ManBird 0 #1 September 23, 2003 Flew my Sabre2 this weekend (got beer). Loading at 1.68 with a wingsuit (most of the time), 1.65 without (like it matters all that much), so, err... 1.7ish. Fuckin' A, I'm in love. It does everything I want it to, and doesn't do what I don't want it to. I got nine flights in on it, so I don't have a lot to say yet, but there are at least a few things I've found that I'm pretty sure I will stand by hundreds of jumps from now: - NO front riser pressure. It's pure cake for about six seconds, dropping me about 600 feet across the whole powerband. - Flies straight in line twists. I induced line twists intentionally (not in a wingsuit), and got about four twists with the risers somewhat uneven. Flew straight. I accidentally got one line twist (with the wingsuit). Flew straight. It's fairly unresponsive to harness input, but that's a tiny tradeoff when flying a wingsuit safe canopy that can also perform like a mutha. - Has a HUGE flare. It seems endless. I landed straight in five times and front riser 180ed (how I usually land, but about 170' higher than my previous canopy) four times. Granted I was going into a 12 - 14 knot headwind, but still... it had that kind of flare where you can just sort of hover and fuck around at the end of your swoop. - Gets back from long spots. I had a nasty headwind to fight to get back from far away a couple times this weekend, but hanging on the rear risers gave me an excellent glide ratio (obviously... but it was far better than anything else I've jumped... which isn't much... so... shut up). Anywho. I love it. I named her "Girlfriend #2". Girlfriend #1 was rather dismayed by this. I thought I was being a little too nice and dishonest with myself, putting my Sabre2 behind my girlfriend in priority, but no... Girlfriend #1 is rather upset that she now has to share. She'll just have to get used to it."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #2 September 23, 2003 Sabre2s can be very very fun and can be swoop monsters (for their performance level). Although I have figured out that the ones I've flown/fly sometimes really like 270 approaches. Never mind that they open like butter, are easy to pack and can float really hard when waiting for traffic to clear.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #3 September 23, 2003 From what I've been doing up top, I have a feeling that a 360 will be my turn of choice. I'm not a big 270 fan yet; only because it's harder for me to set that turn up properly... which may sound nuts to some people, but I'm more into setting up along a single line. I'm too dumb to figure out all three axis. More than half of the powerband is spent on double fronts on my 180, and that seems to sort of kill some distance for me (though it maintains speed pretty well). 540s and even 720s have been easy to pull off on this canopy up high. I figure I'll eventually move up to a 360 from 600 feet, which should give me a good combination of speed and correction/bailout room, with about a quarter of the altitude spent after the turn, even with the approach as fat and carvy as I like it to be. Who knows... maybe in my progression I'll figure out how to nail this 270 thing. Seems to be popular with the teenagers or something."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #4 September 24, 2003 QuoteSeems to be popular with the teenagers or something. Bwaahahaha...I'm young, not that young. Well, as you know, I am by no means some sort of great canopy pilot, I don't have that many more jumps then you do. The Sabre2s I've jumped just responded well to a 270, but that's also my normal setup so it "feels good" to me. I did do some 360 approaches, I felt like I was going past the "powerband" for the canopy...that the recovery arc was taking over and I was having to fight the canopy too much. 180s worked well for me too, but just didn't give the speed and distance that a 270 did. *shrug* You'll probably put a few more jumps on it, come back here and tell me I'm full of shit. That'd be cool, since we'd both be learning from it.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
