SkymonkeyONE

Good luck and have fun

No, but if you are I guess you know Karna Luchsinger, huh? Lovely.

[angry rant mode] Now that paragraph is the only one that I kind of liked. I have said for my entire grown-up life said that we need to stop giving money to people that do not appreciate it. You want to show people who the man is? Stop ALL foreign aid for a couple of years and let the world see how tough it is to make it on your own. Does anyone here know how much money we (the USA) give to Isreal every year? It is a TREMENDOUS amount. Absolutely no malice intended towards Omri and any other individual, I am talking government policy here. Does anyone know how much money the even larger countries owe us for propping them back up after THEY declared war on US? We will never see even a penny of any of it, yet we still give to these so called "friends" every time they stick their hand out. I say fuck them all and feed them fish heads! It is an absolute tragedy that we have farmers losing their land, families living in their station wagons and begging on the streets, and young soldiers living below the poverty line. This, while we repeatedly rebuild and subsidise third-world piss-holes like Haiti where NOBODY gives a shit about ANYTHING and they would just as soon steal from their mother than get a real job. If we stopped every bit of the outside aid we give for a couple of years, with that tremendous windfall we could do wonders for our country. We are a bunch of idiots and we do not even use the tinyest portion of our true natural resources. Do any of you really think that we actually need the oil we get from the middle east? There is probably more oil under New Mexico than there is in the entire middle east; we just don't yet exploit it because we might frighten off a Red Cockaded Woodpecker or something. The majority of the world is VERY corrupt and it's people are absolutely not like you and I. You think I am kidding? Get out of your cushy office/house and join the Army or the Peace Corps. Brothers and sisters let me tell you that I have been all around this planet more times than I care to say and I have seen it all. Most people just want us to give them some dough, then get the hell out. They are not interested in changing foreign or internal policy to appease us. They have lived their entire lives (1000's of years in some cases) taking ass whoopings from whatever band of left or right wing zealots are currently in power, and most citizens truly don't know any different. Because of this, they have an entirely different outlook on life and you truly cannot expect them to respect the things that we take for granted; human rights for example, due process another (even though our legal system is fucked in my opinion). I hate it, but that is the truth of the matter. I have trained good guys who later became bad guys and bad guys who later became good guys. Unbelievable. I don't think we should be training anyone, especially nowadays. I don't think we need to be replacing one fucked up government with another; let them work out their own damn problems, WE DID when it came to it. [/rant mode] Chuck

Bad monkey, no banana! Good writer or not, Michelle better get it through her noggin that beer rules are just that...RULES! Pay up, girl! LOL! Chuck

OK, nobody answered the way I would have, so here is the basic technique for target accuracy; technically, stand-up target accuracy: A parachute like a Triathalon is perfectly suitable for this approach, so long as you don't get too steep with it. I will describe the technique starting from the time you turn your main onto final, somewhere between 500 and 300 feet. First, turn your parachute onto final, straight downwind of your desired target. Generally, accuracy approaches are flown down at about a 45 degree angle or slightly steeper, but you might want to take it out a bit farther if you are just working on landing in a general area. Either way, you should pick your exact desired landing spot on every jump; not just be happy to land "near the beer line". Once inline with the target, look down and out at the target; lock your eyes on it. Some people keep their feet and knees together and look right between their feet; this is what I call "using a gunsight". Pull your brakes down to about shoulder level and let the canopy settle into a sink. This will take a couple of seconds so give it a chance. Once settled, the new angle of attack will be steeper. Look and see if the target is moving towards you or away from you. If it is getting closer, input a couple of inches more brake; if it is moving away, let up a couple of inches until you are looking down at 45 degrees again. Never "saw the lines", or make big over-corrections; you will never know your true angle of attack until the parachute settles again. Try and maintain that 45 degree glidepath and aim for a point about five feet past your target. Doing that, right before you fly over the target at about eight feet, go ahead and slowly flare your parachute the rest of the way. Do this and you will sink straight down that last little bit. Keep your knees bent and stick your landing. Next, turn, salute the crowd, then move out smartly. Do not stop your parachute over the target if you are still at 20 feet! Do not do a dynamic flare; just stop your forward movement. If you are too high, overfly it and then stop it whenever you get about five feet above the ground. Work on your approach the following jumps until you get your glidepath "sight picture" worked out. I have had the opportunity to do many demonstration parachute jumps as a member of two parachute teams (GB and 20th SFG). I learned the RIGHT way to do demos at Golden Knights tryouts in 1990. Being very-still in the harness and making tiny little corrections yields the best results for both stand-up as well as competition accuracy. Competition accuracy jumpers (like my wife), can get away with much steeper approaches because of the tuffet. Ours at Raeford is actually foam filled as opposed to the european blow-up variety. I have shut a Sharp Chuter down at 15 feet and dropped straight down onto the target successfully, but would not recommend doing that on a no-wind day under that Triathalon. It is best to practice even stand-up accuracy over pea gravel pits and tuffets, so that you don't pile in working on your technique. Accuracy is actually quite fun and rewarding when done correctly, so give it a whirl. Chuck You can sink in the majority of lightly-loaded mains, but you must be careful not to stall smaller parachutes at an altitude you cannot walk away from. The higher the wingload, the less-steep you should make your approach.

A likely story, my brother. It is more likely that you were watching "spanktervision". Just kidding with you. Chuck

First, I will refer you to the gear and rigging forum and the gear review section of this website to get all the detailed information you want. There are many threads in the gear forum, so just do a search with "Cobalt" as the key word and you will see a ton of stuff pop up. The president of Atair Aerodynamics USA, Dan Preston, regularly posts to the gear forum and checks it daily. I am a member of Team Cobalt, the Atair factory canopy swooping team, so I am also willing to answer any questions you have; just ask them in that other forum. Second, some quick answers before you search the correct forum: Yes, you can dump in a sit or stand, or even head-down (though I don't know why you would want to). Check the website here if you would like a CD sent to you with video of both of those types of openings. Openings from the more standard "belly to earth" position are the same, which is to say EXCELLENT. Is what worth the money? The parachute? Hell yes; Cobalts are less expensive than all of their direct competitors. Yes, they pack easily. They are made of South African ZP known as Nylasilk. It is not slippery like the stuff PD and Icarus uses. It is the same type used by PISA and Aerodyne and it makes packing a joy, right from the very first jump. I have no idea what your experience level is with HP canopies nor how many jumps you have. Let me just tell you that I comfortably jump my primary main (a Cobalt 75) at 2.4 wingload. I have landed my Competition Cobalt 65 at 2.8 (wearing 12 pounds of weight for 4-way). I can and have landed both of these canopies straight in on a no-wind day, without any dive or hook, and walked out the landing. I generally throw 180 or 270 degree riser dives and rip it all the way down the beer line. Conversely, there are people on my DZ loading them as lightly as 1.25, and in those lower wingloads they are a very docile platform. Chuck Blue

That is probably asking a bit much, but there are other formerly extreme-sounding that would work pretty well: First, tube slides or "chutes" like NASA used to, and still might, use for rapid egress from rocket pad fires. jump in feet first and keep your elbows in and feet together for the ride of your life. They curve out at the bottom and you slide to a stop. This would probably end up underground in a skyscraper scenario. That is, until we start webbing buildings together for rigidity, like in sci-fi books and movies, then it could run-off horizontally, but above ground and possibly into another building. This option might get very crowded or possibly disrupted structurally if hit "just right" and you obviously wouldn't have chute entrances at every floor, less you jump in only to have someone who entered 20 floors above you smash into you at 80 mph. Second: a slide for life cable running from the roof of your building down to the roof of another building (or a room in it). Rooms would have harness/zip-line trolleys for each occupant that one would strap on, hook onto the cable, then cruise over to the other building and safety. This cable would obviously have a maximum line capacity, but could easilly be regulated by trained volunteers. Multiple cables means your egress capacity is multiplied exponentially. There would be a zig-zag spiderweb of cables from building to building, but safety supercedes aesthetics in my book. Both of these options would be very "doable", but I seriously doubt we will ever see either in our lifetime. That being said, if I worked in an office building high enough to BASE from, then I would definitely have a rig in my office, secured out of sight. Also, I would highly recommend the SL emergency rigs being built to every one of my coworkers. In my opinion, that is very cheap life insurance. Lastly, none of us is in any hurry to die and none of us want to see people die horribly. Let me tell you this though: If there were NO other options and it ever came down to being burned alive or jumping, I am jumping....period. I will make my peace prior to exit. Chuck

No lie; we jammed the door (four outside floaters). Tim was a righteous pilot and we were flying straight. You would not believe the buzz-jobs that guy did. Chuck

Lew, it is actually much easier in my opinion to jump boards with bindings set up straight forward. I never bought into the sideways-mounted-binding beginner boards. When I built my first board it was using a 42" Connely trick ski. I built and rigged every part of it myself, including bindings, drogue chute, releases, etc. I couldn't pull in the standing position until my third jump on it, but it was not a problem to pull face down with a board that size tucked up near my butt. You are quite a bit taller than me, so an intermediate size board (about 42-48 inches) would not be difficult at all for you, so long as you are wearing the right attire. I just lean very chest forward and ride it right out the door. I used to skip right off the step of the Cessna when I jumped that; neat. For all you fledgeling and future skysurfers out there, here are a couple of pointers to ease your learning curve: Have an experience skysurfer jump with you for the first few times. Not on his/her board, but just skydiving near you in case you have problems. I would never train anyone then just let them go for it by themselves; I would always skydive with them and be ready to tackle them in case they got out of control and couldn't find the release. Only ever had to grab one guy, but I was there ready with my full-face helmet on. ALWAYS wear web gloves, preferably with the fingertips cut off so you don't lose your "feel". Web gloves REALLY help your control and the transitions from sit to standing. The "out of control recover" position is sitting, with the board pulled as far under your butt as you can and your hands straight back, chest as close to your knees as possible. To get back standing, you rock forward by pushing down with your hands and "plant" your back heel straight down. It is kind of weird-feeling initially, but you basically just stand straight up, like from a chair, and get your arms straight out to the sides and keep your back aligned, chest slightly forward. Webbed gloves are much better "rudders" than bare hands or standard gloves. A very easy trick to learn to skysurf safely is to wear a standard sit suit. The arm wings on them are much bigger than the wings we normally use on our skysurf suits and act much like training wheels until you get your recovery techniques down. In the absence of a proper sit suit or skysurf suit, the answer is to wear tights on bottom and a very loose fitting windbreaker jacket on top. RW suits are definitely not the ticket, though wearing a set of RW suit slip-on arm thingies will work in a pinch. The bottom line is floppy on top and tight on bottom. One-piece freefly suits are not the ticket; too floppy on bottom. Make sure your release handle is in a spot where you can reach it at full arm extension without having to pull your knees up. If you are spinning out of control on your back, you are not able to pull your legs in to reach it if it is any lower due to centrifigal force. I have two friends that nearly went in because they did not have their systems set up this way. I very much recommend having bindings set up with both feet straight forward; offset (obviously) front to rear in your personal "foot forward" preference. I am a regular foot, so my left foot is always forward. In this configuration it is very hard to find yourself in a sit spin. For those who do not know what I am talking about, here is what happens to some folks with cocked bindings: They get caught on their butts or backs, unable to get the board under them. With my left foot forward (regular foot), if the back foot is cocked to the side, then when I am on my back or butt, the tendency is for the nose of the board to point left. If the nose is pointed left, you are going to spin left, especially if your legs are extended. To stop the spin in that direction, you have to either get the tip pointed in the other direction or get on top of the board. With the bindings both facing forward, this is easilly overridden. You can fall flat on your back with the board facing straight forward without a problem. You can also spin left or right with equal ease by slightly pointing the nose in either direction. With my left foot forward, straight, but offset to the left side of the board; my drogue chute and housing just to the right of it; and my back foot straight behind the drogue housing off to the right side of the board and equidistant from the tail of the board as the front binding is to the nose, I am best able to maintain stability. Front/rear spacing being equal makes it easier to nail your flips too. Nowadays it is not too hard to find used equipement. Lots of it can be had for quite cheap too, as people either outgrow their current boards or just tire of skysurfing. I personally have not strapped my board on in about three years. Actually, it is in need of repair as the last person to jump it ended up cutting it away improperly causing it to hit the ground minus the drogue chute. It nearly took out the port engine on a taxiing aircraft when it smacked the ramp. I have a new bare board to transfer the other parts to, but just haven't had the desire to do it. Maybe someone around here will want to learn and I will put it back together. As for previous experience: I think 200 is a pretty safe number. I taught John Hoover (Golden Knights RW team leader) on his 200th jump. He rode it right out the door and pulled standing on his first attempt. I had 1000 jumps when I put the board together in 1990 and couldn't even stand on the thing properly till my third jump. You see, I didn't have anyone to learn from, as the sport truly was in it's infancy. Nowadays, there is generally at least one person on every DZ that has made some board jumps. Those guys are the ones that should be guiding you and keeping it as safe as possible. As for specific air-skills to master prior to strapping a board on, I would say that you ought to make some sit-suit jumps or find a proper skysurf suit to jump on a solo jump. Either way, practice going from a position where you are layed out on your back pretty far to an iron cross (a straight-legged stand). Be able to hold an iron cross for as long as you like and try doing it heel to toe. Not a big deal, but a mandatory skill. Doing the same drill on those little sideways-mounted training boards knocks the difficulty up a notch, but in my opinion does not accurately reflect what you will encounter when you strap on a board with the bindings mounted front/rear. To those of you lurking out there, you might want to print this and keep it. I have written it all before, but not all in one reply that I can remember. Chuck Blue D-12501 the very first skysurfer in the mid-atlantic region...1990

I wrote about this quite a while ago, but I have been on the plane when the prop flew off, and again when the port engine threw a rod and disintegrated. I stood and watched one day as the prop flew off on final to land also; starbord side that time. All three times were with Twin Bonanzas. Nobody was hurt any of those times, but we all bailed out the time that the engine blew up. The funny thing was that we were nearly on jump run anyway, so we were hollering corrections to the pilot, Tim Thacker. He was not amused. LOL! We completed our 8-way, landed and met the plane to check out the damage. Both times I saw it, the prop went down and away very quickly. The one that flew off on final was recovered in a back yard right off the end of the runway. We had it hanging in the old snackbar for a while. The one that flew off at altitude was never recovered as far as I know. Chuck

I can't use any messengers at all behind my firewall at work, so I am hosed that way. I put all of you that use AIM or straight AOL into my buddy list, but some of you must just leave it on all the time, like you can do with Road Runner, etc. I tried repeatedly to get Omri to answer this weekend with no luck. He must have been checking out porn sites. LOL! Chuck

I totally disagree. The idea of a SL-deployed round BASE rig for emergency egress is right on target. Put a placard on the backpad with pictures showing the proper usage sequence and supply a set of instructions with notes on how to practice PLF's off of your office desk in your spare time; provide a five minute video with demonstrations of proper technique. Provide a snap-set for shattering windows safely. This is an absolute no-brainer and I could give a shit less if somebody is making money off of this "catastrophe" so long as it is of real benefit to the populace and they don't charge more than what "we" would pay as skydivers. I would think that $1000 would be a satisfactory price for such a rig (complete). Chuck

Kris, not sure why you would psycho pack a Heatwave, as they don't open hard when PRO packed or flat packed. Plus, since they are made of Nylasilk ZP they don't squirt around. All of that is besides the point anyway, and people are free to pack any way they choose. I doubt that had anything to do with your spinner. The spun-up steering line was probably it, though I would check your line trim just for shits and grins. Chuck

Call Joe Bennett at Skydive Monroe and ask him what he has to say. He put a LOT of jumps on one. Here is the number to the dropzone: (770)-207-9164. the website is www.skydivemonroe.com Chuck

Freestyle is typically done by yourself, sometimes with a partner and generally involves more spins and less head down moves. The speed is typically quite a bit slower than what we would call "freeflying" too. Ugly lesbians with guys names (Dale, for instance) really like freestyle. Watch the movie "Travelling 2" and see Mike Michigan ripping it up while not looking foofy at all for an example of someone who is cool who does it. Freeflying is purported to be the flying of ones body on any axis with ease, but get in a group of more than two people and go to a side spin and see what happens: cork. So, mostly what you call freeflying is just sitting, head down, spins around the head-toe axis, and vertical flips/transitions. I deliniate the two types by their airspeed. If it's slow enough that the vidiot is on his belly most of the time, wearing his camera suit, and has his camera on top of his head, then it's freestyle. If the vidiot (more likely everyone with the cash to buy a camera) has his on the side of his head and he is wearing a freefly suit, then it's freeflying. Chuck

My primary RW comp suit gets so nasty I can't stand it, so yes, I wash it about three times a year. When your white suit turns brown and gray, then wash that rascal. I just stick mine right into the washer on regular cycle. I do not use the dryer; I just hang it up on a rack outside. I have never had gripper colors bleed onto the white, but they do fade. Chuck

Yes, be very alert for idiots like me ripping downwinders right down the beer line under a 65 square foot napkin. Chuck Going Fast and Taking Chances while Rarely Wearing a Helmet

If it is shit weather, we still generally show up and get ripped in Aviators or hang out in SkyKat and watch videos. There is always something to get into on the DZ. Beacon initiations, potato canon firings, etc. Chuck

You fuckers are out of hand! LOL! Chuck

What's up is that they are doing what they want to do with people they want to do it with. The majority of skydivers out there are not going to just stop doing what they like in order to try the "next great thing". While VRW is very fun, it also burns up altitude much faster and at a Cessna DZ that means you are really sucking when it comes to freefall time. Kind of like classic Style loopers burning up 7,000 in 15 seconds or less. You think VRW is the wave of the future? Tell that to all those guys with dusty skysurf boards in their closet. Those former "rock stars" of the X-games. Gimme a break. I was jumping a board in 1990. Put about 100 jumps on it because nobody else was doing it then other than Jerry Loftis, Eric Fradet and Patrick DeGayardon, then got bored and put it away. It only gets broken out now when some newbie wants to give it a whirl. I would much rather "touch" people in freefall, and conventional relative work, both big-way and sequential, is the way I get the most bang for my buck (freefall time). Sure, I like to dick around and freefly, too. I don't have any problems controlling my body on ANY axis. Didn't take much to work out the difference between a head-down, no-lift dive for swooping down to a big-way than a controlled head-down for freeflying. And knee and sit flying were a complete no-brainer to someone who used to regularly do an "iron cross" at the bottom of every jump. Actually, you would be surprised to find how many "old belly flyers" already have the skills you are trying to master. The trick is, getting them to jump with you. If you are an outsider wanting someone to play with, then you must first break into THEIR circle and show them what you can do. If you can't throw down an 8-point four-way out of a cessna, then you need to work more on your basic skills before you go flailing through the sky trying to work out your freefly gig. Think it doesn't relate? Then you are sadly mistaken. I am very sure that you won't have any problem finding people to freefly with, so long as you can prove you have the basic skills they expect any jumper to exhibit. Maybe I am way off base and you are already a shit hot RW guy and have already proven yourself in that capacity. If so, then all I can say is that you ought to just suck it up and take that drive in search of turbine aircraft and like-minded people. I don't think it takes much "dedication", as you said Freaksis has. It might seem like a big deal to you, but I know plenty of folks willing to drive five hours in order to spend a weekend on the DZ. Pack a tent and haul ass dude. Don't leave to come home till Sunday evening. They do what they have to do in order to be happy. If you are miserable on the DZ, then you might as well not skydive there. As for "after skydiving activities", I think it is just TOO funny that lots of young freefly kids think they have the market cornered on "cool" and how to party. I have only been a couple of places where there was a line in the sand between flat and vertical flyers and both those places were pretty pathetic after dark; nobody hung out. The best dropzones, like mine, are places where everyone drinks and raises hell together, then passes out all over the DZ, regardless of their prefered flying style when the sun is up. It sounds like you don't have that problem, but I bet if you just show you are willing to do any type of jump with some of those guys, then they will likely reciprocate. Just a thought. Chuck Blue D-12501 38 years old and STILL at the top of my game, regardless of which way I am pointed.

LOL! Clay, that is correct. We love it when chicks walk around without any pants on! Chuck

AIM= SkymonkeyONE (duh!), and CasaAzul3 ICQ= I forget, but I am on there so do a search if you are bored. I rarely turn it on anymore though.

Told you so. LOL! They are pretty groovy helmets, and very light compared to other full-faces. Chuck

First, a question: are they in the center of the tail or off on the sides. I will assume you mean in the middle. My opinion: since you are not making what a rigger would call "the ten inch fold" (which is actually much smaller if you have tiny rig like mine), you have more fabric pulling over that portion of your tail. With the little fold, the tip of your tail barely gets any friction; maybe three inches worth on my rig. Chuck