wildfan75

My first canopy that I jumped off the beginner Manta was a Silhouette 190. I put about 20 jumps on the 190 and bought a used rig that had a Silhoutte 170. I've put about 250 jumps on it. I have absolutely loved this canopy. Its responsive to toggle imput, recovers nicely, opens wonderfully, packs easily and has a great glide path. Over the last year I have put a few dozen jumps on a Spectre 170, ZP EXE 185 and 150, Sabre2 170 and a Fury. By far, the Silhouette has stood out for me as my favorite. It boggles my mind why the Silhouette is never mentioned in posts for new jumpers. Just because its square (not semi-eliptical) it doesn't get the props it should. I can't wait for my new Silhouette 150. It's due to arrive tomorrow!

NickDG, very well written. But (yes, I know, there's always a "but"), in the interviews that I have seen, Lutz doesn't say "Oh, I messed up. I pulled the wrong handle." He says something to the effect of and implies "I pulled my ripcord and my main malfunctioned." He makes it sound as though he did absolutely nothing wrong. Same with his landing into power lines. He could have said that with all the crap that went wrong, I didn't want to take the chances that something might go wrong with the reserve. He made it sound as though he had absolutely no control over the situation and it was the gear's fault. I honestly think that people would have a much better opinion of Lutz and maybe even a positive one if he would have ponied up for his mistakes. If we would have said, "I f'ed up. This is why its important to not only listen to your instructors, but hear what they are saying, understand what they are saying and be comfortable with being what is asked. I had it down pat in my head so I can only imagine what would have or could have happened had I not had it down pat before the jump". But he didn't. He came off looking like a victim to a vast majority of people, and an idiot in the skydiving community. Of course, I take back every word I just wrote if the raw footage of his interviews would show that he ponied up and the angle of the reporting was twisted by the media, which is very well possible.

Yep...except it has nothing to do with science. I won't go any further so this thread doesn't end up in the speaker's corner.

Woo hoo...I just bought a new (to me) Silhouette 150 to replace my Silhouette 170. I can't wait to touch it, hold it, roll in it, pack it, fly it, land it, everything it!!! Soon to be posted on dz.com classifieds (unless someone at my home dz wants to buy it)...Silhouette 170. Great canopy obviously or I wouldn't have bought another one!

Swiss Miss is trying to accomplish two things... 1) Demo a Sabre2 170 and try out some different containers so he's got some familiarity with different gear (both mains and containers) when he goes to buy gear. AND 2) Have a rig all to himself on P-Toss weekend (10/26-28) so he doesn't have to share and take turns on the club's transition rigs with all other jumpers that don't have gear yet for that weekend. Honestly, the chances of Bob getting something before that weekend is going to be slim. I think you're just going to have to wait turns. Like I told you in email, you're lucky...we have 3-4 rigs nows. Last year we had one with four jumpers standing there wanting to jump in at times. Its just motivation to get your own gear. Other option is to call Baldwin, talk to Kerry and see if you could rent one their student rigs for the weekend. I believe they have Sabre2's in Dolphin containers. Not sure how much Kerry would charge you. I could pick up/drop off but you would have to work out the agreement and payment with him directly.

I love my Silhouette. How did you like flying it?

But I don't think the 130 reserve would be serving a young jumper well. I think that's the red flag everyone is seeing.

Dang...I was 86.8% serious in asking for the video. I would honestly love to see it. The other 13.2%, well, yeah I was trying to be a little jack-ass-ish in asking for the video.

well i have been on a 17 way flat in our tunnel and our record is somewhere in the high 20's sit and knee flying... !!!Dont believe me come and have a go!! organise some good stable tunnel flyers and stick them all in there...we will let you if you are safe enough... GETTING INTO THIS POSTING STUFF I REALLY SHOULD GET BACK TO WORK Where's the video? I'd love to see that!

I would have to add things like 8 and 12 ways to the list. It is so awesome skydiving with other people, and the more the merrier. You can only fit so many people in a tunnel and turn points. I guess that's another "What skydiving can do for you that the tunnel can't do" item.

Mine also has a cash value with interest, can take a loan out, etc. Having a policy for 30 years has its advantages and things have changed so much in the market of life insurance. I would be paying way more for what I have if I'd have to take something like that out today. And I totally agree about comparing apples to apples.

My parents started mine when I was about two years old (obviously before I started skydiving) and its through Thrivent Financial (formerly Lutheran Brotherhood). I pay about $90 a year for $70,000 no matter how I kick the bucket (with the exception of suicide). Stephan--Make sure you call around and be sure to check with companies from Switzerland too.

No you won't. You'll be jumping my Silhouette while I take advantage of the "free for me" jumps on the club's 150.

Andy--Message received. And hello back to you. Julie--If you need me drop your canopy off at Baldwin on my way home at some point, let me know. Sounds like you'll be out this weekend. We'll talk specifics then.

Sounds like 2 or 3.

And how much did it cost you? What ended up being more...money spent on gas or money spent on your skydives? Bummer that we won't see you again 'til P-Toss. Edited to add: And don't forget your case of beer for getting your A when you come for P-Toss!!!

Skydive Wissota's Annual P-Toss weekend will be held October 26-28th in Chippewa Falls, WI. We will have all three 182's running (that's the current outlook anyway) (which means 12 way formation loads!!!!) and hot air balloon jumps*. Event fee will be between $5-10 and will include free beer and Saturday night dinner followed by Bob's Famous Road Show. IF YOU PLAN TO DO A HOT AIR BALLOON JUMP, YOU MUST PM OR EMAIL ME BY OCTOBER 5TH. The jumps are $75 for jumpers from 6000' (100 jump minimum required) and $100 for observers. The balloons can only take off in the early AM or just before sunset on Saturday and Sunday only. The order in which I receive the requests will be the order in which you go. The loads will be emailed prior to the weekend and posted at the DZ on Friday afternoon. There is plenty of space to camp or RV-it. Please let me know if anyone has any questions about or need help with accomdations. Tom Joles is organizing a swoop competition. If you are interested, PM me your email address and I will forward it to Tom. Bob is in charge of the pumpkin tossing accuracy contest. We hope to see everyone there!! Edited to add: It is a cash/check only weekend. No jump bills for members and cash or a blank check must be given to manifest before you can get manifested for a load.

Just remember who started the "cupcaking"!!!!!

Thanks for the props Pops! Scratch--Wissota is the ultimate little dinky good vibes dz. Cheap jump tickets, a place to crash, vintage 182s, a full size fridge that always seems to be stocked to the max with beer and always someone to jump with. Plus, if you make it a summer trip, you'll love the cool refreshing Wisconsin summer air. We mostly do belly flying but if you're into that, you'll get to jump with 2 World Teamers and several others that have thousands of jumps. Also, East Troy is about 4-5 hours away and Skydive Twin Cities is about 45 minutes away. You could always head there before or after and get your turbine fix. If you do decide to include Wissota in your plans, make sure that you PM when you'll be there. I'll plan something nice for dinner for everyone (I work for a food broker and get free food all the time) and make sure I can help you feel welcome in anyway. Have fun, good luck and be safe on your road trip!!!

Bill's wife, Kim is Skimmer Suits. She makes a suit called "The Big John" designed from making a suit for a guy at their home dz with a "very healthy fall rate". I almost had a Big John on order but we figured that it would be too much suit for me. Kim did an awesome job on my suit and I now have range. If I went low on something before, it was over for me, and now I can get up. If nothing else, visit her website (www.skimmersuits.com) and take a look at it. If you have someone local, print out pictures, show them, and ask if they can do something like that. Swoop cords will also help slow you down.

Please tell me this refers to being "Good Gamed"!! 2:4:0 I love the round, zipper, opal, bipole, donut dive!!!

Switzerland's 288sq ft was on a F111, and the 235 was on a ZP canopy. He was only allowed to jump the 235 zp after landing about 5 jumps w/o radio in zero wind and 2 in pretty good winds with one being ground swatted (which he stood up). And Switzerland...if you're going to call it "my dz", you better start looking for a school in WI to transfer to so you can continue to jump at Wissota, not just get licensed there.

Hey Wigs, I just replied to your PM but in regards to your questions on this post... Wissota is open all year 'round. After daylight savings time we are only open Saturday's and Sunday's. As long as the clouds are above 2500'-3000' and its warm enough for the planes to start, we're skydiving. If you're close to Wissota, you can always do static line (vs. AFF somewhere else). Right now, s/l class and 5 jumps is $240 (unless you print off the $5 coupon on the website) and the 20 freefall jump package is $500. Granted, I would expect these prices to increase somewhat by the time your 18 (I suspect that fuel prices will increase, therefore, our prices go up so Bob doesn't have to take any more money out of his pocket than he already is).

And along the lines of classifieds and sizes, on the complete system listings, have an automatic title generator where the poster types the type of container, main, reserve, and aad in and the title of the classified is just that (Ex: Vector2/Sabre2 170/PD 160/Cypres). It would take 1/2 the time to go through them because you wouldn't have to click on the "Great Starter Rig", "Awesome Deals", "Complete Vector Rig" posts to see what they are actually selling. Either that or people could just do their titles like that.

What are the terms of jumping a demo and something happens to it (lost/damaged after a cutaway, landing into a tree, etc)?