dragon2

(see attachment) Edited to say, if you want to come, please register by emailing Henny: henny@parashoot.nl ciel bleu, Saskia

You having much luck with Encore? I have had to re-do the 2 big projects I did in it every once in a while, because the project couldn't be opened "missing file" but not saying which file (and me haven't moved/deleted/renamed/... nothing), bye bye project This happened in version 1 and in 1.5 too. I like Adobe stuff, but man this software has got to go. Re-doing the menus and timelines every time is not good for my blood pressure! I started to save the entire project w/ new names after every change so I wouldn't lose too much. Then finished the DVD. Then deleted all the back-ups and back-up the still working project and test it again, still works. Sent off the master DVD. Then a couple of weeks later somebody asks for a preview DVD. So I try to open the project. NOPE. (....beep....) There's other people on the 'net with this same problem. This software seriously needs debugging!! ciel bleu, Saskia

We now have inktjet printable dvd-r's, which give the customer a nice looking dvd package. I just sit there all afternoon printing a stack of dvd's. There are also thermal printable dvd's but the thermal printers only print one color at a time and only on select sports on the dvd, so no full color full printed dvd. And I think these need to be printed after burning them, not sure about that. For large volumes you could get the dvd's done professionally which is nicer but our DZ is too small for that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Why not? What's the rules there? Bet he can jump a merit though, and those things are pretty HP... Yeah I know that, like I said in my previous post. I'm with the organisation of the Dutch Swooping Tour and we also have a European Swooping Tour, but no french competiton... Rumour was they were getting slightly more favorable, but so far, no swoopcomps. We do have one french guy competing every now and then with our Dutch comps though. He jumps a Ninja (Ninja2?). ciel bleu, Saskia

Hmmm actually he probably WOULD be allowed to jump that canopy here, the only problem may be that he's a tad above a 1:1.1 WL (about 1:1.126 if his rig is 12 kg). He'd be a CatII jumper, having between 25 and 100 jumps, he'd need to stay below a 1:1.1 WL but a Pilot is a CatII canopy. What's the deal in France? What kinda rules do they have, except don't swoop period ciel bleu, Saskia

LOL I just watched Myth Busters on Discovery. The guy did a tandem jump (200 km/hr?) then let go of a couple of coins, which went up. In a specially-build coin-windtunnel the coins would not go any faster than 100 km/hr. No idea what myth they were proving/debunking though, didn't watch the rest. ciel bleu, Saskia

Hey you forgot the d30 ciel bleu, Saskia

Do a search, a microdrive cannot stand the altitude nor the movement of jumping. No harddrive can. Only solid state memory (or tapes, duh) will work. ciel bleu, Saskia

Because its a computer. When properly used, its more accurate and dependable than a human. LOL I tend to not have so much fate in computers, since both the hardware and the software can/will act up when you least need it.... ciel bleu, Saskia

Not in freefall of course, although one of our bird does exactly that, opening his chute AFTER unzipping his wings (but this guy is kinda nuts ). I think he doesn't do that anymore but he was very adamant that that gave him good openings. This was the same guy that was given a Lightning to put on other risers and while snapping at us that he did it the RIGHT way and not like us all hasty, he started undoing all the french links.... Took him all afternoon to get the canopy hooked back up and he did that wrong the first time too Right now he is a really responsible TM though, he grew up LOL But yeah, our BMI does say you can (not have to but can) unzip during the time your canopy is still opening. The 2 birds I usually jump with both do this. I just hold my harness, although I'd have to do weird stuff to get my spectre to open off heading or worse.. ciel bleu, Saskia

The Netherlands: Tandem: D-license 1000 jumps 5 hours freefall 1 cutaway (intentional or not) renewal: 75 jumps/year, 35 tandems/year, medical AFF: D-license HI (don't know the equivalent, but it's kind of a beginner instructor rating) 3 years in sport 500 FS jumps 50 succesfull linked exits renewal: 25 AFF + 25 FS jumps/yr 45 mins freefall time/yr keep the HI rating D-license: 500 freefall jumps 3 hours freefall time and a C-license of course, which is a bunch more including a written test ciel bleu, Saskia

Did you just recommend to someone with less than 200 jumps that they should intentionaly induce a malfunction? Well not really, what our BMI told us was to open birdman-style from de-arched delta, I got the impression that this sometimes got you into linetwists. I didn't mean packing a linetwist or spinning in freefall then opening, just simulating a birdman opening. I could've said that better ciel bleu, Saskia

About 10 km east-north-east, a bit south of the village Terwolde (OK so I found out where THAT was on that jump too ) ciel bleu, Saskia

NOT true LOL, if you put a manual lens on an automatic body (this is about a Canon EOS I think) it will only work on aperture-priority. This may be because you need an (not-so-smart) adapter to get a zenitar type lens or an FD lens on such a body. ciel bleu, Saskia

I don't know... There's something to be said for jumping your own canopy, if you know that canopy pretty well... But a bigger canopy (esp in your case I'd think) is also a good idea... Dunno, ask your own instructor! However if you do decide to jump the bigger one at least make a few jumps on it before, you don't want to change too many things at once and believe me, a nightjump is already quite a handful. My first one I had decided to jump a student manta, so even a no-flare wouldn't hurt me. I'm still a little bit nightblind but after my Lasik things have much improved, but back then I wasn't really sure. But the winds were too high for a .5 WL. Yeah.... They were so high that even with a looong spot I landed out 10 km and was blown backwards over my chosen landing field at 1000 ft! Luckily I had left myself an out behind me but this way I had to walk the long way round... I had no clue where I was, even though this was at my home DZ. I phoned the DZ to tell them I was safe but had no clue where to send the van... I started walking, past a castle. CASTLE?!?! I've never seen no $%^ castle! Well it turn out you CAN sometimes see it from the plane, but man..... Out of 10 jumpers only 3 landed on the AIRFIELD, never mind the lit area ciel bleu, Saskia

Well I wouldn't, not at a DZ that I'd never jumped on before and definately not with an unfamilar canopy, and I've got more jumps than you and have done 2 nightjumps already... I've got a healthy respect for nightjumps! Edited to add that our DZ wouldn't even let you if you'd never jumped there before (you don't have to jump the same day though). ciel bleu, Saskia

Some other tips (from my BMI): Try flying around in a de-arched delta and then do some turns. Try to look at your alti from the de-arched delta without turning (this one actually got me at first, duh!). Turn over on your back, butt low, then quickly get back to the de-arched delta, acting like you have the suit on. Practice the heel-click before opening. If your chute opens with linetwists (you could do this on purpose) then try getting out of them without raising your arms. Practice opening up your arm zippers while your chute is opening (then again I tend to wait untill my chute is flying before I start unzipping, but it saves time). ciel bleu, Saskia

Weak flare? Hard openings? Wow that must be a really different canopy... Mine used to open in >1000 ft untill I put a bigass pilotchute on it, and the flare was awesome (at least compared to spectres ). The 135 (which is like 126 sqft) flares as good as the Pilot 124 I jumped a couple times. That Safire was made in Spain. I eventually did go back to my spectre 135, but that wasn't because of any fault in the canopy ciel bleu, Saskia

I always thought that because a topmount is more in line with your spine it is easier to bear the weight there? ciel bleu, Saskia

Can you throw away your reserve handle on a vector tandem? I think those have the 9-shaped reserve pins? My Atom has the original PdF RSL setup (though minus the 2nd lanyard), and on my first cutaway I had to conciously let go of the reserve handle because it wouldn't go any further. It won't pull the pin through the hard housing because of the shape of the pin, however I think if the RSL loses tension I could lose my ripcord that way... I leave my RSL disconnected on the main side (because I mostly jump birdman, crew and/or camera), but I cannot disconnect it on the reserve side or remove it completely because then my reserve pin would 'hang loose' ... but the reserve ripcord is kinda stuck to my rig this way. ciel bleu, Saskia

You don't need to buy a whole new rig just to have reverse integrity risers.

Because an EF lens also lets your automatic camera take care of the diaphragm/shutterspeed combination. If you use a manual lens (Zenitar for instance or older Canon/Nikon/whatever lenses) you have to set the diaphragm and the shutter speed by yourself. Can be done of course, everybody USED to do it, but if you don't know what you're doing you could end up with bad pics. ciel bleu, Saskia

Just get an Atom (with reversed risers), if the wind resistance really bothers you ciel bleu, Saskia

Why would you want to be able to stall your canopy anyway, never got that... If it lands ok, what's the problem? And if you do want a stall, just take a wrap on the toggles. The Safire has very long brake lines, and I did shorten them on the safire 135 I had because with my very very short risers and short arms I was having trouble landing it. But on the long risers it came on as a demo, no problem. ciel bleu, Saskia

Well yeah, but I never got the control panel program to work: if I checked oC all I got were time-outs. But I have a dutch winXP, which apperantly explains it... ciel bleu, Saskia