stratostar 5 #51 July 6, 2004 "The Richmond boys" and their toy's... 1. Bob Peters 6-4-04 2. jason yashuda 6-4--04 3. Don Brewer 6-30-04 4. Wes McCauley 6-30-04 These dude's are testing out rigs for the all round load they do at "the boogie" every year, look's like maybe a 20-way this year, they got the gear, but don't know about 20 jumpers to fill them. too many chickens around?you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
upndownshop 0 #52 July 7, 2004 QuoteNo, this is the one I had in Seagoville. Wore it out. I remember that one! Dave Cat2 in Dallas jumps his once a year. We also break out the Delta 2 each year during Skyfest. Russell I don't know if remember the Yellow and Black Security system that Jerry jumped, but I put it together with his ParaPlane and jumped it! What a ride, yet I stood it up in the peas. Don't know if I will do it again not interested in a round reserve. Will you make it to SkyFest this year? [/url]www.skyfestboogie.com[url] J Schrimsher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 20 #53 July 15, 2004 Dan Bergman usually makes one or two PC jumps a year at Lodi or Byron and offers to let others jump it after getting a briefing. As far as I can recall only one or two jumpers have accepted the offer. I have been to 4 WFFC events at Quincy and Rantoul. There are always a few PC jumps at those events and they get a lot of puzzled looks ("what IS that canopy?). I jumped a PC in the 70s and it seemed like heaven after those brutal surplus round landings. People were selling low jump PCs for almost nothing once the squares really got going in the market and that let me buy one. I never got a standup until I jumped a PC. PLFs were mandatory under the porous third hand surplus rounds that I could afford back then. Now that I can afford good gear I wonder what I was thinking jumping that surplus junk in the 60s and 70s. I could and probably should have grounded myself for a year and bought better gear with the jump money saved. I was stupid and lucky, a winning combination.2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 261 #54 September 13, 2006 This looked like the appropriate thread to put it in, so here's my experience from last weekend. It's nothing particularly exciting, just longwinded details of a couple jumpers putting rigs together with Para-Commander style canopies and jumping them. ======= Round canopies came out this past weekend at Skydive Toronto. After years of thinking about it, Rob Price (a.k.a. Skypuppy) and I had put together rigs with Para-Commander style canopies and made a couple jumps. Skypuppy wrote, "One reason I wanted to jump these rigs was because when talking to the regulars at STI, which I figure is a fairly typical dropzone, most of the jumpers had never even seen a round parachute. The ones that had [other than a very few], had seen a round reserve used once. These jumpers believed that round parachutes were old and antiquated and dangerous (sort of like me, maybe?) and to jump one was almost akin to the kiss of death." Skypuppy had sufficient round experience, having started in '79 and made his first 40 jumps or so on a Sierra, a light weight Para-Commander style canopy. I started jumping in '88 and had two previous round jumps. One was as an licenced jumper in '95 when visiting a DZ that had been forced out of the national organization because it still used round mains for students. There I got a belly mount signoff and jumped a Para-Commander style canopy. Then in 2002 a CRW oopsie left me under a Phantom 24 reserve, which I landed backwards in 15-18 mph winds. That was the last time a round had been flown at the DZ. Now Skypuppy had acquired a Niagara Parachutes Cobra, generally like a Para-Commander, but specifically more of a copy of an Eastern European PS-06. The sleeved canopy was in a beaten up fore / aft student rig with R-3 releases, converted from 3-pin ripcord to a static line with pilot chute assist. Rig and main came from a retired DZO. The belly mount reserve was an early 1970's Pioneer 23' TriCon with taffeta fabric. The reserve was borrowed from Bill Cole, a.k.a. Chuteless. I had discovered a black and gold 1975 Mk I Para-Commander in a garbage bag in the former rigging trailer on the DZ. Stamps on the chute showed it had belonged to the US Army Parachute team, and stitch holes showed where "USA" had once been lettered on the canopy. Somehow this ex-Golden Knights canopy had made it to Ontario to become a student canopy in the 1980s! I went with the old Para-Commander but with a more modern rig, an '80s 3-ringed piggyback system. With a Phantom 24 reserve, one would be committed to landing a round canopy in any case. Three ring risers were spread open at the top to accept the L-bars of the canopy, and then tacked to avoid link movement. The steering lines that normally go to the front risers on a Para-Commander, were routed to the modern risers' normal steering toggles, but that's not ideal and is temporary, as the steering lines end up rubbing across other lines. Holders for elastics were put into the top of the d-bag to hold the crown lines, although that's likely more elaborate than necessary. The Para-Commander wasn't going to fit my old accuracy rig, even with the 2 1/4 lb cotton sleeve removed and replaced by a bag. (As a modern jumper, the use a sleeve reminds me of trying to stuff a whole freefly jumpsuit into one's pack job.) So I sewed up an add-on main container, that velcros over top of the original container. The original top flap & pin protector flap are used, while the other three flaps are new. The old main flaps are tucked away underneath the new backpad. Large straps and velcro go around the rig's backpad and laterals to hold the new container in place (with a little supertack to be sure). The rig works although is quite long, with a bit of a reach down to the BOC. I thank the Australian accuracy team at the 2003 Worlds for the idea -- some of them had professionally built removable add-on containers to hold accuracy canopies in their small rigs. Packing ideas came from Skypuppy and another jumper with round experience, Brian diCenzo. Plus I was armed with Gary Lewis' booklet on the Para-Commander, which was purchased for one dollar from Para-Gear in '03, apparently getting rid of the last of their stock. When assembling the gear at home, the canopy was too long to pack anywhere in the house, so it was taken to a local park to tension and pack it. Saturday when the clouds rose enough for a 3500' load in light winds, I static lined Skypuppy out the C-182 door and followed with a hop and pop. The Cobra seemed to descend faster than the Para-Commander, perhaps due to loading it more, it having a built in turn that had to be countered, and the design seemingly having bigger holes in it. So when he put the canopy down in front of the watching jumpers, he really had to roll it out. I ended up further from the audience, but was able to stand it up. (…as I imagined the cool jumpers who owned Para-Commanders used to do. With a split saddle harness, one couldn't just touch down with straps undone and walk away from a sling saddle, as shown in the Gypsy Moths…) I got another Para-Commander jump the next day. The standup landing 20m from the target was softer than before, perhaps because I tried the trick of lifting oneself by the rear risers just before touchdown. On that hop and pop from 4500', another jumper, Marc Downing, videoed while circling me with his JVX canopy. Despite turning, he staying with the Para Commander a long time while in deep, deep brakes. A couple other jumpers flew by or circled later too. It felt like getting buzzed by a swarm of bees. With the Para-Commander's good turn rate, I could spin the canopy much faster than anyone could spiral around the outside. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #55 September 13, 2006 I noticed on the second picture, 2040crop, that there are two sets of rings on the MLW. If given the choice I would attach the reserve to the top rings. If you have to use it they will make a big difference on how much the deployment hurts.My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beatnik 2 #56 September 13, 2006 I wasn't going to say anything but I brought my paracommander out last Friday. I decided to do 25 jumps on my birthday and to finish it off, I did a paracommander jump while my friend jumped his Detla II. I guess I forgot to mention it was a naked paracommander jump. I made damn sure I stood it up. There was no way I was going to PLF in a field naked. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #57 September 13, 2006 HaaaBraaaHee. I just spit Gray Goose out my nose. Do you know how silly you look?My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beatnik 2 #58 September 13, 2006 Hell yeah I do. You know how uncomfortable a naked pc jump is in a split saddle not to mention the plane ride. You got to love the combat boots. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #59 September 13, 2006 Yeah...NICE SOX! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #60 September 13, 2006 QuoteYeah...NICE SOX! Hell I know why we jumped PC's. I just can't figure out why people are doing it now.My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrabGrass 0 #61 September 13, 2006 QuoteQuoteYeah...NICE SOX! Hell I know why we jumped PC's. I just can't figure out why people are doing it now. Quote OVER exposure to both MTV and MSG! ~ "Pack Fast, Pull Low... and Date Your Riggers WIFE!" ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
longtall 0 #62 September 13, 2006 At least 6 PC jumps were made at Skydive New Mexico 17th annual water boogie; landing into Elephant butte (pronounced BUTE ) lake. Wheeeeeee. May have photos soon........J.............[" 90 right, five miles then cut."---Pukin Buzzards Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pchapman 261 #63 September 13, 2006 QuoteIf given the choice I would attach the reserve to the top rings. If you have to use it they will make a big difference on how much the deployment hurts. One does hear the jokes about the 'boots and helmet meeting behind one's back' on terminal belly mount openings! At least it was a S/L jump, and I think with the center pull reserve, Skypuppy wanted to keep the reserve lower. It's a novelty to jump the old stuff, or to jump it again for some folks. But I don't think it'll become my regular canopy... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #64 September 14, 2006 QuoteOne does hear the jokes about the 'boots and helmet meeting behind one's back' on terminal belly mount openings! At least it was a S/L jump, and I think with the center pull reserve, Skypuppy wanted to keep the reserve lower. Its not just at pull time and deployment. When you are under the reserve with the lower attachment point you tend be in a laid back position. The higher the attachment the more upright you will be. If possible push the risers back behind your shoulders so the lines come up behind you. Makes for much better flying and landing.My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fastphil 0 #65 September 16, 2006 Been awhile, but I have several hundred jumps on the one in the attachment. I don't have it anymore but may still have a starlight in the closet, if you like snappy openings... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
darkwing 4 #66 September 16, 2006 QuoteBeen awhile, but I have several hundred jumps on the one in the attachment. I don't have it anymore but may still have a starlight in the closet, if you like snappy openings... Fucking starlites.... I had a pre-slider model that put me in the hospital. Come opening time I'd sometimes think about just going in, instead of opening it. Flew great after it was open though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,046 #67 September 16, 2006 Hi darkwing, Well, Starlites may have given you bad openings, but that photo is of an original Mk I PC. You can tell because the material at the pulled down apex is of a different material. When they went to custom colors they had to change these panels to the standard taffeta because they could not get this material in colors. Jerry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,116 #68 September 17, 2006 I on the other hand loved my sliderless starlite... There's no accounting for taste, is there. Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fastphil 0 #69 September 17, 2006 Hmmm... good taste and a touch of class too. Those Starlites are just suped up PCs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
40yrvirgin 0 #70 September 19, 2006 Dude you need to stop blowing the DZO and go out and get laid. I feel sorry for you. Any 25 year old jumping a para-commander has definately never touched a boob. Go spend the 50 bucks and get a hookerDUiTCHBAG "Just put it in my mouth!!!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #71 September 19, 2006 QuoteDude you need to stop blowing the DZO and go out and get laid. I feel sorry for you. Any 25 year old jumping a para-commander has definately never touched a boob. Go spend the 50 bucks and get a hooker I’ll guarantee you he has not seen 25 for many years. He is just doing a little something to keep the past alive so you young pups will someday know where you came from. Skydiving didn't start with a sub-100 elliptical you know. Somebody made it possible for you to be where you are today.My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #72 September 19, 2006 QuoteSkydiving didn't start with a sub-100 elliptical you know. Somebody made it possible for you to be where you are today.I wouldn't take that guys post seriously... I think it might be a troll... oh and I watched an "experienced" jumper "land" a PC late last summer... it was pretty cool Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #73 September 19, 2006 Quote[I wouldn't take that guys post seriously... I think it might be a troll... reply] I agree... The moderators should throw it out....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites airtwardo 6 #74 September 19, 2006 QuoteQuote[I wouldn't take that guys post seriously... I think it might be a troll... reply] I agree... The moderators should throw it out....Steve1 No...just make him jump a Tri-Con at terminal in a belly wart ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites steve1 5 #75 September 19, 2006 No...just make him jump a Tri-Con at terminal in a belly wart Good idea!....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #74 September 19, 2006 QuoteQuote[I wouldn't take that guys post seriously... I think it might be a troll... reply] I agree... The moderators should throw it out....Steve1 No...just make him jump a Tri-Con at terminal in a belly wart ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites steve1 5 #75 September 19, 2006 No...just make him jump a Tri-Con at terminal in a belly wart Good idea!....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #75 September 19, 2006 No...just make him jump a Tri-Con at terminal in a belly wart Good idea!....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
