proper control line routing

guest · March 14th, 2001, 08:15 AM

I have a question for you knowledgeable base boys and girls. I was jumping a borrowed Vertigo 2 pin rig with a Dagger canopy, (rig is a decent design, not as well thought out as a Perigee Pro, canopy seemed to open and fly great, nice flare, I liked it). But here is the dilemma;
The rig had been packed slider up, and I was re-packing it for myself, also slider up, for a 7-8 second delay. The steering lines seemed to be routed incorrectly, they were through the slider, but NOT through the metal ring on the risers. The toggles were free as on a slider down/off style pack. The steering lines were also tacked so that the toggles could not be taken off to route the line through the ring, odd. 3 of us looked at it and wondered what was going on, are we just missing something? Since we could not remove the toggles to route the lines through the ring, we totally changed our plans, packed slider down, and did a nice 470' object instead.
I later talked to the owner of this rig, and told him I thought he had the line routing wrong. His response was, no, he had it set up that way. In the event of a slider up line over, he could just push the toggle through the slider and let it go, thus clearing the mal.
I would like to hear some thoughts on this, is this common? I was thinking about what would happen if a toggle came loose during deployment, it could potentially hold the slider up and really ruin the morning breakfast debrief.
Thanks for any info.

Rob

guest · March 14th, 2001, 11:03 AM

Hi Rob,

I'm afraid it's a really BAD idea - refer to the recent threads about the fatality in Arizona. You're absolutely right about the potential for a hang up if the toggles released prematurely.

You should never use the line mod with a slider up pack job and slider down the lines should be routed completely free of slider and guide rings.

I'm sure people with way more experience and knowledge will post to this saying similar things.

Craig

guest · March 14th, 2001, 12:07 PM

Hey Rob,

Are you Kiwi's friend? I remember having a chat with him about that same situation a few weeks back.

As I recall, the toggles were funky too. I never saw the rig, but it sounded like it might have had old zoo style toggles on newer syko style risers. I know that the Vertigo riser/toggle systems are different from the CR/BR (LRT) toggles. Is it possible that there was some confusion around the design?

Anyway, Craig's sentiment is totally correct. Jumping a slider up rig with the control lines out of the keeper rings is definitely going to ruin your whole day. This is because, as you surmised, a blown toggle on opening can zip up into the slider, hang it up, and send the whole mess (with you attached) streamering into the ground.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu

P.S. Thanks for sharing your views on the gear--would you mind reviewing it on the review pages?

guest · March 14th, 2001, 12:55 PM

Hey Tom, thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm Kiwi's friend. We had a long look at the set up, along with another experienced baser. It did have a zoo toggle system on a new Vertigo riser set up, it had snaps on the toggles, as well as velcro. There may have been a way of removing the toggles to re-route the lines through the guide ring, but damn if we couldn't see it. The brake line was tacked around the toggle, not the normal loop which would allow you to remove the toggle if you wanted to change your line routing. It just didn't seem like a correct set up, but I am of limited experience. Maybe someone else uses this type system. If so, is a slider up jump possible with the toggles tacked in this way?
I will be happy to post my review of the gear. To tell you the truth, I'll stick with my Perigee classic with CR LTR toggles, thank you.

Rob

P.S. Hope your recovery continues to go well, hope to see you at the exit point soon.

guest · March 14th, 2001, 02:08 PM

Gidday Rob,

Your experience with this gear is worrying. I say that because I have never seen a set of toggles that were physically tacked to the break line. Its scary because it would mislead someone with low experience into believing it is meant to be that way. You are correct in assessing something was wrong. The previous posts explain very well the reasons - but to summarise:

Slider up - break lines through slider and riser rings. (Shallow setting)

Slider down - break lines through nothing (Deep setting)

1st thing I suggest is get your break lines so that you can detach your toggles. You may be able to slavage what you have but it may mean you need to replace the break line from the cascade down and have a loop sewn in or at least some extra length for tying in your toggle. Then you can quickly adjust for slider up and slider down. Some people like to leave the end unsewn so they may adjust the length their toggles are set depending on slider up or down.

I would also like to add to Tom's post that LRT stands for "Line, Ring , Toggle" This is the order in which you should set your breaks. ie. Put the break "Line" over the loop, then the "ring" over the loop then stick the "toggle" through the loop. I am sorry if this seems elementary but there are many people who get this wrong due to bad habits skydiving.

Hope this helps.

Luv SLIM