What has swooping come to?

[AggieDave 6]

http://www.daedaluscanopies.com/WPSTsuit.jpg

Seriously. Whats the point besides wearing a VERY hot leather motorcycle racing suit and looking like a henchmen extra from a James Bond movie? I guess the suit would be handy if they "chow" on a demo at a race track on the tarmac or something. But seriously...what?

Maybe the suit comes with its own theme music...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Squeak 17]

I think i already answered this, but i could be wrong

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Spizzzarko 0]

I wonder if they go commando under that thing?

[marks 0]

knowing jim, I think it is a lot about "stealth image"..

I believe he is focusing on an audience outside of the skydiving world.

[marks 0]

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I wonder if they go commando under that thing?

that is not something I would wonder. only you grant.

[AggieDave 6]

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knowing jim, I think it is a lot about "stealth image"..

I believe he is focusing on an audience outside of the skydiving world.

I understand that, but any reasonable person is going to look at that and laugh their ass off. Seriously. Now if it was a nomex drag racing/NASCAR style suit with patches and logos on it, they would get that. Even with that goofy helmet.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[marks 0]

all I can add, is time will tell.

[Spizzzarko 0]

If they are jumping into nascar events I'm giving it a 2/3 odds that those dudes are going commando....

[Cacophony 0]

It almost makes professional swoopers look MORE dangerous. A hard helmet is nice. It takes the edge off, but come on!! Just because you have the money to spend doesn't mean you should make your team out to look like RoboCop or anything! Now, the general public or corporate sponsors think that its a necessary aid in survival. Once they look at the USPA numbers they put two and two together..... No more sponsorship... Maybe its a little far fetched, but still possible.

[Spizzzarko 0]

OK there ROBO 2000. Looking at the helmet you have there in your avatar, you look way to dangerous and robotic...

Just kidding.

Whenyou are doing demo's you are dealing with the uneducated public and you are selling an image and then a product. Those suits will get their point accross:

"we are bad asses and this is some high speed shit!"

I bet sponsor ship pours in for them because of those suits. The more you look like Spaceman Spiff the better. People at airshows want to be entertained, and the Torra Torra Torra act is only going to last so long. Nobody cares about the old planes except the old people, and they are dieing rapidly. In ten years there will be very few airshows, but the ones that survive will be the shit!!! because all the acts will be competing to attend. There are a lot of acts out there and teh civilian teams really have to offer something special to compete with the military teams who can put on a decent show really cheap compared to the civilian acts who have to pay their performers. The military dudes have to show up when they are told. Albeit the military guys are probably just having a party in every town they show up at, they get payed by congress no matter if they jump or not. Those dudes don't care unless it is the opportunity to jump out of an F-15 or something like that.

[ianmdrennan 2]

Im on the fence with this one. On one hand I think better protection is good lets face it, swoop pants offer squat and I often come away with road rash from training or comps. On the other hand it might be just a little too far out there for the sport right now. I'm not sure, but no matter where this goes I do believe we will see swoopers paying closer and closer attention to what they wear. When you consider the fact that the top speed rounds are seperated by 10ths of a second....it starts to really matter.

As for where Jim is going with this....I have no idea but I'll be watching with interest.
Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[gun986 0]

I'd like to see somebody run out a quick one wearing motorcycle leathers & boots... then you'll need the protection!

Uhh, you want fries with that?

[AggieDave 6]

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n one hand I think better protection is good lets face it, swoop pants offer squat and I often come away with road rash from training or comps.

And that's why I don't wear swoop pants. They're worthless. A solid pair of good blue jeans offer more protection. A pair of padded MX pants offer even more. Do we need full leather suits? Not so much. Do we need road racing motorcycle boots? Hell no. Infact I would much rather NOT wear them just so I can try to save my already bad knees.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[PhreeZone 15]

The face of large scale demos is changing. Fastrax is going to be offering demos next year that in addition to the standard canopies with streamers and smoke thing they will be jumping in a huge flag. Its approx 8000 sq ft, the one on the cover of Parachutist a bit ago is 3800. They also are building a tunnel to take to all their large demos for people to fly in. The are already loaded to the gills in terms of patches so they already fit right in at a Nascar event. From reading John's interview they can price it extremely competitively since it also doubles as advertising for his company.

I don't compete at all and I don't go big enough to warrent even thinking about wearing leathers. I would suggest that at any meet someone is wearing leathers that the rescue kit be outfitted with something that can cut them open, it sucks enough cutting open a jumpsuit and cutting off a harness for a serious injury... trying to cut leathers off will really suck.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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trying to cut leathers off will really suck

That's nothing that a reciprocating saw can't handle.

Sorry folks ... that was a joke. Now that I'm back up in the frozen tundra, I feel very distanced from swooping at this time since all the DZs within a 1000 miles of me are all closed for the season and I find myself thinking about my winter home renovation projects instead of swooping. But Phree you do bring up some excellent points about handling a possible injury if and when it does happen.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Brains 2]

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On one hand I think better protection is good lets face it, swoop pants offer squat and I often come away with road rash from training or comps.

Look into something like THIS They should help with the road rash and bruising.

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

[Tonto 1]

I recall the same thing being said about spandex cycling shorts.

Hot, sure, but heat never fucked up a swooper.

Those suits have things we need, to save our spines, and prevent our joints from hyper-extending.

Sure they'll look odd, but I think that 1000 jump wonders should be wearing them. As for getting them off in the event of injury - wake the fuck up people. Everyone who races Bikes wears that shit, and they crash and they fuck themselves up, and the suits are not a problem for the medics.

One thing I know for sure. It takes 10 years to get 10 years worth of experience. There is no other way.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[AggieDave 6]

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Hot, sure, but heat never fucked up a swooper.

I call BS on that! Sitting in a plane waiting to take off, taxing, take off, ride to exit altitude and even under canopy. Body temperature is important. Ever since I had a case of severe heat exhaustion about 8 years ago I find that I'm a little more sensitive to heat. By more sensitive I mean that I can easily over heat and start suffering from heat sickness. That's not a state to be in when you're trying to go big infront of a lot of people for a demo. If you've ever had heat exhaustion you know what it feels like when its coming on AND you know what it does to your mind and physical ability.

There are ways to help our joints and spines out that does not require wearing race leathers. I've personally seen the ability of textile/mesh riding gear to save the life of a rider. You don't *have* to have the leathers. There are protection systems that are worn under clothing that offer great protection, movement AND breatability. Now, nevermind trying to slide/run out a landing wearing motorcycle racing boots. I'm not sure if you've ever worn any boots like that before, but that's a quick way to blow a knee apart! Its purely a marketing stunt on the part of Slaton, since there are other more practical solutions.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Tonto 1]

I'm not saying we should be wearing that, but swoop pants are a joke.
The motorcycle boots are a joke.

We do need foot/shin/knee/lower spine/elbow/shoulder/upper spine/skull protection though. What form that will take I don't know.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[AggieDave 6]

The link that Brains posted is a good start. MX pants are a decent start as well.

We might start to see people wearing stuff like found in this link: http://www.ridegear.com/rg/cat/Street_Protection.html


Personally for swooping I've found that a solid pair of jeans offer a reasonable amount of abrasion resistance across dirt, grass and even when wet. As we go faster, further, etc, I agree that a pair of jeans won't quite be enough. We also need extreme freedom of movement, though, unlike a motorcycle racer who only needs certain movements to be unbinding.

On the flip side, impacting at a severe angle from an extreme mistake will defeat all the body armor you wear. Minor padding, freedom of movement and abrasion resistance seems to be the required criteria as of now. Would you agree with that or no?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[frost 1]

Sorry for offtopic, dont want to get into semantics... but there are PLENTY 1000 jump wonders that have way more experience, thinking ability and common sense then some 2-3 thousand jump "wonder-how-they-still-alive" 10 year veterans.

It only takes 10 years to get 10 years experience if you're filling out a job resume. Again, there are many many great new swoopers that have achieved in 3-4 years what took others 15. One can say the "noobs" were following the footsteps of the experienced... i'll say oh well, thats progress.

back to original topic... This whole "WORLD" team thing smells fishy to me. "Exclusive Forums"? "No access to non-members"? "Come ask this question at CanopyPiloting.com"... Secret team memberships, stealth leather suits... Wow i mean are there any psychologists here? Please tell me what this looks like? Megalomania, delusions of grandeur or just simple click forming?

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[Tonto 1]

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Would you agree with that or no?

I would.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[Tonto 1]

The only yardstick worth measuring yourself against is yourself.

Are you better than you were when you had 900 jumps?

When you start to get worse, it's cos you're either learning a new trick, or are uncurrent, or are simply getting old.

It's pointless comparing yourself to others. You are the only constant.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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When you start to get worse, it's cos you're either uncurrent, or are simply getting old.

Stop talking about me.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[AggieDave 6]

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Stop talking about me.

You'll be fine, to be super-swooper all you need is a full leather suit...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."