Miami

The B&H website says they have them in stock for 56.50 plus shipping. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=52735&is=REG Miami

The two cutaways I have had over 3200 jumps have both been on tandems. Surprisingly most crossbraced canopies fly straight with line twists, or at least the 93 fx I had did. I haven't had twist on my Xaos yet, but I have been told by other Xaos owners that they tend to fly straight in twists also. (of course now that I said that I'll probably spin up and chop this weekend!) Miami

Hey Hoym, I'm not sure what they are called either, but I believe they are caused by the sun reflecting off of the other elements in the lens onto the front element, where it is picked up on film. Like marks said, a polarized filter should get rid of this. If you are already using a polarized thread then it is beyond me, hopefully some photo guru will answer this. Good luck! Miami

Would you really want to land a canopy you are really not familiar with at a less than desirable location? Would the people at the dz know that the person who just used the reserve was alert and oriented if they flew away from the dz when they could have made it back to the intended landing area? I know it sucks tromping through the woods looking for a chopped main, I've been there a few times, but it really sucks trying to find a canopy and a jumper cause you don't know if they are ok. Usually the chopped main will fall faster than most of the people on a load. If another jumper cannot go after the equipment they should at least be able to spot it's landing area and get a good idea of where it is to use as a reference on an aerial photo. Just like we tell students and new jumpers...gear can be replaced, they cannot. I really believe a post mal jumper should try to land in the safest area possible, which would usually be the dz, if at least so they can get on their way to the package store to get their rigger a fifth! Miami

Finish the vid. I'm getting paid for a service that includes the hazard of having to cutaway. Unless I am unable to complete the service (can't get back to the dz) I would continue to do the job I was paid for. Hopefully another jumper on the load, or someone on the ground, would see the incident and go after the gear for me. What did you do? Miami

I use my Xaos21 for video, it opens like a dream every time. Miami

I'm not sure what Bruno's wingloading is or what kind of canopy he is jumping. I personally jumped my way down to ~ 3:1, over thousands of jumps, which is what I have found to be happy at. I really enjoy the ground rush after a hook started at 1200ft. I love the short burst of incredibly fast speed, the ground zipping under my feet. I could really care less about getting every last inch out of the swoop...that just doesn't excite me. Technically I am overloading my canopies. At sea level I have not had a problem with landing this wingloading. Now that I am landing at 6500ft msl the landings are faster and a bit harder to shut down. I use discretion on no wind days up here, but that is a sacrafice I am willing to make to get the kind of landings that thrill me. That is what we are after in this sport isn't it? To be thrilled? So...thats why I want to. Miami

I've actually had some pretty good experiences on eBay. Put together most of my camera helmet from it. Got a steal on a trv17 and rebel 2000. Only had one problem during the whole process, and it was minor. Miami

I stayed with the canopy I was jumping at sea level when I moved to a 6500msl dz. Landing got a lot faster, had to relearn how to land pretty much. My exit weight is about 225, or if I am doing video 235. Miami

Well they do make a great rig. When I cross trained to the Racer tandem it was by far the most comfortable tandem I had every jumped. Very noticeably lighter than any other tandem I had ever worn. Unfortunately that was when they were using the 400sqft piece of crap for the main, but they were happy to sell their rig with an Icarus main instead of theirs. I haven't jump the firebolt main so I cannot comment of that. The passengers I took with the Racer expressed no discomfort at all with the harness system. If only I had 10k to spend on a tandem... Miami

My daughter was born 9 Sept 2003. Do the math, it was a great christmas party!!! Miami

I'd be ok with that. Better to need to change them fix a bit of shinkage rather than need to change them cause you might snap one on landing. Miami

Sounds impressive. I would most likely wait a while to get an idea of how it works in the field, how customer service is, etc. Does the software take canopy flight into consideration? I'm loaded fairly heavily and start the landing approach at 1200ft, with a new system I would be pretty concerned about a misfire. Miami

The flat top narrow is a good choice for a slightly lower profile than the pro. It is also about a half pound lighter than the pro. The top is set up to take a single trv style camera with front mounted stills. It makes a nice looking setup, and I have been very very happy with mine. Miami

If you really want comfort under canopy (and anywhere else) try a racer! But I guess if you are really set on a oddity or a vector... The V3 I jump at work isn't really very comfy (of course my personal gear are racers so it has a lot to live up to). The javs I've jumped haven't been too horrible, and I'm sure you'll get a much better review of them from people who jump them on a much more regular basis. But like I said, if you really want a comfy rig that is light and highly functional in all attitudes of freefall, get a racer. Miami

First mal was on jump 1601, my first jump on a tandem rig. Had to do the solo, didn't have enough ass under the thing, sniveled for a couple grand then tension knotted bad. Only mal after that was at about 3050, another tension knot on a tandem (this time with a passenger). No mals on my personal rigs yet (knock on wood). Miami

Hey Craig, I put about 1500 jumps on a tri 160 and found problems similar to what you are having. Had a couple of openings the were hard enough to snap lines! If I remember correctly what I did to make things better was to not roll the nose at all, instead just push the nose in toward the center of the canopy, then wrap the tail pretty tight. The tail really seemed to be what controlled the speed of the openings. Different canopies behave differently though, what worked for mine may not work for yours. The video will be a good starting point though. Oh, if you are doing any psycho pack or anything like that...don't. Good luck! Miami

The EOS Rebel 2000 is apparently the lightest of the Rebel line. Mine takes great pics with tandems. Lot depends on the lens you use and how you fly with tandems. If you fly very tight with a tandem you need to go wider on the lens. Canon makes a great 24mm lens that matches up nicely with a .42 lens on a sony. Or if you are shooting a .5 on the video you would probably want a 28mm on the still. Which is best for tandem? Just about any of the Rebel cameras will do a good job. It mainly rests on how much weight you want on your neck and what size lens you use. Miami

Hello, I own 4 racers so I know a little about them so I thought I would add my two cents... I'm not sure if you could call the riser covers better. Both seem to offer bulletproof protection from any direction, so neither could claim to be "better" than the other. Having only one pin actually poses a few extra hazards. Having a 2-pin system decreases the risk of having a line snag under the poptop, while on a 1-pin system a line could find its way completely under the poptop. With an exposed poptop, in order to get a well seated reserve cap, a lot of pressure is needed on the reserve pin(s). A 2-pin system better distributes the load, giving a nice flush seated reserve cap while being far from damaging pins or causing hard pulls. I have seen bent reserve ripcord pins on 1-pin systems from being unable to get the poptop to seat properly. Actually they don't really say theirs is faster, only Billy says that. They just say that theirs is not slower because they use a massive spring. Really we would need an actual test to determine speeds of reserve deployments to find the answers to that argument. Personally, I get blown away every time I fire the reserve of one of my racers. It's a very comfortable feeling to have your reserve pilot chute travel nearly parallel to the ground for the entire length of the bridal, come to a sudden halt as it does reach full bridal extension, and only then fall to the ground. And they do, fortunately. If not those that did not work well would weed themselves out as incidents did happen. The 2-pin system used on the racer is basically unchanged from their original design. They had something good from the get-go, so there hasn't been the need to make anything more complicated. Then of course there are the advantages racer has. Lightest rig around, most comfortable rig (try one on lately?), and of course the best looking (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?)! Anyway, so that is why I think the racer is better than the teardrop, or any other rig for that matter. But of course this is just my opinion. It is kinda funny, however, how it seems everyone who does jump a racer sure seems to feel strongly about them. blues, Miami

Don't you love the customer service L&B gives? Nothing else like it. On the rare occasions I did have a problem with mine they did more than I could expect to make things right. They have me as a customer for life. Miami

Hey Cat, Booties are pretty good on a camera suit if your going to stay on your belly, but later on in your vidiot career you may find you want to start flying at different attitudes for certain things. Sit flying while filming a tandem gives an amazing angle, but it's a pain to do with booties on (at least as far as I have been able to tell). Just a cuff style leg closure has a big advantage in that aspect. But it is still early, if you do become serious about video this will be one of many camera suits you will go through. I bet if you call Tony he will be able to give you input as to what kind of bootie you will want, what type of wing will be best for what you want to film, etc.. Also use the vidiots at your dz, see what they are using and what they like. As far as which one you do decide to go with, I bet you will be happy with whichever you pick. Both are good manufacturers and will fix things if there are parts you don't like on the suit. Miami

1. Doing a night jump, had been jumping demo canopies all day long. Had a demo triathalon 99 in my rig, but didn't get to jump it before we shut down to prepare for the night jumps, so made the incredibly unwise decision of jumping it on the night jump rather than wasting the pack job and jumping my triathalon 160 (Owned the 160 mainly for the ability to do crw and demos, still liked jumping the little fast canopies though). Jump went uneventful, but on landing depth perception was crappy, wound up thinking I was a lot higher than I really was. Had prepared myself to do a nice conservative landing, turn in plenty high and fly it in straight. Well with the depth perception off I though I was a lot higher than I was, did a light front riser turn to get myself set up on final (less than 90 degrees) and impacted the ground while still holding a couple inches of front risers. Came to rest about 100ft or so from where I hit. 2. Triathalon 99 3. About 2.1-2.2/1 4. Owned and primarily jumped a triathalon 160 but was constantly demoing other hp canopies (stilleto 97-150, sabre 97-150, tri 97-135, batwings, etc.) 5. 7 or 8 hundred or so? Not really sure off hand. 6. Not as much as you would think. Thank you soft Mississippi mud!!! Bad abbrasions on both lower legs, both ankles badly sprained. I still marvel at how lucky I was that my stupidity did not kill me. 7. Totaled my jumpsuit, dirtied gear...so nothing major. 8. Almost as stupid as jumping the unfamilier, highly loaded gear in the first place...there was no down time. I bandaged my legs, laced up some very supportive boots, and continued to jump all weekend while doing butt landings (which I continued for about 3 weeks). Yup, I was a young bulletproof idiot. (Dunno if that got better as I got older) Miami

They do still make the hard ones. Gear-store has them in clear called rigid, but all the rest are nice and soft and comfy. I can imagine those edges being bad if they were a hard material, but I've never had problems with the soft ones over a few thousand jumps (even with the occasional high speed encounter with the ground ) Miami

Cat, I have 3 tony camera suits, all of which I am happy with (2 a-wings(one short legs, one long legs) and a c-wing). I have seen some that tony has made that didn't fit worth a damn, but that was most likely the measurer's fault. Firefly has a really nice looking camera suit. I ordered one a couple weeks ago, if you remind me I can let you know what I think of it when it arrives. On another note, I have always noticed that Bev has made some great fitting RW suits for females, so I bet the same would apply for her camera suits. Miami

That's odd, I wouldn't think the soft grateful freds could cut through warm butter. Of course, just avoid impacting the ground and you don't have to worry about getting cut. Miami