My round jump

[Plummet 0]

I have many goals in life and more than a few in skydiving. One of these goals was to jump a round parachute. On Tuesday, July 29, 2003, I accomplished that goal. I made a round, static line style, jump from our Cessna.

I had no plans to land the 35ft. "TU" canopy. Many people said landing the round would be fine. The canopy I was jumping had been used to train students for years. I deferred to the will of my less-than-perfect knees. I try to protect them so that I can jump for years in the future. So, the plan was for me to exit with the round canopy, ride it for awhile, chop it, return to freefall and then deploy my Omni 183.5, leaving me with my normal reserve in case of trouble. The rig that had contained the round has a container that is detatchable from the harness. I wore that harness underneath my regular sport rig. The setup was a little tight, but not cumbersome. Because I was not wearing a container for the round main, I had to hand carry it, enclosed in the deployment bag.

I was on a load with a student who was doing his first freefall. After he exited, we ascended to 7,000'. I guessed at the exit point as I didn't have a great deal of experience spotting under these conditions. After checking everything I climbed out on the step. While I am doing this, Holli was maintaining order out of the bag and all of the loose lines. I crouched low, because I wanted to be sure to clear the door and to make sure that everything happened over the top of me. I let go and almost immediately I had a very soft opening. There I was, hanging under a round canopy at just under 7 grand. Yeeeeee haaaaaaa !!!

I gave the canopy a cursory check. I'm not sure of what to look for other than the obvious. The first thing I noticed was two gaping holes in the back of the chute. I was pretty sure they were supposed to be there. Even if they weren't, it didn’t matter, the thing was working and I was going to chop it anyway. Although I was definitely descending, I didn't sense much speed because I had no forward movement. I pulled down a toggle and the canopy rotated. That was about it. It wasn't steering as such. I rode the canopy down to about 4,500' where I decided to chop it. I wanted to make sure I had enough time in case I had any problem.

I released the wooden toggles and got mentally prepared. I pulled down the Capewell covers and put my thumbs in the rings. I pulled the rings sharply and felt the “click” of the release. For half a second, I didn’t sense any real movement so I Iooked up and saw that the canopy had indeed released. Then I was falling, feet first. I wasn’t at terminal velocity yet, and flailed like a geek. I had an instant flashback to my balloon jump exit a few years ago. Finally I flipped over into position and deployed my main canopy. I thought that I would be uncomfortable hanging in the two harnesses but it was just a bit tight, no biggie.

I landed and looked up into the air for my cutaway round. It was still WAY up there. The canopy had cross connectors and stayed inflated. I casually walked back from the circle to the clubhouse, dropped my gear, and removed two harnesses and a jumpsuit. I grabbed my wallet and keys and headed out to try and retrieve the canopy. I drove about 5 miles, staying under or nearly under the canopy the whole time. That is until about 800’ when I ran out of roads underneath where the canopy landed. I searched for a few hours, including about one hour by boat (Thanks, Don!) but to date the canopy hasn’t been located. Oh well, it was well worth losing a $30.00 canopy for that great experience.

I had underestimated the thrill of cutting away. Meeting the goal of jumping a round canopy was great, but chopping a “perfectly good canopy” was a real rush! It really was like having two skydives in one. I’m getting another round canopy. That was just too much fun not to do again!

-Jeff.
http://www.iplummet.com

Common sense and common courtesy are NOT common.

[BigM 2]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I am so damn jealous.
Blue 111-
Jeff

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[bodypilot90 0]

sounds fun, I want to do one as a water jump!

[Beerlight 0]

Where can I get a $30.00 round at??!!!!!

[katiebear21 0]

Great web site! I love your "log"!

Thanks for sharing!

Katie
Get your PMS glass necklace here

[skydog834 0]

Having made hundreds of round jumps and learned from the begining the value of a good PLF (Which I may add is missing from many of todays first jump cources) in order to say you jumped a round you should have landed it! With a little practice you might even learn to stand it up as many jumpers have and I don't just mean military jumpers. Talk to some of the older jumpers out there. If this was a goal of yours it was only a novelty not a true static line jump.

You missed out by doing what you did. And by the way when you cut away next time tuck your knees back before you cut away and you will fall over on your belly before you pull. Yes some of us have done intentional cut aways.

Glenn