Sabre 2 openings and strategies for dealing with them

[RunJct 0]

I have to completely disagree. I've jumped 4 different Sabre 2s.....3 170s and 1 190. When I pack sloppy or have bad body position it tends to open off heading.

BUT, when I make sure I put it in the bag straight and have a good position at pull time INCLUDING when I get stood up in the harness it is absolutely perfect. I never wanted to believe that I was messed up until I got coaching and learned how I should be from pull time until the canopy was completely open.

I simply believe it doesn't have as much room for error on opening than people expect from an "intermediate" canopy. But at the same time, you can open in line twists and it'll likely fly straight without diving so it's much more forgiving than say an elliptical.

Just my 2 cents, take them for what they're worth.

If "if" were a fifth, then we'd all be drunk

[rushmc 18]

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you're super welcome!
just remember that this is only my personal opinion and you know what they say about those.


big blues (and soft openings),
arlo

Alright, I tried not pushing the nose in twice this week end. Not the jury is still out here is what I found so far.

The opening sequence did not change all that much. While I still got what feels to me like the snivel.......snivel.........pop type opening it may not have been as pronounce. So, maybe a little progress here but......

I did get (for the first time) two in a row, on heading openings
Both end cells closed and the slider comes half way down until the canopy slows and then finishes coming down on its own!

I think you are on to something here.

Thanks

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[darrenspooner 0]

I think this is a bit of a stretch. There are plenty of people with Sabre 2s that don't have opening problems. Its just that the ones that do, like me, tend to come here and moan. I got the same bad openings on 2 different Sabre 2 150s, but when other people with more experience jumped them they opened on heading. I have to admit that its got to be me, especially as PD checked out the canopy and it is fine.

I think other people are right that this is not a great canopy for intermediate jumpers because you need to get it right. So I'm going to sell mine and change to a Pilot I think.

Anybody have any experience with a Paratec Faqtor?

[Reginald 0]

Sabre 2 openings?

For soft openings – Put the slider ALL the way to the stops and quarter it.
For on heading openings – put the canopy in the bag straight.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[ALI69 0]

I guess my girlfriend just found the best strategy to deal with the shi... openings of her SABRE 2 135.
step 1 - she sold the SABRE 2 135
step 2 - she bought SAFIRE 2 129

and guess what...that also fixed all her body position and packing problems or the combinations from both that,according to PD support,have been causing those bad SABRE 2 openings...

[phoenixlpr 0]

The trivial solution does not count .

[jheadley 0]

Like said before,

BODY POSITION
BODY POSITION
BODY POSITION

I have about 300 jumps on 2 different Sabre 2's, and was very pissed off by the constant off heading openings (180+ degrees), then I demoed an elliptical. I got line twists on half the jumps. Obviously my body position was not as good as I thought. I learned to straightened out my body position and when I went back to the Sabre 2, I had MUCH better openings, usually only about 90 degrees off during the final inflation, which I could quickly correct with a harness turn.

Also I had usually been either leaving my nose straight out, or rolling 4 and 4 in, or just making one fold 4 and 4 in, and I kept getting the off heading openings. In the past 10 jumps, I haven't been rolling or folding the nose at all, just gently pushing it into the packjob a few inches (NOT stuffing it all the way in), and focusing on cupping and quartering the slider, and in the past 10 jumps, I'd say 7 or 8 have been completely on heading with the other 2 or 3 just a 90 off. I don't know why but it's working for me. The fact that I've had 8 openings on heading out of the past 10 is incredible considering in the previous ~290 I hadn't even had 8 on heading openings total.

A sabre 2 IS a semi eliptical canopy, so it is more sensitive than most others. Keep your head level, shoulders straight, feet and knees together and level. There was an article by Scott Miller about improving openings by improving body position in a recent issue of Skydiving Magazine.

Also make sure your line stows are good. I really think people spend so much time on flaking the canopy and all that stuff that they neglect the importance of good line stows.

I'm demoed a lot of different canopies and I keep coming back to my Sabre 2. I really think It's great.

[P-dro 0]

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I had MUCH better openings, usually only about 90 degrees off during the final inflation,

Much better? Only 90°?
I can only imagine what is was before... As far as i'm concerned, I'm looking for an other canopy.... Too bad though, because it's a first rate canopy, except for the opening...

[phoenixlpr 0]

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Much better? Only 90°?

For skydiving or BASE jumping?

[CJosJumper 0]

I was having way to many hard openings on my 170 Sabre 2 So had it relined with Dacron. Much softer but still has that pesky turn most of the time. One thing bothered me was that long pause at the 1/2 way point of the slider comming down. Did what I was taught which was to pump the breaks.That actually makes it worse. Sent the rig back to PD and they said the pause was normal with the Dacron lines and confirmed that one should not pump the breaks. They also said that as the new lines get broken in that the long snivel will get less. It is a bit unnerving at first. PD also recomends pulling the slider out a bit on the nose of the S2. There is a video on their web site. Thanks everyone on all the great advise.

[Bluhdow 31]

I've got a Sabre2 135 loaded around 1.4. I use it for everything: freefly, tracking suits, wingsuiting. I've got about 250 jumps on it.

In my experience off-heading openings (as much as 360 degrees, which is then technically on-heading ) are normal. Openings are soft, but I've found closed end cells to be the culprit during openings that tend to snivel in circles.

This isn't slider down BASE. Learn to track and get good separation and you'll be fine. The canopy does everything else exceptionally well.

Apex BASE
#1816

[julius 0]

I DO have on heading openings with the slider coming ALL the way down and NO snivels. I WILL chop a snivel of 3 seconds!

I propack the canopy and do not roll the nose or tuck it in. I do leave the nose exposed, its only covered by the tail.

I use tube-stows as they provide consistent even tension on the lines during deployment. Rubber bands, as they age, become loose, which when double-stowed, will cause the bag to spin creating line twist.