Zenister 0 #1 June 30, 2003 with no turbines at Kapowsin and a wingsuit(GTI) burning a hole in my gear bag i decided to head down to Skydive Oregon and hook up with ManBird for some ground school and my first birdman flights.. wow..lets say that again.. WOW!...nope still not right WOW!!!i havent 'gotten it' yet, my best fall rates in the high 80's not much better than i do in a good track, but no track has EVER moved me across the sky like the wingsuit does...right out the door i could tell i was really flying for the first time...practice hacky touches and deployment position, then return to full flight (full flight for me right now at least...) I LOVE that feeling you get when you spread your wings as your fall rate picks up..its that sudden 'uphill' stomach feeling i havent found anywhere else in skydiving.. then the 'anxiety' of deployment.. first one collapse, pause for the fall rate to build a bit and pitch...WOW...canopy stayed pretty straight, but it felt like it came off my back completely horizontally.sky feet sky....yeeks what a ride.. check for traffice, stow slider....oh wait, unzip arms, stow slider, fight with the leg zips for a a bit, then no worries..ManBird confirms on the ground my canopy and body were pretty much horizontal on deployment....hmm have to try to 'burn off' more forward speed....have i mentioned i LOVE my sabre?? a nice (fast) but easy openning.. next one same dive flow and flight path..ManBird flies 'dirty' over next to me so i can see him off my wingtips..(he was there last time too, but i never saw him overhead) same PRCTs, did a few sideslips and some minor banking, working to find what seems to be a precarious balance between dearched and unstable...but lovin every min of it.. bring my knees a bit farther forward in an attempt to slow down more, which works pretty well, BUT...i must not have been very symetrical with them because the canopy came off my back feeling much less horizontal, with a hard left spin...wheeeeee...trying to even links riding it around..no line twists but nearly a 270 on openning... yeeks that was fun..check airspace, unzip,stow, unzip...play with the extra altitude a bit and admire the Oregon country side... 2 more BM jumps on Sunday, each one getting better deployments & lower fall rates, but nothing like what the "real" birds are getting. Playing with turns and trying to get my head up more.....time and practice, and i could practice this all day.. i dont have that many jumps on ellipticals, but i really have to say i'm glad i have my big docile sabre for this stuff.. 3 of 4 deployments would have completely spun me up on the stiletto’s and vengeance's i was jumping..with my sabre its pretty easy to ride them out, and even with line twists it will still fly straight...guess my mirage will be the designated birdman rig for quite some time.. have i mentioned i LOVE banking??____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #2 June 30, 2003 Welcome Zenister to the flock! Zenister was the first victim of our new wingsuit flyer policy at SDO, and it seems to be working very well. He's definitely going about it all the right way. He had a great forward speed... just needs to work on fall rate a bit. I was able to stay with him alright, but I think it'd be much easier in my GTi. In the S3, I've found that I can't really put my arms out at all with anyone doing their first GTi flight. I think I'm ready to hook up with Jari and go for a BMI pretty soon here. That way I can give legit instruction, and not this fly by night stuff. No pun intended."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
