nacmacfeegle

"Not a worry for me; my first 400 jumps or so were on F111 7 cells." After doing a some of my progression on rounds, I moved on to Furys (an F111 7 cell for all those zp yuppy puppies), the only reserve that is likely to scare me would be a teensy tiny one, because I'm not so teensy tiny -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

On the opening speed things, what the good guys said above is valid, however you are comparing your sabre to a spectre. Spectres have well reknowned gentle opening characteristics, ie they are by design much more soft on opening than a sabre. So there's bound to be a difference. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"The only advantage I've ever heard of is if you're doing CRW; a round reserve would allow you to do a canopy transfer. " I'll add, if you get whacked senseless (which is the REAL reason we all have a cypres right?), and your cypres fires, you probably have a better chance of surviving the landing under a round. "a round reserve ride could put you in some shitty landing areas" Almost certainly, you will be low and out, with little or no chance of steering effectively, especially if you've never jumped a round. Which leads us nicely to.... "few people who started jumping in the past ten years or so have ever jumped a round" I always knew I was special.... "Last thing I want to think about when I have a mal is the fact that I'd be hanging under a canopy type I've never been under before." Like an F111 7 cell?, okay its not a real biggie, but they do behave differently. And worth thinking about if you've never jumped such a skytruck..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Or you could jump an AN 72....." yay! How is Canada treating you Remi? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"how many can explain (even in basic terminology) why a stall occurs, the basics of lift, AOA, Centre of gravity etc... etc.. " Why do you need that level of knowledge? eg, in order to drive a car, you don't need to know how the engine works, what you do need to know is the effect your control inputs will have. Under your suggestion, people will require an A-level (high school qualification for our colonial pals) in physics in order to attempt to swoop. How would this qualification be administered? "Once serious training is in place (which in my opinion should be financed by a countries parachuting organisation)," Man, try that suggestion at the upcoming BPA AGM, you'll be about as popular as a bacon butty at a barmitzvah. BPA, USPA etc get their funding from their members, ie you and I, their job is to keep jumpers jumping, not to fund the training of swoopers. I'm buggered if I'm going to pay for someone elses training out my own pocket. They do a pretty good job with the roadshows, and subsidising instructors during their qualification process, but thats about as far as I am prepared to go. "Knowledge is the key." Absolutely agree with you, and there's loads of online documentation available, PM me if you need some links. "(and we shouldnt have to pay shit loads of cash for it)" Free education for all, its a great ideal, but a little utopic these days. Sorry to rag on you Rob, but this thread has been getting my back up, introducing even more prescriptive regulation in our sport is one of my pet peeves. I don't think there is a workable solution to controlling downsizing, and I don't really want to see it. There are just far too many variables in the mix to achieve a workable solution. Its about time we stopped molly coddling people, and start making them responsible for themselves. If a jumper is exceeding their own skills limitations in equipment choice and use, they will either attract the attention of their peers, the CCI (S&TA equiv), or the local paramedics. If they can't learn from that, they have no business jumping at all. I'm disappointed that the Dutch are adopting this route, considering they are so liberal with many other things. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"so what DO they consider to be extreme?" Dry bagel eating? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Hey here's another good idea, teach yourself how to check your own main pin while the rig is on your back. Its really easy. Just learn what a good pin feels like, and what a bad pin feels like, because sooner or later you will be in a position where there is no-one on the plane qualified / trustworthy enough to check it for you. BTW Dave yes, when I put the rig on, just before I get in the plane, and just before I get out the plane... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I used to fly like that and found it really comfy. But after some coaching I was advised to keep my arms more straight out. Reasons..... Arms back there are compensating for you leaning slightly forward, if you sit up more straight, you can bring your arms more in line with your shoulders. Also I now use my arms to make minor fall rate adjustments, say for docking etc, with your arms loacked out behind you, you cant raise your arms to drop down a couple of feet (relative). Its also really hard to press down from there to pop up a couple of feet. Think legs for big changes, arms for small changes. Yeppers, it does feel a little less stable to begin with , but once mastered it is really useful. If you get your legs nice and wide (oo-err missus) the stability will be easier. If you have a look a Snowflake's recent post, there are links I put there to some stuff by Giles Fabris which explains this a lot better than I can. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

I dunno whats rumpling your hat Aggs, but theres a whole load of transatlantic ((((((((((vibes)))))))) Here for ya. Lou said it, don't sweat the stuff you can't influence, you can only play the hand hand that is dealt to you. But hey, there's some nice 16 year old single malt here if ya want some.

The Diablo is a different animal (higher performance)from the Triathlon. If your heart is set on a Diablo, I would try and demo one the same size as your current Triathlon, prior to downsizing, that way you are only changing one thing at a time. Fewer surprises, less likelihood of drama. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Och you poor belly people, you just can't work out what to do with your elbows...... For the record I used to employ the flailman, and was starting to experiment with a wobbly mantis when I discovered the delights of 3 dimensional flying. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Is there a wind tunnel in the UK? If not where is the nearest? There are plans for skyventure to open one in Milton Keynes (I think) later this year. Otherwise http://www.primeline.com/~highwind/whp_links1.html -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"And so much more practicing gets done WITHOUT one!" Ain't that the truth Pammi. "Although mine are old enough now that they know what we're doing " Aye the vaseline on the door handle is a real giveaway! -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Good to see you posting Mike, but hey, I cant let this one slip through the net........ I've actually met Moody at Spaceland during the state record attempts, I also met the Freaksis the same weekend, and enjoyed her hospitality while admiring her man's swooping antics on video, thanks for the beers April. I can assure you she was busy her hands (making things) when I spoke to her last. I also met Jesscia up at San Marcos, and from my all too brief meeting with her, I'm not surprised she is more than willing to forget you......she had other things on her mind. "Who can forget the one, the only, PLFKing, the man who carefully selected his landing area (soft & squidgy) and then on landing caused more injuries than a Texan with an M-60 at a primary school?" Judging from the last landing I saw you perform, you would do well to emulate the PLF style. It might have saved you a trip to the ER and subsequent plaster attachments. Whuuuhahahaha..... Pot, kettle, black..... Cya around when the the thaw comes. PS... what news of the fire at Errol? -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Kev, I think we are in agreement so I'm accepting Malachi's fine Texan beer, and am enjoying it right now ...cheers! -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Phillykev, once again those stats in isolation are kinda meaningless, especially these "N. Ireland %households w/ guns: 8.4 total homicide/100k pop: 6.09 firearm homicide/100k pop: 5.24 " There's been a spot of trouble over there recently, its called terrorism, and its been going on for a wee while. The people using the guns are hardly likely to have them registered, so they wouldn't really show up on any kind of census. That said, I'd also rather live in Northern Ireland than Bummingggghummmm, because I've worked in Belfast as well, and its a great party town. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"But in the more recent past, remember Dimitri Skylarov?" Yup. I do. Also, another tale of hackers making life better for us all. In Europe, the tax system for cameras and recorders is different. So a little while back, Sony would only import DV cameras that had their DV in ports disabled. Which kinda sucks, because at the time if you wanted to edit in DV you had to either smuggle in a PAL camera from the far east or Russia, or fork out 1500 pounds for a DV deck. Then Arik Drori published the firmware codes to convert Sony cams thereby re-enabling their DV inputs. Yay for Arik. This forced Sony to start importing cameras with their DV inputs enabled, allowing us to direct firewire cam to cam like everyone else in the civilised world. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"While not "proof", they do show a correlation between the easy availability of guns and the use of guns in murders. You're right that it shows nothing about the overall murder rates. But ours probably is higher in general as well. " Either way Justin, I think neither of us want our kids to grow up in a society where one requires a sidearm just to 'feel comfortable'. Whichever way you look at it, that just ain't right. It isn't supposed to be like that. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Philly Kev, point well undrestood "It's probably not the case, but your numbers prove nothing." hence "But these stats in isolation are pretty meaningless." I am very unlikely to murdered by a bat here in Scotland (note spelling) as we don't like cricket, and no one plays baseball, unless I am beaten up by an irate table tennis hoodlum. “Flawed logic. You are 4 times as likely to be murdered by a gun in Scottland” Flawed math sir, with respect to your opinion on gun control, about 4 divided by about 0.1 = about 40. And it is 40 times more likley to happen in the US than in Scotland, and 4 times more likely to happen in Canada. Besides, I thought we were talking about guns here, not knives, claymores, pointy sticks, automobiles, or other disembowelling devices. By the way, we ain’t allowed to carry knives over 4” either, and the bastards have just made it illegal to consume alcohol in ‘public places’, so no more beach parties....Its NOT 'all good'. And for the record......This was not a Glock, or a 45 etc, the weapon used was a 'sub-machine gun', hence the furore....The UK hasn't banned all guns either guys, we can still kill maim and terrorise with shotguns, rifles etc..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

"Really great sex is a lot like dying I think." Really great sex and dying are both only likely to happen once in your life, and both are normally unexpected.... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[Ozzy voice on] Sharon, I said Bum-in-ham [Ozzy voice off] -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

hehe, I thought you were talking about golf carts..... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Good stuff, let us know how you get on, I've always found Chris to be quite helpful. Do you use soft links? It might be a good idea to change to hard links with 'big' polythene bumpers. I've had a few brake fires on my spectre (loaded at around 1.6 ish----plus recent turkey weight) on relatively new sunpath risers....but not too much drama... -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

Not a snowball's chance in hell....... I raised this very subject with a guy from skyventure who was visiting a DZ and was discussing setting one up in the area. His response? "Have you any idea how many people want that job?" He basically just ignores the job begging letters. Even from skydivers who are also qualified engineers... But hey, don't let me put you off....

My my, its hot in here, all from a relatively innocuous question.... I see many people posting here that I have met, jumped with, and have good reason to respect their opinions. Aggiedave and Trent advocate Wings, hey congrats on the sponsorship, good deal Trent (previous defender of the Javelin). Ramon is bashing Javelins...well no change there then old friend. Gary is advocating a Javelin if reselling is a consideration, an opinion I support. Few other rigs hold their value like a Javelin. Plus, I have never had a rig as comfy as my Odessey. Levin is staunchly defending his choice, the fine Racer. Jessica is defending the Reflex, which has been well supported by notable jumpers in the past. PdF Atoms are not supported in the US, so you may have spare parts issues should any drama occur, however they are the rig of choice for Europe’s leading freefliers, Babylon, out of Empuria. They are really nice rigs, so it’s a shame. The vortex is a nice container, but you may have problems jumping non TSO’d gear over there in the states. Rooke, I guess you’ve figured it out for yourself now, but skydivers are fiercely loyal to their gear choices. So if you ask ten peeps their recommendations for a rig, you WILL inevitably get ten different opinions. My tuppence worth....go for a Wings, or a Thomas Sports Superfly, they represent good value for money from I can see. And at the end of the day its value for money you want, not cheapness. Me? I like Javelins. If hey are properly sized for the canopies in use, they are fairly bombproof. I can pick mine up by its main closing flap, and it stays shut. Of course if you put the wrong size of canopy in any container things may not be as neat..... Skreamer.....’ Do you know about the time I posted that fat people should pay more for their jump tickets (because they make the plane climb slower)? Now that made me some new friends...’ Damn shapeists..... Good job on keeping it civil Andrea. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson