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Mleadley

Also wondering how long it takes to get generally proficient during freefall?

Depends what you mean by "proficient" I guess. We have a qualification called FS1 here that is one kind of yardstick of "not a danger to yourself and others on your belly"; I have coached a reasonable number of new jumpers to FS1, and it's ranged between jump 35 and maybe 100 or so. Tunnel helps more than I can adequately describe.

By other standards of proficiency (being able to do RW on my back for example, or sit-fly worth a damn) I have 1100 jumps and I'm still not proficient. It's all relative

That first guy on the Sabre2 170 is awesome. Goes to show what happens when you stick to one canopy and really learn it huh?

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1400 at the time. about 1200 on a sabre2 170

riggerrob

Amazing how Stilettos went from being the hottest canopy on the market to the docile canopy mainly jumped by POPS.
Hah!

Funny indeed. Canopy handling skill is arguably better now than it has been, but there's nothing docile about it! They've just made canopies that can kill you even dead-er now.

virgin-burner

"i've never seen you anywhere and you wear all that outdoorsy-stuff, hiking-boots included!"

That, and probably the gimp hobble.

(Awesome that you are back falling off cliffs again. Crying allowed there too.)

2-year-old Stiletto and a *mumble*-year-old Pilot.

Everybody likes to point out how old a design the Stiletto is, but we're still buying them.

TorukMakto

I am really into 4 way competition now and I am getting the tony suit pitt special. I am confused about the XL and the Mega XL booties.

Absolutely get the Mega XL. The people who say they offer a significant advantage are right.

I think the difference in drag and thus fall speed is not important - how your booties affect your fall rate is very much a matter of technique; you will quickly adjust. (Also, the drag is just not that different in most positions IMO.)

I got them this season just past, and they are at the same time the most powerful and the most precise of any suit I have ever had. This is an easy decision!

Hellis

***I tried a full toggle turn (toggle all the way down to my hip) with the right toggle to see how the canopy would turn. I pulled fairly quickly, from full flight to hip in about two seconds. The canopy almost immediately got severe line twists

The canopy turns quicker than your body.
You can do that on most canopies, I have managed to do it with a 230.

Without being able to know 100% for sure without video or being there, this is the most likely explanation.

I've turned myself into twists a few times - once by accident early in my jumping career, and a couple more times on purpose just to see, later on. Sudden, powerful toggle inputs can put you behind your canopy enough.

I think there's a Brian Germain article somewhere called "clean up your turns" or something like that, that has some useful things to say about maintaining line tension through the turn. It doesn't refer to twists but the ideas in there are relevant.

As everyone else has pointed out, that's not a Navigator and it's not a PDR in there.

Have you actually seen the rig in question? Consider also that it may not exist at all... online scammers are getting smarter at adding seemingly plausible details but don't always know enough to make them consistent.

If it does exist though, I think this rig is overpriced. Pass unless it fits you perfectly, matches your jumpsuit and shoes, and smells amazing.

virgin-burner

DO NOT get an N3.

Why not?

Reasons are helpful, not every newbie knows who you are and that they should just take your advice because it comes from a legend of the sport.

virgin-burner

be aware of your decisions, and live with the consequences!

You have walked that particular walk (or hobbled, I guess), so you get to talk the talk.

The OP, like all the guys that came before him, has not yet hammered in and has not yet spent the months in rehab. He, like every single other young man on here who posts about understanding and accepting the risks in a thread like this one, does not really think it will happen to him. He is wrong about the first thing, so he cannot really do the second.

Despite the tar and feathers brigade, this person is not an idiot - he just doesn't know what he is doing. None of us did at that point. I still hold out hope he'll make a good call, because it sounds like his instincts are all right.

enta

He said, he can fully understand that everyone is telling me not to do it, simply because no one knows me and my skills.

You don't realise this because you are new, but this line here is a cliche. The people who are about to all jump on you are not going to be the jackasses now - just be aware that this phrase here is what set them off.

I (and the canopy coaches I drink with) would never give anyone the advice you just got - what he is suggesting you do is so far beyond what is considered safe even for exceptional people that it's hard to describe.

It's not a question of you vs other people - it's just a terrible idea, period.

The thing is, you might well get away with it. You probably will be fine. But despite that, you should not do this.

(EDIT: I think you know this already. Your instinct to hang on to your 150 seems good, and that kind of instinct will serve you well in your jumping career.)

enta

But I get the point and beside the few ppl. in this thread with their leading questions and smart ass answers I really appreciate your help.

You really helped me very much and i think i will go with a vk1 and jump the 150 at least 1 season longer.

Excellent call, for so many reasons! You are at a critical point in your canopy learning for a lot of people, now you can go out and really fly your ass off (this does not mean swooping - parachutes can do so many cool things).

Glad the smart-aleck remarks didn't detract too much from the message - sometimes even jackasses are right

I have the same advice as everyone else, for the same reasons, but maybe a different data point.

If I start learning to swoop next season (and I think I will), I'm going to do it on a Sabre2 150 (currently alternating between a Stiletto 120 and a Stiletto 135, though I prefer the 135). That's a canopy that can teach a person a heck of a lot.

Could you get away with the 135? Probably. As in, "you'll probably be fine" - though your chances of getting hurt definitely go up significantly, the odds are that you would avoid hospital. Should you? Not if you want to get good at this whole thing faster.

mathrick

***a friend who steers her canopy with booties

Ooh, neat, how does that work?

To start with, she has a Katana 107 and massive competition booties :P

(Sorry for dragging the thread off-topic but... it's interesting? I'm going to ask her for tips and give it a go.)

1) Yes, get a jumpsuit (and a helmet and goggles and gloves and an altimeter). You're going to need at least one for sure (I have, uh, five?). There is plenty of debate about what kind to get and I have strong opinions on the subject, but you should absolutely buy one pretty much immediately.

2) Don't hold your breath for a second hand rig, especially to fit beginner canopies. They do exist in your size, but you will need some luck and a lot of patience. Personal opinion? Buy a container made to measure, and put second hand canopies in it. This idea that you will downsize rapidly from your first container is frankly crap; I had mine for years and I downsized canopies (in retrospect) fairly aggressively.

JasonYergin

experienced jumpers can take the 200 series courses, starting at 201 if I remember right, without needing the 100 series courses.

There are probably some exceptions (generally people who have done other courses), but I reckon for most of us, the 10x courses are absolutely worth doing anyway. Maybe multiple times

I had been doing "little" swoops for a couple of hundred jumps beforehand, though I stopped last year for whatever reason. I've taken two other canopy courses over my time in the sport. 101 still taught me a great deal. 102 was even better.

(I would love to give 201 and 202 a go, if I can find space on a course. But the point is, most of us shouldn't discount the usefulness of revisiting the absolute basics.)

I just did the Flight-101 (ie., their absolute basics) course on a Stiletto loaded somewhere close to 1.8. I don't have as many jumps as you, but I have a reasonable amount (there was another guy on the course with over 900, plus a range down to 100 or so). I immediately did Flight-102 the next day.

It was eye-opening to say the least, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone. I may actually do both of them again later in the year.

They do exist! It can be frustrating looking for them though... "luckily" the OP has months to spend not jumping and trawling the classifieds now

To the OP, as a weird-shaped person, I hear ya. The sport, especially its second-hand gear market, is definitely much easier for the average size and shaped crowd. But hang in there, make patient decisions and don't let temptation or frustration sway you into doing something less than safe.

(The only second-hand rig I ever found that fit me looked completely awesome, but the reserve was a 110. Could I have landed it? Sure. Did I buy it? No. Would I buy it now, having some jumps on much more aggressive canopies that size? Also no :P)

Your English is great, though I'm not sure I quite grasp the physics.

For example in 4-way block 4, the whole formation's midpoint changes during the block move - the piece rotates around its own centre (somewhere behind OC's knees) while the solo flyer translates and rotates.

Current technique on block 12 is in a state of flux, but previous iterations had the pieces shearing and ending up translated; the centre of the overall formation moved. Some methods of doing 2 likewise... and so on and so on.

I don't have Windows at home so I can't play with the app and really see what you're doing. But the demo video looks really cool, for what it's worth

mattjw916

Simple answers IMO:

If I want to go further: rears...

If I don't want to go as far: fronts...

Complicated answers though: Being on fronts on final, won't necessarily make you end up shorter.

Depending on how long your final leg is, the recovery characteristics of your canopy and how much speed it gains when you lean on your front risers, you might just end up in the same place, with more speed across the ground at the bottom. Or even coming to a stop further away than you would have! Your glide certainly gets steeper when you put the input in, but what happens afterwards is important too.

I'm not trying to be a dick, or calling you a dick (this thread appears to have gotten a little touchy) - and your answer might be right for this individual in this case (sounds like it is for you). But I am saying it's not that simple, even on normal, general-purpose canopies and with normal sorts of pattern.

I like DeeBeeGee's answer, which is true for everyone, though the effect might always not be huge. I have a friend who steers her canopy with booties... it's pretty cool, I keep meaning to try it.

A couple of my friends met roleplaying online. They've been married for a decade and a half and are raising a nerdy gamer son.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, y'all.

(Back on topic... I got nuthin'. Could have been a control freak hoping for a needy girl as others have said, or some other kind of The Game reading asshole. Could have just really, really not liked the look of you in person. Could have just had a terrible day and couldn't make small talk. Could have been a crazy person. All these things are possible and more.)

And some people prefer not to use PayPal even though it's possible, because they can provide a pretty terrible user experience and their customer interactions can be arbitrary and vicious.

The escrow thing is the right answer for plenty of reasons. Find a mutually trustworthy party; skydiving is a surprisingly small world.

riggerrob

what colour their panties are

That actually sounds useful.

Croc

I believe that a Hornet is the same as a Pilot. Perhaps someone on these forums can confirm that.

Blis

Hornet is basically a sabre 1

Also every elliptical canopy that's not a Crossfire or made by PD is a Stiletto copy (even those that came out beforehand).

Both of these are entirely untrue. The Hornet is closer to a Pilot than a Sabre (to which it's a totally different shape), but it's not the same thing even though there is some historical relationship between the companies and designs. Where do people get this stuff about the Sabre though?