mathrick

I jumped a 170 (I'm 187lbs out the door) in light to no winds. Had zero trouble flaring, in fact flaring was the very reason I demoed Pulse (I could barely land my Sabre2 in no wind at the time). I would suspect too long controls - in my experience it's a delightfully zippy canopy in flight. Very responsive to harness input, much more so than my Sabre2. I had no trouble doing a 360 on harness input alone on the Pulse, but on my Sabre2 I need to give some toggle for the turn to be appreciable. Front risers were very easy to use. The pressure does build up in a turn rather quickly, so more than a 270 becomes challenging, but initiating a turn was not a problem. It was one of the first canopies I tried front risering on, too. You're not the first one to claim it though, I know a guy flying a 170 (and he's good 15kg heavier than me) who claims to be unable to pull his fronts down. To this, all I can say is "huh?". It's a canopy for people who are not dedicated pilots and want something that will get them home no matter the spot after they're done with freefall (hanging on the rears for 3 minutes to flatten the glide gets old fast, and that's what you need to do on a Sabre2 to get comparable glide ratio). It's definitely not sluggish with proper length controls, and landings are unexciting in the best possible way. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I was referring to "more powerful flare" associated with higher WL, not necessarily any kind absolute measurement. Perhaps I should've written "that's what flare power means" instead. That said, I cannot possibly agree about the Pulse being a dud. I've demoed it specifically because I had trouble landing my Sabre2 in nil wind, and in the couple of jumps I've got in light to no wind conditions, I found Pulse to be massively easier to land. Sure, it doesn't have the range Sabre2 has allowing it to pop up so much, but it doesn't need it. It's trimmed for such a flat glade that you don't need it in the first place. I've progressed enough since to be able land my Sabre2 in no wind standing up, but I had to put significant effort into learning it, whilst it just happened right away on a Pulse. I wonder where such a difference of opinions comes from. Almost all non-CP people I know who who fly Pulse are perfectly happy with how it lets them get home after a jump no matter the conditions, and most of them also agree that Sabre2 is much more challenging in no winds. But I do know a person who switched from Pulse to Sabre2 because she found it easier to land, and all she does is freefall. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Unfortunately, no. No Danish C-182 DZ (which is basically all of them) I've ever seen has seatbelts at all. They are present in bigger craft (Caravan, foreign-registered Skyvans used for bigger boogies), but the use is spotty at best. *Sometimes* some people will buckle up, most of the time almost nobody will. It's pretty awful, because it means that no matter how religiously I strap myself, if shit hits the fan, I'm going to die anyway. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I don't know, I'm not a rigger, I've not seen the reserve nor can I inspect one, I don't know what canopy it is, and I don't feel confident at valuing reserve canopies. The right person to do so is a rigger. Talk with your friends, find a rigger with good reputation, then talk with them to find the best solution. It might be escrow, it might be having the seller commission an inspection by a rigger of their own choice, then trusting them they're relaying the truth if the person is in your network and you have enough mutual friends who can vouch for their honesty. But I'm not the one to make the call. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I don't think that he recommends it. He just says that he does to make the point that a range of canopies doesn't make you uncool, and Pulse is perfectly compatible with a light WL (unlike Velo, which was made to be loaded highly, that's the whole point of it). If you make a freefall jump, it makes perfect sense to pick a larger canopy that ensures you can make it home and safely, and use your brainpower on the freefall part, rather than worrying whether you'll be able to make it on your pocket rocket if the spot is a little bit off. Also, a more powerful flare doesn't surprise me, higher WL == more airspeed == more lift generation. That's what "powerful flare" really means. If you take it to the logical conclusion, you get HP canopies which can glide for hundreds of metres and still pop more than just a bit at the end, because they have so much speed available to them. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Aight, so I bit the bullet and decided to ask RI directly. Angela reports that: 1. Magnetic riser covers are standard on Curv 2.0 (as reported by Skydive Mag). They were not on 1.0, which has tuck tabs (as reported at PIA 2013 and elsewhere). 2. A MARD is indeed still in the works, but not solid enough yet that they would comment in any way on the time frame. However, they do expect the system to be compatible with a retrofit, so if you have an existing Curv, it should be possible to equip it with the MARD when it comes out. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I highly doubt that, given the very different nature of the beast. As others have mentioned, the malfunction and EP tree is vastly different to a sports rig, and a major part of the course is preparing you for that difference. I don't believe any DZ would take the risk of letting you jump unprepared, and I don't believe any manufacturer would even let them have the option of taking such a risk either. It would be a bit like saying "I don't want to take a first jump course, just give me a rig and tell me what to do and I'll try jumping to see if I want to commit to a full course". Making sure you can handle everything the rig can throw at you essentially would be the course. However, I don't think "I think I have what it takes but I can never be sure without trying" is a sign of failure, quite the opposite. Raising your doubts with a trusted TI or TE would only show that you're serious about the responsibility. I can't imagine any TI or TE worth learning from would ever mock that or disclose the fact to anyone else if you wanted to keep it private, so the best course of action I can see is find a TI you trust (you've packed tandems, so obviously you will know some), and talk with them. Consider also APF's tandem manual, which has a lot of general tips to prepare you for being a TI outside of the purely technical aspects, including confidence and self-esteem management, gender disparity and more. It's an interesting read even without enrolling in a course. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

There will be differences, as gear is constantly tweaked, but as long as it's airworthy, you can jump in it just fine, and it's going to be generally the same stuff as any other V3. Myself I currently jump a 22-yo Vector II, so old gear can totally do its job still :). If you buy gear not through a store, remember to run it through a rigger you trust. The details of how to do it will differ based on your exact location, but many riggers will do escrow for you -- seller sends gear to the rigger, rigger inspects it and tells you what the condition is and whether it fits the description, you pay, the rigger releases the gear. That way you don't buy blind, and the seller doesn't send valuable gear to a random guy who's then free to make a run for it. You will want inspection anyway, so it's not even much of overhead for you. Be mindful of the reserve -- how many repacks and rides it had, and also check what environment the rig was used in. A nice grassy DZ with enclosed packing area isn't the same as ocean sandy beach landings or middle of Arizona desert. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

It's also helpful to understand why the rules are there. Some of it comes from simply jumping after you're cleared for solo and having to decide for yourself "do I feel comfortable doing this?". Suddenly cloud jumps sound much less fun :). The other part is history -- the USPA for example instituted the cloud jumping ban after a huge disaster in the '60s, where 16 out of 18 people on a load drowned. And remember that you never have to jump. Sometimes the best thing to do as a skydiver is not to jump. Whilst I've never been in a situation where I had to ride down, I've been less than 50m from aborting (we were doing a reconnaissance jump on a low ceiling day, and I said I wouldn't jump if the ceiling weren't at least 850m. I exited at 875m), and also refused to exit after green light and waited 10-15s until we flew over less thick clouds. It all comes down to whether you will make it down safely. If you have any doubts that you will, then don't jump (that also means that depending on your jump type, the same clouds might be perfectly fine or a no go). "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Btw, since I just realised you're in DK too, you could also contact Rudbeck and ask him about it. It will probably be easier for you to get it that way. Or ask Peter where he got his, it's not like you haven't been on a tube jump before :) "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

If you want to save, consider also the dedicated "custom but stock" containers such as Genera / Dolphin / Shadow Racer (to be honest, Wings is also positioned close to that segment if you don't choose extra options). They're designed to be inflexible in the looks department, which makes them cheaper to manufacture and thus own a custom container tailored to you. Really, if you want to buy new, a container is probably the most important part, because it's fitted to your body. There's no such difference in canopies, which differ in colours only, but are otherwise identical for the given size and model. So buying a used canopy in good condition has none of the downsides a container made for someone else does. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Ah-ha! Thanks. I wonder how well they work and how much difference there is between different tuck tabs. I like tuck tabs well enough as a closing mechanism, certainly beats velcro I have to fuss with on my Vector II. It's really about tuck tabs as the opening mechanism, because too stiff and it can literally break your neck if they fail to disengage during deployment before the canopy is inflated. So if Randy says they tested it and they can get tuck tabs to work, then perhaps it's true. Magnets are good because they really cannot fail in the way tuck tabs can -- try as you might, you just won't be able to make magnets "too stiff" as they open very easily and rely on streamlining the airflow to remain closed. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Oh yes, I just realised I wrote "into the harness" when I meant "into the chest strap". I've edited my post now. And yes, exactly, it's about supporting your CG correctly, which I've also referred to in my original comment. Feet under your CG let you either run or slide, depending on how fast you touch down. Other arrangements don't. Not to mention that leaning back is unnecessary if you do your flare correctly, because if you do it, it pitches the canopy up and consequently lifts you, the pilot, up with canopy now slightly behind you (thanks to how the suspension lines work). So leaning back will only make you unstable, but it won't help the canopy pitch, it's already pitched from your initial input, and now you're only braking it, so you don't even have the airspeed to make changes. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Ok so does Brians book say anything about leaning backwards flares the canopy? If his book does not mention it, why do you think that is? Funnily enough, I started leaning into the chest strap after Brian's canopy course, which emphasised doing that very much (with harness drills and looking at your chest strap's length and whatnot). He didn't say anything about leaning back, other than "don't run out what you can't run out, slide it if you land too fast". "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Uhh, are you jumping with camera at 75 jumps? Please don't, it's a terribly dangerous idea which can hurt you and others. USPA recommendation is at least 200 jumps, DFU requires 150 + formal coaching with at least 5 exam jumps. Those requirements are there for a reason. I assume you didn't know about any such guidelines and didn't get any coaching before strapping a GoPro onto your helmet? If so, please get camera-specific coaching before next jump with a camera, and get your gear cleared for those jumps. And really, wait until you have 200 skydives. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Actually, another thread I found says that it originally had magnetic covers in pre-production models, but they were swapped out for tuck tabs in final iteration. May I ask where you found the info about magnetic covers being standard? I can't see anything on RI's product description page. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Actually, another thread I found says that it originally had magnetic covers in pre-production models, but they were swapped out for tuck tabs in final iteration. May I ask where you found the info about magnetic covers being standard? I can't see anything on RI's product description page. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Ah cool, thanks. I was looking at the product page but must've missed it in the description. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

No, your first priority is landing with a canopy overhead. That's why you don't hook turn or let go of an early flare, because it can kill you if you do. Second priority is landing clear of obstacles. Third is into the wind. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I'm also curious about the MARD, since Curv looks amazing. What about magnetic riser covers, are those available? Been looking at some BPA videos and apparently magnetic covers are not just a convenience, but have important safety benefits. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

I see the same thing on mine (170 @ 1.1), I've got used to it having its own ideas about where we're going that we then negotiate once it's fully open. Even though I just discovered I'm not fully stable on opening and tend to put a spin on myself, I've just not had this kind of erratic behaviour on any of Navigators, Spectres and Pulses I've flown. I've also experienced mysterious complete end cell closure on 4 or 5 jumps in a row, completely unprovoked. I got its trim checked, it was fine (for a canopy with 500 jumps on the lines anyway), and then the issue just kinda faded away. It's a great little canopy to fly once you learn to land it properly, but everyone agrees that a Sabre2 is a Sabre2 and it opens the way it does. I've also heard opinions from people who fly multiple sizes that it's particularly sensitive to the right sizing, with the guy who flies 3 sizes regularly saying that the stable one is one of his two favourite WS canopies, while a bigger size is total crap for him. Somewhat relatedly, has anyone tried a helicopter stall on Sabre2? I just did 2 attempts, and man, it did not like the idea. The first time I thought it was my fault for chickening out too soon and letting up the toggles in a hurry, but no, it did the same thing again: the flying side surges massively down and under the stalled side, with the whole canopy now rushing sideways to get under the horizon, fast. I did not dare to keep it up for fear of tangling it up and fouling a good canopy, and once I let the toggles up, the entire canopy entered a sustained surge I actively had to stab out, unlike any other surge I've ever induced, with the entire stalled side closed and taking good 10s to reinflate fully after I braked it a bit. Am I just doing it wrong? I've never tried a helicopter before, but I did it by braking heavily to the verge of a stall, then letting one toggle up ever so slightly while pushing the other down. Should I be doing it differently, or is Sabre2 just not a good wing to do it on? "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

http://skycamp-store.pl/pl/p/Tuba-/635 Disclaimer: I'm not endorsing them in any way, merely noting that they have it in stock. I don't believe they will ship to outside of Poland, at least not through the online order form, so you will probably need to contact them and see if something can be arranged. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

Oh yes, I did not mean specifically for 4-way. Apologies for confusion and hijacking the topic. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

You'll be downsizing two sizes and changing to a different canopy type. That sounds like trouble. I bought Sabre2 170 at 40 jumps after flying Navigators 240 and Spectre 190, and I feel like not enough consideration was given to the pilot skill (or lack thereof, in my case) and flying style when very competent people recommended Sabre2 to me. I've got enough coaching and practice to have made peace with it now, but I wish I understood the differences in canopy styles earlier. I load mine at just under 1.1, similar to your target WL, and that's enough to make it expect that you know what you're doing when landing. Silhouette and Pulse are much more forgiving when it comes to flaring, but Sabre2 dives steeper and if you don't have a plan, you'll end up with lots of speed you don't know what to do with. That's not something you want to discover on a no-wind day on a canopy two sizes below what you know how to fly. Try getting ahold of Sabre2 190 and 170 before you order, to make sure you even like the change in piloting compared to Silhouette. And if you do, try to log many jumps on them and be sure you have landings down pat. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

"Single Operation System", a combined cutaway/deployment system operated with just one handle. Some places reportedly have it on their student rigs, presumably in an effort to ensure their students fuck the EPs up when they transition to their own rigs (SOS on student equipment is banned in Denmark at least). My understanding is that some tandem systems have what is essentially SOS, where it makes way more sense. "Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."