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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] newbee
----- Original Message -----
From: "Allan Gaines" <Allan_Gaines@yahoo.com>
" Parachutes, parawings, or parafoils?"
All of the above. Rounds: 28, 32, and 35 footers; Navy Conical;
Paracommander, Thunderbow. Sierra, etc.; Parawings: rogalo-types like the
Paradactyl; Parafoil: the original Jalbert parafoil; lots of squares: Strato
Star, Strato Cloud, Unit, and a bunch more. B-12 backsplints and the
earliest piggy back rigs. Survived the "Death Star" (Green Star Express: an
early pig-rig that became infamous because the reserve risers would seperate
from the main lift web in the middle of an otherwise normal cutaway). Day,
night, HAHO, HALO, Water, RW, CRW, bandido demonstrations, naked, etc. You
name it, I did it.
I used to jump with Steve Haley and Robert "Norton" Thomas of the
"Know-Sense" parachute team: the people who started Canopy Relative Work.
I've got Haley's one-of-a-kind custom double spectrum rainbow Strato Star;
this parachute was documented in Carl Boenish's film SKYDIVE as being at the
top of the World's first 8-stack. Kind of like having the Wright Flyer in
my closet. The whole thing got started because Norton and Haley used to
chase each other under their early Strato Stars; they'd try to catch the
other guys pilot chute and collapse his main, just to scare the crap out of
him. It reminded them of that game U-control model airplane pilots engage
in where they stand back to back and try to chew a ribbon off the other guys
tail with their prop; that's called "combat" flying; and CRW was originally
called Combat Relative Work. Somewhere along the line, they realized they
could grab the other guys chute and link them together; and that's where the
practice of stacking parachutes began. To legitimize it, they changed CRW
to Canopy Relative Work. Pope Valley Dropzone owner Bill Dause said "You
guys aint got no sense." And in rebuttal, that's where the name of the
"Know Sense" parachute team came from; because Haley said "To do CRW, you've
got to KNOW and SENSE." At first, you were considered absolutely insane if
you tried to link chutes with someone else; now, people all over the World
are enjoying it. ;-)
>
[I'm "into" kite flying, and have flown parafoils and a parawing.]
If by "kites: you mean hang-gliders, that's one I never tried, but they are
a very sophisticated regime of flight, and I have the utmost respect for
anyone who is good enough to strap himself to a wing and be the landing
gear!
Very best regards,
Pat