Equipment List -- 1977 RW Nationals

[howardwhite 6]

Here's the equipment list, as published in Parachutist, for competitors in the 1977 RW Nationals.
You know you've been around a few years if you can identify everything on this list.

HW
---
Type of Container System
Piggyback - 228
Conventional - 7
Sissy Cord - 24
Total - 295

Main Canopy
Strato Star-146
Piglet - 44
Strato Cloud - 26
Paradactyl - 20
Strato Flyer-14
Sierra-6
Miscellaneous - 6
PC -6
RWPC-4
Para Plane - 4
5-Cell Para Foil -4
Starlite - 3
Parasled - 2
1.1 Surplus -1
7-Cell Para Foil -1
PAP -1
Total - 288

Pilot Chute Type
Hand Deployed - 234
Hot Dog-19
MA-1 -14
Grabber-3
A-3-12
Pioneer (PC)-3
Miscellaneous - 2
Total - 287

Deployment Device
Bag -130
Diaper - 55
Free Pack without strap - 49
Free Pack with strap - 26
Raeper-12
POD-9
Sleeve - 3
Slider-2
Total - 286

Main Container
Wonderhog -115
SST - 58
Miscellaneous - 47
Piglet - 20
Greene Star - 9
Guardian - 8
Starlight-7
Sierra- 7
Free Flight - 5
Top Secret - 2
Rodriguez - 1
Super Pro - 1
Total - 289

Reserve Canopy
Security LoPo - 80
Piglet-63
26' Conical-50
Strong LoPo - 42
24' Conical - 24
Tri-Conical -16
Other-2
Total - 296

Reserve Deployment
Cut Away - 269
Hand Deploy - 8
Total - 277

Canopy Release
1 1/2 Shot-130
3-Ring - 60
R-2 - 53
Miscellaneous - 9
Tape Wells - 8
R-3-6
Booth Wells-5
1 Shot-5
2 Shot-1
Total - 277

Helmet
Hockey-122
French Leather - 71
Motorcycle - 57
Miscellaneous - 9
HALO - 5
Total - 264

Footwear
Sneakers - 242
Paraboot-10
Miscellaneous- 7
Total - 259

Altimeters
Altimaster II-150
No- 110
Altimaster III -31
North Star - 4
Miscellaneous -1
Total - 296

[piisfish 140]

AOD's not listed ? did they exist yet ?

Can you explain :
sissy cord system
all Pilot Chute types (except hand deployed)
Raeper deployment
TapeWell / Boothwell cutaways


thanks

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[fastphil 0]

One of those 3 starlite main canopies was mine, and miscellaneous footwear could have been my bare feet on a jump or two, but I don't remember any conventional rigs in RW...

[wmw999 2,589]

Style & Accuracy very commonly used conventional then, if aging memory doesn't fail. For style, it gave you a nice pivot to turn around, and you could sling the reserve aside for accuracy.

How often these days would "cutaway: miscellaneous" appear in a gear list .

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[drjump 0]

I wonder what the 6-miscellaneous canopies were?
You listed just about everything people were jumping in those wonderful days. Except, maybe a T-bow!

[jimmytavino 16]

misc. main could have included the 28 foot Jumbo PC
and i remember the 23foot and maybe 27 foot Russian PC......surprised to only see mention of ONE papillon....
The American papillon and the french Pap. were still pretty popular for accuracy in the mid to late 70's...
IIRC...
cool list....I recall all that gear...even jumped some of it...
jmy

[Zing 2]

One of those misc. canopies was Joe Park's FT-1 ... it was a 20' round made in France, and that was all the data panel said ... "Made in France," nobody knew anything about it ... hence the name French Thing-1.

Zing Lurks

[fastphil 0]

The Strato Flyer was the hot new canopy turning heads there, the first small packing square. I bought one while I was there and seemed to be one of the few (maybe only?) that really liked the canopy. I jumped it 500+ times and then took my girlfriends out of her closet and jumped it some more...

[howardwhite 6]

Quote

AOD's not listed ? did they exist yet ?
Can you explain :
sissy cord system
all Pilot Chute types (except hand deployed)
Raeper deployment
TapeWell / Boothwell cutaways
thanks

AODs (or, to be politically correct AADs) did exist. There is an ad for the Sentinel MK 2000 on the page opposite the equipment survey. But I think it is safe to say that AADs for experienced jumpers did not come into widespread use until the advent of the Cypres.
I am not sure about the inclusion of "sissy cord" in the container system category. I'm guessing it refers to what has been thrashed about elsewhere here as a "jesus string" or "last hope rope," but I would be happy to be corrected on this.
"Pilot chute types" basically cover variants of spring-loaded pilot chutes, starting with the military MA-1 -- more or less standard in the olde days. The variants generally feature bigger canopies, longer springs, etc.
"Raeper deployment." If memory serves, a diaper variant, but I don't have any hands-on memory. Others may chime in.
Tape Wells/Booth Wells" Variant cutaway systems, playing on the name Capewell, the dominant manufacturer of military riser release systems. I'm not sure about Tapewells, but Boothwells refers to an experimental system by Bill Booth which used a metal fork to connect fabric loops on the harness and riser. They were in limited test in 1975 --one set of testers was a nationally-competitive 4-way team. Pictures attached.
As to comments from others -- remember this was equipment used by RW competitors. Style and accuracy competitors would have had a different list, though there were, of course, a few people who competed in both S&A and RW.
I also find the "miscellaneous" main category odd, since there are entries for canopies where only one was used. There is a big ad for the Pioneer Viking in the same issue, as well as for the Strato-Flyer, which was then just coming on the market.

HW

[wmw999 2,589]

Quote

Strato Flyer
...
I bought one while I was there and seemed to be one of the few (maybe only?) that really liked the canopy.

The Strato Flyer is most of why I kept jumping my Starlite (which I loved) as long as I did (another 2-3 years). You were, as far as I know, the only person who weighed more than 100 lbs and landed it well all the time.

Then again, you could ride the unicycle, which escaped me as well

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[mark 107]

Quote

Raeper

Raeford Diaper: a 3-bight diaper sewn to the side of a square canopy (if memory serves, on the end cell "B" line support tape). The canopy was flat/stack packed, then the diaper was folded around the canopy and closed with line bights. The remaining lines were free-packed, i.e. coiled in the pack tray. No bag needed. (Until several years ago, the ICAS magazine featured a raeper-equipped Strato-Cloud in one of the "please join" ads.)

A variant was the frap strap: a 1-bight diaper made from Type 6 (or 7, 12, 13, what have you) webbing or similar.

Mark