SkymonkeyONE

Yes, I was under the impression you had bought a standard Cobalt also. The competition model has a braced/restricted nose (as does the aftermarket H-mod), but not the standard model. Chuck team atair

Revised: 0:1:0 After I stopped paying attention this afternoon, thinking it was a total wash, the weather finally broke. We put up three Otter loads before the end of the day with myself and Seamonkey getting there for a last-lift BirdMan jump. Noice! Chuck

I believe Tom just covered all that.

$18 to altitude (generally around 13 or 13.5) at Raeford.

Vectorboy stated earlier that the great majority of Freefly people as well as Team Extreme use pull outs because of additional protection. Actually, I will contend that the reason they do it is purely for aesthetics and a "follow the leader" mentality. Nowadays, I don't care what some naysayers will tell you, both modern BOC and modern pull-out offer equally safe protection in any freefall orientation. The "real" difference is in the fact that your rig looks an inch and a half shorter if you have a pull-out, and we all know that the smaller the rig, the cooler you must be... For the record: I jump BOC on all my rigs. I briefly toyed with the idea of converting to pull-out (strictly for vanity), but changed my mind after seeing two buddies do it for the same reason, only to change back within two weeks. Chuck

Fuhhreeeek!

You mean you didn't remember that song verbatim? I must have watched too much TV as a child. Chuck

0:0:0 The weather absolutely sucks here. Our entire PK weekend boogie has been turned into a booze fest. We had a group of about 20 Canadians drive down from the Toronto area for the boogie and it has pissed on them the entire trip so far. Oh well, they brought about 40 cases of Labattes Maximum Ice! Nice! Chuck

If it is a good deal, I would buy the suit now and sit on it until you are ready to jump it. If nothing else, you could put it on and sport it around the house making "whoosh" noises. Chuck

NC is a fine choice.

Dude, post the photos.

Before Jay Moledski got his full PD sponsorship, he was a privateer with a single Velocity 84. He would wear as much as 30 pounds of weight in PPPB speed rounds. Larger wing with lead will get you better results than a smaller wing at the same wingload in Distance rounds. Chuck

Well, the question here is simply: "what do you want your canopy to do?" If you are looking for that maximum distance, keep it to the slightly lower wingload and then play with weights if you want a bit more speed in competition (if that is on your agenda). A person can certainly get away with a MUCH heavier wingload than you are talking about, but you reach a point of diminishing returns at a certain point if max distance is what you seek. Current competitive wingloads of people I know who jump Velocities run anywhere from 1.8 to no higher than 2.3. If I were skimping on cash and could only afford one main, I would choose around a 2.0 wingload, then pile on the weights for events which require quicker times, like PPPB speed. I like Velocities and have jumped them in several sizes, but have never owned one. I am pretty fascinated that PD has never created a 27, but as Shannon just flew out the back of a 400 foot course under a 21, I don't guess they need to be worrying about it really. Chuck

Clay, you can say that again! I ended up retiring that SIX YEAR OLD suit two months ago and relegating it to tandem master duty only. It has been replaced with a smacky-booty replacement (another michigan comp with knife edge booties this time). The "new" orange material is guaranteed not to bleed out so fast. It should be noted that I swooped the booties off that old suit MANY times and just kept sewing it back up. Also, the only reason I managed to get that much usage out of that one was that I also have four other suits I wear for different stuff (black in the winter, etc.)

You mean this one?

Big, ugly, sunburned guy? You mean Sheck? Here he is in all his glory.

Here are some more festive Raefordites: Henry (O.T.), Larry the Lizard, and Paul McAlpin

Here is a typical example of female Raeford skydivers. She is known as "Chatter Monkey"

Here is a shot of some drunken monkeys listening to the band.

Here is a shot of the band, Bad Monkey, playing on Saturday night. Yes, that's the real name of the band. The lead singer used to be a roommate of mine.

I got my double diamonds for 3000 jumps awarded this past Sunday. Attached are some pics of that and the nig-noggery in Aviators, the dropzone bar.

Can't give much more common sense advice than that. Granted, new equipment is expensive, but I would never leave myself without at least one "whole" rig to jump while I waited for replacement components. Chuck

As somebody with a LOT of jumps on four different Cobalts, I can truthfully say that I have never, ever been slammed by one. What is my secret packing method? Simple, I don't have one. I generally leave the nose straight, NEVER push it back, only make sure my stabilizers are pulled out (nothing on the inside), never "quarter" my slider, then just pull the tail around and wrap it three or four times. I then throw the thing on the ground, making sure my nose stays in the middle and the tail doesn't unroll. I put one bottom fold, then straddle it while lifting the rest of the canopy up to my chest, and then roll it down like a sleeping bag and jam it in the bag. All that being said, that is exactly the same way I packed every one of my past seven mains (other than my VX when it was brand new and very slippery). I have had buddies call and bitch about not being able to tame their Cobalts and then have me jump them. The only time I ever saw one that wasn't just packing error, it was that it had gotten very much out of trim. This, unfortunately, may be a problem with some of the demos that have been jumped to death or stuck in ponds and dried in the sun. It is certainly not a "standard" Cobalt ailment in my experience. Chuck

No, I did not cut my wings away until just after I chopped. You can easily reach your handles still sewn in. Actually, on my SkyFlyer I can reach past the "V" of my risers if I try really hard, not that that is what you would want to do in an effort to gain control. There are very specific "good" ways to get out of a bad opening situations without having to chop; those recommendations vary according to which suit and which options you have on your suit. Jari and Vladi Pesa both preach pulling your LQRS handle first in a suit so equipped (especially a SkyFlyer), because that frees your legs to kick out of the spinner with their full range of motion. After starting that, should you still not be able to kick out, pull your arm wing handles and try to untwist your risers out of it. All that being said, if you found yourself low and under a main you know you are not going to be able to kick out of, then just chop. There are actually plenty of folks who just pull their arm-wing handles on every jump. The reason for that is, unless you have a wingsuit-specific rig, you are probably going to de-rig the suit anyway as soon as you land. My problem with that, as opposed to just unzipping your wings, is that you are forced to fly around with your wing handles in your hands, unless you stick them down your suit that is. I would never pull my LQRS unless I needed too. It's better to just reach down, unsnap, unzip, then pull both booties off and tie the leg wing in a knot and stick it in the leg vent (or snap it to the sides on a GTi). Chuck

143. Not bad I guess.