iwanttofly

I make my own suits so I do understand your issue. It can be done but you might have to take it all apart, cut and sew again. It will take too much time to undo all those stitches for it to be worth it. Almost 70 lbs weight loss is a lot of fabric to be removed. Buying a new one might be cheaper than letting seamstress alter it. Most riggers know how to fix zippers or tears on suits but have no idea how to make them from scratch, therefore no idea where and how much to cut.

My situation is quite simple. Getting rear ended few times left me with four herniated discs in my neck and same amount in my lower back. I’ve been jumping Spectre with Dacron lines and with combination of exercise and stretching I’m successfully keeping pain under control. If you jump Dacron you know that even occasional hard opening are not that bad. But I am getting extremely bored under this canopy. Any of you guys with neck injuries have any recommendations on a canopy that is fun yet has soft openings? I was considering Crossfire 2 with Dacron but my loading of 1.4 would be at the lower point of recommended loading and it might be like driving a Porsche 55mph on highway. Fun but not utilizing its potential.

You might have to sew it on. Use the first row of stitches in binding tape following needle holes. During your reserve repack sew in the bottom row. Make sure you don't sew together any parts of your reserve. (see pic attached)

Same guy was trying to buy my Spectre 190 about a month ago. Insisted on paying for shipping but in a weird way. He e-mailed me his shipping address but the deal was over when he couldn't tell me his home DZ.

I think that it is a terrible idea to downsize because of canopy being a tight fit. Practice packing, practice canopy control, 300 jumps later go smaller. I use to hate packing, I could never get my canopy inside of the bag, now I enjoy it. I mean I really do ENJOY IT. It resets my mind. Less jumps per day than using packers but there is something about packing your own chute. I use to practice at home on rainy days with A/C blowing, listening to some good music. F this, F that turned into whoossa. DO NOT downsize, please. It sucks to watch people getting hurt for stupid reasons. Your chart is not the most common one anyways. Look at this one instead http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf

525 Dacron (top) vs Spectre 825

Went with spectre again. It was based solely on my personal opinion of both canopies. Thank you all for help and input.

Well, I fly Spectre and timing of flare could be a challenge on first few jumps before you get use to it. It shouldn't be braking bones challenge. I see it more as a promotion to slowly rising trend of up sizing. Too many people get hurt under small canopies flying them into ground. Lets just say for some, me included, small and fast might not be desirable option. It takes few injuries and for some, new body parts to realize what is more important in life. Jumpers go with smaller and smaller canopies till they get really hurt and then it goes back up to a bigger one.

After I checked my PMs and read all responses here I can say it's 50/50. Half say storm has soft openings other half thinks otherwise. 50/50 is good for me to demo Storm and jump it for week or two without worry of my neck braking. In few weeks or couple of months I'll come back to this post and let you know what my neck thinks about new Storm

Could some PD Storm riders out there help me with some of my questions? I have few herniated discs in my neck and for that reason I fly PD Spectre. I love its long snivel and slow openings. Landings are nice as well, accuracy is awesome but I would like a canopy that handles turbulence and penetrates wind a bit better. I have been going back and forward between Storm and smaller Spectre. My priorities are: 1-soft, very soft openings, 2- getting back from long spots down the wind, 3- handling of turbulence. How soft are openings of a Storm? ("Some would compare them to that of a Spectre, with a slightly shorter snivel. The inflation speed of the Storm is quite comfortable, but ever so slightly quicker than that of a Spectre.") Fragile neck comfortable? How ground hungry is it? More or less than a Spectre? They say that Storm could be an upgrade to Spectre for some, with greater speed range and powerful flare that Spectre is missing. And those are two things I do like about Storm.

This morning I was told that W 14 will fit 190 main or 170 with Dacron lines. I'll try to see if anyone lets me pack their main into my container just to see but more likely I will be buying a new rig. There will be one W14 up for sale soon in classifieds :)

Last time I sent e-mail to Wings I was told that it shows 190 as main and that is what they have to tell me. Sending one more mail to them today and in worst case I just buy another container. All I was looking for is someone with the same container that could tell me I did it but it was too loose or it was just fine. Another way could be getting demo canopy and let rigger decide if it fits. I just know there are people out there with W14's and probably went through the same thing as me. BTW they have a container 150 -170 main but my reserve size would have to drop as well and that I do not want to do. I'll post Wings reply and then we could close this post

I was wondering if anyone here has Wings W14 container and what is smallest canopy they could SAFELY fit inside of it. Wings said that their system shows only 190 for such container. I have a 7cell 190 and would like to end up with 7cell 150. I know 170 fits. Anyone tried 150?

That would explain why I never gotten mine

I knew this one might come up LOL. I do 4-5 jumps each time I go so at least 4 more since the last time I turned my unit on :). It is not a big deal, just was wondering about those numbers. It shouldn't be serial number. Imagine cost of adding those numbers into software. Serial numbers are mostly stickers glued onto surface. I'll take a note next time after few jumps and if I or someone else on this forum doesn't figure out what they are, I will quit asking.