Backriser tape

[Wharewaka 0]

I want to put tape on my back risers for less slippage risk, better grip and jumping with thick gloves. what to use? Anyone done it, any photos of it. I knew some crew guys who put tape for horse ankles on their front risers...any ideas. Should be long lasting too.

[geofsmth 0]

Vet wrap works great for CRW. It is self sticking but you do need something to anchor it on, on the riser, usually the front dive loops.It can be a bit bulky but if you look at the CRW rigs you will see it doesn't matter much. The down side is that vet wrap will make it difficult if not impossible to pull your slider down, depending on how much vet wrap is used. For CRW it allows the pilot to reach and grab without looking for the loops.

[kameraflyr 0]

I would say that the use of ANY material, especially tape presents a number of serious safety issues.

1. The tape described is not intended for application to a parachute or parachute line, and therefore could have some serious implications to the lines or any other nylon it makes contact with. Many glues used on tape contain alcohol and other caustic chemicals. This could easily result in accellerated line wear or breakage.

2. The tape as described can be difficult to attach to the risers, being bulky and unpredictable in it's density. This creates a problem in two ways: As described, it can interfere with the normal equipment operation of the slider and perhaps even the toggles; and second, it is quite possible for the tape to interfere with your dexterity ESPECIALLY if you are wearing gloves.

3. The question that bears even a larger question than the use of tape is this: If you HAVE to or SHOULD wear thick gloves that interfere so severely to riser operation that you NEED to apply an untested modification to your risers, should you really be applying the use of front riser divers at all?
I would say absolutely NOT!

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I agree with Bryan's post.

Another thing: the great majority of us pull or push out on our rears; we don't pull them down. Pulling down on your rears is counter-productive to a clean transition to toggles. When you pull down on rears, then release them to transfer, you get a "bump" in your flight which not only shortens your swoop, but also causes the canopy lose rigidity for a moment. If you pull or push your rears outward the transition to toggles is seamless. When you release your rears you just basically leave your hands in the same spot and the slack automatically gets taken back up in your brakelines and you don't get that "bump" during the transfer. I hope this makes sense.

Chuck

[davelepka 4]

Even if you did pull straight down on your rears, is there really that much pressure that you can't swing it without grippy tape?

It's not like a front riser that builds airspeed and pressure as you apply input, the rears just get softer and softer as you go.

[VectorBoy 0]

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Vet wrap works great for CRW. It is self sticking but you do need something to anchor it on, on the riser,

It will work on a hop & pop rig ( CRW or swoop)but you don't want to use this on a swoop rig that you sometimes freefall with. The bulk can open your lower riser covers enough to make a rig not Free Fall friendly. To anchor it you can wrap once and hand stitch some super tac with follow up wraps to the thickness of your likeing. But I agree with most here in that you don't need it on the rears.

[gearless_chris 1]

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Even if you did pull straight down on your rears, is there really that much pressure that you can't swing it without grippy tape?

It's not like a front riser that builds airspeed and pressure as you apply input, the rears just get softer and softer as you go.

Not on my Cobalt, the rear riser pressure is higher than the front. I don't know why it's different than every other canopy I've jumped.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[davelepka 4]

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Not on my Cobalt, the rear riser pressure is higher than the front. I don't know why it's different than every other canopy I've jumped.

No, it's the same as every other canopy on earth.

Pull on a front riser- airspeed and riser pressure will build, a.ka. become harder to hold on to.

Pull on the back risers- airspeed and riser pressure will decrease, a.k.a. become easier to hold on to.

[gearless_chris 1]

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Not on my Cobalt, the rear riser pressure is higher than the front. I don't know why it's different than every other canopy I've jumped.

No, it's the same as every other canopy on earth.

Pull on a front riser- airspeed and riser pressure will build, a.ka. become harder to hold on to.

Pull on the back risers- airspeed and riser pressure will decrease, a.k.a. become easier to hold on to.

Sorry, let me explain what I meant better. If I make a 180 front riser turn and let off, the fronts are easier to pull than the rears, while the speed is still higher than in normal flight. On all the other canopies I've jumped you wouldn't even think about trying to re-apply the fronts until the speed dropped back down some. I haven't tried pushing the rears out to the side yet instead of down but I will soon.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[Wharewaka 0]

So you are saying that if I wear thick gloves I should not pull frontriser!!??

Untested...well thats why I posted here to hear from people who have used it. And I have seen it been used , by a great swooper and he is not dead, so maybe it did work....
But could not remember what he used.

Happens to be that I have an injured hand and before you tell me to build a train set instead of jumping.. I do not dive that hard that I will impact the ground if I fail on my backrisers(actually that happens) and I just use my breaks instead, I fly conservatively but would be nice to have a grip so that I with my slightly weakened hand can enjoy pulling,pushing back risers to get a few more feet out of my swoop and to stay in tune with my backriser usage before I get 100% and can go a bit harder, especially the cold days when I need thick gloves.

And yes I can skydive safely with an injured hand, I can pull all my handles and all that stuff.

I do appreciate your concern and dont mean to start an argument now, I just think that its OK to try new things, it doesnt mean I will just take some tape and put it on my risers with no thought behind it.

[spoogela 0]

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I agree with Bryan's post.

Another thing: the great majority of us pull or push out on our rears; we don't pull them down. Pulling down on your rears is counter-productive to a clean transition to toggles. When you pull down on rears, then release them to transfer, you get a "bump" in your flight which not only shortens your swoop, but also causes the canopy lose rigidity for a moment. If you pull or push your rears outward the transition to toggles is seamless. When you release your rears you just basically leave your hands in the same spot and the slack automatically gets taken back up in your brakelines and you don't get that "bump" during the transfer. I hope this makes sense.

Chuck

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Please do not feed bryan's little ego. We have to hear enough as it is.

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[edge01 1]

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I want to put tape on my back risers for less slippage risk, better grip and jumping with thick gloves. what to use? Anyone done it, any photos of it. I knew some crew guys who put tape for horse ankles on their front risers...any ideas. Should be long lasting too.

Blocks made from type from type 17 might work but they would need to small to get the slider over them.Just an a thought.

[VectorBoy 0]

There is already a block on there, its the one that holds the little ring your brake line feeds through. Grab that.