DanG

I would recommend learning center point turns. Yes, you take grips with your arms, but unless you are doing piece moves, you should not be turning and taking grips at the same time. You should stop a turn before grips are taken. With this in mind, using both legs and arms to turn is preferable. Arms only turning limits you greatly. I would seek out some local 4-way guys or gals and get them to work with you on some simple fallrate and center point turn drills. - Dan G

Where do you see such a sticker in this picture? - Dan G

I think the SL is probably placed where it is so the student is not getting out with line around the front of their body, but I am not a SL instructor. - Dan G

Sorry about the gender confusion, I didn't read your complete profile before posting. Now that I did look at your complete profile, I noticed you are listing your reserve as a PD150. I hate to say it, but I don't believe such an animal exists. You have either a 143 or a 160. You should look at the packing data card to be sure. Someone is guaranteed to post shortly after this something about how PD measures their canopies, and the numbers are misleading, blah, blah, blah. You still ought to know what is on your back, whatever the actual size. - Dan G

Yeah, great advice. The experinced jumpers here are trying to let this guy in on some of our experience without making him learn it the hard way. You're right. It won't be my butt under that reserve. If it were my butt, I'd be fine with a 140 or a 150 reserve. Since it is nael's butt, I suggested he get someting bigger. He doesn't have to listen, and neither do you. That won't stop people from trying to help. - Dan G

The difference between a 140 and a 150 will be very, very small. If a 220 felt fast to you, I suggest you find something significantly larger than a 150. - Dan G

I agree, for 8-way competitions, big ways, or other dives where the experience level of the participants can be assumed to be quite high, break-off's tend to be on the low side. When every second counts, I can understand the desire to extend working time. I was responding more to the lower time jumpers (most with 100-200 jumps) who only give 1000 feet for break off on normal jumps. I don't think this is a good practice. My 4-way team plans for 1500 feet for break-off, and we average over 1500 jumps each. Could we get away with only 1000 feet for break-off? Sure, but the safer practice is to allow more time. - Dan G

I'm suprised to see so many people saying they break off at a certain altitude, and pull 1000 feet lower. At belly speeds that is only five seconds to turn, track, clear airspace, reach, and pull. If the posters here can do all that in five seconds with only about 100 jumps, then I am impressed. I suggest some of you move your break off altitude up by 500 feet or more, to ensure you have good separation, and are actually pulling at the altitude you think you are. To the freeflyier who wants to pull at 3000, but sometimes waits longer to slow down more, why don't you try breaking off a little higher? Seems to solve all your problems. My 4-way team usually breaks at 4000 and we pull around 2500. When I'm doing video, I try to pull between 3000 and 3500. - Dan G

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that changing the orientation of the canopy relative the the earth causes wind gusts and turbulence to affect the canopy differently, since the wind gusts are now coming from a different angle (relative to the canopy), than they do in full flight. If that is what you mean, then I agree. If, however, you mean that pulling down on the front risers lowers the angle (relative to the jumper) of the chordline, thereby reducing the angle of attack, I'm not sure if that is the root cause of the problem. Yes, the angle of the chord changes relative to the jumper, but so does the freestream direction. I suspect that they will generally not change an equal amount, but I'm not sure if the change in chord (relative to the jumper) necessarily makes the steady state angle of attack lower. Sorry for any unnecessary technicality. - Dan G

I don't see it as a 'crock of shit'. Perhaps his assessment is wrong, but to call in a 'crock of shit' seems a bit extreme. I, for one, agree with his 'crock of shit' analysis that someone with 141 jumps should not be doing 180 degree front riser approaches, but that is my opinion. In any case, to get back on the subject, I think hard diving canopies are more subject to turbulence because most wind gusts near the ground will be horizontal, therefore striking the top or bottom of the canopy instead of the front, rear or side, as in normal flight. - Dan G

Very well put. I feel the same way, just couldn't express it as well. I tend to tell people that they should get competent on their bellies before going to FF. At the very least they need to be able to get stable on their belly immediately in the case of any emergency situation that requires a quick pull (including a low exit). I also believe that air awareness is better gained on the belly where there is a larger margin of error (time and speed). If someone is dying to get straight into FF, then it can probably be done safely as dave described, but the mere fact that they lack the patience to spend 100 jumps on their belly indicates that they probably lack the patience to follow dave's program. - Dan G

Both of my rigs are about 90% white and 5% yellow. Even the leg straps are white. Yes, they will get dirty. Yes, it will piss you off. But if you Scotchguard them, they will clean up pretty well. Cowardly people will make fun of you for having white on your rig, but you can say to them, "Bah!" Oh, and I didn't get a white rig until I had over 700 jumps, so I wasn't falling down as often. - Dan G

I've used tube stoes on both my rigs for 100's of jumps. The only time I ever had a problem was when an inexperinced packer double wrapped my non-locking tube stoes. Had the bag hang up and thought a bag lock was imminent, but the tube stoe broke and the canopy opened. Happened twice in a row until I asked the packer WTF. Otherwise, I swear by tube stoes because I usually pack for myself and changing a rubber band every other jump slows me down. - Dan G

You have got to be kidding. - Dan G

Perhaps, but if you are hopelessly low, than you shouldn't have been on the dive in the first place. If an organizer has to plan for people being hopelessly low or far away, then he/she is not doing a good job of matching people with the appropriate dive. In the situation that started this thread, it has already been pointed out that perhaps the dive was over the heads of some of the participants. If you find yourself 1000 feet below a dive, then yes, I agree that turning 90 degrees to jump run and tracking for the rest of the jump is appropriate, but I don't want people to think that going 20 feet low on a dive is a license to go have an impromtu solo. - Dan G

I disagree. If you are not going to get in, you need to keep trying and stay close until normal breakoff altitude. That way, everyone knows where you are, you know where everyone else is, and you don't find yourself right over top of a mystery diver at pull time. Leaving a dive early makes you an unknown quantity. Staying as close as possible keep you part of the dive. - Dan G

That is what I did going to Nationals last year. I found out that they wouldn't insure it over $5000, and that with both rigs in one case, it was over the weight limit, so I had to pay $60 extra. On the way back I checked one rig (insured to $5000) and carried the other. I think it helped that the ticket agent was a former 82d Airborne troop, and ushered my checked rig through baggage check for me. I was delayed maybe 5 minutes at security, I had the TSA letter, my license, etc. - Dan G

You need to learn the two most important words to any packer: "body position". Seriously, packing well is not as hard as it would seem. Packing fast is another matter, but soon you will have your packing dance down, and your speed will increase tremendously. - Dan G

Absolutely. The SDU program is great, and even just doing it as a client will help you prepare to be a better coach. You can even let your SDU coach know that you are interested in being a coach someday and have him/her go into more depth about how they conduct coaching jumps, debriefs, etc. It will be money well spend either way. - Dan G

I agree with Dave. I took both the Skydive U Coach Certification Course, and the USPA Coach Course. The SDU course was light years beyond the USPA course. You learn more about training, air evaluation, and debriefing. Also, assuming the SDU course is the same as it was a few years ago, you get some great training on video debriefing. Oh, and with 150 jumps, don't expect to pass the SDU course (unless you are really a prodigy). I had to go back and re-do the eval jumps the next year when I had a couple hundred more jumps. You may find yourself having to take both courses to get your USPA rating, but you will be a much, much better coach for it. - Dan G

I definitely agree that practicing tracking for tracking's sake is a good idea. I only want to add that 7 seconds might be a bit long for newer skydivers. At normal freefall speeds, there is about 7 seconds between 4500 and 3000 feet. If you start counting when you begin your turn, 7 seconds is about right for when you need to pull. Unfortunately, what can happen is that a newer jumper will take three seconds to turn 180 and pick a heading, track for 7 seconds, and then give a big 3 second wave and reach. Now they are closer to 2000 than 3000. If you want to get a feel for how much altitude you burn for your entire breakoff sequence, practice it up high, starting with the turn, and ending with a true practice touch of your main handle. I think a lot of people will be suprised how much altitude they lose during their turn and wave off. - Dan G

Well, from your posts, Lance, it seems that Parachutes are Fun is probably the uncoolest DZ around. Instead of bashing someone else's DZ, try promoting your own in a positive light. Orange is a great DZ, but so are a lot of others in the area. I am extremely biased towards Orange, but I won't bash any other DZ to prove it. To the original poster, come on down to Orange, we have a lot to offer. Great atmosphere, great people, great fliers in every discipline, and a legendary party scene. Hope to see you soon. - Dan G

Putting on a T-shirt or sweatshirt over your jumpsuit is a great trick and I've used it myself, but I don't think it is good advice for a student. T-shirts have the bad habit of blowing up over handles, which an experienced jumper may be able to handle, but would endanger a student. freeasabird, without seeing you fly, it is hard to guess why you are falling so fast, but you are probably just arching too hard. You need to jump with a coach or instructor who can critique your body position, preferably someone with a lot of RW experience. - Dan G

Actually, I disagree. Many times new jumpers will put way too much energy into an exit, causing them to tumble. If I'm working with someone who is having exit trouble, I give them the lowest energy exit I can (rear float works well for a side door, all the way out on the strut for a Cessna). I have them just drop off the plane and present. Once they get comfortable with flying their body with the non-vertical relative wind, more difficult, higher energy exits will become easier. My advice: climb out and turn to face the relative wind. Put as much of your body into an arched position as possible before leaving the plane (get a coach or instructor to help you in the mock up). Drop off the plane and arch. Keep your head up and try to relax into the wind. Above all else, smile and have a good time. Skydiving is spposed to be fun, enjoy yourself. - Dan G

Fixed shield helmets do not always fog up. There are a lot of ways to prevent this problem. I know there have been other threads about this but a quick rundown is: - breath in through the nose, out through the mouth. - put the helmet on/close the shield just before the door is opened. - keep the shield dry with a cloth in the plane. - use anti-fog solution. I didn't have any fogging problems with my Factory Diver (a great helmet) once I started doing the above. - Dan G