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It’s all “good times” now that it is over, but earlier this year I was in over my head, figuratively and literally, during an intermediate swoop competition at Atlanta Skydiving Center. Scroll down to the bottom of Chuting Star Rigging Loft’s Staff Info page for a closer look at a series of photos of my pond strike. I was actually lucky in that I stayed in the pond as I bounced across the water. On an earlier round a fellow competitor hit the pond and then skidded and rolled onto shore. While it may not cause as much damage as hitting the ground (most of the time), hitting the pond does hurt. This was the second round of competition and I was in fourth or fifth place after the first round. I tried to get a little extra speed on my hook and thought I had planed out perfectly until my knee got too deep in the water. The next thing I remember was trying to stand-up after coming to a stop underwater. As I dragged my soaking wet canopy to dry ground, it felt like I had been sucker punched in the stomach, abdomen and below all at once … several times. In the end all that was really hurt was my ego and pride, but over the last few years others haven’t been so lucky. Pond swooping is usually not highly regulated at the DZ. For those drop zones that have ponds it is mainly used by swoop competitors or other highly experienced jumpers. At my drop zone, some jumpers interested in swooping the pond are not allowed to due the owner’s judgment call on experience level. Those interested in high performance landings can take a canopy control class from a number of swoop competitors on staff. Still, it all comes to knowing your limits at your present skill level. It’s great to push those limits as you seek to get better and take your skills to a higher level, but keep a healthy fear in mind of what can happen if you push too far too fast. I know I got a bit too amped up in a competition setting and paid a small price. Make sure you talk to other swoopers before trying to skim the pond yourself.

One of the most interesting new developments in skydiving is the detachable main deployment bag, pilot chute and slider being used by some of the top swooping competitors. Performance Designs recently posted a news release about the Removable Deployment System on its web site. According to PD the system was “co-invented by PD Factory pilot Ian Bobo, and PD engineer Wayne Downey. The system utilizes the natural movement of the slider to bring the deployment bag and pilot chute ‘down’ to the jumper. The canopy is packed into the bag similar to the way a reserve is packed into a freebag, and a lanyard connects the deployment bag to the slider. As the slider travels down the lines the lanyard drags the bag and pilot chute assembly down with it, allowing it to be removed by the jumper. While early versions required removal of the system from the slider, PD inventors wanted the final R.D.S. design to incorporate a removable slider to speed up the process.” I’ve been able to get a close look at a scaled down version of the system as members of Team Method based out of Atlanta Skydiving Center have experimented with part of this setup over the past few months. The theory behind the madness is that by removing the D-bag and pilot chute you should be able to milk an extra 10 or 20 feet of distance out of your swoop, which may be the difference between 1st and 2nd place in competition. T.J. Landgren of Team Method uses the system, which involves attaching the main deployment bag to the slider. A loop of line is sewn to the back of the slider and an additional piece of line with an RSL shackle is attached to the end of the pilot chute bridle inside the D-bag. Upon opening T.J. releases the shackle, reels in the D-bag/pilot chute and stuffs it down his jumpsuit. Adding the slider removal allows the canopy to open up further and reduces drag even more. For more info check out the PD web site.