CanuckInUSA

Does anyone have any experience taking a vented canopy terminal? How much worse will the hard opening be? I've got 2 (count'em) hop n' pops on my FLik 293 (with vents), but I deployed almost immediately upon exit and I used a sail slider. So I snivelled (and I'm not complaining). But I'm curious as to what kind of opening I can expect from a vented canopy taken terminal both in the BASE and skydiving environments. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I've never met you, I don't know you and I can't really recall talking to you here very much on DZ.COM. And because of all of this, I'm NOT going to judge you. You are who you are and the world would be a better place if people didn't judge people as much as they do. But somethings have been said here (both by you and by others) which seems to repeat itself (not only with you, but with others as well). It's not easy for someone with a year in the sport and over 100 jumps to accept that they haven't grown up yet. But the fact remains that people in your position (and I'm not all that different than you) still have much to learn. We constantly experience new things in this sport and none of us are equal. We are all different. Some people are better in free fall than others (despite having lower jump numbers) and some people are better under canopy. So jump numbers and even time in the sport are not true indications of skill. But when a more experience person who's been in the sport sees something wrong and they choose to talk to us, we are not only doing ourselves a favor by listening to them, we are also doing our fellow jumpers a favor. Now I'm not saying that you think you know it all, but if you do think you know it all, then maybe you should take up another sport. I know personally I am constantly going through new experiences and just when I think I'm on the right track towards being that "experienced bad ass skydiver" something comes along and nips me in the butt to remind myself that I still have much to learn and to experience. I have seen your posts in the BASE boards talking about having a hard time getting people to help you with your BASE goals, but instead of blaming others. Maybe you really need to look in the mirror to figure out why people feel the way they do. I am a total BASE newbie myself. But one thing I did learn the other week when I was at the Perrine, is that BASE is some serious shit requiring very good canopy control and very good jump/don't-jump decisions. So as fun as BASE is, you really need to have the appropriate skills and attitude if you want to survive. I'm going to get off of the soap-box now (before someone starts hurling tomatoes my way). But if you truly want to skydive and BASE jump, then you must look from within yourself to find the right attitude which will make the other more experienced people stand up and take notice that you are serious about your goals, serious about safety and willing to learn. The people who have been in these sports longer than you and I know more than you and I currently do. They've either seen it or experienced it. So don't shun people because they think you are doing something wrong. Listen to them with an open mind and then make your decisions from there. DZ.COM has it's good and it's bad aspects, but I can't for the life of me see myself quit jumping (baring a serious injury, illness or poverty) just because I don't get along with everyone at the DZ or here on DZ.COM. You can choose to ignore this post, reply to it (or in a PM) and I won't judge you. It's all good because I know that I'm only four days away from my next jumping adventures (likely up in Twin Falls where the most bodacious legal span exists for me to learn and enhance my skills on). But please know that there is no way in hell someone with hundreds jumps knows more than people with thousands of jumps. I have to remind myself of this fact almost everytime I'm about to put my foot in my mouth (and my toe crud sure is tasty ... not a very good taste ... but tasty nonetheless). Cheers ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Twice in my life, I came extremely close to buying a (used but in very good condition) Porsche 911 Carrera. But now that I'm a parachutist, I'd rather channel my expendible income into jumping. But they are nice cars and they sure are a lot of fun to drive. But not as fun as jumping ... IMHO. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hmmm ... the last time I looked, the top three offensive players for the Tampa Bay Lightning: Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St Louis (not counting Dave Andreychuk the sentimental favorite for finally winning his first cup) are all Canadians. Hmmm ... I guess there isn't a single community in Canada much less a family that has anything to celebrate today. So instead of showing your patriotic ignorance, maybe you should think about the players and where they come from which makes up this latest Stanley Cup championship team. Congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fans and thanks for the great playoff run must also go to the Calgary Flames. Not counting the World Cup, it could be a while before we get to see another NHL game. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes it was cool to meet everyone and I enjoyed watching some of you guys jump (not to mention that I enjoyed my jumps as well). I got to watch Tim (Hookitt) do a well executed double back gainer and that was a sight to be seen. So it was cool to see a well executed BASE jump to go along with all of the not-so-well executed jumps. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Someone told me that "BASE will never be safe, but it can be as dangerous as you want it to be". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey I don't need the original (I'm not that fussy). But seeing as you have a few spare cloned versions of you lying around, do you think you can send me one? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Wow never in my wildest dreams did I think that some UK newspaper would quote me on something which I said here on DZ.COM and without a doubt, sometimes I have said the wrong thing here. I am human and am capable of making mistakes. Now I am sorry that Alastair felt that he needed to take his life. And if I was one of his friends, I would still attend his funeral. So it's unfortunate that people are talking this way. But I still feel that he disrespected the sport by taking his life in this manner. Obviously there are people on these boards who personally knew Alastair and are offended by what was said. But am I an "idiot" as you state for saying this? I'm sorry to not sugar coat things, but Alastair did not help the image of our sport. So why am I the "idiot"? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

0:15:0 Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Calgary in six. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I was happy to see you walk off the bridge Jamie. Several times I saw you there with your gear on and in my head I was thinking this is a bad idea. But then common sense prevailed in your decision making process. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm not sure what wind limits students have (

My bad ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

First off I would like to say that I do not wish to criticize any of the injured people here. I was under the impression that only 3 of the crashes resulted in hospital trips. But I witnessed at least 5 what I would refer to as nasty crashes and several other minor crashes on Sunday afternoon. 1) The first crash happened to a fellow known by some (I didn't know him, but some of my friends do). Anyway, he was jumping in these high winds and landed kind of going side ways and backwards and landed hard on his back and suffered the back injury. Hospital Trip #1. 2) While people were attending to this fellow, someone else jumped and flew near the GoFast wind blade on the west side of the large landing area. Things were looking not bad until flare time when I guess he flared too much and the canopy went behind him in the high winds and he too landed pretty hard on his back. The fellow stayed down on the ground for a while, but was able to walk off the field on his own. 3) Not long after this initial batch of carnage was cleared someone else jumped and for some reason downwinded it in the large landing area. Well of course the downwind is better than a low turn, but the fellow flew his canopy into the trees and bushes on the west side of the big landing area. He appeared to be shaken, but not all that hurt and I'm thinking that the trees saved his bacon as they must have absorded a lot of the forces. 4) After an hour or so, the winds started to calm down and now I was in gear on the bridge ready to jump when one of my student peers exited. The fellow was nervous (his 3rd BASE jump, 1st hand held exit) and he exited a tad head low which resulted in a 90 off heading opening towards the west. He turned parallel to the shore, but took too long to decide what he was going to do and instead of downwinding it into the safe water or the south beach, he decided to initiate a 180 degree turn at what appears to be

It's mentioned above. But if you're talking about me not being entered??? Dude I've got something like 20 jumps on my 119. I don't know that canopy. I'm not going to subject myself to the potential carnage. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Learn to read aviation weather reports. I find AOPA's weather to be some of the best, but you have to pay for that service. But check out this weather URL. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't know if it makes me look any younger, but I sure act younger than I am. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

As a student jumper in the true darkside this last weekend out in ID, I and my peers had to be grounded due to high winds for much of the weekend. It's just something that happens. Patience is very important if we want to jump another day. I know that the wing loading on my skydiving canopy allows me to jump in 25 mph winds. But that doesn't mean I'm being smart. In fact now that I need to build some jump evaluation discipline for the real darkside, maybe I should also show similar judgement in the skydiving world. Grounding myself when the winds pick up. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I honestly don't know why someone from MHSD hasn't posted anything here about their up and coming CASA boogie, but here is an email that I received concerning their CASA boogie this weekend. Come join the fun! Casa! Casa! Casa! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Mile-Hi Skydiving Center will be hosting the 1st Annual 5280’ Boogie. With a full line of events, this boogie is set to be the best yet. For a boogie fee of $20, we will be providing a BBQ dinner Saturday night and an extensive list of activities to participate in. In addition to the arrival of the Casa and our other turbine aircraft, we will be featuring hot air balloon jumps during the morning hours on Sunday. We are scheduled to have wheels off the ground at 8am Friday morning and by 7am Saturday and Sunday mornings. In attendance providing a full line of demos will be Performance Designs, Mirage Systems, Sky Systems and Go Fast. Also taking place this weekend will be the Pioneers of Skydiving Event on Friday for anyone who helped pioneer the sport by making a jump during the 1960’s or earlier, and finally, making a guest appearance Saturday night, will be Col. Joe Kittenger, giving a presentation of his journey jumping from over 100K ft AGL. Night jumps! Night jumps! Night jumps! Friday night we will making night jumps out of the King Air! If you wish to participate in the night jumps, you will need to be here by 7:30pm for the briefing. To make a night jump, you must have a B-license, strobe light, glow sticks and/or a glow face altimeter. Balloon jumps! Balloon jumps! Balloon jumps! These will be held in the wee hours Sunday morning. Jump costs are $75, and you must have a minimum of 50 jumps to make a balloon jump. If you are interested, please email or call us to reserve your slot on the balloon. L.O. and coaching! L.O. and coaching! L.O. and coaching! Mile-Hi will be providing free load organizing for all disciplines – including Birdman jumps!! - and discounted tracking, freefly, and RW coaching will be available (Mile-Hi will waive the coaches fee, so you will only have to pay for a coaches’ slot). Team Thos will be hosting free RW organizing, and freefly organizing will be announced. Demos! Demos! Demos! To add to the busy schedule of events, Mile-Hi, along with our other sponsors, will be hosting a full line of demo products. Sabre2, Katana, and PD-Reserves will be available in all sizes, and there will be a $5 connection fee for the reserve demos only. G3 and G4 container systems will be available courtesy of Mirage, and a full line of open and full face Sky Systems helmets will also be available for demo check out, and the Rocky Mountain Birdman School will be out with a full line of demo suits and pants. Tracking! Tracking! Tracking! Swooping! Swooping! Swooping! For those of you who like to be competitive, Mile-Hi will be hosting tracking distance contests and pylon races, and of course, a swoop competition on Saturday. Registration for the swoop competition begins at 8am, and the briefing will begin at 9am. Quack! Quack! Quack! We will also have a duck drop contest. Ducks are $3 each, and there will be prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most accurate ducks. We will have free camping and limited RV and trailer space available - please contact manifest to confirm. Stay the weekend with our all inclusive activities, night jumps Friday, early morning loads Saturday, free BBQ Saturday night with Joe Kittenger speaking, and balloon jumps and early loads Sunday morning. We hope to see you there! Call manifest if you have any questions (303) 702-9911. Casa! Casa! Casa! Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Without a doubt you guys left the Perrine with more jumping experience than someone like myself who did their FJC with Vertigo. But as I said, I'm still happy with the instruction I received from Jimmy and Marta. Gear checks and dive flows (including landing targets) were the norm for all of our jumps as well and people like Johnny, Jimmy and Marta have excellent things to tell us all in their respective ground school sessions. All in all, I left the Perrine with a whole new world to explore and while it's not close to me, you can bet that I will be back in Twin Falls (I'm thinking one weekend per month) to continue to learn how to BASE from their most bodacious (sp?) bridge. Good stuff I tell you, but stuff which needs to be respected. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The second part of that is very important, and in my experience, often overlooked. A canopy that is flying slower will generally turn slower. That doesn't mean you're more likely to hit the object. It just means that you will take more time to do the turn. In fact that "slower" (in time) turn is less likely to strike the object because it is "faster" (in distance used). Good to know ... thanks for the info ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes I was thinking more in time. But you have a good point about altitude. I guess time and altitude do have their issues, but altitude is always our friend in jumping. It just gives us more options. And my big boat won't eat up as much altitude as a smaller canopy would and it won't fly towards the object as fast. It'll just take me a tad long to turn that sucker around that's all. And I plan on making more hop n' pops with my boat using one of the DZ's student rigs this summer so that I get used to flying it. I went into last night thinking that I may want a smaller canopy than my 293 (for a 2nd rig). But then after watching some video, I noticed that the people flying smaller canopies had less time and sometimes nastier landings than myself flying my boat. Yes I know speed equals lift, but as long as I ground myself in high winds, my FLiK canopy seems to perform very well in moderate winds, I have time to setup my approach and seem to get nice soft landings even when I flare a few feet too high (all five of my jumps were stand up landings ... but I know I need to keep the PLF mentality active in my mind). So I still may get a smaller canopy for a 2nd rig, but at least until I get in tons more jumps, it won't be a small canopy (

I didn't know you were there. Bummer we didn't meet. Yah I threw the "eh" in there as a novelty thing-a-ma-bob for my first ever BASE jump (because some friends were kidding me the night before about doing it). Were you jumping or were you there spectating and watching some friends jump? Good stuff this BASE jumping. But it needs to be respected. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Instictually I totally agree with Marta that I would want to go for my risers instead of my toggles on a 90 or more opening (the thought of missing it and losing a toggle on a slider off jump is not appealing). But Johnny is telling people to go for their toggles and he's beginning to make me think he's right for people with low wingloading (bigger canopies). My big canopy isn't going to react as fast as a smaller canopy with my risers. Thoughts? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You guys received excellent instruction from Johnny and I want to thank Johnny for letting me sit in on one of his ground school sessions. I agree with you guys that three days is not enough. But then again is a week long enough? To me, the biggest benefit of the whole weekend was to be able to see what a great site the Perrine is and what a great place to learn how to BASE jump before harder more exotic stuff is tried. I am happy with what Jimmy and Marta (plus many others) have taught me so far and now it's time for me to spend some time training out at the Perrine. Hmmm ... Moab, Yosemite and wingsuit jumps in Europe can't be that many years away can they? But I still have so much to learn. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over