Basejumper.com - archive

Don't be lazy like myself and assume that your closing loop is going to break when you are packing your rig and you can just replace it then.

Today I found myself 3 hours away from civilization, geared up for a wingsuit jump, and when I bent over to pick up my helmet I felt an un-nerving "pop". I new immediately what it was and managed to make another closing loop out of a piece of a pull up cord.

The morale of the story is replace your closing loops BEFORE they break. This could have happened while climbing an antenna, during an aerial, or many other much worse situations.....

speaking of this...


can i make a closing loop out of pretty much anything?

IE 800lb spectra? kevlar? dacron?

You probably wouldn't want to use vectran

In a word - No!

When Todd (at BR) was designing his first pin rig we sat around thinking about all the what ifs . . .

What if someone used 525 cord or flat 400 line for a closing loop, what if someone used their shoelaces, did it matter how long the loop was, etc, etc. etc.

The best answer is use what the manufacture recommends as that's what they tested the rig with. In general anything larger than Spectra is going to come in contact with the pin in a larger area, create more friction, and a harder pull. A really "fat" closing loop could possibly jam in the grommets and get locked up by a deployed pilot chute bridle.

Throw in all the speed of deployment variables – pure-terminal, wingsuit-terminal, sub-terminal and zero-terminal plus the fact you only have one canopy, and it becomes an important thing. I wouldn't think an experienced BASE jumper would jam a pin into a bad loop setup while packing, but a novice surely might. This is the kind of stuff that gives BASE gear manufacturers nightmares . . .

NickD
BASE 194

thats all i have, I just ran out of closing loops after only haveing 10 or so in 4 years of jumping. and all i have in my sewing shite right now is vectran.

oh well. 1200lb spectra i have used for skydiving. thoughts on that?

I have used a shoelace for a feild repair closing loop, worked ok. ony one jump though.

With a shoe lace you'd run the chance of it getting stuck in the grommet.
There was some sort of story like that where someone used a tandem loop on their sport rig or something like that; I'll have to look it up, but it's pretty obvious how one could cause a total by not using the right stuff...

i really dont see how it could cause a problem with appropriet diameter to slip through grommets, and limted surface area touching the pin to keep friction down. but ill take your word for it.

Ill order a spool of closing loop material and make a few hundred dual-sided loops while watching a movie. never run out again.

Just send it my way... I have some spare time.

Done. do you have a fingertrapper? i made a few.

well as far as vectran goes I use it on my skydiving rig but it is a pull out and I have also used big flat weave spectra before on the same rig and I love both because they last forever. . . . however I would not use vectran on a normal throw out rig or BASE rig because we once took a skydiving rig which had the correct length loop and correct pack volume and picked the whole rig up by the bridle the pin just seemed to bind with the vectran (it is naturaly kind of sticky) we changed it to a spectra loop of the same length and tried to lift the rig up but the pin popped. I have not tested this with the large spectra but I would assume that it would work just fine (I don't know about the whole binding with the gromet thing but I suppose it could be possible but not likley). I'll take a couple of those loops you are making next time I run in to you.

You'd better since it was referenced fact I gave you and in my mind I am the best rigger there ever was... even if I don't have any papers to show for it...

Edited: You know what there is to know; but newbies reading these posts don't necessarily. The consequences of using a shoelace or a pull up could be horendous. I was just trying to be funny before editing this going on the assumption that you know your stuff but forgetting about others reading these posts.
My perigee pro came with a spare loop in the internal pocket. Come to think of it and moving slightly off the topic, whenever I have done business with those guys, I have always had that little added bonus.... even if it's a tiny little 25c pice of string that could save your life.

while you're at it, give me a call, i need to talk to you about something!

oh wait...



...

 
I'm not in any position to throw stones. I have at times jumped some pretty scarry shit. And I have been known to come up with some rather creative solutions to... field rigging challanges.

This is just a thought. Takeing the use of a rather thick flat ribbon like a pullup cord as a closeing loop. Let's say that even if the PC has enough pull to rip the first flap open if the loop catches or even hesatates in the second gromet It could restrict the deploment of that side of the canopy. I can see the canopy spinning as it lifts to line streatch. You know life could be really exciteing even if you didn't get the dreaded "Total".

Just another example of the superiority of a nice wide, loose velcro rig that does not have to be packed up like a tight little brick.

Lee

All the P-Pros come with a spare closing loop in the pocket behind the main liftweb. Hats off to Marty for staying a step ahead.

 


my fanny pack comes equipped with closing loops, breakcord, french links, knife, self applied tourniqutte, gloves, assorted rubberbands... Hats off to me too.....


Just kidding. Seriously though, anyone can be a step ahead if they want to, to some degree. What's that boyscout motto?

I have actually done something this stupid in a skydiving rig. My new BASE canopy would not fit in a skydiving rig so I used a longer closing loop (a pull up cord). I had a pilot chute in tow for about three seconds but once the pin pulled, no issues with the cord getting pulled through the grommets.

Do most manufacturers have double sided closing loops, or is that an Asylum design as well. This is another pretty cool feature IMO too.