THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MIKE!
Here you'll find info from buying and selling tips... to my opinion on skydiving issues. WHY... because I can! Its just the way I see things... so don't be offended... feel free to ask for explanations!
SOFT LINKS vs. HARD LINKS: time to take a stand!
I know everyone these days thinks soft links are the latest and greatest...
For a while, I was buying into that a little myself. But, over the last couple of years, I have come to the conclusion that they are bad for your lines. ESPECIALLY you swoopers that put more pressure on your lines and links!
Now, I WILL NOT allow soft links on a canopy I jump!
Look at basic physical properties... They are nylon, and your lines are nylon... like materials rubbing on each other, will create more friction than disimilar materials. More friction means more heat... and heat is not good for nylon type materials. I've seen soft links actually show signs of melting, and one set that actually was melted. Just a jump or two away from a malfunction.
Also, soft links will eventually conform to the shape of the attachment loops... with high tension on those loops... that shape is going to become more of a strait line, rather than a loop. That means a smaller portion of the loop contacting the link.... and more pressure on a smaller area... they will break and fray sooner...
As that area becomes smaller... the friction becomes greater... and the whole process gets worse...
With metal links, the loops maintain maximum area of contact on the link, they stay in the same shape indeffinately and there is less friction on the loops... your lines last much longer.
And to boot... Soft links cost more! You can sell a used set for $10, easy, if they aren't melted yet... Thats a whole set of new metal links...
Do Sabres open hard?....
I blow rasberries at anyone who says Sabres open hard... They don't open any harder than anything else. They are, however; a little more touchy than some on how they like to be packed.
OK, here's the gospel according to Mike...
If someone said they got a hard opening on a Sabre... they probably did... The Sabre likes the nose rolled consistantly. People will get lazy and not roll the nose as tight as always... or, what is more common... many jumpers don't even pack for themselves any more... they drop their rig in a pile and let some kid that doesn't even jump pack it for $5. There are two things wrong with doing that.
First and formost... its actually against the law. FAA regs (part 105) state a MAIN parachute must be packed by a licensed rigger OR the person intending to jump it. No one else is listed. There is an accaptance that if a rigger or that person is watching/supervising... its OK. But, few people stick around and watch.
Second... I AM THE ONLY PERSON I TRUST TO PACK MY LIFE SAVING DEVICE! If you let some kid do it, or even an experienced packer... they are there to knock them out as quick as posible. Bad setting right off the bat... even if they are the best packer and 100% consistant ... they pack the way they know how to pack. You never know what you are going to get when you let go of that pilot chute!
OK, let me elaberate a bit... every parachute reguardless of who made it... has a kind of personality. It likes a particular touch or technique to open a certain way... if it doesn't get that everytime, it may react by opening harder, softer or just squirly or something. Even if you pack two Sabres that came off the assembly line, one right after the other... and pack them exactly the same... jump them on the same jump... all conditions the same... they will not open the same. The key is to learn what your canopy likes. It may take a few pack jobs and jumps to to get it close... then you refine and stick with it... you don't get lazy or in a hurry and leave the nose sloppy if it likes it tight, etc...
There are countless little techniques that affect the opening sequence. Generally, rolling the nose governs how fast it will open. Its quite simple... the harder it is for air to get into the nose, the longer it will take to fill and open.
One of the first concepts I was taught back in 1978 is... "what ever you do to pack your parachute, it has to undo to open"... If you don't do much to it... it will open the same... if it doesn't have to work to get the important parts out into the open, its going to happen fast... which translates to a hard opeing...
Hard opening is a relative thing, also... In the old days, if you still had your shoes on, it WAS NOT a hard opening. heck, we didn't dare complain until we started losing dental work!
The point is, since ZP canopies came out, they have been made more and more complictaed... they typically take 7-800 feet (some up to 1000) to open. Thats why typical break off altitude in RW is 4500 ft. It used to be 3500 ft. Heck, if there were only 2 or 3 people, we didn't break until 3000 ft... Canopies used to open in just a few hudred feet and last 1000's of jumps without ever being relined. If it took any longer than that, we called it a "snively" opening... it was a bad thing. So, these days, the only thiing the hot shots know, is a snively opening. So, if thay get one that opens in 500 ft... which is still too slow in my book... and its firm... they think they had a hard opening.
I pack my canopies intentionally to open in 500 ft or less... my Sabre, my Fusion or anything else I jump... I like to know that if I have to burn it down to 2000 ft., before pulling, because the sky is crowded or something... that my canopy is going to open quick enough for me to have reserve altitude, should there be a problem...
So, more specifically about the Sabre... if you find how tight it wants the nose to open and do it that way all the time... you wont have a hard opening... I have never had a hard opening on a Sabre... some have been a little firmer than others, but nothing that made me feel uncomfortable...
That being said... the Sabre is probably the most common canopy out there on the used market. They are tough, have been around for a while and have very consistant flight charactoristics that make it easier for the new guy to learn how to fly ZPs... and land softly! I was jumping a Sabre 170, weighing 225 lbs... thats better than a 1.3 loading... it landed me nice and soft, on a no wind day, on a strait in approach (no swooping speed for lift). With 1:1 loading, a Sabre will be awsome for the inexperienced jumper!
Selling gear? First things first... Risers, D-bags and pilot chutes ARE PART OF THE CONTAINER SYSTEM! Don't leave these items on a canopy. If you are selling a container... the buyer will expect these things to be there unless you CLEARLY state otherwise. Replacement costs of these items are expensive... not haveing them will drastically reduce the price you can get for your gear!
Canopies... DON'T REMOVE THE LINKS... or at least replace them if you prefer to keep yours. Shipping a canopy with out the links makes a mess out of the lines... and a lot of work for some rigger down the road.
Shipping canopies... not such a difficult task... but you can do it cheaply if you try... UPS/FedEx is expensive! Use the US Mail... its cheaper, and actually better service. They deliver on Saturdays! People think things get lost or destroyed with the mail... Well I've had more stuff beat to crap by UPS than anybody else... As long as you insure it or just add delivery confirmation... MAIL DOESN"T GET LOST!
You'll need to pick up, if you don't already have one, a Flat rate box from the Post office. There are 3 sizes... make sure you have the one that is like a shoe box (not the long flat ones like regular priority mail boxes). You can use the new larger (square) Flat Rate Boxes, they cost a little more. The Flat rate boxes have red circles on them, or otherwise marked as such. You can also order these by the box full... online, for free... also labels and all sorts of packaging junk!
To pack the canopy into the box, you'll have to flake it out like your flat packing. You don't have to be neat and get all the lines centered and all and don't worry about flaking the tail, just fold the tail over on top. Just get it so you can S fold it like you were going to bag it. Well, you are going to bag it... in reverse. Make it a little wider than the Flat rate box. Daisy Chain the lines all the way up.
Line the box with a medium sized trash bag.
zig zag the daisy chained lines into the box first, making a flat layer on the bottom of the box. For zero-P canopies, put the lines in last so they are on top. Then S-fold the canopy in. You may be able to just close the box up... if it looks like there is too much canopy for the box... get out the vacuum cleaner. Stick the hose straight down into the canopy (or lines on a ZP) and wrap the closing end of the plastic bag around the vacuum. You wont believe how small the canopy will shrink up. After the canopy is small enough, try to twist the bag closed and pull the vacuum out. Leave the vac on until its out of the bag. Spin the bag several times as the vacuum clears the bag, to seal it tight and then lock it with a rubber band or something.
Once you have the box sealed up, it will hold the canopy just fine, even when air starts seeping back into the bag. The bag will also protect the canopy from dampness while enroute.
It sounds like a lot of work... but its not really. I once got a Raven III reserve (240 Sq ft), with standard dacron lines, in one of these boxes using this method.
SENDING PHOTOS by e-mail or posting with an add? So many people have trouble with this because their pics are tooooo big! You only need them to be 50-100 MBs. Use jpegs... not bitmaps... Thats a start. Then try resizing...
Now... here's a tutorial for you on resizing digital pics!
Anything over 150K in size is going to slow you down a lot. Pics off the digital camera are often about 6-700K upto 2MB... depending on your camera.
When you put them on your computer and you can do it before you transfer them off your card...
Right click and select "open with"... and then open it with "Paint Brush"... or...
double click on each pic. That should open the pic in the regular Windows Pic viewer.
Look at the icons at the bottom. To the right side, next to last, is an icon with a miniature painting and brush... click on it... it will open your pic in "Paint Brush"... duhhhh...
at the top links in paint brush: select "image".
From that menu, select "Stretch/Skew".
In the horizontal and vertical fields, enter a percentage to reduce the size. For a 6-700 K image, you'll need to go with 40-50%. Pics off my camera are usually 1.2-4 MB each and I need to reduce to about 25%. If its still too big or too small, hit "Edit" and "undo", then try again.
Anyway, play with the number until you get it to a size that fits just inside the screen in Paint Brush"...
Once you have the right size, just hit file and save... or if you want to put it directly to a different file, hit "save as". I find it easier to just save the new size on all I'm doing, then drag and drop the whole group at once, into the storage file.
The image will still be clear and be a good size for storage and e-mail... about 75-100K, depending on the colors.
It sounds like a lot, but once you do it once or twice... it goes pretty fast...
YOUR FIRST RIG PURCHASE!
OK, you made it through AFF and then some... your tired of paying big bucks every jump because of rental gear! New and/or modern gear can be expensive too...
Lets face the facts... your first year of skydiving is going to beat the snot out of what ever you buy! If you get new gear, its going to look old pretty quick...
There are people who are exceptions to this rule... but not many!
Solution: Buy cheap used gear, even if it looks like crap... it will be yours, you'll save money... to spend or more skydives... and you'll have more fun! go for functional instead of pretty or cool looking! Save money your first year, then buy something newer you can use for a few years at a time....
Your probably going to start with a larger canopy and work your way down every 30-50 jumps... until you get to the limits of your comfort zone.... so buy a container that will hold the largest option tightly, and work well with a size or two smaller.... another reason to buy cheap used stuff... you'll probably change canopies often!
Picking a canopy size... for new guys...
Where do you start? How big a canopy should you get in your first rig? Of course, your local instructors will have a better knowledge of what your ready for... but generally, your going to start big and progress into smaller higher performance canopies. It all depends on your abilities and your zest for a thrill. If your like me... screaming across the ground at 100miles an hour, making your shoes smoke... is not your idea of a fun and SAFE landing. You probably want a slow soft landing for a while.
I have found that what works best for the new guy is to start with a canopy with a 1:1 loading. Thats means the square footage of your canopy is the same or close to, your weight. You can add in the weight of your container and reserve if you like... but thats not critical until you start heavier wing loading down the road...
It doesn't matter if its zero P or F-111... try a 1:1, and work your way down from there. It always helps to try a few different sizes if you can get a friend to let you jump his. If you have a good handle on flairing altitudes and timing... maybe you can handle starting a little smaller... or the other way... if you have trouble flairing at the right time, maybe you want to start a little bigger...
REMEMBER.... reguardless of what you start with.... make sure you get thorough briefs on landing and flairing procedures for the canopy you have... from a properly experienced jumper or instructor. F-111 and zero-P canopies flair differently and changes in wing loading can affect what kind of flair you need...