mbailey465

This is how I have been routing it for those confused. Note: Also have keepers to hold the excess in place.

Same reason I went back to just the removable slider, I found the full RDS was making my velo open 10X better but dealing with a full RDS after a low[er] opening AFF jump made me reconsider and save it for hop and pops. Cheers for the insights, will keep them all in mind!

I'll have to wait until I get home before I can send through a photo but it's essentially doubling the chest strap back through the second half of the routing. Holds the same as the conventional routing but comes undone if you pull on the end tab. I only do this if I'm wearing a belly band. So to sum it up: Pros- comes out easily when pulled Cons- comes out easily when pulled

So I usually run a belly band on all my jumps (AFF, Freefly, hop and pops etc.) and route my cheststrap so that it can be taken off easily after opening. I never had an issue with this until the other day when I was jumping away from my home DZ and one of the TMs pointed at it in the plane (at the 1 min light) and told me to change it. I'll spare the details but after a discussion with the DZSO they made the call that it could only be done on a hop and pop due to the (0.0001%) chance that someone could accidentally take my chest strap off in free fall. I understand that it's their decision to make and there isn't much use in arguing. I'm wondering if anyone else had thoughts on this and whether you think that it's actually an issue. I'd personally rather spend less time screwing around with my chest strap after opening and risk that someone could (0.0001%) grab it in free fall.

I haven't had a problem doing it. I'll caveat that with the fact I'm running 400lb HMA so that could definitely be a contributing factor. Keep in mind that the D Bag is made specifically for the container so anything different has the potential to sit awkward, affect the opening or not put enough pressure on the closing loop. I'd recommending trying one out before you commit to purchasing one.

That's neat, were you a qualified tunnel instructor too? In Australia it's harder since the first timers need to be instructed by an adequately qualified tunnel instructor before we are let loose on them.

Yeah you've got me there!

Spot on! In AFF: arched = more stable = safer. For wind tunnel: flat = lower speed = safer.

So you're just going to approach someone like this and say 'just be happy with what you have'? This thread is proof that it doesn't work. 90% of skydivers have an ego problem, if you disagree then you're probably part of the 90%! If you want to help these people you need to appeal to their 'ego problem' and teach them that only an idiot will respect someone for what they fly rather than how they fly it.

My DZSO answer is yes, it is too large. However the broke-ass skydiver would just run smaller bands, I single stow with small bands (sorry PD) but if you were to double stow with small bands (even with an empty dbag) there will still be enough tension to hold the lines in place.

You're right, there will never be a perfect solution but I still think that educating rather than trying to control these people (having been one myself) is the most successful option. Teaching someone how to fly their current canopy faster as opposed to a downsize is the best solution. As someone told me when I wanted to get on a velo: 'You'll look cooler as the guy who can fly the f*&k out of his katana than they guy who struggles to land his velo' ...and since all I wanted was to look cool that's the advice I followed

Ideally you'd be able to jump someone's 190 with a similar sized harness. Failing this you could talk to one of your instructors about connecting someone else's 190 to your container and taking it for a couple of jumps. At the end of the day it's always best to talk to your instructors as they will be able to give you the best advice for your skill level!

Huge +1 for getting an audible as early as possible, in my opinion it's one of the best pieces of kit you can buy early on. They key is to not reply on it and become complacent with your altitude awareness. Depending on the DZ, most are happy to lend you jumpsuits, alti, gloves until you purchase your own gear but I can't imagine there are many DZs that have a spare audible lying around that you can use. Full-face/open face helmet comes down to personal preference but would also recommend getting one fairly early on (depending on how hideous the students ones are!) as it's not something you will grow out of (like a rig). PS. you're a real skydiver!

Wow. I believe reading this thread in whole would be enough for 'overly-confident-up-and-comers' to reconsider their choices and progression. Even after 1000+ HP landings it's making me reconsider my next downsize!

I was skeptical when originally hearing about the wind tunnel as a substitute for AFF stages however after assisting at a DZ where the majority of students had undertaken a wind tunnel progression in Australia (20 minutes of tunnel, 1x tandem, 4x single JM stages followed by a solo Hop & Pop) I was surprised at the competence level of these students. They had been trained in the wind tunnel by the same instructors conducting their AFF training jumps so the emphasis whilst in the tunnel was on hover and heading control along with practise deployments. The students were also required to conduct 'alti checks' whilst in the tunnel. When taught correctly this method proved extremely effective as the students were more focussed on the safety aspects of the jump (exiting, height awareness, deployment and canopy control), rather than their freefall skills as this came as 'second nature' to them. I believe the danger would be if students were in the tunnel with a non-skydiver instructor as the 'first flight' wind tunnel students are generally taught a flat body position (for wind tunnel safety) which isn't the most effective position in the sky.

Got my tandem rating at 21. Pretty sure Pablo Hernandez was like 18 or something when he got all his instructor ratings!

It depends entirely on my goals. If I want to work on something particular, I get coaching. If I just want to go for a burn with some friends, I wont get coaching. For me personally, tunnel flying is predominantly to improve my flying in the sky so almost all of my time has been coached (75/25).

Thanks for the clarification. The reason I've come to the forums isn't to seek advice, I'm content with my current coach and his advice on the start of the turn is that I should try both and see what I like best/what gets the best results. I've found that the harness turn feels better and gets marginally better performance when digitally measured. My question is what your experiences are with comparing these as most people believe that front riser turns 'go faster' however don't have any data to back it up.

Katanas are an awesome tool and a great parachute for developing high performance landings IMO. The issue is when people jump on them and fly them the same as their stiletto and think they can get away with the same low toggle turns. My advice would be to find yourself a coach that can refine your technique to help you fly as safe as possible (whether that be doing straight-in approaches or 450s). If taught correctly, the katana can be safer than other fast-recovering canopies for swooping as a longer roll-out time means you've got more time to react and save your ass from bouncing.

I've started playing around with different turns on my Velo 96 (2.3WL) following the recommendation that the ideal turn on my velo will be different to the ideal turn on the katana. I'm relatively new to this wing (60 or so hop and pops) but have been analysing full harness 270s vs front riser 270s on gSwoop and seem to be getting a more consistent, smoother turn with higher speeds using only harness. (data attached) The advice from my coach is that it's likely because I'm still getting used to the heavy (relative to the katana) front riser pressure and the transition from fronts to harness isn't too smooth yet. My question is, for those of you using gSwoop, what type of turn do you find gets the best results? 18-15-19.CSV

The great thing about using the flysight for swooping is that it's compatible with gSwoop. As far as I'm aware the Dekunu has comparable GPS capability to the flysight however uses it's own (more user friendly and basic) software to analyse the turn. If gSwoop was able to be used with the Dekunu data in the future that'd be great!

Thnaks Kevin, I suppose you didn't have time to get a good feel for the wing after only 3 jumps, but are you able to make any comparisons to your Velo with regards to flight characteristics? (recovery arc, trim, speed ect.)

Looks neat! Another nice looking canopy to bridge the gap between 9 cell and fully-xbraced wings. What would be the reason for only having x-bracing on the center cells? Increased rigidity without the added pack volume?

There are Olympic events far more boring than CP! Some of the crowds at the Copenhagen Swoop Challenge were rather impressive! (not to mention mostly whuffos) I do agree with the international TV fatality part though, trying to justify the most dangerous part of the most dangerous discipline in an apparently dangerous sport might be tough.

Thoughts on CP becoming an Olympic event? Speed, Distance and Accuracy are about as un-biased as they come.