short recovery arc canopy and consistency

[2shay 0]

i am jumping a viper 150 loaded at 1.5 having trouble staying consistent on swoops because the canopy flys with a very flat glide. if the approach isnt perfect it comes out too soon. was thinking of crossfire 2 149 because i want to stay at the same wing loading for at least four or five hundred more jumps are there any suggestions at what different things that i can do with my current canopy to help improve my swooping or would i be better off getting a canopy with a steeper glide angle

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[justchrisdsp 0]

practice, practice, practice.... a problem that i was having at first was getting discouraged because my consistency wasnt there and i wasnt swooping like i wanted to. the reason was because i didnt have enough practice. i am getting better and my consistancy is getting better. but only cause i have been taking the time to put as many jumps on the canopy i have as i can. i think sometimes people get impatient, lord knows i do. i will say though, at 500 jumps (if your profile is current) dont expect to be super consistant anyway. it takes time, i know people with a couple thousand jumps that arent fully consistant
that being said, if you feel you must change canopies i recommend the mamba, they make it in a 150 and is the best all around hp canopy i have jumped to date. you can fly it fast, slow, and anywhere in between. the recovery arc is super long and you can be off in your turn altitude and still get some good swooping out of it and at the same time learn from your mistakes. it also has the kinda flare you need to dig if you need and also to stand up every landing.
just my .02

The only bad skydive is your last!
chris "sonic wookie" harwell
Piedra-belluda-roja Rodriguez

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

would i be better off getting a canopy with a steeper glide angle

Your canopy is similar to a Stiletto, right? I've seen a crapload of really good swoopers doing really good swoops under stilettos.

Get a good accurate altimeter and practice. Practice a LOT.

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

[marks 0]

what up chris?

you comin down to the farm for the swoop boogie?

[dharma1976 0]

Yeah your canopy is simlar to a stilletto, you might want to try either of the following...

a. add harness when you initiate your turn to ease up on your riser pressure...

b. try some longer risers to increase your recovery arch...

c. get some coaching, nothing helped me more than working with brian germain for like 3 days

Cheers
Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[2shay 0]

my next question is how long of risers will i need and once i have learned to swoop this canopy consistently will there be any bad habits from swooping a canopy like this. and then changing to something like a crossfire 2

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[AggieDave 6]

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will there be any bad habits from swooping a canopy like this. and then changing to something like a crossfire 2

The only think you're really going to have to work on is the fact that the recovery arc will be much longer and you'll have to drastically raise your patterns and turns.

I've got quite a few jumps under a stiletto and then went to a XF2. I would do a 270 on the stiletto around 400ft, it was around 600ft on the XF2. (Number used for general reference only).

Beyond that, its all about learning technique. Technique is technique is technique. You can learn to be a badass swooper under a Saber2, you don't need a XF2 or a Katana. Infact I would argue its much better to learn under something that is slower and has a shorter recovery arc, then transition once you've done a few hundred jumps on a canopy. For instance, I'm moving on from my XF2 right now. I put 600 jumps on that canopy. I could have put another 600 and continued to learn on that canopy, but I decided to move on. It was only in the past 100 jumps on that canopy that I felt truely ready to move on. That I felt like I could move to a high performance wing safely and still be able to perform and learn.


As for riser length, I just moved from 21" to 25" risers. I dig it. Would I have liked it previously? Not sure. Personally I like it. Get a set of 25" risers (if you can reach everything) and try them. If you don't like it, sell them and go back to what you know.

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

[2shay 0]

thanks for the info man i love to pick everyones brains on here

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

iwhat different things that i can do with my current canopy to help improve my swooping

You should know how high or low you are throughout your approach.

Once you've started to turn

If you're high, maintain the dive but reduce the turn rate with opposite front riser so that you loose more altitude getting to your final heading.

If you're a little low, add harness input to increase the turn rate without changing your descent rate.

If you're lower, swap front riser input for harness so you maintain turn rate and start leveling out.

If you're really low, use both toggles to stop your descent and then finish dealing with heading.

[dharma1976 0]

I much prefer the crossfire 2 to the canopy you are flying...

in fact I never really liked the stilletto...but that is me...somethign ab out the openings...

if you want something that is good to learn to swoop on can I reccomend a sabre 2 or safire 2...I learned most of what I know abotu swooping on those canopies...(except for rear riser landings which I learned on my 129 crossfire)

just my 2cents

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[justchrisdsp 0]

i would love to shimmell, but i am actually moving to orlando in two weeks and i have a bunch of stuff to do and prepare and all that fun, i wish i could, would love to get down there and get some canopy coaching and be around all that knowledge, but i will have to skip it this time.

The only bad skydive is your last!
chris "sonic wookie" harwell
Piedra-belluda-roja Rodriguez

[rhys 0]

if you have the cash then get your crossfire now!!! once you suss the viper you will want to go longer and dive more and you will have to start again!

a longer recovery arc is safer too. i am currently at the world meet and those that are swooping stilettos etc. make my adrenilan flow because i think they are going to fimur every time! there is fuck all room for error on those things. the crossbraced canopies that dive from much higher are much nicer to watch and more relaxing to watch. and they swoop more than twice the distance.

you know you want to be there, so why waste your time working on a short recovey arc?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Guinness_fr 0]

What Drew said is right on.

The idea with short recovery canopies is to perform a turn with a slow enough rate that you can evaluate at all times whether you're gonna be high or low.
Always keep turning (use harness if riser pressure becomes too important) and keep the last degrees of your turn for the last moment: if you're too low you can always level the canopy and finish turning at the same time (make sure you know how to do this by practicing a lot), if you're too high then those last few degrees of turn should help keep you losing altitude for those last few feets.

Obviously you'll have to adapt when switching to a canopy with a longer recovery arc so that you let more time for the canopy to recover.

Most important of all: Please be very careful and make sure you are leaving yourself plenty of outs when deciding in which way to turn as sometimes you will have to abort your turn and land in the direction you're heading.