Albatross

You are so right goddess. Paralysis by Analysis. Bring it all. If I build it they will come! Chris

My team is training that day. We will be organizing sunset loads and I am sure that we can be convinced to organize one for you. Come by and remind us sometime in the afternoon, let us know if there is anything special you want and anyone who really needs to be on the load. I appreciate the support on the Loing it is a bit nerve racking when the person who really got you going in the sport is staring at you aksing what they should do Chris

Buy an open face helmet, goggles and an alti. Next get a jumpsuit. Try gear and downsize to about 1:1 over 30-50 jumps or whatever amount of time you need. Then get USED gear. The fit should be good bu not always perfect. You can downsize at least one size with that gear. Then at say 500+ jumps you will ahve the experience and developed preferences to shell out $5000+ on new gear. Jumpsuits will come as you figure out what type fo flying you want to do. For Freefly you might get second=hand ones that work well. For RW if you ar doing fun stuff 2nd hand might work. If you go 4-way or 8-way you will need a custom suit that fits you well and helps fall rate. Chris

I second that. Kate, Tony, and Dan are top notch and some of the nicest people around. The skills are well taught, the people are skilled and the formations succeed and are very safe. Chris

Swooping is one of my favorite parts of a formation. The technique varies wildly depending on the ongle that you need to take to the formation. I think of it as a variation of a delta or a track. Some ore flat while others are almost head down. The critical part of the swoop is do pull out high. Remember that you have momentum that you need to stop in addition to your fall rate. For me that is the hardest part and the part that requires the most practice. Chris

I like the explanations so far. Bottom line is make more area to catch air. THink of a bowl. In a normal arch the sides are high and the center is low. To slow fall flip the bowl over get your hips up, press out and down with your arms and elbows, and turn you feet out to expose the sides of your booties or feet. Practice on the ground by being in an arch and then lifting your hips up to be only on your knees and elbows. Chris

I would guess that in theory it is not necessary. I ahve heard of many people switching DZ during training. However, the DZ might not use the same progression and may make you repeat levels. If you are out of AFF and on to solos or coached jumps it should be much less of an issue, just bring your log book. Chris

I agree, if you are a student, use what the DZ offers. If you are off student status get a real RW suit. Booties are great and critical if you want to do serious RW. IF you are just playing around and deciding what you want to do you might want to get a used suit with booties and have it altered to fit or fly it without booties. Chris

I will try and deescilate this. I am not trying to out down anyone. I am not saying that I am better than anyone, that anyone is a bad skydiver, or a poor LO. In this arena I am looking for what people want. I will be the first to admit that I have not done much recently with the LO program recently. That is not because I think that I am better than or don't want to but rather because I have spent a ton of money on 4-way. That is my love and my passion. I have also taken a hard lookat my DZ and the sport in general and really would like to and am looking forward to helping people enjoy, learn and stay in the sport. As for not helping people That is not true. I offer advice as often as I can. I am not often in the position to give it as an LO or Instructor. As for packing advice, I don't think that I know enough about it to offer much help. Chris

What Quade says is true but I believe that most DZs don't allow them and those that do only allow them for certain people. The New Vladi ball seems to be an answer to this but it is not perfect. I think that a ton of proof for flight skills are needed before you should think about it. It is a small bomb coming down, esentially. Chris

I totslly agree. Ability is down the list. The biggest point it the commitment to improve. Chris

Perris Valley, Jim Wallace, and Skydive Elsinore are all within 2 hrs of Downtown LA. SOme of the biggest and best DZs in the country. Chris

No one says that you can learn all the big way skills frying 4-way or in the tunnel. I am one of the biggest proponants of body flight and flying the "Mantis". I will say to anyone that good 4-way fliers can fly their bodies anywhere and are capable of doing good big-ways. The argument was that a 4-way skills could be tranfered to big-way but that big way skills didn't translate back. Ask Kate, Tony and Dan about this. I am sure that they will agree that a good 4-way flier can fly their slot ina big way but that a big way flier might not be able to flya 4-way slot. Chris

Again thanks for the thoughts. Please keep them coming. Now steping in to suport Quade. He did not say that the rating was a requirement but that it was an nice addition. I think that it adds some additional experience and skills to the LO's resume. Chris

Arthur, please stay big. Go with the used container to fit the used 190 and play with it. You won't lose much on the purchase and you will be safe. Unless you are going to be jumping alot (say 5-10 jumps a week) it will be at least a year before you drop down in size to something smaller. Most containers for a 170 will fit the 190. You jump that for say 250-700 jumps then try the 170 and the 150. That should take you right through at least 1000 jumps unless you love canopy flight and really specialize in that. For me even after 600+ jumps on my 170 spectre I can still have some fun on landing doing a 180 front riser turn. That said I can't wait for my new 135 sabre2. But I have 50+ jumps on a 150 and 40 or so on various 135 and a few on 120s. Remember get the canopy that you can land safely in a tight spot out down wind and in traffic, NOT the one that you can land. Chris

Please keep it coming. I am looking for any and all ideas. I think that a great LO program will draw people to the DZ and keep others coming back. The more ideas that I have the better program I can create. Chris

I am finding myself in charge or setting up a LO program and am tryign to figure out what people are looking for in the program. Do you just want someone to jump with? Do you want an LO who can give advice? Is sucess important or is just getting in the air enough? Would you mind having a small and a big group? Would it bother you if you were asked to jump in the less complicated dives to improve skills? Lots of questions but bottom line is how many jumps do you have and what would an LO program do for you in the perfect skydiving world? Chris

I had to pee and there is no bathroom on the plane? Chris

If you get into the more advanced body position with your head up hands in, chest up and leg sightly extended you will find that you often fall slower. In this position you can also adjest by flaring out your elbows. You should be able to make up for large fall rate differenced with body position but ultimately you need to have a suit that puts you in the middle of your range with your team or friends. Chris

I have never been through IAD so I can't comment on the exact situation. However, I thik that we have all had at least one of these experiences. I had a bridle wrap around my arm on jump 8. I had the hackey get stuck under my container after a funnel somewhere in the 200s. I saw a friend break a leg on my 100th. All of these make us ask if we will jump again. Even now at 700+ I sometimes look out the door and ask what am I doing. Remember that what we love to do is dangerous and you had an incident that brought that very close to you. It reminds you/us that these are real events that can happen and not just stories. You are right to be nervous. But remember that it happened, you recognized it, and delt with it. It will take you awhile for it not to be fresh i your mind but only more jumps will do that. Good luck. DOn't let your fear determine your life. If you stop jumping do it because you want to stop not because you are affraid to continue. Chris

Hold on there. Most LOs are not going to cut you. Cutting is a practice for organizers on larger or more complicated jumps. A big way organizer might cut you for being dangerous or screwing up a record or large event jump (like the 112 ways). At Perris for example there are several types of LOs, some cut others don't. Jan Myers might cut because she is trying to do intricate 16-20 ways. Some of the 8 way groups might cut because there are block moves and speed is critical. The recreational LO does not cut unless you really need basic skills or are dangerous. They usually will go out of their way to make sure that you ahve someone to jumps with in smaller goups if you need it. Chris

I agree. None of these are great choices. The Javelin is way too small. DO you think that you are ready to land a 113 reserve when things get hairy?? I know that I am not. You should have a resreve at least as big as you are (ie 150+) and a Main the same size. You can ideally get a container sized for a 150 main, stuff a 170 in it and be comfortable with a 135 later. This gives you 3 sizes and 1000+ jumps before you would even think that you "needed" a smaller canopy combination. Look at the Parachutist articles on swoopers. They all have tons of time on large canopies and slowly down sized. Those who tried to go small to hope to grow into the canopy didn't keep jumping or got hurt. Look at the clasifieds where people tell you that they bought a main to "grow into" and now are selling it becuase it scared them. Chris

I will agrre that Ray is great. However, I think that the quality of the spectre and the PD reserve is better. That is an opinion. I have the same system with 600 jumps on it loaded at 1.15:1. It was good for me with 40 jumps doing straight ins. It was good at 150 doing double fronts and good at 300 doing 90 front riser turns. I was also good at 5-600 doing 180s. I still can get good preformance out of it. I think that the spectre has much more range in preformance than the Triathalon. Chris

Someone has a somthin somthin going on Chris

OK break up the love fest you two. Chris