dragon2

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Everything posted by dragon2

  1. It packs larger, because it IS larger. A Safire 1 is about a size smaller then stated. See the various Icarus email quotes on this forum. But with the 30 day money back guarantee from Icarus, you can't really go wrong: you can order a smaller Safire2, or you could also even order an original Safire..... This assuming you're comfortable with a smaller main, of course. ciel bleu, Saskia
  2. Can't help you with that, but I have to main canopies and short arms as well. Solution for one was slinks and very short risers, 'solution' for the second is slider bumpers and regular risers (can't reach the slider this way but at least it'll definitely stay up instead of coming down over my toggles when I don't want it to). ciel bleu, Saskia
  3. I actually (probably) had that happen; had to chop my safire cause it spun up. Icarus said they had more problems with the longish slider tabs (or rather, slider lines in my case). My rigger fixed it for me; he shortened both lines and put easy-to-grab tabs on them, now they're snug against the fabric instead of sticking out 10 or more cm. Icarus now has another slider model. ciel bleu, Saskia
  4. Got mine in 8 weeks (think the website says 6-8 weeks). ciel bleu, Saskia
  5. I don't like pop-tops for CRW, well not all are bad but I've seen a couple reserve packs on pop-tops and semi-pop-tops that made the pop-top stand out a bit so it might catch lines. The cure for that of course would be getting your reserve repacked properly About on the pin-on-the-outside, not all pop-tops have the pin against your back, lemme think - Javelin - no, Teardrop - yes (?), our club CRW rigs which are Chasers or something like that - also, no. ciel bleu, Saskia
  6. Why should you have to pull the reservehandle if you know the RSL pulled the reserve out already? 'Cause you should complete your reserve procedure. (I didn't my first time, either, but should have). Never depend on the RSL, always pull your handles yourself and finish the procedure. ciel bleu, Saskia
  7. I've gotten my rig off and saw the reserve flap halfway open, twice. No idea how that happened, could've been lines on the ground, whatever. But both times I had been sitflying. I have an older Atom which doesn't have the tuck in for the reserve flap. So I had my rigger sew a CRW flap on it, which besides preventing lines from snatching on the reserve flap while doing CRW (which I usually don't with this rig because the canopies won't fit), it also deflects air when head-up. Simple / cheap solution, never happened to me again. ciel bleu, Saskia
  8. I did a SL for my 300th jump a couple of weeks ago... Was thinking about what to do, didn't really have anybody to jump with cause there was a competition going on and everybody was busy. Then somebody suggested a SL jump. Put myself on the next load, grabbed a rig. Got checked, was standing around with 2 'real' students. Instructor: did you get a briefing? Students: yes. Me: no! Instructor: Take care of yourself!! Not very nice I was actually a tiny bit nervous, kept checking my handles and found one missing . The JM got the 2 students out: first guy: ready, go. Second guy: ready, go. Then it was my turn: SCRAM!!!!!! The FS team from another DZ that was also in the plane sorta looked like this: It was the best SL exit I ever did (only took me 300 jumps!!!). Had 2 linetwist on my manta, for the full SL experience... Checked my canopy, and some more canopy and boy is this a large canopy Played around under canopy, but the frontrisers made the canopy go all mushy and I had to make sure I didn't blow away... Landed where I was supposed to, and felt really amazed that I ever had trouble standing up landings consistently underneath this canopy. Later that day the FS team grabbed me (turned out there were 2 assistance-instructors on the team) when they saw me walking around with my own (pretty small) rig on Well, good catch, if I'd been a student..... ciel bleu, Saskia
  9. Since you have to wait a couple secs anyway before exiting after somebody else, use that time to a) check the spot and b) check your handles if you want. Personally I check stuff for the last time like a minute or 30 secs before jumprun, and re-check only if I have cause (moved around a lot or got bumped etc), and maybe feel for my hackey just before exiting but that doesn't take a second. ciel bleu, Saskia
  10. I do this too but then my Protec has quite a bit of padding. The Protrack fits neatly into the ear cutout. I also put a small elasic around it lengthways in case it wants to slip around but you pretty much have to pry it out as it is. The elastic stops the plastic edges on the helmet scratching the protrack's face too. Just make sure you don't take off your helmet in the field and let the Protrack drop out or something! One day I'll buy an expensive helmet but I'll need to try some on first though. Next time I'm in AZ
  11. Ours charges extra, I think because our airport closes at 8pm or sunset whichever comes first. Therefore the plane has to be in the air by then, and keep circling until it's dark enough, then drop the jumpers and go land at another airport. Then the pilot gets a ride home and the next day a ride back to fly the plane back. All in all, I think the approx. 2x jump price they charge is kinda cheap ciel bleu, Saskia
  12. Not sure about the 17-35 mm lens, but my D30 is really really slow on autofocus if I use my 19-35 mm Voigtländer lens (which, admittedly, is a crappy lens but hey it's cheap). So I set that one on manual, usually. You don't have to go full manual, just focus the lens on infinity or a bit closer and hit the switch that's on the lens for manual/autofocus. Then don't zoom anymore. I do use autofocus with my 35-105 (Canon) lens but that one has a much faster motor in it. If you get an USM lens the speed is even better. ciel bleu, Saskia
  13. OK, am I the only one that thinks this makes no sense at all? Youre still wearing a camera on your head, but its not running during freefall? Does this make it any less of a snag hazard because its not running? The only advantage I see is that youre not dividing your concentration between flying the camera and watching out for other skydivers. However most people I know would still "fly" the camera as if its running thereby voiding that issue. JC Ya have to do a h&p in this situation. You can´t freefall with a camera any longer than a couple secs. For jumping with cameras in freefall (whether they are running or not ) you´d have to meet the extra requirements. This rule is new, since march. My guess: somebody needed more CRW camera persons around here..? ciel bleu, Saskia
  14. Nope, not entirely true anymore! I´m close to being able to jump my camera´s, as soon as I get my #$% B license . You now need 10 CRW jumps and your B then you can jump camera *under canopy only*, like, you can film CRW. For freefall camerajumping you still need your C and 200 freefall formation jumps (doesn´t have to be RW). ciel bleu, Saskia
  15. QuoteBut then again renting depends on having a rig to rent. At my DZ there are only two rigs that are available and they're the CI's and DZO's. Quote Hmmm true. We´re lucky here, we got a student 280 and 230 rigs at the DZ, and The Parachute Case is next door, they have a selection of larger to smaller (135 main) rental rigs, and also CRW rigs/mains. They are also a PD Demo Centre. So there´s no excuse here for not trying out a couple of different main sizes/models ciel bleu, Saskia
  16. I think maybe if you are not a light jumper, buying a rig real soon is a good option. For me (exit 150 lbs) waiting until I was ready to jump a 150 took 75 jumps. Even then, I´m on my third main (of which 2 new) in 1 1/2 years, which is sorta ridiculous in my opinion . I did make sure the (2nd hand) container could handle downsizing, I now still can go one size down. I bought a brand new spectre 150 for a first main, which I only put 117 jumps on, that´s sorta a waste of money since I could´ve rented for cheaper. But I like having my own rig, because it fits, and has canopies I like and know in it. But still, even with the 180 jumps I made in my first year, renting is prolly cheaper... ciel bleu, Saskia
  17. Also if you have 2 out and need to chop your main.It´s probably not really necessary to detach it (I didn´t, because I didn´t know) but it´s a potential hangup point. I also heard you should disconnect it if you go skysurfing. ciel bleu, Saskia
  18. a little dramatic don't you think? I know several people with low jump numbers who fly Sabre 2's just fine.It's a nice, docile canopy at lower wing loadings. A Spectre is a tapered canopy also.Would you not recommend one to someone with less than a hundred jumps? Well in the new dutch rules you really need 100 jumps before you can jump a sabre2/safire2... BTW you need 25 for a spectre, and can start out on an original sabre. ciel bleu, Saskia
  19. 2 reserve rides in 308 jumps. One FXC fire which gave me a PD253R in addition to my Skymaster 230 (>2000 ft), took a looooong time to get down, had to finally cut it away at 1000 ft because it was downplaning (strange sight, your canopy right in front of you! did it again later tho, on purpose, doing CRW ). The other reserve I ever saw up close was one I actually asked for, because my safire spun up. ciel bleu, Saskia
  20. I had the same problem when I first got my spectre 150 (WL 1.0). Man that thing came in fast compared to the merit 190/spectre 190/triathlon 175 I'd jumped before. I crash landed a couple of times, got more nervous every landing and started to brake way too soon. That left me with enough flare to plane out but not to slow down, then when I put my foot down (way too early) I went sprawling. Went thru 3 suits a weekend (didn't have any more). After like 15 jumps like that I had had enough and told myself to quit being so d*mn nervous and just land the f* thing. Well also I got a few pointers from instructors, but mainly it was me being skittish. All fixed! What maybe would've helped me sooner was getting video of my landings, which I would've done if I'd thought about it. But like I said, I can screw myself up real good just by being nervous (same with hop&pops with a lightning, if I know i'm gonna get spanked if I f*ck up the exit, I will f*ck it up. Gonna try again next weekend, after 3/4 years, gulp.) ciel bleu, Saskia
  21. Ditto. Also I have this "I wanna do this myself" attitude. Like, if I was too scared to jump more then once, at least I'd have made a jump *myself* all on my own! I did SL, btw. Maybe for AFF a tandem would be nice, but personally I don't think it really matters for SL... For me too, money was tight (still sorta is, but I've got a different attitude/priorities now ), and SL doesn't costs so much all at once. ciel bleu, Saskia
  22. What's a russian style pull-out? ciel bleu, Saskia
  23. Well getting a new merit might be difficult, you'd need an electra: http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes12/pics/img_1401.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2947.jpg White chute: http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2954.jpg Chutes with logo's (most are white, too!): http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2233.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2013.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2205.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes10/pics/img_0327.jpg http://www.xs4all.nl/~dragon2/chutes11/pics/dsc_2021.jpg http://www.xs4all.nl/~dragon2/chutes11/pics/dsc_3006.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes12/pics/dsc_0009.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2821.jpg ciel bleu, Saskia
  24. Clicky, Roel..... www.para-teuge.nl ciel bleu, Saskia
  25. You need to take the train to either Apeldoorn or Deventer, then continue by bus to Teuge (or phone a willing 'taxi' heh heh). See http://www.ns.nl/cgi-ns/nsbaliecgi for info on trains. It's a quarter to twelve, I'm going to bed now................. ciel bleu, Saskia