RDS Rings: Pull them down or not?

[ke-aloha 0]

I am just wondering, solely for safety reasons: should you pull RDS rings below risers? Some people I've talked to said it's no biggy and makes it easier to pack to just leave them up, while others said stuff like "I heard of them getting caught up in a dive, pinching off the lines, etc."

Attached is a picture of my setup. I also have the steering lines routed through the ring on the slink. Any issues with RDS rings banging against those or what not?

Just curious on your guys' thoughts? If I'm doing something I could change to be safer I'd rather do it
Thanks

[d100965 0]

Why would you not pull them down?
To help with packing?? Depends how you pack....

When I pack, I re-attach the slider when the canopy is over my shoulder. Therefore the rings have to be at the other other end anyway.

So rings down and out the way when under canopy.
I just don't want then around my hands when I'm on the fronts or working the rears. Or have them moving around on my lines.
And then as soon as I land, I quickly release them all and let them slide down to the canopy.
So when you pick the lines up to pack, the rings are already at the canopy end and you can re-attach the slider with the canopy over your shoulder. (Then continue packing as normal).
I've seen some people faffing around trying to re-attach the slider at the risers with the rig on the ground and they sure do make it look like hard work! ;-)

p.s. How you getting on with them superb new gates?

[Skydivesg 7]

Looking at that pic. I'd be concerned about a ring coming down and trapping my fingers in the front dive loop.

Even if they weren't completely locked in the loop I don't think I'd want to deal with it at the bottom end of my approach turn.

Just thinking out loud. I'd pull them down and get them out of the way.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[ianmdrennan 2]

Mine end up always being down BECAUSE, I pull my slider down, past the brake lines, before I detach it. This is after a time where the spinning ring, from cutting the slider away, spun through my excess brake line on it's way down and locked my toggle in place. Had enough altitude to fix it, but after 1000's of jumps doing it and getting away with it, it was enough to make me change my habits.

Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

Mine end up always being down BECAUSE...

I hate it when my rings aren't all the way down, it is really annoying. Enough that I'm still running slocks to keep the rings down in the dive.

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

[jacketsdb23 49]

I say pull them down.

I got a ring stuck on my brake line, very similar to Ian's problem and I was not lucky enough to be able to fix it. I was forced to land my velo on my rears (which I was comfortable doing).

Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen
God is Good
Beer is Great
Swoopers are crazy.

[rem 0]

my risers are sooooo long that to catch the release lines, I must go down the slider before...
the ring still down.

niques tout, chies d'dans...

[adamT 0]

No one has said this yet, but on top of all the other reasons already mentioned you don't want to leave them up because they will be beating up your lines the whole way down.

[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

I am just wondering, solely for safety reasons: should you pull RDS rings below risers? Some people I've talked to said it's no biggy and makes it easier to pack to just leave them up, while others said stuff like "I heard of them getting caught up in a dive, pinching off the lines, etc."

Attached is a picture of my setup. I also have the steering lines routed through the ring on the slink. Any issues with RDS rings banging against those or what not?

Just curious on your guys' thoughts? If I'm doing something I could change to be safer I'd rather do it
Thanks

The biggest issue is that your control line could potentially get snagged by the ring and create situation you cannot get out of in time. Case in point, Holly's death (her picture is on the wall in the FF corner)due to a trapped/snagged control line during landing and this was without an RDS. So can it happen, yes. As small of a probability as it may be, can you further reduce it or remove it completely? The answer is yes, by pulling your rings all the way down. It's all about risk management and mitigating those risks as much as possible. This is something you have complete control over as you can remove a potential issue very easily and further reduce the likely hood of something biting you in the ass when you're several hundred feet above the ground and in your set up/swoop. Be safe, not sorry.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[ke-aloha 0]

thank you everyone, i appreciate it

[bofh 0]

I'm using slink protectors (or whatever those hats are called) to keep the rings up.

[Sandro29 0]

Quote

I'm using slink protectors (or whatever those hats are called) to keep the rings up.

- I'm using the same thing. Rings always stay up and they dont seem to bounce around, and I dont see any wear on the lines around that area. I'm wondering now if I should remove them and bring the rings all the way down...hmmmmm.

If at first you don't succeed....then Skydiving is not for you!

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

You cannot use top rings if you have slink protectors and if you are not running top rings on a swooping canopy then you are out of your mind. If you do not KNOW what top rings are and you are using a full or partial RDS then you are really in the dark.

Chuck

[bofh 0]

Quote

You cannot use top rings if you have slink protectors and if you are not running top rings on a swooping canopy then you are out of your mind. If you do not KNOW what top rings are and you are using a full or partial RDS then you are really in the dark.

Chuck

'

I'm out of my mind then, but on my rears with louie-loops the risers where too thick to have slink protectors installed in the normal way, so I turned them upside down and then folded them and put a few stitches in them. That might be possible on the rear risers too if one wants to use top rings.

[angryelf 0]

the whopping two jumps I have on my RDS (slider only), slider rings came down over the risers both times. I don't think there is any reason to leave them anywhere but at the bottom of the risers where they want to go anyway.
-Harry

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[DocPop 1]

I just ordered a removable slider and was researching what to do with the rings.

Any cons to pulling the rings on the rears down and leaving the ones on the fronts up above the slinks?

I ask because I have some pretty big front dive loops and it sounds like all the risk is linked to the rears risers/brake lines.

Thanks in advance.

PS - my risers have top rings, but not on the slinks, on the risers themselves - if that is relevant.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[AggieDave 6]

DocPop

I just ordered a removable slider and was researching what to do with the rings.

Any cons to pulling the rings on the rears down and leaving the ones on the fronts up above the slinks?

I ask because I have some pretty big front dive loops and it sounds like all the risk is linked to the rears risers/brake lines.

Thanks in advance.

PS - my risers have top rings, but not on the slinks, on the risers themselves - if that is relevant.

I hated how my rings would try to climb the lines, I also hated how they would try to come up to the dive loops. It didn't cause any real problems, it was distracting. To the point that I had slocks on my front risers to hold the rings down. The rear rings wouldn't climb after I pulled them down. That's a little OCD, but it made a difference for me.

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

[bofh 0]

I put the slink hats on to keep the rings up. Without, if I didn't pull them down they would sometimes fall down on their own, blocking the front handles. If I did pull them down, they would sometimes fly up. I also didn't want to have to pull them down over the brakes. For me they don't interfer with the brake lines when sitting at top.

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I ALWAYS pull my slider down over my brakes before I remove it. I have NEVER in TEN YEARS had my rings "fly up" my risers or cover my dive loops. I find it odd that people talk about that happening.

PS: yes, we have been jumping removable sliders for that long. At least half of us had them at the PST pro meet in Panama City in 2003.

Chuck

[AggieDave 6]

Here's what I used to do:

http://youtu.be/TKcc_7CP62Q?t=29s

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

[DocPop 1]

Thanks Dave.

So you pulled the front rings down only? Is that right? It was a little hard to tell.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[ianmdrennan 2]

You should always pull the rear riser rings over, and past, the toggles before releasing the rds.

The ring can spin, and flip though a brake line causing it to get trapped if you don't. It's happened to me, and I know of a few other people it's happened to as well.

Personally, I like getting the rings below the dive loops, and toggles, before releasing and stowing the rds.

Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[DocPop 1]

Awesome. Thanks Ian - I saw a video of Curt chopping a canopy because his rings locked up his brake.

I want to minimize my chances of a chop (obviously). Even now I do all the housekeeping (including releasing the brakes) before loosening my chest strap.

I guess I'll try to pull all the rings down before removing the slider and see how that works out.

All that is left is to jump it.....

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[AggieDave 6]

DocPop

Thanks Dave.

So you pulled the front rings down only? Is that right? It was a little hard to tell.

It is hard to tell, all 4 rings to go the bottom, but you can also see the slocks that lock the fronts down (which also holds the rears down, but I never really had a problem with those going back up).

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

[bofh 0]

SkymonkeyONE

I ALWAYS pull my slider down over my brakes before I remove it. I have NEVER in TEN YEARS had my rings "fly up" my risers or cover my dive loops. I find it odd that people talk about that happening.

Different types of rings perhaps? My rings are normal slider rings, with two tiny loops attached to them. Really light weight compared to some of the specialized rings for other RDS sliders.