ManBird

How old is your Racer, does it have any mods, and are you able to pack pin to grommit or do you rotate the bag up or down? Mine is about ten years old, no mods, unable to pack pin to grommit, and due to prior "regular" skydiving habit, rotated the bag down (lines facing bottom of container). I also only ran into problems when I was dumping in a full track, and even then it was only like 10% of time. I also wasn't packing really evenly. Giving it a sec + packing evenly fixed the problems for me. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I agree. I'm not implying nor do I think you should ride your rear risers all the way through or too far, but I don't think you should jump to toggles right away, either (after riding rear risers). In the video, you'll notice that he's in risers for only a moment after planing out before bringing the toggles down to chest level fairly quickly. Granted, that might not necessarily do a lot on the VX (depending on the length of the brake lines), but he could have gone further and maintained speed in rear risers before starting to sink and needing to (smoothly) switch to toggles. Here's a better summary of what I thought: Overall, the toggle usage in the video appeared more staged than smooth. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You'd get more speed/distance with less snappy front riser turns. A smooth 180 would do you much better than a snappy 720 (- 90). Smoother, longer inputs would also give you more control, and are easier to so that you'd not need a correction... plus you'd have a better chance of "getting out" if need be. That correction also brought you into your "lane" tilted a bit. Not like a carve title, but like a "not done yet" tilt, though you didn't need to dig at all, either, which is good. You also started on the toggles way too early. You weren't descending at all when you started on the toggles about 30 - 40 ft into the swoop. You could have rode the risers for quite awhile more, then flared. This is evidenced by the fact that you hit the ground running. Basically, you brought the canopy down while it was still going. I'd say that the best part of this swoop is that you demonstrated that you were heads up enough to regain control, and that the turn was initiated high enough to do so. The bad part is that it appears that you basically just grabbed a front riser and went to town with it without a real plan in mind. While I'm not flying a VX, I do still swoop, and all the same rules apply. Have fun and be safe with that thing. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

In contribution/confirmation about what does stage openings, IMO, slider positioning is #1. Read up on the Wolmari method, if you don't know it already. Let's see if I can remember it exactly (this is what I do, anyway, and my Sabre openings are smooth because of it): - Shove the nose to about the center of the canopy, don't roll it. - Expose the slider and quarter it evenly. - Cup the quarters and pull the slider slightly towards the nose - Wrap the tail, do not roll it, or only roll it enough to keep your pack job from coming apart And that's it really. If I do the above, even if I'm a little sloppy (OK, very sloppy) getting it in the bag, the position of the nose and the large "cup" in front of it keep the canopy from inflating the moment it's out of the bag. Flying a Sabre 120, I've definitely had some slammers that caused neck pain or even left me dazed. Not a problem anymore. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

A few points/rebuttals: A) I didn't say double stowing was the biggest cause of bag locks or that it is even a big cause of them, only that it can cause bag locks. It's like using sighting on a camera helmet. Chances are, you won't get a snag, but it happens. Hell, it's like a lot of stuff in this sport that gives you a reserve ride or worse that only happens 0.01% of time. B) Experiment with double/multiple stows. Pack up, get someone to hold/wear the rig and pull the PC/bridle to get the bag open. Most of the time, everything will go just fine. Build a ratio of the times you got a bag lock against the number of attempted openings. In some of my experiments with this, I've found myself standing at a 45° with all my weight into it... the lines hung up on only a single stow. C) It also depends on line size/rubber bands, etc. Double stowing a large band below the cascades on Spectra won't be much of a hindrance. Double stowing a small skyband on Vectran would. D) I think we all agree that double stowing doesn't stage openings. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

100"+ bridles are, IMO, good for all forms of skydiving. They drastically reduce PC hesitations in any type of freefall. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

You forgot customer service. WOW!! That sounds exactly like an INFINITY RIG!!! Actually, I came down to Wings or Infinity, and spent awhile on my decision. They're neck and neck in price, functionality, quality, and customer service. I actually think the Infinity looks better, but Wings won me over with exceptional comfort (coming from an, at the time, Racer owner) and exceptional wingsuit compatibility. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Good choice. Wings is my friend. Wings = good. If I was packed, you'd have some competition in the looks department. Very nice. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I jumped a Racer Elite with my GTi for awhile. My advice is to pack as evenly as possible and make sure to burn off a lot of your forward speed and start falling before deploying to keep the bag from over-rotating off your back. I had a couple of deployments in a fast track where I saw the bag leaving my back spinning, causing line twists (was able to kick out). DEFINITELY get at least a 100" bridle!!! (pin to apex). I had several hesitations with my old default Racer bridle. If you can pack grommit to pin with your Racer (which I never could), or modify the bag to stow the lines more on top than the sides (which I never did), or if you don't mind having the corners open (never did that one, either), then that would also allow you to fly a little more freely. These are all things that work well with other forms of skydiving, too. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Hell, if anything, stowing can be a bad thing. Bag locks are bad. I cringe when I see someone double stow. Just too much wrong there. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'd say bridge, but there's tons more to it than that. Make sure you hook up with someone experienced, if you haven't already. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

3'4", 460 lbs. I usually wobble up to the door and have the pilot roll the plane to dump me out. Man, when flocking, it's like aerial bowling. It's awesome. AWESOME! "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Naw, man. That raft-like tail inflation is good. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

How did the front of the plane make it through undamaged, HUH?! HUH?!?!?! Eh?!?!? Er... what? Shut up. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, it's like building a robot wife. Hmm... a robot wife, eh? Good idea. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Is your velcro rig used? The veclro shouldn't separate that easily. Put new velcro on, for sure. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

My girlfriend says Chuck's back deflector looks like a giant, red ball sack. Thought I'd share. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Comments attached... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

My neck went away a long time ago. I was also thinking about getting video of someone wearing headphones and kicking me in the face in freefall. I don't know what the headphones have to do with it, but might as well. Het Quade, where'd you score the platinum Homestar. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I've seen you around, and you do look pretty dumb. j/k... kinda. Just scored a PC10, so I'll be able to do ground crew pretty soon. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Thanks. Good point on the eye cam. I may as well get it all at once. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Do snags usually happen before, during, or after line stretch? I have about a 90% - 95% chance of opening in a fast track. If snags happen more on deployment than in line stretch, it might make me a little more comfy to put on some sighting. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Wingsuit and BASE. I don't plan to make any money on it. I'm thinking Large D-Box and Chin-up, and then getting some help with installation at the DZ. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I just got a PC10 (eBay - $411). I have a Mindwarp. What's next? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Adobe's been writing apps for Mac for many, many years. A fundamental bug would have been caught by now. After thirteen years of programming, I can attest to that. Plain and simple, the hardware is slower. Bus and processor speeds are slower, and cache is smaller. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click