GoHuskers

Seems counter intuitive to not spend much time in the sport AND want a custom fitted,custom colored rig but that's your decision and you're entitled to it. As far as an AAD goes, I recommend buying a new one simply due to the fact the you will drive yourself crazy trying to get an AAD with a few years left in the life cycle. And from my limited experience with compulsively looking at the classifieds ads I've arrived at 2 conclusions for AAD's. 1. Used AADs will always be a sellers market. 2. If more than 3 of the same brand are listed in the classifieds and attractively priced, you don't want that brand.

One of the best posts I've ever read.

All else being equal a steeper angle of attack will help you identify and adjust your pattern to the target. It will especially help prevent overshooting your target with a lightly loaded / flat gliding canopy.

They've got a cool name, what else do you need?

No. Yes.

Tightening your chest strap before your leg straps gives a more comfortable fit to the harness. The best part is you can never forgot to route your chest strap appropriately if its part of your snug but comfortable ritual.

You've just described all the reasons why a Pilot is a more forgiving canopy for a beginner than a Sabre2 at comparable wing loadings. The Sabre2 has a significant advantage in accuracy, that shouldn't be dismissed. The OP ruled out a Sabre2 based on 1 day of overflaring. IMO 1-2 more days at the DZ and he will iron out overflaring, hence the comment about not being so quick to rule it out. Openings and recovery arc are better on the Pilot, to which I wholeheartedly agree. Another advantage the pilot has is packing tabs which are an awesome aid when you're learning to pack.

Tracking and freeflying are different but get lumped together by speed type, but people think tracking is easy so they throw together last load 12 ways and open it up to anyone in the packing room, but don't give a detailed brief on changing angle/speed, put the newer jumpers in the back so the experienced flyers can track out of danger if necessary, give a breakoff brief and line of flight brief then throw it out the door. Tracking and angle flying have a lot in common so they have to be kind of the same, but they're both like freeflying because they're both fast but its like delta tracking kind of so belly fliers can do it too, but its different because you have to be able to fly headdown to be a good angle flier but angle flying is like tracking which is like delta tracking so anyone can do it.... Tracking dives definitely have a lot of circular logic surrounding them.

I wouldn't rule out the Sabre2 so quickly. It has tons of flare power and is very easy to learn/adjust your technique. Compared to a Pilot it has a steeper angle of attack so you're accuracy will be much better. A Saber2 has a longer recovery arc so expect it to take longer to return to normal flight than a Pilot. I have 140 jumps on a Pilot and 100 an a Sabre2. If I were to choose between the 2 canopies based solely on openings and landing flare the factors would be. Pilot opens softer, not as much flare. Sabre flares better, but inflates briskly on opening.

If I'm ever at a 1000' with a spinning main my choices and preferences are the major contributing factor.

Chewing gum helps as well. It keeps the jaw moving which is a very gentle way to valsalva. If you valsalva too hard you will eventually perf your TM or vagal out. Chewing gum does the same thing but on a longer timeline. I live in central texas so pollen, allergies, and congestion are more common than not. Sudafed helps, real sudafed (i.e. pseudoephedrine) not phenylephrine. Phenylephrine isn't even good enough to get cooked into meth Afrin really works too but I'm not sure if that applies to pure TM change in pressure issues so much as congestion.

Dont forget the updates for the GoPro. It'll greatly enhance performance. before the first update mine would freeze after coming on. Also you cannot put it in App Mode and Remote Control mode simultaneously. App Mode really drains the battery. If you leave the camera in App Mode or Wi-Fi mode it will continue to flash a blue light after you turn the camera off and will eventually drain the battery when you were expecting it to maintain a charge. So I always turn off the RC/App mode when I'm done with it for a week or whatever.

+1 best comment. Parachute and its pilot is a great book. Brian's style of writing is pretty awesome. it is equal parts canopy for the soul and encyclopedia of technical design

I saw a stabilizer tear like that but much longer when the fabric got tangled in the slider during deployment. I didn't see how it was repaired but it would explain it.

I wish I could fly that good. Or make a video that good. Link for the lurkers: 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ic3WsZolHE 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfTex1HCib4 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9hjew0LrhQ

Anyone know when Freefly Farewell to 2013 is going to get published? I've seen 2012, 2011, 2010 more times than I can count.

I would think that golf has something similar to what you're looking for. There are so many moving parts to a golf swing that even after you modify the fields to a skydive you'd likely still have plenty left to delete. Plus golf swings get fixed 1 thing at a time so that might make the priority of fixing easier to sort out.

There isn't any significant difference in weight between a G3 and your average skydiving helmet. The weight shouldn't be a factor between this helmet and others. The G3 sizing is a bit more peculiar than most helmets so do your best to physically try one on instead of measuring your head and ordering. My wife jumps a G3 and I've tried it for a few skydives. I personally prefer an open face helmet with a chincup. I have a Rawa Image and its super comfortable. Chincups are great if you want to shoot video (when you get to 200 jumps that is) because they eliminate a lot of shake. I also find the chincup is more comfortable than under the jaw buckle designs because the strap can pull against your throat. Chincups transmit any windblast from hard plastic to bone so its pretty comfortable. Under the jaw designs would definitely suck if your helmet catches a line during deployment. The other major factor is your sensory experience on the skydive. Full Face helmets remove you from the windblast. Some people like this because wind in your face is a distraction. Some people don't like this because wind in your face is an obvious part of the skydiving experience. This should be the biggest reason why you choose the type of helmet before you narrow down the brand. Whatever you decide on I highly recommend that you only consider helmets with internal audible pockets. I've had issues hearing audibles with every helmet I've ever used with an external design.

Safety: -Pay close attention to your breakoff altitude. I've seen quite a few folks who breakoff by backtracking. That's great if you are proficient at it I suppose. I'm not and I don't create enough separation or slow down enough to deploy by back tracking. I've seen a couple people who kicked their legs out into a back track and GAINED speed from sitfly speeds. They also went almost perfectly straight down. I do a normal count of 8 with 2 extra seconds to slow down. which is 2000 feet not 1500 feet. Plan for your desired opening altitude plus 2k for breakoff. If you don't slow down to belly speeds before you deploy it will bite you eventually. -Level, Slot, Dock is critical to approaching other people. Having legs go past you at 30 mph is not cool. -Audible, don't freefly without it. Do sitfly solos until you can hold it top to bottom. Backsliding is a fact of life when learning how to sitfly so definitely be aware of jump run (as previously mentioned) and any other reasonable precaution e.g. opening higher. Its a little harder to keep track of the DZ than belly, but once you've memorized the landmarks a few miles away from the dz its gets pretty easy. 2 good methods: 1- From your back, sit up. This is how I learned, symmetry is critical 2- Front flip from belly. The number one thing you'll realize is the force of wind in a sitfly is really strong. The amount of pressure you need to exert on your legs is about the same as sitting against a wall at a 90 degree angle. When you can hold it from top to bottom and check your altimeter while holding your heading, then you need to have a partner for frame of reference. 2ways are your friend. More is bad. Especially when you will likely have some stability issues (from inputs/distractions) which puts you above the group, looking down will get you a chest full of air and now stability issues multiply. Less people to keep track of allows you to focus on the dive. Start Coast Stop definitely applies but you can expect to orbit your partner occassionally/often. Locked Knee exit and sittrain exits are great. The Locked knee exit keeps you and your partner together until you're off the hill and you release the grip at sitfly speed and are immediately in close proximity facing each other. Sit-train is slightly harder in that you need to maintain the sitfly position individually but it builds up to 3 way sit-trains, undocked exits etc. http://www.joaotambor.com/ I love these DVDs. Hopefully you will find them helpful too. Dropzones are full of talent, you can learn significantly more from a few minutes of conversation than you'll ever learn on the internet. Plenty of people out there who teach freeflying professionally if you can afford it.

https://vimeo.com/68653911 Well worth 30 minutes of your time.

What's up with the 3rd degree on freeflying? Oneupmanship has not been my experience at all. The only time someone has given me technical feedback has been when I asked for it or I would've made a dock if...Its always been appreciated. I suppose if I had a gradual backslide for the entire jump my jump partner would say something. What's wrong with that? I'm not fun to jump with and I'm not safe for the load. I deserve to know that so I can fix it. I jump with my wife and we've progressed very well by having a consistent partner. Progression is an important component of FF and it makes sense to get in where you fit in. We aren't trying to do a 6 way HD jump and we aren't trying to jump with someone who can't maintain a FF speed. Our sweet spot is 2-4 way sitfly jump with folks who can make docks, adjust fall rate, and make a sitfly exit. Another good example is when you are jumping in a 4 way with 2 people who can maintain a FF speed but haven't developed a good range yet. This happened to me on my 200th jump. One of the jumpers flies about 160 the other about 145 so by breakoff time we couldn't locate the entire group. Both good jump partners just not together. A few months later my wife was jumping with the faster jumper when the slower jumper asked if he could join the group. She left the group without giving a detailed safety explanation of why she was leaving. I'm sure this could be interpreted as being snobbish or whatever. She left because those 2 jumpers together pose a safety hazard. Does this make her a typical FF snob? She's not obligated to give a detailed safety reason or hurt someone's feeling by pointing out that they need a little more skill for that group's safety. She also isn't obligated to expose herself to the risk either. The same thing that you talked about in the beginning of the thread about how freeflyers don't reach out to other disciplines or new faces at the dz can happen inside of the ff discipline as well; with people you have jumped with before. Its about managing risks and not perpetuating DZ drama.

Your progress is awesome. How much exercise / how much diet? Make sure you treat yourself to something right away?

I weighed in at 230 at my heaviest and am down to 190 these days. Skydiving has been my motivation for losing the weight so I could have a good fall range. My advise, make sure you meet the dz's weight requirement and treat yourself. What you've done is quite an accomplishment. If you continue to lose weight treat yourself to something else (AFF, motorcycle, new golf clubs, whatever)

Cant argue with your logic. My wife and I view tunnel as a separate hobby. Skydiving has been an incredible hobby for us and its more than just the jumps. We only live an 90 minutes from Ifly Austin so no real travel expenses, we just dont want to cut back on skydiving to go to the tunnel. When our circumstances change the tunnel will still be there. It is awesome watching some of the jumpers at our dropzone progress so quickly. You live that close to one of the newest sweetest tunnels in the country and you don't want to include that in your training? And it works out per minute to be cheaper than skydiving? You're nuts! I'm the opposite. Live at least 60-90 mins from the local DZ's, I work wacky hours, don't have a ton of weekends off to jump with other weekend warriors, and my office is just a few minutes around the corner from our tunnel. And the bulk rate allows us to fly for just under 10 bucks a minute. Seems like a pretty good deal to get some training done. IMO, you just can't keep up with other fliers at the dz if you're not utilizing the tunnel. At least not here in NorCal. We have 2 skydivers, 2 children, and 1 income in our family. We've figured out the babysitting for weekend skydiving, we haven't even looked at League Night babysitting on weeknights. When something changes, the tunnel will be there, skydiving is our hobby and our release from all our daily stresses. We'd love to progress, we'd love to do some tunnel flying, but we are unwilling to take away from skydiving to hit the tunnel. And yes, we've seen a couple jumpers rapidly progress from the tunnel. We're happy for them if you look past the thick veil of jealousy

Cant argue with your logic. My wife and I view tunnel as a separate hobby. Skydiving has been an incredible hobby for us and its more than just the jumps. We only live an 90 minutes from Ifly Austin so no real travel expenses, we just dont want to cut back on skydiving to go to the tunnel. When our circumstances change the tunnel will still be there. It is awesome watching some of the jumpers at our dropzone progress so quickly.