Canuck

Double mal where the gear was at fault - oh yeah (well, sort of). About 10 years ago, there was a recall on the reserve pilot chutes from a particular manufacture. One of the guys at my DZ had one of these rigs that he jumped regularly for CRW. As a matter of coincidence, the rig had tertsh (sp?) rings on it, so he took it up for an intentional. Total mal - he landed the 20' round. That's a straight from the horses mouth "no shit there I was" story witnessed by many!! Canuck

So this Greg Yarbonet must work for NASA then?!! HA HA HA The only similarities I can think of between the Crossfire and the Nova is that they are both better canopies than the Cobalt! Canuck

The only use I can see this being any good for are the sky surfers. Rail Grinding in a pair of shoes doesn't really work, otherwise, we could save ourselves the rolerblades/skateboards/etc. and all just go giver shit on the curbs in our sneakers! Am I missing something!? Canuck

I had a PD 150 in my hands last weekend. The mic is only attached by a clamp - it comes off no problemo. As for strapping one of these bad boys to your melon - you gots to be friggin nuts!! Canuck

Great post! As a tandem videographer, unless I'm very confident of the flying skills of the person chasing - I hate it!!! On the back of my mind from exit to deployment is "where are they, how fast are they coming, and are they going to get the f*** out of my way at deployment time." I'll add one other thing. As far as chasing a tandem that is also having video, that I feel needs to be ok'd by not only the tm, but also the passenger - they are the ones paying for it, they should get to decide whether some stranger is in geeking the camera on their video. Canuck

Paragear sells something called "camera-loc fastening tape." Page 106 of catalogue #67. My old mentor vidiot used it to mount his old hi-8 back in the day, and it held for hundreds of jumps. Me...I'll stick with my d-boxes thanks! Canuck

Yeahhhh baby....I'm with you all the way on this one! What's even funnier is someone playing the role of canopy nazi that if I'm not mistaken has about 300 jumps and is talking about downsizing from a Saber 150 to a Vengeance 107! I guess we will never know though, because said person's numbers and gear have been conveniently wiped clear of his user profile. Canuck

I'm not sure about this. If the team breaks off at 4000, that means the camera flyer can pull at 4000. If the team tracks and pulls at 3000, they should be no where near the camera flyer, vertically or horizontaly. I think pulling much below 3000 is flirting with disaster under todays high performance canopies (and I'm not even talk about the cross braced sub 100's). When 2200 was set as the minimum activation altitude, everyone was jumping Cuislites and Furys. Openings took up way less altitude, they hardly ever spun up, and when they did mal, you had minutes before you hit the ground, not seconds (OK not always, but you get the point). My Crossfire takes 1000 feet to open from the time I toss. Nay-sayers argue as you will - I have proven it several times with video. So, if I pull at 2200, it's entirely possible that I'm going through a grand by the time I even realize I'm under a mal. Can you say Cypres fire? I realize that it's my choice to jump a slow opening canopy, but it's common sense when jumping that canopy to pull by or above 3000. Canuck

I've got the new style of d-box on one of my helmets. With my TRV 17, the hand strap just fits in, but it's a very tight squeeze. I actually don't mind though, it basically acts like a piece of foam in that it keeps the camera nice and snug so it can't move inside the box. See if you can't squeeze it in. Canuck

Anybody know who will be available for freefly coaching at Lost Prarie? Is the Voodoo Rendevous happening again this year? Anybody? Canuck

Talsan is a lighter weight material, and as such will produce less drag. It's a very hardy material though and withstands lots of abuse. The cotton is heavier weight, better for bigger guys. Both materials "breathe" fine in terms of staying cool. Sometimes your color choices will be different depending on which material you choose. Canuck

First, it's all about the visuals. My first 500ish jumps were on my belly. I got pretty decent at turning 4-way, but basically to be good, the only visuals you are thinking about is always making eye contact with your partner (as in looking to the center). Freeflying, either upright or headdown, you have the whole horizon in front of you. You see the people you are jumping with, the sky, the earth, everything. Second, the cool thing about freeflying is you're right, we can just hang around for 45 seconds sharing the moment, chillin out, doing nothing other than flying relative, and have a great time. That just doesn't happen in rw (I think it's the whole visuals thying.) And if you want to get more technical with it, check out some competition video. Freefly can be everybit as regimented, dirt-dived, drilled, and routine as rw. Both are cool, I just much prefer to freefly now. Canuck

The Jonathan was one of the early elliptical designs. If I'm not mistaken, they were on the market a year or two at least before the Stiletto. They were made by Air Time back when they still made canopies, and as such, were subject to their poor quality control. As with the Jedies, some are good, some not so good. Unlike the Jedie, they are not airlocked. I'm almost positive Brian Germain had nothing to do with the design of these canopies. In the same era, Airtime was selling a square canopy called the Tomcat. I've had a couple buddies that jumped Jonathan 136's. General impression is that they are a Stiletto like canopy in most regards, other than the openings, which tend to be a little brisker to down right hard. Flare might be a little mushier too. That's all I've got. Oh yeah one last thing, it's not a godd canopy for someone with 30 jumps!! Canuck

OK...how to put this politely. Your profile says 330 jumps. This post gives a fairly clear indication that you haven't taken the time to fully learn about canopy flight (both in theory and practice). You my friend, are in the danger zone... What you say in your original post fundamentally contradicts. The canopy that dives harder and flies faster will indeed flare longer. Think about it, it has to in order to bleed off the speed and stop. And where are you getting these times from. How can you say the comp cobalt flares for 3.8 seconds, and the impulse flares for 5 seconds? Is that based on a straight in approach? A 90? A 270? Are you talking about a nice smooth controlled falre, or a toggle stab. Are you saying that no matter how you land the comp cobalt, that after 3.5 seconds it no longer flares? Then what?... Then you say that a canopy's airspeed and recovery arc are not affected by wind speed. Wrong. Any experienced swooper will tell you that a canopy stays in the corner longer on a windy day (landing into the wind that is). Many broken legs have proven that mistake. Take a giant step back. Canopies don't swoop, good pilots swoop. Talk to some mentors, read, watch video, do whatever it takes to educate yourself. It just might save you a femur. Canuck

huh? Canuck

Two options: 1. Find a way to somewhat securely fasten a lazer pointer to the still camera so the dot is in the center of the viewfinder. Mount both your still and video to the helmet and look through the video viewfinder. Make sure the little red dot is in the center of the video viewfinder, and lock it down. 2. With the video camera on the helmet and recording, take a few pictures with the still camera mounted where you think is right. Get the roll developed (unless it's digital) and then compare the framing to the video image when you took the picture (you'll hear it on the video). Make any adjustments, and try again. Remember the whole paralax thingy....you will want the two cameras to match up at whatever distance you will most commonly be shooting. Canuck

Canopies get wet all the time. If everytime someone chowed swooping a pond they had to get a new canopy, I'm betting there would be A LOT less swoop competitions!!! Have a rigger look at it if you're really concerned, but chances are you have nothing to worry about. Canuck

I see the logic in your argument. I would agree that most cross-braced canopies are trimmed much steeper than most non-cross braced canopies. However, I'm not sure if that translates into a perceivably shorter usable range of the rear risers. I believe most would argue that the chance of rear riser stalls increase more so with higher and higher wing loadings. I think it's very important to make the message clear to the up and comers that all canopy maneuvers can be performed and practiced on a conventional canopy. It prevents people from getting into cross braced wings before they are ready because they think only a cross-braced canopy can be swooped or rear risered. Canuck

Not looking for an argument, just an explanation. Based on what are you making the assumption that rear risers are any less safe on a non-cross braced canopy? Hopefully it's more than just your experience seeing more people doing it flying cross-braced canopies. The explanation to that should be pretty obvious. Canuck

Be careful using rear risers without a crossbraced canopy?? Huh?? I've seen lots of dudes jumping jumping non-crossbraced canopies and flying the shit out of the rear risers all the way to the stop. Stiletto's, Crossfires, Cobalt's, Saber 2's...and the list goes on. Canuck

I disagree that rw suits are better for tracking. The extra bulk around the ankles and wrists on a freefly suit adds surface area, the same way booties do. I did my first rw jump in a rw suit last weekend in well over 2 years, and my track felt like shit! Anyway, that being said, as I believe applies to all types of skydiving, a good skydiver learns to fly his or her body regardless of what type of suit/clothes they are wearing. I've been on tracking dives lead by people wearing jeans and a t-shirt that made me WORK!! Canuck

I have a few hundred jumps on a Crossfire119, and a few handfulls of jumps on various sized Stilettos (120's to 150's). The Crossfire will dive steeper and longer and has a longer toggle stroke and deeper flare. The Stiletto will turn faster and may have a slight advantage in glide. Either one can swoop mega in the right hands. Openings go hands down to the Crossfire - super slow and usually on heading. And the best part is, even when you do spin them up, the canopy flies straight and level (at least mine does). The only other thing to consider is the line type. If you aren't partial to vectran, then you better get the Stiletto. Hope this helps. Canuck

How about two sided tape? Go with a good brand like 3M and it should hold fine, but is a little less permanent if you want to change it one day to accommodate a different camera model. That's basically what comes on the foam Bonehead sends out with their "generic" d-boxes, and mine's holding just fine. Canuck

The Pinnacle Sudio DV package is a great starter set IMO. It comes with a card and cable, and the software will do everything you need unless you are looking at doing comercial work, and is super user friendly. It's pretty inexpensive too, in fact, probably the least expensive package I know of. Canuck

If you have a minidv camera and a vhs deck, you can re-capture the video into dv format and then post a frame grab. This I have got to see! Canuck