tmccann

Ok, sounds like this was more of a post looking for sympathy than advice, but here's some advice: 1. Do a search on here beforehand (yeah, too late now!) 2. Don't bring attention to the fact that it's a parachute system 3. Be exceedingly polite and patient with the security officers (get to the airport a bit earlier to accommodate this), have your documentation ready, and if that doesn't work, and they insist on popping the reserve, ask for a supervisor and start over. Calmly. 4. Bring a stuff-sack for it at the very least - security is likely going to want it alone going through the x-ray, and you don't want to have your rig in the overhead compartment with random people shoving their dirty, oversized bags and stinky foods up there. Airplanes these days are a small step away from those rickety buses in the Andes with people bringing chickens to market crammed around you. 5. RTFM

You should have your rigger do it (at the very least the disassembling), but yes, this can be done. Here's Mike G's good write-up on this: https://www.chutingstar.com/more/skydive/expert-advice/50-harness-container-washing-tips

I'm puzzled - if you haven't tried induced speed landings at a 1.3 W/L on your Sabre 2 150, why would you possibly be considering a 135 for next season? If you want to go faster, get some more canopy coaching and tell your coach that's what you want to progress towards. After that, your canopy coach would be a much better person to ask about the viability of canopy choices than your rigger. Why do you keep mentioning your rigger's opinion on your downsizing? I might be well enough informed as a rigger to tell you that your exit weight won't blow out a Sabre 2 135 on deployment, and whether it would fit in a certain container with a particular reserve, but that's about it. T

Part of what you're seeing is that containers can fit a small range of canopy sizes. If you're looking at Vectors, you're probably looking at the v353. The v353 is designed to fit a PDR193 and a 190 main, however you can fit a slightly larger or smaller main in it - you could start with a 190, and downsize to a 170 (or upsize to a 190 for wingsuiting, say) with the same container and reserve. Don't worry about the rationale of the person selling it in putting it together that way - worry about how you will be using it. You are shopping for a reserve first and foremost, and then a wrapper for it. If the reserve doesn't meet your needs, don't buy it.

Landing a reserve as a student. Totally misjudge the landing, and end up aimed directly at the fence at the end of the student landing area. Plenty of altitude to correct, give a little rears, and great, not aimed at the fence. Now aimed at a pond. A little rears, and great, not aimed at the pond. Now aimed at a berm. A little rears, and great, now set to land on top of the berm. Flare, nice soft landing, woohoo, safe and sound! Adrenaline starts fading, take one little stumble step to the side, and put my hand into a pricker bush. I still have an inch-long scar...

I'm late to the party - my wife just got me a flysight and a cookie G3 mount for our anniversary. I would tend towards an armband, but since it was a very thoughtful gift, I should use it... Since this is probably a solved issue, I thought I'd ask - on a G3, have people had better experience mounting above the vent (top of helmet) or below the vent (back of helmet), and do people widen the vent to route headphone wires, or cut a separate hole? I assume it'll work well any way, just thinking about fit/comfort/aesthetics. Thanks, Tim

Easy way not to f@#$ it up - demo before you buy. A way not to waste a lot of money (you might f@#$ up the purchase, but so does just about everyone) is to buy used. There's always a lot of demand at your size/experience, so you'll resell for what you paid less usual depreciation. Worry more about the fit than the brand name - buy local if you can, and if you can't, try to find a container made for someone your size, and a reserve that puts you at a comfortable WL. You'll keep the first rig for a relatively short period of time, and have something to jump while you wait for something custom. Transfer canopies or buy something to go in the new container, and you'll have time to find the gear that's right for you.

No wonder this is confusing - you're getting exactly opposite answers all over the place here. What canopy exactly are you trying to fit into what container (with what size reserve, with or without AAD), in what climate?

Nope, sorry - Firebird EVO, size S. I would guess the equivalent micron would be the v308 - just a guess, though. T

In my experience, the Pilot 150 ZPX packs a little larger than the Pulse 150. That's in Southern California - the two canopies are made of different materials, so differences in climate, etc, might make make your results differ. I normally pack a Pulse 150 or a Storm 135 into my container without changing the loop. Back when I bought the Pulse, I had borrowed a buddy's Pilot 150 ZPX, considering buying one, but it was uncomfortably tight in the container with a longer loop. I actually preferred the flight/landings of the Pilot to the Pulse, but chose the Pulse because the Pilot would have been a brick and possible hesitation risk in my container.

No. Then again, I don't usually talk about snowboarding, brewing beer, cooking, home renovations, car maintenance, or that great book I read the other day either. I talk about the job. If what I have to say about what they'd be hiring me to do isn't interesting enough...

Ah, yes, I can see why that would be annoying. Do they let you rent student gear? I know I've seen some licensed jumpers using the student rigs with Nav 220s in them when the 210s are all rented at Square 1. I weigh just a bit more than you do, and jump just down the road at Elsinore. I don't see the benefit of (quite) such a low WL personally (I feel dirty. pardon me while I go join Sofpidarf), but I'm still new myself, and you're a grown ass man and can make your own decisions. That said, a canopy course was a day of learning I am very glad I spent. I took my first one while I was at 0.9 WL, and found the confidence to go to 1:1. Tim

That would be my bet, too, but he'll be able to sell it pretty easily. I've known several girls looking for rigs with very large canopies who complained that all they found were rigs sized for "big boys". OP: How many jumps do you have? I'm just wondering how long it's taken you to get tired of the rental line. If you're impatient with the rental equipment, what makes you think you're going to be so patient with downsizing? (Admirable goal, but I had a similar idea, but it didn't take too long for me to get tired of coming straight down on a 170, policing all that nylon in the wind, and getting dragged on my back)

Care to share?

How extensive were your allergy tests? One of my best friends had all sorts of troubles (they thought she might have MS at one point), and at the end of the day, it was allergies. A lot of them, including gluten and other very common things in food. She had done some basic allergy tests that didn't catch them, so her docs checked the box and moved on until someone new went back over the basics very thoroughly. Or perhaps lime disease? I grew up with deer in the backyard, and that was the answer to any mystery illness... Or one friend in HS got some kind of weird zombie mono that would keep coming back after it was kicked...

Great analogy. I used to be a pretty decent photographer (nothing professional, but college photojournalist), and took my camera everywhere, including vacation. I soon learned that I remembered my vacations much better (and enjoyed them more) when I put the camera away and paid more attention to what I was doing than what I could see through my viewfinder. I'm in no hurry to strap a camera to my head. T

What, it's only a single black, and the kid's wearing a helmet...

My fingers hurt just doing the math on that.

I imagine DSE can fill you in on the official pitch, but in case you're in a rush to decide, I can give my recollection as an unaffiliated student in at the last one they did. It entailed ground school on body position taught by instructors from the wingsuit school and several tracking dives split into smaller groups with coaches, with video debrief after each. I had a great time, learned a ton, and hope to make this one as well, schedule permitting. T

Yup, they work fine. I used them for a little while, but then switched to a full-face. The RX inserts, though, didn't work for me. YMMV. They were really cool about taking them back and refunding my money, so it was worth a shot - it would have been awesome if they had worked well for me. Good folks. T

I listen to all, but each is a data point until I see the trend. Sometimes "good" skydivers have bad advice, and "bad" have good advice. We're new to this, and if someone has infallible advice, I haven't met him yet - their advice can be good generally, but the advisee might have some issue the giver didn't appreciate. So, keep buying beer, listen to all the stories and advice while you're drinking around the fire, and look for trends. Failing that, go with the conservative advice; the sky will still be there tomorrow.

Nope (hence the "not really"), I had to drop off my rig for a reserve repack!

I'm having the same dilemma. I'm stuck at 99 trying to decide (not really, my reserve's just been in for a repack...) Options I've considered: -high pull (leaning towards this, if possible) -track dive -hog flop -fun 6-way with a block -Mr. Bill -1st sitfly jump (not on the beer list, but hell, I'm buying beer anyway, I can use the F-word freely) What I end up doing will depend on who is around when I get down to the DZ next... (edit for coherence)

I feel a bit silly offering any suggestion here, since I have far too little experience to know, but hopefully a leading question doesn't come off presumptuous: does your DZ or local gear shop have anything in between that you can rent/borrow for a few jumps to judge for yourself?

hmm, my Spectre 170 loaded just under 1:1 with a pretty new lineset opens very consistently in just around 500 ft. Plenty soft, just not particularly snivelly; I'm very used to seeing Sabre 2s falling a few hundred feet past me. In 64 openings on it, 61 came in at right around 500 ft, 2 in 2-300 ft that had me checking that I still had my shoes, and one over 1200 that had me hauling on my rears for the last 500 ft to my decision altitude.