jacketsdb23

About a week and a half left of voting. You all are still doing an awesome job. Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it! Direct Link: http://www.sierrabeercamp.com/Vote#70 Video: Passion: Beer + Life. If you could give me another vote i'd appreciate it! Happy Friday! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Bump! 60 votes away from #5! 3 weeks left in voting, and you guys are doing an awesome job. Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it! Direct Link: http://www.sierrabeercamp.com/Vote#70 Video: Passion: Beer + Life. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

So head of marketing told me they had a bug that allowed multiple votes (same day) from the same IP address, they've fixed it...I'm still in 6th place though! Thanks for the continued support! Contest ends on September 30th and you are allowed 1 vote per day. I really appreciate the love! Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Thanks everyone! awesome turnout. I'm not sure how the voting went from a couple hundred to almost 100,000 for the top spot over the holiday weekend...seems odd! Thanks for the support! - marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Thanks you! There is a skydiving scene...and well placed blue sky magazines. So its beer and skydiving, in case you hate beer. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Happy yadirF everyone! Sierra Nevada is having another Beer Camp this fall (i guess winter, but its never really winter here in NorCal!). Some of you may have picked up the beer camp 12 packs that are being sold...good stuff. They are having a video contest to select the winners of this years camp where we get VIP access to the brewery and come up with recipes and brew with the big shots up there. Hoptimum is an example of a beer that is commercially available that came out of beer camp. For those of us into brewing, thats a pretty sweet deal. If you have some time my video titled Passion: Beer + Life is here: http://www.sierrabeercamp.com/vote#70 Thanks for your help! I have to be top 10 at the end of the month of September. Cheers! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I can't speak for Drew but i'd say its really more effort than its worth with the small ellipticals. In other words, if something unexpected happened and you had to get out at 2K, most of us probably would (without the turn as you suggest) - but we certainly wouldn't choose to knowing the ceiling was at 2K. There are others who would go up knowing the ceiling was low, having the right tools for the job. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

From my perspective as a competition canopy pilot, 2.2K is not any fun to deal with. I don't know many swoopers that I jump with that would routinely get out at 2.2K for training. Last summer during some bad weather I got out decending from the Cessna around 2.7K. I pitched, was open, and had my RDS put away by about 1.5K. Just enough time to start my turn...i was fortunate to be exactly over the pond where I needed to be. If 2.2K is fun for some people...have at it. Getting out at 2.2K with a high performance canopy is pushing it and I wouldn't recommend it. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Is it common practice in journalistic type professions to use place holders for unknown information...such as the three pilots names? Someone writing the bit maybe was having some fun with the names, until the actual names were known and they never got removed before the bit aired? The TV station could have called the NTSB with the actual names, but never removed the "private" placeholders used before the bit aired? Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

This is something that I really look out for. I can give you some "real life" examples of how things like this get sorted out, or don't. I think its really hard to get the manufacturers to play a prominent role in the used canopy market. The recent incident is a little different in that a major manufacturer appears to have known, or should have known, what he was jumping. In most cases I think the DZ as a whole comes into play (Staff and DZO). My experience has been one that sometimes talking to the jumpers as a staff member can help and have an impact, but there are definitely those that can't be reached. I've always felt the DZO has ultimately responsibility...not to know everything that is going on by him/her self - but to hire staff that he/she trusts and relies on to keep an eye out and bring up important matters. I have two examples (several seasons old now): Guy A is jumping a highly elliptical canopy (XF2) at 150 jumps (~1.4 WL). This was brought to my attention. I approached the jumper who i like and consider a friend. I was unsuccessful with the 1 on 1 approach and approached the DZO. The DZO offered a different canopy to the jumper and asked him not to jump the XF2. This was not met with mutual satisfaction, but the jumper A no longer jumped that canopy at this DZ. Guy B was started jumping a highly elliptical canopy (XF2) at 30 jumps!!!!(WL of less than 1.2). Again, this was brought to my attention by staff/up jumpers (by which point he had 90+ jumps on said canopy). A young, gifted, natural athlete, but who didn't know what he didn't know. I brought this to the DZO and said it was imperative this jumper not be allowed to jump the canopy. The answer was he has already put 60 jumps on it, I can't take it away. Several weeks later this jumper hit the ground, bounced through his risers, and somehow didn't get a scratch (sore as hell). He was a completely different canopy pilot after he hit the ground, but it could have been avoided. He is doing awesome and is a really good skydiver and a good friend. The DZO must rely on his/her staff to make informed decisions and stand with them. In other words, in these examples...it took everyone - upjumpers/locals to say something, Staff to discuss with the jumper(s) and the DZO to implement action. I think jumper A was handled correctly, while jumper B was not. At the end of the day, the DZO can run things the way he wants. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

If you find one let us know

Very fair point. I guess I haven't jumped many places that would fall into that category, but I understand it. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

As long as it was away from the main landing area, OK. I'd probably have a designated out area where there are no rules, and people who want to go play there can. If you land in the main area, follow the designated landing direction. The problem is...we've all seen really good skydivers get hurt landing into the wind too. 15 mph downwind isn't that crazy. In fact...we had 21 people just on Saturday land downwind (~12 - 14 mph) after ripping a big 270 or better. Nobody got hurt. Yes, everyone in that group trains for high performance landings...but the point is...you can practice it and get better. Nobody should be afraid to land downwind Nobody should intentionally ignore DZ pattern rules I would always choose a load of downwind landings over chaos in the landing area. But thats me...and I'm a bit irrational sometimes. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

If I owned a DZ...there would be a pre-determined direction before boarding..if a significant wind direction changed while during a load...folks are landing downwind if that happens to be how the wind changed. There would be a general announcement, and the pre-determined direction would change. Those that didn't like it, wouldn't need to jump at my DZ. And guess what? People would be able to land downwind, because they would be forced to, from day one. Its not even a landing priority for an AFF student. Why should it be for anyone else, including those with a gazillion jumps. If you can't land downwind, maybe the winds are too high for you to be jumping. An if you can't land downwind the 1 out of "X" amount of jumps the winds change while your on the plane, well...work on your downwind landings. Of course, I don't own a DZ...So i'll stick to whatever the plan is at any given DZ I jump...and realize that many times, its chaos! Its really not as hard as some people make it. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the 2013 California Regional Canopy Piloting League gets started this weekend at Skydive Sacramento in Lincoln, CA. Big shout out to Adrenaline Obsession who is really stepping up and supporting our league. Practice courses are up and the competition course will be up by Friday. Mandatory practice jump day of the event on Saturday, with our safety briefing starting at 7:30am. Weather is supposed to be 80's and little wind. The Sierra Nevada tent will be up for the event which will have water for spectators and competitors during the day provided by the league. SNB has donated some post event beverages as well! Facebook Event Details: http://www.facebook.com/events/184221308395661/186718301479295/?notif_t=like Swoopleague.com: http://swoopleague.com/ Please direct any questions to [email protected] Thanks and we look forward to a great season and your support to continue to promote Canopy Piloting on the West Coast! Future information about the league, standings, special events and meet recaps can be found at swoopleague.com. About the League: California district membership: $75 For details and benefits of league membership visit swoopleague.com. Members for Californina recieve membership benefits and recieve member registration discounts. Member Registration $45 NonMember Registration $70 The California district will consist of 4 meets in 2013 (Schedule). All 4 meets will take place at Skydive Sacramento, in Lincoln, CA. The overall winner for this district will be decided in the standard SWOOPLEAGUE process by using the competitors top three placings. The lowest place will be dropped for competitors who attend more than three meets. 2013 OVERALL prize for California District: Top placing PRO member- Equivalent Registration & competition jumps paid for 2013 USPA Nationals. Top Placing AMATEUR member-Equivalent Registration paid for 2013 USPA Nationals. The California regional events are the combination of Southern California’s ISM Canopy Piloting Series with the Northern California Canopy Pilots Associations Canopy Piloting events. The groups have come together and united under one league to follow the lead of the FLCPA. We are an energized and dedicated group of organizers looking to expand the discipline of Canopy Piloting in a unified competitive manner. The goal of our regional events is to provide a competitive platform for both the experienced high performance canopy pilot and qualified newbie high performance canopy pilots. The regional events will follow the streamlined swoopleague process and follow the current year IPC/USPA rules. The events will have a “pro” category and an “Amateur” category. New high performance canopy pilots are the future of competitive canopy piloting and we encourage those who are interested, but have never competed, to contact the organizers and find out how to become involved. As opportunities are presented, and the league grows, we will make high performance canopy piloting coaching available on the days before the meets for small additional costs. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

There was a mass exodus of very talented skydivers not too long ago. Instructors and videographers were not paid for weeks at a time. Go check it out...but be careful. Cheers. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

For what its worth, I have a speed cypres 2 and I regularly do 450's...I turn it on for every jump. I think there are probably very few people who can reach firing speeds...but everyone gets to make their own choices. I'm loading my velo at 2.4. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Who cares...it was fucking awesome. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

And good lord, may you never move on to a crossfire2 Now THAT's a snivel! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Just a word of caution. I have heard the Spectre has some great openings...never jumped one myself. However, some of the hardest openings I've seen and heard (you know, those openings where you are out front of then hanger and look up and say OUCH!) have been with Spectres. Enjoy the snivel :) Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

The original story has/had? a link to the FAA report. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

FAA report attached. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

you could exit immediately after them, goose them for a point, and when they come screaming at your when you land...mention the fact that if they would like to get out earlier they will not have to worry about you joining the skydive.

I think this is good subject to discuss in the light of recent events. A quick story...after our competition season in Lincoln CA last year, i had some concerns about my lines (400 lb HMA). Lincoln has a lot of clay (our distance course had extremely fine clay). We use pea stones for accuracy. Between the course, the water, and wear from the slider...I had some concerns. I took my canopy to a well respected rigger and I was comforted to know I was well on the cautious side, but he did do some repairs for me. I've got some maintenance instructions on finding nicks on the slider grommets to smooth out. Bottom Line...what do you all look for with your linesets, besides just just numbers? Are there red flags with HMA's? In the past my velo would start misbehaving on opening which was a good indication to me the lines needed to be replaced. But quite honestly, the lines didn't look all that bad, it was only because the jump numbers were up combined with the bad openings, that I changed them. The new line set fixed the openings. I tend to be on the cautious side, not caring if I go through a line set a season. If you could discuss your lineset and what you look for that would be helpful. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

California will also have canopy piloting competitions that PD watches very closely. So, i don't think you have to move to Florida. But...I do think you have to compete Regionally and/or Nationally. The intent of this canopy is that its a dedicated competition canopy...so if you aren't competing, there is really no reason to have one. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.