LongWayToFall

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Posts posted by LongWayToFall

  1. Thanks for mentioning the brakes. I have been setting them before the pack, but have seen in an online description of a reserve pack that they do it right before flaking the tail. Does it matter which way you do it? I learned pro-packing first, so it would be easier for me to make it my very first item to attend to.
    I certainly don't plan on packing in this way and jumping it without consulting the rigger who taught me the method, but if I find out a way that works for some people and can practice it more at my house, it will help me out and speed things up a bit.

  2. I have been rolling the nose on top, ie not underneath the pack job, in one piece, up until the A lines start to rotate a bit. the Bs at this point are pretty close, maybe only 1-1.5 feet away, and go right on top of the As. I did not think it is possible to "stuff" the nose unless it was on your shoulder? maybe as you are sizing it up for the bag, you could stuff the material back up the center as it goes under for the same effect? whatever the case, I am not stuffing, just making the material meet in the center under the pack as I move my way up to size the thing. The slider, at least for me, is a bit more tricky than on a pro pack. It seems like the slider stops are on top of each other in a weird way that makes it hard to keep the slider against them. Yes, I have definitely noticed the twist above the slider! It looks strange. But hey, it works! Thanks!

  6. Well the chute is never over your shoulder, so it isn't a pro pack (my understanding of the pro/psycho and pro/flat is that you flake it on the shoulder and then it goes to the ground for the rest) and the material is never fully flaked out, between the line groups all of the material goes one way or the other. (well not really, as you set the next line group down, you sorta S fold it). Everything I have seen on flat packing such as a reserve, has you flaking the material to the outsides and the lines sit directly on top of each other, exactly the same as a pro pack ends up looking like. I might be at the dz in the next week or something, once I get there I will give the rigger a handful of beers and have him keep showing me until I get it down perfect, then I will let you guys know exactly how it goes, with pictures if wanted. It opens so sweet! He said the PD 9cells are known for opening fairly abruptly.

  7. Hello,
    A rigger at my dropzone showed me a way to pack my PD210 9 cell, similar to a regular flat pack. I jumped it a couple times with a propack, and found the openings to be quite brisk, to the point of worrying about harder openings being painful. This new method has given me very nice openings, and I am convinced that I will continue to pack in this way. However, I cannot find anything online specific to this method, and have been practicing at home but without the rigger there to oversee me, I am concerned with how accurate I am being with the packjob. I realize the best idea would be to go back to the dz and have him continue to show me, but if I can find pictures or something online it would be most helpful in not annoying him excessively. Here is how the packjob goes: Start like a normal flat pack, canopy on it's side, flake and roll the nose, but instead of putting the B lines onto the A lines, you put the As onto the Bs with the rolled nose down. Then Cs onto the As, and Ds onto the Cs. Then flake out the tail on top with the center of the tail ending up in the middle, and tail going around the packjob to size it up for the bag. You don't flake out the material between the lines except for the tail and a couple stabilizers at the bottom that have the slider stops on them. This sort of "sandwiches" the nose between folds, and I believe that is why it opens so nice. So, if anybody is familiar with this style of pack, please let me know, I could not find any info online about it. The rigger who showed me is a very experienced long time master rigger, so I trust his judgement in it being a safe packjob. Thanks!
    Micah

  8. Many of your questions are hard to answer, it would be like asking "what was it like your first time riding a bicycle? or first time driving a car?" Nobody can explain it in a way that makes sense to someone who hasn't done it, the best way is to try it and form your own opinion. But, I will try to answer your questions.
    1.) What made you want to go skydiving
    My friends peer pressured me into it. It was something to try, I definitely did not want to pursue it. It took quite awhile to prepare myself mentally to do it, but you can only convince yourself so much that skydiving is a normal thing.

    2.) What did you feel prior to jumping out of the plane
    Well, I went with 2 of my friends, all tandems, and I was number 2 in the exit order. After I watched my first friend go, I got into the doorway and looked down at him doing front flips and getting really small, really fast. At that point my instructor was pulling my head back and away we went. Boy, there is nothing like your first time leaving that plane.

    3.) What was the free-fall like
    At first, scary, you feel like you are in outer space or in an abyssal trench. Then, once you are stable and level, and realize you are just cruising at 120mph towards the earth, the fun really begins. You take your first breath after exiting, and relax a bit. You start to notice things, like the pressure of the wind on your body, the wind noise, the fact that the view is friggin sweet.

    4.) When you touched down how did you feel
    At this point, you realize that the jump is over, you are still alive, and the first thing I did was look to the sky in amazement. I came from there? Once I was down, I was hooked for life. I have found after watching many first time tandems that only a handful are as determined to continue in the sport as I was that very moment, but once you know something is very right, you know it.

    5.) Anything else you want to say about skydiving
    The oldest skydiver I believe is in their 90s, and you can start when you are 16-18. If you fall in between those ages, you should give it a try. Sometimes I picture people who would never even think of jumping giving it a try, and I just know it would rock their world and they would never be the same. Even if it was just one jump.

    The fact that you say you want to try it means you should, I know that I was never interested, at all, in skydiving. My dad was a pilot and whenever I would look out that window, the last thing I wanted to do was leave the plane.

  12. Go buy the service manual!!!! It will be the best $70 you ever spent. I'm not totally sure about your engine, but if you have jam nut and screw type adjusters, it will be very simple to adjust the valves. Its possible you will have shim over or shim under bucket, which will require you to remove the camshafts to change them, but its not too hard. Yamaha does a good job of explaining stuff in their manuals. If you do pull the cams, make sure when you are done adjusting and have them back in it, that you are positive that the timing is right (take picture of the timing marks on the gears after you get the crank in the right spot) Oh, and be sure to get a piece of wire to hold up the timing chain so it doesn't drop into the motor, it can be a pain to get it back out.

  13. Sweet bike! Ride safe. It takes awhile to build up your skill level, and confidence. In a car you can just turn the wheel and swerve to avoid an accident, but on a bike, your instinct is to stand it up and slam on the brakes, which can kill ya. Just remember, stay aware, and stay calm when its time to react. I feel allot better about skydivers learning to ride because they usually can keep it together in panic situations. Here is an exercise you can do while riding twisty roads: Try to look as far into the turn as you can, like WAY down there. Plot out where you are going in your head, and go there. Don't look down or at something closeby, this is what throws you off and can make you wreck. Bikes are maneuverable, but take much longer to react to situations, you gotta be 3 steps ahead of the game. Also, since your bike is brand new, make sure you are breaking the engine in by lots of accelerating and decelerating (nothing drastic though), not just sitting at one rpm for a long time. This will help your rings seat in.
    BE SAFE! Have fun

  22. Well I wasn't talking about when you initiate the turn, but after you are done turning and coming straight in. If you were turning going through 500ft obviously you would be directly violating the rules. On my boat of a canopy, if there is nobody around, I'm going to spin until my eyes pop out! haha

  24. Useless, except for the fact it proves we are at least somewhat effective in intelligence and operations. Maybe we can get some more info out of this guy. People like you piss me off, you don't like the war, so you do anything you can to shit all over it. If all of the insurgents gave up and walked out of Iraq, and peace and order prevailed, you would be upset because America had something to do with it