Chubba

I recommend being as current as possible for your release dive. My AFF was spaced out over several months but it was definitely advantageous for me to do stage 3 (hover control) and 4 (release dive) on the same day.

I see no problem buying a modern canopy and a good quality container loaded 0.9-1.0 if it's a good deal. It's a reasonably conservative loading after you get your license and off rental gear. It fits in nicely with germains chart, wanting to get off that gear as quickly as possible onto an even smaller canopy (sometimes 150 or lower) loaded over 1.0 at the ~50-100 jump mark seems to conflict with what germain says, but I see the majority of jumpers doing it. Plenty of blokes around here stuck with the lighter loading and cranked out 300 jumps in their first year, remaining accident free. I ended up with a Sabre2 170 (loaded ~0.95) when the deal arised and it was definitely the right decision. Talk to your instructors, demo a few of the more popular canopies, something good will turn up.

I'm a uni student, I worked and saved for the entire 4 month break so I could afford a kitesurfing setup. Ending up costing me $3000, was very happy with it. Had $400 left over when I went back to uni (I live in poverty during the semester). I was searching around to buy an RC helicopter , I spent lots of time at hobby stores trying to find the right chopper. I recently moved to the beach, one fine Saturdayjust before I was heading out to do the final deal on an awesome Apache, I saw all these beach tandems come down, I thought "what the hell" and rang up and booked a tandem with my last remaining dollars. Started searching for a bit of stuff on the internet about skydiving, then I saw something called "AFF". Google found me a local DZ, AFF, $400!!! Same price as tandem... what am I crazy? Why would I pay the same money to go tandem when I could go solo! Called up/cancelled my tandem/booked my AFF. Rest is history, that $400 left that I decided to spend on a whim has caused me to spend 99.9% of my income on skydiving in the last year. I'm glad I did it.

I've seen a few pics of Cookie flying a new full face design, looked awesome, might have to grab one

I don't think many people are going to argue that smoking impairs a person more then drinking. Can't have a double standard though, it's not hard to wait till the end of the day.

I know a few BASE jumpers that smoke before jumping. If you take out of equation the "deaths hurt our sport" argument, I have no problem with it to be honest. When you're at a dropzone though, jumping out of the same plane with your sober peers, sharing the same airspace in freefall and under canopy... then it becomes your responsibility to NOT smoke before jumping. Simple as that.

You will get to experience "tracking" in your AFF jumps though, this will be your first taste of human flight and I assure you it's

Screw landing in a tree I've seen plenty of down winders in the short 12 months I've been in the sport, definitely not a reason to be nasty to a newcomer, he/she would have came back from the incident looking for some constructive support... not an ego filled lecture.

Badass, the fluro yellow looks awesome.

The canopy was still in a dive from a speed inducing manoeuvre, it had not recovered back to normal flight.

Should have made SOME sort of attempt at a roll, sticking your legs out at that speed is Ewwww, I really didn't need to watch that.

Full altitude hop n pops make a lot of sense too, pity our airspace is heavily controlled and we're not allowed canopies above 5000ft People can get VERY unfocused and tense on the long ride to height in the sardine tin C182.

Our CI always puts new canopies out low. You got a specific goal to focus on, short ride to altitude, no other distractions and little to no traffic. Perhaps likestojump has another reason, but that's ours.

I bought a Cookie Rok helmet. Be careful of the helmet sizing with Cookie though. I have an average sized head, probably on the smaller side. When I went down to the factory (live locally), they suggested the small... nearly crushed my skull, then they thought the medium, ridiculously tight... tried on the large, very snug still but extremely comfortable, it's moulding in nicely. I don't know what kind of mutant small head people are buying Cookie helmets Great helmets, Cookie and his team are top notch blokes.

I jump an I-44, love it, freefly bomb proof. Friend has an I-45, snug fit for a 210 Sab2. I'm new to the sport, but god damn the flaps on these infinity's are incredibly strong and the bridle cover is excellent. I'm still amazed at how strong that main flap is, you can lift the whole rig by the flap and shake it , it doesn't open.

Indeed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

2-way rel dive about 2 hours ago, best one I've ever done, it's finally starting to click. Cessna 182. Someone farted

Best reason hands to always use a rigger. When I bought my complete rig via a DZ.com seller, the rigger discovered very minor damage (practically invisible) on one set of the 3-rings that was gradually cutting into the white loop. The seller was unaware of this, rigger called seller, new risers arrived that week for the same agreed price.

A good quality pullup is a nice luxury. Paragear always send me a pullup with every order. On the other hand my rigger always hands me one whenever I ask, the Vigil ones (I use a Cypres2 ) are extremely thick, long and durable.

Should have my first 2009 jump this weekend. There's a 110% chance it will be from a C182

I bought a Sabre2 170 @ jump 24. I absolutely love it, I'm loading it slightly lower (~0.95ish). The flare is amazing and the openings are extremely soft and snivelly, albeit a bit twisty and offheading atm while I'm refining my body position. 26 jumps on the canopy so far, 26 soft standup landings, the flare is soooo powerful. Loaded under 1, the canopy flies quite docile in a straight line but still (compared to my previous canopies) turns quite fast/sharp, mucho fun. VERY fun to land no wind.

I feel uncomfortable posting in this thread with all the high jump numbers but I'll post my experiences. My personal experience has been my 170ft Sabre2 opens EXACTLY the same from a 110mph (I'm a stick) terminal / 3 - 5 delay hop n pop. Altitrack and neptune on both types of jumps line up within 50ft essentially, under 100ft everytime.

Being a small single 182 DZ with no tandems, there's basically an AFF on every load RIGHT next to the door. Open at 3.5k, cold air rushing in, quickly step out facing the prop, give the finger/flip the bird to the plane then do a backflip and catch the face of the student after the first revolution. Evil but oh soo fun. Subterminal flying is an absolute blast. PS: I had a 400 jump wingsuit/tracker specialist on a hop n pop backtrack (with finger flip/bird) on my AFF1, probably the most spine chilling experience ever. Cold air + the face to face glare, A++.

Hop n Pops are my favourite, I go on every single one offered at the DZ, probably 1 in every 4 jumps is a hop n pop for me, C182 DZ. Quick ride to altitude, do a funky exit @ 3.5ft and dump with a short delay (usually 3s), get a full canopy flight. Sub-terminal openings on my Sabre2 are a bit crazy.

I live directly next to a beach tandem DZ. It's funny watching all the magpies attack the drogues the entire canopy flight.