napalmboy

It's wrapped around the cover flap, so not actually on any flap that's closed as part of the reserve closing. DougH was right, he was more just mentioning it as a, "Hey, not sure if you knew this, but..." Well, the door was open...

I moved recently and found myself a new rigger. When I picked up my rig today from being repacked, he told me (not unkindly) that the magnetic slider keeper I had over the reserve flap is illegal, since the system wasn't designed to have a slider keeper there and thus the whole thing is in violation of the TSO. This is the first I've ever heard of slider keepers being illegal. Does this jive with other people's understanding of the rules? Or is this one of those cases where I shouldn't have asked so I wouldn't have to hear the answer? Well, the door was open...

This is precisely why I want to know what many people have done in many situations, rather than just taking the advice of one person, particularly in reaction to a specific incident. Well, the door was open...

Right, which is why in my original post I asked people to avoid the "which one is better" argument. I'm looking for actual stories of "I used one hand and it was fine/impossible" or similar. Experienced jumpers, being experienced and grownups, can judge for themselves, but I'm trying to evaluate the statement made by an instructor I knew years ago telling me that highly-loaded spinners required two hands to cutaway from. Well, the door was open...

Over in this thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=3893058;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;, Brian Germain said: I found this to be interesting, because I was taught as a student to use one-hand-per-handle EPs, and somewhere around 50 jumps retrained myself to use a two-hand-per-handle EP. The reason I retrained was that an instructor cautioned me that one day I'd be spinning under a very small parachute at very high wingloading and I might need two hands on my cutaway handle. (For the record, he said I should use whichever method I was comfortable with, and I decided to retrain myself.) Without debating 1 vs. 2 handed EP's, I'd like to hear from skydivers who've have spinners under highly loaded canopies, whether they used 1 or 2 hands to cutaway, and if they had trouble doing so. To answer my own question, I've not yet had a spinning malfunction that didn't quickly fix itself, and I'm happy jumping something semi-elliptical at 1.45:1 for some time yet, so hopefully it'll stay that way. Well, the door was open...

Is anyone going from Atlanta (airport) to the St. Patrick's Day Roaming DZ boogie/GSR on the 18th? If so I would happily exchange gas money for a ride to the DZ. Earlier is better, so ideally I'm hoping to find someone leaving early in the morning, but I'll happily work around your schedule. I have return transportation covered. Well, the door was open...

What I find interesting is how you haven't realized that they were saying that! What you're so close to discovering is that the change is airspeed is the same no matter what the wind is doing, which is what all the others were saying with things like "Groundspeed doesn't matter." You keep using the phrase "true velocity." Bill said earlier (and was correct in saying so) that velocity only has a meaning in some reference frame. What do you mean when you say "true velocity?" Well, the door was open...

If there's a weight shift in the harness, that's a harness input, so you can't say that the canopy is steering anywhere on its own. If there's input, it can cause a turn. If you put a perfectly balanced weight in the harness and opened a parachute, it's going to fly straight regardless of which way the wind is blowing. Well, the door was open...

Nick, if I understand you correctly, your issue is more about what knowledge and competencies our new skydivers have by the time they're on self-supervision, or even A-licensed. I don't disagree with your point, but don't think AFF itself is to blame. I went through AFF and dealt with the same "I'm off student status, now what?" period that a lot of new skydivers face today, but I see the same kind of period with new IAD students today. I think it has more to do with a long-term learning culture than a particular instruction method. There are dropzones and instructors out there that don't just kick the newbies out of the nest as soon as they're cleared for solo jumps; is the issue then that AFF allows instructors to do so, or that people do it in the first place? If someone could change AFF (or more broadly, the ISP) to cover everything we could agree should be taught to new skydivers, there would still be DZs that wouldn't follow the program. Even at the DZs that did, there would be individual instructors that didn't teach things as well as they should, or even at all. And at DZs that both followed the new program and not, there would be instructors and other mentors that would go out of their way to teach our new skydivers the things that fall through the cracks. I try to be a good coach and teach the younger skydivers things they don't know yet, and I try to be a good student by listening to those that have more experience when they share their wisdom. I try to encourage a culture of being in a continuous mode of learning. I'm not sure that changing AFF or going back to S/L or IAD would fix the way things are done...but trying to get other people to teach more couldn't hurt. Well, the door was open...

Ah, I see. Thanks! Well, the door was open...

Does anybody know about when the NSL competition schedule comes out? There are lots of events this year, and my skydiving calendar is filling up quickly, so my team and I are trying to plan when practices and competitions will be. Nobody on my team has competed before, so we're all pretty much in the dark as to what we should expect. Well, the door was open...

Yeah, that was me! I remember meeting Amy and Angie, but I don't think we were ever introduced. I thought the 8-way went pretty well, too, but ultimately we decided that we needed to work on being more precise and on-target with our movements and we'd get more practice with that doing 4-way. It's just fantastic how quickly everyone can learn in the tunnel. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have some world-class skydivers to fill out your 4-way team, either. Well, the door was open...

I was at this camp as well and have to agree with Bill; the camp and the tunnel were both amazing. I was one of the low-timers with no 8-way experience, but Fury was extremely accommodating and turned my time into a 4-way camp instead. I flew about 10 minutes of 8-way, which was fun, but ultimately spent most of my 2.5 hours flying 4-way. The tunnel and facilities are awesome, and I'd absolutely go back for more in a heartbeat. Well, the door was open...

Huh, I hadn't thought about getting things resized. Thanks for bringing that option to my attention! Well, the door was open...

I'm at the point where I'm looking for a new-to-me rig; I'm hoping to downsize to a 150 by the start of next summer (earlier if possible, but I'm cognizant of the "don't downsize right before winter" issue), and that's just too small for my current rig. Combined with the fact that my 210-square-foot reserve is 40 sq.ft. larger than anything I've jumped in over my last 100 and the fact that my used rig never quite fit me perfectly in the first place and I'm just about ready to be done with it. So, now the question is whether I should buy new or try and find used gear. I've been looking at the used stuff here, and I haven't found anything I'm extremely enthusiastic about (yet). I'm also resigned to the fact that waiting to find used gear in my size (physically and canopy-wise) could take as long as the wait time on brand-new stuff. The question at the end of that long-winded intro is: for those of you that ordered custom-fit gear, is the custom fit worth the wait/price? I've got almost 300 jumps and haven't ever jumped anything that's fit me "perfectly," so I'm having a hard time imagining what I should be comparing my future gear to. Anybody think it's totally worth it or not? Well, the door was open...