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Does anyone have any experience with freefalling 280 plus canopys sub 200'?

How much of a difference would a light, 6-8 mph, headwind, crosswind or tailwind make in opening altitude?

Theoretically a headwind should give you a faster/higher opening. If there were a 190' tower with a solid cylendrical bottom and a top that overhangs by about 10-15' would it be worth doing a side floating exit into a light headwind to achieve a higher opening, or would the increased potential for object strike outwiegh the possible benifit?

It depends on the canopy type (and also on other environmental factors), but at a guess I'd say somewhere between 20 and 40 feet difference from the headwind to the tailwind.

Have you already static lined the object on this canopy? I'd do that first, just to give yourself a base line to work from.

Personally, if it was me, I'd be doing a go and throw in the downwind direction, prepared to PLF the landing if I was open low enough that I had to take a downwinder (possibly on risers).

Thanks Tom. I have not done an SL from the object yet, but I probably will do that first. I have, however done two SL jumps from 175' and one freefall from 228, so I have a little bit of an idea of what it would be like.

I remember from your course that with a stand alone building you are best off jumping from the downwind corner perpendicular to the wind, crosswind, to avoid turbulance. Why does that not alpply here?

Does the wind blow through the tower at opening altitude? What is the shape of the tower at opening altitude?

The wind does not blow through it. It's round, concrete.

Remember that jumping from the corner, straight across the windline is intended to get you clear of the turbulence generated by the wind's interaction with the buildings (square, in the example) shape.

Your object is round, so it's going to generate very little turbulence in normal (jumpable) wind conditions. If it was a wind-through object (which, I'll admit, I had assumed it was until I read your post), then that's even truer.

It wouldn't happen to have candy cane stripes up it, would it?

Zach,
You've got 28 jumps and you're considering freefalling from sub 200? Take a step back here, you're getting way ahead of yourself. Are there any experienced jumpers in your part of the state who are mentoring you? No matter what you've done for your first 28 jumps, no mentor should ever encourage you to start freefalling sub 250 until you've got plenty of experience.

(Edited to Add: I had a 120 right from 270' the other night. Had it been a 200' object, it would've been a close call. You never know when the shit will hit the fan and you have to be 100% prepared to deal with it.)

Definantly agreed upon, heck my first sub 250ft freefall was between 300 - 400 jumps... and it was still "exciting!"

I think he is in SC/NC arena..

There is no one in my area, that I know of, who is more experienced than myself. I probably won't freefall the 190' object I am looking at anytime soon, if at all. I would be happy to have a mentor if there was one around.

I try to find objects with the biggest obstacle free landing areas, and jump them as safely as possible. I've only done two freefall jumps below 250 so far, and they were both off a 228' freestanding A with a light tailwind, a good exit point, and an excellent landing area.

indian cave fun as shit fucked up