skyshimas

i thought about my sentence so i gave a different wording at the end of the post to clear any confusion that might arise. "stopping power" anyways can't wait for them downwinders!

Downwinders are very fun indeed! There is less lift going downwind at the end of the landing hence one has to run very very fast :) but when downsizing that is not the case. Or maybe i should have said one looses stopping power when going down wind=dirty rig

Velocity is so yesterday...

That's funny I found this thread! I am trying to lose some weight myself.Have been going down hill for the last 5yrs went from 160-185. Always bitched about it but never done anything to stop it. Just couldn't imagine myself being fat since I was always (before) very fit. But little by little I grew belly and now time has come to shake that fat away. It's been three weeks since I joined the gym also try to do cardio as much as I can 3-4 times a week. The only concern is that my WL will go down... smaller canopy here I come(once I am happy with myself) good luck everyone!

"and allow them to realize the only diffence between them and me, is time." one of the best lines I'v ever read on this forum

there is no big difference on openings between square and semi and even fully eliptical for that matter. I guess it's just the canopy you fly. If you fly katana yes big difference if you fly crossfire2 not so much(never flown cf 1) sabre2 and original sabre can't be much different. While i don't have many jumps on sabre2 i jumped sabre 1 and then went to crossfire2 its like night and day talking only about openings here.

Thank you for the kind word ;) however I am far from grown up in this sport if it is possible at all.

Ok here's the answer to your question. That's just something that I learned from others and try to mimic. Get to your turning point at the altitude you want. To do that you need to be at the previous "check" points at certain altitudes but because conditions usualy changes from jump to jump this part is one of the trickiest to master. Now once I get to the initiation point at the good altitude I release the brakes(i am flying at half brakes through my pattern) pull down both risers for about 3s then start to release the oposite riser a bit (I make left 270 so release right side) do it slow and kick (with harness) the last 110 degrees or so for the maximum speed at the end of the turn. The goal is to have the most power at the end of the turn. Then there are other tricks for when you a little low or high: speed up the turn slow down the turn get bigger in the harness get smaller in the harness. It takes a lot of jumps to master these things and swooping can only be learned by doing hnp's and high alt hnp's. Hope this helps to paint a little picture of what it is.

I think you should work on your flaring. There is no reason not to stand up a no wind/down wind landing. Canopy course would come in handy on explaining what you might have to do different to improve no wind landings. Or maybe someone on your drop zone can explain you(better yet with a footage). I see many skydivers stab on the toggles last second on every landing never giving a chance for their canopy to roll out. While getting decent landings they are not as soft as it could be. So different situations require different inputs on the toggles. Bad tendencies that I see that affect the landing are leaning back in the harness and not finnishing the flare (one should finnish it all the time no matter what) reaching for the ground etc I think I just went over board here hope it helps tho!

I have around 200 hc jumps and started doing them when I had 100 tandems. At first i tried to keep camera in their face on the exit but now I just do what I do without hc on my hand. Try to grab as much air as I can and in my opinion it gets some cool shots and the exits are much cleaner. Had one cut away with hc no problem. My friends had multiple cutaways with them without a problem. Its just more work that's it not much difference in freefall or under canopy and to get a good landing shot is quite easy without much effort.

We have the limit at 250 but anyone over 220 pays extra $2 per pound. I don't like taking big guys but more so big gals. It is pain in the rare to get them out of the cessna. The heaviest I've ever taken was 230. Dream tandem: hot chick out of the otter :)

Four of us went to the tunnel in NH and the guys were awesome. We didn't pay for couching and they helped us a great deal. We had 2h among ourselves and bought an extra half an hour. Each of us chiped in $20 hope it was enough for their efforts to teach us. Looking forward on going there again!

You can't swoop in Lodi- me never go

going to z-hills! only 3 weeks left can't wait. They have enough lift if I remember correctly they had 4 otters last year or atleast 3. Nice pond also. well organised night jumps. this time i am staying on the ground on new years partying

me no whinning me might be there 6h to drive pfff... you can do better than that for the good times hope to see you all there soon!

I bless them everyday so this day I could go and bless myself with some beautiful jumps.

Thinking of where to go for Thanks giving weekend from NJ? Within driving distance. Only found skydive the farm GA and CASA in NC. Anywhere else?

You are a very strong man to pull of 3-4 spirals using front risers on a 190sq sized canopy... I am not sure if I could do it on my velo 90 just with a front riser.

Didn't mean to insult by any means apologies my fellow jumper I was refering to this sentence tho : there's no reason to rush to something smaller until you've experienced just about every possible situation to be thrown your way- which to me means you will never go smaller because nobody knows when a new situation will present itself I am just angry with people who always attack someone when a question is asked on these forums

Just my thoughts: people have different goals and what they like in this sport. I could give up free falling in a heart beat just to be able to do hnp's. New jumpers don't understand it.Thinking that in 200jumps you will get in every possible bad situation is naive... if you do get in a lot of risky situations all the time maybe you should stop and think for a minute "what am i doing wrong?" you=everyone nothing personal.

What are your experiences on hma 500? How many jumps on average do you get out of them? I have 500's on mine and was thinking to get 500 jumps( just random number poped in my head). I take it to terminal all the time. Do HMA's show any wear one them once has more jumps on it? Thank you.

It looks like your WL would be a little high for the number of jumps you have now. What you could do is buy a rig which will accommodate 170 and borrow 190 canopy for a while or demo some 190's before you'r ready for 170. The problem is that your reserve most likely will be on a smaller size and you can't borrow biger reserve :). Well it's up to you what kind of risk you are willing to take. Now people on these forums will scare you in every way they possibly can. Often you will get responses from someone( emphasis on someone) who "knows everything" who will never downsize in his life because has no idea how to land that piece of fabric over his head but has a good number of jumps... Also... nobody is protected from injury no matter how many jumps you have on the canopy or in total. That being said your chances a greater for that same reason because 170 is a fast canopy. If you want to be bashed to death ask questions here if you want honest answer ask questions at the drop zone ;) now canopy nazis ATTACK!

Wow now I am not gonna leave my stuff in the car when I am at school in one of the worst cities- Camden NJ. If they want my car take it but leave my rig out please its worthless to you :) Sucks for you dude and good luck finding it!

they are my "babies" part of equipment that gives me the most joy!

I love those responses: I just got this and that size canopy its going to last me looong time :) My story: I bought 170 sabre it lasted me a "loong time" then CF2 139 and that one lasted me a "loong time" because its sooo fast and I don't need to downsize and then I got CF2 119... and If I wasn't broke this would have been gonne also but thanks God I am and can stay on it longer and learn more :) anyway good day to everyone! Dude do whatever you want don't kill anyone.