Hard openings

[kap84 0]

I havent really posted that much, but thought this would be the right place to do so.

I was doing my unstable exit at the weekend, and when it came to opening (yes i was stable) it was really hard, to the point i was winded upder canopy, and my stomach muscles were sore all day.

Iv had bad openings before and been bruised, but not this bad. Does anyone esle have this problem, and is there any way of overcoming it?

[vt1977 0]

What was the canopy?

If you packed the canopy yourself then you may want to get some tips from someone at your DZ as there are a lot of things you can do with your packing to control the speed a canopy opens.

However, some canopies do just open faster than others and once in a while, even when you've done everything right, you sometimes get slammed.

hth!

Vicki

[kap84 0]

it was a student canopy 280, quite big.

I hadnt packed it myself, but i know the person who did, and usually dont have that much of a problem if shes packed for me.

Will look at getting tips about packing slower openings. Thanks

[EvilLurker 2]

One possibility is that your slider wasn't seated against the slider stops tightly. That will give you a wicked slammer pretty much every time. If you're jumping student gear, the harness is probably a bad fit, and that makes a hard opening seem even worse. Make sure your line stows are tight and replace any stretched-out bands. Dacron suspension lines will soak up a lot of the force in a slammer, but you lose some "cool" factor.
Take great care with controlling the slider when you're packing, and if you're in doubt, redo the pack job.

Quote

Does anyone esle have this problem

Yeah, it's not uncommon, but it's hard to determine exactly what the cause was after the fact. I do have a PD 9-cell that has never given me a hard opening, but I doubt you'll want to jump an old design like that.

Quote

However, some canopies do just open faster than others and once in a while, even when you've done everything right, you sometimes get slammed.

That's probably true, there are a few canopies that seem to have a bad reputation for random slammers.Before you buy your own gear, you might want to research which ones.

[crwpj 0]

here is what works for me. next time you pull, say to to yourself "ARCH ARCH ARCH." it is not uncommon for a given person to pull and think to themselves "aah freefall is over" and go slack in the harness.

pulling is cool. keep it in the skin.
options: it does a body good.