kaerock

Sure, YOU can swoop the piss out of it. But do you really think it's wise for a newbie to begin swooping on that kind of canopy? I think the technical skill required for something like that is very great. I fear that canopies like that will teach people bad habits before they learn how to do things properly...by making them want to hook lower and lower due to strong neutral or positive recovery arcs until they eat it. I cringe when I see someone with a low number of jumps pulling a turn really low because their wing-loading is so light and they're willing to get the swoop no matter what. I'd rather see them flying conservatively on a faster canopy. -Rory You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Great, this'll mean that maybe the theme parks will be cheaper for that 97.85% of the geographically-impaired. http://redcoat.net/pics/world_according_to_america.jpg -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

It's heading straight for Jupiter. Are you sure you didn't buy a trailer? -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

A friend of mine recently upgraded to a Wings container after consistent problems with things coming out of his Racer while freeflying. He got some great video, though. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

This is probably one of the silliest things I've ever heard of. Use proper technique and persistence, period. I've also heard that getting canopies wet can cause some binding-tape to shrink, causing a performance degredation to your canopy. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

I listend to their stuff many many moons ago and didn't pick it up again until recently. I knew I was missing something. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

HIJACK. Since you were wearing a Hawkeye, did you have a camera? Was it on? Get any of even on tape? I usually tape my landings just in case anything "interesting" happens. All I've got are some good down-winders and some tumbles on tape, nothing someone didn't walk away from. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

www.para-concepts.com is the site for the shop at Skydive Chicago. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Try a Samurai..9-cell ellipitcal air-lock done right :> -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Gold star for you! Also, higher aspect ratio wings generally have a flatter glide, resulting in shallower landings and better ground-travel on long spots. This is why paraglider wings have upwards of a 4 to 1 aspect as opposed to a skydiving canopy's 2.something aspect ratio, they're made more for distance flight, not for terminal speed deceleration and landing. People often prefer 27/9 cell canopies to 21/7 cell for their better glide. -R you mean like: Wingtips of the canopy produce a lot of induced drag. Lower pressure at the top of the canopy and the higher pressure at the bottom want to mix because of difference in pressure of course. At the middle cells of the canopy, the canopy is between these two pressures for the most part (except at the trailing edge and behind). but at the wingtips where the canopy ends, those two pressure mix. and the vortices are made (those vortices can be seen behind any airplane that has some smoke trailing). And these vortices are part of the induced drag of the canopy. And the higher the aspect ratio of the wing is the less that induced drag from wingtips is noticed comparing to the lift the canopy produces. 9 cells are wings with higher aspect ratio than 7 cells that why it's better performing wing. With eliptical canopies Aspect ratio is calculated a little different but just to get the point, for square canopies aspect ratio = Span / Chord. Same applies to 21 vs 27 cell canopies. why not making even higher aspect ratio canopies you ask? Because the higher the aspect ratio the funkier the openings will get. that's why reserves are all 7 cell canopies (or 5). HUH, i hope i explained that corectly... You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Brian Germain had some interesting points about congestion and traffic that I believe are pertinent here. When navigating traffic getting to your setup point you have to beware of 'courtesy traps'. This is where you wait for people too long that you screw yourself out of your swoop or a safe landing situation. He also suggests that you can fly aggressively, letting people know that you are fast, you will be coming in fast and to give you room. Now, this is all well and good, sometimes. You will make enemies fast by giving people the 'get the fuck out of my way' attitude under canopy. But sometimes, people are inconsiderate, deliberately or not, and sometimes you need to remind them 'I am fast, watch out for me.' When you have a bunch of regulars at a DZ everyone knows who's fast, who to let go ahead and who you can pass. When new folks, usually one good talking-to fixes the problem , for example, "hey, you might not want to spiral down because the faster guys get held up..." All in all, don't be afraid to fly aggressively, when it's safe(er), also be careful not to be too nice. Any of you guys with lots of jumps and big-DZ jumpers have any thoughts? Also, does anyone else notice that a consistent point of contention during swoop setup usually happens with larger seven-celled canopies on a straight-in approach or is it just me? I usually seem to get hung-up or have to bail when they're in my optimal swoop path. It's hard to float above them and they are out over the landing area before I am usually. -R And that is a great point, I think we're saying similar things just in a different manner.

You don't think it a bit ridiculous to blame the movie or the parents for taking the child to that movie for the child dying? I am 'over it', I think it's a rather silly discussion, honestly. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

You miss the point. The point is: who cares about the movie? A kid died and the movie had nothing to do with it. To lambaste the parents for taking a kid to that movie is pretty insensitive considering their kid just died. Why are people making the movie a big deal and not sympathizing with the parents for their loss, there's the cruelty. My opinions on laws on rape and murder movie age restrictions are way beyond the scope of this thread so :P -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

To piss off uptight and judgmental people, perhaps. One can only speculate. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Actually, I'm not from Florida. What should I expect if I ever find myself in Overtown? Wouldn't it be wiser to ask the people there what they thought of the word 'mulatto' rather than blurting it out indiscriminately? I can imagine how 'mulatto' would be derogatory to one cultural or ethnic group and not to any other. I've seen a lot, but I've not seen 'mulatto' used in an insulting manner. -R Here's a quick and easy way to research it. I see that you're from Florida. Go to Overtown in Miami and start referring to people as mulato. Report back the response You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

I'm not an economist, but in conjunction with your point, simplistically put: If the tax break is given to the top %1, that means the other 99% would have to pay more to make up for the break the top 1% got just to maintain our current level of increasing deficit, correct? -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Couple this with the fact that just last week(?) the Iraqi government ordered Al Jazeera's offices in Baghdad closed down for 30 days for "bad behavior". I REALLY fear for the people now that they're forcing journalists out for one reason or another. Anytime you don't have an 'objective', third-party around to observe the goings on, you risk serious human-rights violations. And as we've seen(Abu Graib), the US military isn't above doing bad things to those they wield power over when they think that no one is watching. -R Then . . . I know that a lot of folks on this Forum have little respect for reporters, but, in some cases, yes, they do in fact place their lives on the line to try to tell the true story of wars, insurrections and political abuses. If the journos -wanted- to leave I can't say I'd blame them, however if they were -told- to leave the city and country just because there was a threat to their hotel, then I would be -very- concerned that the government was trying to hide what was going to happen next. It's yet another very bad sign that humanity might not have gotten all that good a deal in replacing the government in Iraq. You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

I always thought 'mulatto' referred to someone of very mixed ancestry, specifically african and european, rather than as a racial slur. I suppose it may have similarly dubious roots to other, popular racial slurs of old. "Mulatto"'s root comes from "mulato" which means "little mule" in spanish. I can see how some would deem it offensive, although personally, I've never heard it use in a derogatory manner. Perhaps this warrants some more research. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Yes, because republicans are so benevolent and are the only ones that contribute to welfare. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

I was just watching the news and saw it for myself. I thought, "oh look, a super otter in a wrecked hangar...that sucks...wait, that's manifest from Lake Wales I can see through the non-existent roof" :< I'm very sad to see such a great DZ get wrecked like that, I truly do hope the plane is Ok and they can rebuild and repair soon. Good luck, guys. -R those twin o's are built to last and agian as everyone has said, best of luck to the jumpers in all of florida! You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

It's unfortunate that people are so ignorant and/or apathetic to getting screwed. Either they don't know they're getting screwed, or they do know it and don't care. People CAN put a stop to it if they wanted to...they're just not getting screwed hard enough, yet. Capitalism: A few people screwing everyone else until there's a revolution. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Regardless of oil's byproducts. Petroleum companies are jacking up gasoline prices at a time when our economy is weak and people have less money to spend. People are out of jobs, people are getting paid less, jobs are being shipped overseas. The American populace is being bled dry by petroleum companies at a time when it's the most difficult for them. Not only that, they're using the excuses of terrorism and the fear of hard-ship in the Middle-East as a reason to inflate prices. They're screwing people and lying to them simultaneously. Also, I highly doubt those in other industries such as dairy and bread producers are reaping in those kinds of profits. -Rory hi corey

Good point. I do believe GWB is a puppet as well. You can usually tell the difference between his ideas and opinions and the ones he's regurgitating...his are about as intelligent as the averate 5th grader. He's a face-man being led around by the interests of the global imperialists. You'd think they'd pick a more articulate face-man, or one that at least spoke English...I guess they got what we paid for. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

After being in that exact same situation and not being able to walk for several days I came to a conclusion: Two low-time jumpers shouldn't be experimenting together. I highly discourage jumpers with 100-200 jumps from jumping with each other while freeflying...head down is usually out of the question. When my girlfriend started jumping I usually wouldn't allow another low-time jumper to jump with us as I was sure *I* could avoid a mess, but not my girlfriend. Whenever I jump with someone new, I ask how many jumps they have, if it's just a few hundred, I ask them a few more questions. Do you cork occasionally? - (beware) Can you fly to someone and dock on them? (i.e. can they fly well enough to know how to stop and turn) Do you feel confident that if I came flying at you that you'd be able to move? (same reason as above) If they state that they are working on flying on their head, or that they're even good at it, I make it a sitfly. If they sitfly well-enough, the next time I have no problem flying head down with them. These are things to think about when you're jumping with your low-jump-number friends. Keep dives small and simple. Work on the basics, facing off, staying close, going for toe-docks. Don't do anything too experimental without the guidence of a much more experienced diver. You need to realistically evaluate your skill as well as your jump-partner's, it's okay to question your and their abilities and to bow-out. Ok at sitfly + ok at sitfly = ok Ok at sitfly + iffy at sitfly = iffy Iffy at stifly + iffy at sitfly = Bad Idea. Ok at sitfly + ok at head down = iffy Ok at sitfly + iffy at head down = Bad Idea. Iffy at sitfly + iffy at head down = Very Bad Idea. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE

Awe :< D. Woman and I will be in NY that weekend, we can probably make the next month after that though. Lake Wales is a great DZ too, it's one of my favorites in the state. -R You be the king and I'll overthrow your government. --KRS-ONE