Metekanya

Try rolling instead of s folding. It works great for new canopies. The openings are the same. Just watch that the atachment point of the bridle is out.

I pack my own reserves after I started Base jumping, but that was after making around 500 jumps and having let riggers pack my reserve many times. Most people, specially in their first years in the sport would not detect a rigging error even if watching the packing, and this is simply normal. If I had to give my rig to a rigger for a reserve pack it would be because I am jumping at the mean time with another rig or because I want to jump that rig next day, and then I would not have watched the packing. What do I do then? open it up to check? Should we really suspect everytime from the job of proffesionals? This rigger should have had his license removed so he had to get it again and pass the exam or whatever is needed to be a legal rigger again. It is the only way to be sure that he knows what he is doing. A slap on his face wouldnt have been too much of an over reaction either in my opinion. (But of course not killing him!!)

It was a great post to read. I presume we are quite a few pilots in the same situation and with the same thoughts, doubts and fears. I guess its all about being patient and preparing yourself conveniently. More tips on different techniques in detail would be fantastic for me, to compare with how I am doing, and surely for many many other swoopers. Pros, please, delight us! It will never be the substitute to proper couching, but wisdom is never a burden.

I have been doing 180s nearly since my beginning in skydiving (I come from a paragliding background) and I kept it like that for about 1000 jumps. I loved having everyone else aproaching in front of me and in full sight and being totally predictable for anyone behind me (what else can I do if flying straight downwind at turning altitude?), so in my oppinion it is much safer than a 270 and more accurate because you just fly over your target and turn to it. What I found over the years is that carving riser turns give more speed and still more reaction time than just snapping one riser, and that training your eyes at the loss of altitude in a turn saves your life. What is the experienced guys oppinion?

I have read a comment saying that the Katana is a completely different canopy than the Stiletto. It is, but I switched from a Stilleto 107 loaded at 1.5 to a Katana 97 and though the Katana is truly more ground hungry, I immediately felt safer with its longer recovery arch, giving me more time to go for rear risers, adjust the direction if necessary, etc. I had been warned of this fact before jumping it and I just started the turns higher and went down little by little, with patience and getting mentally accustomed to the loss of altitude in the turn. I did not have the feeling at any time that I suddenly had got into an absolutely new race machine that wanted to kill me at the first possible occasion or anything like that. I felt very comfortable from the beginning. I am not saying that this change is the most recommendable, but it is not something crazy having a little of patience and care. The Katana (of course smaller) is definitely more sensitive to body position on opening, but once this is taken care of, it opens fantastically. Quote

Have rode my smart 110 twice, at a wl of 1.5 . First time a spinning mal on a stiletto 107. Perfect fast on heading opening. No wind at all and straight in landing, felt it came down quite quick and landed a litle bit hard on my plants though standing. Second time was a total mal. Opened fast and totally on heading, because of the terminal speed it felt hard but not too bad. Very light wind, did a 90 turn and landed fantasticaly soft. After inspection, no damage at all. I am no rigger but pack my own reserve, so it gives great confidence to have a reserve that opens like this.

You can fly directly under a tandem and it will not fall on you because of the drogue. The tandem master will just not be able to turn due to no air.