hkf

Love my Katana so much that I had to re-write a classic from the Lion King; Hookin-The-Katana what a wonderful Phrase Hookin-The-Katana aint no passing craze it means long swoops for the rest of your days it's a cross-brace free Velocity Hookin-The-Katana........

Just when you thought skydiving can't get any better, along comes the Katana. I now have about 150 jumps on a katana 107 loaded at about 1.6 to 1. I'll still go on any load just to get another canopy ride. I've previously jumped Sabre 2 120, Vengeance 120, Stiletto 120 and Spectre 97. I expected the performance to be similar to the Vengeance, but it was in a different league. The riser pressure is light, and can be held down at will. It generates great speed in long carving front riser turns and has an awesome bottom end to finish the swoop off. Many times it's made my Protrak flatline as it plains out for the swoop. Initially after a soft snatch I would get thrown around a bit on opening, but found that it was sensitive to body position, after I started really flying the openings it has been consistently on heading. This canopy is so cool that I had to re-write a song from The Lion King; Hookin-The-Katana what a wonderful Phrase Hookin-The-Katana aint no passing craze it means long swoops for the rest of your days it's a cross-brace free Velocity Hookin-The-Katana........

Tony Suits are awesome, and customer service is incredible!!!

Chris Lynch is based at Headcorn, but as mentioned earlier in the thread, it's difficult to do enough jumps in the UK to make a living. He tends to go to Sebastian Florida From November to the start of May where he is part of the freefly training centre http://www.freeflytrainingcenter.com along with his Freejive team member Rob Silver, Dave Brown and Cisco. I went out in March this year to train with him, and the amount I saved on jumps due to cheaper slots and the exchange rate probably more than covered air fares and accomodtion. Chris is based at Headcorn from May to October, but does his Wingtips Canopy Pilot Seminars around the country. check out http://www.wingtipscp.com for seminar dates, asthese are the dates he will not be at Headcorn. I think he is trying to do extra days at various drpzones after his seminars to offer Freefly coaching. Best bet is to contact him on [email protected] to check availability. Rob Silver tends to be in the UK a fair bit for our summer, but spends time at different dropzones.

Chris Lynch His coaching style really seems to work for me. He always establishes a clear goal for the jump, then a great brief to work out how to achieve that goal. He always manages to keep the jump fun, and his enjoyment during the dive is infectious. This is always followed by a positive video debrief. In addition to the above Chris often watched my landings/swoops and would give lots of advice even if I wasn't on a coached jump with him. I did a load of coached jumps with him in Headcorn UK last summer, as a result my team member and I chose to go to Sebastian last March for a 2 week FF training camp with him.

I received the following email today, not sure where they got my address from, but probably some site I registered on. Has anybody else received this, or does any one have more info? Overijse (Belgium), May 2004. Dear Skydiver, In the past we have been in touch for the Vigil AAD. Now that my 'partner' Jo Smolders publishes an official document on the USPA website where he connects my name with the recent troubles that the Vigil has, I must inform you about the real situation. I worked for more than 5 years on this project and invested way over 150.000$ in it. The Vigil was my idea, from the design, the concept, to the name. I was promised half of everything that the Vigil concerns, and never saw a dime of it. Since January 2004 I'm not involved in the Vigil project any more. I NEVER received a decent explanation regarding the numerous malfunctions. Disregarding my insistence as a skydiver, as an instructor, as a rigger and as a partner, I never got any answer on my questions regarding the safety of the product from Mr. Smolders. I told him that under the present circumstances the lives of the skydivers are endangered. Anyway, due to this situation, I have been forced to consider possible alternatives. I'm sure that we'll meet again on a DZ sometime. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at +32 (0)485 86 87 88 or bookmark my personal email address: [email protected]. Blue skies, Karel Goorts

Wind tunnel is excellent if you have acess to one, you can really feel what your body is doing when you go for the dock and then compensate. The most common is backsliding as you reach forward. Try leaning back slightly as you go for the dock. A good solid wide base with the legs helps so that you are flying less with the arms, and they will have more freedom. Also try to fly real close before taking dock then your arm will mostly be burbled by your legs and you wont need to compensate so much with the other arm.

Chris will be doing his tour of UK dropzones again this year, giving seminars on canopy control and swooping. A website will be released soon to promote and give further information on the seminars. There is currently a single page at http://www.wingtipscp.com where you can register to receive information on seminars at a DZ near you.

Thanks Chris and Emily, It's nice to know you are thinking of us. We had the funeral today (Monday), so many people turned up, it was standing room only at the back. A great testament to Ethans popularity. look forward to seeing u both when u get back James

1) I've had my shoulder dislocated by a Katana opening. 2) I just stayed awake all night

Tony suits rock, you'll soon forget how long you had to wait, when you are flying the greates jumpsuit in the world!!!

It's never to early for education, find a canopy course at one of the bigger DZ's, let them know your aspirations, and they will teach you the safest way to reach your goals.

The empty beer can is still in my car, when I close my eyes I can see the grin on your face before that static line you did last Thursday, I laugh every time I think about you walking around with your shoes on your knees pretending to be Wiggy, and yes your joke about the little aeroplanes was funny!!! All these reminders of you are here mate, and it's so difficult to accept that you are not. Even though your time was short, you shone so bright, and made all our lives richer from knowing you. Thanks for finding the time to give the finger before keying the launch. (attached) Blue Skies forever mate. James

Having jumped both, and now own a Katana I have to disagree about them being very similar. In terms of which is better, it depends what you want from a canopy. Like SkydiveMO said demo them both and see which you like the best. I've done 60 on the Katana now and find it to be totally awesome, and it gets better with every jump as I get to know it better. The guys from xl who were jumping the pre production katanas were saying they could swoop almost as far as their velociies. PD did alter the trim to tame them a bit before they went to market, but this canopy is much closer to a velocity than it is to a stiletto. I would agree that riser pressure is lighter, and turns are faster. The Katana dives more than a vengeance. You also get a really cool Katana bag with all new Katanas

has 15 posts for every jump that was for slowfaller but u beat me to it

has got me off of newbie status

has helped me get 1 post away from getting off newbie status

Have to say Tony Suits, just got a Tony Freefly suit and it flys real good, also seen a friends with over 1000 jumps on it in really good condition. Also I have never known customer service like it, they can't do enough for you, they pulled out all the stops to complete my rush order before I went back to England, and when I went to pick it up Tony even came down and jumped with me

Try Tony Suits, I have it on good authority that they make the finest jumpsuits in the world

So does mine dude. Just when you think skydiving can't get any better PD go and bring out the Katana!!!!!!

Agree with all that has already been said. Another good exercise to get you flying on your feet is to do balance exercises such as pushing one foot down and holding the position then trying it with the other. Also putting one hand on your head. Don't be surprised if you fall of it initially, but try it a few times and you will get it. Looking at your alti should not be a problem after this. With only 600 jumps, I'm not an expert but this is what my coach had me do when I started sit

Have you recieved it? Yes From who? Chris Lynch (FFTC Sebastian) How did it help you? Improving sit position, fine control, and did a lot of work on carving Did it transfer directly to the sky? Yep Did you find it different with your rig on? Not Really Did you like it and have fun? Great fun, but 2 hour session shared between 3 was tyring

He forgot Elvis impersinations aswell!!!

I have a wings, and have just checked the manual, I could not see anything there about stowing the excess. I put the top horn in first, then double the excess over and push it through the bottom elastic, and then hold it in place from below whilst inserting the bottom horn to keep it nice and tight. It may be a bit fiddly the first few times, but the lines seem to get a memory for it and it becomes easier. I can believe it may wear the brake lines a bit quicker, but these are easy to replace, and should be inspected regularly anyway.

60 jumps so far opens a bit quicker than sabre 2, but openings are mostly uneventful. Had a few turn me upto 180, but have since found that I let one brake get a bit twisted, so could be that. Normal pro pack, don't roll or push the nose in and quarter slider, don't pull the slider down in front like velocity. It probably takes about 500 feet to open. It is also the most awesome piece of skydiving equipment I have ever owned, and I am in love with it!!!!!