GrumpySmurf

2 years ago, had just turned 25 and figured, "I'm old and need to try something new" - so on a Thursday, emailed a local DZ about trying a jump, they had a slot open that Saturday in thier FJC and off I went, learning what IAD was :) Figured I had to do the same for the g/f when she turned 25 this past summer (just before Summerfest) and dragged her off to SDC for her Tandem Level 1. Both Olav and Mike Ortiz were on that load, talk about serious good karma for a first jump - she absolutely loved it. United Airlines told her she will have to take a month off without pay this spring, so me thinks we shall be putting her through AFP then *yay*.

Hmm, makes sense - do a deep flare to re-inflate a collapsed end cell - I guess it works a number of collapsed cells too then? (to a certain degree anyways). Just pondering the possible connection between the 1/2 breaks for a collapsed canopy and a held flare for a collapsed end cell.

Alan, Thanks on the pointers. I remember seeing what you were describing as 'bumping the sweet spot' in Big Air Sportz Owners manual - but never really put 2 and 2 together that what I noticed at altitude when doing a control check (bringing the toggles down to shoulder level quickly to confirm it can flare, causing me to swing forward somewhat) was exactly this. I feel enlightened :) I'll wait till there's a few feet of snow on the landing area before trying it near the ground (but will give a number of shots at altitude until then). Thank you kindly.

Re: Surf with Safire - ditto that thought - if there is any sort of wind, and I am doing a straight in approach, I look down and 20 feet ahead of that point is where I'm gonna land - I've nicknamed the canopy my 'Tapered round' - I bury the toggles on landing and set straight down, whereas with the Sabre2 - you could be in for a bit of a jog if you put your feet down too soon. On the otherhand, with the Safire I did a 1/4 braked gliding (rather than hooked) 180 turn from downwind to final at about 200 feet (it was that or cut off 2 other canopys on final) and ended up surfing a good 30 feet and went 'Wow' that was kewl! Seems ya gotta be willing to trade altitude for speed to get any surf outta the Safire, cuz the flare doesn't seem to do it on a simple straight in. Not that I'm of a bad opinion of the canopy, I did buy one. I guess to sum up my opinion of the 2 - the Safire turns quicker than a Sabre2, yet the Sabre2 has a flatter glide angle. *Shrug* Just an opinion, and a subjective one at that :)

Well that explains why the ground feels like it is rushing up at me when I go in to land :) If that's the case, then Safires also handles serious line twists in a docile and predictable fashion at 1.3+ wing loadings :) Thanx on the offer dude, will be demoing a 170 Cobalt this weekend (fingers crossed it shows up when they promised), and if it's docile compared to the Safire 169, I might try a 150 later in the spring. If the 170 suits me fine, I will certainly give your offer to sell some serious thought.

I jump at SDC and like it alot - still pitching my tent there every weekend (I think I am the only weekend tent resident there now) - best bet - try 'em all and see which one you like. If you do drop by SDC - be sure to ask manifest to get some of the senior folk from Team Funnel to introduce themselves - they specialize helping in new to the area people and recent graduate jumpers meet lots of people and get jumping buddies. If you see someone running around with a Royal Blue/Ash Silver Jav Oddessy pacing waiting for the next load to go up - that's me :)

Amen brother, I know your pain - one of the packers taught me to line up the two tape edges, then do the roll with just the thumb and forefinger on the right and left hand really tight,- sorry, I'm trying to visualize this and put it to words. :( Of course, as long as the slider is unstowed and against the stops, the lines are straight, the brakes set and the pilot chute cocked - the bloody thing should open - even if it requires a bit of uncermonious stuffing into the bag :) As one instructor told me - even if a $5 packer can do the job better - there's good karma in doing you own pack job - since it's your neck on the line, you will do everything you can to get it right - the packer may not.

Disclaimer - I am no expert in canopies, skydiving or anything else for that matter - when in doubt ask your current/former instructor and the canopy manufacturers. Jumped both - when I started with SDC, they still had the Safires as the student canopy and about half way through my training - in July or so - started the switch to Sabre 2's. After I finished building my rig (sans main), alot of people mentioned to get a used main since I will probably grow tired of it within a year and look to downsize - I picked up one of the retired student Safire 169's to play with (Loaded at about 1.2 to 1.3). Ok history aside... (these are opinions and hardly objective in any way shape or form) The Safire appears to be very 'divey' in turns, requiring little toggle pressure to get a fast spiral going. Another poster mentioned getting slammed - my 169 came with this huge-assed slider I swear came off of a tandem canopy - I don't have to do any funkys with the nose or anything, and I get a consistent 7 second, really soft openning out of it. *shrug* The flare ability in normal glide is blah - actually, the glide angle is blah too - I ended up with along spot with a friend who jumped out after me (using a Sabre 2) and openning a slight bit higher - he made it back - I ended up doing an unexpected demo jump for the Christmas tree farm about 3/4 of a mile from the DZ - you should have saw the kids running over. :) The first thing you'll notice with a Safire of the same size to a Sabre 2 is the Sabre 2 is alot faster feeling in forward speed - you can actually hear the wind difference right after you let off the breaks. The flare is alot better on the Sabre 2 as well - you can surf in a straight in landing in no wind conditions, on the Safire, you are pretty much coming straight down - at least the ground seems to come up alot faster. The Sabre2 also seems to dive less in a turn, but seems to turn more slowly for approximately equal toggle pressure. If you can get a used Safire cheap and want to use it as a stair step canopy to the ellipticals (which is what I am doing - looking for an equally (i.e lightly) loaded Cobalt as the next one) - I say try it out - but if you want something that takes advantage of advances in canopy design, not looking to jump to full elliptical for some time and expect it will last you a while - the Sabre 2 is hard to beat - and I bet it will hold resale value for some time. I only got slammed by the Sabre2 once, but it was self pack job I nicked name before the jump, 'Malfunction Waiting to Happen' - after the slamming, the risers crossed right in front of my face and both of the bitch slapped me ;) I guess ask around (including your former instructors), contact the manufactures for demos and go for a spin :) I figure if it opens, lands you alive without a trip to the ER - it's a good canopy :)

That is hilarious, gotta forward that around the office, but without the qualifier that it is a joke..should be funny to see what the other S/E's reply with :) BTW - useless info - Otaku is Japanese for obsessive geek - like those teenage boys in Japan who would collect Sailor Moon stuff to no end, not flattering by any means.

Security.. Clay - you've been smoking crack again huh? ;) What security does Canada provide the US - from an invasion of Florida bound polar bears? I doubt we could even stop those - considering the Armed Forces are too busy helping with floods, ice storms or Bosnia. My understanding was that the DEW line is pretty much defunct, and there hasn't been any news of US cruise missle tests over the Northwest Territories in quite some time. Though I really wish the Canuck gov't would change the immigration policies, they are way too porous in letting in people that shouldn't be and the red trade to go through to deport someone is staggering. That would probably be the best way to increase the security value for the US. But if you are looking for cute chicks, go to Montreal, talk about some delectable ones - oh yum yum yum.

I'm already here. Running amok in Madison, Wi. Gotta admit the microbreweries here are great, they have this porter at a brew pub called JT Whitneys that actually has coffee and chocolate added - really good stuff. But this mainstream stuff is utter crap - we used to joke home that Molsons used to bottle straight off the urinals - I'm now of the opinion Miller and Bud use the leftovers Molson rejects ;) A friend of mine told me about Americans before I moved here: 1) If you think the football players are big, you haven't seen the fans yet. 2) They never say 'You're welcome', only 'Un-hum' 3) What they call beer is just coloured water with bubbles. And one I gotta add - 4) They got kick ass DZ's :)

"If the US was totally destroyed where will Canada be?" Happy...that the world is finally rid of bad beer? ;) Honesty - in big trouble - considering each is a (if not the most) significant trading partner of the other, if either were to fall, the economy of the other would most likely collapse. Hopefully we can teach you Yanks what good beer is, in good time (of course). Then you won't need us any more ;)

"The canopy was packed by a master rigger who claimed to have all the answers" And let me guess - they were all '42'?

ROTFLMAO! That is just hilarious - I damn near snorted coke all over the monitor on reading that. :)

And I guess no matter what you get mom, it all tastes like chicken?

*THE* Anti-Vegetarian site. http://www.manbeef.com

We are few, the proud, the dramaticly traumatised during childhood :)

Nah - how about one made of those gawd awful ugly brown ones some obscure aunt buys for you when you are young with the intent of making you wear them to church - or am I alone in having been traumatized by this? ;)

Yep, $10 a pop - I think they will be shutting for the Christmas on or after Dec 16th - so 3 weekends left :) Now if only the weather would cooperate a bit more than last weekend, life would be sweet. :/

"I think we should all skip the spending part of Christmas, and save up for important things like jumping!!" Tell me about it - my family always buys me stuff I can generally do without, then I have to get them something in return - it would be easier if we just bought ourselves gifts and put "From: Mom/Dad/Bro/Sis/Whatever" on them - that way we could always get what we want. :)

I guess I've been indoctrinated by way too many episodes of 'This Hour has 22 Minutes' to take politics seriously :) "If you can mark an 'X', you're my kind of people!"

"They want to try to make a buck just like we are." Amen - I'd love to be making even more of those bucks (who wouldn't) :) I think SDC is an A++ DZ to jump at (personal opinion, of course), and as for stories/opinions about DZOs, BODs and the USPA - I remember a saying, "There are 3 sides to a story - yours, mine, and the truth" - I'm here to jump, plain and simple - as long as the plane doesn't fall out of the sky below 1,000 feet and the rigger doesn't mess up my reserve repack - I'm a happy camper (although, cheaper jump tickets makes me an even happier camper :) )

I jump at SDC and I don't feel like a bill payer (now VISA, on the other hand, makes me feel like a bill payer) - just part of a larger than normal, quirky family :) As for all this politics stuff, got no interest in it - looked at the proxy form in Parachutist, went 'huh?', and promptly forgot about it - maybe if they, like, sent a free jump ticket for each proxy form sent in, then more people would pay attention ;)

Remember, Tyler Durden says, "Use soap!"

I'm a Newfie, so I get to claim ignorance - or drunkeness, depending whether it's Sunday (sober, so ignorant) or any other day of the week (drunkeness) :) Saw one of those MEC stores in Vancouver, figured I could do better at the trusty ol' Canadian Tire for cheaper - *AND* you can use Canadian Tire money to tip waiters/drivers in Mexico City. The Yanks appear to have this thing called REI here, basically a MEC clone from what I can near tell. Just happened upon the MET5 thingy while 'surfing the weeb' (heh, anyone remember that Radio Shack commercial with the computer sales guy, "Look at the size of that thing, it's not a mouse, it's more like a Rat!"). But I'll give the MEC site a look see, thanks on mentioning it :)