How aggressively did you down size?

[flyingstrauss 0]

Jump 0-30, various student canopies, Mantas, Navigators, sizes 280 and 260.
After that I started learning classic accuracy on a 260 canopy, as well as jumping Raider 220. When I was close to 200 jumps I did a couple of jumps on a Vengeance 170 (WL was under 1, I was 155lbs out the door back then), decided I wasn't ready for it, so I waited another 100 and something jumps before I tried Cayenne and Stiletto 150, I felt pretty confident, so I ended on Springo 120 a little before I had 400 jumps. Wingload at that time was 1.29 (exit weight was still 155), nowadays, at 700+ jumps it's the same canopy, only the Wl has changed to 1.47 (managed to grow some muscles in the meantime). Doing a lot of classic accuracy, I had my doubts about my progression (difference in size, in performance, in flying tehnique), but since I do spend a lot of time under canopy, some things are quite natural for me, like braked turns and aproaches and stuff like that, so I never felt like I'm pushing things with the 120.

[FB1609 0]

ridebmxbikes

My progression usually followed learn something, downsize, get back to where i was, dial it in, learn something new and get decent on it, downsize again. Thats been my approach and its been working for me( so far anyways).

You seem in rush to downsize to me, so far so good, so yeah, keep gettin smaller dude

[michalm21 0]

this is approximate as I don't have my logbook with me.
1 - 30 Navigator/Spectre/Sabre2 in sizes 210-260
31 - 300 Sabre2 190
301 - 330 Sabre2 170
331 - 750 Sabre2 150
751 - 1000 Sabre2 135
1001 - 1130 Katana 135/ (Sabre2 135 on wingsuit jumps)

Something tells me I'm not cool enough as I don't downsize quickly enough...

[FB1609 0]

^That's a perfect progression and canopies IMO, maybe a bit quick to the 150

[michalm21 0]

I should have included wl. I was good 15 lbs lighter back then (now I'm 200 including gear out the door)
So that put me at 1.25 wl on 150. I didn't think that was aggressive, I was also pretty competent, taking canopy courses, landing in all conditions. I essentially skipped 170 (only 30 jumps) as it flew just like the 190 at the time for me - couldn't tell any difference...

I've now also taken 5 canopy classes, 4 with PD/Flight-1 guys and started ripping some nice swoops on my KA135.

Anyway, at the rate I'm going, I won't see a velocity for another hundreds of jumps - I really like to push my current wings to the max and dot have too much money to throw on new stuff every year

[mrkeske 0]

I'm a tall guy(6'6") with a 242ish exit wieght. In each transition/canopy I had some "feelings".
15 Jumps: Navigator 280 - First jump
4 Jumps: Navigator 260 - Not much faster
4 Jumps: Navigator 240 - Kinda fastar
4 Jumps: Navigator 220 - Not much faster

After I moved to "sport" canopies and jumped many different canopies and sizes, because I jumped different DZs:
Silhouete 210 ~10 Jumps - Hated, difficulty on landings
Silhouete 190 ~ 10 Jumps - Hated, difficulty on landings
Pulse 210: 6 Jumps - Loved it, good landings
Pulse 190: 10 Jumps - Loved it, good landings
PD 210: 2 Jumps - Hated
Falcon 215: 2 Jumps - Hated, no flare power
Falcon 195: 4 Jumps - Hated, no flare power

First personal canopy Sabre1 190, for about 90 Jumps.
Loved it, very good flare and always landed well.

Demoed a Sabre1 170, 3 jumps.
Today I jump a Sabre2 170 and have about 250 Jumps on it already. Very good landings and starting to swoop, doin 90s 180s and starting on 270s.

Did 4 Jumps on a Katana 150 for demoing purposes(all good landings). A beast, but very fun to fly.

Probably in about 100-150 Jumps Ill downsize to a Katana 150 or Crossfire 149. After that, no plans, yet...

Considerations:

Yes it was reasanobly aggressive.
I had particular trouble with the 210/190 Silhouetes and old non-ZP canopies. I'm very skeptical when experienced people recommend the Silhouete to new skydivers, because of my own personal experiences, even thought it's supposed to be a docile canopy. Pulse and Sabre 1/2 where very good canopies for me to transition to.

[hokierower 0]

Slower than some...more aggressively than most.

SP230 @ .95 - 1-16
SP210 @ 1.05 - 16-19
SP190 @ 1.15 - 20-120
SP170 @ 1.25 - 121-170
SA150 @ 1.40 - 170-280
SA135 @ 1.60 - 280-400
SA120 @ 1.80 - 400-590
KA120 @ 1.80 - 590-595
VE103 @ 2.10 - 595-720
VE090 @ 2.40 - 720-Present (775?)

Spectre > Sabre2 > Katana > Velocity

5 Comps in the books (1 FLCPA, 3 NECPL, Sunpath) and preparing for the full circuit next year (4 FLCPA, Nats, 4 NECPL, Sunpath).

[GoHuskers 0]

Student Canopies 1-15 (1-1.1)
Pilot 210 @ 1.2 15-80
Pilot 188 @ 1.3 80-165
Sabre2 170 @ 1.3 165-280
Spectre 170@ 1.3 280-365
Safire2 149@ 1.45 365-385...

Going to stay where I'm at for at least 2 seasons.

[Chris-Ottawa 0]

Downsized way too quickly, but I am male and was in my mid 20's...so, figure that one out.

-Some Student canopies
-Jump 32 to 74 - Spectre 135 @ 1.1
-Jump 75 - 1 jump Stiletto 120 @1.2ish
-Jump 99 to 265ish - Cobalt 105 @ 1.4ish
-265 to present (600ish) - Katana 97 @ 1.5ish

I absolutely love the Katana and see no reason to downsize again. It flies great, flares great and I feel confident under it. That being said...I desire to try some smaller X-braced canopies, but I'm afraid that I'll enjoy it more than the Katana and want to downsize and change planform again. I also jump a Triathlon 99 as my wingsuit canopy since I don't trust the Katana doing that.

"When once you have tasted flight..."

[wasatchrider 0]

Chris-Ottawa

Downsized way too quickly, but I am male and was in my mid 20's...so, figure that one out.

-Some Student canopies
-Jump 32 to 74 - Spectre 135 @ 1.1
-Jump 75 - 1 jump Stiletto 120 @1.2ish
-Jump 99 to 265ish - Cobalt 105 @ 1.4ish
-265 to present (600ish) - Katana 97 @ 1.5ish

I absolutely love the Katana and see no reason to downsize again. It flies great, flares great and I feel confident under it. That being said...I desire to try some smaller X-braced canopies, but I'm afraid that I'll enjoy it more than the Katana and want to downsize and change planform again. I also jump a Triathlon 99 as my wingsuit canopy since I don't trust the Katana doing that.

plus you are canadian so you have to factor that in

BASE 1519

[Black_Eyes90 0]

001 - 013 240sqft Navigator 0,7
014 - 038 220sqft Navigator 0,8
039 - 041 190sqft Cayenne Light 0,9
042 - 047 170sqft Cayenne Light 1,0
048 - 080 170sqft Sabre2 1,0
081 - 182 150sqft Sabre2 1,1
183 - now (~360) 135sqft Sabre2 1,3

was already thinking about going down to a 120sqft Sabre 2 but I am flying my wingsuit now so I prefer a bit bigger chute

[sammielu 3]

1 - Icarus Tandem
2-29 PD Navigator student (200, 210, 230)
29 -100 190sf Sabre2 or Triathlon (rentals)
101 - 189 170sf Spectre or Sabre (rentals) wL 1:1
190 - 885 Safire 162 wL 1.1
885 - 1530 current Safire 149, wL 1.2 - 1.35 (varies according to beer belly)
Plus 48 on Lightning 160/144/126 and a couple on other 150 sf canopies to try them out
300+ jumps on Icarus Tandem... I'm back where I started :)

I'm conservative but started getting canopy coaching this season with the end goal of swooping. It's a long road paved with fun and I won't need to downsize for s long time unless I drop a bunch of beer weight :)

[gunpaq 1]

Started with a 35' 7TU T-10 for about 15 jumps.

First downsize was to a 32' lopo 7TU for about 47 jumps.

Second downsize was not too nice for my landings "ouch" as I skipped down to a C-9 28' 7TU that a buddy loaned me for two jumps - that was enough.

Third downsize and the best was into high performance with a 24' diameter Para Commander MKI for several hundred jumps before going to rami-airs.

www.geronimoskydiving.com

[mattjw916 2]

Updated because I was bored and because I own(ed) too many canopies:

Sabre 2, Spectre, PD 9-cell - 210 (a little under 1:1, didn't like the light loading at all plus they were all rentals and lol F111)
Sabre 2, Spectre, Silhouette 190 (only the Sabre 2 was a keeper IMO, still getting molested by light breezes)
Safire 1 189 (first canopy I owned, it was more like a 175 due to measuring variations, lots of jumps on this)
Stiletto 150 (didn't like it at the time, I'd probably think a small one was more fun now)
Nitron 170 (probably around 1.2 loading, tons of jumps, loved it!)
Nitron, Nitro, Jedei 150 (tried some other stuff, went back to Nitron, lost weight, lots of jumps)
Pulse 170 (got recurrent, dozens of jumps, didn't really like it but I can see how some people would love it)
Nitron 150 (use this for wingsuiting still)
Nitron 135 (best all-purpose canopy I've jumped)
Samurai 120 (twitchy, light riser pressure, nice swoops)
JFX 96 (stable, high riser pressure, good swoops if you trust your rears )

I put hundreds of jumps on the Nitrons, Samurai, and JFX... after a lot more x-brace experience I'll try the VK out.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[timrf79 0]

1-16 250 Solo 1.0
17 - 80 230 Sabre 2 1.09
81 - 210 190 Sabre 2 1.36 (gained some weight) (Flight 101, Flight 102)
211 - 272+ (currently) Sabre 1 170 1.53 (Flight 103, Flight 201, Flight 202)
soon Sabre 2 170

Total time about 12 month

[kgusack 0]

Jump #'s are approximate:

AFF 1-7 - 220
Jumps 8-9 210
Jumps 10-25 188
Jumps 26ish-190 170 (WL .86) -stayed on this mainly due to the 150 or smaller main being considered "high performance" this has of course already been debated in another thread
Jumps 190-200+ 150 (WL .97)

Personally I've never been in a hurry to have a smaller canopy and have downsized at my own pace. Everyone has different priorities and I've certainly had people encourage me to downsize. I have no interest in faster landings or getting to the ground quicker. Canopy goal for me is just to land safely enough to pack up and get on the next load

I was put on this earth to do one thing. Luckily I forgot what it was so I do whatever I want.

[bobsled92 0]

Manta 288
Raven 260
Triathlon 220
Comp. COBALT 170
Long brake from jumping
Doing a progression again for kicking off the cob webs and
A 40 lb gain. I miss everything about my cobalt.
No intent on going smaller than 170 at 242 lbs.
Still losing weight but not rushing down size

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[angryelf 0]

Nav 260
Nav 230 till jump 25
PD 9 Cell 190 jump 26-101
Spectre 170 jump 101-250 (got hurt pretty bad under it on jump 147)
Jedi 150 jump 250-450
Katana 135 jump 450-775
Velo 120 2 jumps
Velo 111 8 jumps
Velo 103 795-2000, kept it but also had a Velo 96 around the 1300 jump mark

Started jumping Valkyries last year (around 2000 jumps), have jumps on them from 2.5:1 up to 3.4:1. Have several jumps on a Petra 75 (smallest canopy I've landed yet).

Did lots of demos, borrowed a ton of canopies between downsizes. I also routinely jump bigger stuff.

Currently own and jump VK 90, Xaos 98, SI 190 (for WS) and a Flik 266. The Xaos is for sale so I can buy another VK :)

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[28337 2]

45 jumps - military canopy
10 jumps - 260 7-cell classic
3 jump - dolphin 195 (1.1:1)
8 jumps - flimingo 190 (1.1)
6 jumps - spectre 190 (1.1)
3 jumps - ozon 170 (1.2)
110 jumps - flamingo 150 (1.4)
16 jumps - sabre2 150 (1.4)
166 jumps - magellan 130 (1.6)
64 jumps - odyssey 130 (1.6)
125 jumps - odyssey 120 (1.8)
99 jumps - velo 103 (2.0-2.2)
currently own CompVelo96 (2.2-2.3)

and I still keep jumping 260-280sq.f accuracy canopy (military jumps) - about 200 jumps for now.

[Willi91 0]

Willi91

Usually I've been very reluctant to post this kind of information for the reason that I don't want to listen to all the flaming it could result in. But since I just came home from a canopy course where I received a lot of nice words from my coach about my flying, I couldn't care less about the potential flaming, so here it goes
#0-40: PD-260/230/210
#41-50: Sabre2 190
#51-190: Sabre 170
#191-299: Sabre2 135
#300-400: Sabre2 120
#401-624: Katana 120
#624-632: Katana 107
#633-now: Velocity 96 @ WL 2.0

Back when I was flying my Sabre 170, I almost smashed myself. That is without a doubt the most valuable lesson I have ever had in this sport and I will never forget it.
My transition to the Katana was because my canopy coach told me that I was ready for it, and the transition to the Velo was because i felt ready for it. After seeing my fly the Velo, my coach was impressed with my flying.
If you want to downsize and especially if you want to downsize as agressively as I have, please do yourself the favour of speaking to someone who knows what he/she is talking about.

This is fun reading!

I must say that I've learnt a lot and I've become smarter over the last couple of years since writing my first post on this thread. But to be honest, the only downsizes I kind of regret are the first ones. Going to a Velo when I did was a fine decision - but only combined with the fact that I received good coaching!

If you have your head up your ass thinking you know it all, skydiving is not the sport for you. But if you're willing to learn from qualified people and to do what you're told, even though it might be the most fun thing to do, you're probably going to do good.

For the last 300-250 I've been flying a Comp Velo 90 which I don't plan on swapping out for something smaller anytime soon. It's fast enough for me.

[wasatchrider 0]

wasatchrider

Started with a 210 for 5 or 10 jumps then got a 170 but I jumped a 170 during AFF and a friends 168 till they let me jump with no aad.

this thread just keeps going now Im on a 135

BASE 1519

[gunsmokex 1]

I've read a lot of everyone's downsizing and was looking the trends. Most everyone follows the one size rule 190->170->150->135 etc.

I have a concern with a fellow jumper (200 jumps) that he might be getting encouraged to downsize too quickly and will going from a Pilot 170 to a Pilot 135. Granted he's a good canopy Pilot but looking at some of the checklists out there I know there is a lot more to be learned on the current canopy. Or at the least maybe just go down to a 150 first. When exactly is skipping a size wise? I have talked with some of the senior jumpers and they are like "yeah he'll be fine" which he may well be but all I'm seeing is an inflated ego whenever he talks about his new 135 that will here soon.

[Deimian 43]

gunsmokex

When exactly is skipping a size wise?

Wise? Never.

gunsmokex

all I'm seeing is an inflated ego whenever he talks about his new 135

An inflated ego with a Pilot is something I have problems understanding. But don't tell him that or will downsize more aggressively .

[Pobrause 6]

***

An inflated ego with a Pilot is something I have problems understanding. But don't tell him that or will downsize more aggressively .

Hehehe

-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

[wasatchrider 0]

gunsmokex

I've read a lot of everyone's downsizing and was looking the trends. Most everyone follows the one size rule 190->170->150->135 etc.

I have a concern with a fellow jumper (200 jumps) that he might be getting encouraged to downsize too quickly and will going from a Pilot 170 to a Pilot 135. Granted he's a good canopy Pilot but looking at some of the checklists out there I know there is a lot more to be learned on the current canopy. Or at the least maybe just go down to a 150 first. When exactly is skipping a size wise? I have talked with some of the senior jumpers and they are like "yeah he'll be fine" which he may well be but all I'm seeing is an inflated ego whenever he talks about his new 135 that will here soon.

I went from a 170 down to a 135 and it was just fine. I had probably 300ish jumps on the 170 and 800ish base jumps so I had a bit of canopy time before the switch.
Im only 1.3 on the 135

BASE 1519