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Colton Brown

Leg-strap bungee necessity

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I am a new skydiver this season with 70 some jumps. I bought a rig shortly after getting my A that does not have a bungee between my leg straps. Just took a canopy course and was introduced to the idea of the "active pilot position", so moving my leg straps down a bit on my thigh after opening so that its easier to make harness turns. However I can't help but feel like I might slip out of the back of my rig like in this (https://vimeo.com/96037725). Are bungees designed to prevent this from happening?

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A bungee won't keep you from falling out of the harness backwards. Your own muscles will do that (and any rig that fits well enough for you to deploy a canopy safely in will fit well enough for you to stay in it with your leg straps scooched forward a bit under canopy).

BUT... if you want a bungee on your rig, it's a really easy thing for a rigger with a decent sewing machine to add, for probably well under $20.

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Bungies prevent your legstraps from moving towards your knees when you are sitflying.  If that happens, you could fall out, especially during an premature opening of your canopy (which is bad anyway). 

For all other body positions I don't really see a need for them. In fact they can be annoying, like in your example where you want to optimise the harness response of your canopy. In practice, I often remove or re-attach my bungie, depending on the type of jump I want to make. 

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6 hours ago, Colton Brown said:

I bought a rig shortly after getting my A that does not have a bungee between my leg straps...

Does your rig have the little loops for the butt bungee?

They're just binding tape sewed to the edge of the leg pads. Easy enough to add if they aren't there, but most rigs have them. 

 

The bungee itself is just a length of shock cord. 

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Butt bungees only became fashionable during the mid-1990s. They became fashionable for two reasons. First: sit-flying became fashionable in North America.

Secondly: this  was about 5 years after Rigging Innovations introduced hip rings. Now ringed harnesses were being jumped by second owners who were different sizes than people the harnesses were originally built for. Hip rings allowed greater flexibility, making it easier for leg straps to slide toward knees.

Butt bungees don’t prevent people from falling (butt first) out of harnesses) rather they prevent leg straps from sliding away from your buttocks.

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