fonz

Hi all. A friend of mine and I both jump the same canopy (Sabre 170) at roughly the same wing loading (1.0 or maybe 1.1). The only difference is that I only have 19 jumps (2 on the Sabre) and my friend has about 250 (mostly on the Sabre). Now, my friend thinks he's ready for a new canopy. But we disagree on what he should go with. Of course, it's his ass under that canopy, but because he's my friend I want to make sure he makes the right choice. He wants to get a high(er) performance canopy of the same size as his current Sabre. That would be a Crossfire 169, Stiletto 170 or something similar. He's even looking at a Batwing 171. I disagree with that. I think such canopies require a higher wing loading in order to achive optimal performance. Therefore, I recommended him to stick with the Sabre (or something similar, e.g. a Safire) and just take it one or two sizes smaller. In the end, he wants to jump the sub 100 pocket rockets (and let's be honest, so do I) but I think my suggestion of first jumping smaller sized squares and then switching to an elliptical is better than his idea of starting with a large elliptical and then going smaller and smaller. What do you guys/gals think? Who's right, or doesn't it make any difference? Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Which makes me think a) I'm safe here across the Atlantic b) he can get away with smoking stuff that "mortal" citizens won't (get away with) "Ask me the questions bridge keeper, I'm not afraid!" -- John Cleese in Monty Python and the Holy Grail Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

I don't think it's the reading that's to blame You probably mean "What have you been smoking?"

Yeah, but I'm allergic to at least half of all that crap Believe me, I've tried Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

It's the shipping costs that make me hesitate Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Spend one week in Holland and you'll wish you were driving in the U.S. again

Hmm. I don't need to log off and on. As long as I do it from the MyDropzone page, I can check my mail. From the front page, it has never worked as far as I can remember. Thought the HH might find this interesting. Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Grunt. I spend my entire day "working" with computers... Guess that's the fate of a computer science student Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

How many seconds should I wait before tossing the pilot chute? Undoubtedly. Sure beats sitting in a dull computer lab anyway Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

It would be nice if there were a way to send messages from your inbox straight into oblivion, bypassing the trash folder. Particularly spam comes to mind Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Tssss. Weenie! Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

That's the very same year the Dutch reached the final. [small print]okay, so we lost to Germany[/small print] Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

At least we non-Americans know how to handle a soccer ball [lauch] Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Auch! Got me there Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Rigging Innovations claim their Voodoo is very freefly friendly (and I must admit it looks awesome). Never jumped one myself though, so I couldn't possibly comment on it. Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

If you buy me the plane ticket, I'll be there

When was the last time you Aussies qualified for the soccer World Cup finals? Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

This is the way I've been taught spotting: look out the door for the DZ and have the green light or an experienced jumper tell you whether it's "safe" to go. Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

There's some things I'd rather "do" than arms First, I don't wish to comment on whether you should speak English or French when you're in Quebeq. And second, I know I shouldn't have said crap. I sometimes react a bit too impulsive, blurting out the first thing that comes into my mind, without thinking whether it might offend somebody. Especially when I've been drinking Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

If I'm not mistaken, the lower canopy has the right of way. So, if this camera hotshot was above you, it would have been his responsibility not to fly into you. On the other hand, everybody is supposed to "look before you leap" or in this case look before you turn. You're not supposed to "cut off" another canopy. Obviously, I can't tell if you did that, for I wasn't there. Anyway, an experienced skydiver is supposed to be able to deal with less experienced pilots (not knowing anything about how much experience the two of you have). Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Before I get flamed by Vector lovers, let me point out that a) This is not intended as Vector bashing. I just happened to have jumped one that didn't work for me. Shit happens. b) I'm not even sure if it was indeed a Vector Seems like I'm sort of sobered up now

It doesn't seem to work with Linux! Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Check out Jessica's 'I'm feeling agressive' thread. And PhreeZone can tell you about my desktop Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

I particularly like that turning exit that Swoop and Bobby made in Drop Zone. That was right after Pete (Snipes) dived out to save the chick, who was hanging at the step of another plane. I tried to replicate that exit once, but it didn't work Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven

Sheesh, how could you ever forget her??? Her name's Yancy Butler and I think she's hot Alphons http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven