mrobiette

Ah yes, very true. But still a good excuse to air some classic pictures

Here's some old shots of British rotations team Skytribe doing the same thing - this is from a Skyvan: http://crwdog.servebeer.com/CRWdog/Brits.html

(Bzzt!) Nope - that's from Dan Rossi, the other blind jumper! See his cricket story here to see how it started: http://crwdog.servebeer.com/skydive/dan/4way.txt And for his other stories (well worth reading!): http://crwdog.servebeer.com/skydive/rossi.html Cheers, Martin

OK, you've convinced me! Where's the nearest roller derby to Lake Wales in the next couple of weeks...?!!

Someone else in here can (please, feel free to) correct me if I am wrong, but I have always been told that the cutting of A-lines would (probably) be a BAD idea. Well, I successfully landed a Lightning with a broken A/B cascade one cell off-centre (hard opening/old lines - canopy is now relined!). However, it only worked for me because a lot of things were in my favour, and I wouldn't advise it in other circumstances because... - it was a stable square 7-cell and was fairly lightly loaded (about 1.2), plus the broken line was fairly central. - I had from 7000' to see how it flew (sluggishly!) and try practice flares - I still wasn't sure about it but thought I'd give it a go, but to be on the safe side dropped it into the middle of the pit and still thumped down even in deep gravel (stood it up though! ) - I was told by observers that just as I finished flaring the canopy collapsed (Shame it buggered up the biplane diamond attempt though!) Anyway, based on that experience I would agree that if you are looking at any main canopy with a lineover or broken/cut A-line at 2000' (especially if it is higher loaded or higher aspect ratio) I wouldn't waste time even thinking about trying to land it - just go straight for the handles. If it's on your reserve, now that's a different argument... Cheers, Martin

and looks good in it

Hang on, do my eyes deceive me, is that Wendy wearing........a skirt?!! Has the world gone mad? Martin (sorry Wendy, I've only ever seen you at drop zones, so apologies if I've misjudged you and you are usually an urban sophisticate when you are back home in Texas. Great costume anyway!)

Also for something a bit off the wall - 'Jamon Jamon' (notable for, among other things, a young Penelope Cruz's film debut) and for a more recent film - 'Roma' And if you don't mind Portugese rather than Spanish, check out 'City of God' - amazing Brazilian film. Martin

He he, where's Plastic? He's got a great story about Mike Lewis coming over the the UK to coach their team, and ending up docking eighth at some unfeasibly low altitude. I believe his comment was something along the lines of "I don't mind taking it low, but I'd rather not have to lift my legs to miss the hanger!" I wasn't there, so I don't know how much exaggeration (if any) there was in that... Martin

What is the fastest ypu have seen anyone pack a tailpocket equipped main? I've seen a few people pack tailpockets, and it is always painfully slow. Are you kididng me? It is WAY faster to pack a tail-pocket than a bag... It was quite an eye-opener seeing our Russian coach Denis (and his team-mate Sergei) regularly packing tail-pocketed Triathlons in 4 minutes, and getting perfect on-heading openings almost all the time. Of course when we tried their packing method (a variation on nose-down packing) it took us longer than pro-packing, and gave us more off -heading openings, but I guess practice makes perfect! Mind you, they are world champions in rotations and 8-way, so they should know what they are doing... Martin

Had one in my first rig but never used it! I talked to Rob Colpus on the phone about it though, and he said he'd used one and it was fine. Maybe give him a call at The Kit Store? (but don't worry if he tries to sell you a new reserve instead!) Am I right in recalling it's a 180 sq ft 5 Cell? Nothing wrong with 5 cells in principle (apart from the scarey bit of only having 3 lines off each connector link!), just don't load it up too much or expect much forward speed or plane-out from it. If anyone has experience of using a Swift 5-cell that will probably be equivalent... Martin

I'm guessing he means the Skytribe exits out of the skyvan - when would there have been a British 8-way team jumping from a CASA? Wendy used to have them on her site but they don't seem to come up any more. The only link I could find was this old article: http://www.bpa.org.uk/skydive/pages/articles/apr96/cfexits.htm Martin

I would have to agree with this. Here's something to bear in mind when you are looking at these 'new' options... My first rig (from 1987) had a cordura and elastic pilot chute pouch (legstrap), and the rigger who checked it out for me tutted and shook his head and told me it was old-fashioned and I should get it replaced by a new spandex one instead. It seems that apart from the advantage of the spandex pocket holding the pilot chute more securely, there could also be a problem if you have a horseshoe malfunction - the tension on the bridle could knot the pilot chute up solid in the pocket and make it impossible to remove. Therefore when I was learning to pack it I was taught that it was very important to pack it with the bridle attachment next to the handle at the mouth of the pocket. I did a bunch of jumps with the cordura pocket, but never really liked it, so I then had a spandex BOC pocket put on (the next new fashion!) and I've never looked back - never had a problem with spandex in 15 years or even needed to have a pocket replaced (yet...). Still pack my pilot chute with the bridle attachment at the top though! Anyway, even with modern rigs which have much better bridle protection, and presumably well designed and tested pockets, I still personally wouldn't go back to a cordura pocket. If you like it that's fine, but I'd recommend messing around with it on the ground and trying out different scenarios to see what happens. Just my $.02 - but I like the idea of that spandura, might be the best of both worlds... Is it me, or do I sound old?!! Cheers, Martin

Try TSE : http://www.thomas-sports.com/shop/index.html Also, Para-gear is not too expensive to have stuff shipped, so long as it isn't too heavy and you keep it below $100 Cheers, Martin

Ah OK, I just posted the same info on a different thread without reading this one first. I guess it would technically be possible to open and reclose it, but if there isn't much slack in the seal thread it would be very fiddly. Plus you have to bear in mind that seals are not mandatory anyway so I guess the safety side tends to outweigh security over here. The tacking only takes a few seconds if you do choose to seal. Still, each to their own, and it would be a dull world if we all did everything the same... Martin

Hmm, this is a good argument for the BPA guidelines where we are only allowed to seal (if we want to - it's not mandatory) using a figure-of-eight knot which doesn't affect the pull force - see document below: http://www.bpa.org.uk/forms/docs/Form%20215%20-%20BPA%20Reserve%20Sealing%20Method.doc or go to http://www.bpa.org.uk/forms.htm and look at form F215 (Reserve Sealing Method) And even with this you are still only allowed to use seal thread (and yes we were taught to break it off the roll rather than cut it!) Martin