bwilling

45 now, 20 when I started. 17 year layoff in between. And it's scary to think about how much that decision to try it 'just once' affected my life... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

For Mujie, and Rob's family and friends... "Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." - Bach Peace, and blue skies Rob. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I'd like to add that I've had this same experience with both PD, and Aerodyne. I jump a PD main, and have had a PD reserve in the past, but I guess I'm not a total PD snob, because I have an Aerodyne Smart reserve in my container now... I thought the service level from both those companies rocked when I had questions regarding their canopies, even used ones! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I agree! And the Tri's got a good reputation as a nice docile canopy, so it's probably a good move down for him! It should be very managable... and fun! I was just reminding everyone to fly safely, regardless of wing loading, that's all! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

While this is quite true, it's also important to remember that it's high enough to screw you into the ground and kill you if you make a big enough mistake under canopy. Don't forget to fly smart at whatever wing loading you're jumping guys! You can't afford to be complacent just because you're jumping a lightly loaded canopy! peace, blue skies, and dark beer.

Only if they have a premium account & pay the fees, and then the transaction goes from CC to buyers paypal account, then from buyers paypal account to sellers... but I'm guessing that if it's a stolen card or something, it could still hose up the seller... paypal had a horrible rep for holding up peoples funds in cases like this, and I don't know if those problems have disappeared since Ebay bought them. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Can you say "challenge/response"? What amazes me is the 1 person per million sent (their profitable rate!) that actually buy from these asshats! What are they thinking??? Those dumbshits could greatly reduce the spam problem if they'd quit buying from those asshats (yea, I love that word)! Although I did get an ad for lush pouty lips today, and I've always wanted lush pouty lips... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Whatever you do, if you decide to send COD (which really only protects the seller), do not use UPS... use Fedex. Trust me. or PM me for details of why! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Rigs & Things has the best price I found on a new one now, and it's $790.40 (before options), and will be more than double the $400 bucks with options. That's 'not much more'? Pricing being what is right now though, if I were buying new, I'd probably spend the extra $110 bucks and get the Wings, which is $900.00 (before options) from the same dealer, and more FF friendly. A later model used Dolphin (and I think that's the key, I don't like the earlier ones either and wouldn't have bought one) is a great option for somebody looking for gear on a tight budget... edited to add... I agree! Mike Furry rocks! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

And I'm going to give you an example of this! I've been talking to a guy about a used Jav, DOM 12-00, about 150 jumps on it... said he paid almost $1500 when he purchased new. He's asking $1000, and I'm pretty sure if I offered him $850-$900, he'd take it. He's gonna be out $600-$650 bucks. I bought a new Dolphin in 2000, in fact I think it's the same DOM as his JAV, 12-00... I paid $722 with shipping (and I got some colored flaps, so my Dolphin is pimp )... I'd need to sell it to buy the Jav, and I figure I could get maybe $400 bucks for it, but even if If I only got $350, I'm still out only $322-$372. Now, how did I get screwed by resale value in this deal? Honestly, I bought the Dolphin because at 6'3" and 230lbs, I couldn't find a good used H&C when I needed it, and the Dolphin was seriously affordable... it fits me pretty well, is reasonably comfortable, and is safe for the kind of flying that I do with it. At this point I'm liable to keep it, and just have the tuck tab mods done to make it as FF as possible... haven't decided yet for sure. But in the mean time, it's beats the hell out of jumping rental gear! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

But isn't the nose facing one direction or the other, as to opposed to more straight ahead with a pro-pack (assuming you're not rolling the nose with either pack job?) Heck, the name itself is derived from an acronym for 'Proper Ramair Orientation", is it not? I'm not implying that side packing doesn't work, I have 500 jumps on side packed canopies, back in the day when that's how everybody packed! But nobody jumped very high performance canopies back then. I don't recall ever seeing a cutaway from line twists... And if that's the case, then why the switch to pro-pack, because it is what the mfg's recommend these days. I've tried it, and I don't think it's any easier than side packing! Especially with a big old boat canopy like I jump! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Sorry, couldn't resist! Hope your reflexes are good! edited to add... doh! must hit upload button! can I be dumbshit? "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Your best bet is to learn to pack the canopy in the manner in which the mfg recommends for that particular canopy... That said, there's lots of variations to packing that work for people (including side pack, which is not done much because as canopy performance goes up, so do the potential problems from the inherent 90 degrees off heading opening that side packing produces), and if you watch 10 different people pack, you may see it done 10 different ways... But following the mfg's recommendations is always a safe bet! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

me either dude... but you don't have to post to help... you have pray, in whatever form or fashion suits you... it will help. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Mark had some good things to say about the progress that you've made in learning to belly fly too Dave! I can't wait to come down and jump at AOT! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

This is the best advice! That said, I jump both an audible, and a visual. I was tracking off on a dive last weekend, and really getting into my track, and trying to flatten it out, when the second alarm on my audible went off... and it's an older model timeout, so the second alarm is fixed at 2500 feet, and that's not where I usually pull! At first I thought that it was wrong, I hadn't been tracking that long, had I??? But a quick look down at the ground confirmed that things were indeed looking bigger than normal, and I quickly looked, waved off, and pulled... thank God Booth's law #1 didn't bite me in the ass! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I just had my new Smart 220 packed up by Lee Hardesty of Leading Edge... he hadn't seen one yet, and was interested in taking a look at it... overall, he seemed pretty impressed... he said it was a well constructed, well reinforced canopy. His biggest complaints were the way they packaged it (wrinkled the canopy too much), and the fact that the only documentation that came with it came on a CD-ROM. As for pack volume... he stuffed it in my Dolphin D4, which according to the mfg is designed to fit a 200sf reserve 'comfortably'... and he wasn't cussing me in the morning when I picked it up! He actually told me it wasn't bad getting it in there, and while it's tighter than the PD193R that was in there before it, it wasn't super tight by any stretch of the imagination... I think it fills out the container better than the smaller PD did. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

It can. I was on a seven way this weekend, with quite a few lower experience (even lower than me!) level jumpers, some of which I hadn't jumped with before. We broke high (5k), and I turned and tracked, checking left and right quickly to make sure my heading was good relative to the guys next to me... no problems there. But when I looked back down, there was another jumper on the same path as I was, maybe 50 feet lower... I quickly decided that I wasn't going to out track him (he was one of the more experienced on the load with about 250 jumps), so I hit the brakes a bit and started to veer off, and as I was doing this, he cranked out a nice smooth barrel roll, saw me, and veered off in the other direction. We had pretty good seperation when we opened despite this snafu... I talked to him after the jump, to find out what had happened... turns out he and another guy tangeled on breakoff and tumbled for a second, which put him lower and directionally challenged... he happened to pick a heading that was the same as mine, and took off. It's pretty exciting to have someone underneath you tracking along the same line! I saw him with enough time to alter my path, so even if he hadn't seen me, I wasn't going thru his canopy, but his decision to roll and clear the airspace above him, allowing him to see me and veer the other way, gave us lots better seperation than it would have been if it been just me avoiding him... I'm not sure how easily he could have seen me with just a head swivel, as I was above and slightly out in front of him (but he was kicking my ass tracking... I'm pretty sure he'd have caught me and been right under me by pull time!) Maybe I will get booties put on my suit... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I was there! And there was video to prove it... watching the completed pink patch dive with all the girls afterwards was fun, and their enthusiasm was contagious! I talked to QTPi, she's a sweetheart (and her username is correct, she's damn cute)! We talked about what a huge postwhore aggiedave is! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Finally, I have numbers to post! 0:5:2 After a 2 year layoff, I am back in the sky! I got the talk from Ernie. The "dude, what are thinking, coming out every two years to make a jump" talk. In or out. Get current and stay current, or quit. That talk. I made a recurrency jump with Ernie's g/f Mandy, one of my favorite people in skydiving, and the same instructor that I made my other recurrency jump with almost 3 years ago now... if there's anything good about having to make recurrency jumps, it's that I get to jump with Mandy. I did have to use my "get out of jail free" card though. I met at lot of folks at Skyfest. I jumped with some of them. I had great openings and soft landings, even in the heat and low winds, on my new to me (so I owe beer) Spectre... I jumped the Casa, my first (so I owe more beer) tailgate aircraft! It was so cool! Diving out that back of that thing just rocks! My flying skills suck so bad after such a long layoff, but I'm sure it's nothing that a thousand jumps won't cure. I am so glad that I didn't quit. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

the fact that I don't usually post to these threads doesn't mean that I don't say a prayer for each and every one... and I hope there's more like me out there... because there is power in everyone sending vibes. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

Before you start thinking that this is a Dolphin bashing, consider the fact that I too also own one... and actually like it for what it is... But the bottom line is that both of the rigs he's considering have better riser, pin, and bridle protection than the Dolphins do... even the newer Dolphins. And they're not much more expensive... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I'll second that opinion, but I'll also tell you that I've bought 2 different mains, a reserve, 2 different jumpsuits, 2 different altimeters, and a gear bag online, and have had no problems so far... Shopping online is a great way to hook up with some quality used gear that you would never be exposed to otherwise, and I highly recommend it... most skydivers are good people, and won't rip you off! I wouldn't recommend going straight from a PD190 to a 150 Sabre though! That's a 27% percent smaller, higher peformance canopy, and would be a big change to make all at once... take your time downsizing... just remember... there are old jumpers, and there are bold jumpers, but there are no old, bold jumpers. "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

I gotta ask... Your first? Congrats! My oldest just turned legal age to make a tandem! edited, cause I can't spell. or type... "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

You're right, I'm sure he's not the only one jumping gear over it's max TSO'd weight! That doesn't make it a safe practice to do so though... and he may be the most over the weight limit of anybody I've heard of, as he's almost 90lbs over the weight limit of his H&C (and possibly his reserve too), which is why I posed the question initially... how much is too much? But hell no Amazon, I'm not gonna tell him he can't jump it! I'm only 6' 3" and 230lbs... he'd squash me like a bug! "If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."