davelepka

If the adjustments were to the lower brake lines, there are a variety of possibilites. On spectra lined canopies, you usually get a dot on the line, which is where you attach the toggle. Depending on how you tie the knot, and where the dot ends up, you could alter the measurement by 3 or 4 inches. Different jumpers seem to have different ideas of the dot, and which side of the knot it should be on. If the knot was tied short, and your lines shrunk a couple inches (possible in 200 jumps), then your 10'' shortness maybe came from the dot being marked 2 inches short. Or, the dot could have been mis-marked entirely. This is not a life-saving measurement, and it's possible someone just blew it at the factory. I'm not sure if they check the dot location in a QC check or not, but far worse mistakes have made it into the sky. I don't see how a manufacturer could expect to short line the canopies as a safety measure. Proper brake line length is common knowledge, and even those who don't know will show everyone else when they get a full flare at shoulder level.

You messed up. You posted your April Fools post a day early. I would reconsider your approach to skydiving and safety if you expect to continue jumping. This is a highly dangerous activity we're involved in here. Thanks to the stupidity and mistakes of the jumpers from the 'good old days' we have the knowledge to jump for many years and many thousands of jumps without injury. The primary reason fo this is that the equipment has prgressed to a point where a safety minded jumper can count on his equipment to perform as intended, leaving the bulk of the respomsibility on the jumper themself, to make good choices, and only put themselves in situaitons where the deck is stacked in their favor. Removing a Cypres from your rig is stupid. The track record for the Cypres is outstanding. No, it's not perfect, but I would put it's safety/performance/reliability record up against any other consumer product, and expect the Cypres to be far ahead of them all. Furthermore, any prudent jumper wouldn't have themselves falling faster than activation speed below firing altitude. But it happens, and thats the point. When you need your Cypres, you won't know that you need it. You'll be doing something else, and then, there's your reserve. Look up, figure out what happened, look down and get ready to land, your on final, and then you're on the ground. Your brain is still thinking about your hard pull, or lost handle, but your ass is on the ground in one piece. Two years and 200 jumps has you convinced that you've seen it all, and could handle it all with no problems?

Quick tip: If an instructor, or highly experienced jumper has concerns about your safey, listen to what they have to say, and consider it very carefully. If any other jumper has anything to say to you about anything else, there's a good chance that they're either wrong, or just talking to hear themselves talk. It's true.

As far as your feet go, keeping them closer together will help to keep you upright. Keeping your lower body 'small', and your upper body 'big' (as in arms out) will help to keep you upright without too much thought. Get used to the idea of flying your upper body, and just keeping your lower body straight into the wind. You will need to use your lower body more later on, so don't follow the above advice for too long, but if you can get to the point where you're comfortable being upright and flying your upper body, you'll be able to start moving your lower body into a better position fairly easily. Just like in HD where you fly mostly your legs, and keep your upper body still, and straight into the wind, sit flying is just the opposite. Don't worry about how many jumps it takes you or anyone else to develop a skill. Just focus on developing the skill, and move on.

Yeah, out of sight, out of mind. I agree with that idea on a tracking dive. If you can't stay with the base, you simply fall behind. Those jumpers aren;t going to magicly learn how to track faster than everyone else, and catch up to the formation. On the sit dive, a blown transition is a temporary situation, and the guy who would blow the transition is the same guy who's going to whip out a stand or HD to get back in. I'm not saying it's not a cool/fun dive, just that the corkers are not completely out of the picture once they cork.

What students? The one you just did a coach jump with? Wouldn't they be 1000's of feet above you, watching for traffic in their immediate area? Were these 'experienced skydivers' swoopers and/or instructors? My guess is no and/or no.

There's no crying in skydiving.

Of course a damaged spine is better than dead. Would a better option be a helemt which would allow you to administer CPR without removal? These scenarios are all pretty far fetched, but it seems worth a little consideration.

The cold weather is only part of the season. It gets hot there as well. Keep in mind you may not be doing RW for long. You never know what you'll get into. A full face helmet will limit your peripheral vision, as well as your ability to communticate with others in freefall or in the door. Visors have been known to fog up, or fall off alltogether. Goggles do fog, but it's rare in freefall, and if you have a helmet over the goggles they will not come off. Worst case scenario, you are involved in an accident, the first responders cannot perform CPR with a full face helmet on. They also are not supposed to move you (especially your head and neck) for fear of causing further injury. It's really up to you. Good luck with your choice.

Just buy an open faced helmet. and a pair of goggles. Problem solved.

If you're buying new, and intend to use an RSL, the Vector III with a Skyhook is a good choice. If the Skyhook isn't your thing, look into an Infinty as well. I just got one, and the build time was SHORT, the cust service was A-1, the price was good, and the finished product was very nice. I've inspected many rigs, inside and out, and this one is as good or better than any I've seen. Very well constructed and nicely finished.

For starters, doing anything skydiving related based on price, you already have gone wrong. I know the item desrpiption is a little light on the details, sooooo, that VCR looking thing is not a freebie for your edit suite, thats the thing you wear on your chest to put the tape in. No shit. Take your $200 bucks and buy a helmet. Bonehead, or whatever. Jump the helmet,and save another $200 bucks. Buy a mini-DV camera from e-Bay, and attach it to the helemt. Proceed to learn video like it's 2005, not 1985. Edit - I see you jump on Deland. Ask Norm Kent about that set-up, he started with one just like it.

Here's the simple fact that folks are overlooking (for the most part). The Vector III is the only rig offering the Skyhook. If you are going to be using an RSL of any kind (and you absolutely should be), the Skyhook is the quickest acting variant around. Period. If you are buying a new rig, you might as well get some new technology out it. If you are going to purchase another container, do yourself a favor, and buy used, and save your self some money.

The actual performance of the canopy is unknown at this time, but that info is not what's important now. What is important is that he was told that it was unsafe, and unless he is a qualified test jumper, who determined that it was actaully a safe canopy, it is his responsibility to sell it as unsafe. I could care less if lied about jump numbers and linesets. That's up for you and rigger to determine during the inspection. But if it's not jumpable, and you can't plainly see that (as in lines cut off, or missing a cell or two) you need to disclose that.

E-mail him again. In an attempt to clear his name, ask for the SN of the 'other, similar' canopy, then check with PD that it's a multi colored Sabre 107. If he doesn't have that handy, ask for the name and contact info of the 'local buyer'. They have the canopy, and in turn the SN. Have you called PD to inquire if they have your canopy from this gentleman? They may not want to give out specifics, but if they have a possible faulty product out there, I'm sure they would like to get it out of circulation, and possibly back in their hands. Does anyone know this guy? I live in Ohio, and don't recognize the name, but I don't really remember names unless I've known someone for a year or two.

Care to expand on that a little?

So that dude flipped himself through his risers, caught his foot on a line, and when he swung down, his foot pulled the line, and stalled one side of his canopy. In one of those pics, maybe 3 or 4, he looks like if his foot didn't catch a line, that he would have just flown it out.

Thats where you lost your argument. The term 'our society' sinks your ship. Maybe your society has deemed it such, but on a DZ where the majority of jumpers tolerate the usage, that society is accepting of the usage. Futhermore, 'our society' cannot be used in reference to America in general. The usage is rampant in movie theaters, on television shows, in auto shops, and high school locker rooms nationwide. Of course those are private institutions, so thats OK. What do you think a DZ is? I have yet to go to a 'public' DZ, as in owned and funded by local government using taxpayer dollars, and having to adhere to the 'values' of those taxpayers. If someone were blasting profane language from a loudspeaker while driving past a playground, yeah, that sucks, and should be stopped. At the DZ? I don't think so.

A harness resize is not a big deal. The C-18 may work for you. I'd try it on (fully packed) and see how it fits. You may find that it will work for your body shape/size. My first guess for a guy 5' 8" would be C-16/17 anyway, so you're pretty close. Edit: Now that I think of it, I know a guy who's 5' 8" who's got two Javs, one C-16 and one C-17, and he didn't even know they were different sizes. I know another guy who's 5' 11" who has two Javs, one C-17 and one C-18, and he didn't know they were different sizes. I've jumped them all, and could maybe tell the difference between the C-16 and C-18, but thats a maybe. You should be fine, but still, try it on, with a rigger around who can asses the fit.

We have sceduled our first meet for Sunday, May 22 at Aerohio. The course will be open all day Saturday for practice jumps. E-mail cpcohio@hotmail.com for more info.

Biggest in the state. They're huge. I heard he needed a harness re-size just to get them in there.

First off, I quoted PD because you seemed to think that 1000 jumps was an arbitraty number, and that 500 was good enough. Second, your problem is that you don't know what it's like to be a swooper with 500 jumps, and what it's like to be the same with twice that number. How about surviving 500 skydives, flying faster and faster canopies, getting yourself into the 60th or 70th percentile of canopy performance, all after riding the steep part of the learning curve of your first few hundred jumps. What sort of mindset do you think that creates? How much confidence does that instill in someone? How about 500 jumps later? You've doubled your numbers, and come a long way, long enough to see how much you have learned since you had 500 jumps, but still remember how much you thought you knew back then. Just understand, there are canopies out there that take 1000 jumps to be safe on. There are also a boatload of other choices, that offer more performance than most jumpers could ever wring out of them, and that would be more suitable for a jumper to learn on. It's the double edged sword of having these canopies around. For those who should have them, they are incredible machines, that are fast enough to challenge the best pilots. The donwside is that they are around, and do get into the wrong hands.

The point to the whole thing is this; you have an interest to protect. You're future canopy choices hang in the balance here, and your desires for greater freedoms are coloring your ideas. I have nothing to loose, and my only gain is seeing a reduction in injuries. As far as opening with an attack, I never touted my winning personalltiy as support for my ideas. I let my abilities, experience, and track record of having an understanding of whats going on support my ideas. I'm kind of a dick, and I've said it before. By opening with an 'attack' as you call it (I tend to call it the truth) at least you know the real Dave was not abducted by aliens. PD calls for 500 jumps before jumping a Stiletto. Next up, the Velo, is for "Jumpers who have been jumping small elipticals for several skydiving seasons, and consdier themselves very proficient". So lets see, 500 jumps, then you get a Stiletto. Several seasons, and enough jumps to be proficient with it, sounds like about 500 more jumps to me. Do the math. If you don't like it, argue with PD. Of course, they only make the best canopies out there, and the winningest x-brace around, but what could they possibly know about anything.

Why is it no surprise that a guy with 52 jumps rolls out a more permissive version of what others have already suggested. An A license holder is little more than a student, yet they have the same permissions as a C license holder. Don't be surprised when a guy with a C license wants to fudge your system so that he has more freedoms. As far as giving a D license holder free reign, thats retarded. There are canopies available today that far exceed the capabilities of ANY 500 jump wonder. Carte blanche needs to be restricted to those who can handle any canopy out there, or at least have the jump numbers to have been able to attain that level of proficiency. It's true that not all guys with 1000 jumps are cut out to fly an x-brace at 2.5, but they could be if they had worked on it, which is the point. It's unfair to limit a jumper who could have made the jumps. It stupid to not limit a jumper who is in no way ready.