Big Duke Six said:
OK guys, what is better about a smaller canopy? More maneuverable I'm guessing, but is that the only reason to downsize? Is it a better ride with a higher loading on the canopy?
It can be a better ride(slightly) through turbulence, but that's definitely not the reason to downsize. Once you become proficient on a given canopy, before too long, you'll probably get bored with it. That's why most people downsize....to get a canopy that is "more fun".
When I started jumping, the canopy ride was an annoyance. It was just something I had to do in order to be able to do the freefall portion again(obviously). I hated it. It was easy, IMO, to fly the canopy and put it where I wanted it....but I didn't enjoy it. I started downsizing because I wanted a smaller, less cumbersome rig. When I downsized, I found that the canopy ride started to be more fun with a snappier, faster canopy. Early on, I ended up downsizing far too rapidly for my jump numbers. Luckily, I survived my many mistakes. Finally I got smart and quit getting smaller canopies, took some canopy coaching courses, and let my experience increase to the level necessary to downsize again.
A normal wing loading for a jumper just off of student status is 1:1. That means that if you weigh 185lbs, and all your gear weighs 25lbs...you should be jumping a 210 at the smallest. For students, it's usually much lower...and the instructors will slowly work you toward smaller canopies as your skill level increases. A typical starting canopy for a guy of typical weight is a 280 or 290. When I started jumping, I was put on a 280, and by the end of my student progression(about 20 jumps for the static line method that was used back then), I was jumping a 190 with slightly over a 1:1 wing loading.
There are also various styles of canopy that affect their flight characteristics. There are "square" canopies - which are ram air canopies with basically sqaured off corners. The chord remains the same over the entire canopy. These are generally the most docile flying canopies. Then there's the "semi-tapered" or "semi-elliptical" as they're sometimes called. Those have, just as it sounds, tapered corners, usually only on the trailing edge of the canopy. Basically, on these canopies, the chord gets slightly smaller as you move away from the center of the canopy. Then there's the full elliptical. These have tapered edges front and back. The chord gets significantly smaller as you move away from the center cell. These canopies look almost oval shaped when you see them from above/below. Then there are the cross braced elliptical canopies. Cross braced canopies came about because jumpers were flying ellipticals with ever increasing wing loadings, when they weren't designed to fly over about 1.3 to 1.5 in most instances. At higher wing loadings, the canopy becomes distorted....so the cross braced canopy was born. These are just extremely high performance ellipticals with extra fabric in them going crosswise to keep the wing from getting distorted at higher wing loadings. These are designed for, generally, 1.8 to 2.5+ wing loadings. The more elliptical a canopy is, the quicker it will be in turns, and the more responsive it will be to control inputs. This, combined with higher wing loading, makes a canopy turn faster, fly faster, and descend faster.
I was at Quincy 2000 - as a whuffo of course - and even so, it was nearly the best week of my life. What a great group of people.
I've been to a few of the conventions, including 2000. I have not yet been to one since they moved it to Rantoul, which was in 2002 I think. It's an awesome time....I hope I get to go to Rantoul this year.
Can anyone recommend a DZ in the DEN area?
Mile Hi Skydiving. Awesome people, nice place, huge landing area. It's located at Longmont airport. Check out their website.
http://www.milehiskydiving.com/
God forbid some poor schmuck try to pick up the chicks by telling them he's "a packer".. 
