Turn Rig at 115 Jumps?

Hello all,

First off, I am thrilled to have found this large community of people enjoying the sport.

Now to my question: I have a low number of jumps. I completed my AFF in April, and now have 115 jumps (I also took a couple of 5-6 week breaks due to work travel. That being said, I am now trying to pack them in. This has been excellent for working on specific skills, getting comfortable under my own rig and canopies, etc. Take money out of the equation, is getting a turn rig worth it at this stage? I obviously would look for something used and not wait for the full-price turnaround times, but I do think this could increase my jumps by 50%. Going into the summer months of longer daylight, that could mean significantly more jumps.

Anybody gone this route before?

7 hours ago, h3x said:

Anybody gone this route before?

No, but why don't you just hire a rig for alternate jumps instead of purchasing a second rig which, sure as eggs, you'll want to get rid of in short order?  Just a thought, but with me being a max 3 jumps per diem man it's never been an issue for me, even with my sluggish packing!

Time in the sport is also valuable. Raw jump numbers aren't everything, but being on the DZ and paying attention to what happens, listening to the stories and advice of other jumpers is also a good way to learn and get better.

Typically I see turn rigs being used for higher-level competition teams that want to knock out 10+ training jumps per day. At 115 jumps I honestly doubt that a turn rig is worth it.

It could be worth it in terms of extra fun.  Just don't fool yourself into thinking it is practical.

Not sure of the value of my experience with this but here you go:

I bought a second hand rig that served me well from jump 50 to jump 200. I wanted a custom made rig and, as you say money wasn't the object, so I bought one and started using it from my 200th.

I kept the original thinking "turn rig".

Reality has been the turn rig has hardly been used. It comes out when my main rig is in for a repack and that's about it.

Unless you are competing or working in the industry a turn rig doesn't really make sense.

Put your money into jump tickets

if you have the cash, sure, go for it.

money buys experience

15 hours ago, h3x said:

Hello all,

 

First off, I am thrilled to have found this large community of people enjoying the sport.

Now to my question: I have a low number of jumps. I completed my AFF in April, and now have 115 jumps (I also took a couple of 5-6 week breaks due to work travel. That being said, I am now trying to pack them in. This has been excellent for working on specific skills, getting comfortable under my own rig and canopies, etc. Take money out of the equation, is getting a turn rig worth it at this stage? I obviously would look for something used and not wait for the full-price turnaround times, but I do think this could increase my jumps by 50%. Going into the summer months of longer daylight, that could mean significantly more jumps.

 

Anybody gone this route before?

I say no. Think about the jump before jumping, think while you're making the jump, think about the jump after the jump, and think about it some more while packing. Get the most from every hop. If money is no object get good coaching before a second rig.

If you can afford to buy a second rig .... SURE!

Just ensure that its handles are in the same place and that the main canopy is similar in size and handling to your primary main canopy.

If the second main canopy differs from your first, then install different-colored risers to remind you when you are under canopy.

Or spend some time learning to pack faster.  One of my biggest regrets in my "early" days (relatively speaking, of course) is that I didn't pack for myself, and at 100+ jumps I had no idea how to pack, how my gear worked, how to really inspect my gear (not just a gear check), etc.  Taking time to learn that stuff in between jumps is likely far more valuable than banging out an extra couple of jumps each day.  

6 hours ago, billvon said:

And if you are trying to lean high performance landings, make sure your two rigs are EXACTLY the same, down to harness size.

I disagree. If learning high performance landings is the goal, a turn rig is a NoGo in my opinion. You can get the same harness type and harness size yes, but not the same canopy. Sure, same type and size canopy is doable with enough money, but no two canopies will fly EXACTLY the same. It's all a bunch of fabric stitched together, and minor differences exist. It's unlikely people notice it in normal day-to-day jumping, but we notice it in CRW with different Lightnings flying ever so slightly different. And with swooping having a narrow margin of error, I fear the difference between two same-by-label canopies could well increase the risk of unintended lithobraking.

I would say 'no'.

I've watched teams train. 
They have a really good packer, so they don't use turn rigs.

They do a jump, land & hand off their rigs.

They go over the video of the jump, get a drink & a bite to eat, dirt dive the next jump, grab their rigs from the packer and make the next jump.

They get on every third load*. The one they're on, the one that is taking off when they are first down, then they are on the next one. They're on the ground about 20 minutes between jumps. That can be 10 jumps a day. 

There was one guy who was on two teams. He'd use a turn rig.
Land, hand off the rig, put on the turn rig. Get on the plane. Debrief the previous jump with that team and go over the dive plan on the way up.
Land from that jump, wait a load* (each team was on every third load) and go again.

He made something like 25 jumps in one day. 
More than once.

He only did that one year. 

I'm not the worlds fastest packer, and I'm older than I used to be.

But I could make every fourth load* on a pretty regular basis. 

The problem I had is that if I was packing for myself, after 5 or 6 jumps, I was beat. 
I would usually be on first load, but be done by 3ish. I'd sit down, relax & watch the shenanigans. 

For you, taking the money you'd spend on a turn rig and putting it towards coaching would be a much better investment. Taking the time between jumps to go over video, think about what went right & wrong and how to do better next jump are important.
Hint: I usually did video review first. Then I had 15 minutes or so of packing, and could think about a few things while packing.

* - This was at a DZ with an Otter. Loads were turning every 20-25 minutes, about 3 per hour. 

Jump numbers aren't everything. Quality over quantity. Early jumps the cognitive load will be higher as your learning skills.  You'll likely see diminishing returns with more jumps per day.

I'd recommend getting on a 4-way team and trying to do 5-6 training jumps a day with a coach. You'll learn quickly that way and if you can find a 4-way coach that's also a canopy coach they can give you drills and debrief your landings. Its a great way to get consistent feedback on freefall and landings. Just punching out 100 jumps quickly with little structure or feedback isn't the path to success.