MarcusV

Thanks :-))) -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

---> next try jpg attached ;-) -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I think Drew means the sight ring. For beginning I wouldn't recommend you a Newton sight because you are just adding another risk up to all the others. A Newton sight sticking out can easily lead to an entanglement with the lines. No fun. Later when you get paid for CRW or filming 8- or 16-ways a Newton sight makes sense because with it you always frame your object(s) right. A very effective trick I used was 1. define your dominant eye. Look at an object 10-15 ft. away by watching through e.g. a piece of paper with a 1 inch hole in it holding an armlength away of your eyes (you can form the hole with your hands too). Now keep watching the object and slowly bring the hole nearer to your eyes. The eye the hole is stopping in front of is your dominant eye. If you have problems defining it let a friend help you who is watching you from the object. 2. Get a cheap laser pointer. Get your helmet with camera on and your goggles, be in a relaxed position and fix your object. Get the laser pointer fixed so it lines up with the exact middle of your camera. Now the laserpointer is your reference to the object's middle. 3. Get an reinforcement ring (???? don't know in english) from McPaper or something similar or just use a waterresistant pen to paint a ring or circle on your goggle. Get the point on the object 10-15 ft away from your laserpointer and paint a little ring on the goggle in front of your dominant eye. Now you are able to always frame any objects right. Shortly before exit you can easily check with your laserpointer if it's really in the middle of your dominant eye, and you don't get the risk of entanglement with a sticking out sight ring. I hope this helps you; if I haven't expressed myself well enough just send me a PM, I'll try better then ;-))) I have a picture attached of the reinforcement ring on the goggles. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

SkydiveMonkey, sounds interesting, I never heard of it. Can you post a link of their website? Thx! Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Hi Brian, a) the Protec provides definitely more protection than the Gath (guess why AFF students all wear Protecs at least here in Germany ;-)) b) the Protec is ugly (guess why you recognize people wearing pink Protec's as AFF-students immediately ;-)) c) the Gath may fit quite comfortable, it may look cool, it's good for installing your first camera on it, but it's no real protection. d) Including myself I know many people being satisfied with their Gaths for thousands of jumps, especially when you don't want to spend much more than 100 $ and rather invest your money into jump tickets. Last year tore my chin strap of my Gath with 2 pro-dytters and a Sony PC 4 at 5000 ft. In the evening we found my Gath lying near the manifest, wet, dirty, impacted with an average speed of 106 km/h. Everything was okay, some scratches, but nothing else. The dytters are still in use, the camera works absolutely perfect, and my Gath helmet was just dirty! Today I love it. If you have more money to spend, go with a bonehead or hawkeye. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Skydiving is safe. Meanwhile. Because we have to think such a lot about safety in this sport. That's why there are chief instructors. So there are s&ta's. So we have a safety & training forum. And much more. To make skydiving safe. Fortunately not all skydivers think and have thought the way you do. Ask yourself why you can be so safe now. If skydiving weren't dangerous - why should one think about safety... why should safety be an attitude... towards what... But what do I say. Sorry dude. You are the pro, man. You have the knowledge. You have the experience. Future skydivers must be glad you write down your thoughts for them and eternity... Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

That's what I wanted to write just now - thanks :-) If you compare statistics, do it the right way. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Rhino, don't get me wrong. What I mean with ignorant and blind and naive is that there are people running around and telling people skydiving is absolutely not dangerous, you just have to be cool, the risk do die while lying in the sun is much higher and all this. Cmon, you can tell this your grandma - and it's okay then. But do you really believe driving in the car is the most dangerous part in skydiving? Really believe that when thinking about? You cannot compare skydiving and driving in a car or get struck by lightning with some statistics (this alone is a bit, hm, senseless). And if you do - you can interprete it as you want. Start thinking! You have a brain! Think of life before you think of death, Rhino. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I can't believe this. One must be either blind or naive or totally ignorant or a whuffo or a troll or altogether to believe this. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Pat Work's book and video "The Art of vRW" is always a fantastic resource to recommend. Visit his website http://www.works-words.com to read more about it. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Why particularly? It is not only fully freefly-friendly, it is actually made for freeflying. But, of course, there is a difference between the Teardrop "Classic" and the "Superfly". The Classic is not really freefly-friendly because of the flap design with velcro (there have been other threads discussing this recently). Get more info at http://www.thomas-sports.com Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Remster, I know for sure the SF Teardrop is FAA TSO c23D, and the Next is TSO'ed too but don't know if c23 or c23D - you definitely can use both h/c systems in Europe and US. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Remster, if you'd like the Teardrop SF as without poptop-version, you might like the NEXT from Paratec very much. In Germany you see more and more skydivers wear and love this harness/container system, which is actually a teardrop sf with a reserve flap but no poptop, together with all the options you get from TSE. It even has a much narrower design than the SF because the poptop used more space. Check it out here: Paratec's website Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I have never heard anything about Teardrops being manufactured elsewhere than in the UK by TSE Thomas Sports, but who knows... [advertising on] However, Chris, Sally, and the rest of the TSE-team do an absolutely awesome work. I definitely love my Superfly Teardrop which is my third being made by them. For my last one made for 120 reserve/119 main I waited 25 (twenty-five!) days (!) (and no, TSE does not offer from stock), from sending my order till getting it from my dealer. Fully articulated and all stainless steel (with the PDF-patented new buckles) and cushioned back pad (getting old you know) for only 800 €/1600 $. Kicks ass ;-) [/advertising off] Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

And so does the main flap on e.g. my Teardrop SF. It doesn't necessarily have to open during deployment. In this case it has the only function of protecting the closing loop and a piece of bridle. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Zennie describes it really well. To visualize this and more about backflying/-tracking go see the fine animations on Pat Work's website here. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

:-))) Dave, how fast are you headdown? Why slow down if you can speed up! The first USA speed competition will be held from the 9th to the 12th of May 2002 in Deland :-) With this speed you only have to add a minimum of 400 jumps to qualify! In the last speedskydiving event 2001 in Lapalisse with 218 you'd have belonged to the first 15, man! Check it out Speedskydiving WorldCup 2002 USA Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Lundis, in Skydiving No. 20/June 2001 Scott Miller from Performance Designs explains this situation very well. He gives an example with Marco weighing 190 lbs. and flying a 190 sq.ft. canopy e.g. Sabre at 1:1 wingloading, and his girl friend Sue on a 135 sq.ft. Sabre weighing 135 lbs, also at 1:1 wingloading. Both on the same canopy model and the same wing loading - will their canopy perform the same? No, it won't. John LeBlanc explains during a canopy seminar that canopies of different size will not have the same flight charcteristics and performance only because they are loaded the same. Because both canopies fly through the same type of air. Sue perhaps is 30% lighter than Marco and flies a canopy 30% smaller, but the air molecules (is this right in english????) she is flying through will not be 30% smaller, and will not be 30% thicker. Also a smaller canopy has shorter lines thus reacting faster than the bigger canopy with the same wingloading. Sue's canopy will be faster in turns and input reaction and at the same time more unforgiving of pilot errors than under the bigger canopy. Hope I could help you. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Can please anyone explain to me what socialism has to do with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, or other european countries? God be with ye ;-)) Thanks Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The vortex II is made by Chute Shop South Africa. Their website is down in the moment, but you can take a look here: http://www.vortex2systems.com/term.htm and here are some pics: http://www.chuteshop.co.uk/vortex album.htm Looks like a javelin - and is really cool, comfortable, and cheap! No one makes smaller rigs for what canopy combination ever! Definitely. -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Hi all, I think this could be interesting for you ;-) : "Break Off and Opening - Minimum break off altitude for more than a two-way group is 5.500ft. - Minimum break off altitude for a two-way is 5.000ft. - Before break off visual awareness is critical, i.e. everyone knows where everyone else is. - Freeflyers should go into a progressive track to ensure safe break off. - If possible always track 90º to the jump run. - Perform a barrel roll to check there is no one above you, prior to opening. - If someone is below you and you are clear-PULL! - After opening fly your canopy 90º from the jump run. This allows free space for the skydivers who have jumped after you. Do this until you can see the groups that jumped before and after you." Stolen from "A Freefly Guide" from Babylon Freefly, Empuria Brava. Download the complete guide (*.pdf) here: "A Freefly Guide" Have fun blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Yes. PA says: "Warning! Minimum of 500 jumps experience is required!" Or do they mean 500 jumps on ellipticals... I think it's not very smart to require a minimum jump number. Everyone knows people with much more than 500 jumps but who have made them in so many years that - you know what I mean, jump numbers are not really representative for canopy flight skills. And right, PD did require this 500-jump-thing and recognized it doesn't really make sense. Today they recommend that canopy pilots have "considerable experience with fairly highly loaded elliptical canopies" before they move on over to for example the Velocity. But how to check this out... -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Zennie, sorry - I misunderstood you. Didn't catch you mean to drop into a relaxed backfly position before back tracking. Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Zennie, my opinion, anybody correct me if I'm wrong: You run the risk to cork up in both cases not only by starting on your belly but on your back either. The winds don't consider if the presented body is on its belly or back ;-) That's why you should be taught to do a 180 cartwheel at separation, accelerating into a fast headdown and then gradually track away with a fast barrel roll before wave-off. Of course "beginners" shouldn't do that - but they shouldn't fly together in such big ways where they can't overview if there is anybody else below or above them ;-) Blues Marcus -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Clay, I didn't know that, but yes, right. But you're learning and developing, and that's cool. Today's best supported students are the best supporting instructors of tomorrow. Just my 2 cents blues Marcus (don't know shit either) -- Perfect speed, my son, is being there. - Jonathan Livingston Seagull