Difference from a 280 down to a 170?

[artistcalledian 0]

i'm changing the reserve to a 188 too, is that advisable?

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[rasmack 0]

Stupid Q of the day: Will your container hold the canopies?

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[dragon2 0]

The 188 main is a hot canopy for you already, you sure you want one equally hot (and with way less flare) as your last chance?

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[artistcalledian 0]

i'm getting a wings container, he said he'll change the size of that too

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[artistcalledian 0]

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The 188 main is a hot canopy for you already, you sure you want one equally hot (and with way less flare) as your last chance?

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[MB38 0]

I hate to ask, but do your instructors post on these forums? I'd love to hear their perspective.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[Dazzle 0]

Your gear dealer is a very experienced gear dealer and AFF instructor. You also have some other very experienced instructors available to you there.

It's worth having a chat with them about what you have been told here (why not print it off and show them) especially if you are going to be there this weekend.

The dealer does have a variety of demo rigs that he would make available to you to assist with downsizing.

The advice that you've received here is all very good but you should be wary about believing all that you read on an internet forum from people you don't know with a wide variety of experience. Take that advice and cross check it with your instructors, especially when you have so many with a lot of experience available to you.

[artistcalledian 0]

i understand what you're saying, thanks for the advice

its really hard when you're a student, you put all your faith (and life) in their hands and believe what you're told. All i want to do i jump and have fun, and be safe. I've watched people come screaming into land at Langar and i just know that even after 50 - 100 or even 150 jumps, i'll not have the confidence or really, the desire to do that.

when i said earlier that i view the canopy ride as just a means to get on the floor, i meant that of course i want to do that as safe as possible, but i also meant that right from the start of getting into this, its been all about the freefall to me. thats why i've taken this up, and unless my opinion changes, i'll just want a little performance from a canopy, but will always just take it easy under canopy and bring it in for a safe landing without any hooks, swoops or anything else of any added danger

I'm 39, i don't have the bravado of a teenager, i just want to jump out of planes, enjoy the freefall, and then come down nice and safe

________________________________________
drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[rasmack 0]

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when i said earlier that i view the canopy ride as just a means to get on the floor...

That attitude will last exactly until the second where you try a non-student canopy for the first time. You will be begging the pilot to let you open at full altitude .

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[gus 1]

Hi Ian, I don't think we've met but I'm a Langar jumper as well. What ever size canopy you end up jumping be sure to take up that offer of doing the downsize gradually, I'm pretty sure Langar has some 220s and maybe even a Sabre 190? I like Darren's advice of printing off this thread and having a good chat with your instructor and some of the others too - there's a whole wealth of experience at our dz! And your instructor / dealer is definitely one of the good guys whose opinion you can trust but if in doubt, be conservative.

Good luck dude, see you at the dz.

Gus

OutpatientsOnline.com

[artistcalledian 0]

Hi Gus

yeah, i don't think we've met. I know the instructors are ALL really decent people. I feel like a bit of an idiot/scum bag for changing what i've ordered, but i just can't ignore this uneasy feeling i've got about jumping a 168 at my level. I know the instructors all think i'll be ok, but i've tried to soak up all the information from all angles and come to a decision on how i feel inside about it. It doesn't matter in my head that i'm told by the instructors (you know how many jumps they have, and we both know how serious they are) that i'll be ok, i just can't shake off this feeling of needing something more sensible, and at the end of the day...i'm the one who's got to go up in those planes and jump out of them and try and get myself back on the ground in one piece

I'm down there this weekend, so i'll have a good chat to them about what i've done and try and explain how i feel inside about it all. I hope they don't think i'm showing any of them any disrespect for going against their opinion

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[Scoop 0]

I gotta say, as another newbie, this thread has been really informative. Made me think about few things when it comes to that difficult point of buying own kit.

Without much experience I still think im qualified to say, do what you feel comfortable with. If you got any negative thoughts of going straight for the big drop, dont do it. Dont worry about what your instructors will think. Theyd feel worse if based on information they gave you you went a did something silly.

[skymama 35]

I'm relieved to read that you upsized your canopy. Just remember, you don't have to jump it forever. If it gets boring for you, just sell it after you make sure you can do all the things Billvon mentioned. There are always people looking for used gear and that size is a good size for newbies. I don't think you'll have a problem selling it at all.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[artistcalledian 0]

if it gets boring, i'll eat some more fish and chips and put on 30lbs... that should do the trick

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[GTAVercetti 0]

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I'm 39, i don't have the bravado of a teenager, i just want to jump out of planes, enjoy the freefall, and then come down nice and safe

Ntohing wrong with that either. There a few people with thousands of jumps at my DZ who just use their canopies as a way to get down. One of the riggers there has a 190 and has no plans on downsizing. If you don't want the speed, no need to get it.

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[skybytch 259]

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i just can't shake off this feeling of needing something more sensible, and at the end of the day...i'm the one who's got to go up in those planes and jump out of them and try and get myself back on the ground in one piece

Cool. Now take that attitude and apply it to every part of your skydiving. Be responsible for making gear decisions, get on the plane decisions, how big of a skydive decisions, etc., for yourself. Get whatever information you need to make those decisions from as many different people as possible, then filter that information accordingly. Set your own limits on how fast you want to go under canopy (which you won't know until you've flown a few canopies that go faster than what you've been jumping), what wind speeds (steady/gusting) you are okay with jumping in, how many people you are comfortable jumping with, etc. Push your limits - we don't learn and grow as jumpers if we don't - but do it slowly and safely, one limit at a time.

And don't ever listen when someone tells you that you "should be" doing anything (from jumping a particular size/wingloading/type canopy to getting on a plane in high winds) if you don't feel ready for it or don't want to - even if that person has thousands of jumps, multiple pieces of paper and decades in the sport.

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I hope they don't think i'm showing any of them any disrespect for going against their opinion

Everyone has an opinion, but in this case the only opinion that matters is yours.

[Remster 26]

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I hope they don't think i'm showing any of them any disrespect for going against their opinion

I jumped at Langar a couple of years, and allthough I may not know the instructor that made that recommendation (nor am I asking for who it is) I cant see any of the staff there being pissed off with you going with a larger canopy.

Remster

[billvon 2,478]

> i'm changing the reserve to a 188 too, is that advisable?

Probably a good idea. The PD176 actually measures about 189 square feet. so that might be a good choice.

[mdrejhon 8]

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if it gets boring, i'll eat some more fish and chips and put on 30lbs... that should do the trick

Or a weight vest.

[artistcalledian 0]

cheers for all the advice folks

something that i've not really thought much about, that is very obvious to me now... get some canopy flying lessons !

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[Fast 0]

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Your gear dealer is a very experienced gear dealer and AFF instructor. You also have some other very experienced instructors available to you there.

It's worth having a chat with them about what you have been told here (why not print it off and show them) especially if you are going to be there this weekend.

The dealer does have a variety of demo rigs that he would make available to you to assist with downsizing.

The advice that you've received here is all very good but you should be wary about believing all that you read on an internet forum from people you don't know with a wide variety of experience. Take that advice and cross check it with your instructors, especially when you have so many with a lot of experience available to you.

Thats good advice right there. You have to be wary of what people say on here. Look at jump numbers when you are listening to what a person says.

Everyone has an opinion. It is formulated based on what they know, which is dependant upon what they learned from thier mentors.


Anyways, bottom line is... What works for one person does not always work for another person. There are, I'm sure, people who have done what you were starting out talking about doing and were just fine. (Most of them won't speak up on here because everyone else will rain fire on them for suggesting a new jumper starts at 1.3wl -- and no I don't suggest going right from a 280 to a 170.. There needs to be some intermediate sized canopies jumped if your are absolutely insistant on going to that size. I know you aren't but someone else reading this thread might be) There are also probally a whole bunch of people who started out at 1.3 and hurt themselves and either upsized or quit. (They won't speak out either usually because they are emmbarssed or afraid of getting bitched at more than they already have been.)

Right, more to my point though....

You need to be comfortable with what you are jumping bottom line. If you think that the pilot 168 is too fast, which you do otherwise you wouldn't of come on here, then you shouldn't be buying it. You will have fun on a 188/190 sized canopy just as much as on a 168/170 sized canopy. That's not a slow canopy at your weight.

You need to sit down with your instructor and talk about all this stuff before you start jumping smaller. I am sure that after all the comments in this thread you're pretty freaked out about canopy flight. You should be comfortable with what you are doing before you go back up in the air so you aren't thinking about this thread when it comes time to land.

Relax and breath its not that bad.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[artistcalledian 0]

i had a virtually sleepless night last night, going over and over and over everything i'd read on here and what my instructor said to me on the phone.

I got up this morning (not easy considering i got out of bed at 3am becasue i couldn't sleep and came back on here to see if anybody else had offered any more good advice) and took a hard decision for me. I rang my instructor and asked him to change my order to the 188 canopy.

It was hard becasue i have such massive respect for the instructors at my DZ, to go against what they are advising is not easy when its just me (15 jumps) going against the advice of three people with over 23,000 jumps between them. I hope they haven't lost any respect for me because of it, because i still have a massive amount of respect for them

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[davelepka 4]

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i had a virtually sleepless night last night, going over and over and over everything i'd read on here and what my instructor said to me

It was hard becasue i have such massive respect for the instructors

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but none of your instructors have lost one minute of sleep over this. Chances are, to them you are just another student who may or may not still be jumping in two years, and the gear you are buying may or may not see the light of day there after.

As for those who suggest you consider the qualifications of your instructors, and balance that against any advice you recieve here, they're idiots.

The advice you are recieving here is erring on the side of caution, while your instructors are the ones pushing you toward a higher WL. I don't care if the advice is coming from a pile of dog shit, when it comes to skydiving, your best bet is always going with the more conservative approach. Period.

You need to man up, and have some of your own convictions. Who cares what your instructors think? Will you care what they think if you are in the hospital?

How about this, my general impression of skydiving in the UK is that the weather sucks, and you guys don't get in tons of jumps (crappy weather, small planes, few DZ's). Am I right? If so, how many jumps do you think you'll be making next year? The year after? Do either of those numbers suggest that you'l be progressing through canopy sizes quickly? All the more reason to have a conservative wing over your head.

This whole situation is pretty fucked. You did well to change your order, and in truth, going with Aerodyne's reccomendation and getting a 210 isn't even a bad idea.

[artistcalledian 0]

if only my balls would drop and enable me to be a man

nah, i know what you're saying, and you're right. If i'm sat in hospital with god know what injury, will somebody going "oops, we got it wrong, mate" help in any way? nah

my money, my life, my choise, nuff said

and yeah, shit weather over here.... i'll be doing around the 75 - 100 jumps a year mark, if the weather holds up.

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drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[KrisFlyZ 0]

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I'm 39, i don't have the bravado of a teenager, i just want to jump out of planes, enjoy the freefall, and then come down nice and safe

I say demo the 188 before you buy it. Also try and demo the reserve you will have on your back the first chance you get.

Kris.