of his chest, closed his eyes, and I saw him meditate in a calm and quiet way - followed by him rehearsing the dive in a way that I have only seen the best 4way teams in the world visualize - all without prompts. When we asked him to walk us thru the skydive at 8K, he stopped himself and said, "Too fast". We got out in freefall, and it was the best level 3 I have done yet. His heading control was perfect, he just nailed it. He landed and asked if we let go. I laughed and said, "You just did the best Level 3 I have seen yet. Your heading control was perfect." His ability to identify within himself the issues at hand - and fix them, and correct himself in the rehearsals ("Too Fast") - made an impression. _______ Now, you post your happy stories for the summer of 2006.

As an instructor (who does not need to be an instructor to pay the mortgage, I admit) - I rather get a sincere thank you and perhaps a referral or, as you mentioned, small acts of kindness like a lunch or bottle of water when I am working hard, instead of a tip... The cash is nice, but skydiving is expensive to begin with - and I would never expect it. So to answer your question - I think grilling food for everyone is a super cool thing that I think is a great idea!

Do you have your yellow card or whatever you sent in to the USPA... It counts as your licence until yours comes in the mail... Or, do don't HAVE to mail it in - you can keep that yellow card as your licence... I never got my "A" number, but jumped using that yellow card at 3 DZs before I got my "B". Edit - I see you don't have anything on you... You could have the visiting DZ call your home DZ...

I put money on the fact the white loop was not thru the grommet... I would tell your rigger what happened and suggest there is a possibility that he/she hooked it up wrong. Not to say mistakes don't happen, I found myself doing it once myself when the loop slipped out of my hand and I thought I caught it before it slipped out of the grommet... If you pull on the silver cutaway housings right near the loop you can tell if it is still hooked up to your 3 rings, and if it is hooked up in such a way that it will not come undone in freefall. I use this as a backup to my eyes on my check of threes...