SkymonkeyONE

watch it.

Uh, Little Girl, I got's me a deal from one of our fellow posters. Hey, (insert new suit sponsor here), where the hell are my shorts? Chuck

I am here, like in PRISON! My only other out-of-towners that I am sure to make this year are Rantoul for the swoop meet; Perris if I finish top ten at Rantoul; The Pond Swoop Nationals at The Ranch. Other that those, you can fine me here, minding the fort at Raeford. Come to Chuckie! Chuck

Think that's wierd? Check out his website.

Well, if he doesnt' I will. My Stiletto 107, for whatever reason, and with having the brakes let out plenty, did not handle well in front riser dives. I jumped that main for nearly six years. I am sure it was out of trim and that that was probably the problem, but at any rate I generally toggle whipped it. It was what everybody I jumped with did at the time and, like Tonto, I was very proficient at it even though I didn't like to do it. When I downsized to a ST 97 I didn't have that problem That canopy dove very nicely in risers and that's what I did with it until I sold it (quite a few years ago). Chuck

This is one point where I totally agree with Bruno. I cannot remember the last time I pulled below three grand. Those of us under very-high performance mains have raised our minimum pull altitude over the last few years to deal with our very "different" openings and to make time to sort out our sliders, etc, and to map a route through the normal high traffic. Hell, I dump as soon as my skydive is over and I am clear of my co-jumpers and know I am low enough that those behind me aren't likely to fall past me. Dumping under a crossbrace at two grand is incredibly nutty. That said, if I am in a bigger skydive where I "must" dump lower because it's where my wave of the skydive is mandated to open, then I will put on a rig with a larger, easier to manage main. Chuck

There are plenty of places that will not leave you hanging; Raeford is one of them. The ISP does a fine job of setting up students for success under canopy so long as the individual instructor teaching has the requisite teaching ability and experience in all modes of canopy flight. I think I have that covered, as do plenty of other people running schools. Chuck

Did you hold your wingtip stiffeners the entire flight? The only time I release them now is for docks and at pull time. I totally use them like aelerons. Chuck

I just did it AGAIN. Slappies is fine.

You guys all suck. I have been there and done that. There are about 10 people in there right now. Go through Slappies. Chuck

Here is the exact comparison: On both my Competiton Cobalt 75 and H-Mod 75, I would throw my turn at a set altitude by pulling my right front riser clear to my chest. This caused a steep, controlable, diving turn which went around fairly slow. All my turns, with very few exceptions, take four seconds to complete. Anyway, on the 65, from the exact same altitude, If I pulled the right front riser more than about four inches, it would spin on an axis considerably faster than it was diving. I could, literally, throw a 540 on that 65 from the same altitude I did my 270 from under my 75. You couldn't just honk down on a riser and snap it around. To get the perfect four second turn under that canopy was very difficult. That is one of the primary reasons I stuck to my 75. It dove much longer and steeper. Chuck

You know, if King got a nice, healthy diet like good old Billy Bob, none of this would happen. Billy Bob gets all the dog food he wants, bacon and cheesy eggs for breakfast, and a Billy Burger for lunch. He might poot sometimes, but he is plenty healthy. I will start feeding King some Billy Chow immediately upon release from the hospital. Chuck

Nice. You won't believe the difference.

Negative. Actually, most people I know call it "bat hanging." Just get out on the step with your hands as far out on the strut as you can. Best for me out at that point is for my right hand to be wrapped under the strut, up near the juncture with the wing, and the left hand wrapped over the top. Swing your right leg up and then your left, hooking your toes over the leading edge of the wing while locking your ankles. Make damn sure you are far enough out that you don't hit the step when you release. Not a big deal. The longest I have ever been able to hang in that manner is about 20 seconds. Chuck

Never been to Raeford then. I understood every word.

lots of current student rigs have that option. Sigma tandem rigs also have that stock on the reserve pin.

you said "ride".

What will happen is that you will have a canopy and he will have a sore hand perhaps. On AFF jumps, the reserve side jumpmaster regularly has to deal with this. We do not release on that side until our student has been pulled from our right hand. Chuck

I have seen plenty of "swoops" that long as well, but not through five foot gates; the pro standard. Average distance at the PST meet in PCB was between 200 and 300, into the wind.

I was laughing my ass off. Actually, they took all his bats as soon as they found the one broken bat was corked. I am wating to see when they post video of the bat boy or another teammate squirrelling away his other bats before they could be confiscated. Actually, if I were the refs, I would take the entire rack and cut them up to see how many were corked. Personally, I don't see why there should be any restrictions whatsoever on bats anyway. It's a stupid rule. Chuckie

No soy mentiron, mio!

Did you custom order them? Last time I was there, there were some in stock.

Clickity Click! Edited to add that I think those are some fine pictures. Noice!

Gillian is totally helping you out.

I have jumped several different canopies down to the point of reaching diminishing returns. While I regularly safely landed them, I found them to be more trouble than they were worth as far as both personal satisfaction and measured distance and controllability were concerned. Each canopy type reacts differently to lower and higher wingloads. I will state two examples: -I used to jump Atair mains and had access to some pretty cool prototypes in different sizes. I regularly jumped the "same" canopy in sizes 85,75,and 65. I ended up settling on the middle size for 99 percent of my jumping. The 65 was neat and fast, but the front riser usable control range was so short, the riser pressure higher, the stall speed so much higher, and my measured swoop distance so much shorter that it stopped being worth my time to jump. I sent it back so that others could play with it. The 75 in that canopy type was perfect for me. Under my Velocities I have found that a slightly larger wing suits me better. I would have thought that my "standard" main would be my 75 and my "competition" main would be my 79. Odd how much difference four square feet can affect performance and "feel", but in this case I decided that I am much happier with the larger main in all cases and will probably get an 84 as my distance main. One thing I can say for sure is this: you will get consistently better measurable results under a canopy that is easier for you to fly. True, you may occasionally get better swoops out of a "faster" or more "high tech" main if you throw a perfect turn, but the second you blow your setup even a tiny little bit, you are better off with that more manageable main. When I owned both a VX-74 and an Alpha 84, I could, on average, in a "regular" jump day, get sweeter turns out of the Alpha. In no-traffic, no-wind, "clinical" instances when there were no students and lock-neck syndrome fun jumpers flying around over our HP airspace, I could then get a longer swoop out of my VX. I ended up selling it because I hated the openings and we had too much traffic here for me to enjoy it. Chuck