Rant & Rave Blog

A huge thank you to the 187 of you who responded to the main canopy survey the first two weeks of May at ChutingStar.com! This one was a bit more long-winded than our past surveys, but we felt that was the only way to truly get feedback on main canopies that are so varied by manufacturer, type and size as well as everyone's different experience level. We truly appreciate all of you that took the time to complete this survey. After sorting and reading through all the results, comments and feedback, we've found that we can't sum this up in one article. So we're going to be doing a series of articles over the next several weeks in our blog What we can tell you so far is that the 187 of you who took this survey have a combined 280,876 jumps! The average number of jumps for those responding was 1502 and the average mains you've tried is 9. So the responses were in-depth and rich with information. PD's Sabre/Sabre2 topped every category as the most popular first canopy, your favorite main canopy and the canopy most recommended to others as their first main canopy. It also tops the list as to which canopy you're currently jumping. Continue reading →

As the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) disease continues to spread, health officials are recommending face masks or coverings. See this link from the CDC on Cloth Face Coverings.

Those with a sewing machine and the materials have been able to make reusable cloth face masks. ChutingStar has face masks as well as face mask alternatives available. One of our fellow skydivers and parachute riggers, Nikki Kingen, demonstrated on a recent trip to Walmart for supplies for her family how a neck gaiter can work as a face mask too!

Neck Gaiters or Headsocks have been a staple at ChutingStar for years. These multi-use fabric tubes can definitely be used as a face mask alternative. Furthermore, these can be washed and then after the need for mask subsides, these can later be used on your skydives or in the wind tunnel.

Our ChutingStar Face Mask design is manufactured by LiquidSky Sports, and are washable and reusable as well.

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While you can always see our comparison of current audible altimeters at this link, we wanted to hear from you on what you love, hate and/or desire in an audible altimeter!

And did you ever let us know what you think! More than 200 of you took our survey that was open April 1-15!

For the swag pack winners, we decided to award four of you, instead of one, and chose those who identified in the COVID-19 question as a person in the medical or first-response fields. Thank you for your support during this time! See our related blog article on those stories at this link.

The short and sweet from the survey is that the majority of you use and love anything made by Larsen & Brusgaard, and L&B's Protrack II is the audible that is being most considered as your next purchase. Still, the Alti-2 N3/Atlas also received high marks as well the AON2 Brilliant Pebbles. And most importantly, we think the written feedback and comments from all of you is an invaluable resource for other skydivers and the manufacturers.

So lets dive into your responses on these and all the others...

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Like most everyone else during this pandemic, ChutingStar and our crew members have been negatively affected during this COVID-19 pandemic. This worldwide shutdown will indeed change the world forever, and has resulted in the loss of loved ones. At the same time, we're encouraged by the love and strength of the human resolve to not only survive, but make the best of the situation. Stories of families becoming closer, communities supporting each other and businesses switching gears to keep staff employed show us hope for tomorrow. In our April Survey on Audibles, we put in one question at the end asking "Good, Bad or Indifferent, how has the Coronavirus and worldwide shutdown affected you?" These are the raw responses below. I think the biggest takeaway I get out of these is that we're not alone in our struggles and fear. Empathize with your fellow human during this time. They may put on an "everything's fine" front, but deep down we all have many of the same issues during this time. Encourage, support and help others as you're able. Continue reading →

(Also published in Australian Skydiver Magazine)

Many times when a skydiver purchases their first rig there is a lack of information or education on how to care for their rig.

The following detailed list I put together in 1999 to give to everyone who purchased their first skydiving rig. It has been updated every year since then, and now applies to all skydivers for help inspecting their gear. It is a great resource for all new skydivers as well as for seasoned skygods who have had some downtime.

Enjoy...and tell others to check it out.

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We heard from you! Thanks so much to the 303 responses to our full face skydiving helmet survey March 1-15, 2020! This was nearly double the responses of our last survey. Woohoo!

Full face skydiving helmet offerings have changed dramatically over the past year with manufacturers now offering helmets with impact ratings. We recently updated our Full Face Helmet Comparison article at this link with our take on the features of each, but we wanted to hear what you love, hate or want to see in your full face helmet.

There is so much great feedback we received from all of you detailed below. We hope this helps you in your next helmet purchase as well as for those of you purchasing your first full face helmet. And we've sent these notes to the manufacturers too so they can work on fixing issues or incorporating your ideas into future full face helmets.

The quick summary is that Cookie's G2, G3 and G4 helmets are clearly the most used and loved helmets, but when it comes to what helmet you're interested in purchasing next, the Tonfly TFX and Square1 KISS are also high on your list after the G4. We also found that an impact rating is important to more than 70% of our survey respondents.

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You were heard! We had exactly 160 of you take our digital altimeter survey the first 2 weeks of February 2020!

Before we dive into the results, we are thrilled to announce that the winner of the ChutingStar Swag Pack is Jake Forest of Raleigh, North Carolina (randomly selected with a blind scroll & click through the 160 responses)! We've sent him his large pack of ChutingStar goods. A huge thank you to Jake and the rest of you for taking the time to fill out our survey! We've also sent this survey results blog post to all the altimeter manufacturers in hopes they will incorporate your suggestions in future altimeter development.

The quick and dirty is that while L&B's ARES and VISO digital altimeters were the most used by you we found that Alti-2 Atlas was more likely to be your favorite altimeter and it was the Dekunu One that has piqued your interest as being your next altimeter.

Check out these response charts below as well as specific feedback from your fellow skydivers.

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Parachute Systems, known for the Vortex container as well as the Decelerator, Hurricane, Volt and Ventus canopies, stopped new manufacturing in August 2019. The owner, Chris Dales, is looking for a new manufacturing facility for Parachute Systems, so it is possible that manufacturing will restart in the future.

But for now, if you already own a Parachute Systems canopy or container, and need a new lineset, freebag/bridle, reserve pilot chute, replacement handle or the like, we can get some of those items for you. The turnaround time and price do vary, so you'll need to contact us for any of those needs as these are either in-stock with Chris, or are made to order.

Note: As of August 2021, Parachute Systems can currently only provide replacement linesets. Replacement container parts are currently unavailable due to the company awaiting a new FAA approval for manufacturing parts again. You can contact us for an update as to when parts will for the Vortex container will be available again.

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As we wrapped up our final ChutingStar Parachute Rigging School course for 2019, I ended up placing this group's canopy patch right above our first course patch from 2008. Detailed memories of that first course 11 years ago are starting to fade, but fresh in my mind are all of those riggers and riggers-to-be who birthed what the ChutingStar Rigging Family has become today.

With the help of the late great Hell Yeah Jack Hammer and ultra detail-oriented Ryan Vosser, we kicked off the first-ever ChutingStar Rigging School in 2008 by pouring all of our knowledge, tips and tricks into John Barnes, Warren Cleary and John Dean. Warren, who didn't technically sign-up for the course, was woken up from the bunkhouse that morning and was told he had to take the course. Ha! He would later work for ChutingStar, become the lead instructor for our rigging courses for several years and earn his Master Rigger certificate. Continue reading →

Make sure your Vigil has been updated for these service bulletins below, if your unit is affected. These were bulletins with deadlines in 2019 and 2020.

Check the info below to see if your unit is affected, and if so, please get with your local rigger to get the unit removed and returned to Vigil America for the updates.

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