- Hey, in this video let's talk about
five interesting things that you should know
about your skydiving gear.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, this is Catherine Bernier from Skydive Vibes,
sharing the passion of skydiving
and helping you become better skydivers,
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So, as a skydiver I always want to learn more,
and I'm always trying to dissect my gear
to understand how it works
and from my experience and talking with my rigger,
I've found out that there's different little interesting
thing that any skydiver should really know about their gear,
so I wanted to share them with you in this video,
so by the end of the video,
let me know in the comment section
if you knew all the elements that I'll show you
in this video
or any element you think would be interesting to share
that I haven't talked about in this video.
All right, so let's start.
The first one is the three ring system,
so it's a basic element of any skydiving container,
but I'm not sure that everyone knows how it works,
and why it's there.
First it was invented by Bill Booth from UPT,
the container manufacturer of the Vector containers.
Nowadays this system is
on every modern skydiving container,
and its role is very important.
This system allows us to cutaway our main canopy,
so you have the big ring which is attached to the container,
then you have the other two that are attached
to the main canopy risers.
So, how it works is that you place the medium ring
into the big ring and then the small ring
into the medium ring,
and then you secure everything with that line loop
and that yellow cable, so in the end if something happens,
by pulling your cutaway handle,
the yellow cable will slip out,
releasing the line loop,
and then the system will just release the main canopy
by letting each ring slip out from the next one.
So, it's pretty brilliant,
keep in mind that it's always important
to inspect those rings,
because whenever you have a hard opening,
you can damage them and/or the wear can damage them,
and if their not working properly,
meaning if they cannot slip through each other properly,
you might end up having a hard time
to cut your main canopy away,
so this is why it's important to have a good maintenance
on your three rings.
Next, your RSL, so RSL stands for reserve static line,
not all the containers have this system,
but it's a safety element that is becoming more
and more popular in that we can start to see
on any new containers.
So, this RSL system is basically a lanyard
which is attached to your main canopy risers
and the other end goes on the reserve pin.
What does it do?
Well, whenever you will cut away your main canopy,
it will pull on the RSL,
that will then pull on the reserve pin,
so this way, without you pulling the reserve canopy,
your reserve pin will slip out from the RSL action
and then release the reserve canopy.
In the end it speeds up the reserve deployment
whenever you do a cutaway,
even though if you cannot reach your reserve handle.
Although you never want to really rely
on a system to save your life,
so you don't want to rely on this RSL system to pull
out your reserve canopy.
Always do your emergency procedures in full,
this is a backup safety device.
A MARD, so MARD stands for main assisted reserve deployment.
From the exterior, it basically looks like a typical RSL,
but in the interior there's a difference.
In a situation where you don't have any main canopy out,
you'll be able to pull out your reserve canopy
just as usual,
however if you do have a main canopy out,
and you cut away this main canopy,
the system will use the main canopy as a big pilot chute
to extract the reserve canopy.
So, basically the MARD system at one end
is attached to the main canopy riser just like the RSL,
but on the other end it's attached to the
reserve pilot chute bridle,
so this way, when the main is cutaway,
it will pull out the full reserve canopy.
So, this results in an even faster reserve deployment
when you cutaway your main canopy.
Next, your soft links,
so the soft links are basically what's connecting
your canopy line to your canopy risers.
This is also the system that will allow you
to change your canopies on your container.
In the past years those were mostly made with metal parts
just like you can see
when you're ready to check your reserve canopy.
Now it can depend on the model you have
and the year of the system you have
but I know on mine, they are in metal,
so over the years they transitioned for the main canopy,
they transitioned towards soft links.
They basically used the same type of material
than your canopy lines,
and they are made in a shape of a loop.
This is how they work.
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So, small tip here,
whenever you're packing,
and you see that your soft links tabs are
out of their pocket,
make sure to replace them to avoid any future problems.
Last interesting thing,
do you know the difference about the main deployment bag,
and the reserve deployment bag?
Well did you know there was a difference,
well, there's a couple of differences.
So, first on the reserve deployment bag,
the pilot chute is also attached to it,
just like for the main deployment bag but it has a spring,
so this spring is the reserve pilot chute spring,
this is what will accelerate the extraction
of the reserve whenever you need it.
Next, the reserve deployment bag is not attached
to the reserve canopy,
like the main deployment bag which is actually still
attached to your main canopy,
so whenever you're flying,
you know you have your pilot chute
and deployment bag trailing behind your main canopy.
That isn't true for a reserve canopy,
and this is why whenever you hear that someone
in your drop zone did a cutaway,
and now everyone is looking to get back the main canopy,
but there's also always another element
that they say they are searching for,
and that's the reserve D-Bag.
By the way, I have a question for you.
Did you ever go for a main canopy hunt after cutaway
on your drop zone?
Let me know in the comment section.
This is also a great element to look at whenever
you are doubting that someone just did a reserve deployment,
so whenever you're under canopy
or from the ground you can see the canopies up there,
nowadays our main canopies have weird colors
that are very similar to reserve canopies,
so whenever in doubt simply look behind their canopies.
If you cannot see anything trailing behind,
this guy or girl just did a reserve deployment,
then you can start to look around to see the main canopy
swirling down to the Earth,
as well, of course, as the reserve deployment bag.
So, if you want to learn more about what are the different
elements inside your skydiving containers,
simply click here and for another video from Skydive Vibes,
click here.
On that, keep jumping, stay safe and blue skies.
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