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kevin922

First wingsuit jump....(Year)

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I remember back in the day when everyone was paranoid to jump a wingsuit.. and now I'm seeing so many people jump them... I think that is awesome, I'm curious what the big curve is as far as the year people started jumping the suits..

Posting your memories of your first jump experience and year are encouraged!

(For me, Jari was throwing me out of an Otter in Orange, VA in a GTI I think it was.. I believe circa 2001 - 2002)

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My first one was at the last Dublin St Patricks Day boogie in March 2007. Chuck Blue got me started. I remember I walked up in a freefly jumpsuit and proceeded to put the demo wingsuit on OVER the jumpsuit. I remember Chuck had a funny look on his face but he refrained from calling me an idiot.

Thanks Chuck.
... Marion

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I remember Chuck had a funny look on his face but he refrained from calling me an idiot.

Thanks Chuck.



That doesn't sound like the Chuck I know! :P

2004 (Feb I think) for me. Chris Ash took me up at Skydive Pahokee on Lake Okeechobee. I got so freaking drunk that night. The next day I was hungover and the plane rides were bumpy so I was kind of getting sick. On about the 4th jump (still jumping the demo suit of course) I was so sick on the plane I almost lost it. Made it out the door somehow, forgot about it... remembered under canopy, and promptly puked on myself and the demo suit (and a car somewhere below probably) at 4000ft. I bought the suit, even though they said I didn't have to just because of the puke.

A month later in March I had a chop on my 14th wingsuit jump, hardest reserve opening ever (Chuck will remember that) and my lower back still hurts to this day from it. I didn't jump for 4 months (could barely walk straight for a few weeks) and when I did start again my first wingsuit jump was scarier than my first skydive. Got over it all, obviously.
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

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December '05 at the Eloy Holiday boogie. The111 gave me my FFC. Due to a nasty, disgusting growth on his lip, he couldn't make the first jump with me, so someone else witnessed the comedy.
50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

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December '05 at the Eloy Holiday boogie. The111 gave me my FFC. Due to a nasty, disgusting growth on his lip, he couldn't make the first jump with me, so someone else witnessed the comedy.



Actually it was the sinus infection that had me grounded. My lower lip was swollen so big it looked like I had been punched in the face, but I think it was an allergic reaction to something (let the speculations begin).
www.WingsuitPhotos.com

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1999. Saw a wingsuit hanging on a rack inside Action Air, so I rented it and jumped it, alot. I ordered 2. Then I thought how cool it would be if someone sell them and teach people how to fly them correctly without going in, and how RICH you could be doing that! :S:D

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

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I thought how cool it would be if someone sell them and teach people how to fly them correctly without going in, and how RICH you could be doing that! :S:D



I have sen your "Man Cave" and it is not too shabby toy wise..... :)

Scott C.
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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Eddie P trained me up back in 2003 and I was happy to help him get rich. The training was great and that first jump is still probably my favorite w.s. jump. It all went well until I did a "phantom pull" of my hackey and went back into full flight. I looked over to see Eddie laughing at me until I reached back and pulled properly.

Then I got married and now my w.s. (which has gotten smaller) mostly mocks me without remorse.

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Started seriously thinking about it in the fall of '07, because I was getting closer to the 200 jump mark.
By the time the season ended, I had 198 jumps. Planned a trip to Cali in Jan '08, and I was going to do my first flight there with Ed.
I was psyched. Well... first the weather was shitty, then he had to do a few AFF jumps with someone else who had been waiting even longer than me... then the weather turned shitty again. Clouds, winds, I don't even remember. Point is, I never got to jump with Ed. (dude I would have totally made you rich :D)
Returning to Orange, I started making plans to jump with the Gray brothers. Was all set to do my FFC at the season opener event in the spring of '08... guess what, when I got there, it was raining... no, it was pouring! All I got was to chat with a few awesome wingsuiters and then Justin let me put on one of his demo suits, and I was really excited even for that.
Then whenever the Grays were at the DZ, I couldn't come, and vice-versa.
Finally, there I was at Orange one weekend... it was a Saturday night... I remember it clearly, even though I was really drunk. It was around 3 or 4 a.m. when I finally went to crash in my tent. Being the ultimate geek that I am, I didn't go straight to sleep. I pulled my computer to check my e-mail first. :P And there it was!!! An e-mail from Chris Gray asking if I was gonna come to the dz the next morning, cause they were coming over. Lucky me, I was already there. Needless to say, I didn't need any more sleep, any trace of hangover instantly disappeared, I was sooo ready to fly!
So, finally, on Sunday, July 13th 2008, I did my first wingsuit flight, and totally loved it! It was documented in this thread.

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It all went well until I did a "phantom pull" of my hackey and went back into full flight. I looked over to see Eddie laughing at me until I reached back and pulled properly.



I was going to design you some kind of ballistic for your pc, if you kept doing that....funny shit :D
www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

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Tail end of '03, Tikibar burning, Lebanon.
I'd seen a clip of a couple guys in red and white Classics surfing a cloud. Chasing each other in circles in and around it. It was freakin' awe inspiring and the second I saw that I knew what I was skydiving to do. Took a bit over another 100 jumps, and the opportunity came unexpectedly. Woke up in the morning at SNE and suddenly POOF a wingsuit booth appeared. I had 218 jumps and suddenly wow heres my chance! So far as I know everyone who saw how I reacted when I reached the ground still remembers it. I screamed. I want more!!!! I bought a new GTI without hesitation on the spot.
Exiting felt exactly like I'd imagined it would. Just spread the wings and stopped falling, suddenly the air became like another new set of arms I could actually DO something with instead of just plummeting. Supported me instead of just letting me punch through it. Still one of the most unforgettably intense, gratifying sensations I have ever experienced. Instinct and joy took over from there and I racked up hundreds of solos experimenting-distance, time, both, acro, exits, you name it, but mostly going for fallrate and airtime. This was back when jumping a wingsuit at under 500 jumps was considered almost unthinkable and the 200-jump first timers were still just a rumor from Europe.
They didn't want to let me fly it at my home DZ either-nobody else around who knew anything about em except Dave Godin and he was seldom around, I'd only seen him jump a suit once here... so I got a note from my BMI (Asaf Fishelson...remember him?) and a few of my mentors spoke up on my behalf and said, we think you should let him fly. So they did. I never gave any of them a reason to regret it. That was about 1000 jumps ago, almost all of them wingsuit. After several years of flying alone, a few more came. Then many. Now I've got half the population of the DZ to fly with.
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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Hello,
As the 90's progressed, my parachuting activities used airplanes less and less.
In 99 and 2000 I made only a handful of jumps,
and in 2001 I made just one skydive, to keep my PRO Rating current.
Then on a BASE trip in early 2002, Moe Viletto made a comment
that wingsuiting had given him a whole new reason to go back to the dropzone.
So I bought a used wingsuit (GTi) off the internet
and headed for the dz.
I said "hey Bill, check out my new jumping toy".
He said "what is that crap, pack up yer shit and get off the dropzone".
So a couple weeks later I went back and Mick was there
with a wingsuit as well, and we convinced Bill that we would most likely survive.
So he let wingsuits on the dz for the first time, circa April 2002.
Thanks Bill, Lodi flock rocks!
==================================

I've got all I need, Jesus and gravity. Dolly Parton

http://www.AveryBadenhop.com

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I made my first ws jump at Perris in 2004 with VectorBoy, did a couple there and went on to jump more at WFFC with Chuckie and the crew.

Came back to SA, bought a suit and made some more, only to start getting in CP then sold it and haven't jumped one since. I've been getting the urge to lately but would have to borrow gear as i don't own a canopy suitable for it.

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

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2001> footage from first jumps:



If you'd kept at it, you might have made a reasonable pilot :P

I did my first jump in July 2001 on my 505th jump. Tim Porter trained and videoed me.

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=882

I wore Chris Gauge's S.U.I.T. which was a bit on the tight side. I shan't name the dropzone as it was a little cloudy :$ luckily my referencing of the sun and my flight plan was good.

I like this video because the flailing during the first half makes me laugh but I really like the moment where you can see it click and the flight goes all quiet and smooth.

I can still remember the opening on my original Sabre 190 :o

Oh, the video uses the Indeo 5.1 codec. Vista users will need to open a command prompt elevated to administrator and type "regsvr32.dll ir50_32.dll" as it's not registered by default for some reason.
Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

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Think it was oktober/november 2003 (or somewhere around that time) at Teuge, Netherlands. Had around 380 jumps or so if I remember correctly. Used a Classic I. Later moved on on to the 'extremely dangerous' high performance Skyflyer1 (which wasnt all that bad, some light wobbly flying aside, when pushed too hardB|)

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

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