What winds become 'too much' for you to fly your canopy in?

[gearless_chris 1]

Like many of the others on here it depends on whether it's a work jump or fun jump. More important is the gust levels and wind direction. The last load last Saturday at SDC the winds were 11 gusting to 20, that's not good, but when it was coming over the top of the buildings and trees I let the team go without me. It's pretty early in the season to be taking chances like that.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[feuergnom 29]

so the general concensus seems to be, that if you are working (tandems) you'll take it up with higher winds than for fun jumps?

yes, i have been in that situation and ended up landing 2 1/2 miles off the dz flying backwards with a tandem. nonetehless this is not my prefered way to do it. not to highjack the thread - but ever since i've been thinking how to correctly deal with these circumstances

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[cocheese 0]

When the winds are calm when the plane takes off, but gusty just before everyone lands and then calm again after everyone lands.

The wind is your friend until it blows your friends like an ex girlfiend.

[davelepka 4]

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so the general concensus seems to be, that if you are working (tandems) you'll take it up with higher winds than for fun jumps?

Yeah, that's it. There's a range of acceptable winds for jumping in. Let's say mine goes up to 30mph.

From zero up to 10 or 12, that's nice, and ton of fun. Easy winds, the spot isn't that important, and you can get a monster swoop landing into the wind (no low pass of high pull with a downwinder needed).

From 12 up to 20, it's not as much fun. The spot becomes more critical, and the swoops are shorter.

From 20 to 30 it's just work.

So anything up to 20, I'm willing to fun jump. I'll pay money to go up and have a good time.

Over 20, I'm not going to pay to jump. It's just not worth it for me because I really like the swoop, and without it, the jump is less fun for me.

However, my skills and equipment choices make it possible for me to safely make a skydive, and when the management and other staffers are counting on me to get the tandems out, I'll go up and jump.

I think the key point to remember is that nobody is making an unsafe skydive because of the money. You reach a point where your skills will be above and beyond the conditions that you may consider 'fun'.

It's like driving in a snow storm. You may know how to drive in snow, but that doesn't mean you want to go out just to browse at the mall during a blizzard. Now if you needed to get to work for an important meeting, you'd jump in your car and drive.

One other point I'd like to make, some of the replies from the younger jumpers were, 'When the guys with 1000's jumps stop jumping, I know it's time to stop'. Do you really think that you should be takign your cues from a jumper with 10 times the experience you have?

I agree that a 100 jump wonder should not be in the air when a guy with 1000's of jumps is standing down, but the truth is that the 100 jump wonder should have stood down long before.

If you see a guy with far more experience than you stand down, and you were still planning to jump until you saw this, you have already made a mistake. You should take a hard look at your personal standards, and make some significant adjustments.

[regulator 0]

I know I dont know much of anything in comparison to you dave, but that was a great analogy regarding the snow. Good work getting your point across.

And I wasnt going to jump in 25 mph winds for anyone. But I WILL be out at the DZ this weekend good or bad weather because I just got my new rig in and I will be assembling it with my rigger this weekend rain or shine.

[BDashe 0]

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I know I dont know much of anything in comparison to you dave, but that was a great analogy regarding the snow. Good work getting your point across.

reply]

How'd that handjob feel dave? he he he he he... just kidding! sort of...

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[regulator 0]

You just gave dave a handjob?

[BDashe 0]

C'mon now, we're all friends! No one is judging you here. There is no need to run back and hide in the closet once you've come out.

To each their own... Congrats on the rig, welcome to the many, many large holes that will soon encompass your wallet!

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[regulator 0]

Giggity

[tbrown 26]

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Perris, I'd stop jumping when I see dust devils or everyone grounded -- sometimes that's as little as 15mph or a tad less.

That would pretty much rule out jumping from April to October. Dust devils are a fact of life at perris and for the most part we've learned to survive and co-exist with them. The good thing about Perris is that the ground is so dusty that the devils will indeed kick up a good visible cloud of dust that can be avoided (the damn things will always move downwind, so they can be avoided). Oddly enough, the grass strip at perris is the only place you can't see them, because the grass holds the dirt down.

Perris grounds all unlicensed jumpers at 15mph and everyone else at 20mph. Personally I call it quits when I have to fight with my canopy after landing - I hate that.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[riggerrob 643]

We can waste a lot of time quoting numbers or we can simply stop jumping when canopies start landing backwards.
Just ask any old paratrooper ... backwards landings injure the most parachutists.