I recently made a jump which had the exit spot over a large body of water. The winds were strong and blowing onshore, so I wasn’t too worried at the time.
After landing I was thinking that if I had opened low for any reason, I might have had a water landing several hundred yards from shore. That thought got me wondering: What are your personal rules for when you wear flotation gear near large bodies of water. I am NOT referring to the student/round canopy situation addressed in the USPA SIM.
What do you use as your rule assuming that you are a licensed jumper with ram-air main and reserve?
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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The 2 DZ's i jump at have small and medium sized lakes which normally aren't a problem, but on 2 occasions I ended up near them, so I wear a small inflatable device on all jumps. I figure, why take a chance?
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I am thinking about heading to the beach jumps at Aransas in a couple of weeks, and if I go, I plan to take my old scuba bc with me to wear. I've never really thought about just what all circumstances I might WOULD wear it though ... good thing to consider!
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Flotation gear ? When the DZ is at 1 kilometer or 0.62 mile or less from an open body of water. This is the regulations in Canada. Now we cannot underestimate the importance of a good spot especially when being near water. People are often too confident to their canopy performances to bring them back at the landing area.
Re: [Beachbum] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I am thinking about heading to the beach jumps at Aransas in a couple of weeks, and if I go, I plan to take my old scuba bc with me to wear. I've never really thought about just what all circumstances I might WOULD wear it though ... good thing to consider!
Have you thought that through? I'm not a very experienced scuba diver but I'm envisioning a fairly bulky vest-style BC ... how wearable / usable is that going to be under your rig? Is it some other style that I'm not familiar with?
Most people use this or something similar for flotation gear in skydiving as it "plays nice" with our gear.
Re: [NWFlyer] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Mine could also be described as horse collar type. It lays very flat against me, and is not bulky at all ... should work nicely under my jumpsuit.
The one you posted the link to is a belt, and unless thinking has changed since I did my WSI training way back when (70's) ... a vest is much better floatation than a belt, especially in the event someone is injured. A belt really puts the floatation in the wrong place on you, and makes it more difficult to float upright (or on your back and still keep your head up). Vests by design hold your head up ... worth using, to me.
Re: [airtwardo] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Until the CO2 cartridge will fire accidently ??? The vest type shouldn't be used for normal jump because when inflated it will interfere with the chest strap. When suspended to your parachute, the chest strap get up. The aviation horse collar is also cumbersome and is likely to restrict you (when inflated) when located around the collar (vision, helmet, chest strap...). Just to tell you how embarrassing is a sudden inflation, I remember last year having a jumpsuit zipper malfunction. My jumpsuit zipper gave up in freefall and I got my jump suit inflated. I couldn't find my hackey at the normal location. I tried twice and I pulled my reserve. IMO the best water gear is a bean shape flotation device attached (velcro+elastic webbing) to the left container/harness stabilizer (part linking the bottom of container to the harness). Its size is about 6 x 3 x 2 inches. Unfortunately Paragear new catalog is not showing it anymore. I have two of them, a small and a big one. I made their container myself from Parapack fabric. The CO2 cartridge trigger is secured by a mini handle (1/4" plastic rod 1 " long) with Velcro. Tell me if you want a picture of them. Both have an oral inflation tube which can be locked.
(This post was edited by erdnarob on Oct 28, 2009, 12:35 PM)
Re: [erdnarob] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I removed the Co2 cartridge because although it's an airline model, you can't carry it on board and I travel with gear a lot.
Since I have exited over water many times I've practiced the procedure...I can get it out and somewhat inflated in under 10 seconds.
I also have a couple of the Military (bean) type LPU's you described with the -10 harness set up, they work great but I've had better results with horse-collars in actual use.
Obviously it's a personal choice matter...just make sure you have one when needed, and know how to use it.
(This post was edited by airtwardo on Oct 28, 2009, 12:56 PM)
Re: [erdnarob] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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IMO the best water gear is a bean shape flotation device attached (velcro+elastic webbing) to the left container/harness stabilizer (part linking the bottom of container to the harness
If you are wearing only one flotation device it should be attached to you not your gear. After you land in water the first thing you should do is get out of you gear and swim away from it.
Re: [mjosparky] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Yes this is the LPU type (second picture) I was talking about. Glad to see it on line. My flotation gear is attached to the container left stabilizer but can be removed easily since it is held with an elastic webbing wrapped around the stabilizer, sewn on the flotation gear envelop and secured by a Velcro. My own design.
For an intentional water landing, no problem with a vest type or collar type but for formation skydiving the LPU type placed on the left side is probably better.
Re: [NWFlyer] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Sounds like a good choice for a flotation device, then. I was obviously envisioning something totally different.
Since you're envisioning something different, check out what we use. Not only are they an excellent choice, but they're independent of the rig and you can continue to 'save' yourself once out of the water. You might never jump without one again.
Photo = B license water training. We get many repeat customers.
(This post was edited by kuai43 on Oct 29, 2009, 7:16 PM)
Re: [kuai43] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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Sounds like a good choice for a flotation device, then. I was obviously envisioning something totally different.
Since you're envisioning something different, check out what we use. Not only are they an excellent choice, but they're independent of the rig and you can continue to 'save' yourself once out of the water. You might never jump without one again.
Photo = B license water training. We get many repeat customers.
Re: [NWFlyer] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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We may need some of those "floaties" for Belize!
A rig will float for a very long time after a water landing. Cut away the main if needed in windy situations and you will float nicely on your packed reserve.
Re: [grimmie] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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A rig will float for a very long time after a water landing. Cut away the main if needed in windy situations and you will float nicely on your packed reserve.
They use to say that about tightly packed 'para-pack' belly-warts, don't know if it true or not...but I had an ocean landing with a 270 sqft F1 11 reserve...the whole thing sunk like a rock.
I just hung on to the main pilot-chute until the pick-up boat arrived & dragged the whole mess up with that.
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I've only made one jump with floatation gear, and it was the San Francisco demo back in August. I had one of the airline horse collar types.
I don't jump with floatation gear at my home dropzone even though Elsinore has the lake right there. On a nominal skydive, you'd have to try (hard) to land in the lake. If I find myself bailing out low on my reserve, there are several platforms spaced around in the lake and I'm confident enough that I can land near one of those platforms if I can't get to a shore. If the plane goes into the drink never getting high enough to bail out, well... yeah that would suck.
If I ever decide to go to one of those Central America or FL Keys boogies I would bring floatation, even if it wasn't required.
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I wore it in the Florida keys when I jumped there. I did not wear it in Hawaii when I jumped there (I did not own any then) If I jumped over the ocean again I would probably wear it.
Re: [NWFlyer] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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I am thinking about heading to the beach jumps at Aransas in a couple of weeks, and if I go, I plan to take my old scuba bc with me to wear. I've never really thought about just what all circumstances I might WOULD wear it though ... good thing to consider!
Have you thought that through? I'm not a very experienced scuba diver but I'm envisioning a fairly bulky vest-style BC ... how wearable / usable is that going to be under your rig? Is it some other style that I'm not familiar with?
Most people use this or something similar for flotation gear in skydiving as it "plays nice" with our gear.
I kinda go old school... since its what I have used for a couple hundred water landings. They fit well right under the armpits and work well with a rig. plus I still have a whole box full of them.
(This post was edited by Amazon on Oct 30, 2009, 10:14 PM)
Re: [GLIDEANGLE] When do YOU wear flotation gear?
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What do you use as your rule assuming that you are a licensed jumper with ram-air main and reserve?
When I jumped here (attached) everyone was required to (and I think the least of us had a 'D' and many were PRO rated). I had one of the ParaGear specials for that jump.
Normally I am at least several miles from the nearest body of water, so not close enough that I worry about it.
I guess if if I jumped close (<1 mile) on a regular basis I might get one of those "B-license" models there... do they come with CO2, or are they a manual blow job?
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