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New 330 HOP tandem mains the rave at
Atlanta drop zone By Mike Gruwell 28-Oct-02 -- A parachute
manufacturer in the Czech Republic is beginning to make itself known in the
United States with the release of its HOP tandem main. The 330 square foot
elliptical tandem canopy developed by JoJo
Wing was first promoted and tested in Australia at Sunshine Coast Skydivers. According to
Sunshine Coast, tandem masters have made more than 15,000 jumps on the HOP
tandem mains over the last two years. Earlier this year, Atlanta Skydiving Center received a
demo HOP tandem main and has since ordered and assembled 5 more. From the
first jump, I fell in love with the HOP. Just to give you a bit of
perspective, I have made more than 1,000 jumps on SET 400 mains, about 300
jumps on Icarus/Precision 365 mains, 50 jumps on HOP 330 mains and a few
jumps on PD tandem mains. While PD is not getting a fair shake in my
evaluation, the HOP reins supreme. From deployment, you know you have a new
kind of canopy. The HOP has an extremely staged and slow opening. The opening
snivel, with the slider at the top, seems very controlled compared to the
"searching for air snivel" of the Icarus/Precision mains. As the
slider works its way down, the canopy seems to open to its full shape in a
defined cell-by-cell pace. This is unlike the SET 400 that has an almost
never-ending snivel followed by a fast slider drop and full canopy inflation
sequence. Once fully open, the light toggle pressure is amazing, even with
all control lines attached to one toggle, as on the Strong system. If the
slider starts making a lot of noise, which has only happened once in my 50
jumps, it can be collapsed with two drawstrings. Flying the canopy does take
some getting used to as it feels like flying a Stiletto with just toggles.
The canopy flies well in deep brakes and the landing flare is powerful. For
more information, visit http://www.scskydivers.com/HopDoc.html. You can find the original
article posted on 28-Oct-2002 on the Rant & Rave Page
of the Chuting Star Rigging Loft. For Jojo-Wing Power Kites
check the Jojowing Australia
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