What has swooping come to?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Stop talking about me.

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

Plus you guys have my blessing to take your trusty reciprocating saws to cut off my full leather suit after I crater in for being so uncurrent and old. Well now that I think about it, maybe not.

In all seriousness I would like to add, that while my profile does list that I jump a JVX 87, I do also own a Velo 103, a Samurai 136 and a Spectre 150. So upsizing is always an option for this ever so uncurrent and yes aging competitive swooper.

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

[frost 1]

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The only yardstick worth measuring yourself against is yourself.

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

kinda cliche... but I certainly agree that this is true for NON-competing folks. But in competition it's a different story. Then you ARE comparing your skills against others' (or they are being compared for you) - thats the nature of competition.

[PhreeZone 15]

Bike races also tend to have full trama crash kits there with full rescue sheers and all the stuff needed to cut metal if needed for transport to the hospital. For the 2 jumping incidnets I was at this year the first the cheap sheers barely let us cut the harness off and were trashed right afterwards and replaced with better ones but even then cutting the second ones laterals sucked since they were so stiff. We worked on preping the jumpers for transport while waiting on the ambulence in both cases so we didn't wait on a trama team and their shears. Full blown rescue sheers will be able to slice through the leathers with no issues but the cheap ones most DZ's have laying around won't do jack to a racing suit.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Tonto 1]

So if you did half as well in your next comp as you did in your last, under similar conditions, but you won, you'd be happy with that?

Or if you far exceeded your personal best, and were whipped, you'd see that as a step back?

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[frost 1]

I dont really compete... but i am guessing a win is a win... or so they say. I would be happy with a win, knowing that i can do better.

Whenever you best yourself you should be happy. Even if the overall placement is not so good.

...or were these rhetorical questions? :)

[hookitt 0]

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On the flip side, impacting at a severe angle from an extreme mistake will defeat all the body armor you wear

Severe angle yes, but you'd be amazed at how hard an impact the body can take at certain angles with armor covering.

I don't have much of an opinion of the suit in practical use but this was in my email today.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[rhys 0]

This thread is kinda funny! people mocking what a few people are doing,

you mention that dzs wouldn't have the gear to cut those suits off? they won't be jumping those suits at a DZ! they are for display jumps only if you read the bulletin from the WPST that aggie dave forgot to attach. the competition team will be wearing usual type swooping rashies and Shorts!

I'm sure thier big old bus with thier name on the side will have a nice pair of shears to cut them of if need be.

No one ever said those suits would be for competition.

IMHO they are purely to please the audience at such events as NASCAR where the audience lap up the cheese as much as it is thown at them.
Americans love cheese!
Jim Slaton is cashing in on that demand! Don't you wish you were?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[AggieDave 6]

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No one ever said those suits would be for competition.

I never said they were, infact I stated from the start that they were for the demo team.

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IMHO they are purely to please the audience at such events as NASCAR where the audience lap up the cheese as much as it is thown at them.

I agree, that's why I suggested the nomax race suits that NASCAR and NHNR fans are used to seeing. It would help them make the mental leap from professional auto racing to professional swooping, etc.

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Jim Slaton is cashing in on that demand!

Definately!

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Don't you wish you were?

Oh hell no! I enjoy competing, I enjoy some demos, but I also have a real job that I enjoy. There's no way that I would be a professional demo jumper going all around the country doing that gig. Even if it paid as well as my current job (which isn't hard to match) or it paid 6+ figures a year.

Besides, I would quickly overheat in those leathers. I over heat in leathers riding my motorcycle in the summer, while doing 70mph down the highway. I couldn't imagine standing around on tarmac, sitting in a jump plane and jumping in full leathers with a full face like that. That would put me in the ER for heat exhaustion.

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

[WeakMindedFool 0]

Have no fear all! We will get those leathers off faster then you can say, "Please don't cut my leathers off!!!" I've worked Nascar, Drags, Indoor motocross and EMS in general forever, both ground and air. I like Jack Goose neck's, The same ones we use in skydiving BTW. Just carry several so when they get dull you toss em over your shoulder and grab another. Penny cutters are the same, they get dull quick, grab a new set. Having One set of anything in your emergency kit at you DZ isn't a good idea, have lot's.

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer -
Check out these Videos

[WeakMindedFool 0]

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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.

Heat injuries have a hell of alot more to do with hydration issues then temp ones. If a demo team in leathers is having issues with being in that shit for 45 min it has more to do with the amount of beer drank the night before then the temp outside. Overheating tends to be progressive as well, it can take six months to recover from a heat injury and every time it gets worse. If you are sensetive then don't put yourself in the environment. That all said most healthy adults wouldn't have any problem in that gear for 30 to 60 min.
I gotta disagree all around, people that like to watch people make left turns at high speed will EAT THAT SHIT UP!

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
-Eric Hoffer -
Check out these Videos

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I've got a set of full race leathers and they are AMAZINGLY hot. They are also not sewn so that it's easy to reach over your head. The arms are sewn so that their natural state is a bent-over riding position with elbows "pre-bent" at about a 45 degree angle. You would not catch me trying to swoop in it. If you were concerned with the added protection offered by such suits, then a textile or vented-mesh suit would be much, much smarter. Both have provisions for all the same armor.

Chuck

[GQ_jumper 4]

I wonder if they go commando under that thing?

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Grant I'm callin BS on that one, there's no way you have to WONDER about it, I guarantee the second you saw that pic you undressed him with your eyes to find out

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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