Square canopy will open as fast as the round. Square canopies are safer
then the round; they decent slower and you can flare them while
landing. You can control them better, they glide quite a bit, they will
penetrate into the wind. You can fly them into a clear of obstacles
area, fly away from power lines, rivers, lakes and such. However, I
would recommend that a person who is planning on using a square canopy
get some training. I would recommend that potential user of a square
rig will do a tandem jump and 1 or 2 static line jumps. Landing square
canopy downwind might be painful...not knowing how to fly it...well,
there is a set of brake lines that need to be released. You need to
know how to slow down, when to slow down, when to go to full
flight...if you take a static line class you will learn all that
stuff...is it worth it? You bet...it is worth every single penny and
some more and that experience will stay with you for rest of your
flying days. Square are safer...what makes me qualified to say that?
Besides being a pilot, power (every imaginable rating) glider
commercial, I am also a static line instructor and FAA parachute
rigger. There are a few manufacturers, one on them is Para-Phernalia,
and they have a systems with square emergency canopies. If you are in
South Africa there is manufacturer under the name PISA, which
manufactures a very good square canopy Tempo. Get yourself larger one,
for example Tempo 250. It is rated under TSO C23C- 254 lbs. max.
suspended weight. Hope this will help.