rainman

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Posts posted by rainman


  1. Thanks Bill, this is the answer I was hoping to get!
    Many people have been telling me that flat turns are a very important skill, but I had trouble grasping the idea. Now that the theory is clear to me I can start practicing this for real :)Thanks again,
    :)Ramon :)

  2. Hello all,
    I know this topic's been discussed numerous times before, and I have read these discussions, but I'm still not clear on the flat turn concept.
    Here's what my understanding of a flat turn is:
    - Fly in quarter to half brakes
    - let up one brake to initiate a turn
    - let up the other brake to stop the turn
    - if done correctly, you will have lost little height
    - if done correctly, you will have built some speed so that the canopy will not dive as a result of returning to full flight.
    Is this correct? Also, if you need to do this in an emergency situation, do you go to quarter or half brakes before letting up one of the brakes?
    Any and all input appreciated!
    Blue skies,
    :)Ramon :)

  3. Quote

    repack, Cypres batts, RSL install

    Hey, that's what's waiting for me in a couple of months time!!!
    You and Billvon (and others) convinced me that an RSL would be a good idea for me, and of course having it on doesn't mean you have to have it connected...but that subject has been beaten to death several times before in different forums. Good to hear that even very experienced jumpers have an RSL 'retrofitted'.
    Blue skies,
    :)Ramon :)

  4. Thanks for sharing!
    I've always been a firm believer that only being confronted with the possible consequences will stop people from doing something stupid.
    Your story just might save someone from a similar mistake!
    I hope you get lots of good drugs, get well soon, and get up there!
    Blue skies,
    :)Ramon :)

  5. Bill,
    Thanks again for posting the 3-Ring guidelines on your site. Even though I am not jumping a high performance elliptical (Merit 190 loaded at 1:1) , I was wondering whether those guidelines are still valid with the PdF 'inverted' risers ( I don't know the proper term for it, but I mean the type of risers that has the three rings facing down instead of up)?
    Blue skies,
    :)Ramon :)

  6. I have quite a large head as well (large brain y'know ;)) and the Z1 with the XL liner was quite uncomfy for me.
    I now have a Bonehead Havok (with the Large liner) and it's snug but very comfy. Plus you get to look like Darth Vader on his day off. :):)Ramon :)

  7. I had a (very experienced) rigger tell me that the Vortex rig is an absolute b*tch to (reserve)pack, but ofcourse YMMV.
    Maybe this belongs in a separate thread, but I'll give it a go here anyways:
    How important is the ease of reserve packing when you buy a rig?
    I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything here, but what do the riggers out there think of this? Obviously an easy to pack reserve is nice, but are you taking additional risks when you have a container that is very peculiar about reserve packing?
    :)Ramon :)

  8. Quote


    They should have a suspended harness for you to practice cutaway drills

    Just curious, does this mean that in the US you don't have to do a periodic harness-test to be allowed to jump at all? In The Netherlands you have to do a harness 'test' every three months, at least until you have a C-license...
    :)Ramon :)

  9. Quote


    If you have biplane or side-by-side, and it's somewhat controllable, it's generally a good idea to mess with it as little as possible and land beneath it. CRW jumpers initiate downplanes by pulling hard on an outside toggle or rear riser, so avoid doing that. Very gentle turns and no flaring will generally get you down in one piece.

    I've read this in more or less the same wording in lots of different places. What I've been wondering is do you release the brakes on none, one or both canopies. I can easily imagine lots of things going wrong when releasing the brakes from deployment setting due to the increased drive of the canopy, but then again I don't recall having seen explicit instructions not to release the brakes...
    Could anyone enlighten me on this?
    Thanks,
    :)Ramon :)

  10. I think I need to start with my disclaimer here: I'm a newbie jumper (50 jumps) with no particular knowledge of parachute design.
    Most modern kites use dynema lines as well, and I have noticed some properties of dynema that would seem to make it less usable for skydiving:
    - Dynema lines have significant stretch (about 3%) when new.
    - Dynema lines that are subject to high loadings, tend to go 'stiff'. I don't really know how to explain this, but after flying a kite in high winds for some time, the lines will remain 'stiff' even when they are not loaded.
    Out of interest: Do you notice these problems with dynema lines and if yes how do you deal with them?
    :)Ramon :)

  11. Quote


    This guy gave alot of people a reason to play. IMO there's no bad musician only different alot of different styles. Don't get me wrong you still need some music sense to be a player.

    I wasn't trying to put anyone down, I was just being (more than) a little pedantic by pointing out that when 'only the good die young', it doesn't necessarily mean that you're 'good' when you 'die young'.
    [disclaimer]
    Hey, I'm a computer programmer, dealing with logic problems is what I do for a living...;)
    [/disclaimer]
    :)Ramon :)

  12. Quote


    me : 'I hope the weather stays shit'
    her : 'Why?'
    me : 'Because then I won't be wishing that I was rather at the DZ...'

    ROFLMAO, I said that once, right before things became ugly (what a coincidence ;))....these days I try not to say it out loud...;):):)Ramon :)

  13. Quote


    I still feel the only reason a person should be allowed a gun on a skydive is to keep people from trying to dock your canopy.

    HAHAHAHA, ROFLMAO!!!! Just think about it, shooting people when they come too close to you under canopy. How about shooting people in freefall, to defend yourself against combat RW? Would you have to aim significantly lower to hit them?? ;)
    :)Ramon :)

  14. Never thought I'd be whining about missing ads on websites, but here it is: I get a broken-image-icon at the top of every page, and when I try to go directly to the url of the ad, I get an internal server error.
    Just thought I'd let you know!
    :)Ramon :)