May 21, 2012, 8:12 PM
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why is it that sabre1's have been known to crack the shit out of you? what are the specific characteristics of this canopy that can cause painful, if not injurous openings?
ive got one now that i bought for wingsuiting. now besides the ovbious, flaking and folding properly, and making SURE that the slider is quartered and all the way at the top of the lines and packed deep inside the packjob, do you recommend rolling the nose?
and if you do roll the nose in what manner? (outer 4 cells on each side of the center cell, then bury the center cell)>>>??
Seems to be the rage these days, I *ahem* WATCHED *ahem* a master rigger install one today, another canopy on its way here tomorrow for the same... both Sabre1's.
I've got a normal slider on my Sabre1. I read somewhere that the problem openings are actually on the larger Sabres and also before a specific date (related to the brake attachment style/position).
I roll the nose/pack as described in the Sabre 1 owners manual. It works well enough that sometimes it snivels for ages. I was getting off heading openings but I think that was down to packing practise as they appear to have stopped.
I have a sabre 150 and it open and fly great, I know it can slam me sometime, but I don't take any care on the packing, sometimes look a trash pack, still open fast but not like a bomb. a friend jumps a 135 and he is always been hammered by the canopy... I think some are blessed with a good sabre....
sabre1 - 190. first jump, master rigger packed. HARD opening. second jump, DZ packer packed. HARD opening. third jump, I packed with all advices I got for soft openings. HARD opening.
sabre2 - 150. first jump. A friend of mine packed it for himself. Not as hard as sabre 1 but pretty hard opening. I'm convinced that I'll never jump sabre again except if my life really rely upon it.
I have about 400 jumps on a Sabre1 170 and 50 on a Sabre1 150. Never been spanked, don't do anything to the nose, no pocket slider. My husband has several hundred jumps on the 170 as well with the same results. I just don't get the Sabre1 phobia. I have one in my backup rig, and routinely use it for video and AFF, openings are nice, consistent, never hard.
Any canopy can bite you. I landed in the ER after a hard open on a Spectre. My own fault it opened like that, due to body position.
sabre1 - 190. first jump, master rigger packed. HARD opening. second jump, DZ packer packed. HARD opening. third jump, I packed with all advices I got for soft openings. HARD opening.
I agree that body position and folding play important role. But I just cannot believe that those two (particular) canopies I used can ever open softly without significant modifications. Hard (ening f. up ;) from time to time is okay but hard openings as default mode of a canopy is simply not acceptable for me.
all i could see is the guy complaining about a neck pain... but some people say that your balls can nearly hit your toes...... If I have a hard opening will be posted here, but after all my crazy packing jobs, I don't think will have....
I put about 800 jumps on my Sabre1 150. It was in brand new condition when I got it. I rolled the nose and did all the tricks when I got it and 4 out of 5 openings were brisk and the other 1 out of 5 was a slammer. I had my rigger put a pocket on the slider and I had fantastic opening everytime after that (didn't have to roll the nose or anything, packed like normal).
I occasional got hard openings with my Sabre1. I found that just checking the slider and pushing the nose into the canopy a bit solved the problem. Not one hard (define hard as Slammer!) opening in the last couple years. In fact, most openings are “firm”, quick, and on heading. Also, I can easily steer the opening using body English. I use my Sabre for camera jumps, so, I am concerned about how my parachute opens.
When I was just off student status I bought an unmarked Lightning from a dealer in Florida who advertised it as a "zp PD 218." I took it to terminal over 200 times. My openings were so hard that people would come out of the hanger to see what just happened. At a crew camp I was talking to Mike Lewis and when I described it to him he said, "That was my first Lightning!" I got real good at sitting up after pulling, and I had lots of freefalls when I didn't want to pull at all. Sold it to a CRW dog and bought a Spectre. It sniveled so long I almost cut it away on my first jump with it!
Got to rate Lightning as number 1, even with a sport slider.
(This post was edited by Croc on May 25, 2012, 5:52 PM)
Agreed that the Lightning opened hard as did the Pursuits. But to be number one it would have to open hard enough to severe a main lift web and then some!
So, after the first ten jumps or so, why did you jump it 190 times more? :)
I've owned and jumped the following skydiving canopies (in descending order of #jumps): Sabre 2 170 Lightning 143 Sabre 135 Merit 170 Springo 120
The hardest opening I've ever had was on the merit. The openings were normally fast, but not painful. But that particular opening sure made me see some beautiful stars. Only hard opening so far, knock on wood.
The softest opening canopy was the Sabre 2. Took forever to open and the end cells always needed some help.
The sabre and the springo opened/opens perfect. Fast but not too fast, on heading. Only had one spinner on the springo, but I think that was because of an incorrectly stowed toggle. Sure was a ride.
*ahem* a master rigger install one today, another canopy on its way here tomorrow for the same... both Sabre1's. 
Sabre1 H-Mod.2.JPG
