Rigging up for handheld and thy bridle

I know, this maybe seems like a no-brainer for some of you, but over the time I have seen so many jumpers handle their gear in very awkward ways when rigging up for a handheld or staticline jump ending up doing something stupid, that I feel the urge to write something about this.

If your rigging up routine for handheld jump starts by dumping everything (rig, bridle, PC) out of the stashbag on the floor, or you don’t have any routine for this, read further…

I had quit a few good laughs in the past because of this, like when a fellow jumper dropped his canopy into deep snow, at -10°C in the middle of the night, on top of a building. But also a few occasions that gave me chills watching other people rig up with their bridle and PC floating all over the place, and I heard more than one story about accidental bridle misrouting that would have led to a total if not recognized prior jumping.

bridle misrouting death candidatesSo to not actually end up doing something stupid like the fellas above, there is a simple remedy for this:
Check bridle routing and stow PC and bridle in the BOC just like when going stowed before you put your rig in the stashbag. (If you use a staticline setup just stuff it in the BOC aswell.)
This way you can just take your rig out of the stashbag and rig up with the warm and fuzzy feeling that you do not risk popping your pins prematurely or death because of some stupid bridle misrouting.

stowedIf you utilize the bridle velcro for handheld jumps do something like this:

bridle velcro modIf the PC is too big to fit in the BOC without stressing the spandex too much, just stash the bridle and the mesh of the PC in the BOC:

big pilotchute stowedWhen geared up and all straps fastened, take out the PC, carefully pull out the bridle, and set up for handheld or staticline.

Another thing I also see a lot is that people hold the bridle on the risercover when picking it up. I personally don’t like this either, it’s better than no “bridle-control” at all, but you can still end up popping your pins when you step on the bridle, and bridle misrouting is also still an issue. (see death row candidate number 2 above)

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