Travman

Without seeing anything its hard to say. But if you're on a 135 and its doing well and its just the canopy is ending life, then why not get another 135? Why do you want to downsize? Standing up every landing is great, so why change?

Jump numbers aren't everything. Quality over quantity. Early jumps the cognitive load will be higher as your learning skills. You'll likely see diminishing returns with more jumps per day. I'd recommend getting on a 4-way team and trying to do 5-6 training jumps a day with a coach. You'll learn quickly that way and if you can find a 4-way coach that's also a canopy coach they can give you drills and debrief your landings. Its a great way to get consistent feedback on freefall and landings. Just punching out 100 jumps quickly with little structure or feedback isn't the path to success.

Definition of "starting your turn" seems to vary as I've talked to people and we have very different turn heights only to notice we turn at pretty much the same spot when we fly together.

Joey Jones who worked closely on the development of the Bev RW Suit is now working with Vertical on their RW suit. PM me if you want me to put you in touch with him.

Empuriabrava is paradise and an absolutely amazing DZ. That said, if you are going to jump at your local DZ then there is value in doing AFF there to get to know your instructors and other local jumpers. If you turn up with an A-license and 25 jumps they'll likely want to do some check jumps with you anyway just to let you jump. Then you'll need to build up that rapport/relationship with other jumpers.

Its up on a few sites now, and I'm told it'll be up on Cookie's site by end of March. But essentially its to fill the gap that they can't meet with the impact rated G4. Attaching ANYTHING to the G4 voids its impact rating. The G35 gives them the ability to provide a helmet that people can attach things to, as many skydivers do, without the impact rating. I kept my old G3 which has a roller mount and cutaway on it just for that, so maybe I'll sell it and get one of these instead. After getting used to the G4, I don't really like the G3 as much! I like the snug G4 fit now.

Ideally identical turn rigs is optimal of course. Personally when I first started doing back to backs, I had a Katana 120 and a 107 in my rigs. So not massively different. I did one camp where i had a JFX 94 in one and a Katana 107 which was OK as I was super current on the Katana and very conservative on the JFX as it was new. I wouldn't want to do that sort of configuration often though. Now I have identical canopies in both rigs which is nice. Also its nice to have identical containers but again its a luxury that is not always available. But I agree with others, unless you are doing back to backs often then there is not much point in keeping two rigs as you can always borrow another rig. Personally I am doing back to backs almost every time I go to a DZ so for me its a no-brainer

Ive never flown a GT-R but have plenty of jumps on JFX and JFX2s. I honestly cannot speak highly enough of the JFX2, its a great wing - as they say a hassle free cross braced. Openings are fantastic, performance is great and its a lot of fun. As you say the JFX2 is more well known which may make it easier to get a hold of one second hand or to sell later on.

I had an XL G3 to fit my Chin and went down to a medium G4. I found it seemed to fit better. I think my head is 58 or 59cm. If you can try find a G4 rather than a G3 as it might fit better.

The dropzone I started jumping at had a policy of sponsoring the coach slot for any junior/intermediate 4-way team that would regularly train. This meant a lot of coaches, particuarly in non selection years, would do a lower level team. Takes some investment from the DZ but means you get a lot more jumpers reguarly training.

Been using paralog for years to sync from my Neptune or Atlas. It does the job. Have just gotten a Dekunu which has its own cloud based logging.

I had the original JFX and now have a couple of JFX2's. I would definately take a JFX2 over a JFX 1 any day, but thats no surprise given it is a new version. I feel they improved every aspect of the original without messing up any of the good qualities. There will obviously be more JFX's on the used market given how long its been around and some will be upgrading to a JFX2. So it depends on how patient you want to be or even if you want to buy new.

Many years ago I had a Z1 airbrushed with a custom design, turned out great! I found someone on a car forum that did a lot of work on motorbike helmets.

I went from a Katana 107 to a JFX94. That transition felt OK for me, but it was a VERY steep learning curve. Luckily I had some teammates who were very skilled pilots and were able to give me some good tips.

To add, before the pro-pack, canopies were often flat packed where the canopy was laid on its side. Hence why the focus of this packjob was that the canopy is kept facing forward the whole time. Then of course there is the psycho pack....

Can't speak for Belgium but we definately get charged VAT on canopies shipping to UK.

My team uses Bev suits and we like them, about to order a new set for next year. Recommend going for the Magik options on them. They have a nice spandex pocket on the grippers which is really nice for exits. Quality and customer service is always important. We've had good customer service from Bev. If you're in NA consider the inconvenience if you need to ship a suit back to Europe for adjustments.

In general its one size smaller. My 4-way team all moved from G3's to G4's, one went from M to S, another went from L to M and one stayed on L. Personally I went from XL to M. I have a long face and needed the XL in the G3 to fit aorund my chin, but it was loose around the head. I tried on G4's and found the M fit better around my head and was long enough to fit the chin. It was definately a snugger fit but I prefer it. I did a weekend swapping between the G3 (which as a camera mount) and my G4 and much prefer the G4 fit. If you have the opportunity you can always see if you can try some G4s on now that there's quite a few around.

I just put my first jumps on my new JFX2 89's this weekend. I've done about 800 jumps on JFX94's so comparing it to that. Openings, nice and on heading. It immediately feels more responsive even before releasing the breaks, especially in harness turns. It dives more on fronts and harness than the original JFX. Front riser pressure is a bit lighter. Still good to unload them with some brakes first, but not needed as much as on the original. Flare point feels like its a bit deeper down than the original but comes on much stronger when you hit it. If you're currently jumping a JFX then you'll love the JFX2. They've kept the best feature of the JFX (good openings) and turned up the fun on all the other parts of it.

Here's a few shots of mine with the majik booties. I've only ever had majik booties on my Bev suits, about to get a new suit for next year and will also get them. I think they are a bit stiffer than codura which allows you to get more grip on the air, very useful if doing 4-way which needs fast changes in direction. One of the guys on my team was on Deland Majik who created these booties, I can always ask him for more insights if you want more info, but I'd recommend getting them.

I'm not going to comment on your situation but can provide my own example. Many years ago now I herniated my L4/L5 disc, which resulted in massive tightening in my lumbar region and I had a lot of pain for anything requiring back flexion (bending forward). However I found back extension, (bending backwards) was no issues at all. I was training with an 8-way team at the time and decided to push on, and I personally had no issues and did quite a few jumps over the training camp I had to get my teammates to help me in and out of my rig as I had limited movement, also couldn't run out any landings so was doing a bit more sliding but was otherwise OK. Moving in the plane was also difficult but my slot on the team put by right be the door, so I didn't have to crouch down and go a long distance in the plane. My only real worry was a hard opening would hurt but I knew my canopy was not inclined to hard openings. However bare in mind that at the time I was already an experienced jumper with over 1000 jumps so was aware of what I was putting my body through. I also checked with my doctor and physio. Only you and your doctor know your personal situation. Personally as someone that has recovered from a bad back injury, you only have one back and skydiving will still be there in a year.

Sabre 170 - 200 Samuari 150 - 150 Samuari 135 - 150 Katana 120 - 300 Katana 107 - 100 JFX 94 - 1000 JFX2 89 - Currently being built :)

Yeah reading the NZ Aerosports site they said they recommend Vectran. Their site says both Vectran and HMA do not stretch/shrink over wear, HMA is very strong for its size but its easier to assess wear on Vectran lines.

I was curious what type of lines people are using on their cross-braced? I have a couple of JFX's and have had HMA600 on them since I got them new and thinking of going Vectran next, partly just so I've tried both line types and better understand their pro's and cons. My FS coach recently got his Valkyries relined and one has Vectran and one is HMA and he doesn't notice any difference, but perhaps that may change as they wear. So curious, what type of canopy you have and what type of lines you use and why?

I use ParaLog for all my logging (Import from a Neptune3), don't keep a written logbook anymore. Its good, has a lot of features I don't use like adding video/photos to jumps etc. But I do like the graphs so I can easily see how many jumps I've done with a specific team etc.