dragon2

Well getting a new merit might be difficult, you'd need an electra: http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes12/pics/img_1401.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2947.jpg White chute: http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2954.jpg Chutes with logo's (most are white, too!): http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2233.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2013.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes13/pics/IMG_2205.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes10/pics/img_0327.jpg http://www.xs4all.nl/~dragon2/chutes11/pics/dsc_2021.jpg http://www.xs4all.nl/~dragon2/chutes11/pics/dsc_3006.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes12/pics/dsc_0009.jpg http://members.lycos.nl/dragon2/chutes16/pics/IMG_2821.jpg ciel bleu, Saskia

Clicky, Roel..... www.para-teuge.nl ciel bleu, Saskia

You need to take the train to either Apeldoorn or Deventer, then continue by bus to Teuge (or phone a willing 'taxi' heh heh). See http://www.ns.nl/cgi-ns/nsbaliecgi for info on trains. It's a quarter to twelve, I'm going to bed now................. ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah well I'm working on it; Have to finish up some photoshop work tonight for which I'm getting paid in CRW jumps, so stop posting here/mailing me so I can finish before bedtime And there's also a shortage of CRW bitches here in Holland (of which I'm not one, I'm only a puppy ) ciel bleu, Saskia

Heh heh Roel, o'course, he's dutch..... But, are there gonna be coaches for beginners like me? I can probably jump a 126 by then!!! But, I really don't want to spend a lot of time chasing around others, this year.... Unless of course I can do that while wearing a camera helmet ciel bleu, Saskia

Your Spectre is a (7 cell) semi-elliptical. What I'd do if I were you is demo a couple of semi-elliptical 150sqft 9 cells like Safire2, Sabre2, Silhouette, canopies like that. See if you like them. ciel bleu, Saskia

It´s not for freefall, I want to be able to do CRW more easily with heavy guys, even if I have the same size of canopy as they have (like if I borrow one of their canopies). I´m a rookie at crw and don´t want to make things more complicated than they already are. Well it was suggested that I jump with lead to increase my wingload for CREW. I´d need about 13 kg (22% of my bodyweight, 57% with gear). I´ve only got about 8 kg lead, and just carrying that around makes me shudder to think about all that lead around my ribcage in conjunction with jumping a lightning fast opening Lightning. No f* way, pardon my french. And if you ever end up at terminal with that much weight, you´d get an *interesting* reserve opening, I´m sure . Disclaimer: I have never jumped with weight before in my life, trying hard to avoid it too. I´ll guess I´ll just have to wait until I´m allowed and able to jump a small canopy..... ciel bleu, Saskia

I used to have the same problem. It took too long to keep grabbing for it (all the while flying around). I installed softlinks to allow the slider to come down a bit more, usually it did, just enough for me to grab it. But not always. Letting it stay up wasn´t good, it came down on me 3 times < 1000 ft, once on final. Grabbed my right steering line, made for an interesting landing (I actually knocked a little wooden fence pole down ). I ended up getting shorter risers, problem solved. Now I have a second main on regular length risers, I installed slider bumpers on that one so it can´t come down (didn´t want to invest in another set of short risers and softlinks). I can maybe reach it to collapse it, maybe not. A bit annoying but I can live with it (don´t jump that main much). ciel bleu, Saskia

Well that's one of mine!!!!!! heh heh that's the one I was looking for, thanx for hunting it down....... This student landed with no probs whatsoever. ciel bleu, Saskia

I´ve seen this a couple of times, have video of it as well. But I´ve only seen it with spring-loaded pilotchutes (like most of our students use). Usually the pilot comes over the center cell, no prob. If it is off-center or grabs a line or two like on my vid, dunno. My vid is of a big skymaster with the pilot around one line (I think), the student opted not to cutaway and landed kinda hard (but was okay). ciel bleu, Saskia

If that is true (?) then just about every jump-in would be illegal, not to mention demo jumps? ciel bleu, Saskia

I've been reading here and there, that the safire isn't a 'real' elliptical, it makes a good first canopy etc. Well it's my third. I started on a spectre 150 (wl 1.0), then traded that one for a spectre 135 (wl ~1.1). Jumped it for all of like 25 jumps than ran into Joris from Icarus who let me demo a safire2 145 I really liked, so I bought a safire 135 that Icarus had laying around, for cheap. Fell in love with it after the first jump (no wind)

My name is Saskia Zegwaard and I'm a computer programmer at an insurance company in Rotterdam/Utrecht, The Netherlands (yeah sorta close to Amsterdam.... ). And no, I CANNOT refer you to actresses for your next porn movie . I MIGHT however be able te point you to some 'interesting' shops, tho ciel bleu, Saskia

I noticed that on one of our student rigs yesterday. We´ve only recently converted to throw-away for AFF only, SL progression still uses ripcords. Anyway I took a closer look at an AFF rig and it had a cutaway system sorta like on a birdman suit, for the BOC pouch. Neat. ciel bleu, Saskia

I´ve got a Sony Vaio FR105, running XP, with 40 GB HD, 256 MB DDR, AMD 2000+ (running on 1,67 GHz), with 3x USB2.0 and 1x firewire. Added another 256 MB DDR (necessary for photo/video editing) and a firewire/USB2.0 200 GB (!) 7200 RPM harddisk to it. All set. It isn´t the top model Vaio by far, but I´m really happy with my new setup. ciel bleu, Saskia

Not really.... I look back on all of my 299 jumps , thinking, I didn't know shit when I had 100 jumps. Therefore I predict I will think I didn't know shit when I had 300 jumps by the time I get like a 1000 jumps....... You live, you learn. ciel bleu, Saskia

I've never seen any CREW cameraman that far away, Henny suggested I get a .45 for the TRV. But I like the idea of staying further away: not having to fly in the burble would allow me to jump my own safire (or spectre but that one's bigger), instead of a much-more-stable lightning or tri. My safire opens much nicer! But I flew it into the burble last week, yikes!!! But I had about the same glide angle and forward speed as Team Teuge (with a ~1.8 WL on comp tri's). Henny told me to dock but I'd gotten a bit scared of the turbulence so I never did..... Also I was blown backwards too much by the wind so that was my excuse (me, scared? Nooo...!) ciel bleu, Saskia

Well the only incriminating footage I have so far is... of me.... !! Lucky it was shot with my cam, on my own tape so it's MINE!!!!! (And I've hidden that tape verry well!) Also I have a nice bit of footage (and pics) of Henny Wiggers, after he was thrown in a ditch (no water, just mud!) on account of his 10.000th jump, heh heh . Unfortunately he wouldn't allow me in the showers after, with my camera. Guess he doesn't trust me!!?? ciel bleu, Saskia

Guess who the first person was I ran to He just started jumping his Nikon D100, with awesome results. Me jealous....... ciel bleu, Saskia

What I want to do: Film CREW, and later on film freefly and freestyle. As soon as I get my B license, I´m allowed to jump a camera, but not in freefall yet (ie I can film CREW, but I need a C license and 200 freefall formation jumps for freefall camerawork, which will take me a while yet, and that´s okay). What I have so far: - modified Pro-tec with room for a top-mounted camera and a front-mounted photo camera (bracket can be removed), it has a chincup and release system. - Sony TRV25 camera. - Canon D30 digital photo camera. - Canon EOS 50E photo camera. - Voigtländer 19-35 mm lens. - Canon 28-80 mm lens (the cheap plastic - lightweight and biggish - one). Okay.... so... I really really like to take photo´s. Digital is ideal, but it´s a heavy camera, therefore I can´t jump both video and photo. The 50E is fairly heavy as well so I´d prefer the D30. But the digital has that magnification thing.... What I can do: - shoot vid only for a while (better for learning??) - shoot digital only (I´d love that...) - buy a new or 2nd hand lightweight Canon EOS (the money´d eat into jump money) Other things: - I need a cam-eye for vid. - I need either a bite/tongue/blow switch for photo (I don´t think they make blow-switches anymore, also I´d need a different plug for the D30), but I´m not sure which one is best and why. - I probably need a decent lens, like a fixed 24 mm, but the D30 has 1.6x magnification so would 24 mm be enough...... Decisions decisions decisions..... Some suggestions/help´d be appreciated ciel bleu, Saskia

So true. I demo´d a 2nd hand Canon D30 from a store near our DZ. Shot 200 pics with it in a couple of hours (okay, so, ). When I decided I wanted to buy it, I found out I had been using a Ultra Compact Flash 256. I tried my own reg´lar 128, no good. I can take pics, but not at the full 2.5 fps. So I traded my digital snapcam in for that card. Right now I´m handicapped since that CF card is broken It has warranty on it so I suppose I´ll get it back eventually..... (Been 2 weeks so far.) But I miss my card!!!!! ciel bleu, Saskia

1 freefly suit (used that one alot, before) 2 freefly pants (Matter Airwear, also wear these as regular pants sometimes) 1 freefly/freestyle top (Tony Suit, I use this one the most now, with either tights or FF pants) 2 all-purpose jumpsuits (PdF style suit and a ski suit, used for CREW and when I think I might get mud on my suit) 2 belly suits (Symbi + Parasport Italia, I'm selling the Symbi) 1 warm suit (Paratex I think, sooooo glad I bought this one. Usually wear this one underneath another suit but you can jump in it too) I also have Birdman Pantz on order. On my wishlist: a camera suit, for when I'm ready a birdman suit, ditto, if ever ciel bleu, Saskia

I use a suit like that for canopy formation, and when I think I might get muddy (wet grass + new small canopy etc)..... ciel bleu, Saskia

Hmm if you were first out, opening higher could be hazardous . I suppose 800 ft isn´t that much of a deal, but personally I´d only open higher if I were last out, all the while kicking myself for not checking the damn spot ciel bleu, Saskia

Hi, The subject of elliptical vs tapered etc has come up a lot before. Anyway if you liked the Sabre2 you´re probably going to like the Safire as well. They are somewhat comparable. However I think the Sabre2 is more agressive (or however you want to call it) than the Sabre1. So if the Safire´s over your head, so´s the Sabre2. What WL do you jump? As for it being over your head, in Empuria they teach students on Safire´s (albeit at a low WL of course). In Holland both the Sabre2 and the Safire are only allowed if you have > 100 jumps, while the original Sabre is allowed from jump # 0. I myself got a Safire (1) loaded at ~1,24:1, which makes it a fun canopy to fly. Read: pretty damn fast compared to my Spectre´s at 1:1 and 1,1:1. Also, pretty good flare and amazing glide ratio, compared to the 7 cells I was used to. (I have almost 300 jumps.) At my DZ there are 2 advanced pilots with Safire 2´s loaded higher than mine, I´m the only one with low jump numbers and a (reasonably) low WL. ciel bleu, Saskia