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When I cocoon my BASE pack jobs, I tuck the edge of the center cell in between the A-B and B-C fabric because that's how I learned and it might hold the back together while the front opens.

However, skydiving reserves usually get the entire pack job wrapped except the nose and other people pack their BASE rigs the same way.

Are there good reasons for either approach?

I cocoon the tail around itself only. I figure the tail is less likely to go near the nose during opening if I never put it there during packing. The cocooned tail and spread-open nose should encourage a nose-first opening.

Mark

I do it the same as riggersam. I cocoon the tail within itself (slider down/off). Slider up I cocoon the tail around the entire pack job.

Ditto.

Hey Tom,
Do you wrap that small section of the stabilizer that goes from the D lines to the tail in that cocoon?

Yes and no. I fold that under the tail before I start flaking, and it ends up wrapped up in the other folds (not the tail). I can try to elaborate a bit, if that's confusing.

Got it. Thanks Tom.

I'm still trying to figure out whether this discussion has morphed into a "what do you do with the tail & center cell" discussion or not.

I do something sort of odd with the tail. All of the folds up to the final steering line attachment are rolled up with my other folds (I take all three folds and roll them up as a group). The remaining two folds on the tail are wrapped around the packjob... though there's not much to wrap.

I also wrap the center cell of the nose around the packjob.

My theory behind doing both of these things is that it helps maintain packjob control and stage the opening. The center cell of the nose is exposed to the relative wind first, and the tail is exposed when the folds unroll.

I've had very good heading performance, both slider-up and down, doing this.

Do you do this for terminal jumps? I would think that you'd be taking some whippers if you do.

I've been doing this for all kinds of jumps for several years. The terminal openings aren't bad. I've found that the slider size/material/control is a huge determiner of terminal opening speed, and that folding/flaking changes have largely (for me) fallen into the category of "fine tuning".

Almost invariably, I roll the outer 6 cells into the center, then wrap the center cell around the entire pack job. I do this for jumps ranging from terminal to about 200 feet (below 200 feet I open the outer cells up as well, but still wrap the nose around). I'm pretty happy with this method, and use it as my standard (I'm constantly tinkering with my pack job, so my "standard" only gets used on about 75% of my jumps).

Ok so I guess I do things a lot different. But before we get into the finer points of packing I'm curious how people slow down the openings of Valved / VTEC canopies for terminal jumps? I've been hiding the center cell under the folds of the outer cells with just a little bit poking out between the two and folded on top. Also I haven't been switching the slider to the small hole for terminal jumps so maybe I need to do that rather than mess with the nose so much. But strangely my heading preformance has been dead on (knock on wood).

Any advise??

Yep, about the only thing I do differently between terminal and non-terminal jumps is how I handle the outer 3 cells. If it's a slider down or short delay slider up jump, I leave the outer 3 exposed. If it's a terminal jump I'll fold them over twice.

Openings are brisk, but not terrible.

That's what I'd do. The slider makes sooooo much more difference than any amount of reefing/folding/rolling.

 

Hey Tom, I thought you roll the outer cells to the outside so that they inflate in the proper order.

Hmmm. Yes, that's it. Must stop posting after getting home from the bars....