SkymonkeyONE

All of Jari's rigs have the mod. Kim's Odyssey has the mod. One of my Javs is cut. Chuck My webpage HERE

Well, this is sort of cheating, but I know for a fact that Jari climbed higher than the tail of the CASA on one of the high-speed passes at Quincy last year; it's on video. Bobby Pritchard here at Raeford regularly logs 30 mph vertical speed for long durations. This, under an old Classic. Chuck My webpage HERE

Craig, while I may have ridden it out a bit longer if I had opened higher, I think you did what you thought was right and handled it fine. There is another Birdman-I on my dropzone that had three VERY long bridle in tow and baglock situations that he had to chop from due to his very low vertical speed. One of the three had him scrambling to get his three rings to activate long after pulling the handle! You see, there was not enough drag to pull the main off, so he ended up firing his reserve just as the thing cleared. He was VERY lucky. The boy has around 100 flights, so it was not a freaky newbie thing. Modifying his bottom flap cured that problem once and for all. In your case, the only thing I can say for certain that I would have done was chop both arm wings after you cut away and fired the reserve. As for the pillow reserve, I have one on my pond rig just because that is the way I bought it from my teammate. My reserve ride two Sunday's ago was my first BirdMan chop and the first time I had to use a pillow cutaway. I did not like that pillow at all; it was a bitch to pull, no lie. You MUST peel them before you go yanking on them. Chuck My webpage HERE

Andy Anderson is a righteous dude. He also performs some of the most spectacular swoop wipeouts I have ever seen! I love you, brother! Chuck Blue My webpage HERE

Agreed. I can't stand Heineken, nor most of the other boutique beers that these sissies drink nowadays. I would have gladly drank the Old Swill if it was cold. Hell, that is our head rigger's favorite beer! Chuck My webpage HERE

Some people, regardless of ratings held, just should not be allowed to interface with students. Loose cannons don't last long around here. Chuck My webpage HERE

I am assuming you are talking about the pre-made ones Bomber makes. Those are nice, but my guess is that E.G. Sky Technologies would do it for cheaper. Chuck My webpage HERE

Dave is correct; number 4's are no problem. Cloth bumpers are fine and do protect your slider grommets, but I rarely used them unless they came on my main. I use Slinks on one rig and number 4's on the other. Using Slinks, the slider will generally automatically come down over my toggles. Only bad part comes with it descends so fast it un-stows a toggle prematurely. I have had this happen, even with double-pronged velcro-less toggles. I have slider keepers sewn to the back of every suit I own except my BirdMan GTi (and I am going to sew it on there this week). I also have a slider keeper that slips on over my reserve pin flap for when I am jumping without a jumpsuit. I have jumped a lot in the past with the slider stowed under my chin and never had a problem since the advent of the kill-line slider. Before that, you really had to roll them up to keep them from blowing open in your face. Chuck My webpage HERE

Tracking dives would help if they are "real" tracks and not just deltas. A dude flying around on his back in the lead is very rarely in a true high-lift track and therefore it is pretty easy to stay with him, unless you REALLY suck at tracking. If you can stay efficient and still in a tracking dive, then yes, you will have a pretty easy time in a wingsuit. Once again: it's not rocket science, but a person who is smooth in freefall will have a much easier time in a wingsuit. Chuck My webpage HERE

Oddly, most meets are not advertised too much. Mostly just word of mouth from other competitors. Most of us "regulars" see each other at all the meets. Some people only make one meet, maybe two a year. My webpage HERE

Turning left and right is generally done from the torso, once you have got yourself in the optimal glide configuration. People who constantly are kicking their feet in freefall, what I call "swimming", will have problems in a wingsuit. Keeping your legs extended and still make a world of difference in a wingsuit. Kick your legs and you get very "washy". Likewise, you only make very small body movements to get great reaction out of a wingsuit. What I am implying here is that if you are a "smooth" skydiver, then you will have it easy. Flailers, no matter how experienced are going to have a hard time. Chuck My webpage HERE

That was my point: I really like Lyle too, and I hate it that there was that rift. What it did was effectively destroy the fledgeling ECPA (Extreme Canopy Pilots Association) before it even got off the ground. As the two camps could not come to a middle-ground on their issues, the promise of having a truly "national" circuit to follow went out the window. Now, everyone runs VERY different events and it's pretty hard to adapt to the flying styles neccessary to be competitive. At some meets you must stay high in the blades; some you must skim the water to score; some are judged in a solely scientific manner; some are heavily influenced by "style" points. You wouldn't believe some of the arguments and questioning that goes on at the competitors briefing! Chuck My webpage HERE

I could have sworn that I answered to this thread quite a while ago. Actually, I am sure there is another thread with the same info, plus what containers we used. Still, here I go again (to the best of my recollection): (recreational catagory) 28 foot 7-TU Papillon Django Pegasus 223 an 8-cell 200 square foot FTS prototype Bogy 9 200 Bogy 9 175 Bogy 9 150 (two of them) Excallibur 150 Monarch 135 (two of them) Sabre 135 (two of them) APS Shark 110 Stilleto 107 Stilleto 97 Alpha 84 and Icarus VX 74 Cobalt 85 H-mod Cobalt 75, plus Competition Cobalt 65 and 75 (demo catagory) Laser 7 250 Laser 9 230 StarTrac 1 (tandems) Hi Lifter 360 PD 421 Tandem 500 EZ-384 Icarus 360 Cobalt Tandem 350 (work catagory) MT1-XX MC-4 SOVEC No way in the world I am about to dig through and see how many on each type. I currently have just at 2900 skydives and wingload my 75's at between 2.23 and 2.3. Chuck My webpage HERE

That is correct! I taped the sole of that shoe back on until I get off my ass and shoe-goo it. I think the tape adds character to those US Postal Service high-tops. chuck My webpage HERE

"up jumpers" are people who are off of student status and are generally in possession of their A-license. My webpage HERE

An computer icon can be anything, so long as it's in GIF or JPG format. When I think computer icon, though, I think of small things. You can resize and convert anything that is in another format to one of these to by "saving as" in whatever graphics program you have loaded on your computer. Very simple stuff. Chuck My webpage HERE

The last Venezuela meet was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company and it's "Sin Fronteras" campaign. The fact of the matter with the invite list is that pretty much anybody who had the cash could register and compete this year. There were plenty of non-ranked swoopers at the event. This is a similar format to The Ranch Pond Swoop Nationals where anyone can sign up and give it hell, which I think is just fine, though possibly a bit riskier overall than making someone qualify for Pro events as in the PPPB circuit. Last year, anyone who had ever competed in any "sanctioned" event, whether Pro Blade or not (like The Ranch meet, Z-hills, etc) could step right into the PPPB Pro catagory. No previous "sanctioned" experience, no matter how bad-ass you might be at your home DZ, and you were going to jump in the Intermediate catagory though. Besides the PPPB circuit, all the other meets come up with very-different formats; some good, some pretty flaky. Downwinding it at Sky's the Limit in 25 mph winds was flaky in my opinion, but plenty showed up to try. Meets with "style" points, like The Ranch Pond Swoop Nationals really piss some people off, but that is the largest meet of the year; period. Other bad-ass swoopers have a TERRIBLE time of negotiating the PPPB courses, but the smooth guys who practice with real blades make it look very easy. I, for one, was very disappointed when Lyle and Jim went their separate ways. The impass came when Jim and Reggie refused to run competitions without a certain size pond or lake at the entrance, while Lyle really didn't give a shit so long as it was over sand or some other "giving" surface. I don't have any problems competing over land, but MAN, I have seen some truly horrific chows and plows in competition. Me? I try and make every event I can afford to get to. It's all good to me. Chuck My webpage HERE

Austin Powers: There are only two things in this world that scares me and one is nuclear war. Basil: What's the other? Austin Powers: Huh? Basil: What's the other thing that scares you? Austin Powers: Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Smell like cabbage. Small hands. My webpage HERE

It is for that reason that many large DZ's have vendor-specific tandem examiners on their staff. If they are a Strong DZ, they have a Strong examiner. They train new guys and cross-train dudes with other ratings so they can get their asses working! I only paid $300 for my first rating, jumps and rig rental included. Other places charge a mint for qualifying first-rig ratings, but not much at all (if anything) to cross-train a guy that is going to be on staff. Chuck My webpage HERE

Yep, that is another very good one! My webpage HERE

Both are correct. The minimum I am willing to train is 200 very-current jumps and then strictly by the sylabus. You really don't have any business at all just borrowing a suit from someone and "giving it a whirl" solo unless you have over 500 jumps. As previously stated, wingsuit jumping is fairly demanding. Some take to it very easily, only to have near catastrophies trying different tricks later on. You definitely have to be a rock-solid skydiver to even think about it. Tandem master experience and MFF equipment jumps require the same degree of alertness, so those guys are good candidates. Chuck My webpage HERE

there are many articles written up about this, so I recommend going to either the PD website: http://www.performancedesigns.com and reading about the Velocity, or the Precision website: http:// www.aerodynamics.com and checking out the Xaos description. Both websites show good frontal views of crossbracing and describe it's benefit. Bottom line here is that crossbracing makes for a very rigid canopy that has minimal distortion, which generally increases it's efficiency through the air. Generally, they need to be flown at a fairly high wingload to show any performance increase over a "standard" main. Downsides are bigger packjobs, funky openings, and the need for you to be "turned on" at all times. My webpage HERE

TDY in Key West florida doing a safety survey of the Free Ascent Tower on NAS Trumbo Annex. My webpage HERE

Wow, Jay Moledski only got 32nd? I am assuming that he had a short meet then, because he normally rules. Heath is a great competitor who normally kicks ass in the Speed event at PPPB. Luke kicks ass all around. Andy rocks when he doesn't pound in. This all makes me nuts that I could not afford the trip due to multiple vehicle maladies. Oh well, I am sure it was a blast. I am very glad that my hillbilly brothers, Caven Warren and Joe Bennett were there representing. Chuckie My webpage HERE

While Mariah Carey has that squeeky high-pitch noise she sometimes make which makes me cringe, she DOES have a hammer body and I guarantee she is a fucking FREAK. Did anyone see the clip of where she showed up on TRL one day in a pair of panties and a very loose T-shirt with no bra. She was WASTED and looked at old Carson Daily like she really wanted to wrassle. Shit-bird Carson was like "uh, what's up Mariah. You OK?" Hell, If I was that dude I would have put the caddy-wompus on her on live TV. My webpage HERE