This Guy called me to see if I wanted to make a few jumps with him and his buddies. "Sure," I said. This Guy went on to say that I would have to get a square reserve in order to be on the load. My local dealer had some advice for me. "This is your reserve; get the best; get something that you have confidence will save your life!" There's only one reserve that falls into that category -- a Raven. The only decision I had left to make was the size. A Raven One was my choice.

So off I went, with my new Raven One reserve, to join this Guy and his friends for some hot dives. We had planned to make about twenty-five jumps together. After eighteen jumps, things were going pretty well. On jump number nineteen, I exited in my normal and now very familiar slot. We had a fairly successful skydive with a fairly normal breakoff, and even my opening seemed OK, except that my canopy was spinning, not all that fast, but spinning nonetheless, and I also had a few linetwists. As luck would have it, I was spinning into the twists.

Usually you can kick out of this problem before you get to the ground, but this wasn't one of those usual skydives. You see, we were fairly close to this large body of water: Atlantic, they call it. A quick look down told me that while I might not actually land in the ocean, the only options were trees, mobile homes, and perhaps the golf course if I am lucky. (Maybe I can kick out of this. ) Oh yeah, by the way, next to the DZ were a couple of nineteen story hotels. And did I mention that there were over 200 people in the air with me at that particular moment? Maybe I can kick out of this! So after considering my options for one, possibly two seconds, I resorted to my emergency procedures and cut away the spinning main. The Raven One opened up quick and clean. The canopy handled very well, and I had no problem getting back to the DZ. As a matter of fact, the Raven One landed better than my main.!

So next time Guy Manos asks you to be on one of his world record attempts, remember you will have to have a square reserve. Be sure to buy the best; buy a Raven!

Jerry Lehnherr,
Madison, WI