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U will want a xaos if you want good nice soft on heading openings. Everyone of my friends with a jvx calls it a junkvx because Of the openings but they all love the flights and swoops though it always seems that thing recovers dirty low and quick. Long swoops get that velo! Openings are doable even with full rds from terminal regularly and you got that nice long diving recovery, I wouldn't have it any other way but your on the 7cell crossbrace platform not your requested 9. Good luck! Out of curiosity why no profile info?

Almost all the organizers at elsinore will give you some coaching debriefing and tips as time permits but nothing like you would get from a full day with 1 on 1 training with someone like andy malchiodi or someone of that nature. But hey its a better than nothing and we pass on all we learn from those better than us to the next group of skydivers progressing. Its what the guys above us are doing now and have been for free, at least in socal, and certainly what those of us learning from them are doing. There is alot of talent out there and way to many people trying to only make a profit and better themselves vs giving back. off my soap box. try to be more like socal other areas hope you make it down to experience what all the dz's here have to offer

It's taking a while for the poster to respond to your response. I also had a few hard openers on my 90 velo. Matter of fact first jump on it was almost the last it was so hard. Part my fault for dumping quick after a freefly jump and part packing. Slider out infront of the nose was the fix and haven't had a hard opening since even with a quicker pull when on a long spot, but I can say I'm sure I always slow down drastically out of fear. For the original thread to keep on topic. You can't go wrong with the velo if your packing it right, it requires some finese while packing tho, not a lot, but enough that you learn to respect it if you don't. Goodluck in your choice

id say the 1m or just over 3ft mark deep sounds best. Gives a higher safety margin when someone does skip off the water and flip through their risers head first into the pond. the deeper the better imo. also it will take longer to heat the water body causing less evaporation? only a guess but its seems logical

ill add that I had my slider made by the local rigger where jump. We used pd's measurements however for the slider and paraconcepts rings. Had a small nick in one of the rings come to find out after sending rings back to factory and first lineset only lasted 150 on hma 500's . 300+ on the slider now and its holding up great.150+ on the new vectran 500's and life's good, going to change em by 250 300 to be safe tho. Long story short as long as the slider is larger or the same you shouldn't get slammed hopefully. How did it go??

If in doubt don't whip it out . If its larger than the other slider you may be okay but the opening could be much longer. I know xaos did have a rds slider that was smaller than the regular when I owned one. Measure it ask ur rigger or experienced jumper at your dz and or any others jumping the same canopy with the rds and compare sizes. I'd do a hop n pop but that's not to say its not going to slam u or have a mal on opening. Good luck

Update: paraconcepts sent out a new set of rings free and no issues so far with 150 jumps on the lines now

Id say yeah your 100% right danoran it should be separated and is supposed to be separated. If its not where you jump its time to complain to the dz where ur jumping or go to a safer place. You shouldn't have to worry about being taken out but dont forget that it can happen in a regular pattern too. Be aware of your surroundings and watch out for yourself and others Good luck at your dz hope it goes well with the landing situation

I like your thoughts! Yep no doubt were adaptable If traffic is separated to different areas the issue of collisions is eliminated and the two should be able to exist in harmony but that's in a perfect world where no one cuts across the pond and runway to get back to the main because they dont want to walk. And they guy that got the long spot lands out vs against the pattern to make it closer etc... u get the point But still the lack of people considering a double fronts to a 90 not a swoop baffles me, as much as i'm in favor of being able to do it it conflicts with the general pattern as much as trying to sneak a 270 in because you have air space, everythings dynamic and there are always the possibility of unseen pilots below and traffic as we have proven with collisions And the DZ's still allowing crazy patterns shame on them. A 90 in the main is still a much better improvement and will take time to change, should it as it can be done much safer? beyond me but to truly follow the pattern everyone would be doing flat turns at 600 and 300 and landing straight in. We all manipulate the true rules to fit our needs. I tend to just stay at the pond so that eliminates a good amount of that traffic and risks. The best we can do until things are enforced is just watch out for our selves and others and keep the traffic separated to the best of our ability And to stay on topic swooping when separated I feel is safe and doesn't need to be by hp only instead of a regular jump. But by hey im landing at the pond (designated hp landing area and communication) so other swoopers can communicate with each other and so others know they best not be over the pond unless they are planning on swooping which they shouldnt anyway but a reminder never hurts

Thanks! http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VC-071-111-Line-Trim-Chart.pdf http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/linetrims/VE_075-120LT.pdf

And how often do all the dzo's meet sit down and discuss issues at hand? I don't know the answer there but if they do the team effort application and enforcement isn't happening when they're back home

The competitive end of swoopers are holding up their end as are the majority of the competitions where all of us amateur competitors are showing our faces and trying to move forward and better ourselves. Training is available and abundant in most areas and in areas of remoteness where no ones swooping how would you learn without visiting and training where people do. No one swooper professional or amateur can make someone take a course. The issue lies within USPA and DZO's to require courses and enforce it by banning or grounding people until they meet the requirements. It will only work when they enforce these actions as a group/team and only as such. Otherwise the guy that wants to swoop goes to the next dz and so forth The call for action is already there and USPA is starting the ground work. We will see a change gradually but not as rapid as people will hope for. The DZO's and STA's like a city police department need to all join their forces and enforce as a group what they want to have happen instead of saying hey dont do that again, as how often is the DZO or STA actually down watching peoples patterns?

Well put! All for that and I understand change until the incident has been evaluated and understood. A shame to see it as a result of this incident that seems as though it was unpreventable the way it occurred. I'm all for proper training as it surely saved my life when I started to learn to swoop and will as training never ends until your out of the sport None the less we are at a point of change in this part of the sport and the future is always brighter

Thoughts and opinions everyone? Even the best of the best take their spills from time to time whether on the speed course as we see occasionally in comps or just on a botched landing and we all could be seriously injured potentially but it is a risk we assume swooping and every jump we make in general furthermore Separating canopy traffic by having swoopers at separate landing area, ie the pond or specified area was needed and furthermore always necessary though not enforced everywhere Perris did good after the recent collisions last year by banning all turns greater than 90 to only hop n pops only and all high performance landings to the pond area period but banning swooping all together seems extreme Its not just swoopers who can end up low, a low 90 on final can be just as bad as the recent incident which still sounds like an issue after the turn was ending at an adequate height whether it was a gear failure or dropped toggle. So other question that comes to mind is are they just allowing people to fly straight in now using flat turns to make their base and final turns? as a 90 though not a huge turn is still a high performance landing/swoop when done the way that most of us that do high performance landing make a 90 in the main. All flat turns would be the only true way to make a legitimate pattern with everyone turning at the correct altitudes and it would also eliminate low turns, but people will still hurt themselves with late flaring etc. Sorry for the long post but a lot of thought goes into what we consider a proper pattern vs how the pattern actually goes but that is off topic anyhow. So thoughts??

That would be my understanding too. There's no line trim chart on pd's website for the comp velo so I would assume its the same unless line lengths different. Good luck and let us know how it flys! Oh and I know last line set I didn't request the longer brake lines thinking there would be excess and the rigger installing could trap it to the length I wanted. They send the line sets brake lines out already fingertrapped I believe, with only enough trapping to lengthen them about 2-3 inches and still have adequate trapping so be sure you specify and get confirmation

You should be able to do so, not sure why pd wouldnt. Not sure if they are running longer lines or what but seems expensive unless your competing or making your own lineset. And if your going to be competing might as well get the comp and 300 hmas etc for the max performance. Regular jumping I couldn't see the need for the extra speed and extra few feet your going to get If its the same trim specs the only thing I could see different would be the dive and recovery created by the longer lines resulting in the increased speed and distance. There is also some posts up on here about the location of the brake loop setting and the difference in improved openings by moving it to a deeper or shallower setting.

Best advice as was stated near the OP adn throughout is to see your doctor Last thing you need to to pinch any nerve bundles running through your spine as a result of the added force on the herniation you have. What your experiencing is already a result of the pressure the disc is placing on the spinal cord One hard openings all it takes to cause a lot longer recovery. Kick boxing is physical no doubt but doesn't have the shock our canopies create on every opening soft or hard

No data that I have seen other than whats on UPT's website and the forums here and what you can learn around the dz. Read up on it for sure. There are incidents involving both the rsl and skyhook, but there are many more incidents of cutaways without getting a reserve out in time. It benefits you definetly as a new jumper flying a larger docile canopy, but can become less advantageous as you fly a smaller highly loaded canopy, but there are quite a few people that have no linetwists after cutting away with it on high performance canopys and there are those that end up with them. Time saved may or may not be worth it in different peoples eyes, but if for some reason I struggle to chop because of high g forces with a spinning mal I want something out sooner than later. Watch the video on upt's site its informative Ive seen two personally from the ground under 1000 feet, per the pilot and all of us watching, that were under their reserve by 750 toggles in hand. Not the best idea to fly to the main and do that in traffic because you have a broken line and would rather have the main close to the dz though. Make that choice high skyhook or not, i guess thats faith in it though for that pilot, id rather not test that unless it was last resort to do so there

That makes more sense then the way I was visioning it

Its a valid point. Personally ive had my velcro come slightly loose (nearly pulling the velcro all the way off) a few times after regular openings in which my finger caught just the slight opening between the rsl and the riser just right when pulling the slider rings down and sometimes it just works its way out of the little stow so its a bigger snag issue. Its going to take a significant amount of pull on the velcro even after its undone to pull that cutaway cable loose, especially if isnt cut so short that it barely is in the housing. If the cable isnt routed through the colins lanyard that issues eliminated and it may be for the better not to use it, but thats got to be a rig specific set up as the jumper wants it. Thats the beauty of having options. You can set it up so your happy!

Though only a handful I don't want to become the statistic when someone snags a D Ring when they become unstable unintentional or not. A hard pull on a main after a freefly jump or any furthermore is bad enough, now add a reserve thats meant to open fast while freeflying. F That S*(T!!! I think that is really the only benefit to the pillows besides look. But well worth it and its just another reason to have a rsl and or skyhook and aad. All can always be deactivated for the jumps necessary and when it saves your life youll be thankful

If the Velcro is loose enough that the rpc is pulling that taught I hope one would notice that after opening. Students, as is situation may not, but if it was a experienced jumper I hope so. I agree its not a perfect system but it has benefits if the jumper knows the ups and downs and what types of jumps to use/not use it for based on their thoughts and risk vs gain. its all personal choice unless your a student in which case the skyhook and/or rsl is there because the dz feels its more beneficial than not as students may panic and not pull the reserve handle, you never know

feel free to elaborate moderator, as apparently im wrong but to my understanding that is how that works

Great Link! Guy was and is very lucky to be alive The lanyard that comes off of the skyhook/rsl that the left riser cutaway cable runs through wouldn't be affected unless the right riser is released as it requires that to detach before the left would be released by the lanyard. Not complex, it is a very simplistic idea that only activates after a cutaway is initiated and will release the left riser in the event the user only clears the right riser when he cuts away and one can always not use it while using the skyhook/rsl if they choose to not route the cutaway cable through the lanyard. In regards the the incident it may have been better that he didn't have two out right away as it may have become an entanglement. Only fate would decide that. Without the skyhook on his rig had the incident happened the way it did he would have bounced when he cutaway. Reserve pc's can trail like that without the red thread that is at the hook. In this case maybe it was enough to prevent a possibly worse situation, purely speculation as it could have been a better situation also if it opened higher without an entanglement and he dealt with it properly

There is no arrogance here. People make mistakes! The problem is the amount of them that shouldn't happen because of complacency or lack of integrity. People can sum it up to accidents happen, but many can be prevented by better training and practice. I'm certainly not perfect but I learn from my mistakes and am damn sure if Im doing something im doing it right. and no where did i ask you to justify your history of your job nor do i care. if i havent worked with you i dont know you and im assuming you do what you do right