Skydivesg

Save My Lifestyle
Sandy Grillet

I personally always want the largest reserve I can safely put into my container. This is just one of the reasons I like the low bulk Optimum by Performance Designs.

After having a malfunctioning main canopy and cutting away or just going straight to your reserve, you will always have more adrenaline and stress. People often make poor decisions when we are stressed. Add to that - you are flying a 7 cell F-111 type canopy on which few people have much experience, which can also lead to poor landings.

With a larger reserve, I have a canopy that is more forgiving of mistakes I might make while landing. And it will stay in the air longer, giving me more time to calm down and more time to make better decisions on where to land and might even get me over that tree line to a clear area.

In addition – if you have an AAD save, you may very well be unconscious under canopy. Common sense tells us we have a better chance of survival under a larger reserve canopy.
Many people think of their reserve as saving their "life". That's important of course, but my life revolves around skydiving. If I get hurt while landing my reserve (most likely while trying to land off the DZ) then I may not be able to skydive any more. I not only want my reserve to save my life - I want it to save my “Life Style”.

I choose my reserve based on that criteria. Then I choose my container.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be

Semi Stowless Bag Review by Sandy Grillet

I first started jumping the semi-stowless bag from UPT with the two locking stows and 4 tuck tabs, prior to them going into production because the designer wanted his design to
be field tested using mostly an everyday jumper with what he thought would be typical skydives and pack jobs.

I make 325-350 jumps each year. Roughly 1/3 of which are camera jumps - filming tandems. The rest are belly jumps as 4 and 8 way training, competing, coaching and FS organizing at boogies and events. I make use of packers for about 275-300 of my jumps
(one of the reasons for the designer to give me a prototype of his bag). I now have more than 2500 jumps on the semi-stowless bags using Katana 120s, Velocity 103s and Valkyrie 96s. I have zero jumps (that means none) on wing suits. So my opinion
is based on my personal experiences and my general knowledge of skydiving and deployment sequences.

I have nothing but good things to say about the semi-stowless bag. It is essentially set up the same as a reserve bag except it uses a flap with tuck tabs for figure-eighting the lines instead of sliding them down into a pouch. This allows the packer to see what the lines look like as they are being figure-eighted - a good thing IMO. As recommended by the designer, I use large rubber bands for the two locking stows and double wrap them
around no more than 1 1/2 inch of line bite.

Some people will tell you double wrapping is not a good idea and may cause bag lock. This is a myth (assuming the use of large bands and the proper maintenance of your pilot chute and kill line length). I've been double wrapping large bands for 18 years on all my stows (locking stows included) even before the semi-stowless bag).

I love the openings of the semi-stowless bag. I've had mostly very controlled on heading openings. Any off heading openings (90-120 degrees) usually happen on my pack jobs because I've been told I sometimes pack a bit hastily. Thank God for packers.
 

The bag does allow you to get to line stretch quicker and cleaner than a conventional bag. I like this because I believe the majority of line twists start and are caused before the canopy comes out of the bag. Most jumpers replace the rubber bands only when they
break or are extremely close to breaking. How many times have you wrapped a band around a line-bite thinking "come on don't break..... just hold for one more jump"? This means our bands are generating varying levels of force on our line bites. Some hold
better and longer than others due to better (newer) strength. This imbalance of line bite strength often initiates rotation of the bag as the lines play out causing line twists. I believe the single wrapping of line bites sometimes allow the lines to deploy out of sequence allowing one or more lines to sneak out early and wrap around another line bite which can and has caused bag locks and hard openings. I also believe too much line bite helps cause line twists and out of sequence line deployment which can also cause line
twists and bag lock.

I've seen footage of quite a few opening sequences using high speed cameras, which means you can slow the footage down by roughly 2/3 of a normal video camera slow motion. The footage is quite enlightening. I think most people would be shocked to see
how much bag dance and out of sequence line deployment is actually going on above our heads. Now, this doesn't mean that it happens all the time but it does happen pretty regularly. It also does not mean that it couldn't happen with the semi-stowless bag but the design is such, and testing along with hundreds of thousands of jumps has proven that bag dance and out of sequence line deployment is dramatically reduced to almost
nothing.

I like my lines to come out quickly and cleanly (like a reserve) so my canopy can hit the air with the greatest chance of an on heading deployment from the bag. After that, it's a matter of how well you packed and placed the canopy in the bag (especially the control of your slider), how well your canopy is in trim (lines), your body position during deployment and the design and wing loading of the canopy.

As I mentioned earlier, you do get to line stretch quicker but it does not cause faster or harder openings. The openings are controlled by the slider and the packing (and canopy design). If a person gets a hard opening it's usually because the slider was not well
controlled during the packing and bagging process. There can be other factors but it's almost always the slider. The semi-stowless bag does not affect the hardness or softness of the openings. It only affects the speed to line stretch which I like. It also allows the
lines to play out in a more orderly fashion. We must remember, we only use rubber bands to keep the lines in place until they are needed and then to allow them to play out in a relatively orderly fashion in what is otherwise a fairly chaotic couple of seconds. But those bands can and do create other issues as I mentioned above. The semi-stowless bag does exactly the same thing but simply allows the lines to play out more consistently.

All of this can and has been debated by those who are naysayers. And I believe healthy, sensible, civil debate is good and necessary for further development of ideas in our sport and gear. And I welcome the debate by those who have actually given some rational and original intellectual thought to this or any subject.

Of course this is just my humble opinion –

Sandy Grillet

Full disclosure >> I am a UPT Vector dealer.

 

 

May I suggest contacting Sue before uploading anything to the Internet. It's really her call.

I'm not replying to anyone in particular - nor am I trying to convince those who's minds are clearly made up. But for those of you who are willing to consider some other ideas >>

This person was experiencing what at first appears to be a tension knot. It turns out it was actually a clear tubular rubber slider stop that he neglected to tack down so it would not slide up the lines and keep the slider from sliding down, which is exactly what happened. This is something we learned to do more than 30 years ago. I actually thought people stopped using them more than 20 years ago.

When I saw how tight the line group was held from the riser to the slider - it was the first thing I looked for on the video because it's a clear indicator of something other than a tension knot.

If you look carefully you can see the other three slider bumpers on the other risers.

After fooling around with it for an extended period of time, he cut away and deployed his Optimum. He ended up with numerous line twists The canopy began to spin and dive. And he was able to get out of the twists and dive just in time to land the canopy. Afterwards he said “I’m getting rid of this slow opening Optimum”

What he failed to realize was that there were a number of factors that led him to the bad place he was in, and the speed of the OP opening had nothing to do with it.

• He took a long time before cutting away the malfunctioning main.
• The reserve deployed straight, and the line twists came from the jumper spinning under the canopy, NOT the canopy turning. Most likely from body position with the wing suit and because he failed to keep his leg wings closed during deployment of the reserve.
• The risers are offset which continues the turn eventually into a dive. This was largely because he reached up and grabbed the risers asymmetrically.
• The canopy was only 126 sq ft. with a WL of 1.5

Sometimes it’s easier to blame something else than what’s really at fault…


The OP opens wonderfully. The canopy travels quickly and smoothly through all three stages of the opening rather than sort of snivel – pop type opening. Over 10 years of field use has shown this. The dynamics of the OP deployment are designed to exhibit lower opening forces on the jumper.

To most people, especially those who have jumped a traditional reserve, this softer opening would be equated to slower. But that isn’t necessarily the case. That FEELING of slower if your cutting away from a fully inflated canopy and quickly going to your reserve, is what you’re going to get with most reserves.
Those softer (not always slower) openings of the OP can mean the difference between life and death if your deploying at above average speeds with which a huge percentage of people in our sport tend to flirt.

The OP has actually been dropped at higher weights and speeds for those who might think the low bulk fabric is weaker. All around this is a better reserve, and after years of doing my own research and jumping many, many other reserves - it’s the one I put on my own back.

JMHO

Martin, tell me there is not one single picture of you taken with your tandem passenger before you finished adjusting the harness.

I have made hundreds of jumps at CSC as a load organizer and I can attest that they adjust the harness properly before boarding the airplane. I've also filmed more than 50 different TIs at multiple DZs over the last few years. No one is more safety conscious than CSC and their staff.

I have a couple of hard drives full of pictures from various DZs of which many show the passenger with the TI before the final adjustments.

Martin I've always respected you and your thoughts but this one is beneath you.

Nothing to see here folks .......... move along.

Why do you think Bill Booth would have any say in how a DZ from Australia is being run or what equipment they use?

PM sent

Sandy Grillet

For what it's worth - attached is my take on reserves.

I have 2 319's with VK 96's and OP 143s.

To me - they are very comfortable.

And for what it's worth - here is my take on reserves.

I don't use those kinds of apps but I've heard people say Boogie is a pretty good app. And it's free.



https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.boogie.boogie

When you look at adding all the options that most everyone orders - those prices are way above mine by several hundred dollars.

No games - no advertising a low price for a no optioned rig to get you hooked - just honest prices by an honest dealer.

daffes

Does your $30 bucks "burner phone" support the Chicago app? I also have the same problem as the OP, when I put my smart phone on the jumpsuit chest pocket it presses against the D ring and makes it harder to grab it. I haven't tried after I moved to pillow handle. A smaller burner phone is a great idea.

Yes it's a smart phone but about 1/2 the size of my iphone.

It's not unusual to have a hard time trying to get accepted onto a 4 way team.

If the DZs at which you are considering being on a team do not have team building systems in place, it may be tougher than you think. More and more young people just want to sit fly or free fly. And more and more tunnel coaches are leaning in the same direction.

Go to their Safety Days coming up and make serious attempts at networking. If you don't get any serious interest, DZ staff help or local 4 way team support, you may need to consider going to other DZs around the country that have serious 4 way teams.

Those DZs who have shown long term support of 4 way teams usually have events such as team for a day - team building days and other regular events for people interested in a team. It is often part of the payback expected from the local sponsored teams.

If you can afford the amount of tunnel you have, you might be better served flying to other more progressive 4 way team DZs to get yourself on a team.

There are some really good programs out there. I've helped a lot of people get on teams but there is usually travel involved.

If there is a 4 way league in Texas, get in touch with the league director.


Good luck.

YEYO !! YaaaaayyyyyYo ...... daylight come and me want to go home.

If you recognize what I just wrote -- hit me up on facebook with a PM and we can chat.

Sandy

As a Vector dealer -I would not want to try to get a 170 into a 310 unless it was a Pulse.

At under 30 jumps - I think you're setting yourself up for failure, in more ways than one.

As a load organizer at many events around the country, I feel obligated to carry a phone so I can help if someone lands off the DZ - especially if they get hurt.

Every 6 months I go to a Dollar General Store - They sell disposable smart phones (burner phones) with 200 minutes and 180 days of service. $30 for the entire 6 months. I've looked into renewing minutes and data but it's way cheaper to just toss and buy new.

Every time I go to a new DZ - the first thing I do, is give them my burner number and add the DZ number to my contact list.

The best thing I've seen, is the new app on Skydive Chicago's Burble software and phone app. In addition to all the other cool things I can do, they now have an app on the phone for off landings.

They have 5 tabs you can select with auto dial to the DZ

1) I'm hurt - Please send help
2) I'm OK - Walking back
3) I'm OK - Need a ride back
4) Call 911
5) Call DZ number

It's a whole new world out there. I want to be part of it.

I'm eager to conduct my FS camp there this weekend. And another in April.

Juts a short drive - yay!!

Part of the allure of skydiving is to divest myself from the trappings of the electronic world - but maybe that's just me.

I sent you a PM.

Sandy Grillet

This is a more serious problem than you may think.

If the riser covers delay opening until the slider begins down the lines and then they suddenly release, you will essentially have a sudden drop causing 20" of slack in the lines (the length of the risers). If this happens the slider will come down the lines like an anvil causing an incredibly hard opening.

In the late 90s early 2000s this problem caused at least one broken neck, one broken femur and one severed aorta. Two of these were fatal.

Please do not take this problem lightly.

JohnMitchell

***
In my experience I think 30% would be too high an estimate. I don't think most jumpers touch the three rings between repacks.

You could very well be right. I've seen peeps with 100s of jumps that didn't know how to disassemble/reassemble their 3 rings, or at least didn't trust themselves to do it correctly.

John, do you think those people have the capacity to spot a flip through (inverted ring) on their own or someone else's rig, while in an airplane or boarding area? I spotted two of them this season (one was a tandem)

I clean my cables and message my risers at least every 30 days (and twice during the month of July when I make 140 jumps) . I carry the materials in my gear bag and often help others do the same.

I personally see NO down side in doing it more often and no down side to messaging the risers.

Let's not forget - the reserve is 27 years old - many, if not most riggers will NOT pack it. Liability concerns is a major driving factor.

I don't think it's even worth $400

But that's just me.

lyosha

Is black hardware made of a black metal or just coated with something?

Can someone post the wear on the hardware after a few hundred jumps?

Is it more abrasive to the white loop on the risers?

400 jumps on my Vector - still looks great - no obvious wear.

gowlerk

Or this:

http://www.crcindustries.com/ei/product_detail.aspx?id=03040

Yes that works. I used to use sprays but I travel a great deal on airlines and keep the stuff in my gear bag so I can help others with cleaning their cables. The sprays tend to get the top broken off long before I use even half of it.

What I now use is a small container and is less likely to brake. And less expensive.

jumpwally

.....and what might food grade silicone be used for in the food industry.. ? Sounds rediculas.....

One of the biggest uses is on pizza dough rolling machines.