Sabre?

[BoostedXT 0]

I am looking into my first canopy, and i have come across a 210 Sabre. I have heard of extremely hard openings with them. Is this a common problem? Is it something I should jump it and see, and if they are hard call PD and get a bigger slider?

Who jumps a sabre and what are your general feelings about them? Changes you have made to yours so the openings are more consistant?

Thoughts on the Sabre would be appreciated. This will be my first canopy at a loading of .94:1 at 5000FT above sea level in Denver Colorado.
Thanks
Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[adamjenner 0]

i haven't jumped one but i have heard a lot of stories about the "slammin sabres" but who knows right? I don't think Sabre 2's slam as much as the first sabres but like i said i haven't jumped either so i wouldn't really know.

prehaps some more experienced people can answer your question better than a babbling idiot like myself haha

[DownWind 0]

I own a sabre 230 and have put about 10 jumps on it. I had also heard about the hard openings, but have not experienced them.

I split and roll the nose 6-7 times to help soften the openings and it seems to work for me.

[skybytch 273]

Quote

i said i haven't jumped either so i wouldn't really know.

So why post on this thread?

Boosted, do a search on "Sabre" in this forum. You'll find loads of opinions (from people who've actually jumped them).

[BoostedXT 0]

I have SkyB, and I have read all of them, all of the gear section too. Just looking for some more info. I over analize things a lot, I want as many opinions of them as I can handle before I decide on one.

By the way.....You look wonderful today.

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[GravityGirl 0]

Is it a used Sabre? How many jumps? Does it have a slider mod? Have you asked the origianl owner how the openings were?

I have jumped many Sabres (190, 170, 150 and 135) with nothing but great openings. I have sold many Sabres to many, many saticfied customers.

I have also heard of "some" Sabres opening hard. These folks put a slider mod on their canopies and had great results.

My suggestion is to ask the current owner what their experience was with that particular canopy. That should help you the most with your decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[BoostedXT 0]

I have all those question on a piece of paper that the rigger is going to ask the person.

Canopy info...Used Sabre 210, 700 jumps.

Depending on the answers I get I will make my final decision. I am thinking of calling pd right away and having it relined and having a new slider put on it. The stock slider is 23 inches across I believe and the new one they put on it 26.

I am thinking of having that done right away.

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[sundance 1]

I bought a used Sabre 190 last fall from a fellow skydiver at my dropzone. It is my first canopy and I have put about 20 jumps on it. I have never had a slammer yet. It has a pocketed slider (which is supposed to help with the hard opening issue) and I always roll the nose on both sides of the center cell about 5 turns. I am loaded at 1.0: 1. Most openings the end cells are still not inflated until I pull on the rear risers and help them a little. As a first canopy I am very pleased with it. am a novice but I jumped a number of different rental rigs and other rigs for sale at my dropzone before I bought and can say that I enjoy flying the Sabre more than most of the other canopies I jumped. Hope this helps a little.

One of the surest signs that intelligent life exists in outer space is that none of it has tried to contact us.

[towerrat 0]

I bought a sabre 170 as my first canopy and was nothing but pleased with it. I bought it used with a pocket slider already installed. I put more than 300 jumps on it and never had a problem. I had one slammer opening, but, it was packed by a "helpful" jumper.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[Chizazz 0]

I have about 20 jumps on my Sabre 210. All of the openings have been fine so far.

[BoostedXT 0]

Awesome.....Thanks for the help everyone. Anyone else out there with thoughts?

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[gulaz 1]

I have put about 30 jumps on a sabre 170. I got slammed once, and it knocked the wind out of me. I was in a hurry packing that time though, and didnt fold the nose very carefully, and I believe that was the reason for it. One piece of advice I have, is before you automatically get a bigger slider put on it, jump it a few times first. I bought a different canopy (F-111 160 ) and went on the recommendation of someone else that jumped it once, and put a bigger slider on it. Jumped it twice, and had 1500' snivels both times, and I ended up putting the original slider back on it.

[diver123 0]

I owned a brand new sabre 170 and put about 100 jumps on it. It opened very "briskly" about 70% of the time and the other 30% were hard enough to leave bruises and in some cases end my weekend. I like to think I'm fairly tolerant of pain, but it was too much to have fun with so I went to my rigger and had a pocket installed on my slider. Perfect openings every time.

"pull high! It's lower than you think..."

[tattoojeff 0]

ive had multiple sabers and heres what i got for ya.
i highly recomend having a rigger sew a "pocket" on your slider. i had one put on my saber 150 and from that point on had nothing but baby soft openings without a long ass snivle. it opened in approx 700-800 feet. theres many ways to pack a saber so it will open softly but if your packjobs are alittle awkward or sloppy due to lack of expierence the slider modification will be more forgiving and predictible.
also thye main culprit in the saber slam saga was mostly on the saber 150's. my 135 never slammed me even without the slider pocket and some less than graceful packjobs.
if youd like more info on the slider pocket let me know. i even still have that slider laying around here somewhere.
blues
jeff

[brits17 0]

I have owned a couple of Sabre 120's. Original Sabres, not the Sabre2. The openings were fine, as long as I packed it correctly. I used to pack mains as well and all the Sabre's I came across I would pack them rolling four cells of the nose toward the center cell on each side. Pull the slider toward the nose slightly, stuff the nose to mid canopy and tightly wrap the tail. 95% of the openings were nice and slow.

If yours is too brisk, I would say have a rigger put a pocket on your current slider instead of buying a larger one.

_______________________
aerialkinetics.com

[BoostedXT 0]

Cool thanks for the info everyone! Jeff I sent you a PM.

Brit: Hows the golf game?

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[Unstable 9]

I've got plenty of Jumps on both Sabres and Sabre2s, and all I have to say is talk to somebody who regularly Jumps a Sabre about your same size and Wingloading - Watch them pack, learn it's tricks and repeat on your own canopy. Around here, there is a ledgendary Sabre1 that has broken 2 peoples ribs through a hard openings. It was bought by an older guy who packs it with AMAZING grace and care, and it treats him beautifully........ I think the trick is all in the packing...

=========Shaun ==========

[BoostedXT 0]

:scared:.....lol...broken ribs heh?

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[Unstable 9]

Hey, I'm not trying to be too negative here!! One the Jumpers took the time to pack neatly and carefully, it gives BEAUTIFUL 500' snivels! I'm just saying watch and learn from other people packing!

=========Shaun ==========

[BoostedXT 0]

I know....well I am going to be ew to the whole packing thing, so I can garrantee you I will be very very spaziodish....

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[Kris 0]

I used a Sabre 210 for my first hundred jumps off of student status. The deal with Sabres is that you either get a good one or you don't. Mine had a pocket slider that merely changed the openings from *WHACK* to snivel, snivel, *WHACK*. Another soul I know with a 210 can't get theirs to open hard if they try.

When I was between rigs, Merrick was kind enough to loan me his Dolphin with a Sabre 190...the openings were like buttah!

Maybe a larger slider would have helped. Mine was 24" IIRC. I didn't keep it long enough to find out if a larger slider would have helped.

The person who ended up buying my rig from me had acceptable openings so it could have been a combination of the slider and my deployment speed since I'm an anvil of a guy. Back then, my openings were at around 130-135mph. Now I'm around 125 in my new FF suit so who knows?

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[BoostedXT 0]

I dont know what my fallrate is, but I am 175 with clothes and no gear. Does that make me float?

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[hookitt 1]

Quote

I dont know what my fallrate is, but I am 175 with clothes and no gear. Does that make me float?

In water or a large vat of beer maybe but in the air? Probably not

Try having a pocket installed on the slider as suggested above. I bet you would be pleasantly surprised at the results.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[BoostedXT 0]

Cool....sounds good to me....Thanks for the help everyone!

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[yoink 321]

I jump a Sabre 135 @1.14:1... lovely openings on all of them, never been modded. I suspent is really depends on the canopy...