Sabre slider pocket

[Bill Von Novak]

>In article <8152934...@d10766.demon.co.uk>, j...@d10766.demon.co.uk
>says...
>>
>>I missed the beginning of this thread but I understand that some
>>jumpers have sewn a pocket on the leading edge of their sliders to
>>give better openings. Could someone email me the *exact* details or
>>let me know where I can obtain those details. I'd like to get my
>>rigger to do the same - sometimes my Sabre 120 cracks open even
>>though I roll it up real tight, almost always surges off heading too,
>>but nobody can tell me why.

'rolling it up real tight' has very little to do with how the
canopy opens. no matter how tight you roll it it's all going to come
apart as soon as it hits the air. the things that do matter:

1. slider position. the #1 most important thing about packing
a sabre. get it tight against the grommets, keep it there, flake the
slider to all four sides (escpecially out front) and control it when
you lay it down. even two inches of motion will affect your opening.
one trick is to leave a bit of the slider outside the tail as you roll
it - that way you can see if it is moving, and you can make sure the
slider catches air first.

2. line tension. if you keep lines under tension and even during
the packing process the canopy will hit the air symmetrically and give
you the best shot at a controlled opening.

3. line stow tightness. they should be tight, requiring at
least 10 pounds of pull to unstow the bights of line. any looser and you
risk line dump (ouch!) and out-of-sequence deployments.

4. nose position. it should end up under the slider so the
slider can 'shield' the nose from the wind during the first tenth of a
second of canopy deployment. it works for me although there's been some
debate about it.

-bill v

[Jeff Hauser]

In article <8152934...@d10766.demon.co.uk>, j...@d10766.demon.co.uk
says...
>
>I missed the beginning of this thread but I understand that some
>jumpers have sewn a pocket on the leading edge of their sliders to
>give better openings. Could someone email me the *exact* details or
>let me know where I can obtain those details. I'd like to get my
>rigger to do the same - sometimes my Sabre 120 cracks open even
>though I roll it up real tight, almost always surges off heading too,
>but nobody can tell me why.
>

>Jeffrey D Preou GRAVITY IS A MYTH :
>j...@d10766.demon.co.uk - THE EARTH SUCKS !!
>
Rolling it up real tight can mean it takes a while to unroll.
While the wind is flapping at your roll, the slider can start
coming down and by the time your canopy unrolls enough to open,
the slider is well down and you have lost a significant amount
of the benefits of the slider to slow the openings. I learned
this lesson the "hard" way :-) with the Falcon I was jumping before
I got my Sabre.

How are you packing it? Pro pack? Stack pack? Stacks can
cause slams on Sabres. Also, when was your canopy manufactured?
A couple years ago, I had a larger slider put on my canopy
which helped a lot.

Jeff Hauser
D14278

[Jeffrey D Preou]

bil...@qualcomm.com (Bill Von Novak) wrote:

> 1. slider position.....
> 2. line tension.....
> 3. line stow tightness.....
> 4. nose position.....

>-bill v

I'm doing it, I'm doing it....!
Standard pro pack, flake canopy inside between line groups,
slider tight on the stops, lines taught, sometimes roll the nose
4 in from each side next to the centre cell, although sometimes
I don't bother. Flake slider between riser groups or bring through
the front to sit over the nose. Bring tail round and give it 8-10
rolls. Lay it down gently, dress the canopy, put it in the bag
(usually pretty neatly). Get line stows nice and tight, especially
the mouthlocks. Still have the same problems re: hard openings,
surges, and off-heading openings (at least it encourages to keep
my eyes peeled on deployment I 'spose !!).

[John Goscinski]

I got some advice on Sabre packing after I blew three cells out of a demo. Almost as hard an opening as they come. It's evidence of a good design that I was able to fly it straight with half left brake and it stalled and recovered fine, so I rode it in to a standup landing. Anyway...

You need to double stow the lines with the rubber bands, or try smaller rubber bands. Consult a good rigger on which size bands are best. BTW a good rigger will never recommend tube-stows on a new or fast-opening sabre. They don't have the line-holding ability to stage (slow down) the opening of the canopy.

I use bands that are about 1.5 inches long out of the box. I have dacron lines on a sabre 210. I double wrap the bands around each bight of lines. My openings are too soft if anything, taking the better part of 500 feet to open. BTW - I weigh 250 out the door and can really stress a canopy.

If you are worried about bag-lock, don't. From what I understand, bag-locks result from the bag going through lines and tying itself closed. The rubber bands generally aren't strong enough to stop the bag, just slow it down. In fact, I destroy an average of one or two bands per jump, some of them brand new from the last jump. If you value your rubber bands too much to use them like this, just remember to tuck your chin when you pull, avoid whiplash. :^p

John