danielcroft

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Everything posted by danielcroft

  1. Reverse S-Fold... http://www.skyxtreme.com/archive/april_may2001/safety04.html This is what I do. I find it works quite well when I'm s-folding. I generally z-fold for sub-100 canopies but, it depends on a few factors. Packing is one of those things that you learn and then continue to learn. There are a lot of different ways to pack and then a heap of different techniques or "tricks" as tickle called them that you will pick up from others. I actually pack pretty odd based on tricks and techniques that I've learnt from different people and am generally able to bag difficult canopies. Recently I've been trying not flaking since I'm curious to see if it makes much of a difference (it does, my normal pack jobs are more consistent). I've also tried packing standing up and a few other ideas. tl:dr: go get lessons and/or chat with people about how they pack, you may learn a technique that really helps you rather than just struggling at it alone.
  2. It really depends on so many things. Sometimes you have to spend your whole canopy ride being super alert due to proximity of traffic, winds, etc. When I'm able to locate all the canopy traffic from my load, my canopy flight is: Check altitude Check airspace Rear riser barrel roll Rinse and repeat
  3. Just a suggestion: you may want to reconsider selecting the same riser and toggle color. Even with the luxury of time and not my impending death, it's hard to tell which part of your system is which. As you mentioned, it does look like you exacerbated the spin by releasing your right side. I'm back to front on my RSL attachment. You probably don't want to assume any part of your system will save you under any circumstances. What's the downside if you don't rely on any of it? It appeared that you leveled out your wing early on in dealing with the malfunction and then reached up to get out of your line twists which seemed to change the level of your risers. I'm sitting at my computer so, I don't mean to second guess your actions, just observations. Having jumped an Odyssey myself (115 at 1.5:1 and a 100 as well) I've found their openings to be a little inconsistent myself. I enjoyed the wing, though.
  4. Yeah, definitely left a lasting impression on me, I never did get a good explanation of why peeps at Fluid thought it was a good design. I was expecting that there was/is one but, given that it's been redesigned, maybe those concerns have been addressed. Seems like you could have a whole thread of your own about Fluid stuff...
  5. On a 170 at 1.5 or even a 150 at 1.7 you have way more range than a 135 at 1.9. Those cases when you're thinking to yourself "oh, I'm a bit long here, I'll do X" right now, could be no go on a KA135. Jump run, exit order, wind direction (jump run isn't always into the ground direction, remember); they all matter when you have a wing that requires as much attention as a KA at that loading. Seems like you have plenty of training and you should have people within Flight-1 who can give you some honest feedback, specific to you around loadings and wing choices.
  6. I would *strongly* recommend getting coaching and, having someone help you make this decision based on actual knowledge of your skill (it varies a lot and, not directly related to jump numbers while probably correlated) and, temperament. Having said that, if you were only deciding between a progression of S2-150 -> KA-150 -> KA-135 and S2-150 -> S2-135 -> KA-135 (loadings: 150 = 1.7 / 135 = 1.9), there's no doubt in my mind what I'd do. The safer path is via the larger Katana since you're giving yourself a bigger margin for error. The thing that I didn't really understand until I'd flown a KA is that they're an active pilot's wing (when loaded 1.5ish and up, I guess). That means, you have to always be flying; you can't relax. The more you load it up, the more that will play a part in the rest of your jumping. What's jump run, where are your outs, what's your exit order. By this I mean, you're not just an active pilot while flying the wing, you also have to actively understand what's going on with your wing and, plan your jump. You're a larger chap, obviously so, you're a bit of an outlier (I don't have that problem) but regardless, 1.7 on your first jump of a KA is no joke. Get some coaching.
  7. There are so many factors, without your jump history, it'll be difficult for people to give you a good suggestion. If you have 8000 jumps on a Sabre 2 at 1.6 then, jump whatever loading you want. The assumption is, if you're asking in dz.com, you probably don't have 8000 jumps. Most of the opinions I've heard on loading of non cross braced canopies is that they max out at 1.9/2. I don't know why you'd want to fly a non cross braced wing that highly loaded given how much effort will go into piloting that wing. You'll of course get the usual "master your wing" admonishment from people more qualified than me to give it so, I'll leave that alone. I've had very experienced friends tell me that the Sabre 2 is really fun loaded up that high. Personally, I'd want the extra aerodynamic efficiency from a cross braced if I were going to be loading that high. You're (presumably) a grown ass man so, do what you want. #SoFPiDaRF Cliff notes: Y tho?
  8. You want information on the Fluid Wings Airwolf? Go to the Valkyrie Hybrid thread... Seriously though, I'm glad we all have so many options, it's only good for consumers. :-) Still looking for a video from FW on the "easy" way to attach their slider, btw. I can haz?
  9. If, like me, you weren't at PIA you probably didn't see that PD released a hybrid order option for the VK. This means that, within a couple of weeks, we'll have the option to use white or black sail for the internal ribs on their order form for $100 on top of the regular VK price. That's ribs only, not cross braces or tail ribs. They'll have demos out "soon" - I'm not holding my breath literally as I can only do that for a minute or two but I am figuratively. This gives people like myself who prefer the VK's flight characteristics over the other wings in that segment a higher performance option without going all the way to a Peregrine (which I wouldn't). It also gives CP peeps a wing to take up against the NZA Hybrid Leia and now, Airwolf from Fluid Wings. NZA has had this option for a long time, I'm glad PD has now made this available as well. I haven't had a chance to fly one yet but, I'm looking forward to getting a demo VK79 hybrid to compare to mine.
  10. If you're looking to remove the chin padding because there isn't enough room for you, you can also put in a thinner top-of-head pad that will give a little more room.
  11. Yeah, the pause before snapping the last 180 is a tad too much on these turns. Top end looks a little quick as well but, I don't do 450º so, IDK.
  12. The only honest answer I can give you is "it depends". I think if you were seeing 500ish jumps out of a similarly loaded VE/VC/JVX the it's reasonable to think the extra speed generated by the VK *should* give you something in that ballpark but, who knows. I have a friend who broke lines on his Hybrid Leia after, I think, 120 jumps. He's not loading the wing super high but, he jumps mostly in Elsinore. I have other friends who've put 400+ on their Leias and have no problems. In terms of the conversation about line longevity, we usually hear that VKs are bad but not much about the HL, it happens though. If I'm getting 250ish jumps out of mine in SoCal, I'd imagine that someone jumping in an area with less sand/etc. could get 350 but, again, who knows?
  13. It's misleading if you're inclined to see it that way. My personal experience is that, most camera flyers fly HP wings. I have several friends who fly Petras as their camera wing because they want to swoop and can do so on every jump. To me, I don't really think PD is far off the mark when NZA has a wing that will not last super long that camera flyers use, that's not even the lines that are failing, it's the material. I'm not trying to criticize NZA here, sail just doesn't last as long as ZP. Not everyone only gets 150 jumps out of OV500 lines. It's definitely been a problem that PD has tried to correct but, I know people who've got a lot more. I personally replace my lines early compared to what most people say I should. I don't want to take the chance when it comes to tension knots (potentially caused by the opening sequence and contributed to by the fuzzy vectran lines) so, I replace early; I've yet to have tension knots on my VK. I know plenty of people who have, though. I jump mostly in SoCal so, my lines should be expected to wear out super fast but, I load my VK79 @ 2.2 so, lighter loading in theory should give me longer life. Who knows how much, though. I guess I just don't agree with your reasoning in grouping the VK with a Sabre2 in terms of general use, we're talking about the highest performance wing available to the general public from PD. That's not to say that it's great for the lines to be done in 150 jumps but, I think that we've really not got enough data points on the new lineset to come to a conclusion as to whether the OV500+OV300 outers or HMA500 lines will make a difference for people. The analogy that I generally use is taking race tires and using them on a fast street car will give you more milage that taking those same tires and using them on a race car. The VK flies faster than a VE/VC there's more wear, that results in reduced longevity of the material.
  14. This is where I have to disagree; to put what angryelf said maybe more succinctly, the VK not an all purpose canopy. Expecting it to perform like one is a mistake IMO. My OV500s still look ok (and, I'm not the type to leave them until they're sketchy) so, I'll likely order after that. No harm in ordering sooner, just haven't got around to it yet.
  15. This is the salient point here, I think. There seems to be a lot more people than I thought who don't understand what it means to fly and land a parachute. My take away is, for most scenarios, the perception that we all have that our recovery downwind and upwind are different are just that - perceptions. Do you think this is a fair statement?
  16. Waiting for an email on the demo I requested.
  17. Ok, that makes sense, thanks. Wouldn't a sine curve have a balancing affect on the equation, though? Since your sine wave has peaks and troughs... (I wish there was a "scratching my head" emoticon )
  18. Your picture doesn't account for the movement of the wing across the ground while vertical. If I'm at 90º dive angle (hey, we can hope) then, my ground speed = wind speed. That being the case, your "90º" will be tilted with the direction of the wind. Wind sheer is a change in director or speed, is it not? I'm not sure how a calculation like that can be made without some more specificity. If there is a sheer that "happens" (not sure what terminology to use) over say, 10ft, wouldn't the effect be different than if it were over 2ft? I don't know but, there seems to be a flaw in my understanding of your explanation or the logic therein. How long the wing takes to pass through the sheer would have an effect as well as the weight in the system, no?
  19. Yeah, I'm not really game to play chicken with my lines. I'd heard the same, that HMA doesn't show wear as much but has similar life. I have not had any problems with my VK or, any other that I've jumped. Multiple 79s and a few on a 75.
  20. I changed my first lineset at 150-ish, most people (my rigger, experienced peeps, PD) thought there were 50 more jumps in my lines but, I wasn't happy with the way they looked (looking really furry) so, I changed them. Standard OV500 for the second set, those were the ones I changed super early for #REASONS. I'm on my third set, probably about 100 ish jumps, the lines look pretty good so, not going to change them for a bit. So, your point is valid but, the devil is in the detail. A lot of my jumps are in sandy/dirty environments (Elsinore, San Diego, Oceanside) so, I don't expect to get a bunch of jumps on the lines. 150 is a little low, somewhere north of 200 on OV500 would be expected in these environments but, I'm also a scaredy cat with lines. I'm likely going to try the HMA500s and see how they go.
  21. The explanation I've heard is that the VK is a faster wing and causes more issues but, given how the VKs openings are so staged compared to the VE/VC, I'm not really surprised that there'd be less chance of tension knots on the VC/VE. In summary, what PD said (Luck's post above). It's not a simple matter of saying "same lines: same problems" there are a shit-tonne (metric) variables. I've yet to have tension knots on my VK and have had 3 line sets on it now.
  22. I always thought the mini-ribs were the easiest way to figure it out from looking at the wing... given the label or a giant logo isn't immediately obvious.
  23. The theory I've heard from a few people is that the wear and subsequent furriness of the vectran causes the tension knots. HMA doesn't get as furry before it's time to change lines, it tend to break without showing as much visible wear so, likely the issues with furriness and resulting tension knots are less of a problem.
  24. Well, that's actually the way tunnels used to be, up to the "new" 14' iFly design, that is. I've only flown ISG in Voss (in terms of non-iFly tunnels) but, that's similar to the older iFly tunnels in terms of diffusing from the net up, though probably not as pronounced.