Off student status now...Should I buy a freefly suit?

[regulator 0]

I've recently accompllished my 'A' license and now I'm buying new gear. I am looking to purchase a new freefly suit before the summer but I'm curious if anyone has opinions on whether a freefly suit would be best of a skydiver just off student status or if it really wouldnt be a huge difference. Thanks for your advice!

[jakee 1,257]

Well, do you know if you want to freefly or get into RW?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[daremrc 0]

I was in your position one year ago, and I regret buying a freefly suit first. I'm still learning to fly with a reasonable degree of accuracy on my belly, and having a suit with grippers would've saved me a few bruises on the arm where people thought they were gripping my suit.

I suppose if someone thought they wanted to go straight to freeflying... but to me that makes no sense. My philosophy is I do want to try freeflying, but I want to be at least competent on my belly first. It seems to me that some things you learn on your belly will transfer to freefly.. But I've only got 5 or 6 "free-flail" solo's under my belt so my perspective is obviously a bit biased.

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[regulator 0]

I do want to freefly as well, but I plan on getting more procifient on my belly before I transition to freeflying. However there are some freefly suits with the option of getting grips on the arms and legs. I guess it isnt totally necessary since I can jump in jeans and my shirt now that I'm off student status however, I just hated looking like a student douche with the a-typical jumpsuits for students located at the dropzone. However without any real plans on doing anything extensive on doing 4-ways or anything like that I just thought I could get a freefly suit and if I was mostly jumping alone it wouldnt matter and I could have enough time to get used to being in freefall with the freefly suit. Thanks for your advice...I was thinking along your line of thinking as well, but for once I wanted to look like a skypimp instead of a skyho.

Blue Skies

[peregrinerose 0]

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Thanks for your advice...I was thinking along your line of thinking as well, but for once I wanted to look like a skypimp instead of a skyho.

And that's really all that matters, looking good. Not function, utility, safety, flying goals, just looking good. Yeesh. You should have just said that was what you were going for to begin with.

Realistically, whatever you decide to get, have grippers. If you're going to focus on belly for the next crapload of jumps, an RW suit is the way to go. I do almost no 4-way, that's not the only RW discipline out there. There's no reason you can't get an RW suit now and a FF suit later.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[regulator 0]

Its not all about how I'll look. Sure it has a little. That's why I put that on here so I can be honest. But I want to freefly and I dont really have any proclivities towards RW. I know that I'll have to be more proficient on my belly before I do any headdown work. You made it seem that I am a conceded piece of skygod crap because I'm tired of looking like a flying turd. The bottom line is I want to freefly more than anything but I'm not good enough yet and I'm getting advice from those who are more knowledgeable than me. But if you want to teach me how to sitfly I wouldnt stop you.

[daremrc 0]

Hmmm.

I didn't really think I wanted to do much belly flying, but, it turns out it's a lot harder than it looks. At least to do it well.

It's likely my freefly suit will be worn and ready for replacement before I try to do any serious freeflying.

Jumping Solo gets old, fast. You might find that doing belly jumps will allow you to be in the air with more people, faster than pursuing freefly will. This means more experienced people with their eyes on you in freefall to coach you & correct bad habits. It also means lots of fun that you get to share with your new friends.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but most beginner-to-intermediate freeflyers do lots and lots of solos followed by 2-ways with people who know how to fly defensively enough to get out of the way if something wild and crazy happens, don't they?

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[peregrinerose 0]

Heh.... I couldn't hold a sit to save my life. Of course I've only tried maybe twice. I have too much left to learn on my belly before I'll feel ready to try conquering another dimention of flying.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[pilotdave 0]

If you want to get proficient on your belly, get an RW suit with booties. Ask your instructors for advice on material, fit, etc, because half the purpose of the suit is to help get your natural fallrate to match everyone elses. When you want to freefly, get a freefly suit (or wear street clothes). I just got my first freefly suit and I'll be celebrating my 10th anniversary in the sport later this year.
Not having an RW suit or having one that fits poorly will really make it harder to learn. RW jumpers are sometimes not so happy to include someone on RW jumps thats going to wear a suit that doesn't help. It just makes it harder for everyone.

Dave

[squarecanopy 0]

I bought a cheap frefly suit (Kurupee) when I got off student status because I did not know what I wanted and it did not cost alot. It has been a good suit for the money and worked ok even doing multiway RW. Now I am ready to spend some $ on a good RW suit with grips 'cuz I now know that what I want is to do more RW with friends, in between (solo)sitflys!

Just burning a hole in the sky.....

[jellob 0]

I got a freefly suit with flat grips (from Freak N Suits) since I assumed it would be multifunctional and I could use the additional help of the grips, if needed or wanted. I like the flat grips since they are not bulky, but still can be easily grabbed.

[JohnDeere 0]

I would not advise you to do FF in street clothes. A t shirt will most likely cover your EP handles while flying. The last thing you want to be doing as a beginner is moving your t shirt to find your handles.

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[bodypilot1 0]

Get the right tool for the right job. This sport isn't cheap...

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[ROK 0]

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[B]if I was mostly jumping alone

[/B]

Don't take the same path that I did. Do everything you can to jump with others. Make solos few and far between. It'll make it much easier to transition into other disciplines if you get good on your belly with others to point out what you need to improve upon.

[regulator 0]

You know the more I think about it from your perspectives, the more I agree with you. Besides I just got a brand new RW fullface helmet. Why not get the suit to go with it. Its not that I think RW sucks or anything, but my drop zone is home to Spaceland Anomaly. I see these freaks of nature doing amazing things every time they're in the air. I guess the whole thing is that I feel that buying this suit will somehow lock me into a particular discipline. And I just wanna learn how to fly headdown. And now that I've gotten my license I'm kind of nervous as to whats out there in terms of who will want to fly with me since even though I'm no longer a student I'm still a nub. I take skydiving very seriously (with a big smile of course) and this next phase is a big step to me. I guess thats why I was asking for all of your opinions to guide me in the right direction. Thanks for your input.

[jheadley 0]

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Its not that I think RW sucks or anything, but my drop zone is home to Spaceland Anomaly. I see these freaks of nature doing amazing things every time they're in the air.

I'm not familiar with them but I'm guessing they're a freefly team. The thing is they're doing RW also, but just RW in a different dimension. You said you want to do head down. That's awesome. Next time you see them, ask them how to get there. They'll most likely tell you to spend a while on your belly before going to sit (and spending even longer sitting before going head down).

In my observations, the best freeflyers out there are the ones with a good RW background. I've seen freeflyers with over a thousand jumps who went straight to freefly after student status and they still flail around the sky with no control. You need to learn how to walk before you run, and that's what doing RW on your belly first teaches you.

There's RW and there's belly flying, and they're not the same. Learn the principles of RW on your belly, and they'll help translate to doing RW in other dimensions.

A good suit is more important to belly RW than freeflying, IMO. I've got 80ish freefly jumps with no freefly suit, just a baggy long-sleeve T-shirt and shorts. It may not make me look super pimp, but I've always been more impressed with how well people fly, and not how cool they look.

So good luck with your goal of being a badass freeflyer (I wish I could be one) but understand there is a progression to getting there.

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[regulator 0]

This is a clip of anomaly in action. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7PplUVDDn7I

I guess the whole thing about it is that I dont really know alow of the more experienced RW guys at my drop zone and I'm uncertain as to who to speak to about jumping with others now that I'm off student status. It's starting to warm up nicely around here so in a few weeks when I get back jumping again I'll have to look some of those guys up. Thanks.

[AllisonH 0]

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This is a clip of anomaly in action. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7PplUVDDn7I

I guess the whole thing about it is that I dont really know alow of the more experienced RW guys at my drop zone and I'm uncertain as to who to speak to about jumping with others now that I'm off student status. It's starting to warm up nicely around here so in a few weeks when I get back jumping again I'll have to look some of those guys up. Thanks.

Ask manifest and/or your former instructors. They'll be able to point you in the direction of some friendly RW guys who are happy to jump with newbies. You'll have a great time and learn a lot in the process that will be helpful to any kind of flying you do in the future.

[Booster_MPS 0]

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This is a clip of anomaly in action. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7PplUVDDn7I

I guess the whole thing about it is that I dont really know alow of the more experienced RW guys at my drop zone and I'm uncertain as to who to speak to about jumping with others now that I'm off student status. It's starting to warm up nicely around here so in a few weeks when I get back jumping again I'll have to look some of those guys up. Thanks.

We share the same DZ so I will share some things with you for you to consider.

First I was correctly told when I started the sport that if you stay with it you will own all kinds of gear: helmets, suits, eventually maybe rigs. No rush to purchase something just because you think it might be the only one that you will own.

I don't think that you could ask for a more friendly DZ than Spaceland. Show up, introduce yourself and jump a lot, people will notice and you will get to know everybody. People look for a thirst for knowledge when they consider who to embrace so just let your desire to learn shine.

You have plenty of people to emulate and admire there besides Anomaly and many of them with medals. Deguello, Havok, SPX-8 all have members that jump outside their team so seek them out and ask questions. Consider coach jumps to help you get used to being in the air and touching other people and being in proximity. If you have your A license, I would be happy to jump with you.

Lastly there is free organizing available every second weekend so utilize that resource as well.

[feuergnom 22]

make shure, that whatever you buy, has the matching colors for your rig/canopy/sneakers etc. you don't want to look like some of those old shabby ol'farts with stuff thrown together by random - if you want to be a skydiving-fashion-victim, you can never start to early, also: never ever forget to give others, that don't have shiny, top up-to-date, cool, badass matching gear-clothing-combinations arrogant looks. they are probably flying f111 7 cell canopies anyway

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[wmw999 2,140]

I look just like my picture, and I'm not on a 4-way team this year, so you can pretty much feel free to come ask me if I'd like to jump. I'm not the most regular person, but if I'm there and I'm already hooked up, I'll try to find someone else for you if I can think of them.

If you go to the end of the packing hangar that's closer to the landing area, that's where most of the casual RW folks hang out. Ask one of them (or one of the packers) to point out someone who's likely to want to jump with you.

Or you can ask at manifest, and they'll probably figure someone out. By the way -- the earlier you show up, the better your chance of hooking up with someone. Groups sometimes get established for the day after the first couple of loads, and then it can be harder.

It doesn't always work. But, ya know, I jump with a decent number of newbies, and I'm by no means the only one.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Brains 2]

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In my observations, the best freeflyers out there are the ones with a good RW background. I've seen freeflyers with over a thousand jumps who went straight to freefly after student status and they still flail around the sky with no control. You need to learn how to walk before you run, and that's what doing RW on your belly first teaches you.

i quoted jheadley because i agree with him. I also want to point out that Trent and Stevie both regularly fly on their bellies in bigways and trent is also usually a late diver on the texas records. Yes, those guys are freaks of nature, but they didn't get that way overnight. They know and understand the value of belly flying and i bet if you ask them, they will tell you to spend some time learning that first. At your dz, like wendy said, (she is REALLY nice by the way!) there are lots of people who jump with newbies. Mike Blanton took me under his wing when i had VERY few jumps and taught me a lot about RW. I think Kirsten is still there also and she almost always has time for newbies also. Introduce yourself and people will jump with you and help you, stand off to the side and keep to yourself and you will spend a long time doing so!

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[HSPScott 0]

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Its not that I think RW sucks or anything, but my drop zone is home to Spaceland Anomaly.

Trent, Stevie and Jed are awesome. You also have a ton of great RW jumpers. I'm pretty sure that Tom Jenkins and Leah are out there pretty much every weekend.

[chrismgtis 0]

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I've recently accompllished my 'A' license and now I'm buying new gear. I am looking to purchase a new freefly suit before the summer but I'm curious if anyone has opinions on whether a freefly suit would be best of a skydiver just off student status or if it really wouldnt be a huge difference. Thanks for your advice!

This is just my opinion, but I think everyone should work on RW before freeflying. So it makes a lot of sense to start out with a RW suit. For a lot of reasons.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan