Performance Designs Parachute: the PD Sabre

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One of the little joys afforded skydivers is the opportunity to order customized parachute equipment. Sport parachute manufacturers offer a wide range of fabric colors. Walking into a skydiver's gear shop, it's not uncommon to see a skydiver hunkered down with a box of crayons and a canopy template, trying to figure out the perfect custom color scheme for his or her new canopy.

I started skydiving in 1990, making most of my jumps on a used all-red parachute.

After I retired that canopy, I considered many color schemes for its custom replacement. But it wasn't until I settled on the canopy model (the PD Sabre) that it finally dawned on me what color scheme I should create -- rather, re-create.

As the above photo illustrates, this is probably the closest I'll ever come to flying a Sabre with 336th/4th Fighter Wing markings.

And that's what "the other Sabre" is all about.

Visit Performance Designs to learn more about the PD SABRE (now replaced with the Sabre II) and other PD sport parachute designs. Click on the images to the left to see other photos and articles about the modern sport of skydiving.