matt3sa

Loving the VK. Still learning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhH5c4wx0zE&feature=youtu.be

Time to retire a couple of 370's. Anyone using 340's in the standard size sigma container? If so, are you using the same or different d-bags?

Zsombi, First and foremost, the best thing you can do is sift through the information and identify what pertains to your question. No one here can truly tell you if you're qualified to jump the canopy you are on. The only people that are qualified to do that are experienced HP canopy pilots that you are (hopefully) surrounded with at your DZ. I'm not going to lie, a Katana is not a typical canopy that we see people on with your jump numbers. That being said, I was flying Velo's around 250-300 jumps. Also, over the years I have known a small handful of people that I too thought were making overly aggressive canopy choices given their jump numbers (even though they were doing quite well on those HP canopies). I am certainly not here to encourage or support your choice to fly that canopy given your experience and my total lack of knowledge with regard to your skill level. One of my chops was on a Katana. The Katana I was jumping was loaded at 1.54. At the time I was jumping a Velo 96, but borrowed my buddies Katana 120 to turn a load. Same deal, line twists. Personally, my experience with both Katana's and Velo's is that you can definitely influence the opening to be better, but that they all have a mind of their own at times. I've had Velo's of various sizes where some were awesome and some seemed to just be terrible. One of my 90's just absolutely would not consistently open on heading and/or without line twists. I jumped that particular Katana 3 to 5 times and I had line twists on it twice. One was a chop. In fact my buddy had a chop on that canopy shortly after that same year and then almost again and I believe he sold that canopy shortly after. I guess what I'm saying is welcome to the world of HP canopies. These things happen. Packing and body position on opening are very important and it only takes one deviation from perfect in either process to create a chop. The best advice I can give you is to keep your feet and knees together on opening and relax. On the Katana you are going to have longer snivels and you'll probably feel a pulsing in your leg pads. Relax your legs and only provide minimal harness correction if the canopy starts to take a turn in a certain direction. Another important question you may ask yourself is if you noticed if the twists were there immediately as you looked up? Or did the canopy start to inflate and then twist up after? The first might indicate a packing issue. The second may indicate poor body positioning, too aggressive harness/riser input during opening, or a canopy with a mind of it's own ;)

Do NOT do this. My Optimum 113 is a brick in my 306. Trust me, a couple inches in length isn't worth it for you or your rigger. This is the second container I've stuffed to the max and it's pointless. Get a 308 or the next size up.

VK90

I'm really surprised you compare the Stiletto so closely to the Cobalt. I've been on small Comp Velo's for a while but I spent a lot of time on a Cobalt 135 when I was learning. I'm waiting for a Valkyrie so I've been jumping bigger canopies for the last couple weekends. I've done the Sabre2 150, Stiletto 150 and Cobalt 150. I have to say man, the Cobalt is pretty much what I remember and not much like a stiletto. The front and rear riser pressure is so light and I feel like it dives better. The openings are hit or miss. I remember some wierd ones on my 135. The 150 I jumped this weekend opened GREAT. It does have a wierd thing built in where the left side sometimes folds under but it comes out of it with a deep flare.

We have a guy at our DZ who is looking for something a bit different and possibly more high performance than a Stiletto. He's loading a 150 at about 1.4 to 1.6. I personally loved my time on my Cobalt 135 so I encouraged him to try a Cobalt 150 that another local jumper owns. As I expected, he fell in love. The problem is that Atair is out of business. The chances of finding a decent used Cobalt are pretty slim. I'm having a difficult time giving him advice on other products that might give him a little more kick. This guy will never be a Katana or Xbrace person. What's out there that you folks would compare to a Cobalt? My personal opinion is that the cobalt absolutely destroys xfires in every way and I honestly can't think of anything in PD's lineup that might be a bit more exciting for him without stepping into the Katana world. Thoughts?

I think the theory that the coaches and instructors that people jump with can in fact be better judges of skill than a blanket guideline can, but I come from a 182 dropzone. With 10 to 15 skydivers. Nothing is missed. Every jump is discussed. There are instructors on almost every 4 way or 2 way load that goes up. This discussion is bringing me memories of my trip to z-hills in 2013. I recall a 20 way tracking dive where they were allowing people with less than 50 jumps in on the action. Two of the participants were asking g me for advice on how to aim their new gopros and how to adjust settings. It was extremely unsettling. I feel like some of the bigger dz's need blanket rules and need to actually enforce them for reasons like this. Z hills felt like a circus. Several times I had to speak up and do some of the most simple yet critical tasks like organizing how groups entered the otter based on size and discipline. I had to practically beg for a dropzone briefIng. I remember we arrived the day after those two foreigners went in. I think it was March.

Haha! top skin is red, bottom lime green with black xbrace and ribs/tail ribs. Looks sick. I bet it looks better when it isn't overcast.

What are your top and bottom skin colors?

Another example on the 96 .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE57AO_gyuQ

This was how my Velo 90 opened often..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98O9eqPxF9c

Ok so just for example, here is a video of what typical Velo jumps are for me..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze1M8rXknBY They are "searchy". I've read and read about different techniques (not looking up, feet and knees together, relaxing, flying the opening etc). But the fact remains that most of my standard Velo jumps are "searchy". Not really a deal breaker but I would love to find a Velo that is reliable for formation skydiving. I hate doing freefly or rw jumps and being that guy that wants to track away at a higher altitude than everyone else would prefer. They break away at 3500 or so and I want to track off at around 4500/5000 (not sure if part of this is the fact that I'm tandem guy :) Not every opening is as searchy as these, but I would say that about 75% are. I have thought about the opening process in extensive detail. I have experimented with opening body positions. I have examined my deployment procedure and yet I can't figure it out. Some search left, some search right... maybe some of this is due to buying used Velo's......I can only conclude that the standard Velo with a regular slider opens like mine does. Every Velo I ever owned opened quite frequently like the video I posted above.

I believe the RDS slider is also smaller than a standard slider.

Pd told me that the orange vectran lines make for quicker openings. They told me that the coating makes the slider come down quicker. Thanks for posting your video. I'm looking forward to April when it shows up...