Yoshi

That web site is awesome...love all of those pix -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

did my first sit fly in my coach dives before I got my licence... (I have already met all the requirements and went out with a coach jsut to have some fun...) Never really went back.. I have 408 jumps now and I have done about maybe 20 belly dives since I got my licence. I think that tracking is a must to learn before anything especially if you plan to jump with anyone else... personally I only like to be in "pull position" before I pull..:) -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

all I can say is... wow..... that blows my mind... I can fly ok in head down and sit, but that stuff is just simply amazing.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I have an oddessey tjnk with a 111 crossfire 2 and I have not had anything open up in freefall yet. seems like a pretty solid rig to me, and I would suggest it to anyone... -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

408 jumps 350+ freefly. pretty solid sit and head down. I can dock softly and hold my own, but hdtransitions need work. sit fly is really stable and transitions are fluid. belly on the otherhand is not very good... I can get where I need to go, but you wont find me on anything bigger than a 15 way with more than 1 point. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

it was always something I wanted to do as well. finding myself at 12 years old on the top of a 2 story house with nothing but a sheet in hand trying to slow my descent down enough not to brak anything. So after I graduated highschool (and stopped jumping off of housed with sheets) I went on a road tri[p to colorado (from indiana) I was sitting there in a dennys (or equivelant) and looked at my friend wondering "what the hell are we going to do today?" I stood up ran out to the pay phone and ripped the page out of the phone book for the nearest dropzone...freemont county airport in colorado. the next day we went to the static line course (which lasted till about 9pm) and the next morning we jumped. I then took about 1 yr off to go to europe and back pack for a while and came back and did 3 more jumps... without any money I then took another year off and then got back into it pretty heavy and have been jumping since. I cant even imagine what my life wold be like if I had never done it before.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I would never put my toggles around my wrists.. jsut my preference, but I wouldnt want that extra hazard jsut in case -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

tony freefly suite:) all aside... maybe tony suite... although I dont fly my whole jumps in "pull position" -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I know you said its not, but just looking at the nose it looks like it is air locked...accept without a seperate piece of fabric, it is just all one continuous piece from the top skin... if you cut the front 4-5 inches off the nose it would look like a stilletto nose, with it the way that it is it looks like a vengance nose accept all one piece... just my 2 ones -yoshi ps: it would also explain the good handling in turbulance _________________________________________ this space for rent.

sounds cool.. I am not really looking for anything super serious, just like once or twice a week deal to write and practice and maybe after a while play a few places... mostly just looking for fun bot for profit or really going anywhere in the music industry (although I wouldnt complain if I got a record deal)... I like to mix alot of different styles... dont really like hard rock, but I wouldnt be opposed to a few jam songs... kinda like that with everything... the everything band:) -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

ok so I am moving to texas in the second week of september... houston to be exact... I am looking to start a dz band. I play guitar (mostly) a little sax, drums, bass, harminica, piano...etc... looking to start a kinda of folky/ ska/ alternative non-cover band. anyone who is in that area that plays an instrument fairly well please pm me so we can maybe hook up... -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

408:1, JUMP NUMBER 69! side step thu.. prob in packing since it was really sloppy and I started packing, left it for about an hour, and came back to finish (not a good idea) I prob could have landed it, but may have broken something so I opted for the reserve... -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

when looking at the nose again (and not to be a pain I am just trying to understand it) the airflow inflate the canopy on the leading edge between the bottom skin and the top skin (the nose) it looks as if it is a completely formed nose that the inles is jsut a small area at the bottom of the nose, but it doesnt look like there are any inlets on the bottom skin to inflate it. the top skin looks like it completely forms the nose yet the openings to the cells are still in between the bottom skin and top so I would say it is not completely closed.... when looking at the second picture I can still see the ribs thru the front of the canopy (what I think are the ribs in yellow)... I guess I just dont get it... just looks to me like the cell openings are just not as "tall" as most cell openings... please dont take this badly I am jsut confused about the explanation and what it looks like in the picture... if you could take the picture and circle the inlets to help explain it I would really appreaciate it... also the canopy look much thinner (to skin to bottom skin) than convensional 9 celled canopies.. is this true? I would think if it was it would make it more areodynamic... cant wait to hear more about it.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I of all people am not a canopy nazi, but even at that wingload with your experience..200 jumps or so...I would say you should be able to get plenty of performance out of the spectre... 9 cells arent everything (even though that is what I jump) but I have "swooped" a 288 manta (9 cell) and a 220 fury (7 cell crew/accuracy canopy) at way less than 1:1 wingload. even on the 288 manta which is also f111 I achieved about a 25 foot swoop with a slow 90 degree front riser carver (it had to be kind of slow since there were no dive loops and it was hard to grab)... I would say jsut stick with your canopy now and with the size and wingload you should be able to acheive plenty of performance with some coaching and practice.. jsut my 2 ones -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

from the look of the picture it looks more like an airlocked canopy..I didnt see any inlets on the bottom skin, it moreso looks like the top skin comes over the nose forming the airlocks rather than having seperate fabric pieces to form them... jsut my observations, I could be wrong.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I clicked m all since it was a very vauge question, but ultimately the jumper.... -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

if you have never been there go.. it is the best time I have ever had.. been the past 4 years ..usually about 1500+ jumpers all week with last year having 2 super otters 2 caravans (I think) mike mullins king air, hurculese c-130, along with plenty of other fun stuff to do... go to the website www.skydiverichmond.com to read more about it.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

sweet.. its gonna be hot here this week so i will have to take my application confirmation in there to redeem my well earned scoop of soft serve -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

ohh and jsut to add... after an uneventful but really fun birdman dive this weekend.. I am open and everything stowed at 3500ft. since I had alti to play with I thought I would have some fun with spirals... (btw the opening on my 111 at 1.83 was really nice and calm even with a birdman suite) so I grabed my toggles and completely burried the right one..... I can attest now as I have not done this before, but I spun myself into 2 line twists by cranking a hard turn. it dove a little as I kicked out but wasnt radical... just thought I would share my experience and I thought this would be a good place to do it laters -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

well this weekend I finally took my "D" test, sent in the answers to by b, c, and d as well as the prof. card for my coach rating. I figured since taking the coach course 1.5 months ago it prob would be a good thing to get it all sent in... sooooo... I am now a legal "d" licenced skydiver with a coach... fun fun fun -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

that would be 1.176 -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

my openings are awesome.. smooth and slow...about 700-800 feet consistantly. usually on heading (with a few off heading as on most canopies). harness input is very sensitive (even in brakes after opeing which is nice while you are stowing the slider/ loosening chest strap you can sit in brakes and still move out of the way of other canopies and set up for your landing pattern without touching a thing) toggle turns a fairly quick. shorter toggle stroke than that of the cf1 but not as fast as turns as a stilleto. risers are soft and dont build up as much pressure as many other canopies in its class.. (I can 360 right 360 left without too much streign . the riser turns are almost as fast as the toggle turns and it dives awesome. at 1.83 wingload I usually set up for a smooth 180 carve at aroung 700 feet or so. very responsive to harness input in the dive as well as front and rear riser adjustments within the dive are easy. my 111 cf2 at 1.83 performs nicely in turbulance. as last weekend it was a bit breezy and I still had no problems with bucking or the canopy "breathing" while on final. (still using a 180 snap and carve on approach) in my personal opinion it is the best high performance non crossed braced canopy on the market (as I have said many times before). the openings are smooth and consistant. the dive is long and adjustable. the turns are fast but unless you really try it wont spin the canopy up on you, the riser pressure is soft and easy to maintain, the harnes input is sensitive. the bottom end flare is amazing (even after swooping about 30-45 feet you can pop up a good 10 feet before coming back down for a soft landing.).... the only thing that could make this canopy better is if I were sponsored by icarus and it was free... feel free to ask me any other questions specifically about it... -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

any dzo that says the experienced jumpers dont give any profit are full of it.. at least in most cases where the majority of jumps made are by experienced licenced skydivers I would love to hear of any dzo that believes that they would come close to surviving without them. licenced skydivers may have the least amount of margin for income and the least amount of profit per person, but with the volume of jumps made it (in most cases) far outweighs the income from students... just my .02 -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

I have seen base rigs (with reserves) jumped out of aircraft.... dont think I would like to do it, but I have seen it done.. -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.

Preface: I havent jumped crossed braced. To my understanding the wingloanding will play a major factor in it all.. if you have a fx 119 and cf2 119 the fx will go faster.. it is more of a rigid wing and if you look at the thickness (other pilots correct me if I am wrong) the fx will be thinner from bottom skin to top skin. the fx will dive longer... cf2 will prob turn faster (I dont think cross braced canopies in general turn all that fast compared to the size and wingloand of a similar canopy) harness input with be more sensitive on the fx.... openings will most likely be a handfull more to deal with with the fx... I have been told by my brother that his crossfire2 105 flew slower than an fx 115. although this was loaded 1.9ish or in that range. if you are going to loan a canopy in the mid 1's of wingload it jsut plain wouldnt be worth the money to get a crossbraced and it would most likely be more dangerous as the speed, opening, and dive. I am sure some more posts will be made on this, but I hope I am correct in my assumptions. Anyone out there feel free to correct me -yoshi _________________________________________ this space for rent.