What is your wind limit?

[jdhill 0]

for me, at some point it is just not "fun" to fly my canopy in given wind conditions... I can still do it, with a saftey magin that I am comfortable with... its just not fun...

If I'm getting paid, I am willing to "work" during my canopy flight, still with my safety margin...

IMO, it is not a matter of increased risk for a buck, it is increased work.

There is a point at which the safety margin has shrunk beyond my comfort level... at that point an extra buck is immaterial, and not worth the risk...

I don't do this for a living... what money I make at it goes right back into the sport... those that do do this for a living might approach this differently... similar to jumping while injured... I'll take a few days/weeks of to let a sore or tweaked neck heal... full timers might get right back on the plane.
J

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[betzilla 56]

20ish is my limit -- less if it's gusty or the winds are squirelly. My limit is lower if I'm not very current too.

[bch7773 0]

I prefer not to jump in winds above 25... I've done one jump where the winds came up while we were on the plane, and started blowing at about 35... I jumped, and it turned out ok... but at that point, landing ok is just luck.

however, lots of times I base if I feel comfortable jumping by what the other jumpers are saying, and how their canopies are flying. If I see someone wingloaded about the same as me being jerked around at 100 feet, and they tell you how turbulent it is up there, I ain't jumping.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[webracer 0]

Quote

28 mph and I don't do gusts.

Haven't we shared a gust or two?

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[nathaniel 0]

when I see experienced jumpers landing in the corn.



nathaniel

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[jsaxton 0]

Hmmm, I don't see ANY posts from Byron jumpers here

Skydive Byron "Come to the wind!

[ltdiver 3]

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for me, at some point it is just not "fun" to fly my canopy in given wind conditions... I can still do it, with a saftey magin that I am comfortable with... its just not fun...

If I'm getting paid, I am willing to "work" during my canopy flight, still with my safety margin...

You took the words right out of my mouth, jdhill.

I'll jump for fun, when it's all just fun.

However, sometimes the sky is cold...or the winds are up...but they are ALWAYS within my safety limits if I go up. I won't go up for a fun jump, but 'work' can let me get a bit chilly...or make me work my canopy a bit more. It's always within my safety limits, though.

ltdiver

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[KrisFlyZ 0]

I made the cardinal mistake. I jumped on a load when the winds had died down but they were high all day.....result broken ankle with some metal in there now.

I just got off student status and used to sit out loads that students were'nt allowed on. One mistake is all it takes folks to mess up your next 6 months(I am thankful it is'nt worse).

I hope low time jumpers learn from my bad experience and stay safe.

Blue Skies Be Safe
Kris

[Aviatrr 0]

For me it all depends on the specific DZ(landing area size, outs if I don't make it back, obstacles that can create rotors) and whether the wind is steady or gusting. Generally 20-30mph is my limit - again, depending on the previous factors. Sometimes lower. Very rarely higher.

Mike

[tbrown 26]

When I was young and stupid I'd jump in any kind of conditions. Had some nerve wracking canopy rides too. Then one of those jumps I had a cutaway and got banged up pretty well landing my round reserve. Now that I'm 23 years older, 50 lbs heavier (sigh...), and have a wife and kids, I'll head for the bar if the winds are too high. I'm not in this to get hurt and I hope I'm a little smarter than the young fool I once was.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[skydiver51 0]

20-23 gust or no gust. I won't video in winds over 20. Can't see doing tandems in those kinda winds. Ain't worth the risk.

[AggieDave 6]

My fun jump limit is variable. Can I swoop or do I have to swoop to land without going backwards? If I have to swoop to keep from going backwards (at my wingloadings) then its not worth it.

With tandems, if I'm going straight down, then I'm done. If I've got a little bit of drive, then I'm good.

Tandems are sort of like a 747, though. Big, heavy, decent wingloading (atleast on the Sigma 370s I jumps), it cuts through a lot of shit that would otherwise screwup a lightly loaded fun jumper.

If I look at the windsock and get a bad vibe (the winds are really variable or really gusty, etc), then I'm not going up. No matter what anyone else might try to tell me.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[skybrat68 0]

My sentiments exactly Lisa. I don't know what the winds were in Rantoul last year, but even those were a little much for me. Sometimes, it depends on if the wind are steady or gusting. I did find, after I jumped at the WFFC, that the winds were different there, more steady. I found Sebastian to be like that (higher but steady) since it's right on the coast. I prefer no more than 16 or 17 mph.

[dayle 0]

Here's a nice quote to remember about the windsock.

If the windsock is dancing with a hard on, somebody is getting fuXked.

Having said that, I don't mind higher winds and I have jumped when I have been getting little to no penetration. For me the key to jumping at these times is having the correct spot and NOT having gusting winds.

That is the thing that will hurt/kill you every time. Watch out for radical wind velocity changes as well as direction changes.

Dayle

[ladyskydiver 0]

Didn't vote as the poll didn't really say my limit.

I won't jump in winds over 15. I've jumped in higher winds once and remembered when I was under canopy the old saying...

It's better to be down on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

Learned my lesson. Plus, when the more experienced people are sitting out, there's a reason for it.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[mjosparky 3]

I noticed that several people gave their limits and then said they sometimes fudge. List your reasons for not jumping, wind speed, low ceiling or what ever. Then decide what your limits are and stick to them. Peer pressure has sent more then one jumper to the hospital.
My limit is 15-20 depending on gusts. Thats fun jumping, working or any other kind of jumping. The ground does not know the difference.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[clint 1]

This summer at a dz near Chicago(the windy city), The wind always blew! I was landing in 30mph DOWNWIND! and I know you won't bellieve this but I was standing them up at times, well sliding on feet but not touching my as* for landing.
The landing area was ausome, all flat grass and we were landing on the grass runway!

Clint MacBeth
Skydive Moab 435 259 JUMP
M.O.A.B. Mother Of All Boogies Sept 19 - 23, 2012

[Patman 0]

Hey Perky! We had WINDS last Sunday! Did a hop n' pop with the DZO and a couple others. Winds at 3500 were at 29kts. (WX Brief after the jump is where we got the numbers- take them as you will.) Didn't let up until around 1100ft. Okay, need to jump (dumb thinking with newbies wanting to go) . DZO let one of our newbies on the load, and, no he didn't land on. Winds at 10,500 were so strong that a full cut in the 182 would have given us a negative ground speed. I opened at 3500 and thought that Oshkosh (about 8 or so miles away) would be a great place to go. A little fancy inputs to the front risers and I actually held my ground (loaded 1.5;1). The same newbie landed about a quarter mile off again. He got back and started to set up another load! I told him I wasn't going back up in those conditions three times before he quit asking. He was told by at least three of us he shouldn't jump, but he got a load together anyway. Yes, not only did he not land on, but just about pounded himself into the ground doing a VERY low turn. I personally take winds aloft and on the ground into the equation.Over 20 on the ground, no way. It just floors me that when the higher experienced jumpers are saying "NO" why don't the newbies get it and grab a beer instead? Experience will teach them, just hope injury isn't added in there!

Don't tell me I can't! I already know that! Haven't you seen my x-rays?

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

I just had that same conversation with some skydiving friends last night one of them being a Newbie in the sport. There were a couple bits of important advice I was told as a Newbie in the sport and I believe that information saved me injuries cause I was always rearin to get onto any airplane that I could jump out of:

Someone used to tell me, if you notice, the jumpers who have been around a while and aren't all mangled up are the ones who say, I am going to sit this load out cuz the winds are too high. Also, the worst wind conditions (after living in Hawaii and jumping there for a couple years) are the gusty ones. I have seen lots of injuries in Hawaii due to winds and gusts. One minute you have an inflated canopy coming down nice and smooth and the next it has collapsed very low to the ground

Also the one I am sure you have all heard a million times by now ... It is much better to be on the ground wishing you were up in the air than being up in the air wishing you were on the ground.

Blue skies.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[Squeak 17]

I dont understand the parochial question,
why not put it in knots (you know the international unit of measure) so us ppl on the metric system can relate more readily.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[kwmontreal 0]

My wind limit is about 20mph with max gusts to 27mph. High winds are challenging enough without strong gusts. Your landing area must also be wide open and clear. Roters off near by buildings, trees .... ect can make the whole experence er..... unplesent!!

Jump Safe and know YOUR limits!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------JUMP SAFE!

[jumperconway 0]

My idea (at my dz) is if the plane flies, I fly. I jump a pretty high W/L X-braced and have had little problem with high winds or gusts but our landing area is huge and it's easy to stay away from rotors from trees and the hangar. I've been on a load where the wind got real tubulent around the main landing area, after I landed a lady on our jump came in behind me flying a straight in approach and I heard her canopy go "schwack" twice over my head as her lightly loaded saber/stilletto collapsed and reinflated less than 50 ft of the ground. She stayed down a load until the winds came down a bit.

[Cornholio 0]

Quote

Hmmm, I don't see ANY posts from Byron jumpers here

Skydive Byron "Come to the wind!

Here's one.

My limits are 25 MPH steady wind or if there's a delta of more than 7-8mph between gusts. I've jumped in 30MPH winds before and it's not fun.

At Byron, if the hangar doors are making noise, it's time to stay on the ground.

Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast!
Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool!
bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump

[mjosparky 3]

Clint,
Not all of us have 5,000 jumps. And even then, do you think it is smart to push the envelope that fare?
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[tspillers 0]

I'll add my 1.5 cents.

Like many of you, my limits vary. I consider gust and how variable the direction is. 10-15 with a 90 degree variable can be interesting (Had one this weekend).

As far as Fun vs. Working jumps.... I have the skill to handle more winds than what would be fun to deal with. Considering when you get paid to jump, you are expected to perform a job and sometimes must do things you would not do if is was merely for fun. You MUST keep safety and you skill level / limits in mind. This mostly applies to video of a tandem. I don't have to worry about AFF because they would be grounded. Anyone I am coaching, I can generally lead them to deciding they shouldn't jump in a questionable condition. As far as tandems, I will jump in a lot. I will tend to make the limit higher for myself if the winds have been gradually increasing and I have been dealing with them throughout the day (there still is a limit).

So in a nutshell, like many skydiving issues I don't think there is a set number you can place. You have to look at the whole picture and determine what and how many factors are pointing in an unsafe direction.

Todd

I am not totally useless, I can be used as a bad example.