hparrish

Wow this has been a bad year. Hang in their folks. No matter how bad things get, they always get better.

Um......We have a small tunnel in Carolina.

I don't mind helping out with some ground stuff and maybe some one on one coaching when I get back in the Air. I can come up and cover the Safety Basics anytime, and check folks gear over, etc.....

Good to see you there Benji............. Eugene.....We (You, Justin, and Me), are booked for two 30 Min Blocks on Saturday Dec 1, at 12PM and 2PM. Leroy may join us. If anyone else wants in get with Leroy and schedule the 30 Minute Blocks at 12:30 and 2:30. That way we could have 6-8 in the tunnel with an hour rest between blocks. Later,

Good Point

I can only do Saturdays for now. It's more of a Family Thing then a Work Thing. I sent you a note on SB. Let me know about jumping in with you and Benji's group on Saturday at 5PM.

Where are you coming in from?

Well I showed up this past weekend and all I can say is..................................Holy Shit this Tunnel is AWESOME. A must for anyone who thought they couldn't Freefly in a tunnel. A MUST !!!

Yes Eugene your English sucks but your message is clear. I agree the Tunnel will be an invaluable tool. I plan on spending my winter in the tunnel and hanging up my skydiving gear until spring. If you can freefly well in the Tunnel, than you can Freefly well. If folks can put aside their egos, experience levels, world record experience, pre-conceptions and start over in the tunnel they will do nothing but benefit from it. I have no problems reverting back to a student when I show up. I have no problems with letting a tunnel rat coach me on freeflying. I have no problems following the SkyVenture process for freeflying in a tunnel (belly, back, sit, HD, Transtitions, 2 Way). I have no problems checking my ego at the door and learning something new. I hope everyone else can, becuase then we can fly some tight shit in the tunnel and out of the tunnel. I see great things coming for Freeflying in North Carolina. It would be great to see some old friends come back to the sport, and work on some cool shit in the tunnel. Look Folks this new Tunnel (Paraclete XP) is awesome. I'm so excited I live an hour away. It is expensive, but worth it. Expensive because you can go through an hour pretty quickly but what you can learn in an hour would take months in the air. Great Post Eugene............

How much is a jump at your the DZ you are taking AFF? I would assume AFF Levels 1-10 would be significanlty higher than 10 minutes of Tunnel Time. To put it into perspective 10 minutes in the tunnel is equal to 10 Jumps. I don't see how that is too expensive.

I'll join your Fatboys club. Looking fwd to this weekend.

Good Point...

I think you will find that the JVX has more of a positive recovery arc than a Velo. It takes some technique to keep it in a dive and not pull out of your dive early. This does not mean that you should start your 270 lower on a JVX. Trust me keep it above 750'. You will need to develope a new style with setting up and executing turns with the JVX. That's the biggest complaint I hear from Velo pilots. I personally go into half Brakes for setup, go to double fronts and start my harness turn, I slowly let up on my outside riser, then ease out of my inside riser and follow through with my harness. I found this series of manuevers keeps me in my turn until I want to come out of my dive. I'll use altitude and rears to come out of my dive. Took me a good 50 jumps to start dialing in my style on the JVX. Be patient.

My Condolences to Chris Wagner and his family. Chris is a first rate gentleman and person, and that obviously came from his parents. I'm sorry for your loss Chris. Harry P CSS

My comments reference a larger Hybrid formation - say 6 - 12 Way or bigger. I think it's perfectly reasonable to have lower jump numbers and experience levels on a 3-4 way Hybrid. Thats how we all learn.

Oh Christ..........Who Cares. Eventually someone wll build an 18' Chamber My Car is faster than yours, my dad can beat up your dad. The're both big, and FUN.

Is it just me or have we Lost an exceptionally high number of Mentors in our sport this year. What the Hell is going on???

What a fun idea............Hope you will post pictures. I have always wanted to put together a hybrid of that size, but we've lost so many of our talented Freeflyers over the past several years, it's not been possible. But Raeford is starting to rebuild Freeflying so there may be hope in the Carolinas. Thanks for keeping things going, I see allot of your events posted on DZ.com. I admire your talent and willingness to put shit together. It would be nice to see some of the other high caliber Freeflyers get back into organizing these events all over the country. Regards,

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who's got anxiety about the landing. I'm really excited to get back into the air.......Not so much when thinking about landing. It really does mess with your head. Thanks to the other for their responses. I'm hoping to get others to add their comments, so we all can learn, that even experienced canopy pilots are conservative. What prompted me to start this thread was two of my Mentors in this sport (John Lyman and Jack Sheehe), asking me what my plan was regarding canopy progression, when I return. John is my Rigger and Friend and Jack (also a friend), just made his first jump after breaking his back last year. I had thought I was going to jump a 150 and step it down from there, but after talking to them I'm thinking 200+ sq foot student Rig for my first few.

Thanks...........I wish we could get some more of the Pro's to speak up. A few have spoken. I think it speaks volumes when people we all respect....can share their hard or not so glamorous experiences. I think it opens more eyes to hear from someone like Ian Bobo (just an example), that he got hurt doing X, Y, and Z. Folks may take a little more caution with their own cavalier approaches. I think a thread like this could do allot more than the theads where the 300 jump wonder is asking about a Velocity at 2.2:1 wingloading and gets his ass REAMED again. I'm getting tired of that thread repeating itself. Hoping more folks will step up to the mic. It's a great Thread Idea and a really good learning tool.

Thanks for sharing that Skymama, it's speaks volumes about the man, but it's not hard to believe. I too have never met him in person but have read his many contributions on DZ.Com and we have conversed via PM's. I'd have to say he is one of the very few folks on these posts that I agree'd with 99% of the time. I hate to see the nice ones go this way. My Deepest sympathy to his family and friends. Blue Skies Tonto.

Ian.....I know you're a Freak of Nature and were back in 11 weeks. What was your progression?

Just my opinion. I personally get lost in Brian's Technical Speak, and I consider myself an experienced canopy pilot. Brian is definately geared more towards folks who already understand a good amount about canopies and their performance. I have only heard Scott Miller speak once, but he brings it down to a level that is easier for most folks to understand and grasp. I think that's important when you are trying to learn something.

I'm interested in hearing from the truely exerienced swoopers on this thread. What was your canopy progression upon returning to the sport after a long layoff? In my case a 15 Month Layoff, 1000 jumps on a 2:1 wingloading before my crash. I'm personally going to put a few on a 1:1 canopy and step it down from there for about 50 jumps, or whatever feels right.

EXCELLENT........Thanks for the update.