Student Rig

[mountainman 0]

I am going to be getting my skydiving training in the summer of 2002. I have one jump now and will have three by the middle of this summer (all tandems). I am wondering where you would recommend looking for a good student rig. I can spend around 2000 for it.
Also, while looking, what kind of things should I look for? For example, size, type, equipment, etc. I am 5'10", 200 lbs and my wife (who will be doing this also) is 5'6" 130.
Thanks for all of your help!!

[Geoff 0]

This is a big subject, but a couple of observations:
(1) A 'student rig' normally means a rig for training non-skydivers to skydive. Student rigs are normally bought only by instructors or drop zones. Nobody uses one when they're no longer a student. What you will want is a 'novice rig' or 'beginner's rig'.
(2) I hope you don't mean you're going to try to get one rig to share with your wife. As a 200lb beginner, you need a main canopy of at least 200 sq ft or more. That canopy would be underloaded by a 130lb person. Plus the harness won't fit you both!
Have a look at the articles at http://www.dropzone.com/gear/articles/ and ask your instructor a lot of questions.
Have a great time learning to skydive! It's the world's best sport.
Geoff

[skybytch 259]

Don't buy any gear until after you've gotten at least part way through your student training. The DZ will provide everything you need to make your student jumps. If you just gotta spend money on skydiving equipment now, pick up a couple of altimeters, some goggles, gloves, maybe a helmet, possibly go ahead and get jumpsuits ordered. Personally if I were you I'd be spending that $2k on student jumps this summer rather than waiting til next year...
Probably the best investment you could make right now would be to pick up a copy of Parachuting, the Skydivers Handbook by Dan Poynter. It's available from all the major gear dealers, the publisher (Para Publishing) and I believe it is also available through Amazon. Digest that prior to starting your AFF jumps and you will be miles ahead of everyone else.
You will end up having to buy two rigs if you are both going to be jumping. The harness that fits you won't fit your wife and like Geoff said, the canopy that is right for your body weight will be way too big for her (and vice versa - the canopy that is right for her will be way too small for you, at first anyway).
pull and flare,
lisa

[mountainman 0]

Thanks for the info. I know that we'll get two different rigs...one for each of us. I am familiar with some stuff of skydiving. I have read the whole USPA book of FARs and a couple of student manuals. Also, I ordered skydiving magazines last year to check out. I will look for that book and see if I can't get myself a copy.
As far as the rigs, the DZ that I'll be going to (SGC) obviously provides the rigs through the training and then they let you use theirs up through jump 20 (A license).
I guess what I am wondering is what is the load rating on someone who has 20/30 jumps? I assume it should be around 1.0 - 1.2?? I don't want to get something that is very large and has no speed and is heavy...but at the same time I don't want like a 160 that would have a high load rating, therefore putting it out of my leauge as far as skill. I know it's not like I'll be in swoop contests or anything like that. I just want to make sure that we get something that will last us for a while (a couple years) until we can get something a bit more high-performance.
Also, I am going to be doing A LOT of jumping. The only reason we can't do it this year is because I am still in college and will graduate May 2002 (what a present huh?? skydiving lessons:) ) Anyway, I am going to be a teacher and will have my summers off, where I plan to eventually become a JM/tandem master/etc. So, I will be doing a lot of jumping and will continue to do so.
Thanks for all of your help!!!

[skybytch 259]

Quote

I guess what I am wondering is what is the load rating on someone who has 20/30 jumps? I assume it should be around 1.0 - 1.2?? I don't want to get something that is very large and has no speed and is heavy...but at the same time I don't want like a 160 that would have a high load rating, therefore putting it out of my leauge as far as skill. I know it's not like I'll be in swoop contests or anything like that. I just want to make sure that we get something that will last us for a while (a couple years) until we can get something a bit more high-performance.

Personally I'm very conservative when recommending wingloading on a first canopy. I'd suggest keeping the wingloading on your first canopies below 1.1 lbs. suspended weight/sq.ft. of canopy. If you have good canopy control skills, are consistently standing up a student canopy, plan to jump a lot (5+/week, every week...) and have access to demo/rental/borrowed gear to safely downsize then 1.1 isn't unrealistic. If any of the above is not true then keep it at 1.0 or under.
You might get "bored" with a canopy loaded at 1.0 or less but I've never heard of anyone getting injured or killed because they were jumping a "boring" canopy; I have known quite a few who have injured/killed themselves with canopies that were just a bit more than they had the experience and/or ability to handle (I include myself in that group...six months on the ground so far, looks like it'll be two more before I'm back in the air).
If your container is sized for your first main it will safely hold a main up to two sizes smaller so when you are ready to downsize you don't have to buy a complete new rig. The money you'll "lose" when you sell the first one after 100-200 jumps is much, much less than the cost of even a simple broken ankle, which imho is more likely to occur if you are wingloading your first canopy much over 1.0.
pull and flare,
lisa