damion75

1. Yes, if you pack it right. 2. The Safire2 149 is comparable (in size) to the Sabre2 150, but they fly somewhat differently. I am not a fan of either and prefer the Pilot 150. YMMV. Demo demo demo... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Free gear is great, but i'd rather have the right gear for the right job. Recent 4-way training camp with my team, OC turns up with a (free) demo rig from his display team which, in common with these, was way too big and constantly slipping sideways disrupting the airflow. After five or so jumps, I tried it and it increased my bodyflight workload by about 100%. In the end, the rig went in a corner of the team room and we borrowed another. Averages went up... Lesson? Wear an accuracy rig for accuracy, and a tight sport rig for RW... unless you don't want your teams to do well. Of course they could always buy their own... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Some kind of hand cream may be in order...? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

BUt something to aim for. A good place to start is with the CS Basic Instructor (CSBI) course which you only need 200 jumps for, and six months later (if you are not a mong!) you can crack on to get the CS Instructor rating. All valuable experience towards your AFFI later. Then at 300 jumps (if it hasn't changed) you can work on your FS Coach rating... ready for the in air stuff. Other than that, just lots of group skydiving will help.

Hmmm. I'm not convinced that if I had some canopy trouble (knotted brakelines etc) and was not sure what it was (even if I was sure)... that getting extra landing speed or front risering the canopy would really be my priority. I would probably have taken a straight in landing. Just my thoughts... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

My only advice on this one (apart from completely agreeing about the coaching!) it to keep your eyes wide wide open when you are messing around trying to feel the canopy. Don't get caught up in what you are doing and forget to keep an eye out for traffic and your location over the ground. Landing out on a hop and pop is just foolish... Colliding with someone else on the other hand, while practising riser turns etc, could easily be lethal. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

And now I've seen it all... A guy who doesn't want to downsize too fast being flamed for... trying to downsize too fast? In fact I'm not even sure what the point of your post is. To the OP, sorry you are getting responses like this. Please feel free to downsize as slowly as you like. If necessary, get a new instructor, but I'm sure that it won't be necessary. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I think that you may be overthinking this one. For my money, you appear to have covered both effect and cause in the same sentence here, although in the wrong order. I too have felt nauseous and dizzy in the plane, even that I might throw up, as a result of someone's in plane farting. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Can I ask in what way this extra person (80 jump GF)benefits the paying Tandem Passenger's experience? If this TI wants to jump with his GF, perhaps he could do it on his own time... just a thought... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Now that's something to aspire to!! Great line... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

If you can't conduct basic canopy control (direction) then perhaps you should rethink swooping. And your canopy choice - it is clearly too fast for your mental processes. That is all. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

What people think, what people say and what they do - is often quite different things:) See this topic: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3044109;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread It could just be me, but when I read threads like that, I see a few top canopy pilots putting out some useful information, and a lot of very average canopy pilots who are pushing the limits of their skill envelopes boasting about how fast they have gone small without (so far) killing themselves... Xaos 90 loaded at 1.9 at 500 jumps... Xfire2 109 at 400 jumps I mean, if it makes you feel like people on the DZ should take you more seriously then rock on, but I give my kudos to the coaches, instructors and more mature people around. What are you trying to prove and who are you trying to prove it too? Because no-one else really cares... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Presumably this means that demo/PRO jumpers exiting at a planned 1500 feet should be using their reserves every time? Really, 1500ft and above you should be pretty happy on a main. If it is taking that long to open (people quoting 1500ft??!!) then get it fixed. Its not clever. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

It depends very much on what you are looking for from a canopy. I was jumping a 117 loaded about 1.8ish and my experience was that if you let it open itself, and not try to fly it etc, the opening was quite fast, but smooth and invariably on heading. After opening, as Billvon said, it would take off in response to any harness input at all (hence my comment about very deep brakes earlier) which on the first two or three jumps I found unsettling, but after that I got to really like since it becomes possible to really effectively steer with harness only as an immediate response to finding anynone flying towards you, or just to point the canopy back at the DZ while you collapse the slider etc. Is that a good thing? Well it depends how in touch you are with your canopy. And the truth is that (with all the best will in the world) these canopies (Katanas and Mambas) were just not aimed at pilots with 300-400 jumps and they are not designed to be most effective when loaded at less than 1.6. I don't mean to be a canopy nazi here, but if what you are looking for is a gentle, forgiving canopy with easy to handle openings that will fly itself to a nice little swoop, these are not those canopies. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

If the others that you are doing RW with have time to stare at your chest mount... you're doing it wrong! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There are a lot of opinions out there!! And that is all they are. The best advice on this thread is to try them all. I made exactly this same decision early last year and demo'd them all... The Mamba I tried as a 117 and had a blast. The openings are sweet, although flying in brakes that deep needs some practice! I loved its speed of harness turn and the dive, which seemed to be to be greater than both of the other two, but that may be the slight size difference. And this canopy is fast in a straight line. Coming in (straight in) it seemed a lot faster than the other two. The toggle pressure is higher than the other two, but I liked the feedback that that gave me. Hands down, this is the canopy I would have chosen, but it had a 12 week lead time and I didn't want to wait! The Katana (120) is a nice all rounder. Nice openings, good dive, responsive turns etc. It's fun, but not as fun as the Mamba. It is, however, a very solid canopy with good resale value! I managed to find one second hand and went with that. The Crossfire2 (119) I was a little disappointed with. Beautiful openings for sure, and very predictable flight characteristics but it really lacked the feel of a high performance canopy for me. It was a nice canopy, but then so is a Sabre2 or a Pilot. It just didn't provide what I was looking for. These are all opinions, and I have no doubt that YMMV! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Busted! Anyway, I agree with your findings on this matter, Dr UDSkyjunkie. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Wow. Somehow, that really "speaks" to me. Can I use it as my new sig? Of course... I am always available to come out with meaningless crap should the occasion demand it.

Perhaps those people have no intention of going wingsuiting in those rigs? (incl me...) Gripe away! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Unfortunately, I disagree with Apter on this point: As a curious aside, Apter argues that negativism is yet another active arousal-seeking strategy, in the sense of overcoming social limitations. Perhaps he had Mad Skillz though? Personally I see it less as negativism and more as para-logical titivationism with some atavistic neo-colonialism thrown in. But I have always been something of a radical thinker... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Reserve ride on a Tempo 120 loaded at 1.75 last summer. Beautiful opening (thanks George!), uneventful flight and a slightly speedy, though not uncomfortable, landing but I may be exceeding the manufacturers max recommended weight just a tad... Reserve recommended loadings *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Sure it will - you just have to mount the keeper on the Y-strap as it goes past the ear. And be sure to use the bungees to keep that dytter in the keeper and not just rely on the clips at each end... You can do the same on a goggle strap... if you really want to. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Darth's helmet doesn't seem to be available right now... this is the closest that I could find for you. Not quite Darth *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

These cameras are quite good, but they are now only available second hand (apart from maybe a few examples in sony stores) and as such are getting older, more damaged etc... so Caveat Emptor vicky! As for ring sizes, this guy is incorrect and you should check before buying. The 106/7/9 series for instance is 25mm thread, not 30mm as this guy is telling you. That said, I have a 109 and have never looked back. If looking on ebay, ensure that you are looking at the 'e' european (PAL) model. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

And cheap at half the price... With the weather we are having at the moment it's not like you are going skydiving anyway! So enjoy the tunnel, and do try bedford as well... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.