jaybwise

Does anyone know or want to take a guess at what the rate of decent for a cutaway main would be?

I didn't hang around for the training, it was allready running almost an hour late, soon to be dark, and after hearing what the training included I thought it best to just travel the extra 45 min to the next DZ in hopes of better training offered. I'm not sure what the money was going to cover.

N/A

Thanks skr and everyone else. Im glad it's not just me thinking too much into it.

Exactly, I'm not saying that my time in the army should take the place of Skydiving Water Training, I was actually looking forward to it. but if I'm going to have to pay money then I would like to be able to take something more away from the training.

yep

I was in Army up until 2003 stationed in Hawaii and was part of the battalion scout team. being in that platoon we had extensive training in water survival, lot of swimming with all gear on, getting out of our gear in the water, swimming down away from the surface and then out away from your gear before sufacing, ect.....all good stuff. MY POINT. The instructor teaching my water training course was busy with tandems at the time of the training and called on someone else to instruct for him. as I was waiting to take the course he's telling his replacment (who had never taught this course) "all you have to do is put them in a harness, push them in a pool and let them swim out of it and your done." WTF.....I was interested in learning somthing new that day that could potentally save my life, after hearing that I had a strong feeling I was waisting my time and money. If that is as serious as Water Training is then it shouldn't be required by the U.S.P.A. to get your B license.

Well, I went ahead and got myself a Pro Track. Mainly because it has good reviews and it does everything I want it for. The neptune seems to have a lot of good features but also alot of problems. The reviews aren't the best either. Not having to worry about the headache of it not working and having to send it in for repair, to me is worth the not having the extra features. Thanks for everyone's input!

Thanks, I appreciate your help. Is there anything that the Pro track does that the Neptune doesn't?

I've heard that the neptune is to thick to fit in some helmets. have you had any problems with this?

but can the optima log jumps?

yeah, I was looking at that one too but I wanted to get one with a log book.

I'm wanting to get an audible altimeter. this will be my first one. I've been looking at the Pro track, the Skytronic GFX, and the ALti 2 neptune. Can anyone give me there opinion on which one is best, and most durable?

how do I find out what the square footage of my raven I reserve is? I have looked on the label on the tail of the canopy, all it says is model, serial #, and date of manufacture. on the side of the canopy it only says raven. to me it looks like its about 170 or better. the date of manufacture is sept 95. can anyone help?

yeah, i only have 75 jumps, but only about 25 at this DZ, I got certified In HI, and moved to fl. so I'm not really in the group yet.

I appriciate it, and I will. I wish every skydiver was as willing to lend you there knowledge. as I said before, My first DZ the skydivers were always willing to bring a new skydiver into the group, almost like if they taught me then I would know what they know and everyone would be on the same page. but when I moved back to FL, no one gives me the time of day to give me a tip or share an experience much less do a jump with me. And when I went to the DZ that was farther away they were happy to have another skydiver on board and were intrested in teaching what they know. I'm not saying that I want to immedately be trusted to do a 10 way head down, but a little more friendly envirornment would be nice. its like all these "sky gods" are so full of them selves that they don't associate with the peion low jump skydivers. My point is that if the Sky gods would come off there throne and include the younger generation maybe they wouldn't feel like they need to jump into something new just to keep the fun of skydiving going. and as far as flying camera, I will take the old skydivers advice and wait until I'm ready. but I still cant wait to put one on. I don't take any advice or criticism as an attack in this very safe but potentially dangerous sport.

I have 170 jumps and cant wait to put a camera on. the reason is what you mentioned about being bored and no one to jump with. when I went through AFF, the skydivers at that dropzone welcomed me with open arms and tried to see me through my transition from "falling to flying", but when I moved to a different dropzone the eniviornment changed. Here you have to be "in the group" or your just an outsider. after attemting to gain ground at this dropzone with no luck I travled to a dropzone twice as far to jump and there it was like my first dropzone. unfortunatly I'm not going to go that far to jump. So you are right on the money when you say people are having a hard to me finding people to jump with and need something to add something new to the mix. I know that every dropzone isn't like the one I'm at and when I'm an experienced skydiver that newbie's look up to for information I'll know from experience exactly how I'm not going to be toward them. Anyway, that's why I want to start jumping camera with so few jumps.