Jon26

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Posts posted by Jon26


  1. Deyan

    To each their own!

    I really have problem with paying for an idea! The fact that the companies need cash to get started is not my problem. Shouldn't be yours either.
    Innovation? Dude, this is an altimeter! No matter how many video games they put in it, no matter what kind of useless info you get after every jump, it's an altimeter. It shows the altitude you are currently on, so you know when to separate, deploy and set up your landing pattern. Just for comparison the smart phone on which I'm writing this post cost 200 €!!!
    I fully understand that there are people who want to have the newest and coolest before anybody else and that's fine. Let them test it for you. Meanwhile buy the cheapest altimeter you find and a tablet. You will appreciate the second one during weather holds.

    500 bucks for an altimeter phhhh! Better makes coffee too and predict the numbers from the lottery !



    ^^^ This!

  2. I've seen quite a few people buy small containers that fit only "small" reserves simply because they think it looks cooler.
    What an idiotic thing to do.
    Or they will try and justify their stupid decision by saying their rig is now more comfortable.
    I call Bullshit.
    A modern rig that fits is comfortable regardless of compatible canopy size.
    Why would anyone think that wearing a rig that looks like an 8 year old's school bag looks cool anyway?
    I say, leave them to it and don't be an idiot too.

  3. If i was to go almost anywhere, i'm sure i would find a majority of people who have nothing but good things to say about Americans as individuals.
    But i would think that if you ask people if they "feel positively or negatively toward the U.S." then it would be their opinion toward the U.S. government and it's image/actions that you'd be likely to find out.

    So i guess it depends what Pew means by "global attitudes toward the U.S." and how they framed their questions.

    Anyway, a poll's results rely, among other variables, on the participants selected, their willingness to take part, and the honesty of their answers.

    Statistics can be so easily twisted to back any view that they are better left to the sock-puppets on Fox news and the like.

    What i was getting at is i am more likely to get honest opinions striking up conversations than someone conducting an official survey. And if i collated those opinions, i think the data would show the opposite result to that suggested by Pew.

    Cold-calling and trying to stop passers-by for an official survey will never produce honest results because there are so many people who would hang up or walk by.
    I don't know whether or not they reward participants but that would open a whole other can of worms regarding the reliability of the findings.

    Anyhow, i hope noone took my comment personally (including Bill - eventhough i quoted you).

    And sorry to the OP for dragging the thread a little off topic.
    I'll leave it at that.

    (It stopped raining).

  4. billvon

    >
    69% of the world has a favorable view of the US. (Pew 2015)



    Well someone has to say it!
    If you believe that, you are absolutely dreaming.
    I could travel around doing my own face-to-face survey and come up with a result that directly opposes that statistic.
    But i'm not going to because i am a human, not a computer and cherry-picked statistical data has very little bearing on reality despite what media would have you believe.
    I'm going off on a tangent but what the U.S. people (and the whole human race) need to wake up to is that nationalism is something we need to let go of.
    The U.S. and many other countries are way too big to have a federal government.
    It just leads to an out-of-touch, out-of-reach elite dictatorship and often war.
    I believe in devolution of goverments worldwide and the breaking down of old borders.
    But, unfortunately, for most people that is a hard pill to swallow because we've been brought up to believe that whatever country we were born in is "the best", superior to others and maybe in some cases part of the "global leadership".
    People forget that a country is not a tangible thing, it is not something that should inspire pride in the way a family or group of good friends should. it is a human concept that creates separation, herding the population into segregated gangs.
    Often these gangs are even filled with a lot of people who can't even get along internally, let-alone externally.
    And sometimes those gangs get really big.
    And some of those big gangs aren't able to treat other gangs with respect and become bullies.
    So, back to the President question, the best outcome would be for the people to stand up and say no to both candidates and push for reform.
    Will that happen? Unfortunately, probably not (this time).
    The best candidate, in my opinion, would be one who would implement that reform.

    P.S. sorry for the rant. It's raining here.

  5. Hi, now that i have your attention, i'll explain.
    I smashed my arm pretty bad in a BASE accident a couple of years ago. Up until then i was a keen wingsuiter. Since then, i have been left with a permanent bend of around 20 degrees in my right elbow ie. i can't straighten my right arm fully. It has improved over the years but i'm now at the stage where it will probably not get much better.
    I've been regularly skydiving and have no strength problems or anything since then but it kind of took away my passion a bit.
    I used to fly S-fly suits that favoured straight arms rather than the rolled shoulder slightly bent elbow suits like the old Vampires etc.
    So, i was wondering, what's a good suit these days that doesn't really require dead-straight arms? Are there even any these days? Or are they all designed to be spread out flat like the older S-flys?
    Sorry it's a bit of an ignorant question, i guess i could watch a bunch of videos and see, just that i've been out of the loop for a while.
    Any recommendations would be appreciated.
    Cheers in advance.

  6. just small... trees?
    It'll be in the trees.
    You should look in a fairly wide area but chances are it'll turn up right where you thought you looked 3 times already.
    There was something said elsewhere that someone used a drone to find lost gear. Do you know anyone with one?
    It's fucking depressing looking for chopped shit, knowing it must be there somewhere. But don't give up if it's as open as you say, it'll be there.

    Have you tried looking at night? Might sound daft but, If you have a good torch it might be much easier to spot the out-of-place colour/shape of a freebag in a tree without the glare of daylight.

    Good luck!

  7. Well done on pulling it off!
    I must admit, the practice pull made me question if there was a rig under there just-in-case.
    But anyone who watched the post-jump footage could clearly see you didn't have a rig on.
    When you hugged your misses is when i knew you definitely weren't wearing a rig and realised it was a nod and a wink to the skydivers who were paying attention.
    I was wondering also, was there much wind around that day?
    Was the timing of the jump planned around the presence/lack-of thermal activity?
    And, sorry, someon'es got to ask, would you do it again? (not that your misses will let you anyway!)

  8. I've done thousands of camera jumps through Winters and Summers and my original, plastic, 3M-sticky-stuff mount is as solid as it was when i first put it on my skydiving helmet.
    I can tell you from personal experience though, that the same mount will not hold during a cliff-strike, but i guess you're not planning one of those.:P


  9. Sorry, I should have clarified that I was talking about filming tandems with the usual wide lenses.
    I can understand why people use them for narrower lenses.
    Just that I see so many people using them unnecessarily.

  10. Man, I hate the idea of ring-sights and little dots on goggles!
    I just cannot get my head around why they are necessary.
    Yes, you can look with your eyes without moving your head, BUT you can also choose not to!
    Just point your bloody head (and therefore your camera) at what you want to film. Its 100% that easy.
    Sorry, but I look at people with these weird unnecessary solutions to a nonexistent problem and I just feel sorry for them!

  11. That's an interesting idea too. Would make it a bit fiddly but not impossible to switch on without a helper.
    Woild prob be unsuitable if using earphones though (the arm strap makes it simple to thread the earphone cable up your sleeve from either inside wingsuit or under your T-shirt or whatever)

  12. Super-easy to sew together a little container and strap to put it on your upper arm.
    Works for wingsuiting and swooping.
    No need to drill more holes in your helmet and makes it easy to slip on and off for when you want to hook it up to your laptop or whatever.
    Any rigger can knock one up easy if you haven't learned to sew yet.

  13. I have had 9 skyhook cutaways on sub 100sqft canopies and had linetwists on reserve once.
    I think body position when cutting away has a lot to do with getting reserve twists.
    That video you linked to, the guy barely tried to get out of the twists. I didnt read what height he was at and if he had altitude to have a go. Maybe he just didnt want to try for long. Fair enough.
    But letting the canopy settle for a second makes it far easier to kick out regardless of whether it is diving or not.
    Anyone flying a high-performance canopy should have the ability to be relaxed during a mal and be altitude aware enough to know if you have time (and how much) to attempt to correct the main before going to your last chance canopy.
    A very fast spinning canopy cutaway will throw you straight out away from it, and provided you aren't flailing round like a muppet and are relaxed, there is no reason the reserve wont come out untwisted and on heading.
    I dont know where that cutting away quickly notion comes from but that seems to me to be the best way to try and get reserve twists.
    Far better i reckon (if you've commited you are definitely cutting away and you are not critically low) to let your body settle its orientation, whether that be skywards (spinning on your back) or facing the ground.

    One more thing: everyone you know with both a skyhook and a high-performance canopy gets reserve twists everytime?
    Maybe its not the skyhook they need to get rid of!

  14. I thought that might be the case.
    I saw someone had hit upon it somewhere on your project thread but hadn't seen that you'd asked the same about the Optimum.
    I guess i'll see what measurements i have to work with on the old lines and sit down with a pen and paper and put my thinking cap on.

  15. Hi,

    I recently bought an older Spectre 120 (for cheap) that is out of trim.
    It being a spare canopy (and a big upsize for the intention of using as a conservative wingsuit canopy) I thought it would be a good subject for having a go at making a lineset.
    I've ordered a spool of 725 Spectra with the intention of building one and have the line-trim chart and line-trim measurement guide.
    I have access to and experience with the necessary machines and have experience attaching/sewing linesets.
    What i don't have is the measurements for the location of the cascade line entry points.
    Assuming the existing lines are way out of trim (its not right here in front of me at the moment) is there any way to determine the correct positioning of the cascades?
    If not, does anyone here have the measurements and care to let me know by any chance?

  16. I am a Welshman.
    I currently live and work in New Zealand, so have that as my 'location'.
    Is there a way i can use the Welsh flag on my avatar other than changing my profile pic!
    I know i could set my 'location' to UK to get the Union Jack, but its the Welsh flag im after.

  17. Can i just ask, why is it the default thing to do, to hang up a rig?
    I assume its to keep it aired in places with humidity and away from mice n things.
    The area im in, there is no problem with humidity, at our DZ they have rig racks like the ones pictured in this thread but ive always prefered to lie my rig down flat (across two of the hanging posts) or sit it upright in a storage container (away from mice).
    Here's why; When i hang up my Micron, there isnt much to complain about, but my older Talon FS looks like it suffers a lot of pressure on the stitching where the bottom of the laterals are attached to the main container.
    I know some might think its under more stress when jumping but im not sure that's true, not at that point of the container, when the rig is being worn and the pressure is taken partly by the leg straps.
    Anyway,im probably over-thinking on a tangent and there is some other obvious reason.
    Just wondering.

  18. Amazing work! Well done mate!
    I started reading this thread about 2 hours ago just looking for info. on building a lineset and got drawn into reading it all start to finish.
    Hope you enjoyed that beer! Im sure you did!

  19. I always wrap that part of the lines (and the soft links and the tips of each riser) with 3M athletic wrap.
    Its great because it only sticks to itself so zero gunk.
    It definitely helps prolong the life of the lines.