hillson

Damn...sorry brother. The U.S. woman's team at the time was synchronicity...same kit, different folks. Good luck.

Do you have other pictures of the rig - particularly the cutaway or the front of the rig (any embroidery on the ring covers / mudflaps/ whatever they're called)... That looks like an old team rig from that era...and I know of at least one from said team hanging out in FL, presently, that looks exactly the same.

See pics. M Edit: https://jackson.craigslist.org/spo/5158432402.html

I suppose if we are going to crawl up and nail ourselves to a cross...best to ensure that it is a big one. Who knows what the camera rules are in the OP's federation are...granted they're not 75 jumps but they could be as low as 100 pending requirements etc. At any rate, to avoid turning this into a thread about who is the most camera safeish...to the OP: welcome to no wind / "light and variable" landings. Outside of all the advice given - which was good, and the resources offered - which were many...you also identified a common problem experienced by new and old jumpers...finishing your flare. It is, at times, easy to half-ass your flare in a good headwind and land perfectly normal. No wind / downwind...finish that flare completely and use the science to convert the speed to lift. And prepare to take a step or two. I'm sure people can / will critique the finer points of your flare technique etc but that wasn't a bad landing by any stretch.

Pretty much. Works like a charm. I had two different sets of RI risers that I constantly had to fiddle with. UPT risers seem a bit better with the pin on the bottom (in the event that the toggle top pops) but I'll probably have the rigger add a few zips of thread up the pocket sides during the next repack.

This is dumb...take your money somewhere else. Skydiving - especially learning to skydive - is expensive. Far too expensive to waste it on some shitbag that makes you feel like a goof for asking reasonable questions. Training - *especially* in the beginning - is critical so that one learns to jump safely. Skydiving can be very unforgiving. I worry, through no fault of your own, that you're being short changed in some critical aspect by this doofus instructor. ZHills, Deland, Lake Wales, Sebastian, Clewiston...any of these places will give far superior instruction and will probably be generally close based on how much you feel like driving. Plus you can camp at every one. ZHills is my home DZ so I have a special feeling for that place...but I live in Tampa so it is close. Lol. I've been to all the other ones - as have many other ppl on this board - and they will all fit the bill. I'm pretty sure Cocoa (Space Coast Skydiving...?) is tandem only.

Not that it helps in your particular case...but in LeBlanc's BPA presentation a comparison was done between a Pulse 150 and a Katana 150 at about your wingloading. It was pretty eye opening...and the speeds were pretty high. It was the combined vertical and horizontal speed (remember...you don't hit the ground with your forward speed...). I think the KA was something close to 50 mph and 1700+ fpm descent in full flight. IIRC it was in the last third of the presentation. I think it was called the two paths of canopy progression or something. Like I said...doesn't answer your question really but it is a good watch. About an hour total, if I remember.

How? Here's a picture of the system installed. Blue is the spectra reserve ripcord. Yellow is the Collins Lanyard around the left side cutaway cable Red is the Skyhook lanyard. Black / white is the RSL (direct pull). Tell me how activating the reserve cuts away one side of the main risers. [edit] yes, there were earlier variants of the Collins lanyard...I believe the first version was a separate spectra (?) cord with finger trapped loops that went around one of the risers on the RSL side and the left cable, then another that had the cable pass through the a loop on the "black" portion of the RSL...and now the third version which I have...which has been out for many years. In any case, none of them were connected to the ripcord etc.

I get what you're saying BUT...since when is an S turn required to miss a building or a plane? If you have time to toggle monkey, look all around and kick your legs you certainly have the time to make the small heading change that is required to miss the object. I guess if you've run out of Schlitz...but there are still better ways to handle it...especially so people in the stack don't have to play "dodge the dummy..."

Where is your biggest blind spot under canopy...? The marginal cases you've listed notwithstanding...it does not make it a good idea.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it if they were made mandatory. Most people have them anyway. The overseas federations that mandate them seem to get along fine without people being butt-hurt over the issue. Every activation I've seen or personally know the person that it happened to were either loss of altitude awareness or low pulls...not the mythical "I got knocked out in freefall" stuff (though youtube will attest that this can happen and people are alive today because of the little computer). I'm not so good that I cant fuck up...that is what mine is for. AAD / RSL / Skyhook etc can help tilt the odds in your favor in marginal situations. Yeah, you shouldn't be there in the first place but shit happens. Maybe that makes me "not a real skydiver" in the eyes of some...whatever. That being said, I think that some of it might be generational. I started late enough in life and recent enough that the idea simply doesn't seem terribly controversial to me. I'd rather someone suffer the minor inconvenience than argue over who gets the gear after a bounce. I'm clearly in the minority on this, though.

There will be more female jumpers at 1) Deland or 2) Skydive City in Zephyrhills which is ~3 miles north of Jump Florida up 39. Both of them are simply much bigger dropzones. BTW, we allow "screw ups" at ZHills, too...(hint: I'm not where I'm supposed to be...lol). You've had some good advice in this thread...don't sweat it.

A pound of flour is funnier...makes one hell of a mess, though.

They both pack *about* a size smaller...which is generally what the manufacturers state. People always talk about the compressibility of the wing due to low bulk fabric but always forget about shit like tapes, line length etc...that stuff doesn't shrink. As you get smaller the advantage will go away a bit. They will both generally fit in a container for a 135. The 129/132/135 (or whatever) will fit better. What a shock. If you're trying to jump two sizes down it will suck. Especially if you cram the biggest reserve you can in there. Re: the 308...a 135 with a OP143 is the definition of the "vector brick." It fucking sucks. The low bulk stuff is great...it does allow a smaller container (do the math on what reserve you're comfortable with). My first owned wing was a Pulse 170 in a new container sized for a 150. It worked. But the 150 (both 7 and 9 cell) fit better. Good stuff...but this shit doesn't perform miracles

Have one in my V308. Will never go back to a standard deployment bag again.

I don't speak lawyer or judge but it seems to me that MHS completely and utterly won on every single point.

For better or worse...this is sort of the "Flight-1 Effect" (and other canopy courses, too). Outside of the "pattern replication over random area X to land where you want" a lot of the stuff taught in these types of courses are incredibly altitude specific - though, for good reason. Granted, the total population of jumpers that have been through those courses is small - but growing as its required - but I've even heard discussions of "altitudes" just milling around the DZ - mainly in context of "my setup." Couple the professionalization of canopy work + the "bar school" information transfer...well, I'm not 100% surprised. Try to build a better mousetrap etc etc...

Very sessy... http://skyblue.co.rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC_1070-1.jpg# List of options, here, apparently: http://skyblue.co.rs/?page_id=4037

Yeah, dunno. Just speculating I guess. Outside of thinness of profile, resistance to distortion etc etc I was thinking of things like: longer recovery arc / ability to keep in a dive, riser responsivness / controllability, greater sensitivity to harness input etc. I assume that both companies have asked: if we made a new everyday (?) wing on the high(er) end of the performance spectrum...what would you want it to do? Likewise, having not flown XB wondering how updates would transfer to a conventional wing. I wasn't around for the previous leaps...square/elliptical/XB...so just wondering if this is similar. Plus, I'm bored and happen to think both products are pretty dead sexy.

A crappy Vector copy with a Curv Bio-Yoke? Sign me up! (The various articulation options have some scary looking hardware - at least on my phone)

There is no such thing as a perfect skydive...don't beat yourself up if you need to improve something (particularly as you probably did the other 9 things correctly and don't know it) early on.

The new "elliptical" womp womp... I assume that these fly performance (?) / style-wise (?) somewhat similar to XB wings at least insofar as the companies have incorporated lots of lessons learned about what people want. I do wonder the market segment...does a far superior / more efficient airfoil design obviate the need for a XB at (entry level WL) to get the same or similar performance...ignoring the benefits of rigidity / distortion resistance Eric etc etc. maybe they're also marketed at joe jumper that flies a XF or KA somewhere around 1.5-1.8/9 that doesn't swoop but likes the way they open, fly etc etc. Merely curious.

well, yeah...but I have yet to see anyone do that. replace 'em and go.

I'm not following you around I swear...lol. There are 2. You can buy them at the local store at zhills. No reset necessary and it doesn't wipe the memory. They're ~$10 for both.

It has been years since I've rented so their policies may have changed. Dunno. If you happen to be there on Friday as well hit me up and we'll go make a jump or two.