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Just curious to see how many people actually customize their DBS. For jumps where object strike is a significant risk, do you use:

I use custom deep brakes for whatever is a solid slider down jump. Such as a cliff of building. There is a large debate with jumping with Custom DBS whether or not its "safe" or not. The bigger issue is the fact that half the jumpers in the world, probably 80 percent of the people who say custom deep brakes are bad, are the people who don't actually understand how to set deep breaks or what it is. For a canopy to stall, or slide backwards on opening is BAD... and that's not what custom deep brakes are. Custom deep brakes allow for a canopy to stall one side (riser turn side), while the other side maintains its flight, and the center cell remains still in the same position without moving forward or backwards. This way you in essence turn without moving forward, and in some cases slide back to one side without jeopardizing your canopy's flight characteristics or stalling it out. Nobody wants a canopy to open in a stall or be stalling backwards on opening. That's stupid. There are plenty of videos readily available that show canopies with custom deep brakes that are set correctly, and some that are set incorrectly and in most cases the canopy will still be moving forward on opening with properly set custom deep brakes. It all matters about how the canopy reacts during a hard riser turn.

abso-fuckin-lutely use custom DBS tuned to my weight because of the solid objects here.

you must be careful though. i set my brakes when i weighed about 205 out of the shower. im now at 185. after opening in a full stall off a local S the other day, ive lengthened my brakes to account for the weight loss. ive got very low forward speed and instant riser input, just the way i like it.

i think ill go do a rear floater off a local E just to test my reaction time.

chances are your canopy comes from the factory with a deep brake setting and a shallow brake setting... next fucking question

I'm not sure I have ever heard a single person say custom DBS are "bad". The most common debate is whether or not they are actually necessary.

There are still canopies floating around that came with only the shallow setting, and at least one manufacturer that produces canopies with the option of only having one setting.

I've seen them. It was more of a chick peters reference joke.
I do jump mine factory settings though. Seems to be pretty good setting for me. I do like a little bit of forward movement on opening because I use toggles and I think it turns faster with a little speed. I don't use risers so I don't want a stall.

i have a mojo with only one brake setting...have to set my own dbs

I have. I think that the primary reason is the one JP pointed out--there are way too many people who have "customized" DBS by simply putting in a super deep setting without appropriate testing, and thereby have given themselves a canopy that stalls, backslides or just sinks out at opening. The real danger is that such a canopy is usually unresponsive to riser input, and a canopy that cannot be turned after opening is more or less useless.



Unfortunately, the answer to that depends on the jumper, their canopy, and their physical dimensions. Which means the only real way to find out if they are necessary for you is to test them.

I've customized a lot of DBS now, for a lot of different people. I don't have any good statistical data, but my gut feeling is that about 1 in 20 people don't require any customizing of their DBS beyond the factory settings.

I've encountered 5 canopies where the factory DBS was too deep (gave no riser control) and had to be lightened for a custom DBS. Those cases were very scary to me, and if only for finding those cases, I think it's worth testing the DBS for every jumper.

I have also observed dramatic differences between the "depth" of the factory settings from various manufacturers. Apex, for example, has settings that are the closest to "custom" on most of the canopies I've worked with. The canopies I've had to "deepen" the brakes the most have been Atair canopies, with CR canopies somewhere in the middle. But note that the high rearward speed of the Ace/Blackjack airfoil in a parachutal stall means that it's easier to move it backward than almost all of the other canopies on the market, meaning that a shallower brake setting works well as custom on those canopies.


Adjusting brake settings is _a lot_ more complex than most people realize. It's scary to see people who just throw in some random super deep setting and say "well, it opened a couple times off the bridge, so I'll run to Moab with it." You're definitely better off with a (fairly conservative) factory setting than with an overly deep, botched "custom" setting.

Is there a common trend in these 1 out of 20 that you've noticed? Wing loading below 0.65, Apex canopies (you said they come deep), or anything like that?

really? you dont use risers at all?
are your lines connected directly to your 3 rings?
=)

My point was more about preference than physical necessity. I have never used custom DBS, probably never will. I'm not afraid of a flying parachute, of course I will hear it from everyone if that choice bites me one day.

A stall on opening of a vented base canopy is not as bad as people think it is. I've had 2 now, both on a B. You have time to react and pop the brakes. It's just like reacting to a 180 in terms of time I think. So there is absolutely no excuse to not set deep brakes, it takes 5 minutes at your local rigger.
What we do see, is way to many strikes due to incorrect brake settings.
But, than again, you can't fix stupid

I'm aware of the usefullness of DBS, and I'm pretty confident to be able to understand how to find the right DBS (jumping multiple times from a span).
What I miss is: how can I try a dbs in opening without making any permanent rigging modification on the control lines? I mean, I'm trying the best dbs so I don't want to set up it permanently but just try it in a few jumps and then decide to change it or not (this till i find the proper one).
Maybe the answer is easy and obvious but I didn't get it.
Since I don't jump with people who has this answer I'm stucked in this step...

You take from the cascade, and then hand tack it with some simple thread to keep it in place while you jump. If you need deeper, take more and then tack it again. And repeat. When you find a properly set cdb, pull the cascade back out to factory setting, bartack it back to normal, and put your cdb setting however many inches you had to take from the cascade.

Another option is that you can use the little spectra loop on your risers that usually goes through the brake setting. Instead of putting it through the brake setting, just put it through the actual dacron using a finger-trapping tool or something. I use fishing line. Put the toggles through the loop. I attached a picture of this for a lines-through-the-ring configuration and it would work pretty much the same way for lines-outside-the-ring.

Tie a knot
Just measure the distance that your line shortened by.
It is the simplest way.
Just don't take to much of a delay - lines with knots lose in strength and can fail more easily.

i think the most important aspect of this scenarios is:

whatever you do in regards to brake settings, including your off heading reaction technique, have a justifiable reason. If you cannot explain why you set something up and why you go for toggles or risers, or etc etc, you're a sheep. try explaining it to someone more experienced than you. if they look at you like you have a dick growing out of your forehead... you might want to go back to the drawing board.

at the very least, you just may need more education. there are way too many jumpers now that understand nothing about rigging. if that is you, fix it. this shit is important.

I did a couple hundred jumps with factory deeps. During that time I did have a few offheadings and one cliff strike which i went to toggles for and successfully got away without injury. That being said I have since gone and got my brakes set with Snake River BASE, thanks JP, Tom, James! I am much more confident jumping cliffs and solid objects with that setting knowing that I'm not accelerating into anything if I have another offheading.

Train your brain and muscles to deal with the problems, correctly set DBS gives you an extra second to mitigate your injury compared to factory. You'll want that second if shit goes bad.

I would argue that most object strikes happen for any number of reasons and are rarely attributed to brake settings alone if at all. Can custom DBS help, no doubt, but if people continue to doing the dumb shit that they do then no brake setting is ever going to save them.

Chuck Peters - may or may not have typed:
RE: dbs
try explaining it to someone more experienced than you

Just home from #548, none of them with custom DBS,
most of them on Trolls made by Atair which per Tom A.
have the least appropriate/deep setting . . .

Here are my thoughts, which per Blitz may be useless
since many of you have way more jumps than me . . .

Nevermind, fuck it, you'll just tear it apart anyways,
cheers to you and to our fallen brothers and sisters

Do you jump solid, s/d objects?

Just so you know, your canopy didn't stall on opening. It was 100% pilot bud. Just an FYI, it was pretty clear on the video.

Obviously, you're a new guy.

Are you cleared to SOLO?

I think you have to get Category C signed off on your BASE Proficiency Card first.

Im sorry but if i just read right there's a dumb ass or dumb asses that don't use there "risers" ??? WTF, if so you are going to die you dumb fuck or fucks so keep it up and we wont have to hear from you no more..... there sure are some people that just are stupied

Good luck turning with toggles through line twists.

It's been done
At the valley

the san fernando valley?
wasnt sure it was jumpable.

Let me rephrase that
THE Valley