diveout

what the hell I'll throw mine in too... I was moving so I had to skip the comp Saturday at about 3pm, high pull with all of the creswell cross-braced folks representing at SDO, hooked it high and steep, made the gates- single toe entry way back to a 150 feet of touble toe drag, to a run-out that blew up my aqua sox I like to use for swooping, totally cool. I like walking around with wet feet. Next step, wet feet and a wet chest strap/ everything else dry.

I demo'd a KA 120 with the killer logo also- I totally agree with Steve it kicks ass, i landed it downwind, loaded at 2.1, I had to run but the thing had a huge amount of flare for the size and design -Perfect. I thought it had oversteer on toggle input, but whatever. I have 2000+ jumps, about 900 of which are HP landings on various x-braced canopies and I was very impressed with the Katana for a 9-cell design. Kudos to PD for backing up all of the hype 100%. I was most impressed with the fact that Vladi- not what you'd call a small guy, is flying a Katana 97 loaded WAY higher than I was flying my demo @2.1. He was also landing it downwind at our HP landing area. Wow. Front and rear riser pressure is ideal in my book for this type of design (I'm not one of those freaks who likes VX front riser pressure) the flare is very powerful and like steve said the dive just goes for days-longer than my Xaos 21, which is a custom-sized 125.

Dude! Kudos for all the great photographic work! You even got 2 photos of me on there...Kickass!

I can do a method pretty much every time to about 90 or 120 degrees, I'm working on a full-on blind man now. I really suggest using the surface tension of the water to move your feet, since it's a lower body only move, try NOT to move your harness more than necessary to swivel your hips unless you are going for a full-body method or a blind man. I see the method as kind of the first step toward getting twisty in the harness. Make sure you have a good amount of forward speed and begin the move after you start to drag your feet (I did my first methods over a dry smooth landing area) . Initiate the move using your rear risers and the tension of your feet on the surface- Keep the wing as LEVEL as possible and be conscious of your hips facing away from the direction you are flying for a moment. The quickest way to get out of it is to simultaneously get off of rears, to toggles and you get your hips back on heading to finish the swoop as normal. It's true that you can do it without leaning in the harness but you do have to TWIST -I thing that's what JPV meant by tweaking. The move only looks like it's supposed to if your feet are in continuous contact with the water, though.

Dan, --Why were the canopies mis-labeled?-it would be simple to put new labels on a small demo fleet --Why did the design end up with a quick speed-bleeding end to a short recovery arc and spectra for lines? How about the tiny slider? --Why did my "105" (originally labeled a 95) demo open like an explosive device? It was horrible. Please don't suggest that it had anything to do with pilot chute size or packing technique, or ask if I was dumping in a track. I tried EVERYTHING that I considered safe to slow the inflation of that thing. I won't speculate about the success of a pro-pilot, but this wing is not going to give anyone a competitive advantage. The design is different and the customer service was actually pretty good during the process of getting a demo. Kudos. It's OK that the wing isn't everything it's cracked up to be. But, let's see one fly at a PST event and actually place top ten. No more to prove huh? that's a larf dude... From one Dan to another: prove that you have the resources to sponsor a small number of competitors who are willing to fly your product. Prove that these guys have confidence in the ONYX. Prove over the next three or four major meets that the ONYX is a competitive design and guys like me who've flown it and don't like it might start to change our tune. Let's see someone wearing an Atair logo up on the reward stage collecting a check for their success FLYING AN ONYX. Pro prize money goes to at least 5th or 7th place on the PST.

There are plenty of guys who are indepent swoopers that have no major canopy sponsorship (they don't get one for free). Even a schmuk like me can get 40% off if I look hard enough and ask the right people the right questions. They come to the tour events and place well, occasionally beating out the sponsored guys for a spot in the top ten or top five and make it onto the prize stage. Even the independent guys who can buy whatever they want with their hard earned money haven't made the decision to buy this canopy. This is because the other wings that are out there are better performing parachutes-- the buzz from people like me who have demo jumped the thing is that it was a nice try but it needs some work to compete with current designs.

as far as the span, the lines were still shorter than x braced canopies with a much shorter span- specifically a velocity 96 and a crossfire 99. no two ways about it- they had shorter span AND much longer lines. Atair doesn't have any pilots to my knowledge who are flying this thing competitively. As long as they've been marketing this thing, a sponsored professional swooper (especially if it's a better design) should be right up there in the top 20 among the PRO's. If the design is truly better, people would switch canopies. Not one person has given up their velocity/ VX/ XAOS -to my knowlege, and gone to the ONYX as a competition wing. That's not just coincidence, it's for a reason. It's because in the current version it can't hang.

The openings on the "105" (originally labeled as a 95) that I got went like this- Pitch, normal line extension, center of the canopy inflates and snivels for approximately one full second, then the double diamonds come screaming open and you are hit in the head from above with a shovel. I am a rigger and I did EVERYTHING conceivable to slow down the opening, all it did was make the initial snivel last for a second longer, not slow down the inflation. I honestly believe, after seeing the canopy compared with others, that it had the lineset and slider (maybee the sliders are supposed to be the same size) from a 95. The lines were way shorter than all other comparable sq. footage canopies I could get my hands on to take a close look at line length. After flying my Xaos in competition at such a lower wing loading- directly after flying the onyx. I think my Xaos dove for miles longer and had about 25% longer swoop distance, coming in with less initial speed.

I said I respected the artists, not that I was gonna try to play their music. That's for people who listen to it --which I don't. You want a string bender? Try a fella by the name of Jimmy Hendrix. I know a lot of modern music has country roots and influence, and I dig Willie Nelson tunes kinda. OK fine I like Johnny Cash. You won't find me flat picking dixie any time soon- For a change try traditional Celtic Music in a DADGAD tuning, it sounds like a bagpipe...seriously, very cool stuff.

Yes I do know. Yes. Sweaty is good

Hey Chuck- any guess on when we'll see one of these canopies you refer to on the tour or advertised in parachutist for sale?

Ok I'm going to just say it: I can't stand "country." There has never been any country played on my guitar and never will be. I respect the talent of the artists and all, but I can count the number of country songs I can just tolerate listening to, on like three or four fingers- and I don't really like those songs either For guitar, give me some Tom Petty, Foo Fighters, Clapton, Zepplin, Beatles, Pearl Jam or even Roy Orbison and call it good

last night, and it was GOOD to. You KNOW it was good. Yes!

It gets 'em every time. Just amazing, also the classical song Fur Elise -it's on a lot of jewlery boxes and wind up snow globes.

I have a friend who can play "tears in heaven" by Eric Clapton VERY well- it always gets a reaction ... keep it coming gals!

It is undeniable that there are certain songs that turn heads when played well on a guitar, do you have a song you'd like to hear? If so, what?

a guy who drove a limo in a motorcade for then vice-president Al Gore when he was in Portland

Don't worry steve, I'll make sure you get your foot rub, the girl will be there. She's helpin me move that day.

that wingsuit look PHAT and FAT! sweet and sloooowwww and long soars.

well, sound like there's another demo review out there- any others? On a loosely related subject, -Guess who was jumping a production Onyx in competition at the Wildwood Swoop festival??? ...nobody. Makes you go hmm... Have any of the big-timers spent any jumps under one of these? Got any further reviews for us?

I have a 125 that I load at 2.05 and I think it's the ideal loading for the type of jumping that I do. I get a huge amount of bottom end lift -I can land it on all rear-risers after a good turn and it's got plenty of Oh crap flare (like get me off of the surface of the pond -NOT dig me out I'm low) which I need from time to time as I've just started freestyle swooping. I thing the large wing size helps with this also.

I work at a credit union. We require 24 hours notice for amounts over $2500, over the phone -two id's. no big deal. I've taken calls from people picking up up to $10,000 cash. Any more than that and the branch has to make sure they have that much extra cash on hand to give to one person, count it, and have it ready for you--they may have to order cash just for you. If they don't have their stuff together -faxes between branches?! hmm... -a branch mgr should just be able to approve it unless it's over something like $100K, in which case they would probably ask for a blood sample and retina scan- it's a huge security risk to have that much cash waiting around for one person to pick up- but it does happen.

I had a copy of this swoop at one time that I got from E-Bay, the guy who sold it was invertedvideoman or something close to that. It was on a short video that had several other cool swoops on it, I think I paid like 12 bucks or something like that. I left it at the DZ one time and haven't seen it since. The reason the swoop went that far is the ridiculous bottom end flare, when shannon hit the toggles at the end he went up about 6-8 feet and just didn't come back to the ground for EVER -totally sweet. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as official PST video and judging. And other guys like me who paid for it in one form or another who've seen it. It happened.

jumping out of the 2nd window of my supermodel (tennis star/ celebrity attorney/ movie star) girlfriend's house at the age of 102 when her jealous husband comes home and is on his way upstairs (about to walk in on us in the throws of passion).

that would suck