faulknerwn

Drag planes are GREAT! Its so much fun being upside down under canopy. Especially with my small canopy - I can very deeply upside-down but since we still have forward speed, it stays inflated. W

Oops.. Its crw.boxofclue.com/skydive/skydive.html I still don't understand why my first one isn't clicky :-)

There are a fair number of girl CRWdogs these days. A whole bunch in Northern California, and some others of us scattered throughout the country. You can get a lot of good CRW info off of my website: http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~faulkner/skydive.html There are lots of good CRW links and pictures and documents there. It is a great sport. W

No Kidding. That's what I love most about summers in Texas - the big white puffy clouds just meant to be played i. They are so beautiful - I have little motivation to ever freefall in the summertime in Texas. W

Mine usually works until about 10,000 feet. I've received a call on the ground from someone else who was at 10k too and albeit from a little static, it was fine. W

Not very picky in general. Don't fold or make everything so nice. 4 reserve rides in 3200 jumps - but I went over 2100 jumps in between malfunctions. (1 of my first 3 I didn't pack, and the other 2 I blame more on being a newbie to ellipticals than packing.) I then switched away from ellipticals for a while, went 2100 jumps straight w/o a malfunction, then had one on the first weekend I had my Cobalt 85. :-) Some people are scared of my packjobs, but they open soft and pretty consistently on heading - and most of the off-heading is directly attributable to body positions etc at opening.

And if you buy a hybrid Triathalon, it comes from the factory with the retractible pilot chute and the non-cascaded A lines. Its much easier to have the factory do such things. W

Education with Regulation. I'm tired of having friends maimed and killed. Cobalt 75, 2.0+ wing-loading (depending on lead), 3200 jumps.

When I heard about Roger's death this morning, I had to pull out my first logbook. Back in '94 when I had 60 jumps, I went to Lake Wales which Roger owned at the time, with some friends. They were doing big-ways but manifest hooked me up with other low-timers to jump with, but on Sunday, Roger took me up on 2 "big-ways" - a 9 and a 16 way. I remember being scared but in awe that someone like him would take me on my 67th jump who could hardly fly up in the air. I was base, and I remember doing a 2-way with Roger, and having everyone else come in and dock. It was amazing to me - I closed up my first hour of freefall on that jump. I remember I was supposed to pull in the center and the camera guy wanted me to give him a good wave-off. I think I waved off for a solid 5 seconds. I've never forgotten that jump or that dz. Its funny - yesterday I did 2 formation load 8-ways where I was part of a 2-way base with lower-time jumpers. Seems so apropos in a way. I'll definitely completely the tradition of what he did for me back then. He was a pioneer, and its definitely a great loss to the sport. My condolences to all who knew him better. BSBD, Wen

I know of a guy in Texas who opened his Reflex as he was leaving the King Air. He got lucky everything opened cleanly.. W

I don't mind jumping with Cypreses if its small CRW jumps and you break reasonably high. I wouldn't ever jump one on big-ways, but I think you're fairly safe on small ones.

[reply Here's my feelings about that. YMMV. I don't wear high tops (nor do I lace low tops tightly) cause I want to be able to pull my foot out if all else fails. Over the years, I have easily extricated myself from situations that would have, at the very least, required a someone to chop and potentially much worse. A few line burns and an occasional shoe are cheap prices to pay. You might want to buy relatively cheap shores (or at least get a bulk rate). I agree completely there. More than once I've saved a cutaway (and my ankle) by having shoes that easily come off. And I remember looking up during one wrap thinking, "Oh, I'm good now - I know Pat wears disposable shoes!" If you lose the shoe, the lines seem to slide right off of the foot. Saves the ankles for sure. I always wear regular low-top sneakers (gotta have footwear you can parahike in :-) without long tongues. I have seen lines snag the tongues of shoes causing cutaways and entanglements. I prefer the elastic laces you can buy in Walmart. They're meant for kids, but they're great - pull em tight and your shoes are good to go! W

For CRW, you're just going to need a smaller canopy. I remember wearing about 30 lbs of gear and 30 lbs of lead once, trying to jump a Prodigy 175 when that was all they had - it was exhausting at that just trying to do anything. A smaller canopy is WAY preferable to wearing 60 lbs of lead :-) Links in the rear risers do help some as well. W

boxofclue.com should be fixed now. Its DNS server decided to go haywire over the weekend but is fixed now. W

Ok. I know there's at least 1 good CRWdog based out at Raeford, and most likely others. Know several in Virginia as well.. W

Well, the best you can hope to do right after student status is buy a canopy like a Triathalon or a Spectre. In general, we tend to load our main CRW canopies heavier than I would ever put someone with 20 jumps on. I would never be able to recommend to someone at your number of jumps a "true" CRW canopy like we use because you'd be too likely to get hurt, and you don't want to take them to terminal. HOWEVER, the Lightning I jump (130 lbs, a Lightning 113), is compatible for simple stacks and that sort of thing, with all sorts of different canopies. I jump with people all the time on Spectres at a variety of wing-loadings. A couple of weeks ago I did a girl's first 3 CRW jumps (jumps 20,21 and 22 for her) and she was jumping on a Rascal 235. We're not perfectly matched, but we can do basic rotations and stacks and downplanes and such. So what I would suggest for you is looking into buying a Spectre or a Triathalon. You're going to want to talk to your instructors about what size might be appropriate - because that can vary a LOT for a beginner depending on your skills, what canopies you've been flying, how much training your dz does on canopy control etc. And I can't make any kind of informed judgement without seeing you fly. But a 7-cell is a good safe canopy and they're good for CRW and we can work around wing-loading issues. Its most important that you get a safe first canopy - rather than the perfect one for later. Because if you get the perfect one for later, odds are high you're gonna break a bone on it before later ever comes. Buy a canopy you can learn and make mistakes on now, and downsize later. As for practicing - a lot of the stuff on the new A-license proficiency card can be helpful. Learn how your front-risers fly and your rear risers fly and turn and all that good stuff. Where do you jump? There might be some CRWdogs in your area you can talk to. W

I think its the size of mine. The bigger ones seem to be more docile. But I can't say that for certain because I'm not very familiar with the bigger ones - the individuals jumping them would have to figure out the control stroke. I do know that I have accidently stalled my Tri on more than one occasions on toggles on landing - and I don't think I've done that on any of my other canopies. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do that (obviously on bigger ones) so it could just be the size of mine (or the length of the risers or who knows what else.) W

I've got a multitude of mains (Lightning 113's, Prodigy 150, PD 150, Diablo 88, Triathalon 99, and a Cobalt 75.) The only one I would be concerned about landing with on rear risers is the Triathalon - and then only on a no-wind day. Its got a very short rear-riser control stroke before an abrupt stall. My Cobalt and especially my Diablo's are much longer. If you've never played on rear risers - start now! Practice every jump on them until you feel very comfortable on them. I've landed some strange configurations at times. I've broken various D-lines over the years - on a couple of times did a whole CRW dive and never even noticed. 5 or 6 years ago I landed a Lightning 126 with my retracted pilot chute tied into a knot around my leftmost 2 A &B lines (CRW wrap). I had to fly with the opposite toggle in half brakes or so, but I landed it and PLF'ed into a schoolyard at Perris without a problem. Learn how your canopy flies with all inputs... Its a life-saving skill. I've had 12 or 13 reserve rides now. I'm not afraid of using my reserve. But its my absolute last chance. I'm not going to take a canopy which isn't going to break any bones and chop it and hope for the best. Reserves don't always work. If you don't know how to fly your canopy on all control inputs LEARN. Starting next jump and continuing every single jump until you know. I'm not saying land with rear risers but fly it the whole way down on em until landing. Learn them, flare them, know it as well as you know your toggles. Practicing won't hurt you but it might save your life. W

I had the same thing happen to me once - but I did it to myself :-) I had just lengthened my brake lines on my CRW canopy but I didn't know if the setting would be right so I didn't tack it down. I just fingertrapped them in and went up. The dive went well, no issues, but right after my feet touched down a toggle came off in my hand! I stitch them now.... W

As far as I know, they're only used on Prodigys - which aren't particularly popular anymore. Most people on Lightnings who want assists just a 2-1 assist system instead of Nasirs. Makes it a lot easier to swap out risers as well.

Cool video! Love to see the old time stuff. Wen

Course I can spread my arms wide and I'd still sail right through your lines (have done it before on big canopies.) I'll spread my lines if its a CRW canopy that I know has dacron lines. If its a micro-lined canopy I'm getting as tiny as can be.

How difficult? Depends on the wrap. If I remember the incident you're thinking of - the 2 guys who got into a wrap weren't planning to do CRW, just open fly and fly near each other. They collided and it is thought they were knocked out by the impact.

When I started jumping, I earned $800 a month. AFter rent and food (lots of cheese sandwiches) I skydived. I couldn't afford much, my first whole rig - round reserve and all, cost

I don't think it bothers everyone as much as it does you tho. I was a broke student when I first started jumping - I know a lot of people who don't have much money. I bought my first rig for