mccordia 73 #1 December 31, 2007 With me looking out of the window franticly, trying to see if damn kids with fireworks arent blowing up my motorcycle, and a few hours shy from heading off to friends and celebrating new years eve, it seemed like a nice time to look back at the past year.. If anyone has something to ad...definately do so! Formation Flying The past year was a great year for flocking. With the all round skills slowly increasing, formations are flying more and more. And looking less like a bunch of freefallers with expensive overals. And the skills in flying are also growing, with more and more tight small formations being flown all over the world. And more and more bigway attempts everywhere. With the note that those bigway attempts are still plagued by a lot of stray flyers and incomplete formations. The past year we also had several collisions in bigway attempts. With broken bones as a direct result. And most of those can be lead back to either low experience on behalf of the people in the dive, or a diveplan that was less then optimal for the attempted formation, and too many people crossing eachother in the build process of the formation. There is still a lot of learning (both in skills and knowledge) that needs to be done. Lets all work hard to make 2008 the year where we get a lot of this stuff sorted. And make it common available information. Instead of just inside info available in books and with a selective group of organisers. Following suit to RW and Freefly bigway attempts, making sure everyone has the skills to be in the formation thats being attempted, is definately the aim for next year. Excluding jumpers is not the idea behind those plans. Safety and increasing the overal skill level is. Let 2008 be the year of record wingsuit formations, as big as is SAFELY possible.... BASE If youtube and the media are any indication of what currently captivates many people, then it must be proximity flying. No longer is a wingsuit a device to help you fly as far away from a cliff as possible. But instead, its an amazing fighter plane, then enables you to dive, dodge and swoop past cliff edges and mountain sides. Several times the past year, my belief in what was possible with a wingsuit was pushed by people such as loic, espen, robi and many others Though the ground is always sayd to be the limit. The proximity, speed, accuracy and most of all, balls with which some of these people are currently pushing the sport, mean we can definitly look forward to many more amazing feats in the year to come. With wingsuit base pushed to new highs and lows nobody deemed possible before.. R&D I think the year 2007 can safely be dubbed the year of the big wings. All manufacturers released new suits this past year, and almost all seemed to focus on bigger wings. Tony went from Mach1 to SuperMach1 Birdman submitted the Blade as its big wing entryPhoenix Fly brought us the Ghost and, in a last end-sprint, showed us the new Stealth (sure to be the hot item for the start of 2008)FlyYourBody completed the line-up of big wings with their Pro-Fly Clearly the race for the biggest suit is not over yet, and I think 2008 will be the year where designs will be pushed to the limit with respect to whats still safe and survivable to jump. We've come a long way over the past few years. Showing a skyflyer3 to someone a few years ago prompted a lot of gasps, and people often got scared of the big wings on those suits. Having someone with little experience jump one of those suits wasnt deemed safe, and smaller suits were definately recommendable. With the dicipline becoming more widespread, and accesable, a thriving market for 2nd hand suits and a lot more proper instruction available, people are getting to big suits a lot quicer then just a few years back. If the caution of a few years back was silly, and people with lesser and lesser jumps are deemed safe and skilled enough to jump bigger and bigger suits..time will only tell.. But for 2008, lets all try and help the dicipline grow at a safe rate by allowing people to progress in the sport at a pace that doesnt ancourage them into actions that are not suitable for their experience level yet. And what that experience level should be is sure to be a hot item of debate here on dropzone.com for the next year. As it has been all the past years. Just always remember the sport isnt going away anytime soon, and both BASE and skydiving will be around a long time after you, I and everyone else have left this planet for the eternal playground up in the sky. There is no need to rush it. Progress at your own easy pace. And dont let other push you into thing you are not ready for. Goodbye.. The past year was also a sad year. Loosing one of the driving forces behind wingsuit flying and all round safety in skydiving with our resident Tonto was a heavy blow for many people. If you are new to this forum. Give Tonto's 6000+ posts on the forum a search to find out more on who he was, and read the tons of good information and educational nuggets of wisdom he put on these forums over the past years.JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sirob 0 #2 December 31, 2007 You forgot competitions (individual performance - time, distance, speed). There were several nice competition, each on his own set of rules in search for the best form of "how to do it". GPS devices prove themselves not to be trusted and dueling seems to be very interesting form. What artistic WS competition will bring, we will have to wait and see.... Good luck for all future competitions!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,620 #3 December 31, 2007 Quote We've come a long way over the past few years. Showing a skyflyer3 to someone a few years ago prompted a lot of gasps, and people often got scared of the big wings on those suits. . Maybe it was the hangover from the Skyflyer 1, which IS totally unsuitable for a novice (IMO). Going from that to a S3 or a M1 was like going from night to day in terms of ease of flight. Still wondering what I should do with my Skyflyer1.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tornolf 0 #4 December 31, 2007 QuoteStill wondering what I should do with my Skyflyer1. Can I have it? I miss my old one!A waddling elephant seal is the cutest thing in the entire world. -TJ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yuri_base 1 #5 December 31, 2007 Jarno, you're my hero, BUT! You forgot one thing... The invention of a new revolutionary discipline in wingsuiting: the Theoretical Wingsuit Flying!!! Yuri TWS #1 Android+Wear/iOS/Windows apps: L/D Vario, Smart Altimeter, Rockdrop Pro, Wingsuit FAP iOS only: L/D Magic Windows only: WS Studio Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waldschrat 0 #6 January 1, 2008 I wish all WS-flyers a happy new year 2008 :) ...and health and freedom and peace in our restless hearts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skyjester 0 #7 January 1, 2008 happy new year to all wing-brothers and wing-sisters ...so we can try to tell about heaven and hell,try to describe the smile of a wale, fly in the blue sky with your friends near by and share with the others ,your flights with sisters and brothers.ask the birds for help in the sky,dream about them and go on to try,don`t forgot-we already fly. . . all together now everybody welcom to go on don´t pester the jester . . or better: WHY SO SERIOUS ? ? www.pralle-zeiten.de Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robibird 2 #8 January 1, 2008 wish to all ''BIRDS'' many nice flights, tight formtions and lets be the '08. the year of the ''legs stretched'' fly low - pull high and keep the speed wish you very best 2008. robibird Robert Pecnik [email protected] www.phoenix-fly.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,620 #9 January 1, 2008 QuoteQuoteStill wondering what I should do with my Skyflyer1. Can I have it? I miss my old one! Happy New Year, and what do you miss about your S1? (Maybe I'll get to miss it too).... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buried 0 #10 January 2, 2008 remember big wings not = better. I'd like to see some one do some nice acrobatics on a suit with large wings... not all we need to do is being able to gain some climb in a suit [without rockets] Where is my fizzy-lifting drink? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NSEMN8R 0 #11 January 2, 2008 Can't forget to mention that 2007 also brought us the debut of EG suits line of wingsuits, the Rigor Mortis, the Flockus and the Corvus! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,254 #12 January 2, 2008 QuoteCan't forget to mention that 2007 also brought us the debut of EG suits line of wingsuits, the Rigor Mortis, the Flockus and the Corvus! But has anyone actually bought one? I haven't seen any in the flesh, or in any photos from boogies yet...Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aarthus 0 #13 January 2, 2008 Quote the year of the ''legs stretched'' i like this ! but too good to be true....Patrick de Guillebon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joni 0 #14 January 2, 2008 Happy New Year to Everyone! 2007 was an amazing year, and the sport has gained so much recognition. At home not long ago wingsuits were barely known of at local DZ's, just yesterday I was asked about them by a wuffo. Birds and Flocks are here to stay! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NSEMN8R 0 #15 January 3, 2008 QuoteQuoteCan't forget to mention that 2007 also brought us the debut of EG suits line of wingsuits, the Rigor Mortis, the Flockus and the Corvus! But has anyone actually bought one? I haven't seen any in the flesh, or in any photos from boogies yet... Yeah dude. They're out there. I love my Rigor Mortis! It's a great suit and the company offers outstanding service. Almost comparable to the service you get from Tony & Jeff. I think the reason we don't see more of them is that Nick guy kind of scares people at first. Once you get to know him, he kind of grows on you though. I hope more people will give them a try in '08. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
