EnricoPalazzo

Hi Mark, I can only speak out for Skydive Westerwald, my home dropzone (disclaimer!). We are currently still in Corona lockdown but are preparing for reopening for restricted operations (only licensed jumpers in the first phase, weekends only) once the authorities allow this. Please check our Facebook page for updates: https://www.facebook.com/skydivewesterwald/ You can also check it out if you do not have a Facebook account. We operate a long Supervan, we have rental gear, instructors for al major disciplines, lots of LO events (at least that is the plan) and a large landing area. Of the DZs you listed, we are certainly one of the largest, but given the current situation, please take that with a grain of salt. No-one knows exactly how jumping operations will look like regarding restrictions and traffic at this point. I'd like to see you swing by and check us out! Cheers Matze

The issue is that you probably would not know why your rates were raised. Also, at some point we will reach a stage where every insurance company is doing the same thing, and then what? A similar issue is the offer to lower your rates for car insurance if you agree to have a GPS logger permanently in your car so the company can see if you're a very cautious driver or if you regularly drive in areas where the risk of damage is low in comparison. In Germany, this is currently a voluntary agreement between the insurance company and the client to offer lower rates for lower risk, and of course clients would only agree to this if they think they can benefit. But given enough time and clients who do this, this could turn around in a few years and insurance companies might very well charge extra (even if it's a hidden raise) if you do not have one of those things in your car. I'm very cautious as to what I share on socal media and otherwise, but just me being cautious might not be enough. I might need to go with the masses and start posting pictures about a healthy lifestyle. In a few years, not posting pictures of your veggy diet and yoga classes (or not even having a social media account) might make you stand out like posting pictures from your fun weekend skydiving today.

Magnetic riser covers don't have the best track record of staying closed in high speeds combined with non-belly orientations. That being said, they have evolved considerably by using better overlap and stronger and more magnets. For regular skydiving (including freefly), there usually is no problem in using modern magnetic riser covers. Speed-oriented disciplines like speed skydiving and - as I learned today - wingsuit speed performance can still be an issue though.

Perfect, thank you! I thought it was either you or Bryan Burke, much appreciated!

I definitely second this. With the exception of possible spinal injuries. But in that case, there is the risk of a dumbass, stubborn (or shocked) jumper resisting his gear being cut, thereby causing as much dangerous movement as just cautiously removing it. That being said, very good OP, thank you Grimmie! P.S.: I have seen a very good Youtube video about how to safely remove gear, as part of an EMT training, but I cannot remember who did that. Anyone has a link?

I'm doing speed with a Curv 2.0, and most of the time it works like a charm. The rig is a very good fit, and of course I crank all straps to maximum for a speed skydive. No lifting or shifting at all, not even an inch. Regarding the magnetic riser covers, I had them pop open a number of times when decelerating with a less than optimal body position, so I'm thinking of getting a third pair of magnets inserted by my rigger, but so far, on more than a hundred speed skydives, that has happened maybe 4 or 5 times, and never during the speed phase. Risers stayed where they should, but of course, that is not optimal. Not sure how the Vector riser covers would fare. Pilot chute with freefly handle on my Curv is as good as it can possible be, very secure and tight fit if you know how to pack it. I have seen Curvs where the BOC pouch would have to be tightened though. The Curv currently gets bonus points for being able to slide the ProTracks under the lateral covers without the need for add-on pouches (ISSA-approved). They can fit in when the rig is not on me, but once it's on my back, they are locked by the container. If we're moving to Flysight though (and it looks like we will), that point is moot. (edit for typos)

That was my last info from the ISSA board, given to me by a competitor who is frequently in touch with Arnold Hohenegger and Holger Enderlin. Let's see. I personally do not believe that ProTrack delivers 100% accurate readings above 450km/h, but as long as the readings are the same for all competitors, that at least gets results that are comparable and which can be used for judging.

Sorry, I don't know which software could do that automated. My guess so far was either that this was either manually generated with best-guess numbers or tied in to Paralog, which can do a re-run of the jump profile, just not with such nice graphics. Sure, please drop me a note when you're around, not sure about the jumping during the off-season (most DZs here will still be closed), but we have beer all year round ;)

A camera on your head will also introduce drag, depending on your body position, and it will change the burble as well. I never take cameras with me while speedskydiving unless I want them as a training aid, but when I do, I am aware that this will slightly change my speed profile. Nope, I was not in Australia. I am German, and as you might know, we have some quite good speeders :D Still a pretty good gap between Moritz, Marco and the rest of us, and since they both are dedicated speeders while I am mainly freeflying, I don't see me being nominated over them any time soon. But it sure is fun!

Adding a camera on your head will not give you any useful info. I've seen a lot of footage from ankle mounts that let you see most of your body as well as vertical orientation. A chest mount pointing downwards *might* work as well, but a helmetcam will only show you the horizon in relation to your head, not much to be learned here... As for the ProTracks, don't buy them just yet. The world championships supposedly were a testbed to decide wether to change the official measuring device to Flysight, so the decision on how to go forward (Flysight or dual Protracks) should not be that far away.

Point taken, it definitely pays to sport crazy ideas from time to time. The twist in the upper body would be a control surface already. You need to use the air pressure pushing on said twist to create the spin. That means friction and friction means slowing down, and you don't want that. I can fly fast and stable already, but stable means I need to stabilize, while going fast is more like riding a razor's egde, only correcting if necessary. I'm still too much of a rookie when it comes to speed skydiving to say what can and cannot be done, you'd better bring this idea to some of the cracks. Inducing a spin and hoping for it to stabilize at 500+ km/h is pretty scary on its own though, I gotta say.

I'd like to see you try ;) Since you're not actually shot out of the plane from a rifled Caravan door, you'll have to induce the spin after exit with control input - of which you want as little as possible. Every square inch of control surface stuck into the wind will slow you down. Think more of an arrow, not a bullet. Also, how fast do you want to spin to create that effect? Id really like so see someone do that, doing at least five or six revolutions per second before anything like spin stabilization takes place... you'd need to tape your arms and legs down, or they would be thrown outwards like on a rag doll by the centrifugal forces. -edit for typos-

Hi! Speed Skydiving is almost completely unrelated to headdown freeflying. I actually know some guys who have almost no freefly skills but are good at speed. This is a very steep track, not headdown, and as you know by now, the main difficulty in headdown flying is to fly slow and stable. If you have not discovered it on your own by now, watch this: https://youtu.be/b3Ts_4pB4WM Max is one of the top speed skydivers at this time and he has a very entertaining way of explaining things. My favourite quote of his is: "If everything is under control, you're just not fast enough", and that sums up speed skydiving perfectly for me. Brake as little as possible, just enough to be barely stable through the skydive until that dytter starts to blast and you need to slow down. And you did read the rules right. It is vertical speed from 2700m to 1700m above ground. Cheers!

Glad I could help :) Have fun practicing, maybe we'll meet in competition some day!

I don't know about the sleeves... Most guys I know jump in compression shirts, some even sleeveless (me included), others are wearing skintight suits. Never saw much excess fabric, except maybe a little on the lower legs for better feel. I never found the need to have much extra fabric for proper deceleration. I float for a good 4-5 seconds before pulling, as soon as the speed has bled down in the track sufficiently to bring my arms forward.

The most common technique is indeed to gradually move into a horizontal track and bring your arms forward pretty soon (depending on your strength), and then float until you reach your pull height (which should not be above 3,200ft, no matter how slow you feel already). Everyone I've talked to so far is doing it rather similar and it works for me as well. The speed readings can be quite misleading as for example the L&B devices average the speed out over the last 4 seconds. This works both ways though: if you brake hard immediatly after the measuring window, the braking will factor into your average speed for the run.

I did the same last year, takes some time but eventually someone will create an account for you. If you are on Facebook, you can also contact them at https://www.facebook.com/issa.speedskydiving.1, the admin is a lot more active there.

Just one more thing, in anticipation of a follow-up argument: The data pool cannot really be increased over a long time, since all gear will see a lot of evolution over a time span that makes the aggregation of meaningful data futile. Before you have a large enough sample size about helmets, goggles, containers etc., the manufacturer will have modified the gear so that there is not much to be learned from historical data.

Just to give some perspective, "Die Welt" (The World) is considered a quite biased news outlet by many, akin to Fox News. Though not necessarily centered on Trump, they like the populistic world view. I'd not read too much into this news article in terms of general opinion in Germany.

I think that with a Sabre I, you could have a steerable canopy overhead before you even know that you released the pilot chute ;)

There's one reason, and it's a damn important one: coolness. A bigger reserve and bigger container just don't look that good. Everything else is minor details... Now for reserves that are vastly bigger than the main: this can be a problem if you have a two-out, since the size different means that the bigger canopy will be dominant and lead to a more "action-oriented" two-out scenario than flying two equally-sized canopies. Personally, while this might be true, I consider this a lower risk than being unconscious/incapacitated under an AAD-deployed reserve (one-out) that is just as small as the pocket rocket many of us fly as a main. Disclosure: I got a 119 Crossfire main and a 135 Speed reserve, so that's still roughly similar. The 135 would still hurt when landed unconscious though.

Just curious how the cutter is designed. Is it similar to the Cypres unit? Also in the firing mechanism using a chemo-electric capsule? That's the only one I know, but I'm curious to see if there is a better way to cut the loop.

Do you have some other views? A schematic perhaps? It seems to cut loop nicely, but not much to see from the top-down video...

Damn. I read Boobie Types... That's disappointing! I'm a free fly guy by nature, I only very occasionally do RW. I have a suit with airlocked booties (got it cheap), but I kinda struggle, I think I would have fared better with regular booties. My opinion is: unless you to a TON of RW and have the skills to fly them, vented (airlocked) booties will do more harm than good. Once you master them, they can be awesome (from what I've heard). As a beginner, I'd stick to regular, and a lot of pros fly them as well, so they can't be that underpowered.

Sweet! Have fun with it!