Charlie Mullins gave me this advise when I asked him that question a while back. First he said practice up high and learn the performance envelope of your canopy before you even start this progression.
- He said start with double fronts for 50-100 jumps - Then move to a 45-90 degree front riser carve "leaving yourself an out" 50-100 jumps - Then move to 90-120 front riser carves "leaving yourself an out" 100 jumps or more. - Then 120-180 front riser carve "leaving yourself an out" 100 jumps or more. And on and on and on..
This was advise Charlie gave me.. More good info please!!
Another great peice of advice is to stay on the same canopy while learning all of this, don't downsize in the middle of learning. Don't switch canopies to a higher proformance model in the middle of your learning curve. If anything you should possibly step up a canopy size to allow your self enough canopy to deal with a low bail from a hook.
Cause I don't wanna come back down from this cloud... ~ Bush
I just went to a Xaos at 2.0 from a Stiletto at 1.6something. I think once you are pulling 270's or 360's and carving 45 or more degrees- You might be ready to downsize. Also- be comfortable downwind and landing at church functions, barbeques, and high school football games.