headoverheels

Most people who make a skydive make only one. Another danger comparison I like to use on my non-skydiving pilot friends is that the chances of dying from making one skydive is statistically similar to that of flying one hour in a small airplane. It's pretty close for a C-172.

I don't agree that the key to dock makes people rush to dock after the key. If so, they are probably the same people that don't stop before docking, which was causing the problems when there was no "key to dock". There is some benefit in having the formation build cleanly and symmetrically, having people forced to match the fall rate before docking, etc. True, base practice for a world record should not require that key, but it certainly helped. Regarding setting a landing direction by holding the tetrahedron in place to show required landing direction: I fully agree that a separate arrow for that purpose would be better; I don't know whether they had one there. At that landing area, assuming you mean Perris, there are many windsocks to indicate direction, and it is very common for them to be pointing in different directions. If you aren't landing pretty close to a sock, it's not going to be affected by dust devils, etc. the same way you are. The windsocks are much more sensitive than the tetrahedron for indicating the wind direction, and also give an indication of speed.

Booties don't help for large formations, unless you consider 16 way large. Their main benefit is for starting and stopping turns, and for initiating forward motion when doing sequential formations, such as on fast 4-way and 8-way. They also provide some improvement in tracking, but not as much difference as good technique. I find them a hindrance for stopping after a long dive, as I cannot stick my feet very far out while killing off forward/downward speed. That said, I'd still get them on any belly-flying suit. I've gone with the standard sized booties. If you are interested in competitive RW, I'd suggest talking to some local teams for their opinion. The Tony Suit folks will also be able to help you decide.

Looks like okay gear, if it suits your weight and experience. It's pretty. When was the Cypres manufactured? I'd have to really like the rig, and be local to it and jump it, the Cypres not more than 5 years old, and it not still have the original pilot chute or bag, to pay even the starting bid price. I'd be thrilled to get that for my Javelin/Stilletto/Raven/Cypres, and it recently got new lines, bag, pilot chute, and has the same number of jumps. I'm sure someone else here can give a better idea of value.

Rig, purchased when I had 8 jumps. Altimeter and helmet followed shortly thereafter.

Unless there's some canopy piloting licensing, which I don't favor, I don't see how to set reasonable BSR limits. On one end, some people will never be able to safely handle certain canopies, whereas other pilots will do just fine. There are certainly canopy pilots with 400 jumps, and maybe a few with 200, that can fly better than me. Advising people not to jump canopies that are too small for them doesn't seem to work, at least on-line here. As someone said, they just keep asking different people until they get the answer they want. In person, we can perhaps have more influence, but the same problem exists.

All DZ waivers I've seen in many years have that section where you are asked about any medical conditions. If I were convinced that skydiving was not significantly more hazardous, to me or to anyone else, because of the ICD, I would just sign the section saying that I had no health problems. If something happens, it will come out that you actually had the device and lied about it. Since you said "Out of harm to myself, if something should happen I want them to be aware of my device," you don't seem to be fully convinced that your condition is a non-issue.

I've bought a couple of new rigs from your DZO, and will likely buy my next one from him. I'm not sure about the customized harness. Does Sunpath do that as a matter of course, charge extra, or just not do it? I wouldn't consider having anything on a new rig changed locally, if I could have the manufacturer do it. At your number of jumps, I'd suggest buying used, unless the harness fit is really difficult to find. You will get used gear quicker and much cheaper. Right now, you should be using larger main and reserve canopies than you will want to use after you have a couple of hundred jumps. Ask around about used gear. Check with the other local dropzones, at least one of which stocks a good bit of quality used gear. Find someone independent and knowledgable, to make sure that you are getting good gear for your needs. OTOH, if you have plenty of time and money, new gear made to fit you is a great choice. I second Ryan's opinion about long delivery dates from Sunpath, and will say not to believe the date you are given when you place the order.

Dying yet refreshed Heat wanes. Lost feelings return First breeze of Autumn

I don't see cordura as an upgrade. I have 950 jumps on my Javelin's spandex BOC, which is showing absolutely no problem. I expect that the spandex is more forgiving of the way I wad/shove my pilot chute into the sleeve than cordura. Gary

I've jumped with single-vision and with no-line bifocals. When I jumped the bifocals, I found my feet on the ground earlier in the flare than I expected. I'm sure I would adjust to it in a couple of days of jumps -- it was just going between them that bugged me. I'm at about +1.5 on the bifocal correction relative to far vision. It might be more difficult with more of a correction. Gary

I recommend the belt. I've had two vests, and now jump a belt, because the weight is much more comfortable hanging on my hips than on my shoulders/neck. A belt also gives you the option of wearing it outside of your jump suit, which would let you release it fairly easily in the event of a water landing. It was pretty noticeable when I went from a vest to the lower center-of-gravity of a belt, but I adjusted within a few jumps. I wouldn't worry about increasing the loading by 0.06 (assuming that your wear 10 pounds of weight and are jumping a 170 sq. ft. canopy), if you are pretty comfortable with the canopy loading already. Gary

Yes, you are worrying about nothing, regarding the mesh. I put 900+ jumps on my pilot chute before replacing it because the F111 was getting too porous and the kill line had shortened too much to fully cock. I always put all of my bridle line in there with the mesh. The only damage I had to the mesh, which was not much, was caused by catching it in stickers/bushes on the ground after landing.

Yeah, what he said. Which is why pretty much everyone stopped doing this a couple of years after it became popular. Gary

a.k.a "free-packing" or "free-bagging" There was a piece of nylon webbing, about 2 inches wide and maybe 18 inches long, sewn at one spot to one of the stabablizer panels. It had a grommet on one end, and a rubber band on the other. Lay the canopy on the side with the strap, side pack it. Roll (actually make several folds) the tail to the B lines, fold the nose to the A's, then to the B's. Pull the slider up, wrap that strap around the canopy, put the rubber band through the grommet and put one stow of lines through it. Pick up the container, set it by the canopy. Coil the lines into the container, fold the canopy on top of the lines, close. I don't recall ever having a bad opening. Used it for two base jumps. Strato Cloud canopy; the tail material started going after about 300 jumps -- don't know whether that was caused by the packing/deployment method.

Throw them away. On my last malfunction, the only breakaway I've had on "modern" gear, I threw away my breakaway handle and kept the reserve handle. I pulled both handles with my right hand. No plan to keep the reserve, that's just what happened. Another jumper walked out in the field and found my breakaway handle (thanks, Jan!).

Letting the DZ use it, in exchange for them letting you use various larger rigs, could be a reasonable deal all around. Hookit's point, which you seemed to have missed, was that a 135 reserve made from F-111 material is seriously too small for you. It's also too small for me, even though I have 3100 jumps and weigh 142 pounds, plus gear. Check out PD's weight chart vs. experience for their reserve sizes: http://www.performancedesigns.com/reserve.htm These are exit weights, including gear, clothes, RW weights, etc., not just your body weight. You are in the Novice category. Even when you pass Intermediate and enter Advanced, PD recommends at least a 143 reserve for you. The MicroRaven 150 has a maximum suspended weight of 146 pounds, according to the Square1 web site, and the MR135 a maximum of 131. So be sure what you are getting before you buy it. Sure, people routinely exceed the rated or recommended weights, and usually get away with it, but it's really a bad idea.

How long do you want the gear sitting around? Most people would not suggest that you downsize for at least another 150 jumps, and probably not to a 135 at that point. You should also find out what size and type that reserve is -- if it is a MicroRaven, you are likely overloading it, at least according to the manufacturer. As to your question about the Cypress, I would not hesitate to jump without one, if mine were out for calibration check or something, but I wouldn't prefer to make a habit of it. If they didn't exist (as used to be), it wouldn't slow me down. But they do exist, so I use one. You might be better off to find a container that can accomodate the 160, but still be small enough to get you down to a 135.

In the US, it is illegal to punch a cloud, or to be within 1000 feet above, 500 feet below, or 2000 feet horizontally from them -- further if above 10000 feet MSL. The danger is to other aircraft. In the US, we have uncontrolled VFR over undercasts, as well as under overcasts. Separation from aircraft is visual, so we need to be able to see them. So, it's always wrong. Not that it doesn't happen pretty often. The jump aircraft also has to meet the same cloud separation distances. In the era of GPS spotting, it's not so likely that a bad spot over clouds/water will happen, unless the pilot is confused. About the time I started jumping, a load of jumpers drowned from a bad over clouds/over water spot..

You might want to pick up a Protec for CRW. Cheap, effective, nothing over your ears.

49:18

Hi Fritz, Since you show "formation skydiving" as your main activity, you should realize that you will probably be wearing weights, if you are not already, to put you in the middle of your speed range when jumping with other skydivers. This could add another 6 to 10 pounds to your typical exit weight. Believe it or not, you'll also be able to tell the difference between the 150 and the 160 square foot canopies.

I put 900 jumps on my Raven3. I could really tell a change in the flight characteristics the last year, when I did 300 jumps. Some of the change may have been line lengths/trim changing. I was loading it at about 0.75, so I could tolerate a lot of porosity before landings would have become more difficult.

Mine's worked fine for many years. I set it for an altitude at which I should already be well into my track. I wouldn't want to get into the habit of having the audible tell me when to start tracking, decision height, etc.

Skydiving is not about what's safest. If it were, we wouldn't have so many landing deaths and injuries, because we wouldn't have the canopies that make them more likely, and we'd be wearing something closer in protection level to a motorcycle helmet, rather than hardhats which have less padding for a larger head than for a smaller head, making up the size difference with thinner liners. Helmets didn't go from less effective to more effective. When I started skydiving, hard helmets were required, and that meant open faced motorcycle helmets for any experienced jumper. I seem to recall that students were put out in football helmets, with no faceguards. A few years later, when the hard hats were removed from the BSR's, people moved to hockey helmets, water polo helmets, later to Protecs, then to nothing or frap hats. The modern hard hats offer better head protection than the frap hats, and offer some face protection from moderate impacts, although all I've jumped restrict my downward vision. When we Protec-wearers first saw frap hats, we surely weren't gonna wear one of those dorky things! A year later, we all had them. I've had many hits to the head from feet, aircraft doors, ground, while wearing a frap hat, and there is no doubt that it is significantly better than wearing nothing.