Martini

You are certainly welcome to believe this if you want. Lovely piece of pseudoscience. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Quote The 3rd alarm, the siren sound, at 1500 would warn me about soon approching the 750' firing altitude of my cypress. So, if I manage to hear that, I was thinking I should pull the reserve in stead of the main, in order to prevent a possible two out. Opinions anyone?Quote Yeah. You are seriously mistaken about the reason to set your 3rd alarm at 1.5k. It hasn't got a thing to do with your Cypres. 1500 ' means GET A CANOPY OUT NOW!!!!!!! You know, the piece of cloth thats about to save your life? Your canopy of choice at that altitude, in case nobody ever enlightened you, would be your reserve. If you haven't thrown by 1500' you have already fucked up. Badly. You need to get more training. Or possibly you are just another smelly troll. In that case just wait for your Cypres to fire. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Mostly I agree, Rob, but still think that its important that newer jumpers are better off throwing much higher than 2.5k. I generally throw at or just under 3k with a very snivelly canopy but like to hum it down a lot lower on wingsuit jumps with my very fast opening and reliable Sabre, more like 2k. Since our DZ has a minimum deployment policy of 2.5k I never officially throw lower than that though. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

The reasoning behind different opening altitudes for low-time jumpers is pretty clear, lack of experience decreases the safety margin when the time arrives in the skydive to save your own life and possibly deal with a malfunction. Low-timers are also typically less altitude and speed aware, a higher pull altitude goal gives them more slack. The USPA has developed these minimum altitudes to decrease injury in the sport. Your imposing your idea of how much freefall is worthwhile or what pull altitude is reasonable on others is totally bogus, you have neither the experience nor the personal right to do so. If I decide to do a 2500' hop and pop what business is it of yours? Are you thinking of deciding for others what canopy and size to fly as well? BTW most experienced jumpers (generally jumping snivelly canopies) pull well above 2k. Their decision of when to pull was made by experience and reason not by the USPA or narrow minded whiners. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

What Rob said. You really should talk to and seek advice from the up-jumpers at your DZ before dropping a few thou for a new rig. They can not only answer questions like yours but supply answers to questions that you won't even know to ask. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Quite right, but for what reason? Do you know? To my knowledge JP has never jumped anything but a pullout with a standard length bridle on any of his wingsuit jumps. *** I also don't have personal experience with pullouts and I have a friend who jumps a pullout with his wingsuit. As for me I not only understand the rationale behind the "not reccommended" caution but think its reasonable advice. I also understand using a pullout anyway if thats what you're used to. I think all birdmen are conscious of the big burble and the need to get the pc out of it. Mostly our great forward speed does the trick (imho). I won't be giving up my hackey anytime soon either but if I was BASE jumping I'd feel differently. Know any BASE guys using pullouts? Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Pullout + wingsuit = not reccommended. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

TB, I'm sure you have a relatively high skill level, I'll take you at your word. Just remember that even with exceptional skills there is no substitute for experience. Go with the lighter wingloading, Sometimes you eat the bear..............

S'ok Jeremy, the forums could all stand a little more humor. Interestingly though 270 plus degree swoops often start high enough to chop survivably although I wouldn't suggest that its a good idea. I agree with Stu that starting way too high ends up being a lesson in setting up properly. It aint easy and more experience is a good thing. Back to the premise here, I still slow my turns down if a little high and speed 'em up if a little low which is where I'd rather be. Not a lot low (been there a time or two) but enough to allow a snappy turn at a safe altitude. I still like to do snap 180's because they feel so good and give plenty of speed, they're just hard to set up at the right height because there is little margin for error. (even less if you jump a Stiletto or similar). My personal demon is that I just don't jump enough and many of my jumps are on my wingsuit canopy. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

D. Add a 360 to lose more altitude. (only if you're really, really high) E. Use toggles to finish the swoop F. Turn past the entry point and carve back in. Actually I'm very interested in what you would do as neither A,B or C work well and E and F have limited value. A lot depends on how much too high you are, at what point in the turn you figure this out and other stuff. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Interesting that you found the GTI less stable than the S-3, I have found the opposite to be true, the general opinion is that the S-3 is much twitchier than the GTI. One guy I know is planning on selling his S-3 and returning to a GTI because he had fun on his GTI and hates his S-3. I'm still struggling with my S-3 after having a blast on my GTI, I hope to get it together soon though. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Wow BJ, that's really in impressive accomplishment. You should be justifiably proud of your work. Anyone who builds a canopy, wingsuit or rig from scratch has my sincere admiration. Cool that it flies well, how does it compare to a Vampire or S-3? Sometimes you eat the bear..............

A long carving front riser turn loses more height than a snap turn but the difference isn't always that great, it depends on the canopy, wingload, weight shift etc. Generally the hook turn consensus seems to be that if you're a little high in the hook then slow down the turn, if a little low the turn needs speeding up. This does NOT imply that doing a snap hook if you are close to the ground is a good idea!!!!! Even if you do no turn at all you will lose altitude, this seems to me to be why the theory works in practice; i.e. more time in the turn = more altitude loss. Most swoopers that are dialed in appear to gradually increase the turn rate from a medium carve to a snappy ending, this method allows the turn rate and dive angle to match the speed increase that comes with the diving turn. This is a simplification of a pretty complex dynamic though, Now if I could only do all this consistently I'd be really happy, every jump is different, conditions change constantly. The ability to deal with the changes instinctively makes great swoopers. I was two for five good swoops today, there's apparently some room for improvement. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I haven't seen or heard of top flap grommet damage due to closing pin wear. Inserting the pin all the way might help keep it from coming out by accident as compared to partial insertion. Eye down/tip up could help keep the pin in if you sit on something that pushes on it but it could work the other way if you snag something while standing up or the like. Pin orientation as regards bridle pull is moot if you're falling straight down, if you throw with forward movement the logical pin orientation is eye down. My opinion only, open as usual to disregard or disagreement. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I disagree. Imagine if the risers were shortened from 18" to 1". Now the length of toggle stroke is shortened (by 17") because the stroke, although ending at full arm extension in both cases, starts way above the shoulder on the 18" risers but starts at just above shoulder height on the 1" risers. An extreme example I grant you but the same principle applies to shortening the risers by 2". people with short arms have a short toggle stroke and people with short risers have a shortened toggle stroke. It appears that people with short arms and short risers are getting the double whammy but except in extreme instances it really doesn't matter because we don't really need all of our toggle stroke to fly and flare our canopies. Each canopy type and size has its own properties ( compare for instance a Stiletto to a Crossfire), different linesets, wear and age, each jumper has his own style of handling the canopy, his particular reach, risers, and probably a bunch of other stuff that contributes to the equation. All I was getting at originally is that by varying the riser length you are changing the relationship of the steering lines to the jumper's arm extension. Things could improve or get worse but they will be different even with a 2" change. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Your point about overly short brake lines is well taken. Obviously shortening risers 14" and shortening the brake lines accordingly would result in a canopy flying in brakes all the time. But not shortening the brake lines would leave the jumper unable to flare. ( This is probably why short risers are not reccommended because they reduce the length of the toggle stroke) I was referring to the end point of flare changing so as to possibly be beyond the jumper's reach. Many newer jumpers fail to fully flare their canopies during landing and get poor landings as a result. Lengthening the brakelines won't help. But landing by starting out in partial brakes if the brakelines are too short won't help either. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Why? It is still 4" from the top of the riser to the guide ring on risers 24" long or 15" long. Sparky Because at full arm extension on 16" risers your arms are 2" closer to the canopy than on 18" risers. The brake lines are then effectively 2' longer. Riser length doesn't affect brake setting or upper brake line length, If you want to keep your toggle stroke position and flare end-point unchanged, shorten the lower brake lines the same amount you shorten your risers. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Have a rigger look at it. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Although I jump 18" risers I have a set of 21" that are way too long and gave a set of 16" risers to a short friend who loved them. Use whatever size suits your needs. A set of short risers is probably way cheaper than a MLW mod. Unless you are on the pro swoop tour your canopy performance won't be an issue. Changing riser length may require a corresponding change in brake line length. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Even after you gain swoop experience it would still be a good idea to avoid creaming yourself into the ground on low turns. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Another reason to hook up a canopy backwards is to do crew video from the front of the stack, I think this used to be fairly common but don't know if its still the norm. I know of a couple of folks who have landed small canopies that were accidently hooked up backwards but if you're gonna be stupid you better be tough. I swap bagged canopies around a lot but not only am I REALLY careful but my risers are either identified by an rsl ring on the right (on my Infinity risers) or are marked in felt pen if lacking an rsl ring. If the canopy is unpacked before hookup there is really no excuse for a bad hookup. And as has been mentioned, if the rigging is correct there is no way to pack a canopy in reverse. That being said I'm sure that someone will find a way anyhow. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

Justin, with only 19 jumps has you pegged. Actually I smell troll, a very stinky one at that. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

The Tri is a good choice for a first canopy and there are a lot of good deals on them. If the lineset is in need of replacement you may have funky openings and the canopy may not flare well so consider the cost of a new lineset, if needed, in your deal. As for wingloading the only way it can be judged is by your instructors and other qualified people at your DZ. Start slow, it's easy to get ahead of yourself on canopy sizing. You'll be close to 1.2 w/l which is really quite high for your jump numbers. Be conservative, stay healthy. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I hope that Paulie is bright enough to ignore your foolish advice. Sometimes you eat the bear..............

I know what you mean......that's kind of high. We like our w/s hop-n-pops closer to 2.5k. Sometimes you eat the bear..............