GraficO

There are a few things that worry me about advances in materials and construction for skydiving. Whether or not we have the lightest, smallest, strongest materials to work from... evolution and development of those materials is going 100X faster than the evolution of the human species. If we develop stiffer more efficient wings with stronger, less forgiving lines and put it on a container that has been made to be so strong and light, we ourselves haven't evolved enough to withstand "saving out own lives" using those materials upon deployment. The human body can only take a certain amount of downward and lateral G-forces before it breaks and these new materials and construction techiques are fine and dandy to a point. Often manufacturers get clouded over by making smaller, faster, lighter that they forget that we haven't evolved as fast as our tech and forget completely about the human factor. I lost a friend and instructor that died on opening shock (torn aorta)... I've read about people breaking backs and other limbs because of hard openings... regardless of how neatly we pack there's always the chance for a smacker and less forgiving materials in my belief, can and will add to the possibility of serious injury and/or death if the human factor isn't included in the equasion. 2cents GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Anyone else have an Imix up on Itunes they want to share? http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPublishedPlaylist?id=721219 GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

http://www.myspace.com/grafico GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Anybody know what happened in CA? I heard that 2 very experienced pilots were severely injured in a wrap ground launching? What's the scoop? If I am wrong please let me know as it is not my intention to promote rumors. GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

ok... had metal and had it taken out but not because I felt it threatened safety jumping later... I shattered my right heel on a somewhat normal landing.. no fanfare. First step down I felt it go and then ran it out and stood there for a few seconds and then sat down and asked for a beer... felt like taking 5 steps on a bed of flaming rice crispies and needles mixed together. Had the ortho "massage" the pieces back together and then screw them together with 9 SS screws and a SS plate. Developed a bad staph infection in the bone and had to have all the metal removed 5 months later, have all the bone scraped off that was infected and then IV high-powered anti-biotics via a pik-line daily for another 6 weeks. Accident happened Valentine's Weekend 2003 (not a anniversary I'm going to acknowledge), had the second surgery in June and then made my first jump back at WFFC 2003 under at monster Tri190. It's still not the same... but when the doc took the SS out she said that aside from the screw holes that hadn't filled in again yet... it didn't look like anything had happened. I've been back on my Samurai 136 for some time now... Goes to show ya that anything can happen with the right angle and the right amount of pressure.... kerrrrSHNAPPO. GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Steal away... I don't mind Built in Premiere... the animation was done in a cheapie 3D program and ouput to AVI and then edited into the rest. I've been using that for about 3 years now... but it needs a little revamping. If I could find the time outside of REAL work I'd build a new one. One of the best promo/intros I've seen is the one that Andrew Staich made for Skydive Elsinore a couple years ago... another was the one from Skydive Spaceland. There are some of my tandem vids at http://www.skydivenm.net/videogallery.htm At SNM we don't edit at the DZ since it's club run and no on-site equipment... so we take em home and edit em. They end up being a little tighter than running em strictly off a linear board. It's a hassle but I've gotten in-camera editing down to where there isn't much to screw with other than audio levels and burning to DVD. The ones at the bottom are more recent... I include a special "promo" at the end listing all my gear mfgs. and friends in the industry that also gives music credits for whatever I used in the vid... I have about 6 premade with different tunes depending on the "style" of the video. Thanks for the Kudos Steve... I really enjoy your cartoons BTW. GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

this is the little header I have for my vids... http://www.mercurygrafix.com/video/MG_intro.wmv It's fun but I think I'll put together something new for the 2006 Season GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Firefly make a killer set of swoop shorts or pants... GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=820097;search_string=grafico;#816842 look for my 2 long stupid student rants... GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

possible the it may have been out of trim... Another possibility is that you can steer the canopy as it is opening. So if you have leg input on one side or the other it could turn a bit. Next possibility is that you have different kinds of bands on your d-bag (i.e. regular rubber band and some are tube stoes) or that some are double banded and some not. This would also be influenced if the bites of line in the stows are not even. I'd lean towards out of trim... how many jumps were on the canopy and whether or not you were doing the packing? The packer that I used to use at my home DZ would consistantly give me 90+ offheading and it usually opened 180 off... but when I packed it the same way I've been packing it for years it would open right on heading 95% of the time. I watched him pack it several times to figure out where the differences were... and it came down to placement of the nose (I shove it way forward and make sure the slider is as quartered and big as it can possibly be), how I roll the tail (tighter at the top by the grommets and several rolls on down very tightly), folding of the trailing edge/brakes (I put them flat and to the outside) and how I fold it to get it into the bag (I roll 3/4 of it and S-Fold the rest). I don't double wrap my bands (black Sky Bands)... I used to have a packing video that I made on my technique... if I can find it I will post it somewhere if you would like. GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

yer welcome... GraficO BTW... great to see you again at the Holiday boogie... maybe I'll have to snivel some tunnel time next time we're in AZ. WOO HOO 2006! GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

you won't be dissappointed... Altitrack is awesome! GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

BH Flat-Top Narrow for Camera BH Guner for Freefly & Wingsuit Oxygn A3 for RW/AFF Flat Top Pro and Narrow can't be beat for top mounted cameras.. super stable. The Guner becuse it is SO FREEKIN comfortable and quiet The OXYGN A3 becasue I like the design of the flip-up lens and how comfortable it is especially in regards to hearing audibles GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

nope... both are right here in the Land of Entrapment... New Mexico. But I can understand the possible look-alike from Perris at the right angle... GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

OK.. looks like I'm back in business for now... 20D, Flat Top Narrow, TRV 33, L&B Newton Advanced sight... and killer chrome on black hotrod flame theme... Comments? GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

here are the photos that I just PMed you... White one is a Samurai 170 and the black one is a 136 GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

test jumping data has been awesome on the Altitrack. Everything is looking very good for an early 2006 release. They were hoping for a release before Christmas... but like Bonnie said, L&B tests the crap outta things before they let them out to the public. Altitrack will be released first... and then Viso. Solo and Optima are already on store shelves and the response has been amazing! I've been jumping all the products except Viso for a few months now. All have been outstanding in the technical & accuracy departments... and just started jumping the Optima with a LED visual warning attachment... that comes in pretty handy... videographers dream. I will be at the Eloy Holiday boogie if anyone wants to play with the Altitrack, Viso or Optima... just let me know and we can hook up there. GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

DUDE! You clean up good! Watch out ladies.... GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

filming a non-paid tandem (go figure I lost the thing on a freebie) with a new camera setup (Panasonic 3CCD) and I got a slammer opening... helmet at all my goodies rip off my head and smash to the ground in the center of a horse arena 50yds from where some cowboys were team roping. I figure it was a combo deal... slammer opening, combined with padding that had just deteriorated over time and maybe a tap from the ol 3rings on the latch... regardless... $5k of camera gear hitting the ground at mach 10. Sucks eh? Lost my 1 of a kind "clear" Pro-Track as well... that hurt... So I'm building a new FTN, 20D and PC 1000 setup with a fill flash. Should be sweet... but man it's expensive to replace all that stuff at once. One different addition this time will be an original L&B Newton Advanced ringsight with the LEDs that go to a new Optima audible for a visual warning and the other LED hooks up to the camera for a record indicator. I'm pretty excited... hopefully it will all be together by the Holiday Boogie in Eloy GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

agreed... you had/have my original FULLBOX helmet... I really liked that helmet. Then I got a Bat-Rak... jumped the living snot outta that for awhile and then got a FTP... sadly a couple weeks ago it had an untimely end (see photo) Now I have a FTN that I've been customizing... no cameras yet so I can't take a photo of it to post... let's just say carbon black with full on chrome hotrod flames BOYO! Sigh... Bonehead camera helmets just rock! GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Get used gear and put a 100 jumps on that and then buy new gear... GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

OK... that an Infinity's worth of love there

I emailed you GraficO

NOICE! That Gold and Yellow combo in the embroidery really looks sharp GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."

Thanks. almost have a full demo set of Sams now... 2 136s, a 150 and a 170... but I didn't show the 150 rig because...ahem... it just wouldn't look good in this forum topic... it's in another container that we won't speak about right now Shark... make sure you post when you get it setup! GraficO GraficO "A Mind is a terrible thing to taste."