SkymonkeyONE

I do the "jumping jack" technique and don't have any problem whatsoever, but let Dan answer that; he has a bunch of jumps on his SkyFlyer. Chuck My webpage HERE

Flying on your back in a birdman suit is not a big deal at all. The reason someone would go straight head-down in one is so that they will have more power for when they go for that "minimum rate of descent". The goal there is to totally cancel vertical movement, like turf surfing your canopy. Chuck My webpage HERE

The newest Javs and Odysseys have that newer two-piece stainless hardware that locks firmly. I am definitely getting mine retrofitted. Chuck My webpage HERE

A Safire does not have a "powerful flare" no matter how you load it. I would always recommend that someone on a budget buy the better-flying, less-expensive Hornet as a first main. Not sure where you guys are shopping, but I am able to get them for $950 in custom colors, brand new. I have seen examples with less than 100 jumps for around $700. Check the classifieds. Chuck My webpage HERE

I have one of those, but never really liked it because it kind of felt funny on my head. It has an additional strap that goes down kind of under your ear and around the back of your head. Never had my dytter flapping around, though, so I wouldn't sweat that unless she is doing head-down stuff. Not a problem at all for good-old RW. Chuck My webpage HERE

better a geezer than a skeezer! OK, so I fixed it already. Chuck My webpage HERE

That is correct, that is CORRECT! My webpage HERE

I had forgotten all about this until I just rubbed my chin.... In 1990, after a full day on the dropzone, Rixter Neely and I were piss-drunk, running through the house slam dancing to some old B-52's song (vintage 1979). Rixter had his video on and caught me as I tripped over my own foot, flew through the air, and impacted the hat shelf in my foyer with my chin. Split it WIDE open. It was a mess! To get treated, we put on green flight suits, brown t-shirts and went to the hospital. Said that I busted it open doing building climbing stuff with my team. I smelled like a brewery, but they put seven stitches in me and sent me on my way. I cut myself all the time when shaving because the scar. Chuck My webpage HERE

The thing to do is dump high (not just 3,000 feet) and do some practice turns. Do the same type of turn you were doing under the Cobalt and "feel" for differences in the bottom end. The most important thing to find is that toggle setting where your parachute actually starts pulling around the corner. If your Cobalt was set up with loose brakes, then you will find very little difference in the flare point of that Xaos. Obviously, at that higher wingload things are going to happen faster. Unlike the Cobalt, tri-cells fly more like their true size, not "big" like you are probably used to. That means you are going to feel like you are flying quite a bit faster through the air. Bottom line is that you need to make your final turn at around 400 feet or higher. Don't go ripping 270's or greater on your first turns; keep the initial jumps down to 90's or 180's. Finally, that Xaos is not going to slow down like the Cobalt did at the end of your surf, so be prepared to slide. I highly discourage running-out landings, that's how people bust their ass and break ankles and it looks gay. Chuck team atair My webpage HERE

***powerpoint.......[/ugh] It's fucking unbelievable how much time I waste doing PP presentations. My webpage HERE

The swooping thing is needed. Currently, the only swoop-specific site on the internet is the poorly maintained http://www.para-performance.com. Something that included swooping and other not-quite mainstream cool-guy skydiving, like BirdMan suit flying would be outstanding. There are a lot of pictures and good video of swoops out there, but no real repository for all that stuff. Chuck swoop lord My webpage HERE

All time favorites include: "Say Anything" with John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, "Escape From New York" with Kurt Russell as Snake Pliskin, and "Masters of Menace" which is a fantastic biker gang-spoof movie. Chuck My webpage HERE

I generally pack in about five minutes. I can do it in four, sometimes less, but that is only to catch a hot-load I was double-manifested for. Taking my time and bullshitting, I am normally done in about six minutes. It's not rocket science. Very-slippery, brand-new Icarus or PD parachutes need to be Psycho packed if you are in a hurry. It's just the simplest way to keep that bad oscar from squirting all around on you. Being an Atair pilot (ahem..), I don't have that problem; Nylasilk rocks! Chuck Chuck My webpage HERE

How about cow tipping? My webpage HERE

If you Weston jumpers see Helen Stavely, tell her I said hello. I believe she still has her caravan parked there. Anyway, I choose a DZ primarily for it's people and it's facilities. It helps very much that my home DZ has three turbines (two otters and a CASA), two cessnas and a Twin Bo in the Hangars. It also is terribly cool that we have a full service restaurant and bar (all ABC permits) on the premisis which is frequented by skydivers, bikers, and locals. Having some boozehag selling bagles or cold sandwiches out of a shack does not count in my book. Tons of proper 30-amp RV hookups make me very happy, too! I hate it when I go to a place, no matter how "cool" they say they are, and can't plug my RV into decent power. I guess I am spoiled. That being said, I really like jumping at my Dad's little two-cessna DZ in Alabama too. No permanent buildings, but a fantastic vibe. Great swoop canals! The barter system is in full effect there. One chick brings like 10 pizzas from her shop in exchange for her jumps (chow problem solved!). One guy owns a computer shop and trades hardware for jumps. The list goes on. Chuck My webpage HERE

Right on! My webpage HERE

Not sure about an "average", but I can tell you that I only have two reserve rides in 2,800 skydives. One of those was a CRW wrap, so you really can't count that. I know a guy that didn't have his first ride till he had over 5000 jumps. I also know a couple of people that have had three rides in 20 jumps. Chuck My webpage HERE

A hard opening can most definitely loosen your legstraps. That, plus being other than straight in the harness on opening, can and will cause them to loosen unevenly, causing turn. Older style stainless steel hardware, while looking fantastic, is very prone to this. My Odyssey has the older type stainless and I swear I tighten my legstraps at least five times in the plane. I am about to send the rig back to get the newer "locking" leg hardware that comes on the latest Sunpath rigs. In the past, I have had to sew velcro on some of my legstraps to lock them down. I got tired of my altimeter beating me in the chin on opening because the legstaps came so loose. Now, you wouldn't catch me dead with a chest mount. Chuck My webpage HERE

Nah. Gravity Zone is also a dropzone south of Vegas. I plan on swinging through there on the 27th or 28th of December. You would not be able to jump at Skydive Las Vegas; no fun jumpers allowed at Mikey's tandem factory. Chuck My webpage HERE

Outstanding satire, Bill. My webpage HERE

Since I don't really get into trying software just for the sake of doing so, what the hell is that Bonzi Buddy thing? Isn't it just a program that talks or something? My webpage HERE

Kate, pay no attention to that misguided miscreant!

It is not really any harder to check your system. Also, you may have been looking at integrity risers, which aren't really reversed, just have an extra piece over the top which makes them look reversed. Still, there are plenty of people that jump fully reversed three-ring systems and love them for their "clean" appearance. My webpage HERE

I use one of two: newsone.net, or deja.com. Both are good readers, but operate very differently. Newsone.net offers truly anonymous posting and your posts go right onto the newsgroup with no delay. Problem is, it does not show all the thread posts in some cases. Not sure why, but that kind of bugs me. Deja.com (now owned by google) is a simpler way to read the newsgroups (it will show up "flat" if you like), but it takes from between three and nine hours for your response to show up. Another problem, if you are concerned about getting spammed or being attacked by virii, is that your working E-mail address shows up in your posts. If you have a worthless hotmail account that you don't mind getting bombed, then sign up for an account there. I will sometimes read off of deja (google), then try and post responses to newsone. Problem is, some of the posts are not there to respond to! So long as the thread root is there, I will generally just post it anyway; proper "quoting" will assure that people know what you are talking about. Chuck My webpage HERE