davelepka

PD makes the best canopies out there. With your expertice you should get the PD 113 (I've got one, nad you're only 3000 or so jumps behind me). I think the 106 is a hair small for you, but it's your choice.

Your story sounds like the perfect argument for my earlier post. Your skills at this point are not up to the task of that particular canopy.

Keep this in mind: A sprained ankle will have keep you on the ground for a month. If you break a finger, or a toe, same deal. These are small, somewhat painless injuries that will sideline your skydiving 100%. Stick to the canopies you can land safely, and stay in the air. ( I have purposely left major and/or catastrophic injuries out of the post because we all know the results of those, and are sick of hearing about them).

Vector II - not so good for freefly.

PD 190 - not so good for landing

Swift reserve - will work for saving your life

New Cypress - good choice

New Cypress2 - better choice

When you start to look at smaller canopies, say 150 and under, there are additional factors to consider when selecting a wing loading.

First the smaller canopy will have less parasitic drag due to it's smaller size. The wing loading is pulling a smaller profile through the air, which causes it to go faster.

Second, shorter line set will reduce the time it takes you canopy to react to inputs. Your weight, which is providing all the forward speed of the canopy, is rotating through a shoter arc under the canopy, thus causing cahnges in pitch or attitude to happen quicker. Your reaction time needs to speed up in accordance with this, or wou will literally be "behind the power curve".

Both of these factors, when combined, effectivlety raise you wing loading approx. .2 or .3/ sq ft. If you figure your exit weight (150), devided by your canopy size 135, you would get 1.11 to 1. Add the factors mentioned above, and you effective wing loading of between 1.41 or 1.31 to 1.

You may be better served with a 150 (or larger) for your first canopy. 150 or 170 sized canopies are very popular, and easy to find a good deal on a used one (and subsequently easy to sell after 100 jumps or so).

Maybe one dollar was on the low side.

How about a grand? PM me.

Andy2 only has 52 jumps, it would be a crime to sell it to him just to make the extra three cents.

One dollar. Cash money. I'll pay shipping.

Have you tried looking in, "Maybe another hundred jumps might be a good idea before putting on a distraction (read: camera)"?

If you don't have any luck there, you may find something in "That canopy seems really small and aggresive for someone with 200 jumps".

Good luck with your search.

Your first point about many fatalities under open canopies are from low hooks needs to be re-considered. The stats have shown (in this forum in fact) that many open canopy fatalities were had by jumpers in the 200 to 500 jump range, jumping canopies at wing loadings that were just a touch high for thier experience, and the fatality was the result of a low turn into the wind, or a mix-up on an off field landing. These jumpers were not trying to perform a high performance landing of any kind.

Swoop landings are as safe as skydiving in general if people would give swooping the same consideration they gave skydiving in the begining. Have you ever heard of a student standing up in the middle of the first jump course and saying "I know you guys think I need to learn more, and practice more, but I'm going to jump right now anyway"? That is what happens everday at DZ's across the world. Senoir jumpers warn against rapid down-sizing, and aggresive landings without additional training, and the newbies don't listen. If a jumper was dedicated, and sought the proper training and coaching, and worked at it, he could place on the Pro Swooping Tour, and get a spot on the US team for the World Cup of Swooping in less than two years of total skydiving. I know this because I jump with just such a guy every weekend.

Your thoughts are coming from the right place, but keep in mind that at your level of experience there may be facets of certain issues that you cannot see.

I'm really not opposed to anyone jumping anything they want. Yes indeed the failure could have been from abuse, or a single traumatic incident, but the component in question is attached to container older than some of the newbies on DZ's today.

I didn't think you had put 4000 jumps on one rig. My rig is almost six years old, and has 2000+ jumps on it. I would have shelved it this season if the entire harness hadn't been replaced two years ago. Just food for thought, but my concern would be regarding a FAILURE of the harness (stiching most likely). Wear is one thing, and you can see that coming, but a complete failure of the harness is something your reserve, Cypress, RSL, colins lanyard, skyhook, or pop-top can't save you from. Another post , I think in the gear and rigging forum, has some pics of a complete riser failure after a hard opening. Fourtunately, the harness held together, and the jumper landed safely under a reserve. The container used was a newer Javelin, and it was sent in for a complete inspection and repair. I would consider this to be the "worst case scenario", and would not want an "older' harness around me if I should find myself in this situation.

When you could inexpensively replace your container with a more modern piece of equipment, it would seem penny-wise and pound-foolish to repair what is admittedly an older container (I'm taking your lack of willingness to reveal the age as an admittance that it is old enough for you to want to keep your mouth shut). Good luck with whatever you deciede to do.

Alana,
We shoot that video every weekend. Actually I shoot that video every weekend, they don't make a weight vest big enough for Nate to do it.

I had Jump Shack do some harness work done on my Racer a couple of years ago (I had hip rings installed). The estimate to do the work was $200. It ended up taking much longer then they thought, but still only charged me the $200.

The point is that major structural work is costly, and you could probably pick up a container half the age of your current one (no offense, really) for under $500. Considering the size of the canopies you're jumping, there should be a good selection in the classifieds of this website.

I know you think it's a perfectly good container, but keep in mind the failure was excessive wear on a metal component which put it out of operable specification. Thats an awful lot of wear, and I'm sure that other components have experienced similar wear. Besides, if you have over 4000 jumps, you deserve a new container.

If Olav was really interested in people passing the test without practice, he would set it up so those without practice could take the test the first time, and if they failed, only pay for the two slots. Subsequent jumps could be charged the full rate, as the jumper would know what the test was like, and could hold off on a retest untill their skills were up to par.

If you were to pay me $130 per jump for a test with a pass/fail criteria, of course I would tell you not to practice, reducing your chances of passing, and increasing my chances of additional $130 paydays. The whole thing seems to be geared toward producing revenue for Olav, not promoting freeflying at a higher level, and raising it's standing in the general skydiving community.

Thanks to everyone for their responses. As I mentioned, Iknow the person in question posts here, and I hope that they read this and understand that it's not cool, and to knock it off in the future. I also happen to know this jumpers home DZ, and that shit doesn't fly there either.

You know who you are. Clean it up in the future.

This weekend, one our cameramen came down from a load with an interesting report. He sais that a low time jumper climbed into the door with a coach for a 2-way RW jump. The low timer had trouble getting into position in the door, and was a little slow with the count. At this point a visiting jumper, a freeflier who was exiting after the RW jumpers (by the way I'm a freeflier and I like most freefliers) began yelling "Go, go bitch go! Get the fuck out of the door! Go!". The cameraman, who was rolling at the time, plugged in his camera, and sure enough, his story was dead on.

I have been jumping for almost 10 years, and have never heard anything like this at any DZ anywhere in the country. Has anyone ever seen or heard of this before? This behavior has no place at my home DZ, or any DZ in my opinion. Jumpers like this should re-evaluate their attitude and start thinking before they speak. I have a feeling that this jumper may post here, and if you see this you know who you are, and you fucked up. If you have a problem with the spot when your turn comes up the door, either A) pull high, B) land off or C) close the door and ask for a go-around. We have respect for all of the jumpers at my home DZ, especially the students, who pay for the Super Otter and the free beer we all enjoy every time we show up to jump.

Big-time moderator green with envy....

I told Jason that I would jump the ball with him, and sure as hell was planning on doing a "dry run" with him, just to see. I may not have him dock on my fist, but I think a fun two way will be enough.

As far as low jump numbers go, if the ball master is qualified, there's a pretty big window of who can jump with the ball. If they really suck that bad, they won't even be near the ball, at which point you grab the ball, stuff it down your jumpsuit, and chase the guy down.

Here's a realistic idea for someone with 39 jumps. If you can remember to hold onto your handles, stuff them into your jumpsuit. If you have a free moment (with 39 jumps your deployment alt. should be high enough, and your reserve big enough that you will have a moment), look straight down in between your feet, and pick out a landmark. This landmark will help you to locate your main and freebag in the event that another jumper doesn't follow them down, or spot them for you. Otherwise focus you attention on finding a safe landing area, and your canopy control with the new canopy over your head.

Catching your freebag is a good trick, but wait untill you have a couple thousand jumps to try it. As far as the main goes, anyone who has flown around a cutaway main knows it all risers and bags swinging around, blowing and drifting, and just plain scary.

My favorite TM (I shoot video) only has one eye, and he's awesome. He's also an RWS T I/E, so it shouldn't be too limiting for your jumping. He did start jumping with two eyes, than had to have one replaced with a (useless) glass eye.

I'm pretty sure that he drove F1 for Ferrari in the 60's, so I guess he's qualified to flog the million dollar cars. Still, fuck him and his awsome job...

I'm not sure how to make a "clicky" for this, or even how to post the search resutls, BUT, if you do a search of all my posts in the Photo and Video forum, look for the one titled "For the New Guys". There may be some things in there for you to consider when thinking about jumping with a camera.

Roger that, Super Otter.

I noticed in your profile you didn't include your home DZ where "everyone" agrees that this a good canopy for you.

Your Sabre 120 will have a higher performance envelope than a Sabre 170 at the same loading. The smaller canopy will have lower parasitic drag in comparison to the larger canopy. Due to this, it is neccesarry to adjust the reccomended wing loading when you get into this situation. That said, even with excellent canopy control (for your level of expereince) it might be wise to shelf the 120 for a bit, and spend some more time with the 135.

It might also be wise to do a search on this forum for statistics regarding the fatalities under open canopies. Someone did a fantastic job of organizing all the relevant info into one post. You will find that many of the fatalities were low time jumpers, on canopies that were "okay in the best case scenario". The incidents were not people attempting high performance landings, but making some typical mistakes newer jumpers make, and putting themselves into the "worst case scenario".

You should be able to locate a 135 or bigger you could use for a little while. Check with local jumpers who may have something in the back of the closet, or call the manufacturers and see about a longer term demo. There may be a local jumper who is ready for a 120, who would swap thier current canopy with you untill you are ready for the 120.

Just some things to think about. Be safe.

I work at Aerohio, and have never heard of any "rivalry". It's true, like any DZ, we have our share of jackasses, and maybe you ran into one of them. All of the freeflyers are cool, and willing to jump with new faces all of the time. Most weekends we have a dedicated freefly organizer looking for people to jump with.

If I'm not mistaken, there may have been a group of freeflyers form your DZ who came up for our freefly money meet. I know they all had a kick ass time, and one of them took home some cash.

Come on up any weekend. There's camping, free bunkhouse, showers and food on the DZ. I'd be happy to jump the ball with you.

Step one: throw ball

Step two: jump and chase ball

It really shouldn't be a problem where the door is. If you're ready to jump with a ball, you're ready to exit in any direction. If you want to do it safely, come up to Areohio one weekend, we have several AD's who can jump with you to prep for the test (and no there are no hidden fees involved, we just like jumping with sky balls).

I saw a report on CNN where the anchor said " An AUSTRAILIAN jumper crossed the.....". At first I thought she may have mis-spoke, but when they went to the video, the CNN people had added a title to the top of the screen that read "Aussie makes a record flight". Gotta love that national news coverage...G-DAY, MATE!