Only One Lousy Jump Today- Number 41

I managed to get a jump in on the first load of the day then had to hurry South to make it to a surprise birthday party for Korby. He's older than me again. I can feel good about that for five months.

I did some fall rate control practices in free fall. I think I'm doing well, but have no way of knowing without other jumpers with me or a logging altimeter.

The chute opening was dramatic again. Stupid thing opened about half way and stayed like that for a few hundred feet. That's called a Snivel, and is caused most often by the increased porosity of older canopies. Too much air rushes through the canopy instead of forcing it open. The jumper is pulled upright, but is still falling very fast.

I released the brakes and yanked on them several times very hard to get it open.

Once open it had a bad end cell closure on both sides. They opened up with more toggle tugging.

So, I had a good landing then sat by the taxiway to watch the next load of jumpers' chute openings. I feel like such a Drama Queen for all the recent bad openings I've had. I want to verify once again that I'm not crazy or making a big deal out of nothing.

So, a full load exits the plane. Nearly 20 jumpers. I watched every single chute open. THEY OPEN FINE!!! Nobody is up there white knuckling it while their chute stays closed! None of them are in a spinning dive or climbing their risers to get at a popped toggle.

They throw the pilot chute and the main opens up. It's just that simple.

I need to revisit the idea of buying my own gear.