Canopy Progression after a long Layoff.

[hparrish 0]

I'm interested in hearing from the truely exerienced swoopers on this thread. What was your canopy progression upon returning to the sport after a long layoff?

In my case a 15 Month Layoff, 1000 jumps on a 2:1 wingloading before my crash.

I'm personally going to put a few on a 1:1 canopy and step it down from there for about 50 jumps, or whatever feels right.

[bob.dino 0]

[edit: not really relevant now]

[gainer 0]

I had a layoff of about six months, not as long as yours but similar. I used to jump a 2.2 loaded velo, size 103, after my accident is simple took a canopy as big as feel I needed to go, 200 skymaster, and jumped that, then I progressed downwards again as fast as i felt comfortable, I only got back on any high performance canopy after I was confident I could habdle it and even then I only did 90's or smaller on landing

Just take it slow and don't rush, you've got time.

[speedy 0]

On the 1st July 2006 I trashed my T12 in my back. Jump no 2068 on a Velocity 90 loaded at about 2-1.
The first op to put in the stabilisers was not much of a problem but the second one with bone grafts to repair the vertebrae really took it's toll,

I spent the first 3 months not really doing anything apart from being thankful I was not paralyzed from the waist down. For the next six months I had a trainer twice a week that helped me rebuild my back muscles (the wonders of German medical insurance). You do not need to spend much time at all doing nothing to require a lot more time to rebuild muscle loss.

I was supposed to wait 12 months before I jumped again, but we had such beautiful weather here in April 2007 that I decided, what the hell, I need to jump again.

My first jump after a 9 month layoff was with a Spectre 135. I had jumped this exact canopy before and I knew it would open nice and soft. I wanted to be sure I did not get a slammer on my newly repaired back.

My next jump was on my VX99 loaded at 1.6. I did about 20 jumps on this with 90° approaches. It was really about getting used to the speed again. On one jump during those 20 I got a wake up call. I was getting complacent about flying the canopy and ended up landing with the wind partly in a low turn. Thankfully nothing but a bruised ego and few comments from my friends asking me to take it easy.
I realised you need time to get used to not only the canopy but all aspects of flying a parachute. I then forced myself to concentrate on every aspect of my canopy flight and analyze what the canopy was doing relative to other canopies and the ground with control each input I made.

After the 20 jumps on the VX I then jumped my Velocity again. The 1st few jumps doing just 90° approaches, then I went back to throwing 270's when conditions allowed. Initially I was making the turns to high, deliberately using my Neptune as a guide. I needed at least another 50 jumps before my eyes became accustomed to the picture I should be seeing during the turn and landing. It was a while before I used lead weights again, because I decided after my accident I would give up competition swooping. After maybe a hundred jumps the big Tandem arrived who wanted video. So I strapped on a shit load of lead, moved my turn height up 60 feet or so, and was that a sweet landing.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[flydog 0]

When I was put on the sidelines for 10 months I had been jumping a VX104 at 2.45:1. When I got to come back I moved up to my stilleto 135. I had also lost 25 pounds.
This canopy has served me well even though either my legs or my mind wont work right. I have only stood up about half a dozen landings this year out of 200.
Even with sliding in landings i have gone back to my VX 104 for a few jumps every now and then. No way in hell I could ever run anything out but I know I can slide in smoothly. The only thing I worry about is the off landing into unknown territory.

[hparrish 0]

Ian.....I know you're a Freak of Nature and were back in 11 weeks.

What was your progression?

[ianmdrennan 2]

Harry,

Freak of nature eh...I kinda like that

Anyway, I took all my weight off, scaled back my turn to a 270 (since I had about 2000 skydives of them) and found soft, smooth ground to slide in on.

Slowly added weight while staying with the most familiar turn, and then eventually went back to 450's.

I slid in almost every jump this season while I worked on getting my leg strength back - a major concern to me was to re-injure myself trying to stand a landing up with the leg muscle strength so atrophyed.

I've, in the last 3 weeks, only started standing up every landing again. I also worked out my legs a lot at the gym, stretched the tendons and muscles religiously, and did a lot of walking on the bottom of a pool when I was partially weight bearing.

In a nutshell - stay in your comfort zone - whatever that was.

Oh, and for the record, I was shitting bricks on my first few landings. It takes a while to get over the psychological barrier. So just take it at a relaxed pace.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[hparrish 0]

Quote

Oh, and for the record, I was shitting bricks on my first few landings. It takes a while to get over the psychological barrier. So just take it at a relaxed pace.

Blues,
Ian

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who's got anxiety about the landing. I'm really excited to get back into the air.......Not so much when thinking about landing.

It really does mess with your head.

Thanks to the other for their responses.

I'm hoping to get others to add their comments, so we all can learn, that even experienced canopy pilots are conservative.

What prompted me to start this thread was two of my Mentors in this sport (John Lyman and Jack Sheehe), asking me what my plan was regarding canopy progression, when I return. John is my Rigger and Friend and Jack (also a friend), just made his first jump after breaking his back last year.

I had thought I was going to jump a 150 and step it down from there, but after talking to them I'm thinking 200+ sq foot student Rig for my first few.