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voidlizard

X-Fire questions

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Got mine X-Fire 99 to replace old good Crossfire-2 109 (wl. was 1.6 - 1.7)

Main reason is to have little bit more fun during the flight and landing and still don't give a damn during the openings. The reality is... yes, is definitely gives more fun, flies and lands very nice, but.

First, it flies to a very long distance during the landing and it may be a problem if you have to land it to a some weird area crosswind or downwind. I never hesitated to use Crossfire to jump from, say, air balloon to land possibly to a farm, swamp, road, anything. Now it's different.

Second, the openings. With Crossfire-2 I get used to good steady openings, taking no attention on body position. I pulled in track, pulled once in near head-down, whatever. It forgave everything. Now it's also different.

Now I've got one line twist I could handle and one twist I could not (in first 20 jumps) and this make me nervous. So my questions to someone, who jumped Crossfire and X-Fire and cross braced on wl. 1.8 - 1.9:

How this canopy (X-Fire) different from cross-braced on wl. 1.9 on opening? Are there any cross-braces that have crossfire-style "don't give a shit" openings? Say, JFX/JVX ?

Any hint's on body position during an opening? On crossfire I did nothing, just waiting in a box until it inflates. On X-Fire I've started to bend my knees and grab the risers, and grabbing the risers I believe made me cut away. So are any body positions tips that I could just learn and stop worrying every time I pull?

Any video / articles on how to deploy high performance canopies properly?

Are spins during the opening are normal on that wl?

Does packing matter? Any packing hints ?

Will you deploy your cross-braced or just high performance in track (on 1.8 - 1.9 or above)? I really get used on opening in track and sometimes it's really helps in situations. I don't happy to loose this option.

Will you use your cross-braced or hp for air balloon jumps - with unknown landing area and wind direction?

And last question (just curiosity): why the smaller canopy has longer lines?

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You‘re the first person I’ve ever met that complains about his HP- canopy because it swoops too far. *chuckle*

On a more serious note: you can shorten and lengthen the required landing space with the proper techniques by miles. With a new canopy over your head you might be due for a canopy controll course anyway.

Openings on the x-fire are certainly more demanding although the videos I’ seen so far from early bird buyers don’t make them seem complicated to deal with at all.
Relax, feel the canopy with your butt, don’t look, don’t grab, hands loosely on the lower inside of your risers and watch the horizon. Easier said than done but, if you just start to care A LITTLE about your openings, definitely manageable.
It actually doesn’t really matter if you’re in a track or not as long as you lay flat on the wind, not flat relative to the earth. You definitely should be symmetrical in you body axes to load your risers up evenly when you’re stood up during the snivel but that is something one learns somewhere between jump one and twentyfive so I assume you’ve got that down by now

Openings are an active part of canopy flight, not a passive one. Act like the canopy you own. You sound like you adopted a few unhealthy habits under your Crossfire2. If you don’t get rid of them they will lead to problems on any of the available HP-canopies that are further down your path, xbraced or not.

Whether or not your packing is relevant or responsible for the twists is dependent on the time, the twist occurs during the opening. If it comes out twisted then yes, if it occurs sometime during the snivel, then no.
Line length is dependent on the particular airfoil design. Longer lines on smaller canopies mostly mean a longer recovery, though. For more specific answers you might want to contact Icarus World directly.

Canopy choice for a particular jump depends on the circumstances.
If I get out my Velo, Petra or Spectre depends on the anticipated landing area. But I can sure you that wherever you managed to land with your CF2 you will be easily able to land your x-fire, IF you learn your new wing properly...
-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

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as parachute performance increases, so does its sensitivity to symmetry on opening. A minor annoyance on something more docile becomes quickly a violent malfunction when you get to smaller and faster wings. I have almost a ritual when i open high performance stuff and actively pay attention to orientation and my loading on the entire system through deployment and during inflation and am ready to give inputs if needed (not recommended)... if you have to think about what you're seeing develop and what you should do to help/stop/counteract, then it's too late.... but over time this will become second nature... and youll react and keep it on heading without consciously doing so.

You need to give your openings and canopy flight the same attention you do to body awareness you do when you're really trying to hit your slot in freefall...
I was that kid jumping out if his tree house with a bed sheet. My dad wouldn't let me use the ladder to try the roof...

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