S-Fly Expert, centre / leg wing vent

[SteveSearle 0]

I'm trying to get information on opening the centre / leg wing vent on my S-Fly Expert.
I currently just have a slash down the material behind the mesh but I’ve heard you can open it up to improve inflation. I don’t want to start cutting away without knowing what or how much material to remove and what this will do or improve regarding wingsuit performance.
Thanks in advance
Steve

[aarthus 0]

Hi Steve,

no need ... the S-fly expert don't work with inflation but with tension... (no bent legs)

i you want to increase your performance, put more tension in the suit and play with angles (like in freefly)

Patrick de Guillebon

[SteveSearle 0]

Thanks

[Titanium_Gecko 0]

Hi Steve,

As Pat said!

I have about 300 jumps on a 2009 Expert (with just the slit material behind the mesh) and never needed to modify the inlet.

To get more drive forward, say, think about a line up through your spine and out of the top of your head being pulled tight. You then end up tensioning the suit more from the toes to shoulders and upper arms (keeping a good position) but flattening out the suit. You can then play with pushing up with your chest or rolling your shoulders forward a bit, to change the whole profile of your body (the wing), to further change your glide angle. Legs always remain straight - toes pointed, knees locked and also pushing out sideways with your calves. An example being trying to fly "back up" to a formation having gone low on exit etc.

From my very limited experience suits like the PhoeniX Fly Shadow and Tony Suits T-Bird have better inflation, which I think helps with responsiveness of the suits, but you can fly your body (and use anticipation/instinctiveness) to compensate.

Anticipation being that you're flying closer in formation so you can see what's happing, knowing what's coming next in the dive and getting to a stage where you don't have to "see, process, do" but just "see and do" saving time.

I have found a point where I cannot float (i.e. slow vertical & slow forward) with the some of the other intermediate suits in my Expert; I need a bit more forward speed. I just tell myself to improve my skills and get them to go quicker forward next time...lol.


All that said, newer models of the Expert and Verso do have small cups on the leg wing inlets to catch more air!

I'm sure Jarno has mentioned to me in the past about knowing someone who has done this modification, so he might chip in.

Regards,

Ross

Edited for typos.

www.gathhelmets.co.uk
www.flyyourbody.com

[Sylvain 0]

Steve,

as explained, you need to put tension on the fabric. So its very important that the suit fits you well. If the suit is a bit too long for you, do not hesitate to shorten the booties, as I explained in this thread :

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4114365;page=unread#unread

-- Sylvain

[Ronaldo 0]

I did that and can testify it made a HUGE difference!
Thanks again for the tip

Engineering Law #5: The most vital dimension on any plan drawing stands the most chance of being omitted

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

While, no, it's not "neccessary" to improve the inlet, most people in the USA did it anyway. Let me see if I can explain it without making a diagram:

The inlet is a triangle with a vertical bar run down the middle. The stock slits run diagonally down the insides of either side of that triangle and are about four inches long each. The "mod" is simply to make an additional cut from the bottom of each slit horizontally toward the inside (center) about an inch. This turns each slit into sort of a flap and really does help with inflation if you DO happen to be flying with your knees bent a little and experience a lot of leg flapping. I know people who actually cut out the triangular flaps as well with great results.

The S-Fly Expert is a great flying suit that requires very-little effort to fly efficiently. Older, single-zipper models are a bitch to get in and out of, but adding two additional main body zippers down each side (like all modern suits) fixes that and even gives you an opportunity to make the suit fit fatter people. Also, as stated in another post, it's easy to shorten and lengthen the booties.

Chuck