ricardo.quail

Learning to inface and outface carve at different wind speeds will help to improve your tracking skills. Ultimately more tracking jumps will make the biggest difference.

I recently acquired a Sabre 170 with 500 jumps. I'm still quite new to the sport with 58 jumps. I'm currently loading it at 1 lb per square ft. Overall I'm pleased with this canopy. It flies well, with firm responses to the steering toggles and a strong fly, which lifts me back up into the air if I flare to quickly when landing. As for the opening, I have yet to be slammed, but I have only put 10 jumps on it so far. Tends to open off heading, but not by much.I think it is a good and fun canopy for a beginner that is fairly forgiving of mistakes. Canopies I have flown so far: Manta 280 - Slow with brutal openings Navigator 220 - A fun and easy canopy. Raider 220 - Back breaking openings and sloppy feeling. Fury 220 - Similar to the raider. Spectre 170 - Slow opening, but fun to fly with quick turns (quicker than the sabre), but the wind penetration is not as good as the Sabre. PD 190 - Gets you down to earth and that's about it

Time to get your FS1. Yes it is expensive, but definitely worth it. I learnt alot. You are only looking at a few hundred quid, which you have already ploughed into doing all of those solos. For the time the coaches gave me, I think they were worth every penny. Jumping with others is alot more fun and dynamic. The sport has lots of paths of progression: flat, freefly and canopy. I don't see how you can get bored when there is so much more to learn. Rik