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RedFootedBoobie

(38yr) Noob to wingsuit in 2 years- Realistic or not?

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Hey All (from south africa)

I'm a 38 year old, pretty fit guy, grown up my whole life involved in some form of extreme sport, from karting & rock climbing to dirt biking & MTB, I'm sure you would now see that it is pretty close to the ground but speed was always the objective, I have never had any issues with height but(at risk of possibly insulting some :)
Please take this from someone who knows almost nothing about the world and fraternity of skydiving and my impressions are probably wrong (a lot like the 17 year marriage I had to endure, lol. But also the reason I am this forum), but, I think there was an aspect of helplessness and lack of control that was foremost to me, I thought you fell like a stone, hard snap when shute opened and gentle flight to the ground. Beside the balls to jump out of a plane (who does that - really? I still need to get my head around that one) I could not see much beyond the safety routines that one must adhere to and safe exit and landing procedures.

That being said, I am that typical type A personality with a highly addictive nature and (at the time) total disregard for myself or anyone else and I doubt I'd be typing this mail if I had attempted this sport 10 years ago.

But then, a few years ago I saw it.....
Something I had done from the day I was born, only thing was it was so disappointing and vague every time I woke up. Flying-suit' s were a reality, technology had developed in the world of skydiving to such a degree that we could now fly (or at least fall in a controlled manner) and the physical creation of what I had done my whole life and used the other sports to try and emulate the feeling I felt had experienced almost every night had come to reality.

I then started slowly doing my research, not very focused mind you but I started reading up and familiarising myself with the world of skydiving to the point where I am now and through the confluence of a numbert of factors I have made a commitment to fly a wing-suit within 2 years of my 1st AFF jump.

I have set my bearing on this target and understand that I am at the bottom of a VERY STEEP learning curve and would like to do a few things:
firstly, to say hi and introduce myself -Hello,
Secondly, ask if my objective is realistic (I am a normal guy eaking out a living like the rest of us and something has to give to fit the skydiving malarkey into my monthly budget) in terms of cost VS time-frame,
Thirdly, ask for any input or words from the wise which one should be aware of when undertaking this journey in the hope of gaining as much insight as possible
Lastly, to put to writing my commitment to myself in an open forum, which keeps me dedicated and focused on the end goal, to fly off the Brixton tower in my hometown Johannesburg, it's literally a few km's away from my home. 273m radio tower on a pronounced ridge-line.

I hope you guys can offer valuable input and I look forward to gaining a huge amount if info while entereing a whole new world, understanding of the risks of the sport and being ok with the ultimate blue sky jump but trying to postpone that as long as possible. ;). Any input from a lesson learnt to the correct terminoligy will be appreciated, I heard the guys at my DZ referring to the sargent stripes, skydive-scubadive-m*## dive before 9am are the qualifying criteria. :P:$

I have heard that a man's whole persona changes in this time and I am both excited and crapping myself for what lies ahead.

I believe one the accepeted salutations are "Blue Skies"
Regards
V

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I assume you guys have a similar jump requirement to a lot of the rest of the world -- 200 skydives before you get into a wingsuit? I started skydiving in July of last year and am on track to make my first wingsuit jump before the end of the year. So yeah, you can do it. I'm not sure I'm ever going to do a base proximity jump like you see in those videos -- you have to be really good at flying your wingsuit to get away with that, and the sport's claimed a lot of lives of people who tried it before they were ready (And no few people who tried it when they were ready, too.) I'll be quite content to fly from the local DZ's planes for the time being.

Skydiving's an interesting enough journey itself -- there's a lot to learn in the sport. It's a lot more than just falling out of a plane. The minimum jump requirement before you fly a wingsuit gives you time to learn how to fly your body. That's absolutely a skill you'll need before you add wings.

Good luck on your quest.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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Best advice you'll get here: stop reading about and watching skydiving on the internet. Go to a dropzone. Talk to skydivers (ignore the tandumb passengers and their screeching hangers on). Talk to AFF instructors. If there is more than one dz in your area, visit all of them. Book an appointment for your AFF first jump at the one you like best. Forget everything you've read on the interwebs about skydiving and listen only to your instructor(s) until you have completed your student jumps.

While it's great to have a goal, remember that skydiving, like life, is a journey. The destination is nice, but the people you will meet, the things you will see and the places you will go as you chase that goal are what will make it worthwhile.

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I started skydiving the last weekend of Oct 2011 with the primary goal to fly a wingsuit. I was 54 years old.

In Jan 2013 my 201th skydive was my first wingsuit flight. I did my 28-32th wingsuit flights last Saturday.

I was not an exceptional student. I think I was average or below average. I was off 11 weeks that first winter with zero jumps. It took me 35 jumps to get my A license.

If you have your heart set on doing this my advice would be to start out slow and work your way up. By slow I mean in the early months there may be a LOT more to learn on the ground than in the air. So, trying to bust out X number of jumps per day might not be the best approach. For a very long time 2 jumps a day was about all i could handle, then it was 3, then 4, then 7. But I would have not been doing myself a favor to push for 5+ jumps a day in the early months. By the end of 2012 I had built up to the point I could jump and pack all day long and get 7 or 8 jumps a day. A vacation to a DZ with good weather then allowed me to get the last few dozen jumps I needed to get to the point where I could start on the WS. Any advice I might give would be to not rush it, but to focus on each step along the way and get it right.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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Welcome to the forum

As another person with the wingsuit goal in mind let me chip in my 2c
To lean to fly a wingsuit in 2 years is doable if you have the finances to get the training. To do a wingsuit BASE jump in 2 years is another matter

Firstly you are going to need to get your AFF done. Johannesburg skydiving club is based in Carltonville. Alternativly there are clubs in Preteria and Witbank. All 3 fly turbine aircraft which you will soon learn is a good thing ;)

I have copied an extract from the PASA (Parachute association of South Africa) MOPs (Manual of Procedures)

Before attempting a wingsuit jump, a skydiver must:
• have a minimum of a PASA B licence or foreign equivalent.
• have a minimum of 500 freefall skydives; or
• have a minimum of 200 freefall skydives, made within the past 18 months, and receive one-onone
instruction from a wingsuit coach who is confident in the jumper’s ability and has received a
waiver to the 500 freefall rule from the NSTO or his appointed representative.
• have completely read and understood all documentation and training information provided with
the wingsuit by the manufacturer.
• Use a wingsuit of appropriate type and size as recommended by the wingsuit manufacturer.
• have the ability to perform exits and skydive in the deployment position described in this section
before making a jump with the wingsuit.
• It is compulsory for any skydiver making a first wingsuit jump to get a briefing from a wingsuit
pilot approved by the CI before his first jump regardless of the jumper’s experience level.


You will need to spend lots of time at the DZ to get 200 jumps in 18 month, but no one said it would be easy

Your goal on doing a winguit BASE jump off of Brixton tower though I do not think is achievable in 2 years if you care about your own safety. Firstly the top of the antenna is 273m and it may or may not be possible to exit from the top. Realistically though it is not going to be an easy building to get access to unless you have an inside man.

BASE jumping requires its own set of skills independent of skydiving and many reccomend a min of 200 jumps before getting into BASE. Once you have experience with BASE jumping only then would you look to add the wingsuit. Wingsuit BASE will then require jumping from some big wall sites in Switzerland or Norway to get used to how the wingsuit flys from a zero airspeed before you try going off a building.

My R0.02
First step though would be getting into the sky. You have an ambitious goal even to learn to winsuit in 2 years.

FYI the PASA MOPs will teach you a lot of that terminology you were wondering about: http://www.para.co.za/Files/PASA%20MOPs%202012.pdf

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Just curious, but is this your mid-life crisis?
A min of 200 jumps first of all..it can be done but are you willing to make some sacrifices; friends, girlfriend (or boyfriend these days),wife (or husband these days), other toys, trips, etc.

The first year of skydiving is expensive: both in money and time commitment. I agree with some people here in that you need to go visit your local DZ and inquire about their schedule for AFF. OH and i know you mentioned you are a type A...pfft..one advice i can give you, check your ego and that type A at home whenever you decide to start learning how to skydive. Most type A's are the one's that take a little bit of extra risks and put us non-Type A's in danger..ya'll know what i'm talking about (low hook turns, downgrading really fast, etc). Listen to what your instructor tells you and do it.

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Hmmm, in reading your post it also looks like the "Romance" of skydiving has caught your attention. Just like there's some perceived romance in war it looks like you find some "romance" in skydiving; either by watching PRO wingsuiters who have 1000s of jumps or watching some Belgium dude named Felix jump from space.

There's nothing "romantic" about skydiving. 20:1 ratio of guys to prospects. you spend 99% of the time on the ground. you spend tons of money on gear and beer. you jump on extremely hot and cold days. For that cute prospect walking around the DZ there are 20 hungry wolves waiting for their turn. There are clans and cliques in the skydiving community. you will lose some or most of your wuffo friends.

So while your goal of 200 jumps is doable, be realistic about jumping off that Brixton or flying a wingsuit. Even at 38 years old i still think you have time to do all those with if you take your time (eventhough at 38 i still think you're old as hell! )

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Definitely possible.

Started my AFF on July 10, 2012 and am now at 157 jumps.

Just remember: The journey is the destination:)

"Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way." -Alan Watts

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From the day of my first AFF jump I wanted to jump a wingsuit. I hit 200 jumps and my C license in about 1 year and 9 months. Its very doable if you have the time and money. Don't just wrack up jump numbers for the sake of getting in a WS. Develop all your other skills along the way, especially your canopy skills and accuracy, and tracking.
You stop breathing for a few minutes and everyone jumps to conclusions.

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Welcome. It's a really cool journey that you are about to embark upon.

And don't focus so much on what you think your goals are that you miss out on the journey.

You seem to think that "normal" jumping is falling straight down, and that wingsuits are the only way to "fall in a controlled manner" (or fly).
You couldn't be more incorrect.
In freefall, at terminal velocity, the control that we have is pretty incredible. Watch a few videos of Arizona Airspeed (world class team) doing their stuff. Check out some of the sequential freefly stuff.
The skill required to do this takes a long time to develop.

HERE is the YouTube channel from a guy known as "Trunk." he has compiled some pretty cool stuff.

Make sure you watch "Silly Skydives From 2011" (it's in the "recent uploads" section). It has 9 girls in bikinis jumping with a giant inflatable... something.

Far better than a wingsuit, IMHO. :)

Seriously though. Don't get so fixated on a wingsuit that you miss how much fun it is just to jump.
It can be done fairly quickly (if you have the money), but there's a lot of other stuff that's really really cool.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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RedFootedBoobie

Hey All (from south africa)

I'm a 38 year old, pretty fit guy, grown up my whole life involved in some form of extreme sport, from karting & rock climbing to dirt biking & MTB, I'm sure you would now see that it is pretty close to the ground but speed was always the objective, I have never had any issues with height but(at risk of possibly insulting some :)
Please take this from someone who knows almost nothing about the world and fraternity of skydiving and my impressions are probably wrong (a lot like the 17 year marriage I had to endure, lol. But also the reason I am this forum), but, I think there was an aspect of helplessness and lack of control that was foremost to me, I thought you fell like a stone, hard snap when shute opened and gentle flight to the ground. Beside the balls to jump out of a plane (who does that - really? I still need to get my head around that one) I could not see much beyond the safety routines that one must adhere to and safe exit and landing procedures.

That being said, I am that typical type A personality with a highly addictive nature and (at the time) total disregard for myself or anyone else and I doubt I'd be typing this mail if I had attempted this sport 10 years ago.

But then, a few years ago I saw it.....
Something I had done from the day I was born, only thing was it was so disappointing and vague every time I woke up. Flying-suit' s were a reality, technology had developed in the world of skydiving to such a degree that we could now fly (or at least fall in a controlled manner) and the physical creation of what I had done my whole life and used the other sports to try and emulate the feeling I felt had experienced almost every night had come to reality.

I then started slowly doing my research, not very focused mind you but I started reading up and familiarising myself with the world of skydiving to the point where I am now and through the confluence of a numbert of factors I have made a commitment to fly a wing-suit within 2 years of my 1st AFF jump.

I have set my bearing on this target and understand that I am at the bottom of a VERY STEEP learning curve and would like to do a few things:
firstly, to say hi and introduce myself -Hello,
Secondly, ask if my objective is realistic (I am a normal guy eaking out a living like the rest of us and something has to give to fit the skydiving malarkey into my monthly budget) in terms of cost VS time-frame,
Thirdly, ask for any input or words from the wise which one should be aware of when undertaking this journey in the hope of gaining as much insight as possible
Lastly, to put to writing my commitment to myself in an open forum, which keeps me dedicated and focused on the end goal, to fly off the Brixton tower in my hometown Johannesburg, it's literally a few km's away from my home. 273m radio tower on a pronounced ridge-line.

I hope you guys can offer valuable input and I look forward to gaining a huge amount if info while entereing a whole new world, understanding of the risks of the sport and being ok with the ultimate blue sky jump but trying to postpone that as long as possible. ;). Any input from a lesson learnt to the correct terminoligy will be appreciated, I heard the guys at my DZ referring to the sargent stripes, skydive-scubadive-m*## dive before 9am are the qualifying criteria. :P:$

I have heard that a man's whole persona changes in this time and I am both excited and crapping myself for what lies ahead.

I believe one the accepeted salutations are "Blue Skies"
Regards
V



jesus, i can never get those 3 minutes of my life back. why did i read that
gravity brings me down.........

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