Round Canopy water jump

[Mike]

Anyone feel like sharing their experiences with low freefalls and round canopies? I have a Pioneer K-22 packed and ready. It has a 2-stow diaper and the rest of the lines are stowed in the pack tray. The pack tray stow bands are the large size cut in half, so there is very little resistance there. Would it be better to skip the diaper entirely? I have also put a rubber band around the apex of the canopy. The object is about 300'. I will use a 48" zp p/c, (go-n-throw). Never done a round jump this low, so I'm a little concerned about, well, everything.

If someone wants to talk me out of this, I'm all ears...

[imported_Tom Aiello]

At 300', I'd remove the diaper entirely. I generally jump my rounds in Idaho (486') with no diaper--all the lines stowed in the pack tray. Other than that, your setup sounds just like mine.

With my Phantom 22, the openings generally take around 150', so you ought to be fine from 300'. I don't know anything about the Pioneer K-22, though.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[346]

I agree with Tom - don't use the diaper on this jump. Also, make sure you rubberband the apex of the canopy. It helps speed up inflation. If you put in on right after you straighten the apex, it also helps hold the apex in place while you flake the canopy out.

I have a 22' SAC with a nose pocket and I've done everything from go-and-throws to 5 second delays with it. The only change I make between the two extremes is the pilot chute size and whether or not I leave the rubber band on the apex. I always pack with it on as it is much easier to remove the rubberband from the packed canopy if it isn't needed than it is to try to put it back on.

Enjoy!

Mark &-)

[imported_Tom Aiello]

Hi Mark,

>I have a 22' SAC with a nose pocket and I've
>done everything from go-and-throws to 5 second
>delays with it.

How have the openings been? I've wondered about nose pockets, but was always worried about misbalancing the canopy, so I put stows in the pack tray. It'd sure be a lot easier to switch canopies in and out your way, though.

>I always pack with it on as it is much easier to remove the rubberband from the packed canopy if it isn't needed than it is to try to put it back on.

I usually just leave a stack of rubber bands rattling around the bridle attachment, and pull one up or down as necessary. It saves time when I need a new one. Do you see any problems I'm missing with that?

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[guest]

Hey, from my days as a rigger, I know that a lot of 2 stow diapers are BLACK DEATH!!!

I know that you technically are not supposed to swap diapers on canopies (TSO violation, but who cares for BASE?), but if I were you I would either sew on a phantom style diaper to this thing, or get a new round.

2 stows killed a few people, before they discovered some grommet spacing issue. At the very least you should figure out if your 2 stow is the type with the grommets spaced farther apart, which I beleive was the fix they came up with.....

just my .02

[346]

Openings have always been good and on-heading with the nose pocket. Since it is a free-stow pouch, there is next to no delay in the canopy going to line-stretch and everything is kept neat and orderly. I personally have never liked the idea of stowing lines in the container. I guess it is just because there seems to be a greater chance of an out-of-sequence deployment. We trust free-stow pouches to orderly deploy the lines on from the tails of our squares - why not on the skirts of our rounds? (My .02)

The "stack of rubber bands" on the upper shrivel flap bridle seems fine to me - I do the same.

Mark &-)

[guest]

With a free packed 24 foot round (all lines stowed in the pack tray) I've done a few free falls from as low as 200 feet over deep water, as well as a buddy assist from 115 (going in VERY fast). But, I once did a one second delay from a 360 feet, over rapids, and had about a one hundred foot snivel which made the normal 160 or so foot opening into a somewhat scary deal that left me only 90 or 100 feet AGL upon deployment. That kept me from ever going back to the low, round stuff again! There's one very well known jumper who once went all the way in to deep water from 150 feet with a total mal on a buddy assisted round. Rounds are fine with a few hundred extra feet to ensure sufficient relative wind for deployment. But even free packed they can occasionally hesitate in low air speed!