3mpire

Members
  • Content

    733
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

Posts posted by 3mpire


  1. Quote

    On openings I get end-cell closures (every time) that make the canopy turn ~90 degree, followed usually by a dive.



    I've done nearly all my jumps on either a SA2 170 or SA2 150 and a 90 degree turn on opening was common. Just downsizing isn't a guarantee to change that.

    Have you considered learning to steer your canopy using rear risers?

    Because my canopies commonly turn on opening, when the canopy stands me up I put my hands on my rears and give left or right corrections to counter any turns or dives. It doesn't take much.

    Plus you get the added benefit of being able to react quickly if someone else you didn't see gets into your airspace.

    At 80 jumps you should talk to an instructor or a knowledgable canopy pilot about this, but it's a good skill to develop. Plus it doesn't require a downsize.

    If your canopy is ever doing something you don't like, and you're given the option of developing a new skill to control it vs downsizing and hoping that a higher wing loading will solve it... I'd go with developing the new skill

  2. I've got a new one. Happened to me recently.

    It was very hot out so I was only wearing boxer shorts under my jump suit. Normally I wear compression shorts. But I brainlocked in the morning and just threw on boxer shorts with a fly (no button. this is important in the error chain)

    I was in the middle of telling a very funny story, and to emphasize a particular bit, I unzipped my suit very quickly with much force.

    The old saying "if you leave the barn door open the horse might escape" applies here.

    Let's just say the horse had decided to stick it's nose out of the barn door, which then got zipped and trapped by the zipper.

    Extremely painful.

    Zipper head had fully stuck itself on some pinched skin. Backing that thing out helped me understand the pain of child birth.

    The lessons in this sport have been learned by pioneers that sacrificed life and limb. Let this be a lesson to future generations that a zipper-dick malfunction is completely avoidable.

    Stay safe out there.

    :P


  3. Quote

    taking step one and talk to the dzo? well he's selling tickets and making the dough needed to keep the plane going for everybody. so that won't solve the problem either.



    Wait till one of the tunnel rats goes in. DZO might change his tune then, and possibly in a way that leaves nobody happy.

  4. Stuff I like to do solo:

  5. maintaining heading and altitude fly with left arm behind your back; fly with right arm behind your back; fly with both arms behind your back

  6. maintaining heading and altitude reach back with your right arm and touch your right bootie; repeat for left side

  7. maintaining heading and altitude point your right knee straight down to the net; repeat for left side

  8. Quote

    But if you need all day to do your jump, eat real food too. My go to when training is PB&J sandwiches on 12 grain bread. They have a decent enough mix of fat, carbs, and protein.



    All your input was great--this bit especially! The bagels I have been eating probably aren't as good as a grain bread plus pbj would be a better source of longer term energy than just plain bagel!

    I'll float the idea of trying to batch dives I like that idea! Most of us only have 1 rig and lift capacity can be tight at times however if we used packers and tried to pre-arrange a cluster of jumps early in the day we might be able to shorten our day and increase our performance.

    So far our plan has been to have a fairly consistent schedule, but a variable pace is new idea for us!

  9. Quote

    I feel like the biggest variable on flagging is not the number of jumps, but the overall length of the day. If you're starting at 7 or 8 and doing jump 6 at noon, that's one thing. If you're doing jump 6 at 3 p.m., that's entirely another in terms of energy management.



    That's 100% spot on for us. If we are on jump 3 before noon we are almost ahead of schedule. We have been having the discussion of considering a running clock from jump 1 to be our timebox versus jump numbers.

    I remember reading Christy's series when they came out but I completely forgot about them! It's great stuff.

    We have a great team dynamic about goal setting and planning, our biggest thing is more just the reality of trying to get enough jumps in to make progress versus diminishing returns toward the end of a long day.

    I'll share the series with the team as I think it would be nice for us all to read it again--thanks!

  10. Thanks! i'll give that mix a shot!

    Our ideal call is about 40 minutes from the time we land to the time we board. If we cut out packing we could do 20s, if the lift capacity is there!

    Since some of that is out of our control, we are trying to train to maintain performance for the duration which makes our fitness levels and nutrition/hydration critical.

  11. My FS team has been training and competing for a few years now and we are to the point that we are putting in 10+ hour training and competition days at the DZ getting up to 8 jumps a day.

    This summer especially has been hot, and we have all been experimenting with different hydration and nutrition strategies.

    Commonly we have a collective pile of food we share consisting mostly of fresh fruit (rainier cherries, strawberries, grapes, water mellon, etc.), carbs (bagels), and protein (salami, ham, etc.) We also have a reserve of snicker bars if we need pick me up before a jump towards the end of the day.

    As for hydration it's pretty much just a lot of water.

    I think we are short on electrolytes, especially lately with the high temps.

    I know that as a runner I need 200-400 calories an hour along with proper hydration.

    With 4way, I'm wondering what a proper caloric intake should be if you're averaging around 1 jump an hour with packing and dirt diving in the mix?

    Around jump 6 we start to lag and I think if we had a little more energy from diet we might be able to maintain mental focus towards the end of the day.

    Does anyone out there with a more informed background in nutrition have any improvements to our current strategy?

  12. First off: Keep up the good work, I'm a fan! Thanks to the whole team that puts these together!

    Quick question/small request:

    When new shows are posted, can you list the segments and their start times?

    Sometimes I can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting but want to find a specific segment for a quick listen.

    It would be easier knowing what time each segment starts rather than having to kinda skip along and try to figure out what segment is what and when it starts etc. etc.

    Not a huge deal, just some feedback on a nice-to-have feature.

    Cheers!

  13. Quote

    Honestly... that is not a bad thing to recommend. Flood them with how great the airport is, how glad you are that its not as loud as living by some airports could be. Maybe talk about how nice the gentlemen and ladies are that parachute from the planes way out of earshot...

    lots of good things



    Look at what a half dozen complainers were able to do in terms of volume.

    If even half the jumpers on every otter load submitted one compliment for every jump they make a weekend, the "compliments" would number in the thousands every month and the "complaints" could never outnumber them.

    Granted in the legal setting it's been proven that community complaints aren't an indicator of a problem.

    But it's something simple jumpers can do to take away one of their main talking points, which is how many complaints have been filed.

    This new system requiring a user to login and a limit of one complaint every 20 minutes (different flights basically) means that jumpers would always be able to file several times more compliments than they could file complaints per flight.

  14. normiss

    Is it possible to also file COMPLIMENTS via this new system?
    ;)



    From Page 1:

    Quote

    The Airport Noise – Comment Log is a repository for information
    collected by listening to the citizens, particularly those in the vicinity of the
    Vance Brand Municipal Airport, about aircraft noise complaints and other
    comments, both complimentary and non-complimentary, and may be used to
    analyze the data collected using means as directed by city management.



    So everyone should just submit a complimentary comment after every jump to make sure your positive experience is included in the city management's analysis B|

  15. I had a hard opening a few years ago that taught me the dangers of pitching with your mouth open.

    The opening shock slammed my jaw shut with enough force that the molars in the back of my mouth carved nice deep slices into my tongue.

    Ever since, my procedure is: wave, reach, close mouth/tongue check, pull

    :P:SB|


  16. Quote

    I want to go solo first and take it from there once I'm solid, but I don't really know where to start. Go solo track jump and learn then?



    Please. No. You have no frame of reference and odds are good you will be tracking all over the place.

    I recently was on a team training belly jump and we had a solo free flyer who didn't know what he was doing end up opening below us and ridiculously close because he ended up traveling down jump run doing exactly what you're describing.

    Find someone who knows what they're doing and work with them.