Zennie

Agreed. But what I'm talking about isn't throwing belly flying into a freefly mix. You're right, then we're talking about throwing corks in there & that would be dangerous as hell. What I'm talking about is doing freefly-ish things on strictly a horizontal plane. So everyone would be flying on their belly or back. My point basically is that I can think of a lot of fun things to do on you belly that would be freefly-ish in nature. We get fixated on only doing things a certain way. I'm just suggesting that maybe there are things yet to be explored on the horizontal axis. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I keep telling my wife that I need to take up BASE as a survival skill and she's not buying it. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Does the girl come with the container? "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

So I'm watching "Crosswind"... good flick, but Passe goes a little overboard on the slo-mo IMHO... and I'm watching Olav FF all around that RW big-way. Obviously incredible stuff and a blast to watch. But, I can't help but think that it's also a not-so-subtle statement that "I can fly circles around you belly fliers." Now this is not taking anything away from Olav... he's a true innovator in every sense of the word, brilliant even... but why does he have to do all of the innovating? Why can't belly fliers also be creative? Just reflecting on my experiences at the DZ I see a lot of people dissing belly flying/RW as "boring". Of course, any decent RW flier knows isn't true, but to a degree it seems that belly flying really hasn't evolved much beyond bigger and more complex formations. I also hear RW people saying they'd try freefy, but their rigs aren't FF safe. Then there's the hybrid movement. So I'm thinking about this... watching Olav... watching Airspeed do their burble hopping... watching Olav... thinking some more... and then it sort of struck me. If there can be vRW, why can't there be hFF? I know hardcore freefliers are probably gonna scoff at this but why the heck not? Why do we have to belly fly all nice and level? Why can't we play around with tracking and altitude differentials & back flying and come up with something really cool & exciting but never going off the horizontal axis? Seems like a good way to get people who otherwise might not try freefly doing something fun & exciting and maybe take RW to the next level? Let the laughing begin... "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

So now mercenaries are advertising with slick web portals? This truly is a new millennium... "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Nah. It's the hardware guys that always screw things up. My code compiles and runs perfectly the first time every time. Seriously though, congrats o your work! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Further evidence that Bert Is Evil.... "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Interestingly, I liked the Spectre better than both Sabres. But I only did two jumps on it (and one on the Sabre2) and really didn't have much of a chance to put it through its paces. The things I liked about it were the openings (obviously), its response to toggle inputs and flaring characteristics. We were jumping on a fairly squirrly day wind-wise and I felt totally rock-solid under the thing. Once I do the full blown demos I'll have a better idea. I'll prolly demo the PD canopies first since I already am on the list and it gives me a chance to get used to 135s before I take a Cobalt for a test spin. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Well, I've decided I'm going to ask Santa for a new camopy for Christmas. Of the course the kicker is "which one"? I have about 135 jumps and jump a Sabre 150 loaded at about 1.23. I have about 100 jumps on it. I plan to go to a 135, which would load me around 1.37. I've asked some folks around the DZ and they feel that's a reasonable move. So before I settle on a canopy, I want to demo a few in the size range I'm looking at. As far as behavior goes, my main criterion is reliability & stability. But I also like to surf a bit so a little "sportiness" would be nice. I don't want anything extremely elliptical like a Stilletto or Crossfire. Something sort of in-between is what I'm looking for. That said, here's my current list of canopies I plan to demo: Sabre2 135 (on demo list) Spectre 135 (on demo list) Cobalt 135 (this is the only one on the list I'm a bit leery of) Diablo 135 Any thoughts on the current selections? Any other canopies that you recommend I try? "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Hmmmmm..... You could draw a big circle, declare it "Class B airspace", put a keg in the middle and then shoot every skydiver that makes a run for it. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

That's pretty much the Libertarian mindset. And I agree with most of it. I think the "not some midlevel governmental functionary with a bad comb-over who wants to give it away to crack addicts squirting out babies" line is a bit of an oversimplification, but yeah welfare is supposed to be a safety net, not a way of life. Education is the solution to that problem. On a personal level, I've found him to be a bit too mean-spirited for my tastes -- but I do like "Stranglehold" . It's like he phrases things in a way designed to piss people off. And I'm not into that. But hey, to each his own. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I currently jump a Sabre 150. Have ~100 jumps on it. The PD tour came by my DZ this past weekend and I managed to demo a Spectre 150 and a Sabre2 150. Put 2 on the Spectre and 1 on the Sabre2. Now color me goofy, and granted I didn't really get a chance to put each through their paces, but at least my inital preference was the Spectre. I particularly liked the opening and flare characteristics. I always felt completely in control. To tell you the truth, I really had a hard time distinguishing the Sabre2's perfromance from my "regular" Sabre. I have demos of the Sabre2 and Spectre 135 coming, so I'll have a little more chance to play around with both. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

You could hook her up with Scotty Carbone. I'm sure he'd have some good stories to include in her report! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Ooop. Make that a "12". "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Experienced BASE-ers, correct me if I'm wrong here. But my take is that it is dangerous, but not for the reasons most whuffos think. The big dangers are off-heading openings (the better to crash into a building/cliff and collapse your canopy) and small, tight, nonoptimal landing areas (the better to break you ankle/leg(s)). That said, I still wanna do it. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Heya Slap! I would have jumped with ya but Sunday was "RW Day" for me. I only felt out of place when I was doing solo belly jumps right of student status. When I do solo freefly jumps now, I usually have some learning objectives -- like turning on heading & stable on each axis -- so now I always feel like I got something out of it. Heh, I keep telling Liz it's not about the rush anymore. She doesn't believe me, but it's true. The "Holy Shit" aspect of it sort of went away a while back. But that's OK. Because now it's all about learning to fly. And that's much more fun! You still get those "Oh shit!" moments every now & then. Like on Sunday we were launching a 1-way and I was rear float. We had so many people pushingout the door that I felt my grip slowly giving way. I'm thinking "Oh shit, oh shit, hang on, hang on!" as my fingers are slowly sliding off the bar. Right as I was literally on the edge of my fingertips they gave the "Go!". I made it to the base OK, but boy was it close! And of course, there's nothing to give you an "Oh SHIT!" moment like being in on a funnelling 12-way! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

When you get right down to it, in many ways this whole sport is about making choices. What is a perfectly reasonable choice for one is "crazy" for another. It's all subjective. You were at you decision altitude, 2K being pretty reasonable, and you tried to work it before chopping. You assessed the situation and decided that the canopy wasn't landable given your experience and comfort level. If you don't have a landable canopy at your decision altitude, get rid of it. I don't have any problem with what you did. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

I use military surplus BDU camo pants. Tough fabric. As baggy as you want 'em. Tie-down ankles. $35. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Glad you're OK! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

You wrecked your car? Please tell me everything (other than the car, obviously) and everyone is OK. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Man, I dunno which is scarier, Bill's or Merrick's. A pilot chute doing the burble dance is freaky, but a PC bridle wrapped around my wrist? That just gives me the heebie-jeebies! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Ozzy? Oh wait, he's British.... "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Ramon has one and likes it a lot. He did a lot of demo-ing before he went with it. I'm sure he'd have some good input for you. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

You want to try a Stilletto after what Mikey's gone through? I didn't realize that was this weekend. I'm on the waiting list for a Sabre2 150, but I may give the 150 & 135 a whirl while they're there. I've heard nothing but good things about the new Sabre2's, you may even want to try one of them out as well. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

Heh. My Mom was raised Amish, so I suppose that makes me half-Amish. Does that count for anything? It's possible that they were Mennonite. What color clothes were they wearing? And as wingy points out, the Amish vary wildly in their "strictness". Some will have nothing to do with anything techno. My relatives shared a community phone and a van that they would use every now & then to go into town to go "KMart shopping". They use welding equipment to repair their farm equipment as well. So I could actually see it happening. Be a pretty cool photo for Parachutist. "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."