HydroGuy

Perris 1. Lots of Freeflyers 2. Lots of good LO's and coaches 3. 3 otters and a skyvan 4. everyones always been cool to me 5. bunkhouse $8 a night, IHOP $12 a night And don't forget about the tunnel... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

1. 1st time jumping a nine cell. Been jumping Spectres...a Spectre 190 most recently. Started jumping a Pilot 188 yesterday. Was amazed at how much less toggle pressure was required on the Pilot in spite of the almost identical wing loading between the two canopies. 2. 1st time all my landings were in the grass. 3. 1st PLF. Flared early in a 19 knot wind, then the canopy popped up. Held the flare and fell at least ten feet...remember distinctly telling myself, "Don't try to stand this one up!" Had a nice PLF...bruises on right outside ankle, knee, hip and shoulder and a grass smear on my helmet to prove it...but nothing broken, torn, or pulled. Glad I was on the grass. In retrospect, that PLF was the SINGLE smartest decision I have yet to make in my short skydiving career. 4. 1st time I used my helmet. See above PLF. After that, I will be a hard helmet jumper for life. 5. 1st time doing 8 full altitude jumps in a day. 6. 1st sit train exit. I wanted to buy everyone beer, but ended up just splitting a pitcher with Alex and Chislom instead. Too bad more of you don't jump Perris on Fridays! Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I feel you on those Perris winds...they love to change direction, speed etc. You've said you took the canopy course...did you take it @ Perris? I just took a course @ Perris a couple weeks ago...my instructor was Clint. He helped me tons. I'm not going to offer any advice, but I was having problems with numbers two and three on your list...Clint helped me with both. The pop up only happened on rare occasions, but I was glad it happened once while Clint was filming. When I popped back up, I was reaching for the ground with one arm and toggle, while letting the other arm and toggle go straight up, resulting in a tumble to the ground. In other words, I just wasn't holding my flare properly. I would NEVER have known I was doing this if I couldn't see myself doing it on video. Apparently it's not that uncommon. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Please understand that he was doing this up high. You should NEVER give any sort of front riser input close to the ground without holding on to the toggles in your hands. This may seem obvious to some but others may not understand. I think your post is great and I am not putting you down in any way, but please be careful about what advice you give. There is always a possibility that a newer jumper does not understand what you really mean. No problem. I should have stated that because I can't use my front risers with toggles in hand, that I am unable to use them anywhere low in my approach. And maybe the trim is different on other demo gear...even at this drop zone. None of the things I stated I learned were meant to be advice to anyone...that's what I really should have said. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I think this would be have to be a case by case basis. Does the high time/low number jumper just hit sunset loads and go home, or was he still a regular at the DZ who just didn't jump a lot? Does the high time/low number jumper go to Safety Day or periodically climb into a harness and practice EP's? Or have they been jumping long enough that practicing ep's is a waste of time to them? In scuba, some of the most dangerous divers I've met were people who have dove a while, but only on vacations...meaning little regularity. In scuba it is worse, because peoples health and physical well being deteriorate faster than they'd like to believe... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I have been learning to sit in shorts, a longsleeve tshirt or freefly jacket, and flat bottomed shoes -my Nike cross trainers have a little air heel or something - and one free fly coach reccommended I not wear them while I am figuring out my footwork. Good luck...the first time you hit it is one of those "moments". Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

This is basically directed to newer jumpers such as myself. Two weeks ago I took a canopy course @ Perris with Clint. I have been so excited about learning to sit that I haven't really said much about the course. But lounging and pondering life at the DZ yesterday, I realized just how much that course helped me. Some things I learned specifically from the course: 1. Sitting in the harness instead of hanging. 2. Loosening the chest strap after deployment. 3. Shifting weight in harness to turn (ok, I touched this subject in AFF. But when your just "hanging" under a 280sf canopy, you can't really shift your weight, so I never noticed anything. When "sitting" in the harness, I can shift that weight with ease, causing control input...and I can see how downsizing/higher wing loading would pronounce this effect. I have recently been working on minor weight shifts to counteract crosswinds on landing). 4. Trim - I learned nothing about canopy trim in AFF. While jumping demo gear (Spectre 210 or 190), I have never been able to mess around with my front risers without bucking all over. I learned that the trim is way off on the demo gear...I had to let go of the toggles when using front risers so as not to deform the rear surface. 5. Learned way more about flaring...and holding the flare. In retrospect, I wish I had taken this course the day I graduated AFF. I'd highly reccommend it to everyone on or just off student status, anyone having troubles with setups or landings, or anyone getting ready for their first downsizing (actually a bunch of videoed landings would probably be beneficial to ANY downsizing). Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. If I don't get too drunk in the upcoming hours, I'll be @ Perris tomorrow morning. Going to hit the tunnel for a 10 minute sit session, and follow it up with a bunch in the sky. I look forward to being stable enough to do some two ways with someone other than my coach or fly base for a group of more experienced flyers... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

totally cool...I just have to concentrate hard on my feet...my damn right foot has a mind of its own! Needs some polishing so I'm not sliding all over, and I want to bring my arms forward...but that will come with time. Have some cool vids and screenshots, but I'll spare everyone another noob sitfly pic Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Agreed...The only time I've seen anyone who knew they were going to black out, they were being choked. I imagine this would be the same method of action(lack of blood flow to brain) as your femoral arteries etc getting blocked by leg straps. They lose control of their limbs and get tunnel vision on their way to blacking out. How they could get into the wind, or know where the hell the wind OR ground is, is beyond me. And if you've ever seen someone regain conciousness after being choked, they flop around like a fish...would not make for a pretty landing either way. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I can not even imagine being that relaxed...I just added that to my list of things "to accomplish in skydiving prior to my BASE FJC." Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Buddy breathing got phased out because it became SOP to carry two regulators. This change was in response to the reality that buddy breathing was turning a single diver out of air situation into a double fatality too often. That skill requires too much currency to rely on in an emergency situation. Lots of stuff that happens in diving is contradictary. One of the biggest tech agencies has a deep air class (200 ft plus) , but the agency won't allow training dives below 175-180 feet because too many people have reactions to the PPO levels even at that depth, let alone over 200. The DIR/Halcyon guys still practice buddy breathing, like at the start of EVERY dive. They aren't much fun to dive with, but they are safer than anyone. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

My ex-girlfriend was killed in a Jetta...glad your experience turned out better... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Scuba diving, hiking, binge drinking. Motocross, but I sold my bike. (on a side note, I have noticed that two stroke exhaust and turbine exhaust elicit the same euphoric feelings in me) I'm going to start doing Bikrams Yoga again to increase my body awareness for Freeflying. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I like jumping because I forget about these things...guess I'll make sure that skydiving never becomes a profession... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I agree with the exit. Standing in the door, while checking separation of the group before you, while checking the current spot, with the wind in your face, and the ground oh so far away, big assed noisy turbine six feet in front of you. Definately feel hyper-aware or hyper-sensitive in that door. Feels like being alive. But if I hit my sit tomorrow, I will have to change this to the actual freefall portion. I also enjoy with the snivel ends... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

On Monday I took a canopy control class @ Perris. Six hop and pops. I learned ten times more in those six jumps about my canopy than my previous 56 skydives combined. A typical AFF course level(2-8) for me was about 1 1/2 hours on the ground. During that time, we went over spotting, exits, the skydive, some canopy work, landing, and tons of EP's. So maybe I received two hours of canopy talk...MAYBE during my AFF courses combined.. I got 5 hours of it with video debrief in my canopy course. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I prefer to jump, but I also see definite advantages as well as cost savings in the tunnel. I was advised to sit in the sky, and work on backflying in the tunnel because of the frame of reference you have. I'm trying to get somegood coach jumps in...once I get in a decent sit, I have some LO's and friends to jump with me, video me etc. to fine tune things. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I was working in the sky with Jon Chishlom of the FreeFly Mega Center. In the tunnel I was Travis and the Elements of Flight group. My only saving grace is that I got coaching from the start...I couldn't imagine having to learn AND erase bad habits. To say that my tunnel/backflying experience was humbling would be a gross understatement! Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Got some coaching at Perris today. Tried my first four sit dives. By the third one I could hit it for 4 seconds, before my right foot would flop like a dead fish and expose my calf to the wind. It's kind of harder than it first appears. Then I went and got ten minutes in the tunnel of coached backflying. Totally impossible. I mean I felt as if I had never seen the tunnel, a parachute, anything. I sat on the net, or spun on the net, or flailed on the net. If I got lift, I was spinning like mad. I am not kidding when I say it was one of the most frustrating experiences of my entire life. And I paid for it Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

The real irony is I came here tonight to post/ask if any experienced jumpers wanted to do some jumps with a noob tomorrow at Perris...then I see this thread back at the top (it had been buried for 4 or 5 days)...now I have to wait for this thread to sink again before I ask...LOL Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I didn't want to bicker with BlueWater, but I think Billvon understands what I was saying. I took it serious enough to publicly thank this person and the organization he works for the only way I knew how...on this forum. Nuff said... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I am researching Mirage containers. Right now I am leaning towards a G4...size M4. Will probably set it up with a Dash M 181 reserve. For starts, will have a Spectre 190/Safire 2 189 main. My question is: Will a Spectre 150/Safire2 149 work in this container (obviously in the future)? I contacted Ward from Mirage. He said the factory doesn't recommend going that small on the main. He also stated to ask on dropzone.com if any other Mirage owners have tried this same combo, and then make my own decision. So here I am..... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Sure, above ground that is if you believe all that is said and written about that place. *shrug* Who knows, I'm sure some folks do, but most don't. Aggie Dave- Here is why you don't see secret stuff above ground nuclear tunneling machine It is patented and all, meaning they had to have a working model....and they have had this thing for over 30 years... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary