Funny thing happened on my Sabre....Opposite of a hard opening

[mdrejhon 8]

I've been packing to the point where my Sabre 170 is opening "predictably brisk" (where I like it now, more or less). Well. Except for this opening.

One opening was...."weird". A slow gentle pillow soft opening with four collapsed end cells (two on each ends). I reinflated them with a good pull on rear risers and subsequently pulling the toggles once I ascertained it was safe to unstow them. I can't remember altimeter readings at the time, but I remember being fully open about 1000 feet from the pull.

I quickly forgot about it, so didn't ask riggers, since my usual pull is 3000 feet and was fully inflated by harddeck...

Rather than the "Sabre slammer", have anyone ever gotten the "surprise Sabre snivel"?

I just found it funny my canopy would do that to me so unexpectedly. Much softer than usual, it seemed, a bit too lazy of an opening for my liking due to collapsed end cells... Otherwise, it was fun to have some unscheduled jumps from a spontaneous visit to the dropzone.

[mustard 0]

I had something like that on my first jump back on my relined Sabre2. It opened with 4 collapsed end cells and the slider stuck up high. I lost a fair bit of altitude before I had it fully open. But it was on heading, which was a new experience.

Since then I haven't had another one like that.

***
DJan

[kelel01 1]

I've had that a couple of times on my original Sabre as well. Scared the living shit out of me. I much prefer my brisk (not painful) Sabre openings, just because I'm accustomed to them.

[vt1977 0]

I did about 500 jumps on various size Sabres and as well as the occasional slammer I did also get a couple of scarily long snivels.

Vicki

[bianuan 0]

Ive had two very slow and soft openings on my sabre1 over about 50 jumps on it, not sure how i packed it differently for them but found it alittle worrying at the time. I too prefer the faster (as long as it doesnt hurt) openings as thats what i expect, if its not open in about 3 seconds i can assume something is wrong.

Ann

[Travman 6]

Just curious if you roll the nose when you pack your Sabre.

In the 80 jumps I have done on mine it has always opened brisk, but no slammers so far.
For the first 50 jumps I did on it I was always afraid my next jump would be a slammer.

[Mostly_Harmless 0]

I always roll the nose and tail very tight on my sabre. If I don't I get a nice surprise at pull time. My opening with both nose and tail rolled are very pleasant (not nearly as pleasant as my spectre, but good enough).

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[PaulProbuild 0]

My Sabre 190 snivels like F**k over about 1000ft & gives a real soft gentle opening with collapsed end cells which slowly pop out if I roll the nose,
scares the hell out of me so I don't roll it, even with a brisk opening it is in my opinion soft so I just pack it without roling the nose

[mdrejhon 8]

The main different thing that happened is that I did get my reserve repacked recently, and I think the main got packed too.

When I pack, I don't roll the nose, but I roll the tail tight (7-8 complete rolls, which would be about 14-16 tight folds).

I'm going to continue packing like normal for predictably brisk openings (not hard, not too soft), but may later slowly experiment with varying tightnesses of rolling the nose/tail (after consulting the riggers)

[tsisson 0]

Quote

I always roll the nose and tail very tight on my sabre. If I don't I get a nice surprise at pull time. My opening with both nose and tail rolled are very pleasant (not nearly as pleasant as my spectre, but good enough).

Typically, rolling the nose "tightly" will not produce the intended effect of a slower opening, as the tighter you roll...the more it will want to unroll (the nature of ZP). Try rolling it loosely...ie, if you roll 4 times tightly, try rolling it 4 times but more loosely. You will find that the material will stay rolled after you release it and wrap the tail.