The WolfePak

I was in need of a rain bag, and necessity is the mother of invention. Plus it's winter and there's nothing better to do..

I brought my vinyl Sport2 155 proto bag to Nick's house. I spent a week making it, and it was intended to be for Ilya. We put Nick's 155 in it, and his nose batten almost punctured the end of it just from sliding it in, the vinyl stretched a bit where it was poking. After making two prototype vinyl bags I realized it's a delicate and quite stupid material to be making something out of that is often times loaded with pointy things and dragged on the ground when loading and unloading from a vehicle.

Finished canvas rain bag on my Sport 2 135

Pete Judge's Sport2 155 bag

After some coffee and internet surfing, I found waterproof canvas. A couple of pounds lighter than vinyl, easier to fold up, doesn't stretch, abrasion tested, UV resistant to 500 hours, and comes in a bunch of really neat colors and designs. (Solid colors, zebra, camos, flowers, psychedelic patterns). The veteran in me went for the digital camo, although we didn't have that pattern in the Coast Guard.. call the cops, I don't care!


My bag only took two days to make- and that's with figuring out every single cut, measurement, and stitch. And it was more enjoyable because there is no cancer-causing vinyl glue application or rubber zippers that you have to spend hours roughing up with a dremel.



Interior storm flap covers the zipper and seams

There's a 12" waterproof storm flap inside that, when laid over the glider, covers every seam as well as the zipper. So any water that may seep in can't get to the glider unless it goes up 12" of material and over the top while zipper-down with the weight of the glider pressing on it: which means your vehicle is probably underwater.

Send it!

It's that time of year again boys and girls, lets huck those chutes!



Ilya, gangster af
 

The importance of chute repacks can not be overstated. I have only witnessed one chute deployment in person and that was plenty. It happened at the 2001 Regionals- to our regional director. He was on tow around 1500ft and his glider folded in half. We heard the keel snap from the taxiway. He began spiraling, and it was several seconds before we saw the laundry get tossed. His parachute was thrown clear and it was a textbook deployment. He continued to spiral all the way to the ground, grazed a pine tree, and ended up with only scratches and bruises. I was in the cart on deck to tow after him, so that made the task a little more interesting.

Max, Nick, and Ilya

Ilya, Max, and I got together this past weekend to utilize Nick's hangar to toss and repack. I had suggested doing it a little earlier than his planned chute clinic in March, just in case any issues arose that needed to be fixed prior to leaving for Florida. And luckily, nothing out of the norm happened.. with the gear anyway..