JohnRich

I don't consider that a big deal. Another one that's no big deal. They don't wear out that often. Neither of these reasons is sufficient justification for me to warrant trying out "new" bleeding-edge technology that doesn't have a lot of field usage to shake out all the problems that might be inherent in the design. The eons certainly passed quickly. One only has to look at the "Soft Link Failure" thread in the "Incidents" section, to see how chafing between the riser and Slink can wear through. That won't happen to a steel link. Yeah, I know that incident involved a rigger's home-grown soft link, but that doesn't change the fact that friction occurs, fabric on fabric, which will eventually cause a problem. And that will happen a lot sooner than with a steel link. Everyone is, of course, free to make their own choices. But through discussions like these, people are made aware of the pros and cons of each. That way, they can choose wisely, and be wary of the potential weaknesses in each.

The comparison was to stainless steel links, not to risers. Stainless steel will outlast Slinks. Steel does not wear from abrasion like fiber Slinks. And as you point out, you have to check Slinks periodically anyway, just like steel links, so that's not an advantage - it's the same. Finally, fiber Slinks are going to be more susceptible to damage from nicks than steel.

No thanks. I'll take stainless steel over fibers, for long-lasting durability and strength. You may solve one problem with the conversion, but you create a few others. For example, if you can't be bothered to inspect your steel links once in a while, what's going to make you inspect your slinks?

You hit all the big points there. I'll elaborate for others. Loc-tite is a product used by mechanics. It's a fluid that comes in a little tube - you dribble some on your threads, and then screw on the nut, and it "glues" the nut in place so it won't back out. Get the medium strength variety, that won't permanently affix the nut. You do want to be able to remove it some day. You just want to assure that the nut doesn't back itself out from the repeated vibration of opening shock. Likewise, having tubing over the link helps hold the nut in place so it can't turn. This is another benefit of tubing, in addition to keeping the slider grommet from getting nicked up, and fraying your lines. You can use something like red nail polish to paint a line on the nut and the adjoining link. That way if the nut does start moving, you know it immediately with a quick visual glance, because the marks will no longer be lined up. And don't get paranoid and overtighten the link nuts either, as you can strip the threads or crack the nut. They should be tight, but not muscled tight with a great deal of force.

The speed dives could be done anyway you wanted. At least one guy was trying feet-first as his technique, and got to about 200 mph. Another was toying with the idea of trying a "cannonball tuck" position. I believe that head-down is the way to go, tweaking your angle of attack, and hand, arm and leg positions, to achieve maximum speed. Measurements were taken with a Pro-Track, mounted on the ankle, using "True Air Speed". Ramon had five of them which the manufacturer sent him to conduct the contest.

It only seems like that brown rig has been around forever, because I've had a whole series of them, which have all been ordered to look the same. So to someone who jumped with me 20 years ago, it looks like I've still got the same old rig. I've actually retired a lot of those old brown rigs, and the one I've got now is about five years old.

Hi Dave. This is John, and to answer your question, Yes, I did do it on my "old ass" brown rig. I'll bet you didn't think I was watching this thread. Since my rig has a ripcord for main deployment, it's actually very suitable for high-speed head-down dives. A ripcord creates very little wind drag, and has little chance to sneak out of an elastic pocket like a bottom-of-container throw-out pilot chute. Of course, such an event would be extremely ugly at over 200 mph. I hit 250 mph in a single attempt, which had me in 1st place until the third and last afternoon of the event. Thomas made five jumps before he beat me, and he earned it. Congratulations to Mr. McDow. I've actually hit 330 mph before, in a speed dive I made during a series of jumps a couple of years ago, just to see what I could do. Attached is the Pro-Track chart of that dive.

Well, there was supposed to be a picture attached, which somehow didn't make it into the message. Let's try again...

Attached is a picture which shocked the heck out of me one day while packing. See anything odd? Yeah, check out that connector link. I didn't notice that under canopy, and only saw it when completing the next pack job while stowing the risers. Yikes! Check your nuts!