Tracking in freefly suit

[Geoff 0]

Some advice please - I think my tracking is pretty good when I wear an RW suit with booties - I'm slightly de-arched, legs straight, shoulders rolled, pushing down with feet and hands, and I often float higher than other jumpers while tracking.
But occasionally I feel unstable when tracking wearing a baggy freefly suit - a buffeting or rocking effect.
An ideas what I'm doing wrong?
This seems a bit strange as I'm a reasonably experienced jumper (300+ jumps).
Has anyone else experienced this?
Any help appreciated.
Geoff

[tigra 0]

Its not you, its the suit! All the extra material in the wing and legs is catching air, but I guess you knew that. RW suits are designed for tracking, especially if you have booties. Makes a big difference. I can barely track in my sit suit, but the sit jumps I've done have been small, so separation was not as critical an issue-not like being on the outer rim of a 60 way!
Keep working at it, I'm sure you will make the adjustment.

[Geoff 0]

Thanks Tigra. Just to clarify - the suit is a 'normal' freefly suit with baggy arms and baggy legs - not a winged sitfly suit.
Geoff

[tigra 0]

right, the extra material still catches air and flies a little differently. Not quite the same as wings, but the same idea.
Try rolling your shoulders in a little, and bring your arms in close to your sides, legs together, point your toes. You just have to make more of a concentrated effort than you would in an RW suit! But I know the freeflyers at my dz can really track. You just need to adjust to the suit!
Blue ones!

[Dutchboy 0]

It isn't just you. I experience buffeting when tracking in my freefly suit as well. I've tried to do RW with my freefly suit before. Nearly impossible to move forward without totally droping your head down into a wicked delta.

[Greg 0]

Its not just you, I have actually had to temporarily "shelf" my new $324.00 Tony Freefly Suit to work on my RW. Bought the suit too early, I want to freefly, but need to master some basic RW first. My jumpsuit really kicks ass, but has "extreme" flaring from knees to feet, and shoulder to wrist which not only affects the tracking, (makes it bumpy) but is a reall buzzkill for fall rate control. Oh well, jeans and sweatshirt are working great for now. My brother has mentioned perhaps using rubber bands around the legs to eliminate the flairing and see if it helps. Maybe try that tomorrow.
Blue ones!!

[ramon 0]

tracking in a freefly suit from an RW dive (I don't have an RW suit, so what do I do ...ha ha) is not as efficient than from a freefly dive.
If you are in a sit, the correct track away technique for a freefly dive involves doing a cartwheel to head down (to maintain speed and then looking up at the horizon and tracking away. The improper method is to cork on to your belly 180 turn and then start tracking (sloppy dangerous corking and slow)
Done correctly you will be travelling fast (downward and as you look to the horizon you will move very quickly away from the formation (first a steep/tracj bordering on head down which is a fast horizontal movement building up speed into a gradual belly to earth tracking position)
This is all done very quickly and smoothly (ie. break off at 4,500, cartwheel, headdown a second or so and gradually flatten your position to flat track, flare at 3,500 wave off pull between 3,500 and...well...I usually pull above 2,900 or so)
Also a good habit is to do a quick barrel roll at the end of your track to clear airspace above you before you pull (only takes half a second and may save your life).
fly free
ramon

[Geoff 0]

Thanks for the answers. So I shouldn't be surprised at some buffeting in a freefly suit, because a baggy suit wasn't designed to have the aerodynamics for tracking.
OK - so what do experienced freeflyers recommend wearing for group tracking dives?
Thanks again for you opinions.
Geoff

[ramon 0]

They wear Freefly suits...
Disclamer: I am not very good at tracking dives, I can keep up, but I can't like do bareel rolls between someones legs and grab their feet and such.
Maybe your suit is too baggy. My old one was not baggy enough and I could really track in it (not like an RW suit though).
I'm a little heavy (195) so my new suit is baggier and it buffets a little when tracking,
You can raise your arms up and down to flatten your track, if you raise them up you will go a little more down (pick up speed and when you flatten them towards the earth a little more you will flatten the track and move horizontally a little faster

[airdog07 0]

the rw sute is more efficient for tracking than freefly suit, so you well get some buffeting but if you start rocking i thing you are to stiff

throw a penny

"A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones ..."

[wmw999 2,123]

One point about tracking and doing RW with baggy freefly suits.

They used to call suits like that RW suits. We all tracked with them, and did RW (mostly what were considered big-ways then). It's possible. It's just different.

I heard the statement once: "There is no such thing as too big a jump suit." Times have changed.

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)

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

One point about tracking and doing RW with baggy freefly suits.

They used to call suits like that RW suits. We all tracked with them, and did RW (mostly what were considered big-ways then). It's possible. It's just different.

I heard the statement once: "There is no such thing as too big a jump suit." Times have changed.

Wendy W.

I still got my Balloon suit!
Remember them?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[airtwardo 6]

BAGGY SUIT!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jerry81 10]

Quote

BAGGY SUIT!

Holy sh!t! What did you need the parachute for if you were wearing that?

---

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

Quote

BAGGY SUIT!

Holy sh!t! What did you need the parachute for if you were wearing that?

---

I still have that thing somewhere!

I should dig it out and go make a few!!

Tell ya one thing...

Stops ya from going LOW!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

BAGGY SUIT!

OH MY GOD!!! That is unbelievable!

It's funny, my FREEFLY suit is so form-fitting that my boyfriend can barely put his forearm through my suit's upper arm area. Then again, I'm so small that I wear my hand altimeter on my forearm...the only place that it will stay on. (Not fair!) I wonder how long it would take someone small like me to fall in THAT suit. Thank God for the ARCH!!!

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

BAGGY SUIT!

OH MY GOD!!! That is unbelievable!

It's funny, my FREEFLY suit is so form-fitting that my boyfriend can barely put his forearm through my suit's upper arm area. Then again, I'm so small that I wear my hand altimeter on my forearm...the only place that it will stay on. (Not fair!) I wonder how long it would take someone small like me to fall in THAT suit. Thank God for the ARCH!!!

The worst part about the balloon suit was people trying to take grips!
It was like trying to grab onto a waterbed flappin'
in the wind!
Vents in the arms and legs inflated and deflated it...
Diving deflated you could scream down...
3 feet from the formation, throw out your
arms & legs, and you would stop on a dime!

Kinda neat so watch peoples faces
as you tracked all the way to your slot.

...Or purposely go 50 feet low and pop back up like a cork!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Canuck 0]

I disagree that rw suits are better for tracking. The extra bulk around the ankles and wrists on a freefly suit adds surface area, the same way booties do. I did my first rw jump in a rw suit last weekend in well over 2 years, and my track felt like shit!

Anyway, that being said, as I believe applies to all types of skydiving, a good skydiver learns to fly his or her body regardless of what type of suit/clothes they are wearing. I've been on tracking dives lead by people wearing jeans and a t-shirt that made me WORK!!

Canuck

[freephlyer 0]

What the hell is RW and these booty things you folks speak of ?
Really though, I track great in my Dakinerags with minimal buffetting. If you are buffetting you need to raise your ass up a bit ( dearch ) also pull your shoulders up and back to direct high pressure air under your body and low pressure up and over the top of your body. This will keep the airflow off of your rig thus reducing drag and buffetting. This will also give you lift to reduce vertical speed. I have recorded a vertical speed on my pro-track at 77 mph. I have shown this to Tamara Koyn. She was quite impressed. Also do not resign your self solely to a delta for tracking. The positions to track in are as numerous as in any discipline. Get out and do some solo tracks to experiment and remember to plan your track with a visual and to stay with that plan. Also never track along the jump line.