Risers

[moodyskydiver 0]

Ok,I have kinda short arms and I've always had trouble reaching my toggles comfortably.While selecting my options for my new rig,my dealer suggested shorter risers. How would shorter risers effect my canopy flying?

(sorry if this question seems stupid)

"...just an earthbound misfit, I."

[skycat 0]

This is not a stupid question at all.

I as a small girl also have short arms, and while shorter risers can make things easier when collapsing the slider/stowing it, and working with the toggles they create one HUGE disadvantage. Finishing Your Flare

Due to the canopy (links, guide ring) being closer to you, you have to flare that much farther on the bottom end, but due to you having short arms you can't reach that far. So to fix the issue of not having long enough arms to finish the flare girls like us have to go with longer risers to make up the difference.

Personally I jump with 20inch risers and have no problems reaching the slider to collapse it and pull it down to stow it behind my head. So for comparison my arms (shoulder to wrist) are 20 inches. I've used 18s and had problems with flaring, used 22s and had to climb the risers to collapse the slider.

Kelli

btw....one of the reasons you might have been having trouble reaching the slider and toggles is because the student gear (main lift web, legstraps) was to big for you and they might have had the 22 inch risers.

Fly it like you stole it!

[PhreeZone 20]

It will move the control range of the canopy compaired to if you had longer risers. Shorter risers will move everything from the turn point to the stall point down in relation to your body comapired to the old points. If your flare point was exactly at your waist line it will be moved towards your knees how ever many inches your risers are shorter.

With this and adjusting the brakes you can dial a canopy in for almost any control range you want.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[dragon2 2]

I'm not all that tall myself. I couldn't reach the slider to collapse it at first (I had regular risers). That was really annoying because I had softlinks so the slider would come down over them at some point, usually when I didn't want it to because the toggles were already released.

I got new short risers for free (way nice guy) and I put those on, then I was a happy camper.

Then I got a Safire, with those long brake lines. I demo'd it, it was ok, but then it was on regular risers. When I bought it and put it on my own risers, the brake lines had so much slack that steering didn't begin until I had the toggles at handles-hight. Not really ideal. So I shortened them a lot. Now I have 3 jumps with the shorter lines and I'm having trouble flaring now. Will have to dial it in (again), or maybe lengthen the lines a bit back.

But I wouldn't want longer risers again, in combination with a collapsible slider. For CREW etc it doesn't make much difference, as long as the rigs kinda fits so I can reach the blocks.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[hookitt 1]

Quote

How would shorter risers effect my canopy flying?

I'm 5'6"
18 inch risers have been standard for all my parachutes from a falcon 195 to stiletto 120 and 97 to a cobalt 65. There really is no disadvantage to this. Have you decided what parachute to get yet? Spectre? Sabre2?

Advantages are, very comfortable to reach the toggles and the Lines to collapse the slider. Any longer you have to climb the risers to reach the Slider and the toggles will be way up there in full flight.

I know several shorter armed people than me. We all use 18's. Don't worry about the flare with shorter risers. set the brakes correctly on that new canopy and it will flare JUST fine. Specially after all the canopy control classes

Call up Mirage and get the 18's you won't regret it.

Tim

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[SkySlut 0]

Yep, I am about 5'4" and I have been using 18" risers as well from the time I was jumping a Sabre 150 till now (Velocity 84). I have never had any problems finishing a flare. Joey Jones from Deland Majik uses 18" inch risers and is one of the sickest swoopers around. Personally, I dont think that it makes a difference at all. I think that its pretty important to stow your slider easily...rather than f'ing with it when you may have some potential traffic issues. Plus if the risers are too long and you start to jump smaller, more high performance canopies...shifting your weight in the harness to try to grab a slider is going to give you a serious turn under canopy.

[moodyskydiver 0]

Thanks for your help everyone. I've decided to get 18" risers.

"...just an earthbound misfit, I."

[faulknerwn 38]

Yeah. On my freefall rigs I have 18" risers. On my CRW rig they're 15". I love the shorter risers - they make everything so much nicer and I've never had any issues with flares. Its much nicer than having to climb up the riser to retrieve the toggle you let go of :-)

W