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johnnyboy

1st reserve ride!!

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i survived :) My damn reserve looks like a main so NO ONE knew what happened until i landed at the tip of the Conaster's property (Perris) and the guy who picked me up heard me screaming "Did anyone see my main?!?"
It was a coach jump that had an uneventful freefall. Upon opening, i had twists so bad that they came down to the risers almost under my neck. I chopped the main and pulled the reserve before i got stable (no RSL).
2 things learned:
LAND near your main!!
Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly
Would you agree?
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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he reserve before i got stable (no RSL).
2 things learned:
LAND near your main!!
Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly
Would you agree?



Not necessarily on either.

Land near your main ONLY if it is safe to do so. And you could spend the rest of your life trying to get stable after you cut away. Know your altitude and know if you have the luxury to try to get stable.

Great job getting through your first mal!
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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I Say "fuck your main " land safe, grab a beer and go look for your main !! Don't lose perspective on whats important ! You want to live to do it again. There are plenty of sad stories of people chasing their mains with ugly results.............................
smile, be nice, enjoy life
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No I wouldnt agree. IF you have the time You can wait to pull your reserve but unless you are doing a high deployment I would pull as soon as possible as a general rule.

It can take you a few seconds to get back on your belly. at a normal altitude that can cost you your life.


rememebr the rules of the sky.

1- PULL
2-Pull on time
3- pull stable

I also don't think you need to worry about your main UNLESS you have the experience and the landing area to land next to them.

with 86 jumps in perris you may have had those two covered but so places just aren't gonna be good to land.



So.

you find yourself under reserve.

1st thing.
canopy control check- make sure this one will save your life.

2nd-
find a landing area

3rd-
check for traffic (constantly)

4th-
if you have time look for your main and freebag.

5th
LAND SAFELY you can walk to retrieve your main, unless you break yourself.

CONGRATS on your reserve ride.

can you tell me/us what size was your main?
what size was the reserve?
what was the wing loading?
did you buy beer?;)
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I usually open at 4 to allow for some room to regain stability in case of a mal, but when it happened, i didnt even think to get stable again, i knew i needed an open canopy.
I was pretty much standing up when it opened. Scared the s@$t out of me........
i agree about the main
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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i survived :) My damn reserve looks like a main so NO ONE knew what happened until i landed at the tip of the Conaster's property (Perris) and the guy who picked me up heard me screaming "Did anyone see my main?!?"
It was a coach jump that had an uneventful freefall. Upon opening, i had twists so bad that they came down to the risers almost under my neck. I chopped the main and pulled the reserve before i got stable (no RSL).
2 things learned:
LAND near your main!!
Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly
Would you agree?



Pull priorities, in order of importance

1. Pull (most important)
2. Pull at the correct altitude
3. Pull while stable (least important)

Deploying your reserve quickly after a cutaway is extremely important, even most of the anti-RSL people agree with that. People have died waiting too long to get stable before pulling their reserve after a cutaway.

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after my reserve opened, i did a control check and then looked for traffic. I then checked the alti and found the DZ (we had a VERY bad spot). I was way north of the DZ and my canopy was going North. At about 1000 feet, i knew the canopy was going towards the houses so i decided not to land near it. It wasnt until an hour later when i realized no one realy watches that i didnt have money to buy another main. As i drove around Perris, i kept callin manifest until finally the rigger's husband turned it in. the FIRST thing out of ANYONE"S mouth was "why didnt you land by your main?!?" I said it wasnt safe....................
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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in an emergency, i can understand how one loses altitude awareness. WHen i was spinnning out of control, all i cared about was chopping that sucker and getting a better one out. NO jump could ever give you that feeling of going back into freefall after cutting away. People talk about that roller coaster feeling that we really dont get.......I got it that jump.
I guess i owe a bottle of scotch
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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nah, dont land by your main.

you made the correct decision.

SAVE YOUR LIFE FIRST then worry about the gear.

Usually , if possible someone will land near it but that depends on a few things.
1-did they see a cutaway
2- are they near enough to land with it/you
3- is it safe


We had a guy who had his 1st cutaway and landed without incident in the peas.

if he would have followed his main he probably would still be inthe hospital.

he had around 45-50 jumps and his main landed on some rough terrain on the golf course.

he did the right thing, but two golfers stole his main.
It sucked A WHOLE LOT. but I had an extra set up that he was able to use for free.

the reason he was able to use it was becasue he didnt die.;)
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Well, good on you for dealing with the emergency and then further making the wise choice to make a safe landing. Bummer it stressed you out that it made you think you almost lost your main, but glad it worked out well in the end. Personally, I've always tried to make it a point to chase other folks cutaways down if I can... in hopes someone will chase my stuff the next time I have a cutaway if I loose track of it...

Anyway, don't forget to buy your rigger a bottle of the beverage of his or her choice... and since it was your FIRST cutaway & reserve ride that's also a CASE OF BEER!!!

;)

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Have you ever jumped with a spring loaded PC for a main? I doubt it. If you had you would realize that if you were perfectly belly to earth then the chances of your PC not launching all the way out of your burble would be higher and your chances of a possible horseshoe could go up. Nevermind you can easily spend the rest of your life getting stable. What if your reseve has a line over? How much time do you think you'll need to clear it or if your reserve has linetwists? What about a tension knot. You want to eat up all of that altitude getting "stable?" I sure as hell don't want to. You might have a secret I haven't figure out in 2000+ jumps, though.

How many times have you jumped your reserve and are you confident that you can land it in someone's back yard that is surrounded by trees? You've only jumped it once, right? Ok, then maybe its better to watch your main and such to see where it is going so you can go get it later after you land safely. If its somewhere you could land your reserve safely and you won't cause landing pattern problems, then sure, go for it. Otherwise just keep an eye on it and go find it later.

How much does a femur repair cost? How much does a new main cost?
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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can you tell me/us what size was your main?
what size was the reserve?
what was the wing loading?
did you buy beer?;)



Triathlon 190
Stellar 180
I weigh 270 out the door (same rig since jump 17), so i am loading it at about 1.35-1.4
On average, i fall about 130 mph on my belly, even on deployment (i need to do something about that because my body has no wind resistance but has all hte weight. 5 different jumpsuits only slow me down up to 4 mph)
my max speed was 182 on that jump occurring on the 2nd half (based on the average of 144 on 2nd half).
YES, i bought beer:)
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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I had a spring PC during AFF almost 3 years ago in Taft.
You are sure right about the reserve ride. I had never flown it nor did i know how accurate i could land it. When i saw hte main goinng towards the houses, i said there is no way i am trying to land in a street with cars, trees, wires, etc.
I was just REALLY bummed that no one even my coach saw it. Rather than saying, "You are alive" or "You survived," All i got was "Why didnt you land by your main?"
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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Rather than saying, "You are alive" or "You survived," All i got was "Why didnt you land by your main?"



Then F*** them!

Once I congratulate someone on saving their own life and someone has been sent to help find their main/freebag, I'll typically ask if they kept their handles. If its a low time jumper, then its a "no biggie, we'll get another one ordered, good job on the cutaway...you owe beer."

If its someone with a few hundred jumps and is a real current jumper, then I like to find out what happened as to why they couldn't keep their handles. Did they have a hard pull or something strange happen with their reserve? Or what else happened? Then I remind them they owe beer, which is followed by some good natured razzing about dropping a handle.

This is while someone else is looking for the main and freebag. The last 10 cutaways or so at my DZ the main and freebag were found and returned before the jumper even made it back to the main hanger. If I'm out looking for the main/freebag for the jumper, that conversation typically happens from our other experienced jumpers.

Or in the case of a tandem ride, a lot of times the TI drops the rig in the landing area as he runs up to the cart to get another rig and his next student for the back-to-back load.;)

Once again, how much does a femur repair job cost? How much does a new main cost? I'd rather buy a new main, even with my really good health insurance.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I had a spring PC during AFF almost 3 years ago in Taft.
You are sure right about the reserve ride. I had never flown it nor did i know how accurate i could land it. When i saw hte main goinng towards the houses, i said there is no way i am trying to land in a street with cars, trees, wires, etc.
I was just REALLY bummed that no one even my coach saw it. Rather than saying, "You are alive" or "You survived," All i got was "Why didnt you land by your main?"



Well sometimes they don't wanna get all gooey about it. they kno wyour alive because youre standing there. so they say the next thing.

but hey, man for the record " you survived; good job";)
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I need to come jump at your DZ then :)Even at a supposed more 'intimate' dropzone i didnt see results.
However, in Perris they did come through. Those 2 hours were very sad knowing i may have lost my main but i wasnt hurt and was able to jump the following day. Still, i would have liked to have been watched.
Sure we are in a sport that where we are responsible for ourselves but i feel like someone else is always paying attention (especially when i screw up) but not on Saturday.........
But i did keep both my handles :)In the end, I AM ALIVE, NO BROKEN BONES, and JUMPERS FOUND ALL MY GEAR. I have NOTHING to bitch about except an expensive repack, right?:)
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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Although i completely violated my own reasoning, the reason for no RSL was the whole belief that i wanted to get stable before i pulled my reserve. Also. i dont ever want me to cutaway my main and have my reserve deployed before my main clears, for instance if it gets caught partly on my leg.
jumpers ARE better all around people than whuffos

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Although i completely violated my own reasoning, the reason for no RSL was the whole belief that i wanted to get stable before i pulled my reserve.



Honestly, that is a horrible reason. Like I said earlier, you can spend the rest of your life getting stable. Reserves were designed to be deployed "unstable." As in quite head high. That also works out to your favor when you're spinning or anything else. Think about it from a typical skydiving deployment (even though you stated that you typically dump at 4k, you won't always, especially if you want to advance in skydiving and get to go on more complicated skydives then a 2way). From 3k, you have a mal during deployment and chop. You're now chopping at about 2.7k. Upon chopping from a "stable" lineover, you fall forward and it takes another 900ft or so to build up the airspeed to get stable and not flail. You're now at 1.8k. Now lets say for some reason you have 3 line twists on your reserve, which took another 300ft to open. So you're now at 1.5k trying to kick out of linetwists while you hope to god that everyone else under canopy can fly around your flailing body and you hope to god that you kick out of the twists in time AND that you're over the landing area and not over the tree lined neighborhood when you get out of your linetwists at 900ft.

Sound unreasonable and it won't happen to you? Go to your DZ and talk to all the jumpers that have over 1000 jumps about their reserve rides. Find out how "typical" and "reasonable" most reserve rides are.

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to help you learn a bit in this sport and make better decisions. I originally went without a RSL for similar reasons as yours. Then I learned what was actually real in skydiving and what I *thought* was real. I didn't put one on my rig due to having a camera that I jumped and due to a possible conflict between pulling the reserve while the RSL fires and the guide rings in my rig. It could bind. My next rig will most likely have a RSL and I'm jumping high performance canopies loaded well over 2.0:1.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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packing error probably.

some of which include:

-putting the bag in the container with a twist. on deployment it could twist up like crazy.


- stowing the lines too tightly so that they "hug" the reserve tray. When you deploy, the bag is most likely to spin when it leaves the bag.
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2 things learned:
LAND near your main!!
Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly
Would you agree?



"LAND near your main!!"
No, gear can be replaced, you life cannot.

"Dont pull reserve until i am back on my belly"
No, skydivers have died by placing a higher priority on stability over getting a reserve out.

Quote

Rather than saying, "You are alive" or "You survived," All i got was "Why didnt you land by your main?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Then F*** them!



Agree with Dave


Quote

the reason for no RSL was the whole belief that i wanted to get stable before i pulled my reserve



Wouldent it suck to impact the ground just when getting line stretch on your reserve?



Congrats on your first reserve ride and landing safely. Good job.

Might be a good idea to have an RSL connected at repack time eh?

_
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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