Canuck

My first time bringing it to the ground was the exact opposite. I had practiced up high tons, but everytime I told myself I was going to use them on landing I would chicken out at the last minute. Then one day after a beautiful sunset tracking dive, without any plan to do so, I decided just as I was coming out of my 270 that now was the time and went for it. Worked out awesome. I love the rears!! Canuck

You will got lots of opinions on this one. Here's what you're gonna get from me as good starters. Practice reaching for the rears without looking at them, and experiment with different ways of holding/grabbing/pushing/pulling until you find the way that is the most comfortable for you. Make sure that part of this experimentation includes making sure that however you are going to grab and release the fronts and rears is not going to make you lose a toggle. Practice high, practice lots. Once you're real comfy with all that, then move on to other drills. Canuck

A couple points: First, don't think about flaring your canopy in different ways because of the wind conditions. Way too many people think they need to flare "harder" in no wind or down-wind situations - you don't. Second, I HATE the "two-stage" flare concept that has been around around since the advent of ZP canopies (maybe longer) that some old timmers will not let go of, and continue to preach to up-and-comers. Instead, think about it like this - flare smoothly, as much as you need to, when you need to, so you touch down with the minimum amount of vertical and forward speed. That's it. No stages. Here's the analogy. When you are driving your car and see a red light, do you instantly slam on the breaks? (even in no wind )? Do you press the break peddle down half way and hold it for two seconds and then slam it down the rest of the way? No. You take your foot off the gas, and then slowly get on the break applying more and more pressure in a nice smooth manner until you have come to a complete stop at the intersection. If you at any time realize you are going to go through the intersection, you apply more break. If you think you are going to come up short, you ease up a little. Make sense? Enjoy the new canopy. Sabre 2's have loads of flare - you will love it. Canuck

OK, I've got to get one more in before the Skymonkey locks this thread. txblondie - you have now several times in this thread accused people of being childish and petty. To me the most childish and petty thing I have seen yet in this thread is Bruno quoting in a public forum TJ slamming Luigi as being a shitty canopy pilot. These two guys see each other on a routine basis because they actually have the skills to compete, and have accordingly been sponsored to do so. Way to stir the pot and mix up some bad blood between two super awesome guys. Nice, real nice. Wait, I just thought of something even more childish...aah...whatever. Lock er up Chuck. Canuck

Good observation. I too am suprised that he is not using the RDS. Also, take note of the direction the windblade and the yellow flag are pointing - deffinately more crosswind than downwind. Kick-ass swoop. Canuck

Um, hate to tell you this, but Luigi loaded up with lead and landed the 46 at a wing loading of 4.6 a long time ago - like right after he first started jumping that canopy. That's how he and Icarus got the idea for a sub-40 canopy. So no, Bruno was not the first to do anything. Easy now, I hardly think there is anything in my previous post that was malicious towards you. Canuck

Dude, We all had to listen to this about a year ago. Your only supporter then was you newbie jumping girlfriend who didn't know any better - I assume she is out of the picture as I don't see her chiming in this time. What the hell do you mean YOU were the first??!! No - you weren't. Period. In fact you're not even second because others have jumped the 46 and you have not. And lets not even go there with the 39. You are not a pioneer. Want to be one? See if Icarus will sell you a 38. Why would Luigi lay out the 39 on top of a Tandem - for the same reason that Guiness usuaully takes a picture of the tallest living person standing beside the shortest - it illustrates a point well. Luigi stall the 39? I've seen a few different videos from a few different events where Luigi has jumped it, and he has stood them all up. You, on the other hand, have some very dirty knees in the picture you posted. Listen - you have obviously got some skill to be able to jump at the extremes of wing loading several hundred times and not maim or kill yourself. I think we can all appreciate that for what it is. If it makes you feel better, we may dub you King Survivor. But, until you start breaking records, winning competitions, or actually being the FIRST to do something - nobody is really going to give a shit. Canuck

no Canuck

Yup, me too. And it's 10 sq.ft. smaller, so all things being equal, it should in fact be thinner. Still a cool design though, and probably no thicker than my Velocity. Canuck

Interesting that they would line this canopy with Vectran but still use Spectra on the Onyx - backwards if you ask me. Years and years ago Chute shop made a canopy called the Reflex that had end cells split into three rather than two. Not sure what the design reasons are. Canuck

My DZ has a Cayenne 210 that we use as transition gear for newbies - very popular canopy. I've put a couple jumps on it to check it out. Openings were both subterminal, so I can't tell you much about that, but it flew and landed quite nicely. Toggle pressure is a little high, but not unbearable. Front riser inuut is mushy and doesn't result in much turn or dive. It has HUGE glide, but maybe thats because it was loaded about 1:1 instead of my normal 2:1. The canopy is made with the Gelvenor fabric, so packing is easy. Construction quality seems good. That's about all I can tell ya - hope it helps. Canuck

The demo thing doesn't work up here in Canada. For whatever reason, none of the manufacturers, including PD, have realized that there are a few thousand skydivers up here that would like to try before they buy, and won't send demos up. There has got to be somebody on your dropzone that owns a Stiletto 120 that you could put some jumps on. Every dropzone has a Stiletto 120 somewhere!!! Especially a PD lovin' dropzone!! Canuck

My DZO bought an Onyx 95 and we did some comparisons against my Velocity 96 this weekend. First we laid them out on top of each other. The lines on the Onyx are a good 12 to 14 inches shorter than my Velo, and the Onyx is about 16 inches shorter in span and about 10 inches shorter in chord than the Velo. There is deffinately more than 1 sq. ft difference between these two canopies. It's also a very thin airfoil - it looks even more low profile than an equal sized VX. Then we took them on a couple hop n pops. By our weight and the suggested same square footage of the canopies, we should have been wing loaded exactly the same (2.1), but like I said, the reality is that the Onyx is deffinately a smaller canopy. In full flight, the Onyx is just a little faster forward and down. With both flying rear riser input, my Velo is much more efficient, pulling up and ahead of the Onyx. In brakes, the canopies can be matched up perfectly, we even docked them. I lead both landings, setting up a 270 at 800 ft. Apparently as soon as I got on the front riser I pulled away - the Onyx couldn't match the dive. Overall, he really likes the openings and thinks the canopy flys well with lots of bottom end, but doesn't hold a dive or build speed as well as his Competition Cobalt 95. Just a few observations I thought I'd pass on. Canuck

Nice. A few things will help slow you down. First, point your toes towards your head. You will be suprised how much difference that alone makes. Second, spread your legs - you're really quite narrow. Third, move your elbows away from your torso - right now only your forearms are catching air - not that you should become at all dependant on your arms, but they do slow you down. Keep it up!! Canuck

If I remember correctly, because the screw holes don't go all the way through, in order to get the holes properly lined up with your mounting surface you either need to take the plate apart so you can see right through, or try to measure the distance between them and drill your mounting holes the same. That's what I did, which works fine, it's just a little finicky. Canuck

This just totally cracks me up. Way to go Atair!! Stellar marketing work!! I can't wait to buy a canopy from a company that doesn't even know what size their demo canopies are. Or, is it a possibility that they intentionally labelled each canopy one size bigger to compensate for the fact that it reportedly dives like a dog... I'll kepp my Velocity. Canuck

I agree with Z and Da Gimp. I shoot on TV mode - 500 on bright days, 350 when it's a little hazy, 250 if it's dawn/dusk/overcast. I use 200 film and have never had a problem. Keep the 400 for indoor shots. I use autofocus in freefall with excellent results. I do find though that for shooting tandem landings it's better to switch to manual focus and set to infinity. My camera/lens seems to have a hard time focusing on the tandem as it's coming towards me. Canuck

Can you elaborate on this? Do they have their canopies trimmed steeper or flatter or what? I had sort of wondered about this - especially with all the hands off moves they're pulling. Canuck

Very Bizzare. The canopy was a Sabre 2 210 with probably less than 30 or 40 jumps on it. The jumper is a heavier guy, I'd guess in the 200-210 range without gear. He had done a solo jump and was working on sit-flying, but claims he had returned belly to earth at 5 grand, and pulled stable at 3. The opening was brutal and literally broke his femur. He flew the canopy back to the landing area, and called down for help before he even got to the ground. My speculation was that he still had some extra airspeed from the sit and possibly pulled while unstable and that his leg strap had slid down his leg, but the jumper claims none of this to be true, and I have no reason to doubt him. The container is a Sidewinder, properly sized for the canopy. The pc is zero-p, and I believe 28 inches. Others put test jumps on the rig afterwards and found the openings to have a quick snatch, but then a fairly slow snivel and inflation. Jumper is one tough dude, he was back in the air in just under a year. Canuck

Hey Kimblair13, I'm not a Greenie, but read the rules - no personal attacks in the forums! Retard is not a nice word. Now as far as what is and what is not a rumor, let me tell you with full authority that a guy at my dropzone broke his femur on a Sabre 2 opening last year! Ouch! Canuck

I've held the two side-by-side and can barely tell the difference other than the one flat side of the Pimp Daddy. They feel the same on too. I hate the buckle on the Gunner - it's a pain in the ass. Now, the best looking and most popular helmet that Bonehead has ever made is the original Pimp Daddy with the velvet like Chuck has on in his avatar. Why they don't start making those again I just don't know. Canuck

Anybody here from Eloy that knows what kind of helmet both Tim Straus and Steve Curtis are jumping? Canuck

Hell yeah!! This is exactly why I can't bring myself to dumping a bunch of money into a tunnel. Yes the freefall bang for your buck is about the same, but think about all those swoops you're missing out on!! Weekend looks good - it's swoopy time!! Canuck

The Plaid Jackets (no longer competing, but long standing Canadian champs and World medalists on multiple occassions) spent their last few years jumping Triathalon 135s for sequential and swore by them. They had jumped Lightening 126s before that when they were primarily a rotation team. They will also say that the Tris land way better than the Lightening, but in fairness, they are loading them a little less. I believe they have also commented that the Triathalon is an easier canopy to use for their wild parabatic shows, which if you haven't seen, you haven't seen truly amazing CRW! Canuck

You mean you actually have one? In your posession? That you're jumping? An Onyx? Canuck