CanuckInUSA

My first canopy was a Triathlon 220 and my second canopy was a Sabre2 190. The Sabre2 will glide much better than the Triathlon, it will penetrate into the wind better and it will have a much more powerful flare. But it will also come in faster than what you are used to (in low-to-no wind situations). Let me just say that as long as you are smart and don't do anything foolish, you will likely really like that demo Sabre2 canopy. Just remember to be smooth and deliberate with your control inputs. Be safe, have fun and don't $#@& up. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

What is your wing loading on a PD143R? It may be a lot less than mine which obviously will effect how the canopy flies and flares. But having recently flown a PD143R demo, I do have an idea as to how it flies and flares and having a lax "I feel comfortable landing the 143 in the worst conditions" attitude with 52 (or whatever you have) jumps could be a mistake. I had no trouble with the accuracy aspects of controlling this canopy (I have been practicing my landings towards getting a PRO rating), but it comes down pretty fast and pretty vertical (at least with my wing loading of about 1.45:1). Of course you should always listen to the people who know you and see you jump week after week before you listen to anything anyone says on the internet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

That's bullshit!!! I go for the tequila. By the way, there is a little humor mixed in with my anger in this post. But I'm glad ChaosKitty had a good time at the game. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

If your profile is up to date, I have one question for you. Do you think you can land a PD143R in a very tight area under less than ideal conditions? Your choice of main canopy is much larger than this proposed reserve, and unless the prospective skydiver has exceptionally good canopy control skills, it's usually not recommended to have a radically smaller reserve. Also, I got to demo a PD143R a couple of weekends ago (it's the reserve I have in both of my rigs) and I will tell you that a PD143R does NOT flare at all like a similarily loaded ZP 7 and/or 9 cell canopy. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Congrats ... but is CR able to make a canopy in 14 days? Dang ... I ordered a canopy + container from BR and it's taking considerably longer. But I sit here patiently waiting for it's arrival (sometime in mid-April if I'm not mistaken). By the way, mine will be RED-RED-RED-BLACK-RED-RED-RED with BLACK stablizers and BLACK lines (I'm assuming the control lines will be RED) and the container will be RED with BLACK tie-die blotches. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Disconnect the reserve canopy from the reserve risers (it'll either be connection via soft-links or hard-links) and carefully try not to mess up the line groups too much. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I seem to recall we've already had this conversation in the past. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well I'm just a defenseman. Goalies are a special breed and they are NOT normal. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hmmm ... a Texas girl who likes hockey ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well they won't be free (it'll cost me the equivalent of about 10 jumps for two tickets in the lower bowl), but I will be at the Avs/Wings game Thursday night in Denver. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes absolutely. This is one reason why I included a third option in this poll. I realized that some people currently do not feel comfortable purposely landing off and yes one must always think of safety first before we start chasing gear or our jump buddies. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

In my quest to become a better jumper, I sometimes forget to appreciate the basics in this sport. And that is that we are jumping out of airplanes, hurling ourselves towards Mother Earth at incredible speeds, relying on some nylon and cordura to fight gravity and prevent us from cratering, dealing with traffic issues and hopefully safely and softly land our canopies. Jumping truly is a great thing. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Jump: 498 Date: December 22nd, 2003 Location: Eloy, Arizona Canopy: Crossfire2 139 (loaded at about 1.5:1). Cause: Right front break fired on opening causing some unrecoverable violent line twists. Lesson: Make sure breaks are properly seated and taunt prior to packing. And in case you are interested and would like to see the malfunction, it can be seen 1/3 of the way into in my Eloy Holiday Boogie video found here. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Trying to wait patiently for the middle of April and my new GTi to arrive. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm not going to name names, but someone I met not long ago absolutely inspired me to take my jumping and my life to the next level. This person is NOT a DZ.COMer, but some of you do know her and I'm looking forward to next month when I will hook up with her at SDA for a few days of jumping. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I didn't even need to take the quiz to know that I currently very much behave like Peter. Now can someone please hypnotize me to thing I'm at the DZ or an exit point when I'm at work? The geeks here at work are a little too much to handle at times. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Congrats on the good progress Denise. You are an example that many jumpers should listen to when it comes to obtaining your goals and what you just wrote here is priceless. Plus it looks like #500 will happen sometime in May? Dang I've got to jump my rear end off just to keep ahead of you. But what's a number when you are having fun right? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Obviously this poll doesn't apply to you if you don't know about the malfunction one of your jump buddies may have just experienced if you only learn about it on the ground. But if you see one of you jump buddies cutaway from a malfunction from the air, what are you likely to do? This weekend I did my first formal CReW training (and yes all my fellow freefliers got a kick out of seeing my rig with risers and a Lightning 176 canopy sticking out of my container which was built for a 135) and during the briefing, my CReW dog instructor told me about one of his pet peeves in the regular skydiving world and that is that many times, when someone cuts away from a malfunctioning main, they are on their own. In otherwords, in the CReW world, the dogs work together and if one person is landing off they all are landing off (or at least one other CReW dog will be there with them). And I got to experience this first hand yesterday. So while on my 2nd CReW jump of the day, one of my instructors had two lines break on his main canopy upon opening. He gave us the sign not to come in and dock and rode the mal out until somewhere above 2k where he cutaway and deployed his reserve. And then myself and my other CReW dog instructor proceeded to follow Super-Dave's gear down into some farmers field. Steve S (my other instructor) was happy to see that I remembered the "CReW dogs look after each other" comments and it was good that two of us were in that field as we helped each other get our gear and Super-Dave's gear over several barb wire fences. Of course it also is a good idea to be there to help you buddies out if they have a bad landing. So from now on, when I see one of my jump buddies cutaway from a malfunctioning main, I will make a point to land off with them and/or their gear. What will you do? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Some people have more natural freefall talent than others, some people have more natural canopy control skills, and some people have experienced more in this sport due to doing different and/or specialized training as well as experienced more because they have travelled to different DZs. Jumps numbers are nothing more than numbers. They show that you have a certain amount of experience, but they do not show what sort of talent or knowledge you may have. Obviously people are allowed to express their opinions here (heck I've spent more than a lifetimes worth giving my two cents around here), so I'm not against people talking about their experiences and/or knowledge. So don't confuse me as one of those people who will say you need X number of jumps before you are allowed to say anything. But when I wake up groggy on a Monday morning and read something about a newer skydiver telling me what it's like to exit from an airplane in a context that it sounds like they are directing the comments to me, I take notice. Don't worry dude ... no harm done ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I love it when a 38 jump ????? tells me what it's like to exit from an airplane. Sorry if I sound a little testy here, but I never said what you quoted me as saying. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

0:14:1 No humps ... 14 jumps ... 1 case of beer owed for getting my first formal CReW training. PS: Sorry to read about Skymama's injured ankle. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Last weekend I made three jumps on a demo PD143R canopy hooked up as a main loaded at about 1.45:1. The first two jumps, I deployed virtually right out of the airplane for some soft yet abrupt openings. But on the last jump, I was forced into a terminal opening. The King Air didn't slow down on jump run and I had to wait to slow down before deploying. I didn't get slammed, but it was a fast somewhat violent opening. My other observations are that the reserve does NOT flare as well as a similarily loaded ZP 7-cell, but I was still able to stand up all three landings. I wouldn't do this full time (jumping a reserve as a main), but it was a good experience which I hope to repeat again several times again this weekend while the demo reserve is still available. But I think once we start jumping reserves as mains, they should continue to be used as a demo only canopy. I don't think I would want to jump one of these demo reserves as my actual reserve. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I left work today at 3:30 pm to make my first (beer) jump on my 2nd rig which is a used Vector3 with a Spectre 150 and a PD143R in it (it'll mainly be my wingsuit rig). I did a hop n' pop with some fairly strong winds (somewhere around 15-20 mph) and I'm happy to report that I was able to fly this wing and stand up my landing in the peas. Now I am really looking forward to this weekend when I'll get to fly this canopy more (and maybe some more demo reserve jumps on a PD143R setup as a main). So is it tomorrow yet? I hope Mother Nature blows her winds somewhere else this weekend. I guess I started this thread to say that while I still plan on progressing my swooping skills, this marks a new chapter in my short skydiving history when I will dedicate canopy time to greater accuracy and canopy control skills (which will come in handy once I start flying a true dark side rig). Plus, while I'm not sure when this will actually happen, I hope to get a PRO rating on this Spectre canopy soon. Swooping is fun, but so are other aspects of canopy flight right? Good fun I tell you. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I got "8 out of 10" right. I guess I've been hanging around too many geeks. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Wish I was there this weekend. By the way, after viewing one of your pics, is that burn out spot on the deck still there (you remember what SM1 did duiring the Bytch Boogie right)? That was a fun weekend. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over