RayLosli

Some older Ravens had slow Slider action with sail-sliders but the fix of the manufacture was a Bikini-Slider. the bikini or a mesh slider will bring the slider action up to par. I have jumped the bikini slider on many BASE jumps without any problems. The WEAK SPOT to be concerned about with older raven was the absence of reinforcement tape in the Tail-Seam.. On slider down jumps the flaw of this is tearing of break-line attachment points and fabric near by. The problem is easily fixed by just sewing a length of 1-inch tape over the length of tail seam where the attachment points are. takes about 20 minutes and a sewing machine. The other WEAK SPOT to be concerned about is the deployment by PCA or Static Line. After EVERY time this is done. you should check the integrity of canopy between upper and lower skins @ the bridal attachment point. The desired modifications for the Raven are: Canopy with Dacron Lines & Tail Pocket. It will serve well on may jumps. For real, I have even seen D.J. while on a Cliff jump. Open on-Heading, Fly and land a Raven-lll with 3 Ripped out cells on the lower Canopy Skin. A nice smooth landing also. The Raven is a great BASE Canopy for any knowledgable BASE jumper. Unless you are some kind of BASE wanbee-pussy with 2 pierced rings in your lower-lip with only a 150 skydives and have no knowledge of HOW to FLY and Properly Pilot a 7-cell Canopy. But if you are or anywhere like this kind of Canopy Deficient FuckUp you shouldn't be BASE jumping anyway. Stay the hell away from BASE jumping & Go back to your mandatory assigned USPA dive coach and suck his Tit. .

..."In my experience, the Ravens have worse pressurization slider down than any BASE-specific canopy yet produced (with the possible exception of the Mustang--but that's another story). " . I GOT to disagree with that statement. There is nothing wrong with the way a Raven-IV pressurizes non-slider for BASE. Nothing - Nada - zero. It pressurizes fast, Set-up stable and on heading & Lands Good. I have never had a bad jump on a Raven that I modified for BASE. You might have been having problems with your Raven because you did not have it set-up properly and did not take time to learn the specifics of that particular 7-cell wing. It's not a FOX, Mojo, Flik, BlackJack, V-tec. Nor a piece of SHIT Mustang. It is a Raven. It is not my first preference for a lower shear-face object though. Or A Really-Tight-Landing spot. For that I go for a dialed in BASE specific canopy. The Raven is a thinner profile wing that is a little sporty but can do the job where you have a little more liberal on the clearance on a 180 deg off heading. Every manufactured Wing has a 'design of flight' .Fly-It, Learn It. KNOW - IT. .

Exercise ????? ... Well Mat, I think all the make-believe interplanetary BASE jumping is tied together in this Thread because this is the dzcom BASE ZONE. What I don't understand is what does Magot's Homoerotic Star Wars space tale of his 3-way in the janitors closet. Have to do with dzcom basezone make-believe space BASE jumping ? .

..."but what does any of this half to do with base jumping.polaty " - Nothing ! don't you get it ? This is, ' Make Believe ' interplanetary BASE jumping. Don't you understand ? This is dzcom basezone. This is BASE jumping interplanetary fantasy like the Space Homoerotic tale as you discribed. Of you dressed Like Skywalker having a genital-Swordfight with your buddy dressed as Darth Vader. As your other buddy dressed as Princes Laya was watching as a Voyeur to fulfill his Fantasy.. - . ok I am also assuming that the word, ' polaty ' in your sentence is possibly ? politely, polaties, polarity, plates, polocks, polywaly or policy ? . Do you want me to mail you a dictionary for a Christmas present ? .

Dude nice Rainbow Moon Boots. ... Did you pull them out of the closet ? ... or Did you steal them from a marcher of a Gay Pride Parade in Anchorage Alaska ? .

Don't worry. That is his usual response. He has many days-weeks that he can not remember and account for. short-term memory loss.. 'cough cough' buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ..... . .

..." the handbag container, which we have called the "Strickland" is still under development and has not been fully tested at this time. ." - Was it modeled after him ? Rumor has it is that the "Strickland" Bag/container actually resembles a small shriveled sack-like, Scrotum ? . .

Holy hell, Ray... You finally lost it. Come visit us down here and we can arrange some... therapy. Lots of cool objects to play with.[;) - What ? . you don't talk to your pilot-chute ? I know your smarter than that. I suppose next you will be telling you don't have an intimate understanding and long-tem relationship with any working mechanical BASE component in Either Hardware or Fabric ? No relationship what so ever in the way that each mechanical part works and interact with each other. As well as the way those parts treat and interact with you on any given BASE jump ? . .

" Don't WE ALL Agree " - The PC is the Current WEAK LINK. to a relatively solid modern setup? - NO, WTF , have you not been reading what I wrote ? I am just to tired tonight to get into this Biggest conceived piles of shit tonight & one of the most fucked-up statement I have ever read. so I will stop this right there. "Fact" The Pilot-Chute is one of the MOST reliable things that ALWAYS Works. Next to. The Canopy will ALWAYS Inflate after extraction. You might want to re-think and get back to the Web. BASE jumping in a few years. (just my opinion) There is NOT Ever to be a huge breakthrough in PC's like the perfect magical Sky-Hook. There is not much more improvement left you Can & Will do to the modern BASE PC. The only thing left to be done is small refinements in design. That will maximize and capture what little efficiency is left in drag and balance of movement. The Pilot-Chute is not the weak-link, the most important thing, the biggest key piece of equipment, The one thing to FEAR the most in BASE. All PC's now & in the future. Will work and Look and Act just like the PC you though out into the Air yesterday. All a PC has to do is One-Short-Quick-Job. To pull-open and Drag-Out a big pile of fabric to inflate in a half-assed orderly fashon. After that it is up to the Pilot, "YOU" the BASE jumper to do his/her job. . Some of the BEST Pilot-Chutes I got. Are the oldest & most used over my life. I have a firm belief that all New pilot-chutes must be broke-in. Life of the PC does not start on the first Pitch after it leaves the Loft. They must be used and forced to form and take shape after they come off the Sewing Machines. Thread and fabric weave must be slowly forced to take shape/stretch to a flowing end result over some PC packing & free-falls. After you get some jumps on the PC then you can judge how it tows and feels. Its got to be broke-in SLOW. You got to get to know them. Don't be Scared. Take some slow quality time & Have a long and lasting relationship over many years with your PC. ... . .

..."I am not a rigger, manufacturer, or any of that stuff. I just love to jump and watch videos if there is any light. But a significant percentage of the off headings that I have watched are due to the packjob coming out perfectly straight and on heading- but pointing straight at the wall. The pilot chute comes out wobbling, pulls the packjob out as expected, twisting and oscillating, and the packjob gets turned around at the mercy of a PC that is pulling anywhere but straight. " ..."And Ray, I would be really interested in learning your opinion of how many off headings are the result of PC oscillation. And this isn't just limited to oscillations- why do jumpers still accept that PCs just don't inflate sometimes, or hesitations are just part of the game? " - I wonder what the percentage of those osculated caused deployment Canopy twist was caused by. . 1- Pilot Error in non-centered Bridal attachment ? 2 - Simply not keeping good symmetry or distortion non symmetric due to bad-non-consistent Thread tensioning on Seams and Tapeing ? 3 - Pilot simply does not know his PC. what habits good/bad or unaware or unable to identify a plan and simple un-balanced Pilot-Chute ? - I don't know if it's a matter of just total acceptance of the VERY rare PC total malfunction. PC's do hesitate on inflation this is a documented fact and Given enough altitude most any un-inflated PC will most likely inflate. The biggest risk that must be accepted is that the human error in judgment on the mechanics of Packing and the Grasp & Pitch out plus the human element in the Manufacture and QC is the biggest risk any BASE jumper MUST accept without choice. pilot/human error is the big killer. not your PC I feel that the level of performance I get when I throw my PC to the wind is Acceptable and Satisfactory. I am happy with the level of design at this point in BASE. Would not the manufacture of a much more labor intensive and complex PC design be more inclined to the human error not mechanical malfunction ? .

There is also a huge flaw with this Thread. In comparing Drogue construction & BASE PC construction to promote better functional design and is flawed with endless for disappointments in the quest for the perfect hand deployed BASE PC. Flaw in comparing the design, there/SIZE - function/job, length of each in TIME used to complete it's designed job, air-speeds in which each performs it's designed job. Along with the basic one size fits all for Tandem and BASE uses specific sizes for a specific air-speed of ranges. The quest to become more proficient in BASE is much more important than the quest for a perfect BASE PC. .

Making BASE PC's more complex in design for the short job it must do of opening and pulling out the Canopy to start it's inflation ? Will there ever be a perfect Hand Deployed PC. That sits in air-movement and Tows without movement ? The perfect human deployed PC is a pipe-dream. PC's these days really do a outstanding job for BASE and they are at there highest point of design and function especially the vented smaller PC's. designed for higher air-flow speeds. The BASE PC has a important job but it's job is very narrow/specific in function. It must go-out, open, then pull-out. In a Very Short time span. All PC's move around somewhat in the air-flow and the job that the BASE PC does in Free-Fall is nothing in comparison to what a Drogue has to do especially in the long term designs of free-falls where it has a specific job to do that is more complex than just opening and starting the Canopy inflation sequence. When everything is done right like symmetrical construction, distortion from tread tensions kept uniform throughout construction with proper Tapeing along with a centered Tow. The BASE PC tows strait with movement to a minimum. It simply does its short job very well and for me. I am pretty satisfied with what I am getting and seeing out there BASE jumping. . .

That good. I see a lot of jumpers who get these littler stash-bags that go into there Container back storage real small but when they get a jump where they where all the hard gear and extras. They fill it up and have to carry things out. You can get buy with a smaller stash-bag sometimes if you field pack (quarter and fold) the Canopy back into the Container but a lot of the times the conditions don't allow it. .

You can get a Opened Container-Canopy, Helmet, knee-chin pads, elbow-forearm pads all in a 25" x 6" x 16". stash-bag to hike out ? .

Tom. thanks for the update. I been thinking it must be any week/day now. .. Zoelle ??? .

OHhhh CRAP !!!!!! I hear they took down (blown-up) the Kieser Aluminum STACK today in Tacoma Wa. That was for sure a nice, sweet, unique, little smoke Stack. Thanks for the guys/girl that took my there for a couple jumps. It's gone now. ..... .

... "when they already had a bad rep for heading problems " - I never knew they had a Bad Rep. for Headings ? I found that the Cruislite had exceptional pressurization and consistently good Headings. I think like everyone else does. The landings just Suck. The only other Canopy that would pressurize better was a Pegasus. I think if you look and desire a good Cruislite, larger than 220. They did have a model a little larger. (i think) it was a 245-XL. I never jumped one but I have seen them jumped and they are around. records on-line say. Paraflite made 1238 units of the 241-246 sq. ft. So there gota be a few still laying around out there. .

this statement: " With the ever increasing numbers, a reducing percentage but growing absolute amount will actually contribute to the sport in positive ways." . " contribute to the sport in positive ways " How ? & What ? I feel that the advancement of BASE survival skills and BASE equipment is at It's Peak. There will be very little that will and that can be done to either from this point in time . Canopy advancement and BASE equipment will not change except for very small enhancements i.e. Venting, Trim or Cut for Canopy & small enhancements in equipment like WS & Tracking-Suits Or Container Systems i.e. Big-Grabs, Vented PC's or Container Systems designed for specific BASE purposes. Also of course there will always be the occasional gifted BASE jumper/athlete that makes the maximum most efficient use of what is taught of BASE survival techniques. . I feel that the words, "contribute to " will Not be a huge breakthrough or Advancement but "contribute to " Will and Must Be what is handed-down hand and mouth from BASE jumper to the ones wanting BASE. . " ...i.e. 10 years ago there was 500 jumpers of which 100 contributed to the technical advancement of the sport. Now there is 5000 jumpers and 200 people contributing to the sport. in 10 years it will be 20000 jumpers with 500 people contributing to the sport. Your assertion is that the gene pool is diluting. On average, this may be a correct assumption. But the total number of people contributing to the sport is increasing. " . This statement sounds good in theory but the "Natural Order of " applies also to BASE. "Dilution of the Species". species being BASE jumpers. Truly the word Dilution speaks for it self. Dilution is Weakening, Thinning, Watering Down, Darwinizing. That is " The Natural Order" and not of Things-to-Come but what is happening right at this moment. The only way to Contribute to the Advancement of BASE and the only way to survive is to play a self-preserving role in what is handed down and taught as core belief of what is "BASE survival skills " . .

" So, it is true to say that the increasing numbers will increase the skill base and advance the sport." . NO. I do not agree. BASE survival skills and BASE equipment is at It's Peak. - "The other factor is that many members of today's time deficient society will not absorb all the learning's." . YES Diluting BASE with fast growth along with higher population of jumpers will only water-down. More BASE jumpers from more new-found FJC's and Wanabe BASE instructors. More mass of instruction that is Not emphasizing the basic core of what is most important in survival for new jumpers who want or think they need to BASE jump. More BASE instruction from an expanding BASE population. It's NEVER been so easy to become a BASE jumper. It's getting easier because there are few that will say NO to teach. If someone does say NO. There is another in a line that will say YES. The basics of survival. The basics of Canopy skills. The basic weeding-out and judgment calls to be made for those that should not BASE or just hold off and wait. Is Diluted for mass quantity. The mandatory basics of Surviving BASE are gone. Never in BASE history have so many jumpers NEVER Seen, Packed or Jumped a 7-Cell Canopy. Never have so many known so Little of Basic Container and Canopy Rigging until they Wanted BASE. BASE Canopy accuracy and the Assessment of Object and Assessment of your primary and secondary landing area choices are nowhere to be found. So I agree totally. with your statement. ..."many members of today's time deficient society will not absorb all the learning's." .

Downer ? dude I was chuckling to my-self pretty good. when I typed that. You see I plan to Be One of the ones that will be looking @ #-199 & Wondering who's ??? . #-200 . ... .

The big question is who are the ones that are going to be around @ #-199. To do the wondering ? .

Numbers are only numbers. They do not represent who that person was. It sounds like we need to get to # 101. So we can get move on and get past this Milestone. In time we will be wondering who # 200 will be. It is only inevitable. .

Dude can't you Pucker-Up and kiss the Moderators Ass just a little harder ? .

Thanks for the Censorship. What's the matter ? you could not just Split-it to another Thread ? .