cisneros@trwrba.UUCP (Robert D. Cisneros) (04/04/85)
************* this is for the line eater *******************
I recently got pinned (last Saturday) and I'm planning
on buying a main canopy.
Could someone out in netland give a Inexperienced
Skydiver some friendly advise on a good canopy to begin
with (Something FORGIVING, But at the same time Performs
well).
Is Buying a used canopy a good idea or should I buy a
new canopy at all costs?
In response to an article submitted recently, I've
found that the people who jump at PERRIS, CALIF. are
very friendly and helpful. The First Jump Course is
Now taught on squares and lasts about 6 hours.
Thanks in advance,
Robert Cisneroskas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (04/11/85)
> Could someone out in netland give a Inexperienced >Skydiver some friendly advise on a good canopy to begin >with (Something FORGIVING, But at the same time Performs >well). With all the different canopies on the market today, the choice isn't easy. My personnal opinion is that the differences in canopies borders on negligible. Having just purchased two new canopies myself (two Raven-III's for main and reserve), I have reams of brochures on canopies, all of which claim to be the "best" or "fastest" or "choice of champions" etc., etc. What it really boils down to is who you believe the most, and/or who offers the best price. Decide on what's important to you, and begin narrowing the list down. For instance, if you intend to do a lot of CRW, you will want a canopy with individual center-cell lines (not cascaded). Some canopies also offer reinforced leading edges (to prevent wear) for CRW enthusiasts. Virtually all canopies on the market today have glide ratios between 3.0 and 4.0--this determines the amount of horizontal distance you can cover from a given altitude--the higher the ratio the farther you can go. The sink rates and turn rates don't vary much, and at any rate will depend on your weight. As far as size is concerned, I would recommend that you get a larger canopy rather than a smaller one. For example, the Raven comes in four sizes, and my body weight fell in the overlap range between the Raven-II and Raven-III, so I chose the R-III. My reasoning for this is very nicely explained in an article written by Bill Dause called "Choosing a Canopy That Won't Hurt You" in the April '85 issue of "PARACHUTIST" magazine. Find it and read it. Quite frankly, you will never notice the extra pound or so that a larger canopy weighs, but you will notice the feather-soft landings. I'm not suggesting that you go crazy and buy a Mighty-Mak, but do lean towards the larger size if your weight puts you between two sizes. > Is Buying a used canopy a good idea or should I buy a >new canopy at all costs? Buying a used canopy is OK if you can trace its history. One advantage is that you can (probably) jump it a few times before buying to see how you like it. Watch out for this though: as incredible as it seems, I've seen lots of jumpers leave their canopies sitting in the blazing sun, sometimes for hours! SUNSHINE KILLS CANOPIES! The UV radiation does horrible things to polymer molecules, which is what all canopies are made of, and weakens the material significantly and rapidly. Ken Scofield C-9355 Hewlett-Packard PCD Corvallis, OR {ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas