UDSkyJunkie

Dude, you totally forgot to correct for the change in gravity due to altitude and latitude. The increased distance from earth's center of mass will reduce the speed by 0.0049 MPH. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

To change the culture requires something akin to what has been done in Eloy. In the main landing area, you either land strait east or west, depending on the winds. Going catty-corner across the lading area is absolutely unacceptable, and you WILL be told so. I've done it exactly twice, and was immediatly told both times (in a polite manner) never to do that. If crosswind doesn't work for you and the wind is facing north or south, you go land in the alternate area, where the rules are identical, just facing N-S instead of E-W. It requires a decision from a strong DZ management who isn't afraid to confront any jumper who violates it, and is willing to enforce it if needed (this is rare, but does happen). It also requires every single experienced local buying into the concept and abiding by it, instead of just telling other people the rules and then doing whatever they damn well feel like, as tends to happen at many DZs. Coming from more typical DZ's myself, I've been amazed at the level of discipline shown by the locals in the pattern. On slow days with few visitors, the pattern is almost textbook. It's only during boogies that things get scary. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

No argument that turbines have made some people a bit uppity, but I don't see a correlation to opening altitude.... I'd be fine exiting at 2000' if I was jumping an F-111 canopy. You'd be in the saddle with your brakes popped by 1700', and the likleyhood of a malfunction being a big problem is very low. Not so much with my Sabre2 that takes 600-1000 feet to open and almost that at sub-terminal, and can get pretty damn out of hand in a malfunction, with a ridiculous decent rate. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Congrats! That test's a bitch! I got mine about 2 months ago, and I thought it was more nerve-wracking than any test I took in the course of earning a bachelor of mechanical engineering degree. Hope you get out in the field soon, it can be tough... we have the same hiring freezes going on in AZ right now, so I said to hell with it and got a job as a tech/CNA in a hospital. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

yup, that about sums it up. We all know "complacency kills". Problem is, people tend to think of complacency only in the context of uncurrent jumpers being too confident in their atrophyd skills or current jumpers who haven't had anything go wrong in awhile getting sloppy. They don't think of the complacency we have about the maintenence of our aircraft or the ability of the pilot to deal with it. People also are vastly overconfident in their ability to secure themselves and their gear in the event of a true emergency. Thinking this is possible is like thinking that you can do up your seatbelt in your car in the instant between realizing a crash is imminent and the impact. Just can't be done 99% of the time. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Hey man, Reading your first post, I was at first tempted to panic and think you had no idea how the skyhook worked. Then I saw your line of reasoning and realized you do know how it works, and thought perhaps you could generate an even faster reserve opening by unconventional means. I'm glad you're thinking about this stuff, and I'm glad you're asking questions... those who are telling you to stop thinking and just listen to instructors should back off a bit. You can't learn without asking questions, and people tend to take for granted the things they know today, even though when they were new jumpers they didn't know everything either. That said, the answers you got were correct... cutting away and dumping the main would probably result in more altitude loss, plus then you've gotta go find the main. Going strait for silver is the correct course of action in an extreme low altitude bail-out situation. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Congratulations to all of the ladies! I miss you all. Special props to some very promising new jumpers who helped make this a success

Jesus, that sounds like something straight from the blue collar comedy tour... "If you list 'Waffle House' as your preferred wedding reception location... you might be a redneck!" "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Whereas in MY reality, the stiletto is kind of old, but YOUR age is just beyond comprehension. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

"Good sex is better than bad skydiving. Good skydiving is better than bad sex. Wether good sex is better than good skydiving depends entirely on how long it's been since you've had either." Right now, a few good skydives would be much, much better than sex. Fortunately, I get to remedy the situation this weekend. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Hmm... Not sure if I'd count that... it WAS a sport main, and may still be in production, but it's no longer a sport main. At least, not that people jump for purposes other than novelty and nostalgia (yes, I have a PC jump!) I was thinking the PARAFOIL might get the award, assuming they still make them (I think they do... since the accuracy freaks still use 'em). There's some other seriously old stuff you can still get made. Sharpshuters and Mantas and the like. But in terms of "modern" sport canopies that are still in production, the Stiletto may be the winner. I can only name a few ZP canopies that came before it, and none of them have been in production for a long time... I think the Sabre1 was the last holdout. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

One night isn't going to hurt your gear. Rest easy. But stay pissed at yourself, and don't do it regularly. Repeated/chronic exposure to extreme heat or cold will speed the wear on your gear. There are a few scary stories from riggers who have opened up reserves owned by people who leave their gear in the trunk of the car every day all summer long. (like, even through the week) "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Go to the classifieds to get a ballpark on gear costs... look for prices of say a Spectre, PD Reserve, Cypres, and Vector III with low use (~500 jumps). Not saying that's exactly what you should buy, just that it's a fairly typical novice rig. Actually, that should be on the upper end of the price scale... older designs and other companies will generally be less espensive. For example, you could probably get a Sabre1, raven, Racer, and Cypres for 1/2 the price of the above, with similar amounts of use. How does Square2's program work? you pay $6500, get 100 jumps free and then can keep it if you like it? can you swap out mains/containers a few times? how much of the deposit would you get back if you then choose to buy used? If they let you swap out gear a bit, it's probably worth it, because it's an easy way to find the canopy you like, in the right size, and with a comfortable container. Depends on how much deposit you get back if you decide not to buy through square2 at the end of the 100 jumps. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

The Divewerkz camps are great, for people of all levels from right off student status to all but the most experienced RW fliers. I highly recommend attending... it's free and they'll teach you a lot. Also, you'll meet a lot of locals that way. Pay attention to who's organizing, and join them whenever you can. It might be tough for awhile until you get some more experience, but a lot of the time it's the organizer's job to get you on the dive no matter how rookie you are... use those opportunities! As your skills improve (and your face is recognized) you'll get onto dives more easily. But what was said earlier... "best way is to be there" is really the truth. Get to the DZ as much as possible and you'll work your way in. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

That's a good one. One halloween boogie when I was about 20 I dressed up as all the lyrics to "margaritaville"... straw hat, wife-beater, missing shaker and salt, new tattoo, busted flip-flop... you get the point. Anyway, I decided in order to complete the costume I was required to get wasted on margaritas. Margaritas turned into stronger margaritas, which turned into occasional tequila shots, which turned into frequent shots. It culminated with about 5 strait shots plus a worm from somebody else's mesqual. I literally finished a 5th of jose by myself in about 3 hours... I was 125 lbs soaking wet and could get pretty tanked on a 6-pack (actually, I still can!) I remember this girl I'd never met who was dressed as a mermaid, and I grabbed the string to untie her bra, then pointed to the person next to me. It was pretty funny the first time, but somewhere around the 17th time the humor had faded. A few other things occured, but they're pretty hazy. It's the ONLY time I actually don't remember being sick... everything after the worm was black-out territory, and I woke up in my bed next to my girlfriend, not knowing how I'd gotten there (we'd brought a tent and planned to crash there). Turned out my parents had driven me home (my dad's a jumper). Everyone has to have a couple stories like that... but I'd not like to repeat that one! "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

livendive got it right... you've got to start quietly and in private. Most people really don't realize how dumb some of the stuff they're doing is. Sharing your own dumb-ass cocky moves (and resulting injury or near-disaster) may help; it helps them relate, and we've ALL had our moments. If you can't do it that way, you've got to get creative, and you'll probably need others to help. In the end, he's also right that you can't save them all. I've known many people who never listened to anybody... some figured it out when they got hurt, and some are dead. Others have had better luck, but that could change in an instant. It sucks. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

I concur... flipcup is clearly superior. Beer Pong: 2-4 players, takes forever, especially as you get drunker. Stupid ball must be chased constantly. Flipcup: 6-12 players, fast-paced, doesn't slow down much as you get drunker. No stupid ball to chase. Also an honorable mention to a grad student who said his favorate drinking game was "bong beers till you puke"... you each get a 24-pack and a funnel, and pass the funnel around. Last person that hasn't puked wins! Now THAT's intellectual! "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

The TSO process requires that the canopy be tested to 254 lbs, regardless of what the placard states. That said, it is generally a bad idea to exceed what the placard states... manufacturer's have good reasons for setting their limits. I won't claim to know the specific reasons, but here are some likley possibilities: 1) raven is not a modern design, and thus the airfoil isn't capable of handling as much wingloading as more modern reserves. 2) When the original raven came out, people didn't typically load canopies (and especially reserves) nearly as high as they do today. Limits were set according to the knowledge of the time. One point: the 185 limit is jumper + gear. Therefore your weight is actually more like 220, not 200. Bottom line though... if you're scared, get a new reserve. You should NEVER be scared of your reserve! I don't care if you're 150 lbs and jumping a PDR-196... if you're not comfortable with it, sell it and buy a 218 (or whatever). It's your last shot, and you have have absolute, 100% confidence in it. You never want a voice in the back of your head saying "shit, can I land this thing?" while you're reaching for your cutaway. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

You're right, almost. Don't forget, it's a device that relies on local barometric pressure, and there are several possible sources of error that could cause it to fire anyway. These range from simple things like the accuracy of the device (130 feet is NOT much pressure change!), to atmospheric change throughout the day (yes, this is accounted for as best as possible, but some drift can occur), to the pressure effects around your body (belly flight produces a local pressure drop at the AAD location, that is assumed by the cypress... other orientations caused by freefall and canopy flight may render this assumption incorrect). "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Umm... Sabre2, Saffire 2, Pilot... there's more, those are just the three that roll off the top of my head. Really, all of the above are pretty damn high-performance. It just depends on wing loading. I've got 400ish jumps on my Sabre2 120, have been working on high-performance landing on it since day 1, and honestly my skill level is nowhere near high enough to justify something smaller/faster/higher performance. And that's just with W/L about 1.45:1. Trying to remember the name, but one of the PD factory guys said basically your ideal progression goes: Sabre2 in decreasing sizes, switch to katana of same size, then decrease size a couple more times, then switch to velocity of same size, work your way down further. Don't remember the recommended W/L for switching designs... maybe 1.6ish and 2.0ish? Obviously that's got a PD bias, but you could apply it to other lines... saffire 2, crossfire 2, VX for example. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Preferably all on the same jump! Well ok, the last two might be tough... "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Ok, so I admit to feeling a bit bad for her... But that's the funniest shit I'll see this week! "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Not flaming... just something a newer jumper might not have thought of: skydiving gear is, compared to most products, extremely low-volume, labor-intensive, and highly cusomized. Containers specifically are customized to an incredible degree today (yes, quite a bit more than in the past!) You want an affordable rig? Go to the Jumpshack website and order a Shadow Racer. You can get it brand new and custom fit for $1350! It comes with zero options, and you can get it in any color you want as long as it's Black... but it's an excellent quality container that's very comfortable and will last you 20 years if taken care of. It's the VW Beetle of harness/containers. But most people don't want that... they want a vector III in tie-dye, "oh shit" embroidered on the cutaway handle, a skyhook, stainless steel hardware, an articulated harness, a "freefly" PC handle, and magnetic riser covers. Well, I have nothing against people wanting all that, but it's gonna cost you... to the tune of $2500+, because it's the Ferrari of harness/containers. Me, I take the middle path... I've got the fancy shit (Vector III + skyhook, Sabre2, PD Reserve, Cypres, and a 2nd main, Sabre1 in my closet), but I bought most of it used. My total gear cost over 1100+ jumps and 8+ years is $5,500. That includes the purchase of 2 containers, 3 mains, 2 reserves, and 1 AAD, plus paying to resize my harness and add the skyhook, minus the money I got from selling what I no longer use. It's all in great shape, and I intend to use this gear for another several years at least (except the cypres, which has another year or so till it expires). "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Alright, smart-ass. Let's assume for a moment that we don't count those people.... I'm really wondering about people who have a lot of jumps (let's say at least 500). Although, on your topic, I do know of a guy who had malfunctions on jumps 1 and 3! "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

Alright, in honor of the thread asking who has the most jumps without a cutaway, I want to ask the opposite question... who has had an absurd number of cutaways, considering thier jump numbers... Jim West has the most cutaways of anyone I know, with over 75 in the course of something like 10,000 jumps. BUT, I think Randy Connel has him beat by ratio... last I talked to him I think it was 19 cutaways in 2,000ish jumps. "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."