SPAWNmaster

cool. unlike you, I'm not a money man, and don't know what im doing financially. doesn't stop me from taking out student loans to buy new gear all the time. you'll find many who strike a balance and can KEEP IT but you'll also find plenty who sell their shit or start living in a tent on the DZ to afford the lifestyle. answer your question?

also reminds me of me... it might be for you. go make a tandem to get a "fun ride" and get sort of an idea if it's too much for you or not. there are all kinds of people in skydiving, including adrenaline junkie "extreme" types, and cautious, calm people such as myself. the fact that you're on here and curious makes me think you might already have decided you want to give it a shot. i know that before I even did my first jump, deep down inside i knew it was something i was going to be playing with for a long time...

congrats man! i can't wait to afford a new/used vigil!

I'll have to disagree man! I will certainly give respect where it's deserved such as with people who have worked hard to become better in anything they do (if you cannot afford coaching, then props to you for trying hard on your own!)...however- You've chosen an inherently expensive sport. I see nothing wrong with paying for resources freely available (tunnel time, coaches, etc) to become better at what we do. Coaching can be a collaborative effort between extremely experienced people and newcomers to share a wealth of knowledge that might come over tens or hundreds of jumps under normal circumstances. While coaching is no substitute for experience, it is hardly a fast track to skygodhood (which is how I'm reading your comment). With coaching during a summer boogie and subsequently thereafter, I have become a much better freeflier. I have a feeling were it not for the coaching I would have spent 10s of jumps having a friend fly base while I try and figure out my sliding and body position. -my 2cts If you'd like to discuss this further, I invite you to PM me so as to not further detract from the actual subject of this thread.

when you're first learning to sit, always start out facing the rear...the relative wind on exit will help you get used to being head up, but eventually you will need to get used to flying vertical off the hill which is kind of a different feeling than right out the door. something that helped me get off my back when i couldn't "sit up": just get your shoulder blades back and pop out your chest like your "proud". you don't necessarily need to have your arms way back (and in fact you can develop some bad habits this way) so just concentrate on using your back to hold you up...shoulder blades back that should help. once you're up you can concentrate on good leg position and leg awareness which will free up your arms for other things...GET SOME COACHING!

????? I remember reading an article (before 2000) about pull forces created by a PC and the forces needed to pull the pin. Even with a very very tight closing loop (without using an "aid"device to close the container), the max force to pull the pin is never bigger than 10 pound (if I remember correctly). The pull forces created by the PC are much greater (35 or 80 pound?). I believe that Bill Booth wrote the article or was at least quoted in that article. Does anybody remember this article? 80lb. the way i look at it, if you can get the pin in with less than 80lbs of holding force on the closing loop, the container will open. remember that the pin is in perpendicular to the holding force of the loop itself. when the PC inflates it's pulling the pin up and out rather than just pulling it out the side. that said, if you can pull your closing loop out enough to get the pin in, the PC itself can do the same (unless there's 80lbs or more of holding on force on the closing loop). i am not a rigger. my 2cts.

Rstanley- I think Simon was just trying to refocus the thread a little bit. There are plenty of freeflyers on these forums and even Simon himself who pay it forward all the time by jumping with newcomers to the field. The discussion is more pointed towards advanced, competitive VRW & VFS. Freeflying in general will most likely never die off since there will always be someone trying to fly off-axis or vertical and try something different. my 2cts

good reactions man. for what it's worth the canopy "breathing heavy" is typical stall behavior for large canopies...you will find that this normal if you hold in deep brakes...your canopy may even buck around or collapse if are in a deep enough stall.

Usually when I dream about skydiving I snivel right into the ground but always walk away fine. edit: also I've had some indoor skydiving dreams with giant hangars that go up to 5k

I saw it at skyfest...really neat product. I was told that it wasn't in production yet but it looks sweet. Magnetic, and bends in a couple different parts to attach to the reserve flap (if i recall correctly!). way more low profile than the rubberband idea.

Not necessarily. If you guys launch upwind and plan the spot well enough you may not have to land out. If you do not believe you have the ability to land in a tight area with obstacles, don't jump. Everything else is cake. Happy hops ;)

Night jumps are awesome! I just made my first 2 on Saturday and it was an absolute blast :D . Landing isn't really an issue, I think the biggest danger is other canopies in the air. I got cut off in the pattern and I can see how that could've ended up bad since it's extremely difficult to spot other canopies in the air. Glow sticks...lots of glow sticks. I did some 2 way freeflying which was a lot of fun, and the visuals up there are absolutely stunning...full moon, beautiful lit up clouds...cities...etc. Just gorgeous. Wish my video camera could've picked that stuff up...even with nightshot you could barely see the other guy in freefall. The ground seems to comes up real fast too!

Thanks Dave, Appreciate the coach jumps at Skyfest and your input in this thread. Peace -AG

woah. exact same thing happened to me, no joke. i actually ended up repeating that level and my wallet regretted it. in the grander scheme of things i think it's important to keep pushing onto your later levels and doing as much ground work as possible (visualizing, etc) and relaxing. the mechanics thing (small turns that you simply cannot feel like you're in control) will *click* eventually. im not an instructor or coach however i was once an AFF student too and this is my opinion. and here's a tip that really helped me- if you have a small turn, its obviously a subtle assymetry you're not accounting for. tap your legs together (leg check) and bring in your arms to your ears and then back out (arm check) and you should have a correct symmetry.

oh man i did my first balloon jump at skyfest this year...absolutely amazing. good luck finding a place near jersey doing that sort of thing. i know there are companies in the adirondacks that do balloon rides...surely there are pilots venturous enough to put out jumpers. my pic attached. *edit for drunk spelling

Yes it is a custom wings. Funny you mention, Scarlett, actually I saw her at skyfest and she took a look at the rig. There are no cut-in laterals on the rig. I'm not too concerned with the rig popping off my back in a sit. I can come up with several examples of this happening with other freefliers and feel like it is a pretty normal occurrence considering my body type and position. Should I be worried?

Thanks for the detailed response! Will give those exercises a try and will practice in the sky asap. Much appreciated.

Hey guys... New freeflier here. Ive just been watching video of myself from a bunch of jumps and notice that my legs are cambering a lot. Why is this? A freefly coach had brought this to my attention and I understand it's bad body position. It feels the most "stable" way to fly my sit at the moment but I'd like to correct it. If anyone has any insight about this phenomenon or if I simply need to be more aware of keeping my legs straight, please chime in. Sorry for the photos, its really the only decent ones I could find that show what's going on with my legs. Also bear in mind that I have been doing lots of 2 ways and solos trying to get it down and feel that my sit has come along way. I don't think I'm doing it quite as much anymore but obviously some of you more experienced freefliers might have ideas of common causes, or any other input.

Haven't done anything regarding the service bulletin yet...want to hear more opinions on this... As far as the stiff ring covers...I had the same issue when I got my wings. Put about 40 jumps on it at skyfest and by the end, not only did the rings not bug me anymore but the whole thing fit like a glove! It's just the rig being new and stiff...put a bunch of jumps on it and see if it still bugs you.

I jump an optima and can speak for it's accuracy and reliability. It's loud enough, easy to use and fits most brackets. But you said you want one that logs jumps so... my 2cts.

ahh, glad to hear that man! that was a weird day for you. in any case, as far as the thread topic is concerned, my perspective is kind of limited. I have less than 6 months in the sport but have had the opportunity to visit a number of dz's (5+) and have noticed that both freeflying and RW seem to be in abundance as WELL as other disciplines too (with the exception of CRW which I really haven't seen at all tbh). I feel like ONLINE, dz.com tends to facilitate rumors or over-analysis because of a few people's experiences get blown out of proportion and all of a sudden its an epidemic. Again this is just my opinion as a new jumper. I also noticed there was plenty of ff going on at skyfest, just as there was plenty of everything else. Again, this is just my perspective as an up and coming jumper...I don't know what things were like for the freefly community before I started jumping so...

When was the mod made, and when did they start producing the new line-trimmed triathlons? I could tell you this afternoon if I had the dates, since I have a triathlon160.

awesome video dude. you sent in that camera to get fixed yet?

if you are really planning to do 150-200 jumps living on the DZ for a month then expect your skills to fly through the roof in every discipline. being really current like that is HUGE. that said, you may find you wished you had gotten a sportier canopy. something like the saffire2 might be a good choice since it has a lot of range. you can fly it very conservatively or fly it very sporty. on the other hand both the triathlon and pilot can be flown sporty or conservatively as well, i just feel that the saffire2 (or sabre2, something along those lines) might have some more range considering the amount of jumping you want to do in the near future. like others have mentioned demo some canopies! also, do some research on the characteristics and trim of those canopies. look into 7cell vs 9cell, too. i have jumped all the canopies that I have mentioned in this post but my main is a triathlon. it is the canopy that does everything, and if you need my opinion on it feel free to pm. blues.

not sure about that as I'm no expert freeflier...but what I do is just turn my body so i'm presenting from the side so I can take the dock without having to move my arms.