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Hello,

I'm still a long away from purchasing my own skydiving rig but I was wondering if it's possible / even advisable to use a BASE canopy as your main canopy in skydiving? The reason I'm asking is that if I someday get into BASE I'd be familiar with the canopy straight away and if there are no major drawbacks using one in skydiving then why not?

Sounds great and all except for the fact that you will only be able to jump on "no-wind" days. And you have no way of knowing if the wind has picked up since takeoff and exit. And unless you're doing nothing but hop-n-pops then you will potentially be a hazard to anything doing their landing pattern. And BASE canopies don't last nearly as long as a sky canopy.


Edit: I haven't jumped larger canopies enough to really know their limits. I've put 150+ jumps on an F111 at a 0.8 wing loading and there has been some gusts that have picked me up and slammed me down. So when I think back to the crap I had to deal with on that canopy, it's hard for me to imagine people doing it with an even larger canopy. But hey, my first skydives were on a 7cell canopy as large as my base canopy and I survived that just fine!

This answer is the peak of the DZ.com / BJ.com progress. For long time I haven't seen most stupid answer.
If you would use your brain for a second you will notice how stupid your answer is.
...Tell me how skydivers were getting back to LZ in '80 or early '90 than?
What about those students and people who fly regular 7 cell canopies all their life?! How did they manage to get back to DZ?
Do you have any idea about the real performance of high performance canopies?!
Just continue to offer advices, it is really entertaining
...mg...

K-
Yes it's possible and a great idea prior to making your first BASE jumps. Depending on how much skydiving you plan on doing, you will probably want a dedicated skydiving main. Renting or borrowing a skyrig that will fit your BASE canopy is the route I chose when I was learning. Your head is in the right place, keep asking questions and despite having to sift through the enormous pile of dog shit, that is this site, there are some valuable nuggets to be found.

Just get a sail slider so that the openings are softer. If BASE is the goal, you can't be too familiar with your BASE canopy so every second you spend flying it is to your benefit.

The only downside beyond having to jump a big, heavy accuracy rig is just that the general attitude of trying to get past skydiving as fast as you can so you can BASE jump might mean you'll miss out on enjoying a pretty cool sport.

Skydiving isn't for everyone, but it's generally a necessary component of BASE training for the duration of your career so you might as well enjoy it.

I have about the same wind limit for my base canopy as my skydiving canopy, and wingloading has nothing to do with safety in the landing pattern, so there is no real functional difference between the two except for flying style.

Yes you can and it's a great idea. Knowing what your canopy can and can't do makes life a lot easier on a BASE jump.

I did lots of solo hop an pops with mine. The reason for doing solos were so that I could have all the airspace and not have to fly a pattern to land. I just went for the peas or parking lot all the time, regardless what the winds were doing.

Learning how to skydive, or in this case, skydiving for BASE, you should just fly a regular parachute until you have mad skills, then, jump your BASE canopy to learn mad ninja skills.

My guess is that this level of ignorance is the result of the ever more popular "AFF straight into BASE progression". It's all the rage these days.


To the OP: proficiency on any canopy will help in the BASE world. There are plenty of skydiving specific canopies that are very similar to a base canopy in terms of flight characteristics without the hassle of converting a BASE canopy for use in a Skydive rig. There's really no reason for that. Just jump. Lots.

My canopy progression was PD170 -> Stiletto 150 -> Stiletto 135 -> Stilletto 120 -> Velocity 96 -> Spectre 120 -> Silhouette 190 -> Mayhem 200.

My reasons for transitioning up to a base canopy had to do partially with the 500 jump wonders learning to swoop, of which I was one at one point. I never had to worry about it when freefliers went out first and I was on a Velocity. After upsizing, due to doing AFFs and wingsuits I frequently found myself a target of those doing erratic maneuvers. I decided to get a BASE canopy for skydiving to keep consistent.

Your canopy choices don't have to be driven by skydiving canopy company's marketing department. There's no reason to downsize if you don't want to.

Besides, it seems swooping isn't even cool any more.

In my opinion it's a great idea. Learning to actually fly a big canopy when people start seems to be a lost skill. people are very quick to go to a smaller skydiving canopy to 'fit in' to the ultra cool skydiving scene. People want to be accepted so they usually do what everybody else is doing around them, which for a while has been to get a small canopy for skydiving. They usually do not have a full grasp of the performance range, limitations and positive attributes of a BASE type canopy and then, when they decide that they want into BASE they try to bring small parachute flying into the BASE environment, which can lead to really shitty flying and missed LZ's.

My first skydiving canopy was a 220. I put 600+ skydives on it, in many, many conditions before doing my first BASE jump with a similar canopy. The comments by Shreddex are common of people that have not put many skydives on larger canopies and are under a false impression larger canopies pose a hazard and are dangerous to others because they typically are the ones who jump small canopies and think they need the entire sky to set up and land and probably have not communicated with the people on the load to know what everyone else is doing on their jumps.

When you are at the DZ, know who's on your load and what they are doing and flying. Let them know what you are flying and doing. If you and they are aware of who will be in the same airspace then you can plan accordingly and avoid any 'hazards'.

Now, the question to you is, what are you goals? How will you get there? How thorough do you want to be? How safe do you want to be? How well rounded of a jumper do you want to become? How much time and money do you have? etc....

I'm not talking about getting back to the DZ. You should know your canopy, it's limits, and spot/pull at an altitude accordingly.
I jumped an f111 at a 0.8 wing loading for 150+ jumps. I can tell you it is no fun gaining altitude while trying to land in the wind that's a little gusty. Been 20' off the ground when I've been picked up then dropped because of a gust. I would actually often do cross/down-winders because I felt safer!
But thanks to this I'm very cautious and refuse to jump in less then favorable wind conditions. Call me a puss, but I'm still here with 0 injuries.

Now I fly at a 1:1 and I'm very happy with it.

Moro,

lyhyt vastaus : ei kannata

Pitkä vastaus : ei kannata koska laskuvarjohyppäämiseen on laskuvarjohyppäämiskamat. Kannattaa ihan oikeasti hommata siihen käyttöön sitä varten tehdyt vehkeet eikä yrittää tehdä jotain kompromissia sitä varten mitä ehkä joskus meinaa tehdä. Laskuvarjohyppääminen on ihan oikeasti helvetisti mukavampaa siihen tehdyillä vehkeillä ja koska laskuvarjohyppääminen on vaan menestyksellisen basettamisen kannalta kohtuullisen kriittistä, kandee hommata kamat joilla sen harrastaminen on mukavaa. Basekupuja saa kyllä sitten Suomessa(kin) lainaan / vuokralle jos siirtyminen BASE:n pariin alkaa olla ajankohtaista.

Ja Suomessa(kin) kannattaa tutustua ihmisiin ja kysellä ihan oikelta ihmisiltä eikä intereneteistä...

I know I'm new here, but I've seen these 3 previous forum posts which might be relevant to you. 1 2 3

There is also a comparison of canopies to use in skydiving, from most ideal to least ideal.

Pilot radio?

I skydive one of my base canopies quite regularly. I bought an old Vector that had a pack tray big enough to accommodate my Seven 280. Initially it was to dial in the brake setting. Then I got a bigger wing suit and started using it for practice. Works like a charm with a small mesh slider. I do use direct slider control to help make the openings a little more soft.

You may have an issue with risers. Skydiving rigs have the three rings facing "forwards" and some DZ's will insist for ease of inspection/safety you comply. You may therefore have to change risers back and forth etc. Sure some one better informed/Rigger will be able to advise/help you.

no, there are skydive rigs with reverse risers, pdf atoms for example.

if the dzo approaches me and wants me to change my original atom risers on my atom to something from a different manufacturer because of this i would run from that dz.

the problem with the reverse risers is not the "checkability" but its higher the force needed to release if jumper is in belly to earch orientation. (eg. with a baglock).

There is also the potential for riser hang up if the harness ring sits too low on the chest. Reverse risers are not compatible with all rigs.

This is all I have time to write at the moment so I'll summarize. Cloudtramp And I share the same opinion. Skydive a lot and learn basic rigging skills.its stupid not to have rigging skills.

428, swooping is still cool. Trying to go big without the progressively learned skills is the opposite of cool. Kinda like getting into base with very little time under a parachute.

Honestly, my plan is to get a second sky rig that will hold a 225 and jump that any time I'm doing a tracking/wingsuit jump. I keep my 150 for all my freefly jumps. I just don't want a premature while doing head down on a base canopy lol

Used to have a pair of PDF Atoms 00, if I remember rightly but I do not recall them having the three rings facing back. Sure your right, what the hell.
my point, he may nave to swap the risers. Ok?

+1

Thank you all for the answers. I think I've found a pretty good one. A friend recommended Storm 170 or 150 from Performance Designs (I'm 152 pounds). Apparently it's suited for WS skydiving as well which I can undoubtedly see in the future.

Storms are great canopies, you'll have a lot of fun.

I'm curious, how about a CReW canopy, like what's suggested here

On another note, what should the considerations be when buying a BASE canopy to put in a sky rig? Are certain canopies better/worse? Are certain openings softer/harder?

I currently jump a CF Storm freepacked w/ tailpocket, mesh slider and dacron lines in my sky rig.

99.9% of my skydives now are wingsuit, so it's a non-issue. I have 100' on heading openings everytime - no rubberband/dbag bullshit. It also replicates a wingsuit base opening quite well.

Only downside, it flares like shit. Also need to put another brake setting in as the CRW settings are quite deep.

Thanks for the reply

So you basically jump a skydiving canopy packed like a BASE rig?

It's more like a skydiving canopy trash packed with the lines in a tail pocket. I flake the bottom skin, stow the lines and start stuffing it into my container.

But do you use a Dbag? Also, what's the size of you PC

Freepacked = no dbag.

30" non-collapsible pc and 9' bridle

Thanks guys!

How high are you turning on to final, and are you giving it some heavy fronts? I haven't flown a CF Storm, but have a lot of time on the Lightning. To get a good flare I hold double fronts till about 20' and then start the flare. Sounds sketchy but works well and is accepted practice. basically as soon as you get off the fronts it starts to plane out.

What size and wingloading are you flying at?

While I'm new and don't know much, I'm actually surprised you have to use both front risers and toggles to land.

Its the trim, not the loading. Speed is power.

My buddy does quite a bit of CRW and gave me the same tip. I've been pulling on the fronts a little bit - it does sound and feel quite sketchy - I'm not getting cowboy on them by any means, but the increase in forward speed definitely helps.

Just don't use your fronts to land a BASE canopy, that's how you get your girlfriend pregnant.

I usually jump at Pilot 150 loaded around 1.4 and I borrowed a Storm 230 from a buddy for a while. I got a pretty good flare out of the Storm but the "sweet spot" is much lower in the toggle stroke than the Pilot. When I flare the Pilot, I start feeling the lift early in the flare. With the Storm, my arms are almost fully extended before I start to feel some nice lift. The lift is there, but you really need to focus on using the full range of the toggle stroke.

CRW canopies are trimmed with different linesets that are more beneficial for CRW applications. Downside is they don't flare so good.

Ahh no wonder. Thanks :)