dimbohall

Hi, Thanks for the reply - in the post referred to, I couldn't find any reference to why WD40 is bad. I am aware that wd40 would attract dirt, but my main consideration at this point is whether it would be harmful to other components in the system apart from that. Cheers, D.

Hi, What are the acceptable lubricants for the cutaway cable. I've heard silicon, but it's hard to get hold of. Is WD-40 okay, or could attack the look or some critical part? Thanks, Dimbo.

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That about covers it. Thanks...........

Hi all, Thanks for the replies. As you can see below, Kai from Airtec offered to find out what was going on. I gave hime the serial number, and he emailed me back immediately with the information. Actually the turnaround was only 2 weeks. It was sent to target airsports in the UK instead of Spain. GOOD WORK AIRTEC. WELL DONE ON YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE. THANKS KAI FOR SORTING THIS OUT FOR ME. What pisses me off is that I have been hassling skydive spain for 6 weeks asking when it will be ready. WHY DID THEY NOT GET IN CONTACT WITH AIRTEC TO FIND OUT WHAT THE DELAY WAS ABOUT. THEY COULD HAVE CLEARED THE MATTER UP INSTANTLY WEEKS AGO!!!!!

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Hi all, This is very frustrating because I live in Spain and it is a great time of jear to jump here. I haven't got hundreds of jumps and like to keep current (without renting gear, and therefore doing half the no. of jumps). 2 months (and still waiting) seems pretty excesive to me!!!!!! Anyone disagree?

Hi, I am a newbie also. I bought a 1998 sabre 1 150, and the openings were more 'brisk' (but not brutal) than any of the rigs I had hired. I have only 50 jumps on the canopy - so maybe you can discount my analysis as male cow excrement... I had pockets sewn on the slider, and the openings seem more constant. The opening takes +-200m (600ft). The problem seems to be that the slider comes down the lines in one quick movement. ie. it is up, slows me for a few moments, and then is instantly down. If I roll the nose, the part with the slider up lasts longer, and the opening takes longer. It is not any softer however. Perhaps the slider up part of the opening already slows me as much as it can with its open surface area, and reaches an equilibrium. Perhaps rolling the nose only causes this phase to last longer (ie. I stay at the same descent rate for a few extra seconds without slowing further) before the slider descends suddenly in one movement, thus increasing the opening time, but not opening shock. Anyway. The openings are now OK (so far). I don't bother rolling the nose nowadays. I do take good care of the slider during packing. I do not ever watch the opening as I have done with other canopies, and always do some good neck stretching exercises at the start of the day. Feel free to regard all of the above as not worth the server space it's stored on....

Hi, Where is the best and cheapest place to buy elastic bands for packing? I live in Spain. Thanks, Demian

Hi, I have a friend who is interested in skydiving, but has not got fully formed hands. He has asked me to try and find out if it is possible. First off, this sounds a lot worse than it is. He is able to drive a normal car, is a very good paraglider pilot and has the ability to grip things pretty well. He has a kind of opposing digit on both hands, and although they are small, he uses them to great effect. The problem, as I see it (and I don't know shit), is that the cutaway sponge would have to be a hoop (which he could grab pretty securely I would say). Grabbing a hackey or other type of handle would probably be a problem. Could he open with a rip-chord? Solutions please..........

Hi all, YES, I know it is not a base jump from a paraglider, but please bear with me......I thought that you guys would probably know the most about this subject. I am an experienced paraglider and an inexperienced skydiver (40 jumps). I want to jump from my tandem paraglider and am not quite sure of an appropriate height AGL. I will be using a normal rig (Vector 3, Sabre 150) with reserve etc.. I plan to jump at 1800m AGL and open at 1000m AGL. My question is this : after releasing, how long will it take to feel 'normal' air speed? By this I mean that if I let myself fall off backwards, how long before I would feel enough relative wind to flip myself over easily? And YES, I have recruited an experienced BASE jumper to help me with this - I just want as many opinions as possible. Thanks

Hi all, I have a Galaxy 3 altimeter in feet, but would be much happier working in metres - how hard would it be to a) get hold of a metric faceplate b) fit it (I live in Spain) Thanks

Is it bad for rig to be stored for 2 years without use? What could happen to it? Thanks

Hi all, I know this should ultimately be done by a master rigger, but can you give me some hot tips for things to look out for: The rig is a 1998 vector 3, tempo 150 reserve and sabre I 150 main

Hi, The rig has 250 jumps on grass and has been in storage for 2 years. Thanks

Hi, Just wanted to see what the general opinion would be about buying a 1998 vector III with sabre (1) 150 and Tempo 150 reserve. + AAD 1998 My main interest is freefly - this setup should be good right? Are the latest Vector III's very different from the 1998 models? How much would you pay for this rig? Thanks all.

I think it's a case of the ' do what you can'! procedure!!! It's really not common. A good way for a beginner to do it is to stall and then release the breaks when the glider is way behind you!!!! like this http://krisz.3gteam.hu/video/BadStall.mpeg

Hi all, I know the guy in the video. He lives and flies in the same area as me. It's Raul Rodriguez - pretty much undisputed acro master of the world..... Just a few things you might find interesting: The trick has been a progression of various tricks : SAT -> Tumbling -> Infinity (with a trick called 'rythmic SAT' also involved in the progression) The SAT creates a situation where the pilot is travelling backwards and the wing forwards (ie. not negative). It involves a lot of weight shift, and break input just at the right time when entering a spiral. Tumbling happens when you enter a SAT during a masive wing-over (looping) - but in the past they have always lost energy and have been restricted to about 3 loops. Infinity happens when you get the conditions just right from a high energy tumbling and manage to let the glider fly (no brake input)....infinitely!! Not all paragliders will do this, he went through several prototypes to find one which did it properly. His brother fell in the glider trying it, but managed to get out and throw the reserve. He's being flying since he was about 12, and must be coming up for 30 now. He's made a number of commercial videos and has a team called SAT - I'm sure you'll find them on the internet. Here's a link to a video (27Mb) with some more examples. http://www.acromania.nl/video/AcroAndes2005.wmv You'll find more video on the same site. Chao.

Hi everyone again, and thanks for all the replies. It is interesting to note the huge variety of replies. Perhaps I should clear up a few things: 1) I have no interest in swooping, and am unlikely to in the future. I get all the canopy kicks I need in paragliding and don't wan't to dampen my reactions as paragliders have to be flown more delicately (risk of flat spins, locked in spirals, collapses, crevattes, stalls, falling into canopy) 2) For the above reason, I can't forsee ever wanting to downsize further. My pack will be a reasonable size and that's good enough for me. 3) I am used to flying comps, and therefore am used to having 100+ canopies around me within the same thermal. Awareness is not likely to be a problem. 4) Given the above, being forced into a low turn is not likely. Collisions are not likely. Flaring high then letting up to nose dive into the ground is not likely. Landing where I don't want to is very unlikely. Turbulence affecting me is very unlikely. 5) Those of you that have flown paragliders will realise that they fly very similarly, and that the experience is very relevent. Lets do a sum: canopy sink rate=4m/s (for the purposes of sum) pull height=1200m canopy open 1100m +-4 mins of descent (assuming pretty much no turns) my hours under paragliders = 1500 hours time to accumulate this flight time in skydives=22500 jumps (assuming no tight turns, spireals etc.) Is this not relevent? I'm not posting here to prove to anyone how good I am at anything. My reasoning is that it would seem a waste of time and money to buy a 170 and then downsize to a 150 when I am 100% confident that I would have way less problems downsizing than somebody with 150 jumps=10 hours (assuming they make no turns in the descent!) 6) I understand all of your concerns, and made this post to guage the general reaction among skydivers. If there is anyone out there that has done a lot of both skydiving and paragliding - LET ME KNOW WHAT YOUR OPINION IS. 7) Nobody here has suggested a scenario that seems at all likely to me-or at least more likely than for your average joe downsizing after 150 jumps. Please outline the biggest dangers of this scenario as you see them. THANKS.

Hi guys, Just a quick question. I have 25 jumps and want to buy some gear. I am looking at buying a 150. Is this unreasonable given that I have flown a minimum of 150 hours every year for the last 10 years with a paraglider. I know there are differences, but the dynamics are very similar. My last jump was with a 190 - it flew like a rubbish paraglider..... What do you say??