swoopfrog

Billvon wrote>you don't need extra speed, although the extra speed will certainly give you a longer swoop (and will help you if you don't know how to land any other way.) That's exactly my point: I use to have Sandy's problem (ie running out too fast on no wind days) because my flare wasn't quite right (The lines were not to long and I actually ended lenghtening them up) . Then I started to give the canopy a little bit extra lift and extra rigidity with a double front approach (following Chuck's advice on this) and discovered fairly quickly that this way, I could swoop allong untill the canopy complitely stops me. This experience has helped me to get a better feel of the canopy and I don't have to run out any kind of landing anymore. I don't say that HP landing is the ultimate goal and that everyone should aim for that, just that a little bit extra speed-rigidity-lift helps when the wind doesn't... Sorry if my first post wasn't clear, I just pretend to share my newbie experience with any newbie going through the same problems so that every one moves forward (plus English is not my native language ). btw, what's the brake line mod on your Safire-1 119? I had to lengthen mine (3") to make front riser flying stable, are we talking of the same thing?

>Rumor has it that the smaller canopies tend to have lighter riser pressuer at the smae >wingloading...well I weight 195 pounds and my friend Levin weighs 120, if we are both >loaded at 2.0 he is a smaller wieght suspended beneath his canopy and ...well if he can >do more chin ups than me maybe he thinks his riser pressure is lighter Chin ups on the ground is a "static" exercise but it's very different when it comes to pulling down a riser during a high speed carve: imagine that you and your friend are doing the same carve with the same canopy (different size, same loading). Both of you are going to take the same G's, let's say 1.5G (probabely more actually).This means that during the carve your suspended weight is gona be close to 300 pounds whereas your friend's will be 180 pounds. Now put 2 or 3 G's, do the math and that's f*#k'in heavier for you! Just my thought...

here we are: http://www.parachute-shop.com/eng/principales.htm

>Creatively called "Onyx parachute shop" according to www.utti.org/sanasto/o.htm right! that canopy was (I don't think it still is) made by Parachute shop, a French manufacturer. They are still making a container called Vectra. (nothing to see with the Atair cross braced ) The onyx is a square 9 cell, an early 90's old school design. I don't like it 'coz the opening is like pull&bammm and the flare abilities are not even average. It's just a small step up from the Parachute de France Merit. That is say: forget it Alain

skygod777 wrote> i hear that pulling your slider down and loosening your chest strap only make a noticable difference on a highly loaded high performance canopy I could not tell you about highly loaded canopy as this one is the most radical I've flown so far Any way, doing it on my canopy definitely makes a difference... phreezone wrote>My thinking is that if the canopy requires you to open it all the way up to fly/land nice then I probally won't be jumping it... you can land the safire without doing it, but it's a bit more tricky: the flare requires more experience to be right. Once you get used to it it's pretty quickly done and you can always find 20 secs for that during your way down, no? Phree zone wrote>...since I have big worry issues with falling out of the rig. anyone heard of something like this? It doesn't sound very realistic to me, but maybe I'm wrong. (I'm not talking of removing the chest strap, just loosing it) Alain

oops, something I forgot: If don't do it yet, you should pull down the slider at the bottom of the risers (not sure to make myself clear on this ) and loose up the chest strap. The canaopy will fly *much* better, the improvement is huge on mine! Alain

I've got 220 jumps on a safire 135 loaded at 1.25:1, here's my 2cent contribution to your problem... (I don't pretend to be a swoop lord btw...) I found that this canopy needs some speed to get some nice and manageable flare power, either double front riser or 90 degree (or more ) carves. It makes the flare much easier and I can get 50ft swoops on a 90deg carve without running it out, cool isn't it??? If you've not done it yet, findout about the line lengh of you canopy: the setup is correct if the lines are a little loose with toggles up, the canopy should not turn when you slightely pull down on toggle (1 inch or so). Double riser input should be stable: if you find out that it's stable when you leave the toggles up but it becomes bulky with toggles in you hands then the lines are too short. then, search the forum for this:Procedure for front riser approach (look for Chuck's great input, thx dude