- Have you ever had line twists?
(muffled grunting)
In this video, let's talk about why do they happen
and how to fix them.
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Hey there, it's Catherine Bernier from Skydive Vibes,
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So, line twists are common problems
that can occur during deployment
or after a hard canopy maneuver but most of the time,
we know that those situations can be easily fixable.
So, why do line twists happen?
There's a few reasons for those.
First, your body position at opening.
If you have an asymmetrical position
when you deploy your canopy, you can most likely end up
with line twists.
When you pack, if you leave very little line unstowed,
when you put your D-Bag in your container,
your D-Bag at deployment can end up spinning
if it comes out unevenly from your container.
Line twists can also happen if you have a very tight stow
on your deployment bag
which will make it spin at deployment.
They can also occur if your canopy inflates unevenly,
due to asymmetrical packing.
Lastly, if you stall your canopy, there is a risk for it
to enter into a spin depending on how you can softly recover
from this stall.
So, those are some of the reasons
why line twists can happen.
Do you know any other?
Let me know in the comments section.
So, now that you have those line twists,
how can you fix them?
So, first you always want to be aware of your altitude
to make sure you have the time
to get rid of those line twists.
Then, before engaging any movement to try
to fix those line twists, you want to make sure
that you've stopped spinning.
So, try to balance the spinning movement
the other way around so that, at least, the spin stops.
Then you'll be able to take the time
to fix those line twists.
A typical tip that people are giving is
to spread the risers apart and then kick your legs
to make you rotate.
The best example we can give is
have you ever played on a swing?
Have you ever played to twist yourself up?
So, this is the same principle.
How did you twist yourself on the swing?
It's basically the same technique
that you want to reuse in the air to untwist your lines.
So, this is the usual tip.
However, there is another tip that skydivers are starting
to talk about which is way more efficient.
What you will want to do the next time it happens,
is that you grab your risers and pull them together.
Once they are together, you want
to spin in the other sense, your risers.
What will happen, is that, as you can see on the video,
the spins from the line will go down on the risers
and when they are at that level, it's easier for you
to then unspin those
because once all the twists are down there, you will start
to easily rotate yourself
and then get rid of those line twists.
It's also a great tip if you're not really able
to kick yourself to put you into a spin.
So, then by twisting your lines, you're most likely
to succeed.
That being said, we gotta be careful because line twists,
of course, are most often banal and simple to fix
but there are some situations when those line twists
can become a serious situation and those are
when you can't stop yourself from spinning.
So, if you end up in an uncontrollable spin,
you gotta react fast because first, as you accelerate,
this centrifugal force will lead you, maybe, not to be able
to reach your emergency handles.
So, that's important that whenever you have the chance
and you see that you won't be able to stop that spin
and that it's accelerating, react fast
and do your emergency procedures.
We've heard many stories where the speed became too fast,
there was too much centrifugal force
where the skydiver couldn't even lift their hands
to grab their handles.
So, you don't want to end up at that state.
Moreover, by spinning that fast,
you might lose consciousness.
So, that's another thing to consider and another reason
to react fast whenever you are spinning uncontrollably.
Because once you lose consciousness,
the only lifesaving device remaining is your AAD
and depending on how fast you are going down
and also the fact that your reserve will pop out in
that spinning environment, it can be a harsh situation.
So, you want to make sure
if you see you cannot control yourself spinning
with those line twists, react, cut away and get rid of that.
Now, how can you avoid those situations?
Well, it comes from, maybe, the reason why they happen.
So, first, you want to be careful
whenever you pack your canopy.
Make sure everything is symmetrical and do not hesitate
to search for help from packers at your drop zones
or riggers so that they can help you pack better
if line twists are a problem
that you always have at deployment.
Next, have a good body position at deployment.
So, make sure you stop any forward movement,
that you're stable in that stable box position
before reaching out to pull your canopy.
Next, be careful whenever you do a violent type
of maneuver under the canopy.
So, whether it's changing directions fast, it can happen
or stalling your canopy, make sure to always recuperate
that stall very slowly and do not panic while doing so
because if you go too fast, this is when your canopy
can end up into a spin.
So, be careful with those maneuvers.
Now, if you want to watch another video
from our Skydiving Safety playlist, simply click here
and to watch another video from Skydive Vibes,
simply click here.
On that, I'll see you in the next video.
Keep jumping, stay safe and blue skies.
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