How many can actually pack?

[flyinggoose 0]

Got signed off to pack student rigs after about 40 jumps. Started packing tandems after I had about 100. There's alot more to skydiving than jumping out of an airplane and landing. At that point, the skydive is only 2/3 done. But hey....I'm glad to take 10 minutes of my time and take the easy money.

"Never waste a heartbeat."

[StevePhelps 0]

packing my own not only saves me money, but gives me the opportunity to inspect my rig and canopy a lot closer than I ordinarily would if I didn't pack.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

I hate packing, it hurts my lower back. There is nothing wrong with using a packer, or being one. However, I think everyone should know how to pack to better respect their gear. If you are not familiar with it you have a better chance of gear problems or complacency.

That said, I think I am over 5000 pack jobs (I would have to pull out my tally sheets to get an exact number) now and one mal. If I have the time/money, I will become a rigger soon.

I have yet to pack anything over a 300, BASE, reserve or round and have only been shown how to flat pack once. I learned to pack on a 260 Safire and 230 Sabre (ouch!).

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[billvon 2,989]

> I don't know why some people chose to rely on others to pack other
> than they can't be bothered to learn about their equipment (in itself
> a big confidence builder) and have money to burn.

I sometimes use packers just because I need the energy for other things. I didn't get a packer for the 300-way and regretted it. I did get one in Thailand (actually we flew over our own packing wench) and that was a good call, for me. Packing in 95 degree 95% humidity just took too much out of me.

[bch7773 0]

I have never paid anyone to pack for me once i got off student status... well a few times i guess a buddy has packed for me while i'm helping teach a FJC or something.
I also flat pack the big student 288s at my DZ for extra jumping cash, plus teaching a student how to pack is kinda fun.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[skymedic 0]

I've packed for my self all of my jumps except the first 20 and 1 packjob about a year after that.....I do my own packing for my own gear. just makes me happier.....

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[JoeyRamone 0]

I packed to pass my AFF training, jumped my pack job and never packed again. I would rather have a packer do it for me.

> I don't know why some people chose to rely on others to pack other
> than they can't be bothered to learn about their equipment (in itself
> a big confidence builder) and have money to burn. ***

That is their job, they are a hell of a lot better at it then i am, it also helps people who need the cash to jump or eat.

[webracer 0]

I can pack, but I hate it. When I have to, I usually use my vacuum (cause I always have new mains), a technique I learned from Jim (Farmer) Johnson.
Some people think it is a waste of time until they see me with a new velocity in the bag in 45 seconds from laydown, nice and neat (vacuum packed).
It works!
I haven't figured out how to apply it to my reserves yet, but I may.

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[sdgregory 0]

I can pack but I am so damn slow at it. Of course I have packed what, 25 times?

On my florida trip I used packers. I was on vacation and had the extra cash. But now that I am back home I will be packing myself again. I' love to get my pack time down from an hour.

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

I have been packing for all of my jumps since I learned how -- I guess it's around the last 50something of my 78 jumps.

To me, it's not a matter of being able to afford to pay a packer. If I could, I still would not. I prefer to maintain that intimate link with my gear, and I prefer to have no cause to wonder about the way it was packed. It's mine, I jump it, I should be the one who packed it. That's my personal philosophy about it. No one could ever possibly care as much about a pack job as the one who will jump it. That's not meant to disparage the integrity of packers in the slightest. I simply mean that it cannot be asked of a packer to care as much as the jumper does. It'd be like expecting a bodyguard to fight as hard for your life as YOU would fight for your life.

I don't know anything about packing other rigs: I simply know how to pack my Lotus/Javelin. Oh, and I guess I could still pack a Triathlon, which is what I learned on.

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[daveb 1]

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I didn't get a packer for the 300-way and regretted it. I did get one in Thailand (actually we flew over our own packing wench) and that was a good call, for me.

I've got maybe 150 pack jobs in more than 1900 skydives; before Thailand, I hadn't packed in over two years. I got a quickie refresher course from a buddy while in Thailand, which paid off well, as I landed way off often and field packed myself before bumming a ride back. I haven't packed since, and don't miss it.

I can pack if I have to, but I don't often have to.

[Zenister 0]

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i simply cant jump as often in a day packing my own as i can if i pay a packer...

I know someone who manifests himself for loads 1, 3, 5 and so on at the start of the day and packs all his own gear. That gives him about 25 minutes to pack the main and get back out to flightline.

Personally I can't justify adding an extra 1/3 to the cost of my jump, just because I can't be bothered to pack my own.

well i was averaging 9 jumps a day my last trip at eloy, with less than 20 min between calls when i landed....sure i could have packed (if my skills were up to that speed) however i would have been slammed by the end of day one (11 jumps)....and i did nearly 40 jumps in 4 days... do you think you can keep that pace?? for how long? and what is your quality of focus for each dive when your more worried about your pack job/time than the dive itself??

you can spend your time, money andd energy anyway you wish I prefer to focus it on the dive itself and not on the 'housekeeping'....

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Adrenaline16 0]

I just started to take packing courses, and im not planning on stopping, even though it takes me forever to get the parachute in that damn bag ! But i'll get the hang of it eventually! Rather pack it by myself than having someone else touch my lil baby

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[piisfish 140]

I propack, did it on many gear.
never packed a tandem or a CReW rig, nore a reserve
packed for other people too
it is a basic knowledge. Like filling the tank of your car.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[mrhoop 0]

I pack about 70% of the time. Paying cuts into jump money, but sometimes it worth it.

[Unstable 9]

Here in the Midwest EVERYBODY pretty much packs for them selves. Even at the Big Turbine Dropzones, Paid packers are not used as much per person as I see on the coasts...

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

[goose491 0]

I pretty much always pack for myself. I like to feel the opening and relate it to what I did whilst packing. If there is a big boggie and I've saved up some dogh, I'll pay a packer so that I can meet and greet more and just generally goof around a bit more without losing jumps.

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[Designer 0]

I do not pack Tandems or Reserves!Have packed student gear under private contract with customer.Packing Tandems is just not worth the "Hassle" factor.I don\'t care how much you pay me,If you btich me out the first time there is a malfunction,(Tandems)You can pack for yourself!

[packerboy 3]

I started as a packer before jumping. I packed at least 2 of my 4 tandems before starting AFF. I pack tandems all day long only to get on sunrise/sunset loads. I hate packing... but I love the benefits.. The only skydive I have ever paid for was my first tandem.

--------------------------------------------------
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

[Mindcake 0]

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I simply mean that it cannot be asked of a packer to care as much as the jumper does. It'd be like expecting a bodyguard to fight as hard for your life as YOU would fight for your life.

Jeff everytime I pack for you or anyone else it is always in the forefront of my thoughts that this canopy is expected to save someones life....and I am responsible for making that happen....Trust me when I say that it is a heavy burden all packers (who care) quietly carry...

Jim

Don´t belive the hype

[Bosveld 0]

I pack for money, because I need to sometimes, for jump money and drinking money. If you've packed as many rigs as I have, you realize what everyone realizes at some stage in their skydiving career.

PACKING SUCKS!

But hey, I'm sure more than half my jumps have been paid by pack jobs.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, will be true!

[Decibel 0]

I used to use packers almost exclusively until last weekend when we were suddenly down to two packers (one of which does only the tandems). Luckily, after about a dozen pack jobs I'm down to around 20 minutes, so it's really not that big a deal. Once we have more packers again I'll have to see; it's damn nice to be able to relax between loads, but it's also nice being good enough that I can get myself on a load when the packers are busy.

[piisfish 140]

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i haven't packed in 100 jumps. i was thinking about that the other day. I need to start packing for myself.

that's around 500$ you could have spent on jumps... or gear... or beer

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[KrisFlyZ 0]

I pay for packing when I jump on the weekends and try to make lots of jumps. I always pack after my last jump for the day.

What I realize now is that even though I pay a packer to pack my main I don't do as many jumps as I can because the packers are busy packing for the teams and can only get to my rig later. I will be able to do 6 jumps per weekend day by packing myself just as easily and save the money for jumps.

[BillyVance 34]

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It seems that more and more jumpers don't know how to pack, or learn just enough to get their licence and then forget. Just wondering how many people actually know hown to pack. I don't think I could afford to jump if I didn't know!

Edited to add: Just wondering if you know how to pack - doesn't matter whether you use a packer or not!

My S/L instructor taught me to pack after my first training jump. After the 5th or 6th jump, I had gotten the hang of it, even if it took me half an hour to pack! I eventually worked my time down to 5 minutes, until a friction knot developed on one jump, forcing a malfunction, cutaway and reserve ride on my 400th jump. Since then I have stowed my lines a bit more carefully. That's the only mal I've have in nearly 1100 jumps. What's the hurry anyway?

I have always packed my own chutes, with only one exception - I hired packers at Perris Valley while I co-organized the Deaf World Record jumps last September. There was just no way my co-organizer and I could have enough time to pack our rigs and review the jump videos alone before discussing with the group and then leading the next jump's dirt dives and so on.

I've packed many different rigs and canopies over the years, including the Strong tandem rigs. Those were a bitch to pack though, especially when you had to pack a brand new ZP tandem canopy.

Blue Skies
Billy

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban