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5 cell canopy for base?

thoughts, ideas?

I've made a couple BASE jumps on old five cells.

I'm actually interested in getting my hands on a couple and exploring further. The flare (and glide) pretty much sucked, but I suspect that the openings could be pretty good, given a bit of re-engineering work. I also figure that a new, redesigned 5 cell would probably flare (and fly) a bit better than the vintage 5 cells I've jumped.

edit: If you were asking "what do you think of using the existing, old school 5 cell skydiving reserves for BASE", my answer is: Get Real BASE Gear.

I have a swift 5 cell 200 in my CRW reserve container. Make me a deal and let us know

My first ten BASE jumps were on a Strato Flyer then a Kestral. I was only about 145# at that time. Not too much data but all the openings were perfectly on heading.

Tom

I have a 240 sqft Mojo with chronic end cell closure which functionally serves me as an old 170 sqft five cell most of the time.

Interested?

Don't undersell that canopy Spence.....5/7ths of 240 is 171.43 square feet.

I wore a 5-cell, 270 square foot, DC-5 canopy sewn by Para-Flite for my second jump off the ************ Bridge.
Mind you, that was back in 1986, when DC-5s were still in production.

can you tell us about the jumps?

5 cells suck. Absolutely no drive & a poor flare. This was learned years ago when such canopies were around. The husband of the keeper of the BASE #'s, Rick Harrison, knows this rule well, especially after encountering a head wind on a big wall while jumping a docile 5 cell. He smashed his leg badly and had to crawl for 12 hours to get out, followed by 6 months in a wheelchair.

In short, the canopy has a low aspect ratio and will open on heading. However, the cells are so large, the amount of drag from the leading edge is too large for all around BASE use.