RozeAY

I sent my Merlin suit back for a minor alteration in November of 2002. After several phone calls, emails, and 2 in-person visits, I finally got it back the next March. And everything that was supposed to be fixed was not fixed. I like my suit but the customer service is so poor that I will not be a return customer either. On the other hand, I have always gotten excellent suits with amazing customer service from Bev.

With the recent upgrades, you don't lose a minute at the beginning and end of your session anymore. Besides, your calculations show you only get 48 minutes of flying time if you buy 60. You definitely get more than that.

The tunnel is definitely worth it. It is an opportunity to concentrate on your body position and skills without worrying about everything else associated with freefall (exit, break off, opening, canopy, etc). If you have a coach with you, you can hop out for a few seconds, debrief with your coach, and hop right back in to keep on working. Plus it is definitely a lot cheaper. You can buy an hour of tunnel time (the equivalent of 60 skydives) for $600. Assuming a typical rate of $19 per jump, the same amount of freefall time would cost you $1,140 which is almost double. Besides, if it wasn't worth it, why would so many skydivers use it as a training tool, including the world's top 4-way and freefly teams?

Yea it has changed but the GK and Majik videos are with the current divepool. And with next year being another world meet year, it probably won't change until the 2005 season.

You could get one of Airspeed's videos or cds (499, Mindmaps, etc). The GK's have one and Majik just put one out as well. They show you all the randoms, blocks, and exits.

When the J is used in scoring, it basically means that from what the judges see, they think you did what you were supposed to but because of video or some other reason they technically cannot see what they need to. Therefore giving the J doesn't add a penalty, it simply doesn't give you credit for what the judges cannot see. It comes down to interpretation by the judges. There can be a fine line between giving a J and giving an O in certain circumstances. Which I believe is part of what the tidbits is about on Omniskore in relation to what happened with Airspeed.

They are also called busts and NJs here too. The O and the J is how they are written on the score sheets.

Section 7 of the Competition Manual on USPA's website has the 2-way dive pool for Collegiates as well. That will give you some formations when it is just you and one other.

It is 125 jumps. It is in the Competition Manual, Section 7.

2-way is limited to the Novice class, but you must have no more than 125 skydives, not 100. And I may be incorrect, but I thought you must have no more than 125 skydives at the time of Round 1, not by the completion of the event.

Download the competition manual from USPA's website. Section 7 has all the info about how Collegiates is run.

I hate to break it to you, but to compete in 2-way at Collegiates you must be a Novice. So if you want to compete, you better not make more than 125 jumps before Round 1. And here is that section in the Competition Manual: D. Event No. 4—2-Way Formation Skydiving: Each round will consist of a sequence of three or four (whichever is drawn first) scoring formations from the current Collegiate dive pool. 1. Each team member must be Novice. 2. Each team consists of two members and is eliminated if, for any reason, either team member is unable to compete.

Every time I've left Atlanta with a rig I've been stopped and questioned. And for some reason they always want to open both pins. In the end, however, they've let me get on with it. Leaving Chicago Midway and Phoenix, Arizona, they didn't even take a second look.

You could always try USPA.

You could always try asking Tim and Ted Wagner from Omniskore . They might have copies around somewhere.

Might I suggest also inquiring at the school about the club. If the club owned gear that was purchased by the school and the club no longer exists, chances are the school has the gear sitting in a closet somewhere.

You can call down to Skydive Atlanta and ask when they will be having another course.

I agree with you on this point. This is not what our team does. Our camera man does not ask for compensation beyond slot and pack job. This was clear before the start of each season. We respect everybody who has helped us with video. Not that it is the main issue but as a side note, with the exception of the most recent video added to our page, the videographer is thanked on our thank you page. It does not, however, say "video by." I'm sorry my teammate has given the impression that we do not respect or compensate our videographers. That is certainly not the case. We respect them, appreciate their help, and justly compensate them according to what they ask. We appreciate the camera flyers who have helped us out by not charging beyond slot and pack job and we also appreciate and respect those that we do pay.

I just got a letter in the mail from USPA yesterday offering accidental death and dismemberment insurance. I didn't read through it but you could check into it with USPA.

No fun jumpers in the Atlanta area who are not employed or sponsored make that many jumps in a weekend. I can only think of one that does and he has a great job. And he isn't out there every weekend. Like Quade said, most jumpers do not get nearly the number of jumps you do. Nor do they take the time to learn as much as they can from experienced pilots. Some do, some don't.

Jonathan -- with all due respect, that is pure BS. If video is part of your team, then where is the camera flyer's name, bio and photo on your team web site? GO QUADE, your making me proud! Our camera man is paid. Slots (and pack jobs when necessary) are covered by the team. Our camera man was learning last year so other than covering slot he was not paid per jump. However, we did buy him a canopy as a thank you at the end of the year.

You can do simple things like try and dock in a 2-way. Then one person could do a 90 degree turn while the other takes a sidebody grip on him. Then he could turn back to the 2-way. Then the other guy goes. Then turn the other direction, etc.

You might want to talk to an instructor before making this jump. According to the USPA you cannot jump with any skydiver other than a rated instructor or coach until you have an A license.

I agree that instruction is the best answer to canopy issues. The problem is that nobody will go out and make it happen. Instead, everybody sits around on dz.com and talks about how great it would be. Well, Ron has actually done something about it. And I think it is a very good idea. I also think that Bill's opt out option is an excellent idea. There are obviously going to be tons of people that are going to hate this idea. But I think thats because people just aren't going to be willing to do their time on the 0-500 jump progression. And its because people want to start hooking/swooping/coming in with more speed on their own schedule. Right now, they can do it whenever and however they want. With this new system, they're going to have to wait or learn to do it with proper instruction. And thats why most people aren't going to like it. I think Ron's proposal is an excellent guide to try and cut down on injury. It gives people plenty of time on lower wingloadings to learn to fly a canopy on their own. And for the people that don't want to or can't take a course or learn from a coach, it gives them some time and experience to learn as much as they can on lower wingloadings. Here is the beauty of the "opt out system." If you want to really learn to fly your canopy through a course/coach/whatever the system may be, then with that coach you can opt out of the BSR requirements. With the coach's assistance you could get placed on another canopy track. But the key is to basically be an apprentice to the coach. It shouldn't be a free for all where once you take this course you have free reign to jump whatever you want. I think you should work with this coach. Together you would come up with a progression and what you should do and be able to do on each before you advance. This way people who are serious about canopy flight can get coaching and learn to do higher performance stuff the right way. At the same time, those who want to do the same high-p stuff but aren't willing to learn the right way will have to wait until they have a little more experience. This will force them to learn on lower wingloadings before getting into higher ones. And finally for those people who don't care so much about higher performance landings, like me for example, won't really be affected. I have 475 jumps with wingloadings of 1.2 and 1.3 with gear, weights, etc (which is my most recent downsize). I fit into Ron's proposal and am even under it. And these are just fine for me. Even if I was in a situation where I would have to fly a certain canopy a little longer than I would like I would still be fine with it. Because I know my abilities and flying x canopy a little longer isn't going to kill me. But there are some people out there that letting them get to x canopy too soon will kill them. So even if this BSR would affect you in a way you wouldn't like, hopefully there would be the opt out system so you could do something about it but more importantly it would be helping to save lives. Nothing else has worked this far. Hopefully this is something that will.

According to the SIM, the dive flows for these category jumps do have canopy control sections. As do the regular AFF categories. Its just that most instructors do not teach this part or have their students do it. So its there, you just have to get people to start using it.