line twists while spiraling

[andrewkirk 0]

ive got about 500 jumps on a sabre 170 while spiraling ive spun it into line twists twice, the first time non intentionally probably around the 60 jump
mark , the second time around 150 jumps i was trying that time and stupid as i was at about 1200'
lately ive tried to find that point but not even close ,
my question is ,does the canopy lose that much performance after 500 jumps ,is it the lines ,i am a little heavier 15 pounds.

[igoswoop 0]

No, it probably hasn't but the way you fly it has probably changed...

When you first did this at the 60 jump mark, you probably didn't have the whole picture of what this canopy is capable of and you got a little too happy with the toggles. Almost all of us have done it at some point, I know I have. If for some strange reason you'd like to do this on purpose again, I can give you some things to try via PM... Not really some thing I'd recommend though...

[in2jumping 0]

I watched a friend do this on a Sabre 150 at about 1k feet and had to chop it, his RSL had him open at about 700'. I think pulling down the slider, loosening your chest and spreading out the risers will make it harder to spin into twists.

[everymansaved 0]

This phenomenon generally happens when you and your canopy are turning at different rates, aka an uncoordinated turn. It usually results, (like was previously mentioned) by too much toggle input. Not nesecarily too much stroke, but the rate at which you apply it. If you hammer a toggle down as hard as you can, your canopy will start to turn extremely fast, and you body can't keep up, so the resulting mis-match of rotational speeds results in line twists. You can avoid this by making smoother inputs on the toggles, and also using lots of harness input in the same direction as your turn. Brian Germain taught me that a good way to assess how co-ordinated your turn is, is to look at your pilotchute as your turn. It should always remain trailing straight behind you if you're in a co-ordinated turn.

God made firefighters so paramedics would have heroes...and someone can put out the trailer fires.

[JeepDiver 0]

Quote

I watched a friend do this on a Sabre 150 at about 1k feet and had to chop it.

I spun mine up at 1900. I had to chop the mess I created at 1300. Be prepared to execute your EP's at your hard deck.

[NewClearSports 0]

OK - Here is something everyone needs to know about flying a Canopy! (This info is shared from Brian Germain's Course)

Keep the Lines between you and your Canopy Tight!

How do you do this? Positive G's

What does this mean?

Our only way to control our Canopys is by pulling on strings - Pushing on a string will do nothing. We are Puppets and Puppet Masters, Who is Who depends on how well you fly your Canopy! We must always remember this when flying. When your flying straight at full flight you are at 1G, it is your body weight keeping the strings tight, at this point you have GOOD Control, if you start a turn slowly and slowly speed it up, you will start to pull more G's, maybe say 1.5G's or even 2G's. You will now feel heavy in your harness. This is a GOOD THING because you have even better control of you Canopy. You can do some amazing radical manuvers when under High G's.
Now if you stop you spin / dive and apply the brakes, you will feel much like the Canopy is Climbing and your G's might even spike higher, and this is still good, you still have good control, BUT when you release the brakes and the Canopy surges forward, you suddenly feel LIGHT in the Harness, you are now at less then 1G, maybe .7 or .5 G's. This is the DANGER ZONE. This is the time you have the least control of your Canopy. If at this moment you make a sudden directional change, your Canopy will be glad to do what you ask, but at this point you are LIGHTLY conected to the Canopy, so it is very likely that your Canopy will turn as comanded, but you will stay in place. That is untill you canopy has a chance to make a couple of revelutions, putting you into line twists, and at this point you start swinging outward creating positive G's, but your lines (Your only control) are all twisted, and you might not get out!

I know this was a long post, but I felt it is important to share. Brian is really an amazing teacher, if you get a chance take his course, you will learn so much!

Blue Skies
Mike