Small Girls – BASE Containers - Yokes

[Lostinspace 0]

I’m 5’0. I have 2 containers. The yoke on both containers is a little wider then my shoulders.

Do all containers have such a wide yoke?

Could my packing be to blame?

What do other small girls do?

-b

[crimpfiend 0]

If you're jumping a canopy that's huge for you (relatively speaking), the container would have been made to accommodate the canopy size, which could have a wide yoke.

My pin-closed rigs (Vertex's) have fairly narrow yokes - one holds a 185 VTEC and the other holds a 205 VTEC. My velcro-closed rigs (Reactor's) seem to have slightly wider yokes, with the widest one holding a 220 FLIK.

You can try cinching your cheststrap tighter after you gear up, which is a bit more effective if you have an articulated harness (rings at the hips allow the main lift web to flex inwards a tad more than non-artic). To be comfortable doing this, put the rig on, hike it up on your shoulders to where's most comfy, then tighten your cheststrap in that position, followed by tightening your legstraps last. Just make sure that you feel comfortable with where your BOC is situated, as it could end up being a couple of inches higher than before.

I don't think packing really has a huge effect on how the yoke fits, unless you pack really 'fat', which could make the rig fit tighter overall, causing the backpad to push against your back and pulling the yoke & riser area outward.

For the most part though, dealing with wide yokes is just part of being a small person. Although I'm taller than you - 5'1.5 .

[brits17 0]

I have 2 Vertigo containers, a warlock and wizard. I've noticed they have smaller yokes and an overall narrower container tray versus most other manufacturers.

I'm 5'2, but I'm sure they'd fit someone smaller just fine, as far as shoulder width goes.

And no, I wouldn't blame your packing. Its simply the way your harness was made.

_______________________
aerialkinetics.com

[Treejumps 0]

Not all are wide. You can also have custom stuff made.

[K763 0]

I'm not a small girl, and even I noticed on my Prism that the yoke was a bit wide. At first I wondered it my shoulders would slip out, but after a few jumps I stopped worrying about it because I didn't see or feel anything to support my worries.

As far as BR/Apex rigs go, the Vertex 2 and Prism 2 were designed with narrower yokes to address this issue, and the new Apex DP also incorporates this into the pattern. Marta is quite tiny so I'm sure she took this into consideration when making the Vertigo rigs.

As Crimpfiend said, tighten up your chest strap first, then your legstraps. Also, when you're done packing are you shaping the rig to fit your body nicely? This can be accomplished by putting the rig on your back, doing up the chest strap, grabbing the legstraps or hiprings in both hands, then laying down on your rig and rolling around on it. I laughed the first time I saw Rob Tompkins do that, but stopped laughing when I saw the results. Molding the rig like this will allow you to get a better fit when you don the rig for jumping.

Make sure you have your mentor or coach take a good look at how your rig fits, or better yet, don the rig and send some pics to Todd at Apex. He is fully qualified to let you know if the fit is abnormal or unsafe to jump.

Peace,
K