lurch 0 #1 February 9, 2009 Ok Zeemax's thread about the status of wingsuiting kinda got me thinking. One thing I think attracted a lot of us early adopters in wingsuiting was that we felt RW has fossilized somewhat...turned inward, so focused on getting that next point that a lot of people are paying little to no attention to the skydive itself. I'd bet a great many jumps are made in unearthly beautiful surroundings to which the 4-way team falling through it is almost entirely oblivious because all they see is a leg and a gripper and somebody's shoe and they consider the skydive totally ruined if somebody misses a grip. Most of the birds I flew with early on enjoyed the fact that we didn't give a damn about suit performance or name brand or points, we were just happy as hell to be flying around up there chasing after whatever surfable clouds were in range. On the way back from the 71-way in Elsinore my plane was flying through some layered cloud decks, one of the busiest skies I've ever seen. Look down and there was no bottom to it, just mile after mile of shelves, layers, slopes and valleys going off into infinity, dozens of different cloud types all mixed up, fantasy cloudscape on a cosmic scale. All I could think was I wish this was a jumpship, what I wouldn't give to be able to surf what I see out that window from this altitude. I stayed glued to the window for several hours, just enjoying the view wishing I had a camera good enough to capture what I was seeing. So. The point of this thread is, post your best cloud porn. Doesn't have to be a shot you took yourself, just put up the most spectacular cloud pics you can find, the cloud you'd give anything to surf. Bonus points if it IS a shot you took or a cloud you did in fact personally surf. Altitude is irrelevant since most of the best clouds go way beyond jump altitude anyway. Heres mine, or at least the best one I could find within the limits of my attention span and a couple beers. The air is probably impossibly thin up near the top of this thing, but even if I had to get out only halfway up the foot of it, it'd be the most epic cloudsurf in history. Funny thing about cloudsurfing, the cloud does not care which suit you're flying or whether you hold any records or if your backfly inlets work better than the other guy's. So come on, Florida guys, you've been gloating about your world-class puffies since the day I got my first suit and you've got enough world-class camerabirds to fill an Otter. Surely one of you can do better than this pic-you got em, lets see em. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhoenixRising 0 #2 February 9, 2009 This is a pretty good one. We couldnt get to it, but it was sexy. JustinWingsuit organizing, first flight courses and coaching Flock University Tonysuits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilotdave 0 #3 February 9, 2009 About the best I can do... Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnskydiver688 0 #4 February 9, 2009 Before I started WS'ing. However probably wouldn't want to surf it unless you wanted to land in a severe thunderstorm.Sky Canyon Wingsuiters Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #5 February 9, 2009 Actually I think the fun would start long before landing, about the time you hit the dark gray stuff at the foot of it, might want a fullface helmet with windshield wipers to surf that puppy.Dave's pic is somewhat like what I saw on that flight, except all the empty volume was full of wild wispy shapes in dozens of totally different and well defined types. I'm not a meteorologist so I have no idea what was going on but it was an unusual sight just because of the variety. It looked like every possible cloud type in large numbers all at once. 3d stuff, flat layers and decks, big stretches of repeating patterns, bars and ridges and waves that went for miles. Can anybody with a weather background shed any light on the topic? -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skwrl 56 #6 February 9, 2009 I got all excited for this link, and then I realized it said "cloud", not "clown". Looking forward to jumping with you in the spring, Lurch; you'll be missed in PR.Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BartRN 0 #7 February 9, 2009 Unfortunately this day I was a video jumping and didnt have my WS on but the clouds were huge.... that is Skydive Spaceland down in the hole on one of the picsSome canopies can be fun to fly, but treat you like their bitch on opening. -- Jarno Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #8 February 9, 2009 The first pic is a nice teaser for the second. That second pic lit my face up like Yeaaah! THATS the kind of surf I live for. We don't see stuff like that out the door up here in the north all that often but when we do I'm usually hanging out in the door doing the happydance on the way up. There are some sights that just totally unleash my inner child, and a surfable cloudscape within range does it every time. Fortunately even my inner child remembers there might be newbies following me so I don't go stupid chasing after the wonderpuffy. We had a huge thunderstorm wallcloud sit for hours about 3 miles off the DZ last year and it kept having big chunks like that break off and go sailing across the DZ. Most surf I've ever gotten in one day, think I got in 5 loads back to back surfing the stuff, 2 3 and 4 clouds in 1 jump, from cloudtop to cloudtop. I kept having to fight off the temptation to strike out for the big source wall, but the damn thing stayed just out of reach the whole time. I could have made the distance easily, but without a prayer of making it home once I got there if I stuck around long enough to surf as much of the wall as possible. Just as well, anyway, there was a lot of ugly gray stuff at the base of it. I quit surfing its fragments when it started hucking lightning around, I don't want to be the first bird to get fried like a bug... I can see the incident report now... Victim was struck by lightning at approximately 11,000 feet while surfing a thunderstorm, his Cypres went off but his reserve was on fire so it didn't help much, the body was found in a swamp 6 miles away with a big grin on his face surrounded by boiled bugs and a small forest fire. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
notsane 0 #9 February 9, 2009 A short RealPlayer ( http://www.realplayer.com ) video of gathering clouds outside my Florida window. Actual time was around 30 minutes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 73 #10 February 9, 2009 Realplayer? Dude..there's countries where they arrest you for that shit! And kay..a cloud pic as well...(one of my first photos ever in freefall actually)JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #11 February 9, 2009 Clown porn? That explains the Mini Cooper... how many people can you fit simultaneously in that thing anyway? 30? I hope its got drain plugs in the floorboards and good luck getting a camera angle in there... Bummer I'm gonna miss PR Skwrlbrother, so keep your line bites small, your head and shoulders high and your tail shut down for those openings ok? Line twists over the ocean are bad mojo. You could wind up being a guest of several hundred astonished fish. Think I'm gonna have to skip FnD as well for the first time in years much to my dismay... trying to figure out how to finance a trailer, get out of this apartment, free up a few grand a year, hit more events, and every time I attend a big WS event it sets back my clock another 6 months. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the_sarge 0 #12 February 9, 2009 The best "cloudporn" i have shot... http://halfer.dk/IMG_5605.jpg Although its not wingsuit related... The sunset also contributes a bit.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steveorino 7 #13 February 9, 2009 Couldn't find anyone else willing to jump this. steveOrino Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deniq 0 #14 February 9, 2009 Clouds + Wingsuit + Airplane Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 1,623 #15 February 9, 2009 QuoteThis is a pretty good one. We couldnt get to it, but it was sexy. Justin Hey, is that me in the middle?... 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
yeyo 1 #16 February 9, 2009 I have found very fun clouds on my way a few timesMost of them Im alone and without cameras, but heres a short one with a funny ending to my lens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FgJO1PGhFk&feature=channel_page HISPA #93 DS #419.5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #17 February 9, 2009 I like this one. Courtesy of Mark H. from the Cochstedt boogie."It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leroydb 0 #18 February 10, 2009 reminded me of a video I made a couple few years back http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2671&d=addgp&u=1444 crack through cloud flyingLeroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #19 February 10, 2009 We couldnt get to it, but it was sexy. Story of my life, bro. -BLive and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Martini 0 #20 February 10, 2009 Now that is some cool shit, I'd have jumped it in a heartbeat. What could possibly go rongg? Tried to post a cloud vid but can't get it right.Sometimes you eat the bear.............. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #21 February 10, 2009 Ok I actually took the trouble to infect my system with realplayer just to see that clip. That was cooler than the other side of the pillow. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lurch 0 #22 February 10, 2009 Now this ones got that infinite repeating background thing going for it. I love the effect and I have absolutely no idea how it works. Whats up with those clouds? All one particular style and type, a particular pattern to their spacing, all of them variations of the same vague chaotic model, done in a variety of sizes. What causes this? How come some days you'll get just these, some days you'll get them plus another whole pattern of completely different ones? You'll see a skyful of those things, plus occasional huge but wispy ones with a totally different texture, nothing like the other repeating shapes and poorly defined edges. Why is the air in that cloud not subject to the same rules as the little clumpy ones? Its kinda like curiosity about biology. Why does a type of plant like to grow in clumps here but not here? I look at a picture like that and I get a sense of a lot going on that I can't see. Its like the ocean, but bigger. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bodypilot1 0 #23 February 10, 2009 Quote we felt RW has fossilized somewhat...turned inward, so focused on getting that next point that a lot of people are paying little to no attention to the skydive itself. I'd bet a great many jumps are made in unearthly beautiful surroundings to which the 4-way team falling through it is almost entirely oblivious because all they see is a leg and a gripper and somebody's shoe and they consider the skydive totally ruined if somebody misses a grip. Brian I know your point was to have people post pics of cloud surfing, but no need to put down one disipline to pump up another. RW is what it is, and if your looking at a grip, your looking in the wrong spot. How many times on the 71way did you enjoy the beauty of the sky while you were getting to your slot? And RW is not always facing in, look at the pic below of us at the AZ Challenge. From many years of flying wingsuits, jumpers learning the RW discipline before putting on a wingsuit, usually are better flockers in general. This experience of relative work also gets you ready for the larger formations we do while flocking, and it's very wise to get that experience when applying to get on the larger multi plane formations. While it is awesome to fly around the clouds, other disciplines add to your experience as a wingsuit flyer as well. I wish we had the clouds here in Cali as Texas and Florida have, they are fun to surf.....www.WestCoastWingsuits.com www.PrecisionSkydiving.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,254 #24 February 10, 2009 QuoteYou'll see a skyful of those things, plus occasional huge but wispy ones with a totally different texture, nothing like the other repeating shapes and poorly defined edges. Why is the air in that cloud not subject to the same rules as the little clumpy ones? Well, even the same types of cumulus clouds will look different depending on whether they're building or deteriorating. Cumulus still being fed and expanding from thermals will be very billowy and sharply defined, one that has started to shrink back down will get progressively wispier and less well defined as it loses energy. But my knowledge of meteorology is only scraping the surface of all the kinds of clouds there are. There are a lot of fantastic books on the types and causes of cloud formations and micrometeorology for sailplane pilots and PG/HGers out there. I've never found the time yet to get really stuck into one, but there's some really interesting stuff there.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #25 February 10, 2009 Very salient points Ed. Good Post. "It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
