betzilla

Have you ever seen that video of Greg Louganis? He wasn't wearing a swimcap.

I'm with you -- it doesn't make sense to me either. Somebody probably said, "you're better off without a helmet than with frap hat,": but they likely meant, "because you won't look like such a dork."

A Javelin is plenty rigger-friendly. You never see a rigger charging extra to pack a Javelin, but often see an extra charge for Racers...

my non-jumping friends got really sick of hearing about my skydives, in a very short time. That said, they still were my friends, but over time we started hanging out less and less (it's hard to hang out with people who aren't at the DZ). It makes me a little sad, because sometimes it's nice to get away from jumpers -- it reminds mw how cool you all are!

Where'd you get that swank blue Monkey fist? We can only get gross colors, other than red, black and purple. I can't seem to get monkeys to match blue rigs.

I don't know, but I don't think I'd want to sell my rig badly enough to give a complete stranger my home address, so he could have his "associate" come to my house. There will be other buyers.

What!!? I have a policy: you try it, you buy it. naw, just kidding. Some shops will have demo helmets that you can jump (we do), too. People around here are really liking the aviator helmets these days. They look good, and you can get a sweet custom one really fast. Any gear shop should be able to hook you up.

Small DZ's who dislike USPA (surely there are a ton of them) could still not be members. I learned to jump at a great, safe small DZ which is not a group member [shameless plug: Great Lakes Skydivers near Kalamazoo, Mich.], and would not likely become one until the organization had proven to no longer suck. I mean, membership is only mandatory to those who wish to be members, right?

It takes 2-3 weeks, and you can "rent" a Cypres from SSK while yours is in the shop, I've heard (I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere too). Here's their number: 513-934-3201 plan to spend $200, including shipping, and add $65 if you also need new batteries.

It's $25 at the loft here. But you're worth it

Amen Sister. I'd LOVE to get some canopy training. There's nothing in the Midwest, though, so i'd have to sink $600 into a plane ticket just to take a course.

upon inspection, the rigger here has grounded one of our student rigs, and 2 rigs owned by experienced jumpers. In all cases, there were clear beginnings of harness wear, at the site where the hardware made contact.

Yeah, it seems a little high, The thing is, with the price of new Cypres 2's, the market will bear a higher price for used ones. But don't bid on that -- you can do better.

That's impressive. I remember on my level 1 S/L jump thinking, "okay, there's no way I'll be able toget back in there, so I might as well just let go of the strut..." The rest is, as they say, history.

Yep. We have one. It's ancient, but it still works.

Is that true? The service bulletin said "one of the two tests" must be done, not both. What did they tell you about that?

Other manufacturers will have to actually show interest in the Skyhook for their own products -- that will involve lots of testing on THEIR rigs, which costs money. My hunch is that they'll let some field research be conducted, courtesy of Vector3 owners, before they make the investment.

Sure, they are different. In an intentional spiral you are flying face to earth, while with spinning linetwists you will often find yourself "on your back." The rigger here had an intentional cutaway rig equipped with a Skyhook, so he could check it out. He had an actual, unstaged malfunction: spinning linetwists (on his back). He cutaway and had a clean reserve deployment with only a half line twist. In his other 5 jumps on that rig, he did all sorts of spiraling deployments, all with clean openings, but none were as fast as the one with spinning linetwists. Hope that helps you decide.

it's true. eeneR has a sweet rig. It's ALMOST as sweet as my Micron -- fuchsia, purple and gold lightning split. I'd post a photo if it wasn't empty and at RWS getting its new Skyhook....

...and gear that is built to fit you like a glove...

Oh, poor puppy. He's so cute...

I work in the biz, selling used gear on consignment, and nobody really buys used canopies of that style (non-crossbraced) for more than $800, unless they're barely used, and even then it's a tough sell. Really, I think if you pay more than $800, you're paying too much.

wouldn't you expect a realtor to post photos that make it look like a little less of a SuperFund site?

If I could, I'd sing you a big-fat-operafied Happy Birthday.

520:1 Packing error (that would be me packing. sigh.) Packed myself an unreleasable brakeline.