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Olmed

Head off openings

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Never used to have OFF-HEADING ;)openings. With my brand new custom Vector 3 and Pulse 210 more than 90% of openings are 90-180 degrees off heading to the left.

Tried everything from keeping legs straight while opening, to arch through the opening, to not look up during openings, symmetrical tightening of straps on rig, stable arch before pull and several different packers.

Previously jumped Navigator and Silhouette (one off heading).

Could it be some asymmetrical anatomy of myself or rig that does this?? The Pulse were supposed to give mostly on heading openings.

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Head off openings sound scary >:(

It may be you, it may be the canopy, it may be the rig.

If you've already tried an experienced packer, let an experienced jumper jump your rig.
If he/she also experiences off-heading openings, put the canopy in another rig and jump it.


ciel bleu,
Saskia

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Head off openings sound scary >:(

It may be you, it may be the canopy, it may be the rig.

If you've already tried an experienced packer, let an experienced jumper jump your rig.
If he/she also experiences off-heading openings, put the canopy in another rig and jump it.



Sounds like a good suggestion. I will ask a more experienced jumper to test fly.. :)

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I think the term in English is off-heading opening. A head off opening is what can happen with a mis-rigged chest strap.



Or you are jumping a Sabre 1 and its THAT day where it decides to slam you severly on opening...:D

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I think the term in English is off-heading opening. A head off opening is what can happen with a mis-rigged chest strap.



Or you are jumping a Sabre 1 and its THAT day where it decides to slam you severly on opening...:D


I used to jump a Sabre 1. It occasionally gave me balls-off openings.

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It may be one of 3 things:

- The canopy is out of trim or has a built in turn. I doubt it, but it can happen even with a new canopy.

- You have an un-even body position, or uneven legstrap adjustment and, since this canopy is probably smaller and more responsive than what you jumped before, it reacts a lot more to it.

- You're packing it with a consistent shift somewhere in your packjob that makes it open asymmetrically everytime.
Remster

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Try doing a jump without tucking the tuck tabs/riser covers in and see how your openings are. New rigs sometime are stiff and the tuck tabs/riser covers don't open at the same time which can be the cause for your off heading openings until the materials break in. The other issues that Remster mentioned are also possible causes.
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
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Thanks for all the good advice!:)



I have about 60 jumps on a Pulse 190 and I've had some goofy off-heading openings. I'd say almost if not all of them were due to poor body position. I also found that it opens better if you don't bleed off all of your speed coming out of a flat track. Not dumping in a track of course but a slight bit of remaining horizontal speed (compared to std neutral body position) helped a bit. Of course working on my body position every jump helps too. :S. Canopy was brand new in the demo/rental fleet - I put the first jump on it - so no trim issues that I can tell.

Just my experience...

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I have never jumep a Pulse, but looking at a few openings on youtube it seems to be a normal-slow opening canopy.
The slider seems to stop for a while rather high and the canopy starts turning.

And thats how the canopy was built, to open slow.
And when the slider takes a pause like that it is vert likely you get a off heading.

If the slider would come down quicker it would be less likely you get an off heading, but the opening would also be harder.

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They promote the Pulse with on heading openings.

The off heading (jumping small formations) is not really a problem unless it is very forceful and ends up in a twin, which I have experienced once.

The canopy starts to inflate very nicely and on heading but just before full inflation it cranks quite hard to the left somewhere between 90-180 degrees.

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Are you looking up and/or grabbing the risers when the canopy is deploying?


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The off heading (jumping small formations) is not really a problem unless it is very forceful and ends up in a twin, which I have experienced once.



Linetwist?
It would be intressting to see what happens during the openings.
If there is that much dive in the opening that it can create a linetwist, it sounds bad.

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It should be line twist...not twin..

Only by using full strength on the risers during opening have I been able to stop potential line twist during some off headings.

Did some jumping yesterday and actually had a few better openings. Maybe a new packer or more attention during the pull caused less force in the off headings..

Thanks for all comments!

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I would recommend that you don't "fly the openings" with risers. Just be neutral, symmetrical in the harness and if the canopy goes, go with it.

That's what I do and am on my second Katana with zero occurrences of line twists (knocks on wood).



Ok, I will try that. Neutral: stay in the arch until inflation or just "hang loose"?

Thanks:)

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Ok, I will try that. Neutral: stay in the arch until inflation or just "hang loose"?

Thanks:)



Either of those would probably work. I look at the horizon and try to keep my shoulders level with it and put my feet and knees together when the opening sits me up vertical.

Hope it helps you out.

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