Dionysus

I'm in the same boat as Billvon. I know reserve malfunctions can and have happened but I trust mine enough for me to jump. Having said that I do try to stack the odds in my favor, such as proper packing, gear maintenance and body position on deployment. One thing that has really helped put me at ease about the reserve is that I have done two intentional cutaways at the Eloy holiday boogie. When doing that I did have a third belly mount reserve but still, it's nice to know what it feels like and that there is indeed another canopy in there. The other thing I have done is to help/watch my rigger inspect and repack my reserve. In fact when my reserve is due I deploy it and look it over myself.

It sounds like you have the body covered, pardon the pun . If the Under Armor does not work to your liking I have had good luck with Patagonias R3. It's not exactly long underwear more like a thin set of sweats made of polypropolean (sp?). As for gloves I have found the best to be the uninsulated Marmot windstopper gloves. I tried the insulated version but I found them to be too bulky for my tastes. The uninsulated are only a bit thicker than my summer gloves but amazingly warm for the thickness. Even on the colder jumping days here in Colorado my hands stay warm.

I just received my new Mirage G4 about two weeks ago . Of course the weather has been crap since I got it . This is my third Mirage and I have enjoyed all of them.

My first canopy was a Sabre 2 230 and we seem to be about the same weight. I think you'll enjoy it. It will have much sharper response than the student canopies but should be forgiving enough for the inevitable mistakes we all make when starting out. You will, relatively speaking, be able to do some aggressive maneuvers up high that you couldn't do on the student canopys. I would recommend consulting a good canopy coach before doing anything aggressive though. As you downsize you can force the canopy into a bad situation, loss of line tension, induced line twists ect, much more easily.\ Isn't new gear great!?

I love my airlocks as well. With the exception of my first canopy, Sabre 2, all the canopys I have owned have had airlocks. I have owned a Lotus, Vengeance and currently have a Samurai. However, I just ordered a non airlocked canopy so it will be interesting to compare once I have a few jumps on it. If I remember correctly there is a european canopy manufacturer that makes or is testing a canopy with a variation of Brians airlock design. I think it has two "valves" instead of one and they are set back further in the nose. Damn, I can't remember who it is though.

I'm happy to tell you my progression but I would also like to point out that what I did may or may not be suitable for you. So please don't take what I say as a recommendation, I only offer it as a reference. My first rig was a Mirage G3 with a Sabre 2 230 loaded at about 1 to 1. I received that rig when I had about 40 or so jumps. My second canopy and rig was another G3 with a Lotus (Big Air Sportz) 190 loaded at about 1.25. I think I had about 150 jumps when I bought that. The reason I ended up getting a whole new rig is that the 190 would not fit in my first rig. My first rig had a PD235 reserve and my second had a PD176 reserve. If you were to buy a container sized for a 170 you *should* be able to put a 190 of similar construction in it. I would add at this point that a good gear dealer will be able to tell what canopies will fit in any given container size. I would also mention that putting the largest canopy possible in a given container size can make it more of a challenge to pack. This is especially true if you are not the greatest packer on the DZ, like me for example The reason for the downsize is that as I received more coaching and practice I began to appreciate the quicker response of the smaller canopy. Since you are out at Perris you have some of the most experienced skydivers in the world all around you to get help from. I have been there a number of times and on one of my trips I worked with Clint Clawson (it was great coaching!) from the canopy school. I think he or any of the canopy school coaches could provide you with excellent feedback on what would be appropriate for you as a first set of gear. I also think just as highly of the Square 1 folks at the gear store. I have purchased a number of items from them and have always been pleased with the service. The rental/purchase deal they have sounds pretty good to me. I know that buying that first set of gear takes a significant amount of trust in your instructors, it did for me anyway. Between the canopy school and Square 1 you should end up with a good and appropriate first rig.

Thanks for the clarification Skybytch, that's great advice! We don't have a full gear store at my home dz so I sometimes forget about you folks at dzs that do have one, or have one close by.

When I purchased my first rig I went new. I did it for a couple reasons. First I'm a big guy and it is very hard for me to find used gear that would fit acceptably. The second was I just wanted new. With new you don't have to worry about the condition or how it has been treated because, well, it's new. However, if I could do it over again I think I would have spent more time looking for a good used container. The reason is I only used my first container for about 100 jumps. While I was able to sell it quickly you still take a bit of a hit of depreciation. For someone of an easy to fit body type, like you it sounds, I would recommend looking for a good used container as a first rig. As for the reserve size I would direct you to a canopy coach who you trust to have that discussion with. Your canopy coach should be able to guide you towards an appropriately sized main and reserve and you will then know what size container you need to look for.

One of the difficulties of flying rental gear is that it never seems to fit just right. If you have some concerns with the rig you are currently jumping, or any future rig for that matter, I would recommend finding an instructor or rigger to look at the fit to make sure it is ok. As for purchasing a used rig here is what I would do, assuming it is not immediately available to try on. When you find a used rig ask the current owner for the harness size. FYI the harness measurements are on an ID tag attached to the rig. Once you have those measurements get with a rigger and have him measure you as if you were buying that container brand new. BTW a tip for your rigger might be appropriate for this work, use your discretion. The rigger should then be able to compare the measurements and see how close of a fit it will be. Keep in mind some things can be changed after the rig has been built, the legstraps for example. Obviously there is a charge for those changes that you will want to consider before making a purchasing. If the measurements indicate that it might be a reasonable fit then I would then go ahead and try to arrange with the seller a way for you to try it on. By taking these measurements and comparing them before potentially having a rig shipped to you you can save some time by weeding out the rigs that are way too big or small. IMHO your body size and weight is fairly middle of the road for most skydivers so you should find plenty of used gear that fits well. It's the body types and each end of the spectrum, really big and really small, that struggle to find used containers. Good luck!

Sorry Travis you can't count tunnel time. Tunnel time isn't really traveling, unless you count all the bouncing up and down off the net. Now if it was counted I would have left California and just arrived in Hawaii.

Well, so far Billvon is the winner here. He has "fallen" from California to Hawaii and then to New York where he turned around and is now only a couple hundred miles from California. Way to go! Tonto you're kind of slacking. You have gone from California to Hawaii then headed east and are now about 450 miles from New York. However, I'm not even sure if you made it to California from South Africa to begin with.

I think that post may have overheated the circuits a bit. Now I need a nap. Will somebody wake me up at quittin' time?

So I'm sitting here letting my mind wander, at work , and I made the following calculations. I have 447 jumps. Now some of those jumps are hop n' pops so I'm going to figure that the average exit altitude for all of them comes out to 12,000ft. So 12,000 X 447 = 5,364,000ft and 5,364,000ft/5,280ft (one mile) =1,015.91 miles. To take this a bit further let's say my average opening altitude is 3,000ft. That means 3,000 X 447 = 1,341,000ft or 253.98 miles. My average freefall distance is, given the opening of 3,000ft, 9,000ft. So 9,000ft X 447 = 4,023,000 or 761.93 miles. Therefore the final numbers are, in 447 jumps, I have descended a total of 1,015.91 miles. 761.93 of those miles are freefall and 253.98 are under canopy. If I were to drive from Mile Hi to Perris the trip would be about 1,050 miles. I'm only 34.09 miles from "falling" to Perris!

I would be inclined to agree that if it is a student the DZ should absorb the expense. However, once licensed, I think the responsibility falls on the jumper.

I tend to clean mine about every 30 to 45 days. I have found that on my Mirage the cables start to get a little of that grey discoloration where they enter and exit the housing after about a month.

If I remember correctly the hammer is direction specific for point. Keep in mind it is a 270 turn for point and the turn is direction specific, clockwise. So if you start out with a right sidebody you will have to do a 450 degree turn (clockwise) to build the close. Of course I have been known to be wrong, just ask my teammates .

I'm bummed to see you leave Steve. Have some good snow swoops up north and I'll see you next time you're around.

Since I started jumping a little over two and a half years ago I have not really lost any of my nonjumping friends. I may not see them as often as I once did but I do talk to them just as much. At this point I find it refreshing to have a good group of non jumping friends. While I am very passionate about skydiving it is fun to spend time with folks where it never even comes up in conversation. My other passion is off road motorcycles and I feel the same way about that. It's nice to step away from that every once in a while and I get to do that at the DZ. It's all about finding the balance. I can certainly relate to the first year of jumping though, it was hard to get me to shutup about it.

Well I guess I have officially come out of the closet with this post. That show is a riot. What is really amazing is that, if I remember correctly, the creator is the voice of three or even four of the characters.

Cool! I'll have to go see it. I'm kind of a closet fan of that show.

This has been around for a couple years or so. The first instance I am aware of was in NY, if I remember correctly. It became a rather significant legal battle and eventually the dealer won. As for this happening on prime credit applicants I, personally, don't see it. I say this simply because prime applicants have much more freedom with who they finance the car with. The subprime customers end up in the situation where they have to accept the "box" because it is their only option if they want to finance.

HA! Maybe the skydiving karma gods have you and your brother confused. So all the bad karma you have built up gets unleashed on your brother.

Thanks folks!

So I have been wondering if anyone here has played around with shorter or longer risers to "tune" their canopy? Now obviously if you put longer or shorter risers on your rig your control range will move up or down by a corresponding amount relative to your body and you will also be changing your distance from the canopy. So what I'm wondering is would, for example, two inch longer risers change the feel and recovery arc by any appreciable amount? I don't feel the need to change anything on my rig I was just curious if anyone has tried it before.

I have had mine open twice that I can remember. Once while I was bootie flying and the other was in the wind tunnel on my belly. I still have the same visor on my helmet and those two incidents seem to be isolated. I know that sometimes it is easy to not seat it all the way when closing it, particularly when you close it while wearing gloves.