ecll

There is no comparison between a Diablo and a Sabre II. I have flown both. A Diablo is an extremely twitchy canopy. Reaching to stow the slider can put it into a dive before you touch the slider. Nor does it like to be in brakes. On deployment unless you are extremely stable, it will spin up on you and even when stable, with some regularity one side of the canopy will inflate before the other and try to spin up. When it spins up, unless you execute the right corrective action within a couple seconds, it goes into a spinning dive...and sometimes it does not wait. And your packing better be very good each time or it can spin up. I have a Diablo 170 loaded at 1.3 with over seven hundred jumps on it and 3 relines. She still teaches me something about herself every jump. I think you are making a big mistake if you buy any Diablo at your jump numbers.

For what it may be worth, the video would seem to show that body position is not being maintained through the opening. Before the first spinup, the risers are 4 to six inches from being level with each other. It looks like the canopy only did what you told it to do with harness input. I would suggest that as the snatch force brings you upright, you force your legs straight, force your ankles together and drive your toes straight into the ground. This input into the harness will do a lot to keep the risers even. If the risers are even, it is going to be difficult for the canopy to do any thing other than fly straight. Looking up at the canopy, rather than at the level horizon, can also induce uneven harness input that you do not realize you are doing. I learned to stop looking up at canopy openings years ago. Also, in a spinup I would strongly suggest that you do not grab the risers with your whole hand. In that hand position, if the twists shoot down the lines onto the risers, your hand could easily be trapped, keeping you from cutting away. I use the heels of my hands and finger tips to grab the risers in a spinup. I also wear gloves As one more suggestion, as line twists are happening, immediately take a hold on the risers and start twisting them in the direction of the line twists (keeping your toes dug straight into the ground) This will shoot the line twists down onto the risers, increasing your mechanical advantage so that most of the time the line twists will spin you, or with very little leg rotation you can spin you, out of the line twists. This shooting the twists down onto the risers with your legs straight can (most of the time) allow the risers to even up, possibly keeping your canopy from going into a dive and give you more time to deal with the situation. YMMV

Aerodyne relined my 170 Diablo about a year ago. It was $250 plus shipping and included an inspection of the canopy. It seems like the cost of the line were in the range where it seemed better just to have them do the whole job. The reline improved flight and flare but not dramatically. It was OK before relining, I just thought after about 600 jumps on it a reline would be a good idea. No one mentioned any thing about any mod.

A few years ago I followed a raft out of the Skyvan at Couch Freaks. At about 5,000 feet the two end people in the raft bailed out and the raft immediately sandwiched the center guy. At about 3,500 feet I saw a hand with a pilot chute come out of the side of the raft and he luckily had a normal deployment. Note to self...rafts that are rigid at alitiude deflate and go limp as they descend. Second note...the possibility of sandwiching is another reason to use none continuing lines.

Please. Go to cypres-usa.com and download the user's guide toward the bottom of the page and study it. If you are going to own a Cypres you really need to know what it does and what it does not do...how it functions and when it does not function. At least one person has died because they did not read the manual or did not remember what was in it. I am on my second new Cypres and I still reread the user's guide at least once every year.

Skydive Wichita in Kingman closed early this year. Skydive Suppesville is very informal and kind of by appointment. Kansas State University Parachute Club would be the longest drive from Wichita. Skydive Kansas in Osage City is having the Brian Germain Canoy Course this weekend. Closest to Wichita is Air Capitol Drop Zone (note, 63rd Street between Rock Road and Greenwich has been closed for construction). You will find good peole at all of the Kansas dropzones.

You asked for options. Last year, after talking with RWS about it, I ordered the V350M (190 size) container (rather than the 170 size V348M), specifying on the order form that it was for a Diablo 170 with a PD176R as I wanted the larger reserve. Every thing fits fine, including when I put a dozen demo jumps on a Sabre2 170. As RWS told me, if you want a larger reserve, order the larger container as the main compartment is tight enough to easily go down one main size.

You will now be concentrating on body position when leaving the plane and on canopy control. You will probably get to experience line twists. After the first one or two experiences with line twists, you will realize that line twists on a student canopy are no big deal. Just remain altitude aware. Experience in dealing with line twists willl serve you well when you get line twists on a high performance canopy, where you need to react immeciately in the proper way.

I have over 500 jumps on a Diablo loaded at 1.32. We have learned to get along very, very well together but it took a while. She still teaches me some thing about herself on every jump. The Diablo is very twitchy and is readily subject to line twists if packing care is not constantly used and if care is not taken to open flat and stable. She is ground hungry but long spots are no problem if an inch or two of rear risers are taken in. I would strongly recommend that you not get that size Diablo with your low jump numbers.