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Two rig quandary

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I will be collecting my new rig next week, which is the same made ( newer model) than my current rig a Vector 3. In my current rig I have a Spectre 190, which I am very happy with , I like the openings and am comfortable with the flying part.

When I ordered the new rig I was not sure if I should get the same canopy or try something else, I spoke to a lot of people who had curiously a lot of different opinion. Some said best to have the same canopy in both containers others said at the 190 size it didn't make a ton of difference.

I then got a wonderful deal on a Safire2 189 (only 80 jumps) so I bought that. I doubt that I will be doing many back to backs in the future (I may if I win the lottery).

But there will be times when i will have to use them both.
any thoughts on the wisdom of having two different canopies?

The main comment I got was going from 7 cell to 9 cell you will find it easier to land. This may be a how long is a piece of string question, b ut if anyone has personal experience of jumping a 7 and a 9 cell regularly I would like their thoughts.

Thanks



"Common sense is the least common of all senses".



***

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I have 2 rigs right now...

Javelin Odyssey with Sabre2 135 and old Racer with Spectre 150. I have 500 jumps on the Spectre, about 40 on the Sabre2, so have no problem going back and forth between them.

The reserve in both rigs is the same.... PD 143 Reserve.

How many jumps do you have on the Spectre? When you first start jumping the Safire, jump it a lot, ignore the Spectre... get adept with the Safire2 since it's the new one. Once you can land it in any situation, comfortable with how it flies, handles, etc., then I don't see a problem with going back and forth between them. If you constantly go back and forth from the start, you won't get the chance to learn your new canopy as quickly.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

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Well they will certainly fly different. Different glide, different trim, different flare etc. etc. etc. My suggestion is to spend a while jumping the new canopy to get used to how it flies. Then after you feel you have a pretty good idea about how it flies and lands, go back to your spectre and do the same thing so you don't forget about that one. After you get more experience, it won't be that big a deal. One of our vidiots uses a spectre 150 and a Velocity 103 for back to backs;) He swoops the hell out of them both too. :D(spectre is wingsuit rig that he will use for back to back)

Good luck, it CAN be done safely if you put in the time to learn them both individually first.:)


Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

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I have my main rig with a sabre2 135 and my backup rig with a PD150. They are VERY different canopies that require really different technique to land. I barely ever jump the backup rig... Basically only for back to backs when I'm doing video for my 4-way team. Sometimes its a surprise on opening (the sabre2 always opens soft, the PD150 always opens...briskly), but other than that it hasn't been a big deal. They fly differently, but I haven't yet forgotten which one I was flying and screwed up a landing because of it. I do have to do a lot of practice flares when I jump the PD150 to get used to how it feels, but that's not really a big deal.

Dave

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I had 2 rigs for a while one with a spectre 135 and one with a safire 135 (which is about a size smaller than the spectre), I was having trouble landing the safire where i wanted to, I usually overshot quite a bit (>120ft). I was jumping a few different canopies mainly 7 cells (spectre, lightning, triathlon) so the one 9cell was a different animal it was smaller and flew much further. After 80 jumps I sold it. I was jumping too many different canopies then, right now I jump mostly safire, with some spectre, vengeance, springo, lightning, stiletto, sabre etc in between, different sizes too, and I don't care, I could jump demos with each. But back then it sorta was a problem for me.
For me at 300 jumps or so it was better to focus on one (type of) canopy and go from there. YMMV.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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IMHO

1st rig an all around freefall rig (safe for FF, comfortable, etc)

2nd rig should be a CrW rig - there's always room for CrW

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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I have had two rigs for the past 3-4 years because I was the main vidiot at a small Cessna DZ (500 students anually) I had a Stiletto 150 for my fun rig and a Saber 190 for my demo rig and backup.

Presently, I'm selling both (see classifieds ;):PB|) and buying a Stiletto 170 because I'm getting older and I do more tandems now with a few IAD instructor jumps and almost no video jumps.

Apart from needing two rigs for "work" purpose I'd invest my money in something else. JMHO


steveOrino

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I'm curious as to why a guy with two years in the sport and 146 jumps needs two rigs. I think your money would be spent more wisely on jump tickets.

I'm a professional skydiver and don't have two rigs:S

Make some jumps holmes.........

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!



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I travel a great deal in Europe, and though I live in the UK do most of my jumping in Spain, so the idea was to have one rig permanently based at the Spanish DZ, so when in Europe I could fly directly to Spain and have a rig over there.

But I agree the money would be better invested in tunnel time and Jjump tickets.

I think I will probably sell the older rig later this year, and decide which canopy to jump after I get 50+ jumps on the Safire2.

I need to travel less and jump more!

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I have 2 rigs, same main (Triathlon) and reserve (PD 193) canopies but one main is a 190 and the other is a 210. If it is really windy I jump the 190, if it is moderate I can rotate rigs, if it is calm I prefer the larger main. Even though it is only slightly larger (210 vs 190) it does make a very noticeable difference on calm days. At boogies like WFFC having two rigs means you can make lots of jumps in one day if you don't mind using packers. I considered getting really different mains, like one 7 cell Volvo and one elliptical Porsche, but decided that common flight characteristics would be less confusing and ultimately safer.
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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I have a highly loaded Samurai in one rig, and a moderately loaded Triathlon in the other.

Obviously, I bought the two rigs for very different purposes. I use the Triathlon for CRW and demo jumps - it matches the color pattern of the demo team.

I try to consistently fly the Samurai, unless I'm practicing for a demo or doing CRW. Otherwise, it really only gets pulled out on days where I'm very busy (12-15 jumps a day), and the packers have gotten backed up. On days like this (which are rare), I' had some not-so-good landings - always under the Triathlon. The problem stemmed from when I kept trying to fly it like my Samurai. Switching back and forth got confusing!

Now that I have 2 rigs, I realize that having two is largely unnecessary - except in my case, where I need two radically different sized canopies. I did a LOT of jumping last year - 400ish jumps in the mid-west, which is tough considering the short season. I rarely had to use both rigs. If I only had one rig, I could have easily kept up by doing the occasional pack-job myself, or being smarter about picking loads.

I dont' recomend people buy two rigs unless they're doing a lot more jumps than 400/year, or they have radically different canopy requirements like I do.

I'm really curious why you need two rigs at your current level. It's very expensive, an not an ideal situation if you're using both at the same time.

_Am
__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

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I have two rigs for convenience. One for all freefall jumps and the other stays hooked to my WS or gets the main changed out for CReW. The mains are a SA2 150(PDR 143)/SA 170(PDR 176) respectively. The main size/type are close enough that switching isn't that drastic. But going to a Lightning for CReW, I am hyper focused on those controlled crashes, I mean landings. The size impact is greater on the reserves. I have demo'd both, so I have a better understanding of what to expect when I will have to use either one of them.
50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

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I have 2 Vector 3 Micron's. A V310 and a V319. My 310 has a PD143R in it and my 319 has a PD126R in it. Both of them have Stiletto 120's. I have an AAD in the 310 and am thinking about purchasing an AAD for the 319 which I just bought about two months ago. Being an AFF instructor and a videographer I find that I pretty much can't live without 2 rigs and could in reality probably use two more truth be told. :P

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

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