Valkyrie - what a lady

[Skydivesg 6]

Well - I'm back home after a great time with amazing people at the Invasion Boogie.

I must admit however, even though I love my wonderful wife, and my two loving daughters, I've had to make room in my heart for yet another young lady. Her name is Valkyrie.

She is a svelte 96 square feet with a fantastic elliptical shape, cute inflatable stabilizers and lovely orange Vectran lines. Even though we've only known each other for a few short jumps (20 to be exact) we are madly in love. I did my best to make her mad by letting my packer put hands all over her, but she did not show a jealous cross brace in her body. Instead of back talking and sassing me, she insisted on giving me perfect, soft, predictable, on heading openings every time. I also discovered she loves to go for long walks (flights) - far from the spot - and smiles nicely when she get's you back in plenty of time for her to show off how gracefully she rolls into your performance turn with very little effort. Once she planes out, she just loves to strut her stuff by going and going and going, then - when you're ready - she let's you down slowly and softly. It's almost as if she doesn't want you stop holding her toggles.

I'm so thankful to my good friends Gilles Dutrisak and Matt Siegmann for introducing us last week. I can't wait for our cupid, Kyle Schoonover, to continue his match making by hooking us up. I'm ready to make room in both my Vectors for this lovely lady (ladies). And unlike my wife, I'll even loan her out to other jumpers.

Be forewarned Xaos jumpers - you are about to have an affair with a younger lady.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[D22369 0]

Quote

And unlike my wife, I'll even loan her out to other jumpers.

AHA!! your one of those!!!

grats on your new love
Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[skydivah1 0]

Skydivesg

Well - I'm back home after a great time with amazing people at the Invasion Boogie.

I must admit however, even though I love my wonderful wife, and my two loving daughters, I've had to make room in my heart for yet another young lady. Her name is Valkyrie.

She is a svelte 96 square feet with a fantastic elliptical shape, cute inflatable stabilizers and lovely orange Vectran lines. Even though we've only known each other for a few short jumps (20 to be exact) we are madly in love. I did my best to make her mad by letting my packer put hands all over her, but she did not show a jealous cross brace in her body. Instead of back talking and sassing me, she insisted on giving me perfect, soft, predictable, on heading openings every time. I also discovered she loves to go for long walks (flights) - far from the spot - and smiles nicely when she get's you back in plenty of time for her to show off how gracefully she rolls into your performance turn with very little effort. Once she planes out, she just loves to strut her stuff by going and going and going, then - when you're ready - she let's you down slowly and softly. It's almost as if she doesn't want you stop holding her toggles.

I'm so thankful to my good friends Gilles Dutrisak and Matt Siegmann for introducing us last week. I can't wait for our cupid, Kyle Schoonover, to continue his match making by hooking us up. I'm ready to make room in both my Vectors for this lovely lady (ladies). And unlike my wife, I'll even loan her out to other jumpers.

Be forewarned Xaos jumpers - you are about to have an affair with a younger lady.

Glad you got a chance to jump it. How does it dive in comparison to traditional x-brace canopies ie: velo/comp velo? how's the front riser pressure? Does it have a longer recovery arc? Did you raise your setup altitude? Does it have a tendency to overturn? Give us the low down!!

[Skydivesg 6]

skydivah1

Glad you got a chance to jump it. How does it dive in comparison to traditional x-brace canopies ie: velo/comp velo? how's the front riser pressure? Does it have a longer recovery arc? Did you raise your setup altitude? Does it have a tendency to overturn? Give us the low down!!

I was jumping at the Invasion Boogie which has a 90 degree turn rule so I didn't do any big turns. But based on the turns I did - it is quicker and easier to get it to roll into the turn using fronts. It seemed like maybe a bit more front riser pressure but not that much, Bare in mind I usually jump a Velocity 103 and I moved to the 96 Valkyrie for these jumps.

I also only did 20 jumps on it to I didn't really get to ring it out.

The openings were probably the best I've had, on any canopy I've ever jumped (this list is a long one). I've always felt like an active participant in the openings on most other crossed braced canopies I've jumped. But on the Valkyrie I just relaxed and paid attention to how my leg straps were loading. I didn't do anything during the opening sequence (including not looking or reaching up) and it opened on heading and softly on every jump. And that was using a packer. I did not pack it myself.

On several jumps I was out quite far from the landing area and on one jump (when we were really far out) I purposely turned the formation at the end so I was tracking in the direction of a person who went low on the formation. I made sure to track over the top and past him quite far and watched him open before I opened. I was watching him during my pull and opening and I thought sure I would cause an off heading opening but was really surprised that it still opened on heading. I can't say my Velocity would have done that.

Tracking that direction made me even farther out than any other jumps and I was amazed at how quickly I got back to the landing area with my rears. It definitely has a lot more get-back when using rears than any other canopy I've jumped - even with it being one size smaller.

I do feel like it dove longer than my Velo but it started the turn with very little effort and built up a lot more speed. It just likes to roll into a turn. I'm looking forward to performance enveloping this canopy.

I mostly use my rears to fly my canopy until I get in the pattern and even then I seldom use my toggles other than to slow fly to a set up point and flair. While I was flying back from the spots, using rears, I did some harness turns (90 degrees) and holy crap does it respond to harness inputs. I was impressed. I also did a few harness turns to start my landing turns but due to traffic and the 90 degree rule, there was only so much I could do. I did not notice any over steer.

I did a few carving front riser turns to final and those were quite nice and seemed to build a bit more speed. The speed on all the approach turns seemed to carry thru longer than my Velo which of course results in longer swoops. I think this may be due to the Peregrine like planform and the tale ribs.

I was not able to do any carving landings but I've heard they are incredible.

I also believe the tale ribs and the inflated wingtips helps it be more stable in slow flight. It definitely has more flair at slow speeds and seems to be able to slow you down better in low/no winds.

Even though I only have 20 jumps on it, I am very impressed and can't wait to have it as my primary canopy.

Bare in mind it is not designed to be the first cross brace canopy for any body - but for those with cross brace experience, it is a dream.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[skydivah1 0]

It's too bad you didn't get a chance to really ring it out but at least you got to jump it! Do you feel the 96 was a good fit or will you be purchasing a 103?

[Skydivesg 6]

skydivah1

It's too bad you didn't get a chance to really ring it out but at least you got to jump it! Do you feel the 96 was a good fit or will you be purchasing a 103?

I have two Velocity 103s and will go to 96s on the Valkyrie.

About 1/3 of my jumps are filming tandems (so roughly 110 per year) One reason for filming instead of throwing drogues is that I like to fly my own canopy and I can see this canopy being much less eventful during openings and a lot more fun to fly on those jumps. Win - Win

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[jumpwally 0]

How many feet does it take to open,,Approx ?

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[Skydivesg 6]

jumpwally

How many feet does it take to open,,Approx ?

One of the disadvantages of demoing this type of canopy at an event like this, is the fact that, as a load organizer, I did not have the pleasure of choosing what order I got out of the plane. On literally every load, I had angle groups going right before or immediately after my group. Because of this, my primary focus during and immediately after opening was canopy traffic, so I was not able to ascertain the distance it took to open.

While I can't state exactly how much altitude it took to open - overall it was softer and did considerably less searching than my Velocity, without as much altitude loss. It was definitely a shorter and smoother snivel.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[jumpwally 0]

Thanks much

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083