jumpyld

Crash sewed the BOC on my rig when i switched it from a pull-out. Crash saved my life with a reserve repack. Crash showed me how to speed-shift my VW Golf without taking my foot off the accelerator. He was one of the first people i met in skydiving on my very first day, clutching his coffee and literally chanting "must pack chutes... must pack chutes..." He was the first guy to try to explain what this "freefly" thing was to me. That was in '98 when we watched the Clowns videos together every night and tried to mimic this "head down" stuff out of Cessnas... And the coffee maker thing came from Claire Chow, who washed her carafe with soap even when we asked her not to. That coffee always tasted of soap! peace, blue skies brother. ajpen important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!

Wyat, You taught me how to swoop. You taught me how to stay alive and look badass in the process. You taught a generation of canopy pilots how to control these contraptions. You never sought the glory, but deserved every bit of it. You inspired the hell out of me, both in skydiving and just being a rad dude in general. We will all miss you up in Canada, Wyat. peace aj

Good point. i haven't heard about the results with the tuck tab bag, so that's good to know. The system i'm using still uses locking stows (i use tube stoes). About four or five people at my drop zone switched halfway through the summer to this system with no problems reported so far. -- important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!

You will start to see the end of rubber stows of any kind soon. Right now i'm jumping a deployment bag that was modified to the new Infinity specs (not sure whether they're released yet). It has a free-stow pocket sewn to the side that sits on the bottom of the pack tray (similar to a BASE rig tail pocket). Two locking stows are all that are needed, and the rest of the lines are just stuffed back and forth in the bag without "biting" the stows with a rubber band or similar device. This, coupled with a triangular piece of fabric that attaches to the bridle and along the edge of the bag to pull the bag evenly, leads (i believe) in slightly improved deployments. Line stretch is a bit quicker, but one can feel the parachute coming out straight. Think about it: however fast, the still-bagged canopy is being "yanked" side to side as the lines stretch. i have seen a Javelin prototype of such a bag that uses tuck tabs and NO locking stows at all. Perhaps other manufacturers are building these things... i know that i wouldn't switch back. -- important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!

i think that this is inherently wrong, and a poor and possibly dangerous philosophy. You don't reduce your vision by putting on sunglasses. In most cases, you increase your vision by blocking glare and you protect your delicate eyes from UV. Most skydives are conducted during quite sunny weather conditions, and the glare and UV that is scattered by an overcast sky (or reflected from scattered clouds below exit altitude) is almost impossible to get away from. If a student wants to wear sunglasses or tinted goggles i think that they should be allowed to - i know that i have very light sensitive eyes and can't see a thing if i'm squinting through clear goggles. One's face can convey one's emotions with or without naked retinas. Personally i don't like to see anyone's eyes on a jump - sunglasses tell me that they care about their vision and they won't be squinting at me when the sun is at my back. For most of the day i jump with Arnette Titan, Rage or Slide sunglasses (some prescription, some not... depending on whether i want to wear my contacts). For sunset loads or days when the light is flat i use higher visibility yellow or orange lenses to further increase my vision. Arnette have the best ratio of price to performance for my dollar, and Gatorz are quite good as well. The fact with sunglasses is that no two faces are alike so you want to try on many different styles to see how they fit your face. A small amount of venting is necessary to prevent fogging, but of course this venting is quite efficient at 120+ mph, so look for a good snug fit and use the cloth/elastic retainer bands (i have found Suiters and MICRO Suiters to be the best brand, depending on the temple thickness of your sunglasses. Nike eyes are a good chioce too... many of their styles come with two and sometimes three sets of lenses for different lighting conditions. When trying on different styles keep in mind that you want a fairly flat temple to fit beneath your helmet... Oakleys often give a good "seal" but have thick temples that don't fit under a snug camera helmet. Perhaps it's because i'm a lighting designer by trade that i'm passionate about this subject... i just think that tinted eyeware for students should not be taboo - as a coach and instructor i would rather enhance the student's vision with proper eyewear than see their eyes. --- important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!

PUDs are great because everything is INSIDE the container. Great for freeflying, great for full contact RW, and great for riding in the plane. No spandex to wear. When you deploy, you know your container is now open when you feel the pin pull. It's a solid system. Having said all that, i'll point out that i switched to pull-out at 1000 jumps and then switched back recently (at about 1800) to throw-out. Here are my reasons: 1) Better deployments. i don't know why, but this is a subjective judgement. Perhaps it has something to do with a smooth return to a stable body position. When jumping a pull-out, i tend to hold my hand back there for that extra split second to feel the pilot chute catch air. With a throw out, i reach and throw, then arch immediately. i don't look over my shoulder to check the PC inflation unless i'm getting out really low (i.e. 2200' or below). A friend of mine has recently switched back as well and shares these observations. 2) The ability to jump a bird-man or winged camera suit. When jumping a pull out with camera wings, i found that getting the PC out of the burble was a problem, no matter how fast i could bring in my arms to collapse the wings. If your PC dances in the burble for a second or two with the container closed (as with throw-out) it's not such a big deal. Once that container is open, however (as with pull-out), you're taking an already out-of-sequence deployment and multiplying it by the chaos factor of a hesitating pilot chute. 3) i recently became a tandem instructor, and the throwing motion is definitely something to practice, so why not on every jump? A good, aggressive throw is always a good thing whether it's a 5' drogue or a 27" pilot chute - they both need to inflate in clean air. The pin-pulling part of deploying with a pull-out interrupts (however briefly) this motion. The argument that using packers can lead to problems with pull-out holds water depending on where you are... if you are at a "big" drop zone, the packers have probably dealt with many so it's no problem. When i end up using a packer at my home DZ, i end up closing the rig myself because they're mindful of screwing it up. A worse situation is when the packer goes ahead and closes the rig incorrectly because they don't want to admit they don't know. This is unfortunate, but can lead to hard pulls! If you do switch and end up using a packer, ask them directly if they know your system, because pull-out is uncommon enough that they should not take this as any kind of slight to their knowledge. Both systems are great, and switching to pull-out does eliminate the dreaded horseshoe scenario. However, a properly maintained throw-out (spandex monitored for wear, proper handle placement, proper bridle routing and protection) is just as secure on your back as a PC inside the container. Enjoy your decision... ajpen -- important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!

Two is an excellent idea. One thing that has not been mentioned here is helmet fit. i have gone through a couple of different helmets trying to find one that places the beeper's speaker hole right next to my ear. i like a snug fit, and if it's a bit off, you can get that sound-hole to mash right up against your head making it difficult to hear in freefall. In my experience, a thicker foam insert like the one in my camera helmet is a good thing - you can carve a space in the foam such that there's a small cavity between the beeper and your ear, allowing the sound somewhere to open up. Externally mounted beepers are a pet peeve of mine - i have had two helmets like that and returned one of them because i never heard the darn things. All of the beepers mentioned in this thread are of good quality... the Neptunes have had their problems but the company is quite good about fixing them for you. L&B stuff is extremely reliable, but Time-Out and Skytronic should not be ignored... having two different models is a practice that i agree with. -- important safety briefing... don't f*ckin' die!