Re: [jtholmes] customizing brake length
In reply to:
they tagged plenty of walls figuring this stuff out. leave it to them.
Unfortunately, they were probably unable to take your arms along when they did their research.
Where you set your toggles is primarily dependent on the relation between your arm length (different for every person) and the flare stroke of the canopy (different for every canopy model/size).
If the toggles set are too long for you, you won't get the bottom of your flare, and you'll land hard. If the toggles are set too short for you, when you let them up, you still don't get full flight, because you've still got some tension in the lines. It's important that you check your own toggle settings to be sure that (a) at the very bottom of the toggle stroke you can either just stall, or not quite stall the canopy (which one depends on your personal preferences), and (b) at the top of the toggle stroke your canopy is in full flight with zero tail deflection.
As an example, I'm a short, fat guy. That means I jump really big canopies, but I've got stubby little arms that have trouble getting the entire control stroke. This means that I'll have to choke my toggles up a lot more than, for example, Stane, who jumps the same size canopies, but has much, much longer arms (because he's a tall, skinny guy). The same thing applies when I try to use the factory toggles settings sorted out by Adam Filipino (a much thinner person than myself). On average, I have to choke my CR toggles up something like 12 inches from the factory settings (I need a bit less on the Atair settings). The BR and Apex gear I have had to move the toggles a lot less, probably because their test jumpers had body types more similar to my own.
Bottom line: the manufacturer can only guess at an average toggle setting. Each jumper should set their toggles personally, to get themselves maximum flare power, while still ensuring that full flight is available.