Kirk Bauer's Wrap Advice
1) Don't panic, take time to analyze your situation, prioritize what needs to be done, and make the right decisions. In every CRW wrap I have been in or seen, taking 10 or even 30 seconds to make a good decision is not going to kill you. Making the wrong decision might.
2) Do not cut away your main parachute when you have another canopy wrapped around you. Take care of the other canopy first and worry about your canopy later.
3) Do not immediately cut away -- wait to make sure the situation warrants it. Most wraps work themselves out without any action from the jumpers.
4) The first 5 seconds or so of a wrap are the most confusing. People may be flying everywhere, lines and canopies are all around, and you are being tossed about like a rag doll. There is usually no need to cut away at this stage -- you don't know how it will turn out, and you don't know what you'll hit on the way out. Instead, protect your head/neck/face, deflect other jumpers that might come at you, try to avoid going through lines, and generally pay attention to what is happening. After things settle out, you may be able to use this knowledge to free yourself.
5) If you are wrapped around somebody else, do not cut away until they ask you to. Instead, communicate with them. Inform them of the current altitude. If they are not communicating, they may be unconscious and then you should cut away as long as you are free of any canopies on your body.
6) If somebody is wrapped around you, first clear your head an neck so that you can see. If you have a good canopy and enough altitude, try to get the canopy off of you by sliding it down your body. If you can't
make any progress, ask them to cut away. Then try some more. If you still can't get clear, gather up the canopy and contain it so that it won't interfere with your canopy and land with it. If your canopy is not good, or altitude is getting low, have the other person cut away soon, as that almost always helps, or at least will slow your decent. Now get that canopy off of you -- gently, if altitude and circumstances permit, or with a hook knife. Do everything you can to get that canopy off of you. Once you are clear, altitude permitting, cut away and deploy your reserve. If you get below 500-ft without a good main, do not cut away and instead deploy your reserve in addition to your main. Do your best to aim your back into open air before deploying the reserve.
7) When you do cut away from a wrap, make sure you have your reserve handle before cutting away. BUT, do not deploy it right away, unless you are very low. Instead, fall away so that you can get clear of everything, and then deploy your reserve.
8) If you are a wing in a diamond formation, you need to be extra-aware of your canopy and the wing docked on you, if any. Watch your canopy and make sure you don't let it come around. If you do come around try to not go through any lines. There may be a point at which you should drop your leg grip when you are coming around, but I'm not sure if there is a way to teach that. If you have a wing docked on you that is about to come around, you may be able to reach over and hold his canopy back somewhat, or at least cause him not to swing in so far, or high enough to wrap you. If the wing has no grips, dropping him before he comes around is an option.
9) If you are a wing-lockup in a diamond formation, you need to be extra-aware of your surroundings. If the wing you locked up comes around, he may drop you, and you may become a wing yourself. Whether or not he drops you, he'll swing into the lockup that you docked on, and they both may come down into you. Even more common is for the wing for the next row to come around onto you, as a wing lockup. Whenever a wing is next to you (docking, docked, locked-up, whatever) you should always pay attention. If he does come around, it will be right at you. I have avoided wraps numerous times by grabbing the other jumper and pushing him/her to the outside, or at least using your shoulder to deflect the jumper. If you can push them to the outside, it should be better for everybody involved. At the very least, protect your face and body as they often times will slam right into you.
10) Always keep your shoes loose -- this allows you to slip your foot out of your shoe if a canopy is wrapped around it. I have lost two shoes this way, but have probably prevented two cutaways as well.
