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Newbie FAST faller slow-down suggestions

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Besides losing weight, Inflateable suit, etc.

Seriously>:(!!!

I'm aware of practice, practice, and more practice....but from experienced "Lard-Ices":o, what types of suits, techniques yield the best results? I was in a shoulder-in track for most of a jump and still averaged 144mph:(.

Yes speed is cool, but I have a lot of "feathery" friends that I would love to jump with on a regular basis......


BTW 280+ @ the door:$

$20 per reply on advice that "I" deem useful!;)
Anvil Brother #69

Sidelined with a 5mm C5-C6 herniated disk...
Back2Back slammers and 40yr old fat guys don't mix!

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You just dont want to see me in that super skin tight jumpsuit that I borrowed to *TRY* and match fall rates anymore, that's what the issue really is right :ph34r: (atleast I know I dont wanna be wearing that all the time :)

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

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A good jumpsuit mfg will advise you to pay a little extra for double layered, heavyweight fabric on the arms and legs. Booties can make a little bit of difference too. Get the large grippers. Swoop cords are available to help inflate the extra wing that the mfg should custom size to your needs.

How tall are you?
People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

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SD,

I have been labled "anvil" by my beloved friends and I am 260 out the door. I had a freefly suit made by Flitesuit. Skybytch made it extra baggy to help slow me down. The benefit of the drag comes at a price, the extra material will tend to fly you rather than you flying the suit. I also have swoop cords to expose the extra material in the arms while belly flying. This too comes with a price (you have to learn to fly both with and without the cords, the tend to make me back slide). last but not least get coaching and learn to fly big. I have jumped with other jumpers my size and that is what they have done. They expose more surface area which results in more drag thus their slower fall rates.

Flying big has worked best for me, I can slow to 123 on my belly without swoop cords, but at that speed I am starting to chip a bit.

Phil

PS I am on the freefly diet (lots of jumping, very little eating).


Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

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Baww ha ha 280+ is all! I am 327 otd currently. My average fall rate is 134. I have a tony suit made super large, and swoop cords, that I found either really dont work, or I have not been able to make work yet after 80 jumps on the suit. The thing I do is spread out really big, suck in the abs, and cup the shoulders. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. The bad thing is that in this positon I dont have alot of control. The best thing to do is loose weight. I was down to 280 OTD and was getting fall rates in the 120's. I need to get off my ass and back on a diet[:/]:(

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

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Dang, I want to be able to do some jumps with you, but i can fall as slow as 106 on my belly. With my new jumpsuit i can go over 120, but that is still a big gap. Although I fall around 150 in a stand. So I fall as fast as you do on your belly when im in a stand

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I had a Tony Suit with swoop cords for awhile when I was 240 OTD, but then I gained an extra 20 pounds and the suit just didn't allow me to float as much. The new suit I got was a Merlin suit without cords and I have regained my range again. Best bet is to get a good suit designed for you, most likely with loose cotton material and swoop cords. IMO, most of the primary suit manufacturers are similar, but it takes someone with knowledge to measure you up and work with the mfr to get a slow suit designed specifically for you.

Another recommendation is to go up the road to Perris and log some coached tunnel time. I went this past January and spent just 15 minutes with Pat McGowen. Most of the time was spent on playing with fall rate with different body techniques and it was absolutely amazing what I learned in that little time. Even with 12 years and 900 jumps, it amazed me how every little body action affects fall rate and you can really see the effect in the tunnel.

Don

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I'm currently 280+ out the door. I would highly recommend a Tony Suit with swoop cords.

Call them and discuss your needs. They can build a suit that comes pretty close to matching the fallrate that you select.

I got out of the sport for a while and sold my Tony Suit, but I'll definitely be buying another soon.

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I was in a shoulder-in track for most of a jump and still averaged 144mph:(.



lol.. i'm average 109mph in a tight jumpsuit in my best arch!! (faster with weights of course)

btw what kind of ranges are considered "fast", "slow" and "average" (without weights/wings etc)?
Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

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Baww ha ha 280+ is all! I am 327 otd currently.



You do realize that you're overloading all your equipment at that weight, don't you? The Wings is rated to 275lbs, the Spectre to 299lbs, and the Smart reserve to 300lbs...

While you've chosen gear with some of the highest ratings in the industry, do you really think it's wise to jump them that far over the limit? You're almost 20% over what the harness is rated for, with a built in tendency for higher speeds than the average jumper!

Not much safety margin in those numbers! Yikes!

"If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

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There are two things that will help you (we're similarly weighted out the door, I know they worked for me)!

1. Dress for success.

Spend the money to get a good suit that is built for your needs. All the major suit manufactures can help you there. I personally recommend BevSuit, but you may find a different manufacture that you like.

2. Get good coaching.

Good coaching will teach you how to really fly your body, how to control your fall rate and how to really move in the sky. Personally I'm a fan of Skydive U with a good coach (not all coaches are created equal), but there are other programs and other very very talented skydivers that coach as well. Find a coach that you can afford and that you can learn from.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Hey Eric,

I'll jump with you next time we're in SD together. Not that I can offer much in the way of coaching but I can hang with you in the speed department and we can do some two way jumps so you can focus on me and work on your fall rate adjustments.

Cayce

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You do realize that you're overloading all your equipment at that weight, don't you? The Wings is rated to 275lbs, the Spectre to 299lbs, and the Smart reserve to 300lbs...



There is danger here, but not as much as you might think. Ignoring the legal isuses, let's look at the three systems.

TSO 23D harness are rated to a certain weight because there's an intersection where cost to test at a certain max weight becomes higher than the profit made from the number of jumpers, that weigh that much or above, purchasing the rig. As good rule of thumb is that with a properly maintained harness, the jumper's body is going to fail way before the harness does.

Main max weight. Main maxs are more a measure of the skill level required to fly a canopy than canopy structural intergrity limits. Theya re also somewhat arbitary. Frex, the Safire II max weight caps at 300 lbs regardless of size past a 169. I've actually seen several manufacteurs that will not sell hi-per canopies unless you've logged a very significant number of jumps over the max weight of your canopy.

Reserve: Again, like the harness, a TSO-23D reserve is going to be tested to the point that it's not cost effective to keep upping the mex weight. Different situation than harness though because the reserse could very well fail before the human body does. OTOH, virtually all of the 23D reserves are reenforced and overbuilt and pretty much have a 20% fudge factor built into the max weight. Ideally, you will not reside in the fudge factor, but it is there.

Issues that do concern me: Obviously the TSO on both the harness and reserve is being violated. That will make many pilots and DZO's very nervous. A large jumper can bypass this by getting a TSO 23B harness(unlimited weight) and a 23D reserve that is large enough(I know that there are D's rated to at least 317). Which leads to my next point,

Wingloading: AB's profile says he has ~100 jumps but it jumping a 1.42 WL on his main and a 1.3 WL on his reserve. Now to be fair to AB, I haven't seen his skills under canopy, but on paper, the primary danger would appear to be skill(ie not enough for the winglaoding on either canopy) failure, not gear failure. Not saying he's a bad pilot mind you, just saying the numbers aren't looking good.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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I understand the discussion YERY well. I am working on my weight right now. I am very conservative, and take a alot of time doing canopy training, and testing my canopy to the max before entering the pattern. 90% of my landings are stand up. The rest are a knee sliders. I slow down as much as I can before deployment, and as much care is taken to prevent a premie. I have a high wing loading, but also it is a large 7 cell, which we all know is not the same as a high wing loading on a 99 sqft xbraced canopy. I know everything I just said can kill me, but I take every step to make the next load.
I did not just start at this wingloading, but rather worked up to it over about 6 months. Hopefully it will not take that long to loose weight and get back down under a 1.3 loading.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

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