bofh

What kind of radio system do you use?

See the "Dropzone" section of this site, there's a listing of most skydiving centres. There are not many dropzones around that does not offer tandem jumps these days. On the other hand there are plenty of dropzones that don't jump during the colder part of the year. Contact them long before you plan to jump too. I would think that the first would tandem would be quite memorable anyway, but Switzerland would probably be awesome. Some dropzone at a coast can be quite nice too.

I've found dry, green grass to be more clean than most indoor places. Sand and dirt tend to fell down between the grass straws where the canopy does not go. Bigger objects are not hard to see while laying down the canopy. If the ground is wet, dirty etc, I only put down the canopy while taking off the rig, if there's nobody around to hold it, but that's quite hard with a larger canopy.

Sure and half of the jumpers in US ans West Europe are flying canopies and jumping rigs made in Russia and Ukraine, right? I'm probably stupid, because I don't think I understand what you mean. Do you mean that they have to keep a low price in order to sell them at all because they are made in Ukraine, unlike say Honduras? Perhaps, people have their prejudices. I've previously bought a gear bag, a freefly overall, a camera overall and swoop pants that were made by Skylark and they were all well made so I've only had positive experiences with them this far.

They are in full production, but perhaps you ment introduction price? I really don't know. The web site doesn't say anything about it (I think, I only read the russian site via Google Translate). Perhaps they want to keep the price low to get more canopies out there to get some brand awareness?

Skylark publishes the following wingloadings: Skipper: 1.1 to 1.7 performs best from 1.3 to 1.5 Magellan: 0.95 to 1.85 performs best from 1.2 to 1.6 Odyssey: 1.3 to 2.0 performs best from 1.5 to 1.8 Scirocco: 1.9 to 2.6 performs best from 2.2 to 25

Why? Because I had chosen between them and opted for the 149 because I didn't know how it flew. I would have been more happy with the 139 since it would have been slightly easier to fit in the container. And of course, so people can stop with the saying about nobody wished they had a smaller reserve...

I though I should have gotten a 139 instead of the 149 when I first used my Icarus reserve.

I've only had a Javelin and a Wings (and jumped Javelins as a student too), but I prefer the mudflap pocket. My packing data card does not get worn or wrinkled there, but that might be because the swedish cards are made of pretty thick paper (and we get a new one each year). The one that came with the rig did become pretty wrinkled and it was made from some really thin paper.

I just got a mail from them. Its 1845 including the RDS.

Its been discussed a bit on a Russian forum, but the I can't make much sense of the google translation... http://www.skycentre.net/index.php?showtopic=6791&st=140 "competitive large" is probably a comp velo.

According to Skylark's web page, they are now selling the Scirocco. Sizes from 64 to 124. Listed price is 1845USD for all sizes, one can choose between HMA-350 and HMA-400 lines and with or without a RDS. HMA-950 for lower steering lines. Comes with soft links. The recommended wing loading is from 1.9 to 2.6. 2.2 to 2.5 for competition.

How much of the force does it absorb and how much does it just transfer to the head?

I think it is more than just some subpar canopies. I have only met four persons that have gotten Neoses and all four of them have returned them because of the hard openings. They all opened great in the beginning (my best opening ever was on one of those Neoses) but after a while they started to open hard. One injured his neck, another broke some ribs (after gotten it back from the company where they had inspected it and found no problems...). A while a go I got a PM from someone that had altered the length of the steering line and thus gotten it to open great again, but my friends just exchanged their Neos against crossfires instead.

Sure you can. What's the mean and median of (1, 1, 10) ? 4 and 1.

If you kill yourself, or have a serious accident, it will at the very least cause more work for the DZO & staff, so it is not just your choice. Every serious accident can also have an impact on the sport as a whole. It may change policies at insurance companies, it creates some pressure to create more/stricter rules etc.

Now that there is a viewer for the GoPro, it would be nice if there were a teleconverter too. Today I'm mounting the GoPro on my climbing helmet. Looks like it is going to rain too, but I guess I don't have to tape a plastic bag around the camera... Yet another place where the "half price" Sony setup wouldn't work as well.

Where can I buy a waterproof Sony camera with a wide angle converter for 190USD ? Skip the water protection. Where can I buy a new, small HD Sony camera with a wide angle converter for 190USD ?

Even without VAT, German and French gear is often more expensive than buying american gear in USA... I've heard that some people buy the gear in the US and asks a buddy to take it home for them in their luggage... For some reason the buddy often forgets to tell the customs about the new gear and sometimes the buddy even get the impression that it is his own used gear that doesn't get any VAT added if questioned by the customs... It can even make a Spanish Icarus canopy become cheaper than buying it in Spain.

Hey again. I just listened to the older interview and realize that he gives his snail mail address, not his email address.... so send him a letter. Or mail skydive radio and ask them to forward the mail.

Explained here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2574804;search_string=fabric;#2574881

I sent you another PM last week.

I sent you a PM a couple of days ago. Btw. is there something wrong with Precisions e-mail system? I've mailed [email protected] and [email protected] about this previously without getting any answer at all.

If ~40 square inches of surface area is going to make that much difference, just think what Jenny Craig could do for some of you. I'd think a fat body would be more aerodynamic and a larger canopy with the same wingload have less drag too. Perhaps it is better to reverse her advice?

I'm no canopy designer, but if you compare a skydiving canopy with a speed canopy two things are pretty obvious. The speed flying canopy is not reinforced, making it ligher and the noose of it is constructed with stiffer materials to keep it open. But make it easier to start, but I would also imagine that they both help to make it recover. As for a swwoping canopy having a worse glide, I think part of that is to make it easier to fly fast and have a long recovery arc.