Jul 4, 2004, 1:15 PM
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sabre hard opening
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I have not jumped a sabre but from reading the reviews on the sabre it seems to have harsh openings is this true or does it have to do with the type of pack and wing loading
come on who sad you can't take pride in dumping people out of a airplane
I think it has always in a way something to do with how you pack the canopy (at least you can influence the opening (a little bit) by the way you pack it) I jump a Sabre and I have often hard openings but not too hard ...
(This post was edited by Dominik on Jul 4, 2004, 2:08 PM)
I have jumped an original Sabre for over 100 jumps and never had a hard opening. If they get out of trim even slightly, they can slam you, but mine never has.
I think it has always in a way something to do with how you pack the canopy (at least you can influence the opening (a little bit) by the way you pack it) I jump a Sabre and I have often hard openings but not too hard ...
The man who invented the psycho-pack stated that if you got better openings with a psycho-pack then you did with a pro-pack then you weren't pro-packing correctly in the first place. All it does is make it easier for some folks to get the canopy into the bag.
Anyways, to answer your original question, *some* of the original sabres open hard, some don't...some will open great for a good number of jumps then slam you.
If you get one that opens hard, the you can have a rigger make you a pocket slider and that might help you out.
Sabres are still great canopies, even though the design is getting old. You can find them used for a good price and they'll give you hundreds and hundreds of jumps of good service.
I stiil have one (not jumping it because of my Safire2), put around 150 jumps on it, openings are fast, you know it's open, but never been slammed. Always been very happy of that canopy.
it's definitely not a BASE canopy, maybe 10-15 years ago, but now there are specific canopies, which in my sense are much better options to this part of the discipline where risks are even more significant. I am not a BASE jumper, eventhough I am interested in it. One day it will come, but certainly not with my sabre. Ask in the BASE forum or on BLINC what people who do practice this activity think of a Sabre as a BASE canopy. They might give you better answers than I do. I will still use it for lower jumps (paraglider etc...) though
I have about 125 jumps on a 135 sabre, and before that, about 150 jumps on a 150. Mine opened fast, with the occasional hard one. I have since added a pocket slider, that has 3 pockets up front, and that slowed it way down. Now I aveage 800-1000 ft nice slow openings, very nice. Overall its a very good canopy.
Troll, Troll, stupid little Troll. Please go to rec. Or better yet, just go away. You obviously have NOTHING to offer in the way of knowledge, and seem to have no real desire to learn from those who know.
I put about 500 jumps on a sabre 190 the first 30-50 were pretty hard. I sent the canopy back to PD where they replaced the slider with a bigger one and a smaller pilot chute free of charge. After that the openings were awesome.
Iv'e put about about 120 jumps on a 150 and done a lot of asking around about packing it as I'm starting to use it for wingsuit. Here's my take on what i've learnt.
They are less forgiving of than most other canopys if you don't follow good practice, namely....
Slow down before dumping i.e. down come out of head down for two seconds and dump (been there - HARD - but not too hard)
Make sure the slider is tight against the stops and properly quartered Let it slip down and inch as you put it in the bag and it makes a BIG differance
Read PDs recommendations on stow pull force - something like 10LBs per bungy (dont quote me on that exactly). I found a huge difference when I swapped my nice, easy, big mouth stows for tight ones. The partial line dump that loose stows allow causes a harder initial snatch of the canopy out of the bag.
Don't roll the crap out of the nose This can cause the start of the opening sequence to be snively, stand you up, and then when it does open it will feel harder because the opening shock is lateral, pulling you harness straight up into you crotch. I leave the centre cell out and just tuck both side 4 cells in to the center of the pack job slightly. My openings are now faster, but the pull up feels much more progressive and my body swings forward at the end of the opening, spreading the force.
I have heard about people oversizing the slider too. Check with your rigger (never hurts to ask a few, as they all have different takes on certain things). Plus, 1000Ft snivelly openings are not neccesarily a good thing. I would rather my openings where a little spanky and have more time to sort a mal out.
