jacketsdb23

I don't mean to come across naive here and act like people don't jump wet containers/reserves, but the decision to jump a wet reserve should really not come down to if you have an optimum or PDR or . If you know your reserve is wet and continue jumping...you are doing so in less than ideal conditions regardless of the mfg. we all roll the dice and take our chances. I don't think anyone is going to advocate jumping a wet PDR or Optimum. I think the benefits of the smaller pack volume for people who jump tiny canopies / containers would out weigh concerns of a wet reserve. Stay safe out there. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Well, if you want skydiving specific swoop shorts it might be tough to find something new stock. You can try searching classifieds. I just ordered a pair of bomber shorts with swoop mods from Action Air in Davis - 4 weeks, wasn't bad. It was reasonably priced for custom shorts. I find spending 400+ on swoops shorts a little steep. MX pants work great if you don't care about non-skydiving look. They are way more durable. I actually have had the same pair since 2010. Just put my first patch on it. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

http://skydivecal.com/ Probably the closest to you. And its awesome. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Last year registration was Wednesday and the comp was over by Friday evening. The way its scheduled out this year, competitors can't plan to fly out of town until Monday at the earliest. Which is another day off of work. I already took my time off, its just a pain the ass that the CP schedule changed for Nats from the beginning of the week to the end. Knowing that we are all in town for the FLCPA it would seem to make sense to have our discipline earlier in the week, not later. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

They updated the schedule. Not much better. 2 days scheduled for CP. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I understand that more than one event will be held at Raeford, but I was under the impression that CP Nationals was at the beginning of the week? Now, we show up for FLCPA #4 over the weekend, have to wait until the following Saturday to start Nationals and its slotted to go until Monday. They aren't making it easy on those of us who need to take time off from work. Will we be able to train for the 6 days in between meets? Frustrating change of schedule. Not sure how I'll be swinging this for my time off. Venting over. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Last weekend. -13F at altitude. No gloves (dumb I know, I forgot them). Couldn't feel my hands at pull time. Hands not working correctly. It all worked out - mostly by luck and probably a little experience. Its scary when you loose the sense of touch with your primary pulling mechanisms. For some reason this was scarier to me than chasing an AFF student down in the basement. Be safe(ish) all. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I find it hard to believe that the 78 MPH could be generated with your description. Is it possible the setting was changed to Student? Almost every case I've heard of involved pro or swooping mode that was accidentally changed. Student mode is around 45 mph, so I could easily see that. I finally changed my 'expert' cypress to speed after I started doing 450's. I never had a problem with 270's on the expert, but maybe I just suck at swooping. Hope you get this figured out and I'm glad you are OK. That is some scary shit. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Just trying to get open right now...should be soon. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork :) Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Keep in mind that everyone is going to have a different altitude for going straight to a reserve based on A) Experience and B) What canopy they have for a main. I got in a pinch this weekend (a wee bit low, thats another story) and pitched my main below 2000' with a Velo 79 loaded at 2.7. As soon at I pitched, I thought...man maybe the reserve was a better option...which as murphy would have it, my velo came out with 3 line twists. Before it even fully inflated and started to spin it was gone and a reserve open about 1200'. For me, I don't know that opening a highly loaded canopy is a fun option below 2000'. And if you do, you better be on your A game with altitude awareness. Have fun, be safe. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

For what its worth, its very common for Belly (students or not) to get out before a freefly jumper(s). Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Nate - NorCal will have one pretty soon. I don't have a definitive time line yet, but student operations should begin shortly at Skydive California http://skydivecal.com/#section-about-skydive-california which is the priority. I'm involved in getting an approved design by the DZO and we'll move quickly after that. We are excited to build the competitive canopy piloting community back up here in NorCal. Its not easy for sure, but we are moving forward. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Brake-surge as its been referred to in this thread. Predictable and works just fine. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Its not a tandem issue, thats the point. Its a Canopy Piloting issue, which we all are. I jump at a very windy DZ watching dozens of Tandems every weekend. Nobody lands like that. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

man, i'm sure going to miss Carrol. His love for this sport and the people is unquestionable. He was not the most elegant at catching tandems, and I don't know how many times we told him not to, he would just go out there and do it anyway. Classic. Hanging out in Byron and LP will always be cherished. One of my first memorable Carrol stories was my first Davis Boogie when I started jumping again here in CA. Carrol had brought his RV over there and in true host fashion, left a very comfortable chair out front for me. Well...i'm not sure if it was for me, but I sure used it. After I was out until who knows when shotgunning beers all night with Ball Sac, that appeared to be a great place to sleep. Carrol walks out of his RV in the morning and gives me his nod of approval. We laughed and discussed the evening a bit and asked me if I needed the chair again the following evening. Man he loved telling that story...and always let me know a chair would be there for me at when we were at different events. His salsa was legendary. He could never make it 'too hot' for me, but man, it always had a little zing. It was so good. He was a great cook. Carrol - blue skies man. You will be missed by many. Byron Love. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Why? Is someone with only 2000 tandems less qualified to discuss issues? I have 0 Tandems. That video is not a Tandem specific issue. Its a cultural issue in the sport of skydiving. This reeks of arrogance and is the same arrogance that our most talented and qualified instructors use to justify inappropriate and reckless behavior when flying parachutes. Make no mistake, that 180 was reckless. We expect all canopy pilots to use basic common sense and use a predictable landing pattern. If you're going to swoop, land in the HP area. If your not, land in the other standard designated area. Don't swoop across the standard area because "dude I totally saw everyone, its fine" or do a basic 90º turn into the swoop area because you don't like the rules and want to land closer to the hanger. There is not enough experience in the world to make up for missing someone in the sky when trying to 'clear' your landing area. I saw someones sig line that says: Be the canopy pilot you want everyone else to be.

Perfect example here is Zhills especially during CP meets. I think Pat lost his new Petra there this year. There is almost nowhere to land when you chop over the swampy forest. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

If you buy a splash o meter for $14 you got ripped off Buy bulk

Sounds like this Dr. at Emory is improving. I really hope that he makes it and can continue to offer his expertise to this terrible virus. Hats off the 14 year old kid that donated blood to the very doctor that saved his life weeks earlier. http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/08/04/337090598/doctor-with-ebola-is-improving-as-nigeria-reports-second-case Both Brantly and Writebol received an experimental treatment for Ebola — a blood serum derived from a person who survived an Ebola infection. Brantly also received a blood transfusion from a 14-year-old boy, who recovered from Ebola, Samaritan's Purse said. In theory, both the serum and blood contain Ebola antibodies that could help the body's immune system fight off the virus. But neither therapy has been thoroughly tested or approved. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

yeah, i don't know what to think. This better go as advertised. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I assume once / if they recover, they can't actively transmit it to someone else??? I'd be much more worried about Quade's scenario in which something out of CDC / Emory Hospital's hands happen. Plane crash, someone with bad intentions...etc. I don't think we'd ever see a scenario like west africa, but its a bit unnerving. Trying to make my head overcome the common sense thought on this. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I applaud the selfless act of the Dr's and Nurses treating Ebola patients in West Africa. Pretty ugly situation over there. I also don't think we've heard the last of the guy who made it on a plane while sick. Maybe in the minority here, but I applaud the efforts of the CDC to save the two Americans over there. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/u-s-scrambles-retrieve-ebola-patients-n170461 Ebola is scary because we don't understand it and have never had it here in the states. Now we are bringing two infected Dr.'s back for treatment effectively bringing Ebola here to the US. What are your thoughts on this? Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

And just to follow up on this....several years ago...one newbie was checking another newbie and pulled his pin OUT at 7,000'. Luckily we had a pull up cord and I closed it back up for him. Closing a rig on a plane while backwards and looking from the top down was interesting to say the least. Pin checks on the plane are good...if done correctly and carefully. I'm also much more inclined to not let anyone touch my rig after I board the plane.

We had a two out situation that was very scary this weekend. Jumper deployed main above 3,000' and the force of the main opening was enough to pop the reserve pin. We are speculating the reserve pin was primed and ready to go. Reserve wrapped around the jumpers right side main risers and was not inflated (freebag did leave). When jumper tried to put the reserve between his legs, it inflated, causing a stable biplane with a small turn. Jumper was a recent AFF student and has about 35 total jumps. Handled himself well and landed off without injury. He admitted to not checking his pins before the jump and apparently nobody else did either. I was surprised to learn after the incident that it is somewhat common for people to not check their pins before every jump. I don't usually like people touching my gear in the plane, but I'm anal about checking both pins and to make sure the AAD is on before I gear up on every skydive. Us more experienced jumpers need to lead by example by checking our pins before every jump, and offering to give a complete gear check to the new guys...I usually do and failed to on this jump, my only non working AFF jump of the day. Stay safeish out there! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

So its no secret that some of us had to drop our turn initiation point in Florida during the recent FLCPA/Nationals competition. For me it was significant, about 100' lower than I usually turn. My home DZ and Zhills are both roughly 80' - 90' MSL. Water vapor was much higher in Florida, which would suggest less dense air. Temperature was fairly high in FL, but we get 90ºF - 100ºF days frequently here as well. Something else was definitely a factor here and I'm trying to wrap my head around it. There is usually a lot of talk about density altitude tied to temperature and LZ elevation, but I'm wondering what other factors might be in play. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.