Kolla

Great photos Drew, thanks for sharing!! Blue Skies Magazine

yeah... come on Jairo - we even have a t-shirt made especially for you, in very small medium, extra tight... you know you want it! So come on, meet us in Colorado!! Blue Skies Magazine

Hi Jason, That is yet another R&D project we are working on, and at this moment in time its too early to say - much testing remains to be done at this point. Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Kelly, The one you are talking about is what we showed at PIA 3 years ago, as a "concept canopy" - the Z brace. That project is still active but nowhere near completion yet. So you still have some time to save up money Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Yeah they did have a blast - and so did the rest of us that got to watch them come in for the tuffet. I have to admit that when they first announced they were going to compete I thought they had lost their minds! Much to my surprise they figured it out (with a lot of help and good input from the seasoned classic accuracy jumpers I might add) and did great (and only scared the judges a couple of times. I think both of them now have a lot more respect for the fine art of classic accuracy. Plus here is a little secret - if you score a dead center, you get a special cookie, it's even written in the rules

Aren't tri's great?? Done a few sprints and my first OL this spring. In a moment of weakness I let my friends talk me into signing up for a half IM this coming November (Miami Man)... so now the training begins. I love swimming, LOVE biking and then it's the run... yuck. There are quite a few skydivers around the DeLand areas that are into tri's (dedication varies). Not sure that many on dz.com know that Sue Clifton, editor of Skydiving Magazine has a couple of half IM's and one full IM under her belt - and a ton of sprints. She's a machine - and my inspiration

Yep you got it - the canopy is a standard Silhouette (same as stock - or custom colors for that matter), with artwork sewn on the bottom skin. I wouldn't rule out the "type R sticker effect", although my guess is that the canopy knows how good looking it is, so it might fly with a little extra spunk because of that Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Douglas! Happy to hear the canopy is flying great - and it looks beautiful! Thanks for posting the picture

Hey WingFlyer, Drop us a line with your address - we would be happy to send you a color sample so you can see for yourself

Thanks for the update Lee, make sure to keep us posted!! Please give Beezy a big bear hug for me when you see him. He's a strong guy and I'm sure he'll kick that cancer right in the butt. Tell him that I expect to see him and his lovely camper at a boogie very soon, we still have a lot of beers to drink. Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hi Wesley, I'm FVL positive (factor five leiden) and Protein S deficient as well (it's actually 2 conditions). They contribute to clotting of the blood - or in other words, we that have that are more likely to suffer from blood clots than the average joe (jumper) :) I recently had a clot and am currently on blood thinners a bit more potent than baby asprin. My hemotolgist has ok'd me going back to jumping. I'm careful about who I jump with and the conditions I jump in. Hope that helps - sorry I didn't reply sooner, but just noticed this post now. Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Awesome Andrea!! Thanks for sharing the photos - can clearly see that your son gets his good looks from his ma! Blue Skies Magazine

Hi Jarrett, I took your question to our chief canopy designer, below is his reply. It took me a few days to get it, since our R&D crew has been out of town most of the week for yet another testing mission :) ____________________________________ As the designer of both canopies, let me state emphatically that the Stiletto and the Katana are vastly different animals. Inspite of what some believe to be true, the planform of the two canopies are quite different, along with many other design aspects. Laying two canopies on top of one another is not a good way to compare planforms, as big differences in performance come from planform changes that are too small to be seen that way. In the early Katana developmental prototypes we used the Stiletto planform, but it soon became obvious that we were not going to get the characteristics that we wanted for the Katana until the planform was changed, along with many other things as well. We went through many many planforms seeking the right feel, before diving into literally hundreds of other subtle and not-so-subtle design changes until we were satisfied. The performance differences are a result of far more than a different lineset. The Katana line set even has two more D lines, and is not suitable for the Stiletto. The Stiletto was completed in 1992, and was designed for a flat glide, quick recovery arc, and snappy toggle turns, all of which were items that many people wanted back then. The Katana is designed for what many (but not all) people are asking for now: a steeper/faster glide at full glide, a long recovery arc, low front riser pressure, more solid feel on the rears, long swoops and good carves, and a host of other more subtle items that I need not get into here. Bottom line is that they are totally different! The line set has to work together with the specific canopy design. Combining bits of one canopy with another rarely improves anything, often results in painful lessons, and sometimes in deadly ones. While the line set is one influence on the differences between these two canopies, it is only one, and you are playing with fire messing with it. At best you will have a truck that is a little better in some aspects but a real dog in others. At worst, you will have a seemingly normal canopy that becomes totally unstable without warning. Believe me, I've been there many times. We are often asked to modify the lines of canopies we didn't design. We won't do it, because we will not get into second guessing the designer of that particular canopy. I know all about the ones we've designed, but I don't feel I know enough about the subtle aspects of wings from other designers to take liberties with modifying them. They should know all about the issues and effects of trim changes specific to their canopy, what works and what gets ugly, because they probably went through a process similar to ours when designing their canopy. They settled on lines that they felt worked the best, so why mess with it? John LeBlanc Performance Designs, Inc. Vice President ____________________________________ Hope that helps explain, Blue ones, Kolla Kolbeinsdottir. Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Raymod2, Yes - 220 course and 5 ft gates for the pro. We have some lightning fast pros in Florida, must be because of all the oranges Blue Skies Magazine

Jeff, Chris Hayes is the meet director and thus the keeper of any money you send off for that event. You can get a hold of him at chris@getsum.tv, that e-mail should work just fine. If nothing else, I encourage you to come on down to Lake Wales for the weekend and watch, you can learn a ton by just being around it. Hell, I'll put you to work as a judge - learning the rules is not a bad place to start!!! See you Saturday! kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Rover, Yeah - exactly what Isaiah said! Give the dealer a call, and ask him/her to contact PD to change. You might very well be able to swap this one around if the original order wasn't too custom. Oh - and make sure to change your order to an Optimum (an Optima is an audible - a great one at that, but won't look good packed in your reserve tray ). Blue ones! Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Grant! Demos making their rounds already - get in touch with Kim to make arrangements for demos

Yeah, they are in DeLand - just right across from the DZ. I work at PD which is just half a mile down the road, so let me know when you are coming by and I'll bring my helmet to work. As a matter of fact... I think I have my old green nVertigo somewhere... and I really don't need 2 helmets... well definitely come see me! Blue Skies Magazine

Hey, I have a teeny noggin too, and I own one of the old style n-vertigo from sky systems. Fits great - but I'm not sure where you might get a hold of one. Let me know if you want to try it out :) Blue Skies Magazine

Know Greg well, one of my favorite people in the sport :) He now works for UPT (formerly Relative Workshop) so I'm sure you can get a hold of him there come Monday if you need to. Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

Hey BIGUN, Most manufacturers don't sell direct - but rather through a network of dealers. Most direct dealers are quite responsible in their actions and I know of many that have turned down a sale rather than sell to someone they didn't feel was ready for the model/size they wanted to buy. Then there is selling and buying of used gear - considering that your average canopy lasts a few thousand jumps with proper maintenance, it is likely to have a few owners along the way. That said, skydiving gear manufacturers do care. It's not just about our customers getting hurt or loosing their lives - they are our friends and jumping buddies too. At PD, we to do our best to educate people about our products by publishing informative articles on the website, offering a demo program (where we do screen customers to the best of our ability before sending out a canopy), making tour stops complete with seminars and coaching jumps and lastly the PD Factory Team has put forth a big effort in the past few years offering seminars and coaching for all levels of canopy piloting. In addition many of our sponsored teams/individual make a point of sharing their knowledge and coach - often at no charge - in order to keep the sport advancing safely. Unfortunately I don't have any quick solutions. I'm intrigued by the "grass roots" movements some have spoken about and hope we can turn trend around. Lets try to make 2007 a safe year in terms of canopy piloting! Blue ones, Kolla Kolbeinsdottir Performance Designs, Inc. Blue Skies Magazine

Dang Bytch... Well - it's been a ride hasn't it! Hope 2007 will treat you well - I'm sure the docs will get you back in shape quickly. Look after yourself girl! Hugs, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine

The trim is the same - no changes. Blue Skies Magazine

Hi Dan, At this point I do not have information about the details of fabric strength. However, the canopy has passed all of our tests with flying colors - and personally I can't wait to get one for my rig. So hurry up FAA :) Blue Skies Magazine

Hey Spizzarko, Many good and valid questions asked. We took this to our chief canopy designer, John LeBlanc, and here is his reply: _____________________________________ Larger sizes certainly make sense from a market perspective. We are working on them but we’re not completely satisfied with our larger prototypes so far. The smaller ones exceed all our expectations, which is why we’re releasing them, pending approval from the FAA. We’ll introduce larger sizes once the larger prototypes meet or exceed all of our expectations. On the "soft reserve packjob" - we agree. The canopy should fit the container correctly. The rig shape makes a difference and people have their preferences. I have one rig that is very long and skinny which holds a 113 and a VE-96 in the bottom. I prefer this over the short fat rigs, for the reasons you state, but it is a preference. Market sentiment is currently that the 113, 126 and 143 sizes will be sold to people who would have previously purchased smaller sizes, and we’re pleased with that. Eventually people may chase the pack volume thing again, and go to the 106 or 99. We’re not pushing that, but we have the canopies ready anyway. We had TSO’d the current PR-99 and sat on it for about three years prior to acknowledging that we had it and introducing it to the market at the time when it was something reasonable to introduce. We’ve been very pleased with the flare performance of our current reserves, and are proud of the comparison reports we hear from the field. However, we also acknowledge that the original sizes were designed in 1989. We believe we’re smarter now on the aerodynamics side, and skydivers fly their canopies differently now. They’re not as accustomed to a non-zero porosity canopy, so we’ve made the flare power stronger and more like a modern canopy. However, the canopy is still a very conservative rectangular design, with a conservative airfoil, aspect ratio and trim. It’s a reserve, after all. Much of our work on the new reserve involved two areas: 1. Lowering the stresses imposed during opening shock, and 2. Distributing that shock more effectively. The aerodynamic design changes we went through are pretty extensive from our engineering point of view, though most of these changes will not visible to our customers. Due to the success of these aerodynamic improvements, the changes in reinforcing are quite subtle. This is partly because the standard PD reserve was so heavily reinforced to begin with. Some people will want to stay with the current PD reserve, and that is fine with us. It will be the only choice in the larger sizes, until we exceed our design goals on the larger sizes. We will make the standard PR reserves as long as our customers demand them in sufficient quantity. But we need to see this as another step in the evolution in fabric technology of the last 30 years: When 1.9 oz fabric was replaced by 1.5 oz fabric and then 1.1 oz fabric, some people were concerned with durability at each step. So those people waited for a while to switch over, just to let the early adopters test the waters. Eventually the more conservative customers became comfortable with these new fabrics, and the old material virtually disappeared from the sport market. The same thing happened when Zero-P fabric was introduced, with many people staying with 0-3 cfm 1.1 oz fabric for a few years. But now 0-3 cfm mains are rare. Now we have made another step, and some people will want to stay with what they know and feel comfortable with. Others will jump right in at the start. Typically, the more conservative jumpers also tend toward the larger sizes, which is one reason we are introducing the smaller sizes prior to the completion of the larger ones. _____________________________________ Grant - I hope this helps. We keep John pretty busy working on canopies right now so with his full plate he doesn't have much time to browse dropzone.com! However, should any more questions come up, we invite you to come see us at the PIA Symposium in February - we may not have all the answers, but we will certainly do our best :) Blue ones, Kolla Blue Skies Magazine