Line stows

[btvr 0]

Hey everyone, What is the best way to make line stows on a Triathlon with Spectra lines? Some say to double up the bands on the stow and some say not to. I bought the micro line rubber bands from Aerodyne and the pack video says to make one stow. The locking stows are fine but once you get past the cascades they dont seem all that tight. One guy said to "double" it and showed me,and said it will open. I have yet to jump this since I'm new and this is my first (brand new) rig. I'm practicing packing it since I learned on F111 and dacron lines. When I unpacked it that one double wrap took me two hands to unstow it! Dont want that to happen in the air and have a bag lock! Also aerodyne says to make the stow bites at least 3" or more. Then one guy showed how it would be possible for that long loop to wrap around another stow loop. I'm all confused on what to do! Any suggestions? Thanks and Blue skies

[DBTECH 0]

Line stows-line dump--an earlier post
I recommend no less than 2 1/2" bites for the locking stows and not less than 3" bites for the last four stows, with the bands wrapped twice if needed. As far as Tube Stows are concerned, you may want to do a Double Larks head knot, as this will make for a tighter stow without double wrapping the line bite.
(see "tighter" or "tightest" on Tube Stow instruction sheet)
Aside from poor line stowing methods, the other negative factors in line dump are large pilot chutes and light weight canopies, as both these factors will mean higher bag acceleration away from the jumper. This results in the stowed lines pulling on the stows harder during bag launch, possibly resulting in their premature release (line dump) if not stowed properly. Large pilot chutes also increase the percentages of fast/hard openings for other reasons other than line dump.
I'm currently jumping an Atair Cobalt 135 with a 21" ZP pilot chute that I made.
(400+ jumps on PC)
I recommend quartering the slider.
Dave Brownell
Mesa/Eloy, AZ

[wildblue 7]

DB's got some good stuff there, all I can add is:
One of the reasons I like rubber bands (over tube stoes) besides the fact they 'grip' the lines better, they should break before you get a bag lock.
About one loop getting over another - what is sometimes suggested is that you make your stows progressively smaller, but make sure you still stay in recommended lengths. So if one loop does get over top of another, it'll be one later in the sequence, and by the time it's its turn, whatever it got itself around is already unstowed.
It's late... I hope that made sense.
Then, I saw these two guys swoopin across the pond, and I was like 'weeeeeee!!!!'