Ruffles

I asked the 3 or 4 AFF instructors that did my training/coaching and they all recommended I get a Silhouette as my first chute; the best advice I've ever gotten. It is VERY soft on opening, and has an amazing capability to turn on a dime and be very forgiving at the same time. This allows the new skydiver to test themselves under canopy without receiving broken limbs for their mistakes. I can do a 360 turn in just about 1.5 to 2 seconds and yet the same canopy lands like a Manta 288; soft and reliable steering and turn recovery. I loaded mine at 1.1 and wow is it fun.The mix of ZP and F111 fabric makes it way easy to pack, as well as providing a "stepping stone" type of performance between f111 student chutes and high performance ZP ellipticals. The canopy is is also tapered, providing a mix of square and elliptical (way more on the square side though)performance capability. I have been to told by my dealer that this is the key to blending the crisp turns with forgiving landings/ recoveries. I love my Silhouette. It's a fantastic canopy to learn on. The only drawback, if you percieve it to be, is that the soft openings come at a price. Generally my chute takes between 750 and 1000 feet to open, if you roll the nose. At first, I thought I was having a malfunction, watching my canopy take 5 or 6 seconds to open completely, but my dealer said that PD designed the Silhouette to open slowly if you roll the nose. This is what gives you the soft on heading openings. After a few jumps, you get used to the slower opening. No big deal, just an adjustment. I have 20 jumps on it so far, and every one was exactly the same: on heading and way soft (what a concept - a painless opening!)