DSE

That is an interesting debate. We've already heard how the nylon pouch can create some line wear. On the other hand, for many people, elastic bands are used on many normal d-bags. And elastic bands are so grippy that they may cause some wear. Consider that service bulletin that came out years ago warning about harness damage when people put elastics on their hip rings to secure t-shirts when jumping without a suit. Lines don't purely shear against elastics however, as elastics flip and invert as lines pull out of them. Still, it is unknown to me to what degree elastics might actually cause line wear too. So one is comparing wear vs. wear, not wear vs. no wear at all. From purely an observational standpoint, I can offer this; I have two identical canopies. One is in a container with a standard bag/four side and two locking stows. One is in a container using Jerry Baumchen's NoStow Bag. They are approximately of the same use, if anything, the container with the NoStow has more jumps. Yet, the lines are more clean in color, than the standard D-bag. How that relates to stress/damage, I couldn't say.

Agreed. It all comes down to the CPU (and GPU if the unit offers compatible hardware) What we don't know is the relative of "slow." Is slow 2 mins to render 4 mins, or is slow 20 mins to render 4 mins? And, the output format. Uncompressed will take forever on a laptop (slow drives, CPU speed) while MP4 is nicely optimized for even older CPU's.

I have many jumps on various stowless systems. The UPT is my favorite, it's a version of the Berger bag. Jerry Baumchen's system is also really great, there are a couple of very minor improvements i'd like to see. I've jumped the magnetic bags, and have had mixed feelings on them. One of the very early brands, I had one very hard deployment that could have been the result of my packing technique, but that one deployment has left me a little gunshy. I've just ordered a magnetic bag, newer design, and hoping I like it as much as I like the UPT bags. Stowless are great if packed properly. Deployments become smoother, linetwists are reduced, and some argue that they cause less wear on lines. They do slightly reduce bulk in the container/packtray.

Vegas Movie Studio uses CUDA or GPU as well, assuming there is a compatible device on the system. If it's *just* AVC/AVCHD, the dual Athlon should be acceptable for personal use, but not at all considerable in say, a tandem turnaround. WMO, can you provide source info, project info, and final output information? What plugins (if any) are you applying? Any compositing happening? Render time compared to project length would be useful too.

Without knowing source, project settings, output format/bitrate, there is no possible answer. One culprit sometimes comes down to a lot of FX, too

Green is an outstanding color. Red is an outstanding color. Unfortunately, they don't always go well together. Skydivers would do better to find the things that go well together, even if it's not always the most 'cool' thing. It's a different version of the "tiny reserve in the container because it looks cool" conversation.

Your profile says 152 jumps in 1 year. Last year, I was on a tracking dive where a young woman with 200 jumps (fairly skilled flyer) came out of her barrel roll off-heading and skimmed my leg. My response was to track like hell and take it lower than usual. And not do any other jumps with that organizer until they stopped the barrel roll request at the end of tracking jumps. There is a significant difference between a load of freeflyers that are experienced (know how to backtrack and stay on heading while doing so) and a group of fun jumpers doing a track at sunset. Tracking jumps are more tricky than most think.

Mine is attached via thumbscrew. I don't believe it detracts from their experience, but it annoys the hell out of people in the plane, and some TI's don't care for it. I use it judiciously.

MicroPro replaced the Director. I only use it in less than bright sunlight. They are exceptionally efficient for battery life, so you could also use one for bright sun/hard shadows.

LED source works fine, from Lite Panels. I've got a Director on the front of my Flattop Pro.

http://www.bau-xi.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=261691#top Some very unique perspectives of various airports.

Stock as in wing size, or stock as in body size? Wingsizes are fairly standard (although there are different sizes of wing for minimal/maximum range), and Tonysuits (amongst others) usually have a few jackets in stock, whether they'll fit or not may be a different story.

I tried this with a couple of the helmets, and the amount of air they'd hold was minimal, and was a minor bit of a hindrance to the angle the floating reserve wants your body to hold. However, I'm a fan of getting the helmet off as soon as you're in the water (not before, as there may be rocks/reef). On some of the jumps in the video, you'll see where I left the helmet on for the swimming portions. It was a minor PITA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zv5DKreic )part 1( Yeah, kinda does A few comments (and I know nothing of the situation in Wisconsin). ~your reserve will float. I'll try to find the video (on Youtube) we did, showing a PD218 reserve floating with a 180lb man on it, for more than 40 minutes in fresh water. It'll float longer in saltwater. ~Contrary to USPA instruction (created in the time of rounds), getting on your back vs your belly is generally a better option. Reserve will put you face down. ~Getting out of legstraps is easier when on the back with the reserve floating beneath you. ~Helmets generally do one of two things (based on the four helmets used in testing). -They float and force the head upward, thwarting the ability to float on the back -The fill up with water and frustrate the wearer (they don't weigh the head down). -The ones that filled up (bonehead Mindwarp, Tonfly c3) did eventually soak up water and instead of floating, they eventually sank. The 3DO that Cookie uses may have some different properties, and we didn't test with this helmet, so I'm interested in your real-world results.

having more than 50 water entries in various helmets, I'll venture to say "it doesn't matter" and "helmets will typically add to the problem, not reduce it." Given that the padding is at the back of the helmet, it would push the face/chin towards the water, if it's going to have any affect at all. A ProTec helmet has already been shown to be a potential liability in water. It floats, but it also pushes the face down. I can't imagine the G2/3 would be as floaty, and certainly not better. However, very much looking forward to your result.

Not in my organized jumps, no. The fuckwad that destroyed my left ear had 30 jumps on a 25 way, and that was just one of multiple collisions. He had never learned to stop. If you can't properly manage yourself on all three axis you're not ready anyway. It's more about demonstrated/known skills. And if you haven't demonstrated skills, then you'll be staying in small 4-5 ways until you do. An incident recently occurred where a WS convinced an org that they were able to manage a slot, that they couldn't manage, and minor injuries occurred. A few years ago, an org put someone into a large flock that had no business being on any kind of flock, and that person hurt two others on the jump. Look at the recent fatality in Oz; organizer completely fucked up by putting several newbies in a large flock. Newbie in the back of the plane killed himself and injured his friend. 50 solo jumps typically won't equip you for with you'd learn in 5-6 properly coached jumps. There are people with 25 jumps that I'd be comfortable putting in a 10-12 way, and there are people with 100 jumps that I wouldn't want on an 8 way. In other words, there is no rule/standard line; skills don't translate from jump numbers alone. A good organizer will know how to figure your skills and placement on flocks. It may be a 'can of worms' conversation, but one that organizers and participants need to have (and several good orgs do have in the background).

it's the same imager, different body/lens. It's an OEM JVC hired. I'd be very surprised if this next one using the same processor, is much better. That JVC put their name on this box really surprised me in the first place. I really like their Pro line of cameras; they have good designs. Stepping out of their MPEG2 realm didn't really work for them.

It's also a piece of junk, IMO. Check out the review of the cameras we did here in December. It didn't make the final five of six.

Very tightly flown, nice to see more records established smaller than the minimum percentage. Congrats to all involved!

if you're worried about the double stick letting go, don't. In any other event, either the pivot point/plastic will break, so a metal mount makes no difference, or the bottom of the camera case will break, and again...metal mount makes no difference. The double stick is plenty strong. The snaptray release...not so much, but again..it's not going to release unless you need it to.

the G3 isn't a great helmet for this 'want.' The Replay is the lowest profile and an identical ease of use. Contour can be mounted on top/on its side.

I found (when traveling in Aus and New Zealand, that having the Vigil papers with me, having a CYPRES card with me, my USPA membership, and the TSA forms, all provided enough for the security staff to work with. However, I did run into a snag exiting Sydney, and begged to speak with the pilot in command. He authorized the gear to come on board. However, mentioning the charge can create a problem. It's an electronically triggered cutting device.

Big props to Zach and the CSC dropzone team for a very successful and well-produced competition. Norman Kent got some great artistic shots of the comp that can be seen at www.normankent.com Brian Snarr flew video for Team Bondage and Zach flew video for Team Raptor. Thanks to all the competitors both new and experienced that showed up for this event.

Not picking here but a bit confused. Are you saying you can jump a camera with less than 200 jumps IF you have a helmet cutaway for your full face but if you have an open face you don't need a cutaway and after 200 jumps your DZ doesn't require you to have a cutaway for either?? Cutaways are required on all helmets prior to 200 jumps. This DZ has a policy that *if you have 100 jumps AND you have had training/briefing time with the S&TA or chief instructors (not just a 'yeah, looks OK, and do you know XXX?) AND your helmet has a cutaway system Then you'll likely be allowed to jump a single, small format camera.

Here is another way to look at it. PD has 100.00 in the fund. It costs 20.00 to send the FACTORY team to each public event. That means the FACTORY team can attend 5 public events. Flight 1 (a team that is associated with PD) can raise another 100.00 on their own. That means they can now do 10 public events. It also means they have the $$ to develop new techniques, create training videos, act as quality ambassadors for the sport, spend time with newbies, and generally try to be the tremendously underpaid athletes that they are, all to the greater benefit of the sport, the industry, and the participants in the sport at every level. You're associating profit dollars exclusively with outreach, and you're apparently of the inaccurate opinion that the Flight One team only does PD-related work. As I said, I've been there where there were no cameras (except mine) and the team has stepped well outside of their skydiving personas to do non-skydiving related community works at their own personal/team expense. Associating this raffle with the mob, suggesting that it benefits PD, suggesting that *anyone* is receiving funding for something that doesn't benefit the skydiving community is simply absurd and in a way, offensive given that most of us who have been around the sport long enough, understand what these guys and their counterparts put back into our sport. Perhaps your strongly expressed disdain for gambling has colored your ability to see this for what it clearly is about. Donate money to the USPA team fund, it's a bigger crapshoot as to whether that money benefits our sport or not, by comparison to the Flight One team offering a raffle as a fund-raiser.