Beginner Advice Requested

[dharma1976 0]

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For what it's worth I will heed the consensus here. You make sense. I guess it'll be interesting explaining to my S&TA and instructors why I'm getting yet another canopy...

As far as that's concerned, would something like a similar sized jedei do for me? The problem is money...I will be jobless in about 3 weeks, am moving internationally, planning/paying for my upcoming wedding and simply cannot afford a Sabre2 or Safire2 (even used they run upwards of 1k which is way out of my limit). Note that I have jumped safire2's before and think they are pretty rad, would definitely get one if I could afford it.

I'm not looking for a shortcut, but at least for now would be unable to pay for those canopies. Used jedeis seem to run cheaper and from what I understand have a good amount of dive which seems to be the idea behind me getting a more "swoop orientated" canopy.

Am I off target still?

What other canopies within the 400-900 (used) price range would suit me?

it might eb time to work on a job packing parachutes!

that will help you along :-)

Good luck and good luck on all your life changes.

(I once didnt head all of the advice that sounded the same but wasnt what I wanted to hear then lost job and stopped jumping as much, then I broke myself)

I am glad to hear you saying you will try the other approach.

Cheers

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[Cashmanimal 0]

SPAWNmaster-
I started my 90's around jump 150, 90's on a Samurai 150. Only did 90's until I downsized to a Stiletto 120 short of 400 jumps. (1.6 ish)

I eventually had the Stiletto "Dialed in" on 90's, hitting the target 9/10 times in any wind conditions. Moved up to 180's. Thought I had those down pretty well, decided to downwind one in ~5 mph winds. Put myself in a bad position, panicked, bounced. I skipped almost the entire swoop lane before "landing" (aka rolling a lot then standing up). The last thing I said before I hit was "oh shit" around 50 feet, the last thought I had was "what is this gonna break?," and the first thing I said when I stood up was "That was so stupid."

I got to walk away, worst damage being the holes in my new jumpsuit, and a severely bruised ego. I learned more from that swoop than the 200 before it... biggest lesson being "Just because you set up for the turn, doesn't mean you have to make it." I have since aborted many swoops because my setup put me where I didn't want to be, I was uncomfortable with traffic, whatever. It's frustrating, but way cooler than slamming into the ground in front of families and an Otter load of people.

Other lessons included:
-Stiletto is not to learn modern swooping. I went to another dropzone and gave people a slight scare when I made my first turn, which resulted in a great, accurate, well-executed 270.... until I told them I'm on a Stiletto, and the reaction is "Oooooh.... -cringe-" as they were used to watching everyone else swoop their x-braced canopies.

From personal experience, I would not suggest learning a 180, especially on a Stiletto. The recovery arc is too small, and you spend half the swoop facing away from your intended target. The speed-to-risk gain is just simply not worth it. I know others have said it, and I will +1 because I experienced and learned this.

Also, I know others said it, but don't go to rears. A stiletto basically already flies on rears. You're likely to stall the canopy and injure yourself. Again, I experienced this personally when a friend made his first swoop on rears and spent the next three months in a back brace.

I started working at the dropzone making 30-40 jumps a week. I became very current and got loads of canopy coaching. What everybody has said, whether they said it nice or not, is true. It sucks to be proud of something, post it, and get a cyber punch in the face.... again, personal experience

Stay current, demo other canopies, find the one that suits your style, get coaching on it. Get something with a longer recovery arc. Say you have to do 5 head down docs-- would you rather have 10,000 feet or 3,000? Longer recovery arc gives you time you don't have on a stiletto o fix whatever you fu%&ed up on your setup/approach... because not every approach is going to be the same.

If I can find my bounce footage i will post it for you. It is eerie how similar my situation was to the one you put yourself in in that video. A new fence and construction equipment is what changed for me... in your video, your setup points you right at the plane. What if you dropped a riser? It happens, and it will happen... cold fingers, light grip, whatever.... you'd hit that plane.... if you toggle whip to save yourself from the aircraft, you'd probably go splat.

Having a canopy dialed in doesn't mean you can do long swoops. Having it dialed in means you can land it safely from any configuration in any conditions, whether you choose to use a harness and front riser method from 600 feet or a half-braked method from 50 feet. If you get cut off in your swoop, could you safely abort and land your canopy? Because in that footage, you (and possibly another jumper?) are screwed.

Downwind landings are good to know for the above. Practice them, but do them safely. If you do (and you will eventually) find yourself in a sticky, you can get out and survive it.


That's my two cents, and I mean the best with it... have fun, be safe, leave outs, learn everything about your canopy that you can, and don't hit the ground... it hurts like a bitch.

It's all fun and until someone loses an eye... then it's just a game to find the eye

[SPAWNmaster 0]

Dharma and Cash, thanks for your comments.

I appreciate your advice and will try and do things "the right way". I suppose I may have to put HP canopy flight on hold until I get settled financially so I can stay current enough to progress (and buy a new canopy...).

Again thanks for the posts.

BSBD

[ozzy13 0]

http://www.uspa.org/SIM/Read/Section6/tabid/169/Default.aspx#1073

There is some good reading there. Just so you know USPA considers any canopy under a 150 a high performance canopy and recommends 500 jumps for it

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=47

You should be able to do all things on this check list also

A Saber or Safire are great canopies for the skill level you are at.

Good luck

Never give the gates up and always trust your rears!

[danielcroft 2]

Did you work on double front approaches before switching to 90s? I did BG's course at 15 jumps & he advised a friend of mine to quit the 90s until he'd actually got his straight in, doubles down. My friend had similar jumps to you IIRC.

I know some of the guys in this thread personally from my DZ and they know their shit. I'm just a noob playing with risers but I take the double front approaches very seriously. I'm a long way from having *anything* dialed in. ; )

[SPAWNmaster 0]

Quote

Did you work on double front approaches before switching to 90s? I did BG's course at 15 jumps & he advised a friend of mine to quit the 90s until he'd actually got his straight in, doubles down. My friend had similar jumps to you IIRC.

I know some of the guys in this thread personally from my DZ and they know their shit. I'm just a noob playing with risers but I take the double front approaches very seriously. I'm a long way from having *anything* dialed in. ; )

Yep! Probably the first 20 jumps I put on this canopy were all double fronts. Perhaps this is not "enough" practice but I'd like to put out the idea that I didn't just start yanking a riser one day and call myself a swooper - this video and everything I do in the sky is as calculated as I can be (I'm the limiting factor, of course, because I'm human).

I think there's a general impression from people in this thread (because obviously they don't know me in the real world) that I've just started swooping without any research/courses/thought/etc. which is unfounded.

My S&TA and the experienced guys all look out for me and are not afraid to speak their mind.

For what it's worth EVERY skydive I have been on has had an emphasis on canopy control.

Anyways, thank you for your post and opinion. I posted a question out there with video to give a context and have had a wide variety of opinions from all kinds of jumpers here with insight that I was looking for as well as insight I wasn't looking for and am grateful for.

BSBD