skow

How about chilling for a second and not taking life that seriously? .. or wait, sorry, I forgot this is skydiving. We have to be SUPER seriuos about everything! I'm not dissing anybody (although I have had some small issues with PF that made me switch to Squirrel although they make awesome suits). It was just funny that according to OP "...forth month of waiting for a suit and not getting ONE straight answer.." and after posting here thing gets resolved in less than one day. Then EOCS posts here about PF not answering and then gets a response in less than 4 hours.

Seems like writing on DZ forum works faster than sending mail to info(at)phoenixfly.com

Seems stupid. They'll get ruined super fast while you drag them on the ground while flying proxy...

You are forgetting that thanks to that, you have such an awesome time when you do finally find it

I have always had the impression that with WS it's exactly the opposite. With smaller canopy you have more speed. Just like with bigger suit you (usually) have more speed. So just like driving a car at 150 kph on the highway you don't turn the steering wheel like a maniac to change the lane, what could be on the other hand acceptable when driving 10 kph.

Sometimes we'll get students in that have been practicing tracking for WS that have the idea that maximum flight is what they want to achieve on their first few jumps. Part of a good coach's job is to catch it before the first flight occurs. If it's not caught, frequently the FFC will generate instability through a rigid, and usually improper body position. An FFC should be focused on exit, navigation, deployment, and nothing more. Body position, maximum flight, etc all come later in the process. I personally wouldn't go as far as detrimental, becasue it can (and in my opinion will) be useful later, in those things you wrote. Good trackers are usually good WS pilots. E.g. The fact that somebody does a lot of head-down fliying doesn't mean they will do that on their FFC with WS (yes, I am exaggerating)

How about WS?

Whoa, creating life. WS flying is more awesome than I though :D

You may find out that 90% of skydiving community (and 99% of BASE community) is those "bullies".

Was thinking about that for quite some time. I've seen in some videos that in some cases pilots tend to bend their arm at the elbow, for some reason. Question is what is the reason for it? I'd assume (if done on purpose) to reduce the area of one wing, which would result in turn in that direction, but when comparing to e.g. lifting the other arm it would result in more altitude loss(?). Example: 1:04 in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD1e9hYj8XQ Any thoughts?

I think you should print that on a t-shirt when you go to AFF course.

You got it completely wrong. You are NOT the one who will be drinking the beer :D

I've always loved this kind of "advices" from jumpers with noticeble number of jumps. "Forget WS flying/Swooping/HD flying until you have XXX jumps". So how is anybody going to be ready at XXX jumps to fly WS if they don't do anything towards it? I'd suggest the following: 1. Keep your goal in mind 2. Do AFF course 3. Ask questions/ read forums, artcles etc. 4. Practice/master basics of normal flying (belly, basic FF etc.) 5. Ask questions/ read forums, artcles etc. 6. Practice/master skills towards WS flying that can be trained without a WS (tracking, back tracking, atmo, flying with tracking suit etc.) 7. Ask questions/ read forums, artcles etc. 8. When you have XXX jumps and FEEL comfortable go to First Flight Course * buying beer is of course mandatory in all of the steps

and how about if you compare Mamba to Xfire or Katana?

Alright guys, thanks a lot for all the info.

I have Atom Millenium 34-1, so I guess i should look for a new container... :)

Hello I've been jumping an Atom harness/container with Hornet 190sqft canopy. Recently I bought a Stiletto 170sqft and put it into my Atom (well, more like try to fit, it isn't attached to risers yet). It definitely feels and looks more loose with smaller canopy however it isn't, in my opinion too loose, but I'm not a rigger of any type. My question is does anybody have any specs for Atom containers with specified minimal canopy sizes/models? I've browsed through manual for Atom but couldn't find anything. --Marek

I did 2 jumps at Sydney Skydivers in September 2009. Very nice experience. Landing zone was really big. Staff was very nice and friendly. Unfortunately DZ was a bit far from Sydney, however they offered me a free bus ride both ways so it wasn't so bad. I'd definitely recommend this place!