mathrick

In general, almost any container will have no trouble going down one size down from the recommended main. And in my experience, Vortex is very good at accommodating smaller mains. I personally use V4 (for 150 main), and have jumped an Optimum 143 (that's pack volume somewhere below 120 main) in it with absolutely no issues. I know of at least one person who's jumped non-crossbraced mains in the 107 range in a V4 and they were happy with it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going down so aggressively, but you shouldn't have much of an issue with a 170 in V6. The usual disclaimer applies: internet wisdom is not a replacement for your rigger's advice, and actually trying it out for yourself beats anecdotal evidence any day. Get you a 170 main (either Volt or a comparable 9-cell ZP) and see how it fits (and have it looked at by a rigger if in doubt). If the main tray holds shape, the d-bag isn't excessively soft, and—most importantly—the closing loop (which you might need to shorten) can maintain proper tension, you should be good. If you have a semi-stowless d-bag, you should also look at whether the line stow pouch is tensioned properly to stay secure; semi-stowless bags tend to be more sensitive to the exact pack volume than conventional, so you might need to work on fluffing the packjob up to make it work.

What the hell? No, please don't tell people to use spring-loaded PCs for anything, the one and only place they belong in is the reserve tray. We moved away from them for a very good reason, and saying "but maybe we should go back to spring-loaded PCs in the discipline where that original reason is most pronounced?" is insane. Pretty much everyone uses BOC throw-outs for everything, aside from CReW people who sometimes prefer pull-out, and some places (including DFU, the Danish Parachuting Union) actually mandate throw-out for wingsuiting. With the burble a wingsuit creates, throw-out is the least risky method. And for wingsuit specifically, it's possible to have the throw-out pouch integrated in the suit itself, moving it away from the BOC and into the armwing, but that's more of a BASE-specific usage.

I switched to WinX ZP 150 from a Storm 150, and it packs smaller. Not massively so, but noticeably. Of course if you get a hybrid or low bulk option, then you shave further pack volume from that.

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I've mentioned it on multiple occasions before, but I found P7 to open too hard to be enjoyable. I do not have any WS jumps on it, only belly, and I'd very much not recommend it for anyone looking for a canopy that can be taken to terminal. I have about 15 jumps on a P7 167 LPV, and it made me dread pitching the PC. That's not a good thing in my book. It also flies a bit too steep to be a good WS canopy, IMHO. It's very enjoyable to fly, and the flare is good, but with a WS, maximising the glide is what gets you home when you fuck up the flight pattern. Horizon is, in a word, boring. It flies like an Optimum, packs like an Optimum, opens like an Optimum. And the Optimum was made to be compact and boring. Not a bad thing at all to have in a WS canopy, but be prepared for an extremely unexciting ride. It doesn't fly quite as flat as WinX, but less steeply than a P7 in my experience. My personal favourite (and personal canopy) remains WinX. It flies really flat, but is still rather agile and surprisingly fast with good flare, though you're definitely not gonna be swooping that. The openings are really good and positive without being painful. At WL 1.8+, it reportedly begins to open a bit too fast, but I only load mine at 1.3, so I wouldn't know. But even at 1.8, it has an incredible glide range, as evidenced by my friend who still made it back on his 135 when we opened in a spot even I didn't think would make it back from. I got my WinX through a dealer recommended by a DZ buddy, so I don't really have anything to complain about in terms of customer support.

Out of curiosity, why are you limiting this to specifically those two? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I'd like to see some pictures of that modified Javelin, please. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

However you want to word it, the reality is that the lower skin does not really matter for the wing's flight. This has been convincingly demonstrated by the creation of single-skin paragliders and speedwings. I don't claim to understand how it works, but it clearly does work just fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm6atN0AaFw There are so many of them out there you can easily find comparison reviews. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

What mount do you use? Their "sky bundle" borders on criminally negligible; it's full of extension poles, long thumb screws, and they actually peddle a selfie stick with it (complete with a video of someone using it under canopy)! "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Audio is very quiet and noisy, so it's not easy to figure out exactly. The voices of people laughing do not sound like they're instructors or in any way involved in handling the student. What's being said is roughly: [laughing]... [inaudible with lots of cursing]... fuck me[student starts to turn hard and kick their legs][different voice, shouting]: OK, easy! You got this, easy, don't spin it! Easy, just head into the wind![sound of reserve deploying, shouting]: FUCK ME! "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

They're great rigs, I'm very happy with mine, and I've never met another Vortex owner who wasn't happy with theirs. I've never flown a Volt, but I've only ever heard good things about it. There seems to be a consensus out there that it's a better Sabre2, more or less. The Decelerator is a fine reserve too; the one time I needed to use it, it was one of the most boring canopy rides I've had. It was great. At $4500 + AAD, it really is a fantastic deal. Normally I'd say too good to be true, except that in this case, I know it is true. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

*bridle :) "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Neat, how did you get to see the prototype? Any pics? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Oh really? Let's see how well you do at teaching then. Your own manual (which, btw, you do NOT make properly available on your website; out of two different links to a "manual", neither works, so I had to use this copy, dated Oct 2003) has this to say: Not only does it not say a single word about the "correct" emergency procedures, it actively misleads anyone reading it by claiming that this is something that can be done after the reserve and main is out. No panic indeed, it's not like you can do anything at all after it chokes off your reserve! This kind of shitty, stubborn, blame-the-jumper-for-your-own-fuckups attitude is why Racer deserves to die a thousand deaths. I don't think it'll come as a surprise to anyone but Jumpshack that Campbell got a "Friends don't let friends jump a Racer" t-shirt after he shot that video. And any manufacturer who can't figure out how to publish a working copy of the manual online in 2018 should rightly be rejected by riggers in the field anyway. Which Racers are thankfully seeing more and more of. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I think you might be missing my point as well

I feel you're missing the point of half of these. WinX and Kraken are WS-specific canopies. They're made to open quickly, on heading, and pack small, whilst still giving the good longevity of a ZP/hybrid design, the performance of a modern wing, and being good enough all-rounders that you can take them on a non-WS jump without worrying about getting slammed. I dunno about Kraken (haven't jumped one), but WinX also excels at glide ratio and if it's at all possible to make it back from a long spot, WinX will get you there. You cannot have that and also expect a long recovery arc. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

That "brand new" Sabre2 is a design that's been around since 2000 or 2001. Just because it was manufactured in 2018 doesn't make it a new canopy. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Poland follows manufacturer's recommendations, or 120 days for reserves if no specific requirement was set by the manufacturer. There doesn't seem to be a clear upper limit, so technically, if the manufacturer says so, it could be arbitrarily long. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I have a couple tens of jumps on Barracuda 2 that I got recently (custom-made for myself). I rather like it. It's got respectable range on the belly at least (I absolutely suck on the back in it and can't get any speed going, but that's more likely than not a pilot error. Still working on my backflying). I find it a bit twitchy too, but that's almost certainly me being a bad pilot and habits from Squirrel suits. Build quality is good. The arm pressurisation zippers are mysteriously absent, but I never used them in any other suit, so I don't care really. The suit has a couple neat things about how it's rigged (I love the way leg zipper strings are stowed, far superior to any velcro-using system). The way it was sewn for me has the booties surprisingly short, which is a bit of a pain to put them on, but I don't know whether that's weird or intentional (never had a custom-made suit before). Definitely makes tensioning it easy though. Overall, it seems like a fine suit and one I'll be able to get much more out of as I suck less. Ended up being decently cheaper than an ATC would be, even with a rush order added on top (I bought it in the USA through Scrisc. They don't have Barracuda 2 in their catalogue, but you can just contact them to place an order). "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Currently 1h15 - 1h20. On the way back more like 1h30. Used to be 45 min at one point, but then I moved and the DZ commute increased (but also my work commute went from almost an hour down to about 6 minutes or 8 by bike, so it's still a massive win). "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

In my experience, going from the US is not a problem. The problem is when you're originating in the EU, or going through second security check in Europe (both Germany and UK do that, even if you're on a transfer flight, never leave the demarcated security zone and have gone through the security check before boarding your originating flight). Unlike the TSA, which has actual, consistent and enforced rules for skydiving rigs, the European security officers don't actually work to any particular standard, and there's no appeal process of any sort. I've had supervisors explicitly refuse to intervene when individual officers made mutually exclusive decisions on gear, and I've seen 1 rig out of a group of 13 not pass through the UK check. I've had my rig refused "because it has cables and springs" (I'm not making it up), and I've had my forgotten hook knife refused whilst the person in front of me was let through with a 45cm pair of metalworking pliers because "it's work tools". Most likely, you'll have no problem whatsoever boarding the plane in the US, at most they might want to see your x-ray card and do an explosive swab, but you run the risk of not being able to make it back (and have no way of predicting when it's likely to happen). My personal recommendation is to check it in, tie pull up cords around the handles, and leave little notes on your handles and the AAD labelling them as emergency safety equipment and asking the personnel not to fuck with them without your being present. That's what I've been doing, and I've had much less (ie. none) grief than trying to fly from Europe with the rig as carry on. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Do you have a wider shot of the flap, both closed and open if possible? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Sorry, I did not in any way intend to cast doubt on your reliability. The only reason I was referring to "hearsay" is that there's no actual communication from the mfg nor a complete, unified account of changes, and the DZ.com grapevine, as it were, is not really a proper substitute. The only party to blame for that is, of course, the mfg, and not the fine folk here. Apologies if I offended anyone! "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Yeah, sorry, I do mean the reserve pin flap. I also have no idea how, but I've seen far too many Wings where the pin flap just pops open if you so much as look at it funny. And it's hard to inspect, because you can't just open it, so you have to peel it far back, all the way to the retainer strap, to be able to see the pin properly, and even then it's at an awkward angle. That might also have something to do with the flap eventually developing a propensity for opening on its own. The bottom corners being more sewn in is the point exactly, and it can make a huge difference. These corners are sewn in to prevent the freebag from coming out too easily (and thus prevent out of sequence deployment and freebag strips, which would be disastrous). Overdo it, and you now have created a reserve tray where the freebag doesn't come out at all if the angle is wrong. Which seems like the line Wings has crossed. I have no problem believing these pictures, but these pictures have never been mentioned any other time anyone claimed the redesign. And also, if the best source is someone going "and they did it again in 2017 I think?", then that very much continues to be hearsay. Either your RPC needs a redesign, and you communicate that, or it doesn't. Watercooler stories on the interwebs don't cut it IMHO. And RPCs are kinda very different from riser covers, for multiple reasons. One, riser covers are not TSO'd components and are rarely critical for the proper operation of the system. You can have two different designs in different rigs where one of them is a "nice to have" upgrade for those who want to pay extra without compromising safety. Which is exactly how it works with most manufacturers. If an RPC on the other hand warrants a redesign, I want to know why that is, and I want to see an SB that explains it detail, together with whether it's an optional, recommended or mandatory change. Two, you're not going to swap riser covers on a rig or move them between rigs. They won't get lost and need to be bought from the spare parts catalogue, so there's no question of compatibility. For RPCs, it's entirely different, and I want compatibility spelt out explicitly, even if it's to say "both old and new design are 100% compatible with all rigs out on the market". Those are not trivial matters, those are things required to rig stuff properly to the professional and legal standard that I need. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

The standard place seems to be around the cutaway housing. Is there anything wrong with that? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."