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Hi guys pretty much since new ive noticed on certain types of jumps the bottom velcro of my tail pocket burst ie, it does it when terminal track 36 zp pc and subterminal slider up 4-5 sec 42 zp will not "usually" do it on slider down 1-3 sec 42 zp pc and wingsuit 36zp pc.

anyways i take alot of backwards facing video and decided to try and find out what was going on. What ive noticed is on all jumps the tailpocket falls away from the packjob under the weight and drag of the lines and is only held to the packjob from the primary stow (primary stow is now taking all the load to keep the tailpocket from falling away) and sits upside down and perpendicular to the packjob anyway in this position the velco is pretty vunerable to being torn and in mycase does so in the conditions metioned above sometimes there is line dump and sometimes the primary stow lets go and the tailpocket falls further south (as the distance from tailpocket to bridal attatchment is longer than distance from bottom of stabalisers to bridal attachment this i think is the main problem why the tailpocket falls away there is nothing really keeping it in place and alot pulling it away). ive also noticed this on many others openings when im filming has anyone else noticed this and is conserned or found a solution??
I dont think the condition of my velcro is the problem, and im not about to modify my gear so the tailpocket cant fall further, what i am trying to do is wrap my side folds so they go over the tail centre cell and tailpocket to help hold it in place, rather than the conventional underneath and wrapping the tail around I have seen people do this slider up does anyone do this or think it is ok/not ok to do this slider down??

what canopy and rig ?

Apex dp flik

Do you have a multi on the canopy?

Attaching the rear multi support on the center cell should help this issue.

No dont have multi

Using the over-the-top wrap style is fine slider up (or slider down). Those folds pretty much fall out before you reach line stretch anyway. I'm not sure that's going to help this issue though.

For what it's worth, this happens on almost every jump to almost everyone. It's just never really caused serious issues so people haven't put much effort into remedying it. The center cell rear attachment of the multi is probably the best serious effort on this front.

How worn is your tail pocket velcro? If it's going prematurely, I'd think about replacing it.. You could also switch tail pocket styles to see if you could find something that will work better for you.

thanks tom I might give it afew goes and see how it looks on film but what you said is reassuring just looks so ugly. might try the different front velcro styles aswell the apex one really isnt as secure as others ive seen but maybe its better to have the velcro a little less secure than way to secure?? im not sure. ive also shortened my primary stow band (double wrapt) so it should be a little tighter now when single stowing slider down and double stowing slider up.

What you're experiencing isn't particularly surprising: think about the relative speeds and force that the lines are being pulled out of the pocket during deployment between sub and terminal - there's a much larger snatch force for the latter.

What I would suggest is that the velcro will wear faster during slider up deployments, and so the replacement cycle should be much shorter than for slider down/off jumps. Whilst I've heard 50 jumps as a sensible velcro replacement cycle, I'd modify that to 25-30 slider up, yet even 75-100 could be achieved if only used slider down (although you should always be checking that after every day).

Ultimately, if you spend a week in the Swiss valley, you'd probably want to replace your velcro before you start and at the end.

Can you explain why you think this?

I have a Troll canopy with 170 jumps
and the tail pocket's velcro is still nice
and tight like a frog's ass.

Just curious, is the primary stow(tape and rubber band)(more perticulary the tape) sewn to the tail pocket or the canopy?

It's sewn to the top of the canopy halfway up and behind the tailpocket

I asked because Im trying to play it out in my head and Im not sure what you are talking about is happening. Im not trying to find out what is happening to give you a solution, Im just trying to figure it out.

BTW my 'tape' is sewn to the top skin of the very ass end of the tail on my canopies, and I havent had this problem... 99% of my jumps are slider off anyway.


Good luck

I'm still trying to understand what the problem is that you seek to correct...

are your openings clean?
are there delays in the openings?
are the openings on heading?
are you suffering any canopy damage?

maybe I'm just slow...
good luck.

Just the difference between pulling the stowed lines out really fast (terminal, or near terminal deployment) and realtively slowly (slider down). There will be friction between the lines, the odd snag etc which can partially rip the tailpocket open during deployment, which would be much less likely during a lower speed deployment.

I could be wrong, but haven't you said somewhere that most of your jumps are short delays, i.e. subterminal deployments? I'm suggesting that velcro wear can be higher on terminal (or near terminal) deployments.