leroydb 0 #26 July 22, 2004 would cross bracing a base canopy make it better? for high/low jumps? Or would it make the canopy slower to inflate?Leroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CanuckInUSA 0 #27 July 22, 2004 Crossbraced canopies exist to allow a higher wing loading beyond the point where a non-crossbraced canopy would cease to function properly and thus allow the person jumping the crossbraced canopy to fly at higher airspeeds and get longer swoops. Do you really want to be zooming around the skies at high air speeds in the BASE environment? Maybe I don't have enough knowledge of parachute construction and maybe I'm not looking beyond the box. But to me crossbraced canopies are only flown once you've maxed out the performance of your conventional highly loaded canopy and have little use in the BASE environment (unless you've got balls of steel ... or was that just a steel plate in your head). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
base311 0 #28 July 22, 2004 crossbracing or dribs are for reducing the overall number of lines and thus reducing drag. with x-bracing (depending on the configuration) you can span a greater number of cells between spanwise line attachment points. e.g. three half-cells between linesets as opposed to two half cells between linesets. It's like how a girder bridge is constructed - placing things in tension/compression. depending on the dribs, one can also maintain a little better rib profile shape across the canopy. xbracing might benefit the BASE canopy in maintaining rib shape, but I doubt it's worth the extra cost to do it, plus it may hinder inflation (though doubtfully if the dribs are drastically cutout http://www.brackenbury.ca/kites/page4/photo39.htm). Finally, I don't really want to place more stress on fewer lines and reduce the overall ability of the canopy to transfer stresses from the risers to the fabric, in the BASE environment, so reducing the number of lines isn't of interest to me personally. I'd rather have a few extra lines for the instances where one or more might fail. Gardner Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
