Ordered my off-the-shelf Safire2 169 and received it in less than a week. THe first thing that stands out is the larger than normal slider. Simon Mundell explained that, "Its easier to make a slow opening faster, than trying to make a fast opening slower." My first jump was subterminal to set the lines and I watched it overhead for 1000' until it opened. I could tell it was going to open and that it was going to be sweet. The canopy took a square shape slightly larger than the slider. Then the canopy fully inflated. Folks on the ground said it looked like a "staged" opening. I made several jumps on it and the openings were taking about 800' - a little long for me since I like 500-600' openings since I usually dump at 2500' I requested a smaller slider and its on the way.
During the first jump, I tested the turning, stalls, riser turns, opposing risers, the whole works. It never twisted, wrapped or buckled on me. So, I'm loading this at 1.5 and on landing I'm thinking, "Hope this doesn't leave a mark!" I plane it out and do a knee swoop the first time. At the end of the swoop, I punch it down a little and grease up into the air about 3 feet and drop on both feet. Amazing Canopy.
