geofsmth

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Everything posted by geofsmth

  1. If you are looking for a cross braced canopy to use with camera you should check out the Xaos 21 or 27. Many camera flyers prefer the Xaos 21, smooth, consistent on heading openings. I jump a Xaos 27 - 90 and get great openings as well. my .02
  2. Put one under the strut, one hanging and two on the step.
  3. I have looked all over the USPA site and find nothing about these seminars. They are not listed in Parachutists. Can these be an informal seminar conducted at the DZ with all rating holders to discuss policies, procedures etc. I am confused. Maybe it is just the blonde in me.
  4. I have to renew my tandem rating and just saw the new requirement to attend a Rating Renewal Seminar? This is new for 2010 renewals? Is there a list of locations and dates of these seminars?
  5. This is shot of one of our AFF students who was scared to death !!!
  6. You may go thru your entire jumping career and not use your hook knife. was it a waste of money??? I think not. I believe that every jumper should have at least one "good" one...not the orange plastic crappy ones. Another piece of equipment that you might never use in your entire jumping career is your AAD. Would you consider that a waste of money? Non-essential? It is not required at all DZ's but if you were knocked out and couldn't pull it sure would be nice to have and have it turned on. Jumpers will spend over $1200 for an AAD and not purchase a $30 hook knife. Better to have one and never use it than to be in a situation where you NEED one and dont have one. I have had to use my hook knife to cut a locked up steering line, and landed on rear risers. My $.02
  7. do any of you have some 2 way drill dives for sit flyers looking to improve skills.
  8. I need to replace my PC120 camera. Do you think the HC5 is the best tape driven SD/HD camera? I will be using for tandems and freeflying, which is why I don't really want to go solid state until they get the shake issues figured out. I also don't have the $$ to spend on the new computer to edit. Advice??
  9. Rear float works great for Tandems and AFF exits. Be sure to keep your arms straight and not bend your left arm and put pressure on the window with your elbow. Pilots don't like it when you take out windows of the airplane. :-) I keep my hands low so I can video their climbout and expression throught the window. Once the tandem is in the door there is no prop blast and you can hear the screaming tandems really well.... even my girlfriend can do it and she used to have problems just holding on to the strut ....
  10. Does a flash have to be mounted horizontal or vertical? I wanted to mount my flash on a freefly helmet with my PC120 on the left side, my XSI on top and then my flash on the right side. Kind of at a 45 degree angle. Since the XSi is mounted horizontally will having the flash mounted at a 45 affect how it is used with the camera. I am using it mostly as a fill flash on tandems. Thanks Geof
  11. I have a sidemounted PC120 in a box with a RebelXSI topmounted. I am looking to mount a 580 II flash to my helmet but am not sure how. How have others actually secured the flash to the helmet. There doesn't seem to be an easy/secure way to mount it. bungee, straps, velcro, etc.
  12. Where can you pick up one of these. I really like the added protection.
  13. I have made many jumps with flags, banners and streamers, but have done it mostly by trial and error. Is there a readily available resource available that would explain packing and deployment systems, weights needed, lanyard lengths, cutaway systems. canopy sizing, landing recomendations. etc.
  14. I have two rigs. a talon 2 and mirage G4. I collapse and pull my slider down behind my head and loosen my chest strap which helps keep it down but I would like to get a keeper to hold it down. I have seen the bungee style keepers. Can these be purchased and put on by a rigger?? What other options are there? Any pics?
  15. If you see something where ever you are jumping (home DZ or elsewhere) and you see something that is jeaprodizing the safety of one or more jumpers YOU should say something. If you are not comfortable approaching the person or situation, every DZ has a S&TA that should be available to speak with. Don't expect that someone else is going to address it. Gear and toys are more readily available and low time jumpers are chomping at the bit to do all the cool stuff and of course get it on video. Take the time to mentor and pass on your knowledge and experience to those low time jumpers so they can learn from our mistakes and experience. Empahsize that going slow is fast and going too fast usually results in premature departure from the sport due to injury or worse, Be Patient. Take time to learn, and before you know you will have the skills to be doing all the cool stuff. Like someone in another forum said. . . if the situation starts like the intro to an incident report then . . . . YOU say/do something. Don't wait til something horrible happens and join with all the other Monday morning quarterbacks who watched it unfold and say "I was going to say something but..." or "I didn't think he should be doing that but...
  16. 15 of us made it out for New Years Day jump at Rochester Skydivers in Rochester NY (upstate). This is an annual thing for us. We put up 8 or 9 loads. I made 3. We jump all winter !! We had the same temps. We had 11" of fresh powder on the ground. Made for nice swooping. Air traffic controllers thought we were crazier than usual.
  17. I recall a cessna boogie (5+ cessna's) somewhere. I recall one in Oklahoma ..ish (midwest) but is there also another in the Northeast. I thought that Swoop or somewhere in Canada had one. In recent bar talk we were talking of attempting a nice formation CRW load from Cessna's. Would be a cool jump.
  18. Cool, Kinda what I was thinking. I also do a lot of freeflying and we put someone under the strut facing the tail. Basically, getting all the way out on the strut and then swinging under with the right foot still on the corner of the step. I want to try this as an exit as well. It would put on person on their back and the other three on their bellies. Two on the step and one in the door. Works great for tracking dives.
  19. We have a 182 so we do have the luxury of walking to the door. We only have a couple of WS jumpers at our DZ but are looking to eventually do 3 and 4 ways. We have done a bunch of 2 ways. With either one out on the step and another in the door or having one actually hanging from the strut (like a SL student) and another in the door. Have any of you done 3 or 4 ways from a 182? If so how did you exit?
  20. I am currently jumping VX104 and looking to downsize to ~88-90. I have heard real good things about the Xaos for consistent smooth openings for camera flying. I can always count on a few opinions.....what would you suggest. Thank
  21. I have done a couple winsuit rodeo jumps but have not had the chance to get video and stills. How have you gotten the shots. Should the photographer be under a wingsuit or a camera wing suit. just wasn't sure how much fallrate the rodeo has and how Dirty you would have to fly to stay with it. Any thoughts...
  22. I picked these up on Ebay. Google "Mega Strike Bowling" and they will come up. It does actually come with a giant inflatable bowling ball. I am thinking of setting up lanes, with entry gates, with teams of two, you know, so someone can pick up a spare. You want to hit them near the end of your swoop not the beginnig at 50+ mph. Doesn't hurt but you hit them with a lot of force and I fear popping them. It needs to be done in less than 5mph winds. Great for sunset loads. They are 42" tall and have a small reservoir in the bottom for water to weight them down, but it does not take much wind to knock them over. Surprisingly, I have not popped any but do regularly blow the valve open on the bottom and all the water comes out like you see in the video. I like landing games and by far this is the most fun. Anyone can play and you can keep score. I will work on crash bowling video. Remember.....don't get fixated on the target and forget about your landing !!!
  23. Swoop Bowling....one of my better ideas.
  24. I jumped a buddies rig with the same canopy but his rig had cut in laterals and I noticed that it did not respond as quickly and as much to harness inputs as my rig with cut-in's So my question is do you prefer cut in laterals on your swooping rig? Do you see a noticable difference?
  25. Vet wrap works great for CRW. It is self sticking but you do need something to anchor it on, on the riser, usually the front dive loops.It can be a bit bulky but if you look at the CRW rigs you will see it doesn't matter much. The down side is that vet wrap will make it difficult if not impossible to pull your slider down, depending on how much vet wrap is used. For CRW it allows the pilot to reach and grab without looking for the loops.