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| Blue skies and safe landings ! |
Easy Pack Zero-P Canopies
by Espen, the Flying NorwegianA lot of people are having problems trying to handle zero-p canopies when packing. There are several ways to make it easier to put that slippery thing into the bag, here's just one of them. |
Do everything you usually do up until the point where the canopy is on the floor, cocooned and ready to be S-folded. Lay out the D-bag so that it is easy to put the canopy into it. Some people turn it inside out, that's a matter of preference.
When you're lying on the canopy, take each corner of the cocoon and pull a little on them until they make small 'envelopes'. Put the excess fabric on the corners into these 'envelopes' to make the cocoon completely closed at the top. |
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Hold it closed until you have placed your left hand under the canopy, high up towards where the D-bag is attached. About 3 inches down should do. Find the middle of the packjob, where both sides of the fabric meet, and grab it so it can't move outwards.
Now, move your right hand to a point about two and a half bag "depths" down and place it on top of the canopy. Press your right hand down while moving your left hand up and back to make an S-fold. |
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Remove your right hand and use it to help control the fabric you just folded. You should now have an S-fold which is a little "deeper" than your D-bag.
Place this in the bag first. You can use your knee to hold it in place, but be careful and don't put too much pressure on the canopy. Too much pressure will cause it to spread out and mess up your neat S-fold. |
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Now that you have about half of your canopy in the bag it should be easy to hold it there. Take a little time to "arrange" it inside the bag to make it look neat.
If you're sitting with the D-bag in front of you and the lines trail off to the right follow these directions. If you're sitting the other way, reverse hands. With your right hand, take a grip under the part of the canopy which is still outside the D-bag, about 2 hand-widths from the edge where the lines stick out from the canopy. |
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Move your hand up, to the left and then down into the D-bag, making an S-fold as you go. There should be a clear "cleavage" to put this S- fold into inside the D-bag. Adjust how far down the second S-fold goes into the bag so that the edge of the canopy is close to the edge of the "lid" of the D- bag.
Voila! Your slippery canopy is safely in the bag and you're ready to stow the lines and finish your packjob as usual. |
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Remember these few things during your pack job:
- Always keep your lines taut during your whole pack job!
- Make sure the slider does not slide down the lines. It should always be all the way up to the stops on the stabilizers.
- Never let go of any grip without making sure you are somehow keeping the canopy in check with another hand, or a knee.
- Check that you have cocked your pilotchute before you start handling it to get it into the bag. If you don't have a fully protected line inside the D-bag, your canopy can suffer from line burns if you cock it after the canopy is in the bag!
It is going to be fun to jump it after you're done packing, so try to smile!
I hope this helped you keep that slippery stuff in check. If not, there is always the Psycho Pack or other variations of it. Good luck! |
More safety issues on pages
[1]
[2]
[3] [4] |
