Toggles instead of risers?

[Velopilot 0]

Unfortunately I'm not a BASE jumper, yet, but I have a question for you guys that are. I've been watching a lot of BASE vids both on DVD's and Skydivingmovies.com and I've been noticing that a lot of jumpers that have close calls with 180 openings are reaching for toggles instead of a rear riser. Seems to me that if I'm about to faceplant a cliff I'd want to save precious time and grab a rear riser than fumble around trying to get my hands in the toggles. Anyone else notice this?

[914 0]

People have talked about this one before.
The way to go is to steer immediately.
a parachute can be slowed down and turned with either the seat belts or the yonkles. a standard base yonkle is pretty easy to grab.

I have seen the deep brakes turn work really well on toggles in a pinch, indeed the seatbelts are bigger and work well too.

the key is to just turn the thing away right away, usually by stopping forward speed first and doing a deep brakes pivot type turn using whichever way you are confortable and quick.

[TomAiello 25]

As a generalization;

Toggles use more forward airspace, but less altitude.
Risers use more altitude, but less forward airspace.

If you are really about to impact, grab the risers and get turned so that you aren't striking, then switch to toggles to conserve altitude.

If you aren't in imminent danger of impact, toggles will work just fine to turn away, and conserve your altitude.

Have a look at the post here on this topic by Dwain Weston.

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Recently I wrote the following email in response to some questions about customized deep brake settings and rear riser input. I’ve decided to post it here as some people may get some benefit out of it.
Remember that the contents of this document is VERY subjective. You should always draw knowledge from a wide source (plus your own experiences) when re-evaluating your plan on how to avoid hitting the wall on every single jump.

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From LK:
>>I started jumping my Mojo with a new deeper setting, about 6 cm deeper than the factory deep. The canopy gets very sluggish on rear riser correction, just really doesn't want to turn but definitely stalls on the side with the correction. But it doesn't move very fast at all on opening, even during of headings. I have started to wonder now whether I should make avoidance manovers with toggle input instead of rear risers now, simply because I have slightly more time becuase of the decreased forward speed. Naturally it depends on the objects dynamics etc but I need to relearn my instinct of grabbing the rear risers all the time.<<
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OK, this has saved my ass on about 4 occurrences with Mojo's:

180 offheading - flying at wall - very close to impact. No time to turn away. Hard input on both rear risers. Canopy stalls backwards. Let up on left rear riser (while still pulling down on right). Canopy barely turns - cells are barely pressurized and there are waves going through the canopy. Reach across with left hand and pull down on front right riser (while still pulling down on right rear riser). This forces air into the cells - canopy instantly response and spins on the spot. Immediately let up on riser input and release brakes to drive away from the wall.

My importance list for avoiding a wall strike:

1. 180’s happen to all of us eventually. Do every thing you can to minimize the occurrence but resign yourself to the fact that they will happen. (Note: see the definition of Murphy’s Law).

2. Avoid smacking the wall at ALL costs.
Get the canopy to open with absolute MINIMAL forward speed. Forget all that sh*t about needing forward speed to get the canopy to respond to riser input. There is zero point to having a responsive canopy if you don't have the time to turn it away. Also the faster the forward speed of your canopy on deployment the harder you will hit the wall and the more bones will snap.
SLOWER forward speed is BETTER in 99% of serious offheadings close to the wall. Anyone who tells you otherwise has not had to deal with a bona fida 180, half line twists on a go-n-throw from a vertical wall. Factory installed brake settings on Mojo's are dangerous, dangerous, dangerous - even for the fastest BASE jumper in the world. Yeah - they work great for rear riser input on a 135 offheading, but turn it into a 160-180 offheading and the wall comes at you like a freight train. (Note: Adam does strongly recommend customizing your brake settings as the factory settings are extremely conservative. This is more of an issue with Mojo's than with FOX's due to the steep angle of attack on the Mojo).

3. Turn the canopy away from the wall.
In dealing with point #2 you have installed customized brake settings on your canopy (but not so deep that you risk a stall). Now because the canopy is going so slow you suddenly have response issues to rear riser input. Basically the thing won't want to turn and will probably stall if you pull down too hard on a rear riser.
The answer to this is not: make the canopy fly faster forward (read point #2 again). The answer is do something else to make the canopy turn away. Some people say "toggles". Well toggles are great (and my personal preference) if you aren't really close to the wall and flying directly at it. There are situations (eg. go-n-throw from vertical wall, bona fida 180 with half a line twist) where you do not have time to use toggles (I am NOT talking about the extra time to grab the toggles, I am talking about the response lag between releasing the brakes, pulling down on the toggle and the canopy actually responding). Also you may be so close to the wall that as you are turning away the end cell will drag on the wall and swing you back in. (I have seen this type of wall strike many times - and subsequently dealt many times with the resulting helicopter rescue, police, media, blah blah blah). If you are about to smack a wall nose on, the only thing to do is to back the canopy away far enough so that when you turn it, the end cell won't clip the wall. Flying the canopy backwards is the only option here (unless you are so low that you will pound into a ledge or the ground as you turn - in that case you just have to sink the canopy straight down and PLF - good luck).
In order to turn the canopy away the combination of both front and rear riser (with the brakes set) works really well. The canopy response almost instantly and just spins on the spot. Front riser input alone is a BAD idea as it makes the canopy dive forward and turn in an arc.

Note: In my experiences with the Vtec (and limited experience with the Blackjack) you usually don't need the front riser input as the vents keep the cells pressurized in almost zero forward speed and the canopy response great to rear riser input alone.

When to go for toggles and when to go for risers?
Basically here is my personal rule for that: If I open and I am flying at a wall and my body starts tensing up for immanent impact then I go for risers, otherwise I tend to go for toggles.
“Oh sh*t, whimper" on opening = risers.
"Uh Oh, I'm looking at wall" = toggles.

4. You aren’t good enough with the technology you are using to always avoid object strike.
With the current technology on the market NOBODY is good enough to avoid a wall strike every time. I have dealt with bad 180's close to the wall (sometimes with serious line twists) on many occasions (actually the number of times I have had 180's is downright embarrassing). I have never had my canopy touch the wall yet (I've pushed of the wall with my feet twice), but I am NOT stupid enough to think that I am good enough to deal with it every time.
Object strike is the number one incident that injuries highly experienced BASE jumpers when they haven't made a gross error of judgment. By plugging out thousands of BASE jumps we are playing a numbers game (if you jump vertical walls slider down). Statistics say that eventually you will hit the wall (Slim hit the wall three times in 1270 BASE jumps. Jump #1270 was the one that really f####d him up (but he's healing well and should be jumping next year). He probably has done the most slider down canopy deployments of anyone in the world and he is ULTRA FAST in dealing with offheadings). As the technology we are using advances (such as bottom skin vents, big grab toggles, vented pilot chutes) the odds are increased in our favor. All we can hope is that the technology increases at a faster rate than the numbers game we are playing.

Hope this helps.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Velopilot 0]

Well thats about one of the most detailed responses to a post that I've ever gotten back. That was the standard. This part here sums it up pretty good and I thank you again for such a detailed response.

When to go for toggles and when to go for risers?
Basically here is my personal rule for that: If I open and I am flying at a wall and my body starts tensing up for immanent impact then I go for risers, otherwise I tend to go for toggles.
“Oh sh*t, whimper" on opening = risers.
"Uh Oh, I'm looking at wall" = toggles

[nicrussell 0]

That whole piece was made from Dwain Weston. Tom reposted it. I think it should be reread by any self perserving jumper (most of you all) periodically. That sort of post (which most of DW's were) made you think, evaluate, and imagine worst case type jumps before they occured to you. He passed on his knowledge as he (l)earned it.

Thank You Dwain. I miss you.

Nic

Nic

[pBASEtobe 0]

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a standard base yonkle is pretty easy to grab.

Unless you're an idiot like me and miss one which ends up putting you into the rocks.

[TomAiello 25]

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a standard base yonkle is pretty easy to grab.

Unless you're an idiot like me and miss one which ends up putting you into the rocks.

Or like Slim, who when he missed his toggle was probably the world's most current and experienced BASE jumper?

Anyone can miss a toggle.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com