heavydude

I had the generic rig bags fall apart due to the fact I have a heavy big-boy rig. Then I used a DeepSea (brand) scuba type gear bag that was pretty well used as a substitute. Have been using that bag for about 5 years. Lots of room for rig + stuff. It has backpack straps + rollers and expando straps on the side so when I am lazy I just rigger fold the main and put in gear bag if I dont feel like packing.

Skydiving by itself not much of a sacrafice, kind of like playing Golf. But Skydiving + Airplanes + Gliders = always broke but happy

My wife wouldnt even try that line as she knows the answer, however I am also real conservative and dont do anything outside of standard skydiving. Being over 50 I dont take extreme chances, however I feel regular skydiving to be a normal activity. That being said I wont hesitate to quite as soon as it stops being fun, I gave up sailboat racing a decade or so because it became too much work and little fun.

I have had real good luck with Dropzone classifieds and have bought my rig, helmets, altimeters etc from classifieds. However also consider if you buy a package some parts may not be optimum for your use, my first container was nice(Javelin old but almost no use) However I ditched the first main because it was really bad. Old 9-cell F-111 Hard opening version. I then bought a cheap used main used that for about a hundred jumps(it was $265) Then finally rationalized getting a new Triathlon main which I love. Now my used cypress expired so I just bought a new Vigil which should be good for 20 yrs. I think this way I jumped regularly w/ money its just spread out over a longer time ! Also some of that Midwest and east coast gear gets allot less wear/sun/uv damage so it may be in better condition.

Should not be a problem at Perris as they are probably most reliable with loads: Tourists, people from strange countries, military teams from strange countries, and my favorite: model skydiving chicks from LA.

Interesting about cordura suits, I have seen a few on jump planes and the suits look much nicer than standard polycotton suits, and cordura is way more durable.

1 windtunnel session was very valuable when I first got my bootie suit. The instructor showed me the dropped knee turns and up to that point never realized I could turn that fast. It was a radical departure from the student propeller turns. Eventually you will have a jump where one or more boots fall off your toe, at first it feels weird unless you dump the other toe, but you can compensate for it. Might be worth practising that but I am not an instructor...

Them new fangled things will get cha killed, stick to a nice paracommander round.

The WORST thing in Engineering is bogus bosses that pretend they are real engineers but dropped out and went to business school and then they supervise engineers. I have worked for some of these suckers and they deserve the firing squad...just like fake Military wannabes.

I have been scuba diving since age 13 and still enjoy it, worked commercial, dove cave, wrecks and rebreathers also. The only thing I dont like about Scuba in a minor way is thats its become a tourist sport for old grannies and resorts treat all divers alike... Fortunately I have my own boat, usually dive alone, and do what I what most of the time. Skydivers to me seem a little more independant and adventurous than the Scuba crowd in general, but lots of people do both.

I dont know what the deal is but I jumped an almost new condition PD300 for about a dozen jumps. I was cautioned by the rigger that these opened hard..... I subsequently had one jump where it opened so hard that the center cell baffle ripped and that cell only held due to leading edge tape. Had bruising on harness strap points. Never had that problem with a Falcon and of course new canopys, Triathlon, Navigators. I usually roll the nose also on everything I jump. Used Falcons I think are a good deal as you can get a hundred or so jumps for cheap, but once the F111 goes the flare gets bad also.

Running about 230ish over the years..... I bought a lightly used rig from classifieds here. Had a Falcon 290 in it which was non-zp. That was OK for about a hundred jumps, the falcon was about $250, used but OK. At student level you aint that picky with rolling in dirt landings, etc. About 2 years ago I upgraded to a new Triathlon 260, its a nice canopy, opens swell and soft. They rent these at Perris so they were a easy transition. I am not worried about all the downsizing BS as I prefer to save my knees as I am in my 50s and also do a bunch of Ironmans each year so they get a beating from that already. The Aerodyne tris open nice and soft, are 7 cell stable units.

I took a few classes w/ Sean at SDSD and was always impressed with his positive attitudes. We will miss his Camo outfits as he always jumped with some sort of Camo scheme or a booney hat. In my opinion he really worked hard at the sport and promotion of Skydiving.

Lunchtime jumps will become possible ! Ba ha ha

Dang, one more other way to spend my Skydiving dollars. Sounds pricey at the cost of about 12 -16 regular jumps ! But probably worth it....