Basejumper.com - archive

 

I order soft links on my new Trango, soft links are stronger...but not so easy to remove if you gonna remove the canopy...

 

yes i know trango isn`t recommended for slider off/down...but i can`t see why not using s-links for slider off...when their stronger..beside that it will given you a fit removing it if you gonna by some reason remove the canopy...

theoreticaly in that sit, fabric on fabric gives line burns, spectra melts really low temp. but i use slinks on my dagger now. i seriously doubt any bad things about slider down. just look at it after a few jumps.

 

when maintained and rigged correctly, i seriously doubt a slink has ever failed. i bet the ones spoken of are mis-riggings, or the 1800th jump on the slink.

Cons - Slinks are harder to rig, easier to damage

Pros - Slinks do not show up on metal detectors. This is only really important if you have removed all the rest of the metal from your rig...but if you have, then they are a virtual must.

slinks are cool but i just use zip ties they go on fast and u can just cut them off when your done

I've never thought of using zip ties. They wouldn't show up on a metal detector, and they come in a bunch of cool colors as well...

Funny this should come up now. I check my skydiving gear at the start of every jump day (including slinks) and give it a quick once over before every jump, yet I had my left rear slink break on opening only a few days ago on my Stiletto 150 after having a couple of hardish openings. It wasn't mis-rigged and this canopy has only about 800 jumps on it (I'm not 100% sure if the slinks have been replaced before, they looked in good condition though).

I've heard this is really rare, but it still made me think about rapide vs slinks for BASE.

sorry i didnt specify, but the slinks i was talking about was reserve slinks.
800 jumps is a lot on slinks. how often do they need to be replaced?

  I've been using them all along and love them. They are more complicated to rig than metal links though, and you have to be confident in your ability to rig them correctly every time.

Abrasion resistance?

When I jump slider down I keep my slider down using the french-link bumpers on my front risers. This seems to be the preferred method of keeping the slider from going up the lines on deployment. With slinks I don't think you have that option.

be careful with this kind of post. You never know who you'll kill...but then again, if you're gonna take this as advice, maybe you deserve it.
pope

You mean zip ties aren't the hot ticket???

Yep. Some things just don't need improvement.

As far as I know a metal Rapid link has never killed anyone. I'm not sure you can say the same for Slinks.

You can qualify the use of Slinks in BASE by adding, "well maintained," or "properly assembled," and "relatively new," but just remember you are hanging it all on "one" canopy so you can't so easily accept too many conditions. In BASE the word bulletproof also needs to include poor-maintenance-proof, lazy-proof, and ignorant-proof.

When a Rapid link does yield (bend open) for whatever reason, it usually retains the line group. When a Slink fails (like one did on my friend Koji while skydiving at the DZ) it fails big. And yes, that Slink had been on the canopy for a long time, but I know from experience we are really bad in knowing when, "just one more," is one too many.

Then consider why use a Slink? The major reason, I'd assume, is to save weight, but is that such big deal with BASE gear? Also, at the DZ, Slinks make it easier to stow the slider behind your head, but we don’t do that in BASE.

I'm not sure if the below video is indeed a skydiving fatality (so use caution in viewing as it's disturbing) or even for sure if it's a Slink or a Rapid link that failed, but the result is the result.

Maybe I'm over-cautious, but hell, I'd put steel lines on my "only" canopy if it was possible . . .

http://www.nothingtoxic.com/...ident_Caught_on_Tape

NickD
BASE 194

from josh28
Fatal Accident at the Pond Swoop Nationals
The Pond Swoop National Championships at the Blue Sky Ranch in Gardiner, NY, was overshadowed by the fatal accident of a competitor during the last round of the event.

On Sunday afternoon, August 26, Lisa Gallagher [41] from Ohio was fatally injured during her final approach for an swoop accuracy landing on a raft in the middle of the pond. She was using a conservative carving approach and then did a left hand turn towards the pond. The left side of her Crossfire 89 (loaded at 1:1.4) collapsed three separate times. It collapsed from the tail forward, collapsing three cells entirely and the fourth about 99%, leaving just the nose of the fourth still inflated.

The trees near her turning point are about 70 feet high and this all took place below tree top level. So she was at about 50 feet when the first collapse occurred, possibly caused by a ferocious rotor coming off the trees. Any forward movement she had was largely momentum from the turn and not real flight anymore. She pretty much fell as opposed to flew and hit the ground at high speed. Lisa was air-lifted to a near trauma center where she was pronounced dead one hour later.
---------------------------------------------------------
not from slink but form crossfire 1

RE:
"Then consider why use a Slink? The major reason, I'd assume, is to save weight, but is that such big deal with BASE gear? Also, at the DZ, Slinks make it easier to stow the slider behind your head, but we don’t do that in BASE. "

Nope..weight does`nt matter if you do mass-jump from ex..the famous potato bridge in TF...but if you hiking for 3-4(for some 4-5) hours twice a day for real bigwalljumping...every saved gram counts...

>>It collapsed from the tail forward, collapsing three cells entirely and the fourth about 99%, leaving just the nose of the fourth still inflated.<<

Thanks for correcting that . . .

NickD
BASE 194

Nick, as its already been pointed out, that link has noting to do with Slinks but it instead was due to turblence and the canopy.

I realize that now, thanks . . .

NickD
BASE 194

would you consider paraglider lines or would they be to stiff?

pro's/ cons?

Dacron will go a thousand jumps (500 for sure anyway) and have all the stretch properties we need.

Who knows what the future will hold (or dosen't hold) and what it will be . . .

NickD
BASE 194