jcbfly

I met Jim Handbury a few times when I was a hang glider pilot living in Elsinore in the 70's. He was a great pilot and one of the inventors of the first chest mounted, hand deployed reserve systems used for HG. The basic elements of his original HG reserve system are still in use on all the hand deployed reserves that today's HG and paraglider pilots use. Nick is right about there being a lot of intermingling of ideas and culture between HG pilots and skydivers back in those days. As the 2 sports evolved, I guess they grew apart. In the early 90's I switched from HG to paragliders, and then this summer I started skydiving. I've only been skyjumping for a few months, but I feel that there's a lot of cross over as far as technique and technology between the two sports. The 2 sports have fundamental differences, but I think that they compliment each other really well. I think paragliders and skydivers could both benefit in a lot of ways if we "intertwined" like we used to back in the day.

Hi Raj! We met at SDC when you were taking your first few jumps, big congrats on your progress with sky jumping! I demoed a Safire 2 169 for 7 jumps right after graduating AFP and I liked everything about it, but I also really liked the Sabre 2 170 I used for my last few AFP jumps. I also demoed a Spectre 170 for 8 jumps once I got home to Skydive New Mexico and that's the canopy I wound up buying. For me, the Spectre just felt right in the air. I think I could be very happy flying any of those 3 because they all opened, flew and landed great, but the Spectre just "spoke to me". The fact that the Spectre has a reputation for being forgiving of poor packing also influenced my decision since I really struggled with packing at first. Another contributing factor to my decision was that I really liked the simplicity and reliability of the Spectre's 7 cell design. That new Zero P Spectre turned out to be an absolute bitch to pack though! For the first few weekends it would take me many tries to bag it every time, and my pack jobs looked like total shyte. However, true to it's reputation, it never spanked me despite my dismal packing skills. I practiced packing it in my living room over and over until I tamed the beast and now I can get it in the bag first time, every time. So, my advice is just to pick the canopy that feels best, and if you wind up with a slippery new one, then just practice packing until you get it down! Looking forward to jumping with you next time I get up to SDC! Say Hi to Dave C for me! JC Brown

Yes, I did RTFM, but I couldn't find the answer to my question. I have an L&B Solo audible altimeter and I always turn it on at the DZ before I start jumping, leave it on the whole time I'm at the DZ, and then turn it off when I'm done. Question is: is this necessary, or does the unit "hibernate" on it's own after a set time period? I've been told by a much more experienced jumper that it's OK to just leave it on all the time and "wake it up" before jumping by holding down any key till it beeps. Is that true, or would that just burn the batteries down?

Watch this and get even more stoked about paragliding... http://youtube.com/watch?v=1njB-ev7whg

http://www.profly.org/english_new/gurtzeuge/groovy_cutaway_body.htm Here's a PG harness with 3 ring releases on the MLWs, a back mounted BASE type parachute that's deployed by the departing PG canopy (a la Skyhook I guess), and one (or two) hand deployed round reserves under the seat.

I listened to the Skydive Radio show and learned a bunch. I'll try seeing an ENT doc too. Thanks for the good advice, dropzone.com is a great resource for a beginner like me.

I just started skydiving and I'm loving it. I've made around 40 jumps in the last month. I've got a problem though. For some reason my right ear won't "pop" completely. The left one sometimes takes hours to clear after a day at the DZ, but the right one has been at least partially "plugged" since July 30th! I tried the old "hold your nose and blow " trick, but that only partially clears the blockage. I went to the doc and she said try decongestants, which I did without any relief. She also suggested I try not jumping till it clears. It doesn't hurt or seem to effect my balance, so I've decided to ignore the "stop jumping" advice for now. The only real annoyance is that I'm slightly hard of hearing in my right ear. Does anyone have advice on this subject? Thanks!

You can get Han Wags in gray and black too.

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