arlo

Happy Birthday to our own Kim from Birdman!! Sorry for the belated post (her b-day was yesterday the 16th), but I just got home from the tunnel. BTW, nice job on the spinach dip. I'm eating your birthday party food as i type this. :) i love you (as does the rest of the Cypress household).... arlo

I am soooooo pissing myself!! Outstanding comment, Kimmie!!! we're still lovin' ya chuckie b. :) xoxo, arlo

Hans...i think you'll do just fine. if you need assistance with the pyrotechics show, find Digger...make sure Mottsky is around to bitch about it. ;) if you really, really need to call in the people capable of mass destruction, have Mr. Meagher give me a call. I've been lying dormant for a while saving myself for the 4th of July, but i will be more than happy to share some ideas... happy destruction. arlo

hey!!! Chuckie B resembles that remark!

Rob, you are DEAD ON regarding body flight and altitude "stuff." Wind tunnels do NOT teach altitude awareness. Wind tunnels do NOT teach canopy control. Wind tunnels do NOT teach common sense necessary to skydive. Wind tunnels DO give you the playground to help you learn precise body flight. If in doubt, ask the Norgies, Deland Majik, Airspeed, or any other world-ranked 4-way team. I know people that can fly their asses off in the tunnel, yet have never made a skydive. :) hope this helps, arlo

yeah, what Lisa said. :) another manufacturer besides Bonehead that has same shell/different liner size is parasport italia (fullface: Z-1, open-face: Evo). wouldn't it feel soooooo much better if your head fit snugly inside instead of smacking the walls? god I slay me... arlo

Don- Permanent windtunnels such as Skyventure in Orlando or the one at Ft. Bragg (military) are great training tools to learn to fly your body. I see AFF students in there all the time working on their body position. With that being said: if you are in the middle of your AFF training, spend the money on your AFF. If you were going to be in Orlando before your next jump, then I'd say come see us at the tunnel. It's not NECESSARY for learning, but it is indeed a good tool. People just need to make the ABSOLUTE distinction between the two (skydiving and tunnel flying). I will never ever ever tell anyone that the tunnel is a good substitute for skydiving because they are two totally different creatures. :) If you are looking at spending X dollars on a portable windtunnel with the intent of improving your skydiving, then I wholeheartedly agree with Alison and say that you're wasting your money. If you just wanna go for the ride, have at it. :) Flying in the tunnel is FUN!! Regarding the differences among the tunnels: skyventure tunnels have 5 electric fans mounted at the top of the tunnel which lends it to cleaner air from wall to wall. there is very little "dead air space" around the "edge" of the column. Think venturi. There are air "straighteners" which help direct flow as it's being drawn into the tunnel. the Flyaway tunnels (LV and Pigeon Forge) have their fan located at the bottom of the tunnel, so air is forced thru the tube. Imagine the air "thinning out" along the edges of the column creating dead air space. You can "fall off" that column (hence the tuck and roll stuff). In MY opinion, the clientele reflect the effectiveness of the tunnel. When you have practically every world ranked skydiving team using a particular tunnel, that is a good indicator of the effectiveness of it. With the exception of the Golden Knights (they have their own tunnel) and a couple other teams, I see them all come to skyventure to train...and usually it's a combination of skydiving/tunnel training at that. hope this helps, arlo

Happy b-day chicka. :) It's been an incredible pleasure getting to know ya and I look forward to jumping w/you again. ;) I'm sure there will be many, many more to come. blues, arlo

which one? There are two. The other one is: www.tso-d.com The Skydiving Outlet - Deland (TSO-D) 1665 Lexington Ave Suite 101 Deland, FL 32724 1-386-822-4353 or 1800-452-1542

I had a couple hard pulls last year resulting in reserve rides. One was during the last round of a competition meet and the other was at the womens record at Perris. I was not a happy camper. What I found points to a combination of PC packing and a slightly "loose" spandex pouch. I don't believe either of these (in my case) would have caused a hard pull by itself, but the combination was enough to cause me grief. The mouth of the pouch was tighter (relatively speaking) than the rest of the pouch. This in no way implies the pouch was saggy or anything like that, but it was just loose enough that the PC would be "given" room to relax a bit as it was being extracted. One option is replace the pouch with one that is spandex, but a "slippery" sort of spandex. The one I have feels like the spandex on the arm of the tony suits (very slick and thicker than the older spandex pouches). This allows for smoother extraction. Another option, if you don't do this already, place the pilot chute into the pouch with the "solid" side away from the rig. After you fold your PC, it looks like a hotdog bun. place the open side of the "hotdog bun" toward the main container. This leaves a slick surface that won't catch on the lip of the pouch. Yet another thing to consider: perform a few practice pulls on the ground and actually throw out your pilot chute. if your throw isn't directly out to the side of your body, you could be extracting your pc more towards the inside corner of the pouch lip and it could be bunching up a tad bit there. These are just a few things that you may want to consider... blues, arlo

i can neither confirm nor deny.... arlo angel

oh for fuck's (phuzz' ?) sake! PC will indeed be a blast. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys there...which means YOU need to get that ticket ASAP! :) ...and a friendly reminder for those planning to go: pre-registration on the PST website, floatation device is mandatory, D-license too. :) ..god i hope they're ready for this one. arlo

Hey Dave-- maybe consider a Michigan suit as well. i've flown his comp suit for a few years now (i have about 4 of them). i've got a shitload of hours in the tunnel with them as well, and they are durable. they have incredibly powerful booties. thing is, my suits are all Comp suits (Mike's competition line), so if you're not gonna go hard, maybe the regular RW suit will suffice for ya. The booties on the comp suit have rubber soles...no shit. :) i just take the booties off under canopy, so the whole "landing wear and tear" excuse is out the window. :) If you want to call him PM me for his number. Mike's been around for a LONG time and makes incredible suits: RW, VRW, tunnel. BTW, i am not sponsored and i pay for my suits like everyone else. :) arlo

don't forget the lotion! lol arlo

call lake wales and see who will be going to the windtunnel from there that day.... it's worth a shot. arlo

...but i think sheep are MOSTLY afraid of the Muff Brothers. THEY are the keepers of the velcro gloves. arlo

if it's any consolation, Jari and Kimmie were angels before I corrupted them into the pranksters that they are today. BWHAHAHAHAHA!! Just pray you're never victim to the mass ass convention. soon, the world will know what we speak of. a good sense of humor is priceless. i think it's great to have in times such as these. :) Kev, you'll love your GTi when it's time...trust me. :) The silver is bad-ass. arlo

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OMG!! Kevin and Leroy, did you know that the word gullible is not in the dictionary?? BWHAHAHA!! Suck it up guys, Jari busted your collective asses and you just have to say thank you. S Seriously, how many manufacturers have such good customer relations? Maybe THAT'LL keep you guys from hammering with all the questions! lol happy flying guys! the suits look AWESOME! But Jo's silver suit? THAT'S the bomb. :) arlo

The Neptune is the audible altimeter now being offered by Alti-2. The biggie difference between the others and the Neptune is that the Neptune is waterproof to 6 feet...which makes it great for pond-swoopers, or people that insist upon landing in the water. ;) more info on www.alti-2.com. it's a pretty blue, too. ;) I'm thinking the price on this thing is around $250 (if memory serves me correctly). hope this helps, arlo

hot chicks and parties? Come ON Jari! That shit NEVER happens in Deland. I love you guys! arlo

You're not gonna get any feedback yet on the Evo since it has basically just arrived in the US. I did try them on at the PIA Symposium in January and they are pretty bad-ass helmets. If you've ever seen a Z-1, then you'll know what the finish and composition of the Evo is. Evos are made of the same material and come in the same colors as the Z-1. I'm looking forward to getting ours in this week. I believe the price difference is about $20..Evo being the less expensive. Regarding audibles, the skytronic is a great audible for the money, but I would go ProTrack. I've had mine for about 4 yrs now and I absolutely love it. L&B are the standard for customer service...period. Too, if you like gadgets, both audibles have a computer interface and software that you can get to go with it. Hope this helps... arlo

you're welcome. blues, arlo

i remember you from the tunnel ivan. :) nice meeting you as well. :) glad you had a great time there! blues, arlo

buy a Large. we often add foam shims to the helmets we sell to make them fit a little more snug, not to mention baking it for a more custom fit. a

(taken from some website that I can't remember...) In the case of "aluminum" , we can pin the whole mess on Sir Humphry Davy, the English chemist who discovered the stuff back in 1807. Indulging in the perversity of which historical figures seem fond, Davy named his discovery not "aluminum," nor even "aluminium," but "alumium," basing the term on the Latin "alumen," meaning "alum," a substance drawn from the same mineral that had been used since ancient times for dyeing hides and the like. This is all a bit confusing, but we can take comfort in the fact that Davy was apparently a bit befuddled too. Around 1812 he decided that the proper name of his discovery was not "alumium," but actually "aluminum." Almost immediately Davy was besieged by other scientists who pointed out that if Davy would just add an "i" to make the term "aluminium," it would fall into line with such other substance names as "sodium" and "calcium" and, in their words, "sound more classical." So Davy named it yet again, this time to "aluminium," and the "ium" form became standard in both the U.S. and Great Britain. Unfortunately, many people in the U.S. had evidently stopped listening by that point and continued to call the stuff "aluminum," and this spelling became so widespread that it was eventually adopted as the standard in the U.S. "Aluminium," however, is the official spelling used by international chemical societies. One hopes that Sir Humphry Davy, wherever he may be, is at last happy.