SkymonkeyONE

Ahem..LOL! Here goes: Say you weigh 150 pounds and you are wanting to buy that first rig; a used Vector II for example. I know that that a V1-2 is made to fit a 135 Sabre or Stiletto, but I ought not buy a main that small with only 35 or 40 jumps experience. I will promise you that a Hornet 150 will fit in that same container and that main would be much smarter for a person with that little experience. So, if you order that way, you will end up with the smallest possible container for the main you need to be jumping. Then, after you "outgrow" your main and decide to downsize, you won't be stuck with a container that is too big for your new downsized main. Actually, going another size smaller than that is not a problem either, so you end up having much more range. Thus, that container that will work fine for your Hornet 150 is plenty small to hold a Cobalt 120 and will not be hanging all off your back like big-old student gear. Does that clarify it anymore? Chuck

"the only problem with watching for the first guy is if he is doing a fast downwinder for a swoop." It is for that exact reason that we declare our landing-direction intentions in the loading area. Those of us who swoop in "other than the standard direction" have a very specific set of guidelines that we follow. Generally, it is right down the beer line where I normally jump (Raeford). Flying this corridor keeps us out of the line of flight of our very-considerable student population. Also, people ripping downwinders are told they they must land first or last; we prefer last. Violators of these simple guidelines get stern warnings on their first infraction and told to take a hike for a while for repeat offenses. Dan Preston really is a stand-up guy and I am very happy to be associated with him and his company (Atair USA). That he relayed his tale is typical of his good nature. That he made mention of this particular infraction is remarkable considering the abundance of "out of bounds" landings that occur at his home DZ, The Ranch. There are plenty of people there that whip 360 and 540 degree hooks and end up swooping out in no particular direction. There is one jumper who was recently badly injured for botching a swoop in between the three-foot passageway in the border fence. This jumper was known for exploits such as that and nobody was surprised when he ate it. The bottom line is that we are all accountable for our actions. If we decide to swoop downwind or whatever, then that is our prerogative, so long as we do not endanger others with our actions. The second we act in a manner beyond our capabilities and injure another jumper or spectator due to those actions, then we lose our rights and should be ready to take the ass-whipping or whatever other consequence the DZO doles out. Everyone is going to make a mistake at some point in their jumping career. I have certainly made my share in my past 20 years in the sport; been kicked off the DZ a couple of times too! Still, as an active Instructor, I do my best to portray an image that is controlled and calculated. I jump a TINY parachute(75 square feet), but am never accused of looking "out of control" on my landings. To quote Skymedic: "in the end, you are in charge of your own canopy." That is absolutely correct and to this day I continue to learn more about canopy control. Chuck Blue D-12501

"What kind of plastered are we talking about here?" She sounded pretty obvious, didn't she? Not that I would recognize the indicators of course. LOL!

"it was supposed to serve as a radio tower for France (and still does!?)" That, and as a urinal for drunken idiots. Bar none, the nastiest "tourist" city I have ever visited (1983). Trash in the streets everywhere and snooty locals who made it a difficult experience to enjoy. Maybe it has changed. Any non-french people on here have a truly positive experience there? Chuck

Cool and groovy. yep, you should have gone ahead and started while you were in the service. Back in '94 we were all skydiving for FREE (well, $10 per month: almost free)and we taught the entire FJC for $110. That included gear rental until you had your A-license. But hey, better late than never! Welcome to the sport. Chuck D-12501

Yep. I have 56k modem at home, but hardly ever get a connection above 28.8k. I know, dial-up sucks, but I don't really do much there because I am normally at the DZ anyway. Here at work I am on a T1 LAN and haul ass all day so I can't bitch. Chuck

Unless it's a different person, the guy is somewhere in Texas. I cannot remember what he coats them with, but it definitely adds lots of life to worn out F-111 parachutes. There I was, no shit: sitting on the dropzone watching The Deland Gang land their Excalliburs while training with the USAPT for the world meet in 91 (or was it 89? too long ago to remember). They were swooping the piss out of those things and I was jealous. At the time I had three rigs, all with FTS (now APS) Bogy 9-cell mains; two 150's and a 175 for CRW. Back in the day, these were nice canopies and I didn't pay anything for them due to a family hookup. Anyway, they were getting TIRED so we began "thinking outside the box" for a fix. My sometime-roommate and rigger buddy, Isreal Harris, and I came up with two ideas: first, Scotchguard; second, vinyl-top and handbag spray paint! After a full day of jumping we retired to Casa Azul and hung up a main. We Scotchguarded that thing with like four cans of the "red" topped version. It made the main quite slippery, but gave no performance gain whatsoever; oh well. Next, we went down to the local auto parts store and bought six cans of this crazy vinyl paint stuff. We let that rascal dry one night, packed it up and headed out to the DZ. I wasn't really concerned about the thing blowing up or anything. It opened up, flew great, and landed just like a Sabre (which nobody had yet). Everyone was duly impressed, but we noticed that some of the paint had flaked off. The white stuff would fly off the main on opening like dandruff or something! This went on for about eight jumps, then the thing was so flaky and freaky looking that I decided to shit-can it. It was pretty funny; most people thought that I was out of my mind, but had I not screwed around and Scotchguarded that thing first, it probably would have lasted quite some time. A friend of mine, Dan Feess, did the same thing to an old main of his on my "recommendation" and said it lasted over 100 jumps. Total cost: $20 Chuck

Absoulutely correct. PD owns a factory in Honduras that does most of their raw canopies now. The Aerodyne Triathalon and Diablo are made in South Africa at PISA, the same company that builds the Hornet and Heatwave. German Performance Variable canopies are made at the Atair factory in Slovenia, etc, etc, etc. But back to the original poster's question: which is better? They are both great first parachutes. Around here (Raeford), we sell a lot more Hornets than Tri's. Reason? It is a great "intermediate" nine-cell ZP canopy that packs one full size smaller than most of the competition. The result is that you can order a container that you will be happier with for much longer. For example, we try to tell our young graduates to buy a main one size bigger than they will "eventually" grow into; nothing radical. They then get a Hornet in that larger size and jump it until they are very comfortable with it, then eventually (if they MUST step down) they can get that smaller, speedier main and it will fit snugly in their same container. While we all know that it is purely aesthetics, most people want to buy the smallest container possible, while not necessarily the smallest main. Chuck

"I hate to burst your bubble but YOU GOT BEAT OUT BY A CAR...AND AN OLD ONE AT THAT" FFF, it's all goody in the hoody! Though, technically, the Polar Bear is not in the actual mugshot vault. The purpose of my original post was to show my amazement at topping JKA. (Topping! Did I say that outloud? LOL!) Chuck

BJ Worth was definitely not the first person to BASE the Eifel tower, though he seems to be most remembered for it due to the James Bond movie. First one to do it with permission would be a better explanation.

"but I threw out my PC when I jumped off the tailgate on the ground, so maybe that counts for .01 seconds of freefall, eh?" Uh, NO! 24 malt beverages please.

Odd that he was losing all his text when he hit the back button.

Glad you got it over with. As an instructor I quite often get to see that aprehension you experienced. I have had students that, for one reason or another, have had as many as three reserve rides during their student training. Some stuck it out, some took up golf. The ones that stick it out are always better off in the long run because they have already experienced that most-feared moment in skydiving; the cutaway. Not really a big deal at all, but you just DON'T know until you actually have to pull those handles. Anyway, great narrative! Chuck

that will be 24 malt beverages

This parachute will fly slightly faster and give you better penetration into the wind, that's about it. Landings will be very similar. Don't sweat it. Chuck

Here I am dating myself again here, but who cares. Anyway, yes, the Excalibur was a shit-hot parachute and it was made out of F-111. I literally BEGGED PD to make me a zero-p excal 120 when ZP came out on the Sabre (and the Blue Track), they refused me because they said it was WAY too labor intensive. FYI: Rixter Powell had a neon pink zero-porosity Excal 135 which was the only one they ever made. They also said that a Sabre flew "about" as good as an Excal; not quite true, but fairly close. The usefull high-performance lifespan of an Excallibur was about 400 jumps, then you had to sell it to your lighter friend (I sold mine to Rixter Neely who still jumps it believe it or not). The bottom line is that a brand-new F-lll Stilleto would fly exactly like a zero-p one, for a little while anyway. So, that being said, to the guy looking for the "moron" who would jump that canopy, I am your man. F-111 still has it's place in the market. It makes for some great demonstration parachutes; just ask the Golden Knights. Chuck

Will, pardon my french, but that's fucked up! LOL! I would like to think that it's all of our lovely lady posters just not being able to get enough. Sorry girls, I am married and my old lady has 2,700 skydives too. Chuck "King of all Skymonkeys and the mugshot vault"

Did you take a hop or did you get stuck paying for commercial tickets? Chuck

It might be the pinky where you are from, but the way I execute it (and the way I learned it), the two "action" fingers are the thumb and ring finger. Shocka!!!! Chuck

I guess my first response was lost in cyberspace! Actually, the shocker video was last year's Quincy video. I am pretty sure Speedcurve did it. Anyway, it is a complete riot and if you watch it you will see many people giving that same hand sign. Chuck

That was my first guess. That chick is definitely a hottie Edited by SkymonkeyONE on 6/25/01 11:39 AM.

Omri, you obviously haven't seen the "shocker" video yet.

Actually, you can get a Bonehead Mindwarp derivative that will still fit an internal audible. It is the one they make for waterskiing (jumping and speed skiing). While not "technically" an internal dytter pocket like the old Mindwarp had, it will definitely fit an audible on both sides. It also has a goggle keeper on the back. Chuck

In this instance it might very well do you some good to find some other people to jump with; that or get a little coaching. If most of your "regular" jump buddies have basically the same experience, then that makes it harder to progress. One thing that I would definitely recommend, though, is to buy/rent/borrow some coaching tapes. My favorite one to lend is Kinnesthesia; it is a must-view for my RW students. It is a great tape filled with many very good drills. Skydive 101 is OK too. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dabbling on "the dark side"; freeflying is quite enjoyable and challenging. With your current experience level, though, I would maybe try and nail one discipline down. I know it is quite frustrating when you "just can't get it", but stick in there. Chuck Blue D-12501

I too have this habit. My primary rig is named "javelito." My old Volvo is named Bessie and my Harley is named "The Redbone Express". Our RV is entitiled both "Winnie" and "The Mystery Machine". Chuck