jacketsdb23

Granny - Byranada can be a scary place at night. I wouldn't thank Shell yet Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Mircan, I jumped a safire 2 159 for over 200 jumps and this (slider hanging up/ end cells closed) happened frequently-not every jump. I think your openings looked great. Sure beats the wrath of some other canopies out there! Enjoy the soft openings! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

A big shout out and thanks to Aaron & Sky Supply for organizing a great demo weekend. Thanks to Roy as well for organizing the canopy fun. Looking forward to another great summer at Byron. Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Milking this holiday for all its worth. Bare with me. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

sweet! Cheers! Its officially St. Patricks Day (well sort of). Parade is today in SF. Then we get to celebrate again on Monday...because it really is St. Patricks Day. I love the way this works. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I think I missed the party. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Boat is used as a reference point to the other canopies flying around you. Its not derogatory or a bad word. It is what it is. A 120 would qualify as a boat with a WL of 1.5 if there were one hundred Luigi's jumping the 37 around it. Bottom line is we all agree that a 1.43 wingloading is high for a new jumper. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I agree with this statement Kallend. However, we as a community have less influence on somebody who has 1000+ jumps - or whatever the "experienced" number of jumps is. They understand the risks and take them. Someone just off student status or as the OP says "new jumper" may not understand them and we (skydiving community) can help to direct the jumper to a reasonable canopy. If bounce bingo makes even one new jumper reflect on their canopy choice then I think its worth it. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I in fact was trying to connotate the perception of many young jumpers who want to downsize to quickly. I was not saying smaller is better. I know all to well what small canopies can do. I grew up around the dropzone where 200+ square foot canopies were the norm for D license holders. I was trying to share a perspective I've seen. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I knew how to... one of the benefits of making a lot of early jumps at a C182 DZ. I had a round reserve for my first 17 jumps. If you had a reserve ride you damn well wanted to be close to the dropzone. We also used to use....ready gasp....wind drift indicators!!! You learned how to spot very quickly and got damn good at it. I'd argue that the real purpose of spotting nowadays is to check the airspace for aircraft, get a read on groundspeed and to get yourself "close" to the dropzone. There are not a lot of sub 100 jump skydivers who would volunteer to spot a big otter load and I think that is to bad. Ok - back to wingloading Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Because small canopies are fast and responsive. Fast + responsive = instant fun. If the most experienced jumpers at a drop zone were jumping a 300 square ft Challenger and landing on an accuracy pad...my bet is that is what everyone would want to jump. New jumpers want to downsize because they want to fit in with the swooping crowd - whether they have the ability to or not. And most of the time...there is no one to put their foot down and say no you can't do it. New jumpers don't realize that many of the swoopers have been in the sport for multiple years. Who are the best canopy pilots at your drop zone? What do they jump? I can tell you the best pilots at my DZ jump Velo's. New jumpers think they will never get to that ability by jumping a 190 square foot boat...so they downsize, and again..nobody says no. Nobody is saying no because everyone is desensitized to it. So many people downsize to early that its becoming the norm. I am probably one of them. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Lisa - "Dude, don't be such a wuss, the winds are only [S]20[/S] 30 gusting to [S]25[/S] 35, c'mon, if you don't go the load won't fly." Fixed it for ya Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Bump! Mad John....how bout old guys vs. young guys 8 or 10 way speed star competition during the boogie? You pick age cutoff for young :) Lets see how many teams might wanna play? Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I started packing at the age of ten for my father and others at the dropzone. Was good money! :) Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

My quick 2 cents: 1. Stilieto - At 130 jumps forget about this canopy. Although it does have a quick recovery arc the turns are very snappy and requires some major skill. This is the type of canopy that can kill you when you get cut off at 200 ft. 2. Silhouette - I owned a 190 (WL = 1.1) for about 70 jumps or so. I loved the openings. It was a bit sluggish on turns but never had a problem landing it. VERY NICE TO PACK! Its a hybrid so has F 111 bottom skin and ZP top skin. Great canopy, but from my experience I was ready for something that had a little more performance by 130 jumps. 3. Sabre 2. I think I missed the boat on the sabre 2. I've tried to like it but just couldn't get over the openings and landings. Openings aren't terrible but always off heading and the end cells constantly needed some attention to inflate. I'm probably in the minority here as most people find the sabre 2 to be a fantastic all around canopy. Depending on wing loading and experience (canopy course?) this is probably a good choice. Talk to the instructors - i'm just a faceless internet dude. Blue Skies! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Do they give observer helicopter rides down there? Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Scenario: Barack Obama wins the pledged delegate count and the popular vote. Hillary has the support of more superdelegates so a "backroom" deal is made and she comes out of the convention with the nomination. Most experts i've heard or read about say they think the superdelegates would jump ship on Hillary if Obama has the pledged delegate lead. However, say this "backroom" deal gets done and Hillary comes out with the nomination. My question is what would prevent Obama from splitting from the Democratic Party and running for president as an Independent ala Ross Perot? Highly unlikely but I'm wondering about your thoughts on this outside the box idea? I feel like the Democratic party would already be split if this "backroom" deal gets done, so it doesn't seem so crazy a thought. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

To be fair here....a 1.3 wingloading on a Sabre 2 with 160 jumps isn't a death wish. Can it be? Sure. Maybe a bit aggressive but not alarming. Attitude and what this person is learning at the DZ is important. If this person has done the checklist, has taken canopy control courses...etc.. then, well 1.3 is pushing it but in my opinion not over the top. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

No i'm pretty sure he meant to land in the power lines. Reporters at their best. Glad the guy is alright. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

1.333 Wingloading with 160 jumps.... What do you guys think about that? Its not all about the wing loading and jump numbers. If you are asking people on the internet about what they think...well then my opinion is you aren't ready. 1. Have you taken any canopy control courses? 2. Have you landed out, downwind, with obstacles? 3. Have you done the canopy downsize checklist? It's so much more than jump numbers and wingloading. Some people aren't ready for 1.3337856 wingloading with 1000 jumps. Just as some people are reasonably safe at a 1.3 wingloading under a semi-elliptical canopy at 160 jumps. My bet though is that those people aren't asking for advice here and are working with instructors and canopy pilots at their respective DZ's. Just food for thought. I'm not the poster child for canopy progression so take it for what its worth. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

maybe fire your packer? I'm also very interested in the comment about the mamba having sweet openings. I have about 8 jumps on the same mamba Ficus owns (@ ~1.55) and I found the opening to be terrible everytime. Granted, I was used to a safire2 opening at the time and now jump a crossfire2. Maybe I should fire my packer too. But seriously, Damion75, you said you liked the openings. What was the loading on the mamba you jumped? Did you do anything "special" with the pack job? Just curious. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

0-18 Student 200ish canopies 20-30 Student 190 (navigator maybe?) (WL = 1.1) 30-99 PD Silhouette 190 (WL=1.1) 100 - 300 Icarus Safire 2 159 (WL=1.3) 300 - Now (360) Icarus Crossfire 2 139 (WL = 1.5) Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Taylor, The best thing you can do right now is hang around the dropzone. Coach jumps are good but you'll also learn a ton hanging out around the bonfire or hanger after hours drinking a cold beverage. We've all been there. Its also very easy to forget we didn't didn't learn what we know overnight. Sounds like you've got the right attitude. Ask questions and keep learning. My father once told me and the people in hundreds of first jump courses he taught: "there is no such thing as a dumb question". Blues, Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

that is funny. I like the idea of cranking some music from the other thread. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I suggest something along these lines...and make sure you record it! This is too funny. http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/telemarketer-prank-p1.php Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.