Basejumper.com - archive

 

For me it depends on my exit altitude if I will make the jump or not. Lower altitude jumps with wind down the wire I'm not a fan of and will usually climb down. Although one way to eliminate the wires would be to open below the last wire.
HIgher jumps are not really a problem since you can gain some airspeed and get away from the object. You can always track at a slight angle to keep your self in the middle of the quadrant... I would just use the something on the ground as a reference.
Exiting from an "a" at an angle, in my opinion, is not a good idea because it is not a 'normal' exit for us to perform and is subject to greater mistakes.... especially when you're nervous from the winds to start with. You probably won't be getting as far away from the "a" too with this type of push-off. Plus I'm thinking that heading performance will suffer more from having the winds coming across your body at a 90degree angle rather than coming more or less from behind you. You have more chance of a line over with a short delay and winds from behind though so choose which you'd like
One positive would be that winds down the wire are not going to push you into the wires they will only bring you closer to them and away from the main object, although I believe the wires are the 'main' object once you leave a guyed tower!

Jason

ps- on tall towers with winds down the wire I would only climb down if I thought the winds were a factor in making a LZ. But I can usually make that determination before I get to exit altitude.

I've climbed down more often than not.

jon

Low jump & winds down the wire, go home.

Tall, tracking jump, go for it.

Other than that, just put a ball gag in her mouth and party on until you here the safety word.

I recently jumped a 1000ft with 15(ish)mph winds down the wire, even had a 180, and it was no problem thanks to a decent track coupled with pulling low...

But slider down i would of climbed down

it depends.

i personaly would climb down if the ground wind was to strong in any direction, but other than that, depending on available LZs, (in CO the towers are built in million-acre LZs) i would jump with directly downwire winds. especialy if its at good tracking altitude.

and always check for shear layers/direction shears. sometimes the wind could be down the wire at exit, but perfect at opening altitude, and it could be perfect at exit, but into the tower at opening altitude.

1050ft, down the wire, climb down. winds change, you can save it for a better time. If all goes perfect, exit, track heading.... should not be a prob but if you screw up any of the 3 parameters you could be in major trouble. Never forget that it is only a sport. You need not jump in crap conditions. Ever. Only the most conservative people can consistently get close to the edge . Everything else is gambling.
take care,
space

 

My "regular" object is an 890ft A. I usually try for about a 5.5 sec delay. If you are comforable with the object (like 20+ jumps) and you've had an off-heading or two on it before, it's not an issue; otherwise yea, climb down. Wire strikes suck from what I've seen...

Hey.

I have about 400 A-jumps and in Sweden teh weather often is crap and strong winds in pitch black day-time and snow is common.

Anyway I guess there are good rules and you should probably climb down while the wind is down the wire.
I have jumped a lot of wire-jumps and that might be sub-optimal behaviour but still. Ill do it.

If you jump down the wire, the wind shouldnt be that strong I guess you jump slider up from 1000ft. Then its even more important not to have strong winds. Also do not take less than 5 secs freefall, you need your speed to create a better opening. I recomend 6 secs from 1000ft.

Never aim for floaters or 45 degree angles or anything like that. Aim straight forwad with a powerful push. You will need your separation from alla wires andobjects. Do as you are use to.

Finally, you will experience that your body turns up-wind after exit. Dont fight it in the exit. just let your self turn a little bit and then turn back out when you got some speed. Kicking your self around will create more problems than it helps preventing them.

Big A:s är pretty nice objects in the right contitions they are quite safe (what is safe?) Just be sure that the wind is where you want it. If winds are strong and iffy but jumpeable, note that FF-speed is a great help to prevent snevely and shitty openings. Plann a lower pull. Make sure that you are experienced enough to plan and calculate a controled lower pull. Dont be stupid and have fun!

Not trying to be crass, but I do the same thing I [should] do on EVERY jump:

evaluate ALL the conditions, including but not limited to wind velocity, GC or not, LZ, jumping mates, object specifics/type/location, gear and relative gear configuration, experience level, bad vibes, etc., and then make a well-informed decision about whether or not you should make the jump or back off it.

BASE isn't about preset formulas...if there is a "rule" that says whatever that 45 degree floater thing you mentioned for example, and you do it textbook and still hit the wire or the tower, you're still just as fucked. Just because your friend thinks it's OK--even if he makes a successful jump right before you--that doesn't make it right for you to jump. We're ALL alone in big surf.

$0.02
pope

Though I have around 60 A jumps. What the hell is a "45 degree floater to the opposite wire???"?
Is not a floater where one backs off? 45 degrees to what? There is no opposite wire unless one is jumping a square guyed tower. Then it is one on the opposite side of the tower. Or what? Maybe I have been living in Yurp too long
take care,
space

agreed for sure.

i have about 450 A jumps. try to do as long of a delay as possible to provide as much vertical speed as possible relative to the horizontal wind speed. jump straight with a good horizontal launch as usual. the wind will tend to wind sock your canopy so your canopy will tend to open downwind. if you jump 45 degrees crosswind, then you may easily have a 180 with a half line twist. if winds are going down the left wire and are relatively strong, for example, and you have a 90 left, don't correct by turning right. correct by turning left, face into the wind, and continue the turn. if you turned to the right, the long arc path of the canopy will easily put you into a wire. when jumping terminal from an A in a very strong wind down the wire, you will have to fly your body like in a relative wind. you will have to compensate with your body flight because it will pitch you in ways that are really strange. with winds behind you and blasting, a horizontal launch can cause the wind to hit your feet and pitch you headdown, similar to a prop-blast a rear facing exit.

 

knowledge is always better. relying on luck will only haunt you in the long run. once you follow the real rules of the game, your jumping abilities will greatly increase as well as your safety margin.

I would push off perpendicular to the wind (and the wire in question) or, if the wind is 20 knots, I'd go windsurf...

i've jumped in 60 mph winds but that is only for the most advanced A jumpers.

perpendicular to the winds is not the ideal launch direction based on personal experiences.

 

mudvein, worldsocold is my favorite song. PM for further questions. I'm starting to gain interests in other things than BASE after going for it major hardcore for many, many years. I'm willing to pass the knowledge...

Gotta love a happy ending...

you still miss jumping my A its 900ft but you wont see me climb it higher than 400ft

wind down the wire usaly is a bad idea,however if you know the place and the delays you can take from there it can be done,even as i would rather get the right winds..

jumping into the wind is BIG TIME BAD JUJU,get a 180 and you´ll be kissing the steel before you can scream no..

 

most often i would say that the canopy opens towards the wind,which in wind down the wire will result facing the corner of a wire and the tower,as you have twind pushing you away from that corner it aint as bad as if you get the 90L flying down/into the wire,as you´ll have more speed from wind,you´ll have less time to correct before you fly into the wire.

0 wind is more gambel than wind down the wire(in some degree) i agree,i rather expect an offheadding into or or away from the wind than getting an 165 off in 0 winds..

If you're taking a 6 second delay from 1000ft (not including any wind shear), how much wind could you really have affecting your opening? After 5-6 seconds, your body should be moving with the wind horizontally... so where is this 'wind' that you are worried about causing offheadings?

(i know that this only applies in constant winds with no wind shear... otherwise any number of scenarios can come into play (from personal experience))

Winds obviously can have a huge influence on opening headings on lower objects, but after 5-6 seconds of freefall you really shouldn't have any problems (unless the winds are strong, or they are doing funky things... which you should be observing on the climb up)

slider down jumps mainly..
i cant see we people were talking about 5-6 secs of delays

Greeny is correct.

No winds are more dangerous than winds down the wire. Do a simple vector diagram analysis of the problem.

agreed.

for lazy/stupid people:

wind down the wire makes the 120 degree 'optimal' opening range of the sectors moot.

all you have to worry about is the wires that the wind is blowing down.

basicaly, it turns a A into a A with wires at 180' abgles, not 120'

How so? With winds down the wire, the canopy is being pushed down the wire, where the wires are converging and distance between the wires is decreasing. In no wind, this added factor is not there. I've personally watched 3 seperate occasions where people have flown between guy wires on a large tower, with 150' between each wire at the tower connection point. I do not have an accurate guess of how far away from the tower they were.

This is not a simple problem. Which is safer will depend on whether you consider the wire or the tower more of a threat. Personally, I'd rather hit the tower than the wire. I'm also much more confident in my ability to avoid a giant obvious tower at night than a thin, hard to see guy wire (with half or less moon).

If jumping slider up and taking a 5-6 second delay, you have absolutely no excuse to hit the tower in no wind. If jumping slider down and taking around a 3, which I have done many times, I feel the same way.

A guy wire is not a solid wall.

should be treated as such.


they are called risers/toggles. use them to avoid shit.

If you treat them as a solid wall, you will not get an accurate assessment of risk exposure for each available option given specific conditions.

^yay wordy sentences

Summary:

With "enough" winds between the wires, a guyed tower is a relatively safe object. With a simple diagram, you would understand that the angle of the wind is constant, and the distance from the wires is increasing with every moment. You get the thrust from your jump away from the tower, wind drift in freefall away, wind drift once the canopy opens, and even some subterminal track if its tall enough. With a 180, you're in the same situation as when you get a bad spot at the dz, and no matter how hard you try, pointing back at the lz, you can't make it.

Without winds, you are jumping not only something as "unsafe" as a building or underhung cliff (things hanging off the A), but you are jumping a notch. With the B or E, you have 180deg of "freedom", 90 each direction. With the windless A, anything more than a 60deg offheading, and you will be screwed without immediate input. And you're right, the wires aren't walls. They're worse. What is that going to do when you hit it with your neck or body, halfway up your lines in flight, or tear your canopy in half on guywire.

You aren't always guaranteed a jump when you show up at your local slider down cliff, sometimes you will have to walk away from your building after staying up all night, and might even get winded off the Prine. It sucks, but you might have to climb down from a tower, asking here what you already know is the right decision won't make it any safer.

BTW, if the winds are between the wires, but blowing harder than you want, and are still going to go, consider some things. Strong tailwinds are going to slow your opening, air isn't getting forced into the open nose cell. You might want to practice your handheld action, you're increasing the chances of having the bridle wrapping around arms or body. Head high will also be better than head low. And if you still have to go, you also might want to consider climbing a little higher and getting a little more delay time. If the winds are strong, and not perfectly between, consider a little push off into the wind, and keep in your mind that when the canopy opens "perfect", there is a better direction to turn back into the wind for landing. That is if you still insist on going.

That should be enough loose generalizations for one post, have a great jump.

Choose your own level of danger.

read Yuri Kouznetsov's (outrager) article on the subject. it changed the way i thought about the risk assessment on sites, particularly towers. zero wind will always be more dangerous than moderate wind down the wire.

i disagree there, IMHO, the canopy will open the same assuming the person is in freefall. the only thing wind changes is relative body postion.
(thus why a xwind causes opening to face into the wind usualy, its just like if your right shoulder low, you usualy get a slight right opening, the same as a right wind)

PS- remember, everything causes lineovers. everything. especialy normal , stable, belly down jumps.

some of my comments have gotten some responses via PMs. OK, firstly, make up your own minds on what you think is correct. Your the one who will have live with it. These forums are great because they have so many different opposing *good* ideas. Here's a thread from BASE 311 regarding Yuri's antenna comments... However, I disagree with 311's heading alteration with winds down the wire. I prefer to get a good canopy and deal with it then. Altering your exit heading is leading to off heading opening disasters. I have a friend (BASE 175, he was Yuri's mentor) who used to actually alter his exit heading parallel to the downwind wire because he hated the hard off headings and partial line twist potential because of the wind sock inflation issue. This is only for the advanced jumper though.

Here's 311's comments from 2003 here on dz.com:

it's been my experience that there is almost always some shift as one climbs. I always assess what the winds are doing at opening altitude and keep that in mind as I'm climbing. generally I haven't experienced a situation where the winds do a full 180, but also I generally only go to about 500feet and slider down when climbing.

When there's an elevator, it pays to stop at opening alti and get out and see what's happening. you can't tell what the winds are doing when you're inside the elevator. If the elevator is one that is so sensitive and fickle that you're afraid to stop it once you've got it going, then you probably have someone riding on top of it anyway and that person can check the winds. I'm wondering if this might not be what happened to the fellas mentioned in the darwin candidate II post where they exited and opened on the upwind side... they may have actually been exiting with the winds on their backs or down the wire - only to have it become a headwind at opening. I don't know for sure, but without stopping and getting out of the elevator at opening alti, there's not much way they could have known (unless they went against the flight pattern that prior loads had used - which would have been cause for alarm for me) what the winds were doing there.

Yes, it's typical for it to be nil on the ground and downright breezy at alti. I've jumped in winds of perhaps 30-40 (maybe 50) mph on my back at exit... perhaps 15-20 at opening and zero on the ground. I'm more concerning when there is no wind at all at opening alti. On towers it is good to have a tailwind splitting the sector in which you'r'e jumping; that helps you when there are off-headings. If the wind is down the wire it has been theorized that even that is better than no wind at all (see outrager's post on blinc mention in another thread), though I'm much more cautious of winds down the wire... usually opting out or altering my exit heading - exiting so I'm facing more toward the wire on the opposite side away from the downwind wire - putting the opening more crosswind hoping for an off-heading away from the downwind wire (most times it works). YMMV

bsbd,
Gardner

Interesting. I can't imagine how you are correct. Especially if you are jumping a non-vented canopy. If you take a short delay, which was the discussed situation (lets assume a 1 sec delay- 16fps down, 20fps forward, roughly 45 degrees), the relative wind vector will be from behind, coming from your feet to head. As opposed to the head to toe, eg. nose towards tail.

You don't think that air rushing into the nose would increase the speed of opening relative to air rushing past the tail, past the nose, until the overhanging nose gets to scoop some of the air that is "relatively" outflowing past the nose?

And yes, everything causes lineovers. But I would assume that all things being equal, air blowing hard from the tail lines of the canopy towards the nose would have a much higher incidence of lineovers than the nose inflating first, which is exactly what the tailgate is supposed to promote. It is the tail lines that are most likely to cause a lineover, btw. Deployment position is different than the relative wind that the wind will react to once it hits the air.

I am very interested to hear your rationale in why a tailwind would open the same as a headwind. Since the canopy is opening, and inflating, at only the nose. (non-vented, and to a lesser degree vented.). And how lines that are getting blown towards the nose can't create a problem on opening.

Kind of makes me wonder if it would make a difference according to your thinking, if you were on the Prine with 20+ winds, whether you floated it or just hucked it normal. Same thing, same opening, no difference at all?

IMO the wind (whether a tailwind or headwind) will affect your opening speed almost nil. in my experience, the canopy is like a windsock and will simply follow you in freefall at an angle with the direction of relative wind.

air will rush into the nose from below the canopy, not necessarily in front, as per design and line trim. so whether you do a floater or normal exit, the canopy should open the same.

to picture it...

floater = belly to relative wind, canopy comes off your back with the wind

a regular exit (may end up being slightly head down on a shorter delay to get belly to relative wind) = canopy still opens off your back with the wind.

even if you take a 1 sec delay, where you'll be traveling somewhere around 20mph in freefall, you will still be accelerating during opening, which dependent on PC deployment method, could be another few seconds of travel.

is this making sense?

maybe, i'm just crazy.

edited to add: stupid picture... what i'm trying to say (probably not so well) is that regardless of how you exit or where the wind is coming from, in "theory" the canopy will always open the same (disregarding heading) based on the fact that the "relative wind" will always hit the bottom of the canopy during deployment in the same manner (in a closed container deployment).

My experience with low freefalls very strongly disagrees with this. A headwind will cause you to open higher/faster, though the difference in opening speed will not be very obvious. The difference in opening height will be obvious.

it gets complicated to think about, as in sub-term freefall, you are changing speed rapidly, and that has a factor in it.

but i think that like you said, its a windsock. the canopy is getting drug out by PC whatever direction the relative wind to the jumper is. so i dont think there is any difference in the amount of air hitting the nose of the canopy. it would be camparable to being head low or head high, thats it.

someone said that a headwind makes you open higher, (how so?)

are you jumping As in headwind, because that is the only way to prove this. jumping cliffs in a headwind only means that you accelerate in airspeed faster, not a headwind at all as the wind is comeing from beneath you on a cliff.

also, i can see how one would think that in a tailwind that a canopy takes longer to start flying if it is on heading opening, the body needs to be accelerated forward to wind speed as well as flying speed. but thats not opening.

Most of my data comes from a bridge, where jumping in a headwind is not a problem. There is a significant difference between a low freefall (where the wind will have the most effect on opening) in a tailwind versus a headwind. Myself and others have also jumped a certain antenna in a headwind, which I find to be within my limits of risk assuming certain precautions are taken.

The way I think it causes higher openings is what's been said before - a headwind will push air into the nose causing faster pressurization. Wind (in any direction) will also cause linestretch to occur faster due to faster overall speed relative to the air mass.

That is merely a hypothesis. I have made numerous observations, on video, showing that jumping in a headwind will result in faster primary pressurization than jumping in no wind or a tail wind.

and then lay in the weeds till 5-0 steps away from your vehicle. haha. i love chiggers.

ok, i have no research to support my theory.

i will have to test that someday.

i just dont understand from a physics standpoint...

the canopy MUST be at linestretch at paralel (or close to if teh PC is orbiting) the relative wind of the jumper, it only makes sense that way.

are you sure that your results are not skewed by holding back on high-tailwind jumps, and focusing then on high headwind jumps?

like you said, opening speeds first function is airspeed, and high wind increases that in sub-term.

maybe the headwind/higher relative wind is what your attributing these results to, not air going into the nose cell?

I could see how tailwind could definitely slow down an opening.

While I agree with blitz in that until linestretch, the canopy acts like a windsock and opens the same relative to the wind, what about when inflation starts to occur?

For example, if the tailwind blows your canopy out in front of you during extraction, what happens when it hits linestretch and your body suddenly loads the canopy while it is in front of you? wouldn't it tend to pull the canopy backwards a bit (or at least exert some force preventing it from continuing to blow forward with the wind) to get it back over your head? Then while the canopy is inflating, the tailwind comes into play again, slowing down pressurization through the nose.

btw sorry if the above paragraph seems choppy or retarded, i'm driving down the highway with somebody talking my ear off and asking me to read off some stupid serial numbers, so each sentence was written about 5 minutes apart... hopefully you get the jist

try KITING your canopy.
does it inflate faster in a headwind or tailwind?
does it even want to inflate in a tailwind?

also, airfoils need airspeed to generate lift.
given a 10 knot wind, and 2 jumpers... the headwind jumper starts with a 20 knot airspeed advantage over the tailwind jumper. which will generated lift faster?

ok... ghetto, wwarped, i get it now.

hmmm... thats a good point, both of you.

is the difference noticeable? obviously as people have documented it, it just seems weird to me.

slider down or slider up?

slider down - canopy inflation is from the bottom skin. the dynamic is completely different now with the advent of the tailgate.

slider up and without a slider gate mechanism, the tail wind will increase the rate of the initial opening but it may affect your heading.

slider down, slider up subterminal, and slider up terminal are completely different beasts. any generalizations regarding openings need to be put in context.

i seriously doub that a tailgate/slidergate has anything to do with it, if it does, then that helps my case i think.

Not at you Calvin19 nor anybody directly. Headwind and tailwind openings affect the time it takes to get the canopy into an acceptable landing config on low jumps. On a low alt exit/opening, the canopy will be in a dive if one has a tailwind, penduluming out of the dive on a tailwind will burn a lot of alt. With a headwind opening one doesn't have this effect.
With short FFs or PCA/Staticlines, Winds have a major effect on everything to do with heading and landability.

Hope this helps.
take care,
space

i totaly agree there space. !!


but what are your thoughts on opening altitude?
if we are talking about the ability to land the canopy running, then yeah, of course it takes longer with a tailwind, but i thought we were talking about the de-acceleration of the jumper for matters of verticle speed.

Sorry, I just puked in my mouth a little...Carry on.

i reply in detail later.

i'm glad this forum exists. it's a free for all of ideas.

dammit hank. brush your teeth.

This (jumper deceleration discussion) would be applicable to non modified rounds. A flying ramair canopy has velocity (speed and direction). Though both (non modified round/ramair canopy) open the same in their own deceleration mode due to the wind speed, Proximity to the ground becomes much more prominent if one does not have canopy recovery time for a flying canopy as opposed to a drag only canopy.
All parachutes open at the same angle to the relative wind.
take care,
space

I was referring to slider up subterminal, as the original poster was asking about a ~1000ft tower

from 1000', if the landing area is good, a nice 6 can be taken. if everything is kosher, a nice 7.5 can be taken. at 6s, you're already near terminal (most likely near 100 mph). when reaching 8 to 10, there will be a sonic boom in freefall that is the true transition to terminal. the dynamics of freefall control change immensely after about 8 to 10 seconds. it's extremely dramatic dealing with the transition from subterminal (8-9 seconds) and 11 seconds. there is an explosion of wind and control.

aspects of base are much more difficult than most would imagine. short delays, medium delay, long delays, terminal delays, slider down, slider up, and differnt objects are completly differnt beast. be careful out there my friends and seek the knowledge to make you grow old and wise without too many injuries. wisdom comes from experience, but experience comes from mistakes...

-460

This was a post by Yuri in 2001 on Blinc.

Yo !

>"stronger the wind the higher necessity for the wind to perfectly bisect the wires"

This is a very common misunderstanding about antennas. Let's have a look:

The most dangerous condition is no wind at all (just when it feels so peaceful and safe...). After an off-heading opening you will be flying towards either of the wire sets at your canopy's speed in brakes.

Any wind down the wire is a much better case. If you open facing the downwind wire, you speed vector towards it is still your canopy's forward speed. If you open facing the upwind wire you are flying roughly at your canopy's speed minus the wind speed. Stronger the wind, safer you are. In a strong wind (at or above you canopy's speed) exiting almost parallel with the upwind wire (0..30 degrees off) gives you the most safety margin: 90..120 degrees free sector on the downwind side. The upwind off-heading is safe because you have no penetration and/or your canopy will be backing up. You will also open a bit further away from the downwind wire.

Obviously, the safest situation is a strong wind exactly between the wires.

Draw yourself a little picture with 3 lines at 120' angles representing the wires and 2 vectors representing speeds and directions of your canopy and the wind. Add these 2 vectors and everything will suddenly make sense. If their sum is pointing away from both wires no matter what direction is your canopy, you can throw a monkey off safely. Otherwise some prompt steering response will be required in case of an off-heading opening.

You must consider the wind at your opening altitude - NOT at your exit point. The wind will frequently turn as you climb up (usually to the right in the Northern hemisphere and to the left in Oz). Sometimes it turns enough to cross into another sector, and will be a big mistake to follow the wind and exit on the wrong side of the wire.

bsbd!

Yuri.

Chris it was the above statement by yuri that I was referring to in my old old post wherein I mentioned altering exit heading in strong winds down the wire; yuri just said it so much more eloquently than did I.

again, YMMV

-g

I don't agree with this statement by Yuri. I prefer to bisect the wires and use canopy skills as needed.

This is a diagram I use in FJC's. I've got a whole set of them for cliffs, buildings, etc, and I've been meaning to write them up and post them, because it's kind of hard to follow them in isolation. I've added some text explanations to this one, but I'm not guaranteeing it makes any sense.

Basically, on a 3 sector tower (typical in North America) I'd launch 90 degrees to the wind, when the wind is (a) down the wire, and (b) at a speed greater than the canopy flight speed in brakes.

Hopefully, it helps more than it confuses.

For case A, the jumper should turn to the right provided there is enough clearance (base on anticipated launch and delay). If there is not enough anticipated clearance to do this maneuver (and based on the winds), it would be unsafe to jump in these conditions.

Jumper's right? Toward the tower?

Can you explain why you say this?

I agree with 460
When you turn to the right (towards the tower) you will be holding into the wind therefore slowing your speed relative to the wire. If you turn to the left you will be running with the wind, and your closing speed on the wire will be increased. By turning into the wind, you slow everything down.

Can you explain how wind down the wire will change your closing speed?

The wind is not blowing toward the wire in the diagram. It's directly parallel to the wire.

I'm really not clear on how that could increase your closing speed. If the wind blows toward the wire, I can see it increasing the closing speed. If the wind blows away from the wire, I see it decreasing closing speed.

But in no wind, or with wind directly down the wire, I can't see any change to closing speed being caused by the wind. The net wind vector, with respect to the wire, in either case, is zero.

for one thing, if you turned right in that situation, you need only turn 60 degrees before you are now flying straight at the tower, bisecting the wires on the side you have jumped, with a 30 degree cross headwind landing into what is most likely your best landing area on most triwire As

if you turned left, you have to turn at least 90 degrees to end up parallel with the wire and then you are going straight downwind and close to the wire, so now you have to turn another 150 degrees to get a 30 degree cross headwind landing

so compare the time and space required to turn 240 degrees left (the first 180 degrees of which the crosswind will have a tailwind component varying from 0% to 100% to 0%)

to the time and space required to turn 60 degrees right (all 60 degrees of which the crosswind has NO tailwind component, but headwind component varying from 0% to whatever the percentage is at 30 degree crosswind, for which you can do the trig.)

I'm not sure what your experience is with slider-off triwire As, but I know what Lonnie's is and I have been in this situation a few times (before I stopped jumping winds down the wire, because it's just not worth it) and I can tell you from personal experience that in the situation being discussed turning back into the wind and holding in brakes is your quickest, best and safest option all other things being equal

if you jump winds down the wire that are so light that you cannot hold into a 30 degree cross headwind, then you are rolling the dice instead of taking a calculated risk

that's my 2 cents
cya

You are absolutely correct. When you are trying to set up a landing in limited altitude, you are best off turning into the wind by the shortest arc. But I can't see how that would make you close on the wire faster or slower.

The direction of turn is not relevant to your chances of striking the wire (or the rate you approach the wire)--it is important for setting up your landing in many circumstances.

No shit there I was Sat night:

I friend of mine who has about 15 jumps now was on the local 890'A (has 5 or six from this object) with wind steady at 15-20mph approx 10 degress off of the direct wire line.

He took a 4.5 second delay and had a 120 right (the worst direction to have an off heading)...he immediataly grabbed his inputs and made his parachute fly in a safe direction, turned it around into the wind and all was well. Another great jump, no mistakes -good day.

I had an on heading deployment after a delay of about 5 sec and all was good.

glad to hear it.

in reality, there is no hard and fast rule to deal with the line down the wire situation with a 90 off heading. A 120 or greater is a different matter. Everything heavily depends on the distance from the object, speed of the canopy during the orientation correction, and speed of the wind.

I've enclosed a figure that's the result of the equations of motion vector calculations. In many cases, there is not much difference in the end result. In this case, there is. However, the angular correction rate is quite slow in this hypothetical case.

This is where BASE meets sanity.

-Gardner