SkySlut

Tubes stoes and "superbands" are supposed to last longer. Think of what the purpose of a linestow is??? Its made to hold the lines in place, right??? Well, it should also be made to break if there is a problem, hence the chances of getting baglock are minimized when using rubber bands that are more likely to break when compared to something that is stronger and last longer. Rubber bands are CHEAP and it really doesnt take too long to replace a rubber band, I would gladly replace all of my rubber bands on every packjob rather than unnecessarily risk (in my opinion) a highspeed mal by being lazy and using a superband or tubestoe.

I have owned 2 Odyssey and have had them packed by at least 2 master riggers that I can think of, one of them being Terry Pike (probably one of the best riggers in the world), and there hasnt been any problems whatsoever.

I use the large rubber bands for everything, locking and regular stows. I double stow everything too, including locking stows (recommendation from PD packing seminars) The myth that you should never double stow locking stows is false...the only thing that you shouldnt do is double stow tube stows. By the way, stay away from tube stows. Slotperfect is right though, continuity between bands and tightness of the bite will keep you less likely to get linetwists. I use the same size band, wether its a locking stow or regular stow.

I guess it depends on who's zipper you get it stuck in...well, i suppose that it would be a bitch either way, but if it was a hot chicks zipper it would be a bit more tolerable.

Yep, I totally agree...The only time I have jumped with a nonkill line pc was when I was a student. It always struck me as odd that rig makers suggested otherwise, but I personally go with what PD tells me on this issue, but I would imagine that if you are jumping a monster canopy with a low wing loading...it really wouldnt make that much of a difference. I think that the difference would be relative to the wingloading. Higher wingloading, bigger difference...etc.

Yeah, his room is pretty impressive...Great history!!!

Got my Merlin suit in 3-4 weeks, no worries, no hassle. I didnt have to pay a rush fee or anything else. Got two of em and love em!!! I can get free suits elsewhere, but I will pay for a Merlin suit anyday.

This is a personal opinion as a pond swooper and not a rigger. I would only check the repack if I was totally submerged. Things can get pretty nasty & mildewy. I wouldnt deal with it if it was just minor wetness. If you go to any major pondswooping competition everyone gets wet...some extremely wet and totally submerged several times over. Yet there are no reserve repacks throughout the competition. I have seen some competitors take a look at them after a series of competitions and when they do take them out they usually stink pretty bad due to mildew & chemicals that are put in the ponds. I guess it depends on how paranoid/carefull you are with your gear. Without seeing what you did, its hard to tell. Sometimes, depending on the color of your reserve, it will bleed into the freebag and make it look a bit funny. Nothing but cosmetic damage. When in doubt ask a rigger. Thats what I would do. I guess that it also comes down to your own peace of mind. If you are really meticulous about your gear, get it repacked. Thats a great question. I would love to hear a definitive opinion from a rigger on that and again, its tough to give you an answer because without seeing how much water you got on it and how deep it seeped into the rig...I cant give you a good answer one way or the other.

Get used to New England weather. I remember when I was heading up to Skydive New England from Deland last spring. I showed up there towards the end of April and it was around 80+ degrees. Then, on May 18th we got 3-4 inches of snow. Aint that a bitch!

On my first injury, I totally did something stupid and I knew it was stupid before I did it. I was barefoot, in the rain doing a hopnop. Took it downwind 10+/- mph. I hit a hole and hopped up and twisted my foot. The tendon underneath my foot swelled up like a golfball instantly and all the small bones on the top of my foot were broken (as far as I can tell, I didnt go to the hospital). My toes were black for a couple of weeks. Needless to say I dont jump barefoot anymore, and I dont do downwinders when its raining. I ended up jumping on it about a week and a half later, but I always had to land in the peas(soft & flat) and on one foot for quite sometime. Back to my point, I used to get a big bucket of ice and then put some water in it. Slush Bucket. I would put my foot in there for as long as I could physically take it. I would do that for about 20 minutes or so. It hurt more than the injury itself, but it got the swelling down really really fast. I had marked improvement after every treatment. I would continue to do that even after I was jumping because it would still swell up and get a bit sore at the end of the day. Oh, you can keep your beer really cold in there too.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe in Norway. The supervising organization can randomly test anyone, all the way down to funjumpers. I know that when they have competitions, they can test any competitor at any time.

Yeah, I use that pack job on all canopies that I pack. (brand new or 1,000 jumps). I usually show people that if they are having a hard time doing the s-fold on s-fold propack. It seems to work quite well, especially if its new or your canopy is a bit big for the bag. Another thing for new ZP, I also find that people tend to put a lot of weight on the canopy when they have it s-folded, I would recommend not putting a lot of weight on it. Keep just enough to keep the canopy together because if you put a lot of weight on there...the material will slip off the other material. Its kinda like having a marble on a marble countertop and putting a plate of glass on top of the marble...if you press down hard on the plate of glass, the marble will go shooting out, whereas light and even pressure will keep the glass on top of the marble. Sorry for the crappy analogy, but it was the only thing that I could come up with on a sunday morning.

oh, also I would highly recommend NOT chewing gum. That is from an instructors point of view. I havent ever heard that helping, but I wouldnt want one of my students choking in freefall. ALL BAD!!!

You would be extremely suprised at how many people dont breath in freefall at all. Its fairly common to have irregular breathing. I would tend to say that it does come from relaxation. The best way to relax is to breath. They are deeply intertwined with each other. If you sit there and hold your breath you will notice that your muscles will tense up, if you tense up your muscles as hard as you can you will notice that your breathing has changed or you are holding your breath alltogether. So when I teach AFF students about the "relax" hand signal, I tell them that it means to breath. Telling someone to relax when they are all worked up, can make it worse. Breathing on the other hand is a bit more effective. Its kinda a body awareness thing. Check yourself out while you are in the plane on your next jump, are you sweating, shortness of breath, clamy hands??? These are all signs of stress, relaxation techniques (there are a buttload of them and different ones work for different people) may help you. Breathing will make you skydive better:Antecdotal story-a study was done on one of the top 4 way teams in the world. How did they breath in freefall??? The study showed that they were holding their breath during a good portion of the jumps. So they focused on breathing in between points, etc. Their average improved by a couple of points just from breathing/relaxing in freefall. Go figure.

Well, get a collapsible slider...its quieter, speeds up the canopy a bit, and saves on the wear & tear on your lines. Most canopies nowadays have them. The only ones that I can think of that dont have them are student canopies. I would just be aware of your opening procedures and keep in mind traffic when you are stowing the slider. I had 2 good friends of mine that were relatively experienced (200+ jumps) and current that almost killed each other this winter in Lake Wales because one of the guys was stowing his slider and ran into a guy that was trying to clear a lineover.

Talk to Procos and the guys over RWS or Jumpshack. They have a different story. Dont really know, but its a good question. When I was selling rigs for Deland, the manufacturers said anything 190 and over, dont bother. Strange.

Yeah, I agree with you there on that one. I do find it strange that there are conflicting opinions. I guess it comes down to each manufactures point of view. If the canopy company can get you to get every last bit of performance out of their canopy...they will recommend it. If a container manufacturer can save you a few bucks to make their rig cheaper, especially if its a first time buyer (big rigs) they will. I was always under the impression that if you have a collapsible PC and slider that it can increase your forward speed 6 mph. Which is nice...but logic does say that bigger canopies should be less affected by more drag than a smaller one...doesnt it??? I may have to do a search, if I get motivated enough. There has to be some sort of article that has stats on this.

I believe that everyone should have a collapsible slider. The major reason is the prevent wear on the lines from all that flapping around. With beginners, performance isnt going to be affected that much by not having one, nor would the average beginner notice the difference because the canopies are typically so big. When you have a 200+ sq ft. canopy over your head, the difference is minor. For instance a couple MAJOR container manufacturers recommend not bothering getting a collapsible P/C for 190 sq ft. and up. There isnt a reason for it. Performance isnt affected. So my answer or recommendation is "get a collapsible slider" to maintain your gear better. That goes for anyone, as far as getting softlinks,loosening your chestrap, pulling it down behind your head and attatching it to some sort of bungee or velcro system...that will come in time and w/ smaller canopies.

the movie has on again last night. I watched it. It was the first time I had seen it since it originally came out. I didnt think that it was as bad as it was when I first saw it. I think thats because I remember watching it and thinking that this is the worst movie over...I guess after continually thinking that it was the worst movie for the past couple of years, I dint have very high expectations, but it wasnt as bad as I remembered it. funny. Its still a pretty bad movie, but it was more entertaining than anything else on saturday night.

From what I know...Eric Fradet would be my guess. 4 times world Champion 4 way formation in 87- 89- 91- 93 World champion Skysurf in 2001 World cup winner in 4 way formation in 88- 92 World cup winner in CRW 8 way in 82 World cup winner in Skysurf in 98- 2000 X-Games Skysurf winner in 99 European Champion 4 way formation 90- 94 European Champion in Skysurf 2000 Silver medal in World meet 4 way formation in 95 Silver medal in IPC World meet Skysurf in 99 Silver medal in SSI world meet Skysurf in 93- 95 Silver medal in X-Games Skysurf in 95 Silver medal in 8 way formation in 82 Silver medal at European 8 way meet in 96 Bronze medal in 4 way formation , world meet 85 Bronze medal in 8 way formation, world cup 88, world cup 96 Bronze medal in 8 way formation world meet 85 Bronze medal in X-Games Skysurf in 97- 2000 Bronze medal in SSI world meet Skysurf in 94 Bronze medal at European CRW meet in 2001 14 times National Champion in 4 way and 8 way National CRW champion in 4 way 83- 1999 National Freefly Champion in 2001 National Skysurf Champion in 97 National CRW Vice champion in 4 way in 2000 National CRW Vice Champion in 8 way in 2001 See what 25,000 jumps will get you???

There is a really good article explaining chunk exits by John Hoover in this months Skydiving. Nice timing!!!

Good luck!!!

I think that is a pretty sweet deal for a first rig. Like I said in my first post, you are probably going to want to get rid of it as you progress, no biggie. Sell the main and get yourself a Sabre or Spectre next. All in all, I think that is a fair price for what they said it was (jumps on rig, etc.). I would just have a rigger take a look at it or someone that you trust that has a good amount of knowledge of gear to give you an honest opinion on it.

Linked exits can be a bit more trickier...everyone has to play their roles on exit to make it go well. Think about it w/ RW again. Is there any difference between a compressed accordian out the door and a compressed at terminal...again none. So plan the exits the same way that they would be at terminal. Keep in mind your heading...so for a compressed or open accordian for that matter. The diver would want to go up and out, whereas the floater would want to go down & out. So, in theory, the chunk launches out perpendicular to the line of flight. Using your hands at the mock up so simulate where everybody's body is going to be presented into the RW on exit is very helpful. Its called doing "hands in". It gives everyone a visual representation of what they should be doing on exit. Well, I am glad things went well for you.

how much and how old is the cypress???