"The Sorcerer"

[gharendza 0]

"The Sorcerer"
The High Altitude BASE Rig
Article written by BASE # 46
Posted by BASE # 75

No longer do you have to trust your life by trusting one parachute. BASE malfunctions occur frequently, even with today's technology, some malfunctions can be cleared without going to a second parachute, other's can't.

BASE Jumpers have been hurt or killed by unclearable malfunctions, such as pilot chutes not opening, blown up parachutes, slider hang-ups, broken connector links and who knows what else. Some BASE jumpers choose to use a tertiary round parachute, but this offers little protection since it oscillates and is unsteerable. You couldn't help but land in rocks, scaffolding, water or power lines which are located directly below most launch points.

he Sorcerer is a piggyback double square system much like a state of the art skydiving rig. The Big difference lies in the way the reserve is deployed. If you have a partial malfunction, the reserve parachute is static lined from the cutaway main parachute. The reserve freebag is attached to the main risers. All you have to do is cutaway and you have immediate deployment of your reserve, regardless of your airspeed.

For something like a horseshoe, collapased pilot chute or total malfunction, you simply deploy the reserve, which is a pullout system much like the Racer. The handle is located on top of your left shoulder and all in one action, it dissconects the static line, pulls the reserve pin and pulls out pilot chute off to the side and the chances of it clearing the mess are far greater than a conventional ripcord spring loaded pilot chute. Also Guaranteing launching the pilot both preinflated and clear of your burble, which is much faster in extracting the reserve freebag than a spring loaded pilot chute.

The reserve container is packed much like a main container and your reserve can be repacked in the field with no more rigging tools than two pull up cords. To completely dial in your reserve, it is necessary to manipulate your reefing system on your reserve to suite your alitiude and speeds of the particular object. For instance, slider down, mesh slider up or high speed slider up.

We have done extensive testing with excellent results.On a cutaway with a slider down reserve, we have been opening anywhere from .96 of a second to 1.16 of a second. With the forward speed of the main makes this approxumately 40 feet, 3 ring of main to 3 ring of reserve. Using a slider that will withstand a terminal opening. From a standing start, we have been opening between 70 and 80 feet.

For the total Malfunction end of the spectrum, we are using a 42'" pull out pilot chute, which is completly adequate on the lower speed totals. You will be falling for at least 3 to 4 seconds before you can react to a total malfunction, after which you will be traveling in the 50 to 70 miles per hour range and since the container is already open, the pilot chute just has to pull the bag through line stretch. But at terminal velocity, it doesn't create too much snatch force to cause bag strip or line dump and since it is a freebag reserve system, there is no loading happening on your reserve pilot chute attachment point on the top of your canopy.

All of these test were made during 1990 using a Firefly for a reserve. Keep in mind the smaller the reserve the faster the openings and the larger the reserve, the slower the openings. On a spinning malfunction, it's recommened to stop the spin facing away from the object with a rear riser before cutting away. The main is deployed with a throw out pilot chute in a spandex pouch located at the bottom of the container. This enables you to take off the rig, give it a complete equipment check and put it back on with no chance of misrouting anything. The spandex pouch will accept small, medium or large pilot chutes. You can jump with it stowed or you can pull it out and hand hold it depending on your decision at hte exit point.

Extensive research, design, development and testing have gone into the Sorcerer. If safety, health and BASE Jumping are high on your list of priorities, it may be time for you to reevaluate your outdated equipment.

Available through Vertigo BASE Outfitters
Marta and Jimmy
Moab Utah, USA

[hookitt 0]

Post Number 2 from gharendza...

Um...Thanks???

You get an A+ for the brilliant use of copy and paste. Well done!

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[DexterBase 0]

I don't consider my rig (PerigeePro/ACE) to be outdated, nor do I feel the need to carry a reserve on a BASE jump. I honestly do not believe having a reserve on a BASE jump is going to increase my odds of survival. If anything, it may increase the frequencey of fast slam packing going on in the BASE world. Ever hear someone say, "It's cool, I got a reserve..." ?

[base428 1]

Now that's funny....and I feel the same as you Hookitt.

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Post Number 2 from gharendza...
Um...Thanks???

(c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted. <==For the media only

[Faber 0]

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BASE malfunctions occur frequently, even with today's technology

may i suggest you find your self a new hobby then or start learning to pack a parachute..

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[TomAiello 25]

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All of these test were made during 1990...it may be time for you to reevaluate your outdated equipment.

Indeed, it may.

13 years is a very long time in the development of modern BASE gear.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[riggersam 0]

Most of the jumps I've seen with Sorcerors were for intentional cutaways. So, they work great if you're under a properly functioning parachute.

Does anyone know of an occasion where a Sorceror was used in an actual emergency - successfully?

As NickD pointed out in a thread some time ago, fatality #29 is related to the use of this system.

[Treejumps 0]

I only know of one base jumper who jumps a sorcerer. He is quoted as saying " most base jumpers are poor and can't afford a reserve, but I can so I jump with one". I didn't bother responding. I sure don't want to lug a second canopy around if I'm not planning on using it. For sure on some jumps there MAY be time to use a reserve, but on most jumps it just wouldn't be of any use. I guess a false sense of security is better than none at all.

Tree

[Dman 0]

-riggersam-,
The guy who went in had a malfunction on his reserve.However the system worked fine.There is another "real" sorcerer cut away where a guy cut away from line twists and landed without further incident.The system is great and is available for those who choose to use it....... VRANK

[TomAiello 25]

Do you know if any additional research and development has been done on the Sorcerer since 1990?

I've always thought of it as an old school design that hasn't been updated in quite a while.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Dman 0]

-Tom-
I do not know as I do not own one.In 94 I made several jumps on it and did a cutaway.Nice product.Presumably it has since been updated.
VRANK

[historian 0]

Very well written article, thank you for posting this Mr. BASE 75, I like old nostalgic stuff,
Blue skies.
Jackie

[jimmyp 0]

The Sorcerer has been around for 15 years. It was born from a slider hang up. The system is extremely simple for what it does. There have been minor modifications throughout it's lifespan,but the functionality is the same. We sell very few these days due to a feeling of well being with single parachute systems in the BASE community. People are jumping modern gear with BASE specific parachutes. The malfunctions that a Sorcerer is designed for are catastrophic failure of the main parachute(broken lines,blown cells), slider hang ups or a total malfunction such as the main pilot chute entangling with the jumper. In the secondary situation, the reserve can be deployed independently of the main.
The entire jumping community is very very comfortable with single parachute systems, including myself. The question really remains with the jumper. Do I want an extra parachute if my main catastrohically fails? There are 2 reported Sorcerer saves. There are more than a few instances where we feel that a Sorcerer could have saved the jumper's lives.
The Sorcerer is designed for slider up jumps where the jumper decides to pull a bit higher to give them time to cut away. The reserve can be packed slider up or down depending on altitude and jumper preference. If you're pulling at tree tops anyway, then the Sorcerer wouldn't offer you much protection.
To say that the Sorcerer is old school or to ridicule people who jump one as being "too safety conscious" is disturbing to us. As a matter of fact, the Relative Workshop just introduced(15 years later) the exact same system on their skydiving rig.
I think that it's awesome that we can have as much confidence in our single parachute systems as we do, but be careful just how confident you are.
Even the most perfect machines malfunction, it is Murhpy's law.
Jimmy and Marta
Vertigo

[bps 0]

Nicely spoken Jimmy...

Bryan

[Skinflicka 0]

You go big boy...

The Sorcerer may be outdated , the mindset may have changed but there's no getting away from the fact that this was a milestone in BASE and a revolutionary design.

You want to go ahead and criticize Da Vinci for drawing pictures of machines which can't compete with a Dagger? It doesn't make much sense.

The big disadvantage to a Sorcerer is that when you get busted you lose 2 canopies. That is not an issue which was being addressed when this equipment was conceived.

The rig does what it does. The design focus is narrow but given the required parameters I would challenge anyone to either come up with a design which does it better or care enough to take the job on in the first place.

"Horses for courses" is the mantra of the designer. Try going on vacation with the wife & kids in a Ferrari F40.

Badass BASE jumpers you may be but you can count on the fingers of a one armed, club footed, scottish dwarf the number of badass BASE jumpers who can design and build parachutes and rigs let alone with the quality of Vertigo's gear. How bad do you have to be to strap on a piece of gear, a design of which nobody ever jumped before knowing that you blazed the trail and there are no guarantees that you didn't just created a new failure mode? Very bad indeed, Sir.
I asked Marta about that once and she replied, nonchalantly, that she knew it would work and it was no big deal.
It may have been no big deal to her but that's because she has huevos grandes.

You have a constitutional right to air you opinion as do I. My response...be still Softcock.

Love n hugs,

Faceslappa.

PS Do I get some free gear now?

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.

[Skinflicka 0]

Ooops.

I would like to retract my previous post based on the fact that it disagrees with the views of Tree and he's a huge fucker.

Sorry Tree,

Best regards,

Love ya,

Sorry,

Skin,

PS please don't hurt me.

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.

[Treejumps 0]

Hey Skin,

See you at Bridge Day?

I never said anything bad about the sorcerer, just that I wouldn't want to carry an extra canopy around. The design was way ahead of its time and you correctly pointed out that brand new skydiving rigs are now equipt with decade old technology referred to as "brand new" and "leading edge".

Go figure. I still don't see how RWS gets away without paying for the design.

Tree

[Skinflicka 0]

Hey Tree,

I'll be at Bridge Day if you say I have to be.

Sorry,

{grovelling, snivelling, fawning, apologies etc.}

I don't have a slot for BD. $60 is too much to give my SS# away to the man. I may turn up just for the hell of it to say hi to everyone.

As ususal when I wrote that post I was horribly drunk
May see you there yet, bro'.

Take it easy (on me).

Skin.

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.

[Faber 0]

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Take it easy (on me).

i dont want to know ,i dont want to know....

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[skydiverek 54]

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As a matter of fact, the Relative Workshop just introduced(15 years later) the exact same system on their skydiving rig.

It is not exactly the same...

[AggieDave 6]

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As a matter of fact, the Relative Workshop just introduced(15 years later) the exact same system on their skydiving rig.

Its not the exact same system, anyways, Bill Booth has been working on the Skyhook off and on for nearly 18 years...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Zennie 0]

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As a matter of fact, the Relative Workshop just introduced(15 years later) the exact same system on their skydiving rig.

Without getting into the "who invented it first" discussion, I'll just report what I learned this past weekend when RW came by with a Skyhook demo rig to the AOT boogie.

From what the RW guy told me, the primary difference between the Skyhook setup & the Sorcerer setup is that the Skyhook detaches from the reserve freebag bridle (to handle main total malfunctions).

I asked the guy what kind of distances they were seeing before people had a reserve over their head and he said generally around 75 feet (the longest they saw was 100 feet). So it sounds very similar performance-wise.

I'd love to do an intentional cutaway with one from... oh... 250' or so.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[TomAiello 25]

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I asked the guy what kind of distances they were seeing before people had a reserve over their head and he said generally around 75 feet (the longest they saw was 100 feet). So it sounds very similar performance-wise.

I'd say that he was yanking your chain (or overselling the product). The only way to get an open canopy under 100 feet is to deploy it slider down (or off). Packing a skydiving reserve slider down is a death sentence in the event of a high speed malfunction.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[AggieDave 6]

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I'd say that he was yanking your chain (or overselling the product).

I jumped the RWS cutaway rig at the boogie with a Skyhook, the reserve was packed by one of the DZ's local riggers (Pablito), so the reserve was packed per the normal reserve packing procedures. From my own experience with the cutaway, I went from main to nothing to open reserve in roughly 100ft. I say roughly since that is an estimation from my analog alti and the two people following behind me under canopy.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[TomAiello 25]

There is still a pretty significant difference between "I used it and the other guys who saw it and I thought it was roughly 100 feet" and "I'm the factory rep and we tested it to definitely open in less than 100 feet ever time."

Put it this way. No matter what RWS says, I'm not going to use the skyhook system at any altitude that I wouldn't direct bag a similarly packed (i.e. slider up) BASE canopy from.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com