wngarner

Well, now all I need is a canopy coach who turns their sunglasses and Croakies into a parachute demo...that and someone else who can reenact the skydive instruction scene from Fandango as well as Scott did...and i'm set!! :) - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I've been using double-front dive approaches for the last 150+ jumps on my sabre2 150 (loaded at a bit over a 1:1). I took Scott Miller's course several times before I was trying these but I talked to him alot about how to start them when I was ready, so I would highly recommend talking to a canopy coach and taking a course (I just don't subscribe to the thinking that reading or talking about flying a canopy will help you actually fly the canopy - you need to get interactive). As for any advice... (1) the front riser pressure is pretty deadly for me too, partly due to loading and partly due to the fact that I'm a puss. But I use the "half-break flight for 1-2 seconds, let up and immediately go to fronts" approach. That way you're catching the canopy when its starting its recovery arc (surging from being in breaks). (2) Check the trim as well as the length of your break lines - a good friend noticed when I first started trying dive loops that I was also getting break input, so my rigger checked the specs and found that over the 200 jumps since its last line set, the break lines were almost 1.5 inches too short. (3) As for lost flare, again, have your rigger check the trim, short of packing on pavement and sand, the fabric shouldn't be that worn after 500 jumps, Mine has 1000 and still has the low-speed/bottom-end flare the sabre2 is famous for. Blue ones! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Scott Miller is like a brand name everyone is familar with. But let me tell you that receiving one-on-one canopy coaching from anyone of the mentors mentioned at the sticky thread at the top of this forum is good. All these people are very knowledgeable about canopy control (not just swooping) and all of these people would be able to help anyone looking for help. Several years back I took one of these one-on-one canopy sessions with a person familar to many around here and it was amazing the information this person was able to pass along to me. Oh and by the way, you need the ground school portion of these coaching sessions before you take to the air. I'm with you on the ground sessions, I just don't necessarily believe in 7 hours (literally) of lecture and jumping only if time and weather permit. I like a good mix of the 2...30-60 minutes of ground school, do a jump, wash rinse repeat... and i don't doubt that there are a ton of great canopy coaches out there, thats what this thread was about...i really liked scott's style - straight-forward, to the point, try it and see....and i was hoping that people out there who might have taken similar courses out there by other people could give me some feedback on specific traveling canopy coaches that i might be able to bring to my dz. :) - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

here here...while the cartwheel worked for me when I started learning, it didn't work for a good friend of mine. her husband (who has spent a good amount of time in the tunnel recently) decided to try a tunnel method with her that alot of the rats used and its working SO much better for her - if there are tunnel folks out there, please jump in and clarify how to explain this, but from what i can tell its a sortof cartwheel / back layout thingy....she turned 90 off-heading from him, then, she starts a sortof cartwheel flip to end up facing him on her head....the change in direction mid-flip has kept her from ever getting really "balled up" and she's not moving very much in the transition...just a thought - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

just roll over...apparently your belly is the only surface you can fly to be omitted from FF....or just tumble wildly...that should cover enough surfaces to be considered FF...and then if people ask, tell em that at some point you seem to recall being possibly most likely head down and then flash 'em the 180 mph on your ditter and dare those floaty bastards to challenge you... - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Did you take the essential or the advanced course, or both? How was he for video-ing landings and the debriefs? Thanks a ton for the feedback though! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I checked with the person who is organizing the course at our dz and its primarily a ground/seminar course with jumping after 4ish if weather or time permits. So back to the original question, is there an Affordable canopy course out there, that travels and is somewhat similar to Scott's method of "get out there and do it". - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Well, the seminar schedule he has listed is basically all classroom and then jumping at the end of the day if weather permits. I'll have to check in again then!! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I've looked at the Sticky list, but that doesn't really tell me much about the "style" of their course. I'm looking for something similar to Scott's. We have Brian Germain coming to our DZ in a few weeks, but that is a ground-based course and I'm looking for something that is centered on the actual jumps. Luigi Cani is going to be at a nearby dz, has anyone taken his course? The thing I loved about Scott was that his intro course was amazing regardless of the # of jumps and the advanced course could be tailored to each individual in the course. Please say there is someone else who offers a Scott-like course out there! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Does he travel with his course, and do you have any idea about the cost or # of days involved, etc? - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Very well said. Throw my vote in with this one. Here here - I spent 300 jumps sub-1 (given that to be a 1.0 I had to be on a 150), but I took 2 canopy courses a year on these canopies and honed in on accuracy in stronger winds as well as started working on high speed approaches (hell, i started getting that 170 to make some noise on approach!!). And then, at 300 jumps when I moved to the Sabre2 150, I have never had so much fun with both accuracy and speed - I can put it down in a backyard if I have to, and I get better plane-outs than alot of people on smaller canopies with similar or even higher wing-loadings. Driving a Ferrari over a Honda doesn't MAKE you a better driver...you have to become a better driver to appreciate what makes a Ferrari more fun! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I literally planned 2 downsizes around the dates of his canopy courses (to make sure that I had put at least 60-100 jumps on the new canopy before his course). And now he's not offering his courses and I want to cry!! Does anyone know if he might be returning to the canopy coaching circuit or if there are other canopy courses that are similar to his... ...less talk, more jumping... ...less of a course of being "comfortable" under canopy and more of a course on how to fly the s*%t out of that damn thing!! blue ones! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I didn't know DL very well, but in many ways he has been a big part of my life as a skydiver. I jump at CSS in North Carolina, and when I had about 60 jumps and 3 months in the sport, I made my first trip to Florida (this was September 2006). While there, a group of jumpers from CSS spent one day at Skydive Space Center, where I first met DL and Val. Not only was he extremely warm and welcoming, but he invited us "strangers" on almost every load, and ended up taking and briefing me for my very first hybrid and my first tracking dive. Flash forward to New Years 2007-2008, and I ran into DL for the second time at Sebastian. He was the only local jumper to really stick his neck out and go out of his way to jump with a group of us from CSS (especially on such a busy weekend). Yet again, he showed himself as one of the warmest, most welcoming people I've met in this sport. And sadly, when I received the text today that he had passed, although I did not know him well, I knew that the sport had lost one of its greats. I know that I am but one of a great number of people who are mourning right now, and to his family, friends and everyone else he's touched...my heart goes out to you. I just feel blessed that I ever had the opportunity to meet a spirit like his. BSBD - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I certainly don't blame you for wanting to be more selective when you've traveled that far or are spending that much money - but even when you came down to my dz, you still seemed open to helping and offering suggestions and even two ways - more than many people will do at their own dz. So give yourself more credit - you are definitely one of the ones making it possible for new jumpers ALL OVER to get better....and thats why we love the bones! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

My point is this - you want lots of intermediate and advanced freeflyers to attend events - then you need to be out mentoring and nurturing the growth of intermediate and advanced freeflyers. If you're only willing to come out when its something big or challenging (and shit, its obvious that many aren't even coming out then), then how in the world do you expect to keep a crowd. People get tired of the sport, people's lives take precedence... ...so if you don't help people move from novice to beginner to intermediate to advanced, then you're going to have to deal with it when all the seasoned folks inevitably stay home and then you don't have anyone "experienced" to jump with. (Or I guess you can move to sebastian, perris or eloy.) - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I certainly haven't been around forever, and I'm cautious to even call myself a really proficient freeflyer, but I think there is alot of interest in freeflying in our neck of the woods. The problem is that alot of that interest is from people with under 500 or so jumps (and even more interest in the folks recently coming off of student status). Shortly after I started freeflying our DZ saw a big decline in the level of experience that was coming out to make jumps (maybe if I stop freeflying they'll come back!!). Be it injury, beer, other hobbies or just life in general, we started quickly losing some of the best talent our dz had to offer in terms of freeflying skills. But over the last 6 months there has been a growing interest, expecially in the newer jumpers. And I attribute this to the fact that the up-and-coming freeflyers started getting more active - got coach ratings, got more involved with student jumpers and really just started advertising the shit out of the discipline. Now, I've seen several weekends where the belly flyers are the ones desperately looking for people to jump with - a search that many of us newer freeflyers did alot of just a year ago. So no, I don't think the discipline is dying, but I think that there is a fairly large disconnect between those who are capable of putting together bigger or more VRW type jumps and the rest of us who still need 2 and 3 ways to work on skills. And I think that sadly, so many of the more experienced folks in our area aren't answering the call to come out and lend their expertise and knowledge to all of those jumpers begging for help. Freefly "coaching" is free at our DZ, but those of us doing the "coaching" are still in need of a ton of coaching and honing ourselves...(shit, I don't even have 400 jumps and I'm chasing fledgling sitflyers every weekend - and yes, the big grins when they finally get vertical makes it totally worth it!) ...but what do the people at my experience level do, now that we don't need a ton of one-on-one coaching but DO need more experienced folks to help us get good enough to be on those bigger and more challenging ways? Where do we find that when they never come out anymore? - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Late late late reply to your post, but the CSS Girls team Sky Candy took first in 4way I-class, the Chester Girls team Carolina Windfall took place in Rookie 4way. The 2way VRW was a ton of fun, 3 teams competed, 2 I-class, Team Captain & Tennille took 1st, and greg erwin and I rocked the competition in rookie class! WOOHOO - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

They aren't hard to find, just impossible to get in touch with. We have now left 4 messages over 3 weeks on their voicemail (most of the choices on their phone menu put you on hold and leave you there indefinitely, and we left messages on the one choice that looked like it would send you to a real person but dropped you into VM instead) and we haven't heard a thing back. I just got annoyed since there are some reputable Singles & Social groups out there that organize these types of activities (we have a couple of groups that frequent our dz and talking to the folks in Chester they have the same)...and I would hate for people to get burned by this and then be burned on social groups or the dropzone that didn't have their reservation after they paid $200 and drove 2 hours to get there. If anyone out there can say they talked to an organizer from this group, or even just find someone who has actually participated in any event they have planned, then at least that would be something. - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

It doesn't look like there is a way to see the event details except for having a membership. One of the individuals who came to our dropzone actually logged in for us to show us the site, and that was where we saw that they had listed all of our current contact info as well as great directions. Without that, we would never have seen how much detail went into each page. But then again - all of the info about first time tandems, or the locations of any dz in the nation are freely available on the web, and it takes very little to cut and paste it! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

I've checked with a few DZs that are located by cities that say a skydiving event is happening in the next few weeks. None of them have a heard a thing about it. I would be a bit surprised if this many event organizers are just "forgetting" to let the local DZ know - or buy tandems for the people who gave them money. But then maybe I'm just more suspicious than most! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

Well, if you do drive by, let us know if the place is even real. This just seems so weird. I've contacted dropzones around Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA. I also filed a notice with the FBI/Internet Complaint division. Haven't been to BBB yet. They say our dropzone is hosting another event on May 24th so this should be interesting :) - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

The word I've been hearing is that Ouragan is done? - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

We had a person show up at my dropzone (Carolina Sky Sports outside of Raleigh, NC) in mid April saying that he was there for the "Fun4Singles" Skydiving trip. He had purchased a $189 tandem skydive through the Fun4Singles Raleigh website and had shown up as instructed at 9am. Sadly, no one from Fun4Singles had ever contacted the dz. We tried to go onto their website to contact them and have left several messages and have heard nothing back. Unfortunately, to get into the website to see details of these so-called "events" you have to be a subscriber. While the poor individual who had been duped was still at the dz, he logged in for us so we could see the "Skydiving Event" page. They had listed our dropzone with current contact information and even accurate directions. The story about how the day would go for their first skydive was even fairly accurate. We looked over at some of the sites for Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA and others and they all list a skydiving event at some point in May. I thought you might want to spread this information somehow that this group is apparently a scam and local DZs might want to be prepared for people showing up who have "purchased" a skydive from this group. Our DZO even called Skyride to see if they knew anything about this company and they said they were "scum"...really saying something when Skyride calls you scum (sorry Skyride) Check the website for their "location" closest to your dropzone and you can check "Upcoming Events" to see at least the date they are claiming to have the event. Sadly, unless you pay some $20/month membership you can't see which dropzone they are leading people to. Let me know if you need anymore info. Just thought I would help get the word out! And, please post more if you know anything about this group - they are good, listing the names of real concert dates, real restaurants, real dropzones, etc....but then stealing $5000 a person for fake trips to Hong Kong!! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

You guys might need to get ready for a CSS invasion! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...

While I'm by no means an expert (I'm still one hell of a newby who is just really thankful for having amazing influences around), but I am getting alot more experience talking to jumpers who are interested in freeflying and here is my best offering for advice... Get lots and lots of advice about if you're ready...if the experienced freeflyers at your DZ don't think you're ready, then listen, ask why they think so and really heed their warnings...most people aren't trying to be mean or ruin your day for no reason...if they are good people (and most are) they are really just trying to keep you and everyone else safe. If you are ready (very stable on your belly, EXTREMELY altitude aware without the crutch of an audible, and comfortable recovering from odd body positions to your stomach) then get even more advice...things like gear safety, exit order, jump run considerations, the fact that your skydive is going to get alot shorter, etc are things that any GOOD freeflyer at your DZ should be able to talk to you about...also, there is a ton of reputable info out there from parachutist and other skydiving sites about how to be a better informed freeflyer...read up... now that you're informed...guess what...get even more advice about stable body positions, how to get yourself vertical and how to deal with it when you inevitably get wonkie (they don't call it free-flailing for nothing)...and if you're going to try it, I would recommend a coach or at least going out with a very very experienced freeflyer (and this means more than some other newby with 300-jumps like myself) to help be a point of reference for you and to help keep you from being all over jump run...this doesn't have to cost you a fortune, but at least for the first little while this can be a great reference to keep you and everyone else on the load safe (especially if you aren't jumping from a cessna or getting your own pass)... regardless...just be safe and be realistic about it...don't take offense when its just not time yet (hell, I appreciate my friends and instructors more for giving me the advice that saves my ass)...I know that skydivers are type-A personalities and want to be the best at everything the first time they do it (and even when they suck they often don't feel any remorse telling everyone in a forum that they're a sky-god)...but this isn't just some pick-up football league...screwing up doesn't get you a yellowcard...it can get people really hurt...so don't let your ego get in the way of becoming a better skydiver... no...jump numbers don't mean everything...its a combination of currency, ability and experience, and for everyone it will be different...all i can hope for is that people are honest with themselves, and when you're unsure, err on the side of a bit of caution... blue ones! - ever the spazz Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart, give yourself to it...