AndyMan

Institutional-type companies value PMI highly. When I was a consultant for Compuware they required it of all their Prject Managers. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I disagree. Pro-tec has come out with some very cool lines of helmets. I may pick one up as a replacement to my aging Velocity. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I loved it, and was completely sober. So there!!! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Myself and Craichead have changed plans, we're no longer able to attend. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I agree completely. But what looks really dumb here is that they've attached the rope in a manner where the most likely place for wear is concealed. Poor engineering certainly doesn't excuse a lack of maintenance.... but poor engineering is still dumb. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I know 3 people who've had a Spectre open hard enough to serious fuck them up. Skybytch is just one of those people. Any canopy can (and will!) occaisionally open hard. Somebody who's depending on soft openings should do more than simply jumping a spectre. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

A good pair of sunglasses are often required for the job. I wear gatorz. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=47776; http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=47780; http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=47777; Don't buy a pair unless you've tried them on first. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

We've been using Vonage for 6 monthes and have never had a problem. Quite simply, we love the service and recomend it to all our friends. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I agree. I started off using manual settings, following the "standard advice". I quickly got frustrated because I do a wide variety of different shooting, and I'm far too lazy to to be doing math throughout the day to calculate the desired settings. Not only do I shoot with different subjects - tandem, 4way, crw, I also shoot from above, below, and with different lenses. Figuring out the correct manual focus settings for each adventure has been frustrating. There's nothing like the feeling of coming down from a spectacular and beautiful jump only to discover I'm out of focus. I've been gradually making the shift to shooting entirely AF. So far, I've only been let down when I shoot manual. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I used to be close to 280 out the door. I'm now closer to 250 out the door. All my gear has always had "mini" risers. Basically, if I have a hard opening I WANT my risers to break. I think of the thinner material in the risers as a good thing. I'd much rather have my risers break than my harness. As for the rings, the only advantage larger rings have is a theoretical reduced pull force. The only times I've ever heard of high pull forces are where people don't maintain their gear (by cleaning their cables), or by not having hard riser inserts - a modification every manufacturer recomends, and most rigs come standard with. Since I do clean my cables and have hard riser inserts, I've removed the two most common causes of hard pulls. I've not yet heard of a single incident where someone couldn't pull only because they had mini rings. Heavily loading mini-risers does require you to replace them more often. However, EVERYONE needs to inspect their gear and replace their risers when they're worn. This is not limited to people who load them heavily. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

a: you didn't answer his question. b: eyes can mislead and give incorrect answers, just like any instrument. Having absolute confidence in any one system is a fools errand. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Does it really have to be quicktime? The best results I've gotten is by using the Microsoft Media Encoder: www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I have absolute confindence in my Neptune and Suunto to interpret the air preassure changes properly. As long as the conditions haven't changed, that gives a pretty good reliability as to reading altitude properly. I'm curious what "recent events" you're refering to...? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I can personally assure you that the Saber 1 does infact open harder than most canopies out there. I can introduce you to people who've had their necks permanently damaged by repeatedly jumping them. (why they would repeatedly jump a slammer is another issue altogeather). If yours opens great, fantastic. Lucky you. However understand that there are a great many Saber 1's out there that do not exhibit that characteristic. Me? After 800 jumps and six years in the sport I'm just now being forced to sit out because of injury. Yup, you guessed right. I jumped a Saber 1 last weekend... As for it being a damn fine canopy for a beginner, there are many other canopies that are a whole lot finer, and just as affordable too. Just because it seems to work for you does not make it a good recomendation. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I have 500 jumps on a highly loaded Stiletto and I have never had a spinning malfunction. I have had a spinning malfunction on my lightly loaded Triathlon. Be prepared for one under any canopy. To answer your question, my personal belief is that Cobalt's suck. I've a handful of jumps on a 150 and hated it, additionally many of the people who I know who bought one have since sold it. The biggest complaints I hear are of hard openings followed by "active" (read: spinning) openings. Just last weekend a relatively light jumpers landed and collapsed in pain after a hard opening under her Cobalt. I believe she now has a minor back injury to recover from. I don't think the Stiletto is the greatest canopy on the market, either - although I am largely happy with my purchase, I just think there's better stuff out there now. One thing that's great about the Stiletto is that it's relatively easy to pick them up on the used market. Given the choice between a Cobalt and a Stiletto, in my books the Stiletto wins hands down. Be sure to also check out the Icarus Crossfire 2, and the Nitro from HiperUSA. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'm quite sure I'm more than competent in flying a canopy that is one size smaller, I do after all already jump a 1.8 wingloading. One size smaller just wouldn't make that much of a difference at my level. Instead, my fixation on wingloading caused me to overlook other important factors, like the opening characteristics. My camera helmet weighs over 10 pounds, so having consistently soft openings is critical. "my job" has nothing to do with it. On that day I was not jumping for "work", the extra loads were for fun. The tandem I was shooting was unpaid, because the passenger was the wife of a friend. Yes, I could have not made the jump, but I also could have stayed home that day, and I also could have never taken up skydiving in the first place. However, since I enjoy skydiving, I'll usually take the choice that lets me have fun, that's why I come out in the first place. In hindsight, my error was choosing the wrong gear for the job. This is interesting, because even with my 800-ish jumps, and 6 years in the sport I made a mistake. Nobody is ever imune from mistakes. What makes this particular one interesting to me is that while I clearly erred, I did so while thinking it was the safer choice. Often in this sport the correct path isn't always clear. Try to keep that in mind next time you're so quick to judge. The irony here is that you are absolutely correct. I did not have to make the jump, and if I hadn't I wouldn't have injured myself. I can live with that, though. If given the same choice again, I see nothing wrong with striving for 10 loads in a day. It's why I come out. I will be more careful to jump appropriate gear, and I'm well into building out a second rig for that purpose. My second canopy is scheduled to ship from PD at the end of the month. Incidentally, that new canopy is one size smaller. 10 days later and my neck still hurts, BTW. I am seeing a chiropractor, and they do in fact rock. I've already taken a weekend off jumping and will take next weekend off, too. After 2 weeks off I should be in great shape. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I wear a Suunto watch on my left wrist, just like a normal watch. I also chest mount a Neptune Old-Skool-Style(tm) on a wedge through my chest strap. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The Icon comes with the nicest hard riser inserts I've seen, ever. That's one thing that's nice about the Icon. The price you see posted online includes many of the "options" found on other rigs. Aerodyne doesn't make you pay extra for things that should've been there all along. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I believe they will. I've been hanging around the IT business for too long, I've seen far too many people say "that will never happen", and things turn out to show they were flat wrong. To say "there will never be a full size consumer CCD" makes as much sense as Bill Gates saying "Nobody will ever need more than 640 KB of RAM". Just a guess, but based on Moore's law, we should expect a CCD of roughly double today's size in 18 monthes. We are SO lucky to have a highly competitive market for D-SLR's. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've seen it happen twice. In both cases the riser was fine under canopy but disconnected itself after landing. I have no idea why it's happened. In both cases the jumper insisted that he'd previously assembled them correctly. I can only presume that the jumper didn't assemble them correctly... I've wondered if this scenario is a possibility when the cuttaway cord is not passed through the grommet on the end of the housings. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I can't believe YOU'RE starting on them already. I mean, like - we get that EVERY WEEKEND! What is this, "if you can't beat 'em, join em ?" Anne, your trip to Cozumel sounds fun. I'm kinda jealous, Craichead and I haven't technically had our honneymoon, yet. Every time we go somewhere it's to visit family... The first time I skipped my family at xmas was a lot easier than I expected. I'd always figured I HAD to go home for xmas, but the first time that I didn't - well, it's not that I was happy to be skipping it, but I just as happy to be doing something different. One of the joys of getting married is that you get to start your own traditions, ones that some day you'll teach to your kids. That's a cool thing, so don't sell it short. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

-2 in the last 3 weeks, which brings me to: 224! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Sorry, gonna have to take myself off the list. Don't think I'm gonna make it this year. _AM __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Triathlon 190, loaded at 1.1. Double fronts, 90's, and the occaisional 180 sure were fun. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I have both a Netptune and a Protrack. I use both daily. The Neptune is by far the superior instrument, but the pro-track is cheaper. Neptune is waterproof, is easier to use, and has more features. What else could you possibly ask for? Downside to the Neptune is that it can be difficult to get it to connect to your computer over IR. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.