sundevil777
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Posts posted by sundevil777
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1 hour ago, GregAndrea said:I am going to be getting back into the sport after a 10 year hiatus. I have 65 jumps and am planning to do 10 coach jumps to dust the cobwebs off:-} When it comes to new gear, I was considering a Sabre 3 230 as my main canopy, is this too much for someone with my skill level. My wing loading would be right around 0.96 on a Sabre3 230. In all honesty, I do need to work on my flare timing but curious to see if you all think the Sabre 3 is too much. Thank you all in advance for taking the time to answer my question.
I'd suggest shooting for a WL of 1.1 which is what I'm at after 42 years...still very docile, very easy to land.
Which canopy you use matters not much at a low WL such as this. Just about any sport canopy you can normally get as a 210 or so will likely seem wonderful to you. No reason to think the Sabre 3 has special qualities, just avoid purpose built CRW, winguit, accuracy canopies. The Sabre 2, Spectre, Silhouette, Storm, Pilot, Omni, Safire, Sfire, Fusion, and others would be great choices. -
17 hours ago, Falli said:Not so sure, whether environment friendly products with rechargeable batteries are "bad" or have "problems". Like all rechargeable products they last 500 charging cycles before the capacity going down. If you charge every 2-4 weeks these products last more than 10 years.
A used Neptune II is more appealing to me than an N3 because I know the battery is not an issue - how the owner jammed the charger into the unit like a gorilla which tends to break the circuit board, or whether the owner is selling it because the battery life is awful...of course I realize battery covers break/need to be replaced, but that is not a big deal.
Rechargeable batteries that can't be replaced are common now because they are mostly reliable, and modern products are usually durable enough to withstand the very real abuse of plugging in a charger, but I think Alti-2's marketing is a bit weak for this application.
Also looking forward to more interesting products than this. What is the GEMINI reference, I haven't heard of it yet. -
2 hours ago, Falli said:Well, in the 21th century single use batteries should be gone as well as most of the plastic packaging.
A dealer would know about GEMINI...
My old Neptune II uses a very common battery, easily had for $4. The 2325 batteries for L&B products are easily obtained online for $4 a set. Replacing it twice a year can add up towards significant money after 10 years, but that is a really weak marketing point. We all know those built-in rechargeable batteries have problems also long term.
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1 hour ago, sundevil777 said:...now it has canopy alarms, and specific other features are forecast
The Mercury Jade is another version, $60 cheaper and without the canopy alarms.
Very odd product strategy. They are very small.
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8 hours ago, Falli said:...now it has canopy alarms, and specific other features are forecast
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7 hours ago, TomAiello said:Was there any data to support the thought that the Hayduke had more tension knots?
I saw a tension knot on an Outlaw here last week, and on inspection it was found that there was a pretty good set of twists (probably three full twists) sewn into the control line that tension knotted. It was factory original, so I'm pretty sure that the twists and been there the entire time the canopy had been in service. The 'Trunk and Branch' cascade system made it so that it was impossible to untwist the control line during normal packing or inspection, and we had to remove the bar tacks to the branches to untwist the trunk line, then re-attach the branches once we were done.
It's possible that if there is a higher incidence of tension knots on those canopies, the cause is not the design, but rather the quality control at Parapex, in Vietnam. I haven't inspected any other Haydukes or Outlaws for the same quality control issue but I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has one and can inspect both control lines for twists, to see if the problem we saw here is relatively rare or relatively common.
This makes me wonder if any mfgs control this - the twist sewn into any of the lines on a canopy. Seems like it would be a great idea. Has this been recognized as a source of malfunctions before? Is this a new "discovery" perhaps?
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The ability to more easily replace parts of the harness is the most valuable part of having rings. The pic shows how ineffective many hip ring designs are at doing what is claimed.
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On 4/19/2022 at 3:46 AM, Rustbucket350 said:Honestly what makes me afraid now is the hop n pop. I know. It should be easy my instructors already reassured me that by the time I have to do it I'll be ready. Hopefully that works out to be correct. Probably still overthinking it. Fly more. Think less. Exit time hop out and do it.
Must train the brain to trust the arch even if your exit orientation isn't right at first.
Be sure you don't kick/flail at all on exit. Many have trouble being able to switch their brain into flight mode, so they flail for a little bit and that is awful for stability. If you were to exit with your eyes closed and just trust the arch, you would likely do great because you wouldn't flail because your brain wouldn't think it needs to. Gotta trust the arch even with your eyes open.
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This story from Nashville caught my attention:
The use of a smart watch didn't occur to me. Wouldn't it be a pretty good solution for canopy tracking? It seems like used apple watches are at a competitive price to the newer generation of dog/car/child/whatever trackers out there.
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12 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:it is perfectly normal for them to stop jumping completely when the winds pick up.
Quite right, wind holds seem more common than decades ago. The availability of wind speed data is so common, and maybe that makes it more difficult to not call a wind hold, compared to interpreting a wind sock and judging it to be OK. However, this improvement in safety culture doesn't explain fatality rates changing.
Very important is the big difference in pull altitudes compared to when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Also, cutting away to a round reserve was intimidating, even if a jumper had experience on rounds, even if it wasn't a windy day, even if the spot wasn't deep over the trees. We know hesitation kills, and the natural reluctance to go to a round reserve might actually explain a number of no/low cutaway incidents.-
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Canopy alarms appear to not be included, which is really surprising when the competition is so well established. Something similar to the VOG would make more sense as a new product, rather than having fewer functions than the $195 Skylife Sirius (like an Optima). Great to see another audible option in the lower cost range, but is weak for a new product. Of course canopy alarms might be possible in an upgrade to the software.
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https://alti-2.com/products/sports/mercury-jade/
May have other new offerings from them, as mentioned at the end of their description:
"The Mercury will be the base for our future product family based on a new chip design with more options."
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https://www.chutingstar.com/skydive/rig-parts/hook-knives/javelin-hook-knife-w-pouch
These are great and available many places, not to be confused with the orange zak knives that are awful and still being sold at paragear! -
9 hours ago, BMAC615 said:I have been flying a 3C for about a year and 150 WS flights. This is the largest configuration with an Optimum 193 and Epicene Pro 190. I also own an Odyssey J4K w/ dynamic corners. I, hands down, prefer the Aurora for WS.
It’s constructed from ParaPak which is lighter and creates marginally less drag. It is slightly less durable, but, recognize there are 30-year old ParaPak Odyssey containers still in operation, so, it’s very durable with proper care.
The laterals are adjustable so you can make the rig as tight or loose as you want. If adjusted properly, comfort on the ground and in the air is pretty much the same as an Odyssey. If you have the laterals VERY (too) tight, it will cause discomfort while under canopy as the laterals will dig into your sides (This is true for any harness with laterals that are too short). Like @skydave89 mentioned, you can get them where you want and tack them down. I just put a couple extra retainer bands around the excess webbing. There are no harness rings and the leg straps do not have any padding. I prefer this configuration for WS.
The length of the container and position of the BOC is far superior to my Odyssey. It’s not as important in small wingsuits, but, I believe it is better as it allows for a more natural pull and puts it in a similar location as a BASE rig if WS BASE is in your future.
I’ve also flown my Aurora slick and in two-piece tracking suits. It’s fine for Belly flying, but, not appropriate for sit/stand as the BOC provides enough friction to keep the PC in place at high WS speeds, but, not enough for direct airflow from below. I do not believe altering the BOC like @skydave89’s is necessary as you can simply position the PC high or low and it will stay in place.
Packing my Epicene Pro 190 into the bag is simple and easy. The procedure is slightly different, but, not cumbersome. Packing a WinX, Pilot or other full ZP canopy in this bag will obviously be more difficult, but, not impossible.
Reserve is same TSO as a Javelin Odyssey.
Here’s a video review I did last year. and Here’s a recent video of me flying it with an ATC 3.
Feel free to reach out with any other questions.
Why do you prefer no leg strap padding? You are claiming it comes standard with none? If true, it should be described as such by Sunpath, as I think it would be a surprise.
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can of corn
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28 minutes ago, gowlerk said:I would suggest you not jump a rig that has not been used, and I assume not repacked, for a few years. If you do jump such a rig the danger is then real.
Of course. If it can happen in a few years, perhaps it could continue to happen in the one year repack cycle of many countries. No need to rely on inspections to prevent this problem.
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What rigs are still using coated/lined freebag material? Bulk reduction is reason enough to stop.
Which rigs have the freebag "exposed" by design - the Basik does, others? They might have a reason to use more substantial material, but without the coating.
The danger is real, it happened to my rig. It hadn't been used for a few years, the rigger found it when removing the reserve I was going to sell 30 years ago.
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On 3/14/2022 at 3:30 PM, timmymiller said:(I teach drop one toggle and use both hands to pull hand over hand on the other steering LINE, mostly because it's foolproof and they already have the toggles in their hands)
The method of collapsing becomes so much less critical if people would immediately release one toggle/turn 180 after touchdown. So many don't turn at all, or do it slowly. I realize this assumes a stand up landing.
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21 minutes ago, dudeman17 said:The Handbury rig has a two-pin (and two-riser) reserve container and would not accommodate a free-bag
Some old two pin rigs could have square reserves, with freebags allowing through-loops. Rigs with only one short reserve riser on each side could have a short 2-riser set on each side attached to the L-bar links. They worked great. At least one manufacturer was willing to do that.
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8 minutes ago, dudeman17 said:Clarify that please.
9 minutes ago, dudeman17 said:Clarify that please.
I believe the "...by all rights..." wording is the issue. Even if you didn't mean to condemn anyone saved because of losing track of time, it can easily be received as "those aren't deserving of being saved". This might be especially true when a person was actually saved in that way.
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On 2/19/2022 at 8:56 AM, gowlerk said:Old discussion for sure. I'm going to go with the possible two out and save the cutaway decision for later.
The reserve opened very nice, too bad he didn't right then reach back with at least one arm to contain the main. It might make things worse, but I think it would be my reaction.
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1 hour ago, gowlerk said:So, what does this show and what is worse? Riser covers that don't release till later in the reserve deployment sequence or riser covers that don't stay closed during high speed skydives? And why do so many irrelevant static tabletop faux problems seem to be popping up here, almost exclusively from France? This is a non issue.
Rather than making a conclusion from simulating on a table, this could be more realistically simulated without too much trouble.
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On 2/9/2022 at 11:33 AM, sundevil777 said:Thanks for finding that.
Perhaps the Jedi folks didn't comply with a requested announcement date from Cookie. Some find it hard to keep a secret.
Either Jedi jumped the gun, or Cookie was late, or maybe they mixed up time zones!
Soon there will be all manner of super custom doohickeys for the removable parts, or are they already out there?The price is more reasonable than I expected.
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14 hours ago, eric.fradet said:This rig will soon be grounded in France
As discussed earlier in the thread, a smaller pilot chute cap is a proven countermeasure for small rigs with fully enclosed pc. Do you know if that or other changes are being considered?
Skylife altimeters
in Gear and Rigging
I checked out a Vega at the Rock Sky Market store at CSC. It is surprising to have not seen one of these yet, except at the store. It seemed well built and rugged. A case similar to those used for the N3/Atlas which protects/ covers the display appears not to be available, but the dimensions being so similar, the Vega might fit.
I think the readability of the L&B displays is much worse than the Skylive & Alti-2 products because they use a seven segment display type - straight line segments to display the number. The Skylive & Alti-2 display (even way back to the Neptune 2) have a “rounded” font, with higher aspect ratio of each character, and a thinner stroke.
https://www.rockskymarket.com/digital-altimeters/2234-skylife-vega-visual-altimeter-digital-altimeters.html