Re: [Conquest150] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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Student - 220/190 Manta ?? Don't recall. Jump nos are approximate 30-100 - Spectre 170 100-400 - Sabre 150 400-500 - Sabre 135 500-750 - Sabre 2 120 750-1100 - Stiletto 107 1100-1400 - XF2 99 w/l at 1.7 What's next?? Hmmm, Maybe one day I will have the balls to get on a Velo....
Re: [frost] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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well , in the beginning I didn't HAVE a choice...
started with a 28" 7 TU.. maybe a dozen Jumps went to a 28 foot LoPo,, maybe a couple of dozen more.. 2 Jumps on a PC.... not real impressed over 1000 jumps on a French Papillon Loved It !! A half dozen jumps on a delta II.. ( borrowed from a friend) a few random jumps on an old strato-cloud, (wow , it was fast>>>) One jump on a strato star !!.. ( wow, it was scarey) ) ( never jumped a 5 cell again ) Bought a used strato cloud,, ( heavy weight ) and put 400 + jumps, on it... Bought a rig with a Para foil 252 light...(Made maybe 100 jumps with it, including my Night SCR, ) sold it for a little more than i paid for it.
Used Light weight Cloud,,, maybe 200 jumps.. Then Bought my first and ONLY brand new main... a new RW Challenger ( from New Eng. Parachute Co. ) It was a 240 sq. feet. made almost 1,300 jumps with it,,, never a mal.. F One eleven,, just got "tired out" ( still have it ) Got a second hand jav. with a PD spectre 210. ( my current main ) pry have around 500 jumps on it, relined once. plenty of life left in it... Picked up a Mint RW Challenger 240, for 150 Bucks.... put it into a second rig.. MAYBE jumped it 50 times
Up size? Down size? let's just stick with the RIGHT size...
Re: [frost] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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Mine's a mix of big F-111 with old-school fast downsizing in between for small canopies:
Jumps 1-40 -------- Manta & similar
Jumps 41-590 ------ bought Titan 265 (WL 0.65) Usually flew it, but also ~70 jumps on zero-p of typically WL 1.2 to 1.4 (Sabre 135, Stiletto 120, etc.)
(Learned to downsize in steps, from WL 1.0 to 1.8, during jumps 185-205.)
Jumps 591 - 775 --- bought Sabre 135 (WL 1.25) but only put 35 jumps on it. Mostly jumped Titan 265 & Parafoil 260.
(Then with 775 jumps, but only 110 zero-p jumps, went small crossbraced:)
Jumps 775-2000 -- FX 88 (WL 1.95) for 500 jumps, tandems for 450, and various other canopies
If I could go back I would have stayed on the crossfire 97 (or a canopy similar) a little longer since my transition into the xbraced world didn't seem as smooth as i had liked. I also had a mentor that knows more than most and he helped me along quite a bit.
I feel my progression was way too fast particularly at the beginning of my downsizing. I feel another 200-300 jumps between 1.8 and 2.2 would have been best in hind sight. Downsizing from 1.8 to 2.2 jump was a bit extreme, and I paid the price about 300 jumps later.
Had 936 HP Landings before my accident, but still managed to smack into the ground.
(This post was edited by hparrish on Dec 31, 2007, 4:47 PM)
Re: [frost] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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0-10 manta wl don't recall 10-120 triathlon 190 wl 1.1 120-475 viper 150 wl 1.5 Yeehaw, never even hurt myself and still have not, but would do it different if I did it again
(This post was edited by 2shay on Jan 1, 2008, 3:33 PM)
Re: [drunk] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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#1-42 on a Manta 280ish #43-53 on a Falcon 215 #54 on a Navigator 240 #55 on a Smart 250 #56-97 on a Navigator 240 #98-101 on Sabre1 210, loaded at about 1.0
All rentals. The Sabre 210 will not last me long though - I hate it, even though I can land it accurately.
(This post was edited by Baksteen on Jan 2, 2008, 4:38 AM)
I am VERY happy at 1.8 or so and have a lot more to get out of this canopy. This last year played with a swoop course - I can see how it could get addicting. You can really assess how what you do affects your performance. But it's just another option in the sport to me and not a primary one at that.
Re: [2shay] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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200 student canopy 1-7ish Sabre2 170/200 1.2 7-26 SabreI 150 1.3 27-200ish Crossfire 139 1.4 200ish-350 ish Crossfire2 129 1.5 350-present various demos mixed in. with a stiletto 120 as a GL canopy and a couple of ACE 260s for night jumps.
Re: [frost] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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See attachment.
The red line is the hypothetical 1+.1/100 jumps.
The first line @1.3 was a Silhouette 170, the second one @1.4 a Stiletto 150, the third one @1.6 a Stiletto 135 and then I discovered wingsuiting and got a Triathlon 135 and later a 120 @1.8. Remember folks, it's always the pilot. A Tri at that load does not have a world class surf but it has one hell of a dive. The experiment @2.0 with the Katana 107 was very shortlived. I was in over my head. The Ka 120 was a lovely canopy, but not for wingsuiting, not for me.
Yes, my first owned canopy was rather aggressive. Do I regret that? Not really. Maybe I was lucky, but I was flying a lot, reasonably current and a 170 with me under it, even at my 216# exit weight, was no reason for concern with my instructors (or myself, but what did I know). Still, do as I say, not as I did. I did not make that line red for no reason.
Yes, I still jump student canopies every once in a while. Preferably static-lined. Few things are more fun than bumping endcells with your jumpmaster, after you've lent him your altimeter, and before just losing to him at a hit-n-chuck competition.
Definitely aggressive going to a Sabre 135 with 28 jumps, and I wouldn't recommend it. (Brian Germain all but called me a nutbar when I took his canopy control course at 40 jumps) but I hung on to that canopy for quite a while and made all my "learning to swoop mistakes" with it. I got dirty every once in a while, but never hurt myself.
From that point on I'd say I've had a pretty reasonable progression considering I've been doing about 500 jumps a years since I've had ~170 jumps.
Re: [frost] Your canopy choices and downsize history
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Assorted student, borrowed, and rental gear ranging from Mantas to Sabre 170: ~40 jumps First canopy, PD 9-Cell 170: ~40 - 100 jumps2nd canopy, Sabre1 135: ~100 - 650 jumps, with a 50 jump stint on a Diablo 120 somewhere around 500 jumps.3rd and current canopy, Sabre2 120: ~650 to present, 1,100 jumps.No intention of downsizing for another season or two at least.
With the prospect of getting into WS I might stick with the 150 for a while. Although I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to jump a Velo 89 if given the chance.
yea, i gained some weight on the way... At about 650 jumps i demoed a R.A.G.E. for 3-5 jumps, R.A.G.E. 107 @ 1.87 but gave it back, i'm not playing that league yet. Gave me so much new appreciation for my Faqtor, a canopy that i've jumped for about 400 jumps now and that i know and can still push it's limits. And that just rocks.
Good progression, but it didn't keep me from making a couple of bad decisions along the way... Be conservative, be safe, stay current and take a step back if you take a break.
not real impressed
) ( never jumped a 5 cell again ) 
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