notsane

Very nice pics, Matt. The wind blew, but we didn't suck.

Great dives you mother flockers! Too bad the wind got in our way Saturday, but in spite of that and Jeff's unclipped wings I had a ball. Great food Saturday night too .. at least what I remember of it. Matt said he got some great shots of Perry! He's even named them: Eating salad Is that chicken I see? Spaghetti and Meatballs

Damn, Matt .. that's good! I know these images are going to be in my head in a couple of weeks when I'm seeing TOOL live! Great job!

Are the skid marks on the inside or the outside?

Thanks, Chris! I try my hardest ...

Damn, Tero .. I like that perspective .. very cool.

Can't go .. stinkin'work.

I jumped a bunch of canopies before deciding on the Pilot (I bought it before I joined the sponsored instructor program). I didn't like the way the Sabre2 hunted around for a heading during the snivel portion of the opening. The Spectre felt like 7-cell canopies I jumped back in the early 80's ... a glide like a brick and a flare to match. Airlocked canopies felt like riding in a truck down a dirt road .. a rough ride that made me nervous ... non-airlocked canopies give a smoother ride. But that just my opinion, Jump them all 3 or 4 times each and decide for yourself.

The words "Chuck" and "a few beers" simply do not go together!

I'm really surprised you were disapointed with the Pilot. I'm loading it at about 1.6 - 1 and I'm very pleased with its flare. Maybe you're underloading it .. how light are you?

Matt says he's been busy moving .. too busy to finish the video. Let's encourage him to finish it!

Now there's something I'd like to see ... a Birdman to Bird-women in-flight mating. None of that gay stuff, Heffro! Maybe someone could get Viagra to sponsor the jumps!

I'm thinking you might want to take a shot at rewording that. Chuck's only basing his opinion on thousands of jumps, over a thousand wingsuit dives and decades in the sport. A stunt may not require a huge amount of expertise to be visually exciting. The same can't be said of some of the things Robi, James and others are doing when they fly nap of the earth for almost the entire flight. That requires a massive amount of skill, not to mention huge brass balls. There's the difference.

"It was almost miraculous," Cani said, "I truly felt a greater power was watching over me." That would have been me.

Anyone care to clip that video so that some of us "download-speed challenged" folks can see it?

Avery, I honestly doubt you need anywhere near that much wing with your build to stay with most of the flocks. It's as hard flying all balled up to stay down as it is to be all the way strecthed out.

I seem to remember you don't like mylar either, Avery ...

Zach, I'll gladly tell you why I bought a Mach 1. First, I bought the V2 as a replacement for my aging S3. With over 300 jumps on it the zippers are showing their age and I'm constantly afraid they'll completely unwind as I'm zipping up at altitude. I love my S3! It has float and drive and the two are not tightly coupled (meaning that slowing down your forward drive doesn't cause you to drop like a stone). It doesn't beat you to death when flown dirty. It also has NO mylar in it, which I desperately despise. I've gotten 147 seconds from normal altitude in it, which isn't bad for me. What does make me want to cry is dividing about $1000 by 300+ jumps and adding that to the the cost of every jump .. that sux. So I put about 20 jumps on the V2 before definitely concluding that it wasn't the flocking suit for me. It has loads of drive and a narrow range of float but the two are very tightly coupled. I can fly a really good base with it, but when flocking it would sink out as soon as I slowed down. I have definitely seen some folks do very well with a V2, but not me. So I've been keeping my eye out for an "S3 Killer". I wanted: * good float * good drive * no damn mylar to break * a durable suit I jumped a Mach 1 for the first time in Puerto Rico because Jeff wanted some pictures. So I exit at regular altitude in one ... I've jumped a few of the early prototypes of different Tony suits and I'm expecting some really bitching arm loads. I'm pleasantly surprised that they are very light. I had a moment to play with the tail wing and I didn't have any flapping through a wide range as long as my toes were pointed out. The float wasn't good, it was great! It wasn't until pull time that I found out how well pressurized the arm wings are ... unlike an S3 type suit where the inlets are in the armpits, the Mach 1 has inlets on the front of the arm. So they don't shut down at pull time. It felt like I had an inner tube under each arm. But I didn't have to search through a nylon cloud to find my handle. Like any suit, this one will take some time to get used to ... I've got less than 10 jumps on it so far. I flew my S3 at Flock and Dock 3.0 just because I had a ton of things on my mind and thinking about my suit didn't need to be one of them. So I think I've got my S3 killer ... I got it in 1 week rather than 3 months (or longer) ... I jumped a demo that fit me before I bought it .. and no damn mylar! I'm a happy camper. Scott

If you know Larry, please ask him to contact me ASAP. Scott Bland

It occurrs to me that I never posted photos of my new Mach 1 ... sweet ride. Photos by Matt Hoover

To paraphrase a "for sale" ad seen long ago in Parachutist: "Wife says wingsuit must go. FOR SALE: one slightly used wife"

Very nice, Matt! Great choice for teaser music!

You've got nothing on Mike (IslandGuy) and his "taxiway mayonaise"

I really enjoyed the brisket, sausage and ribs, but that smoked turkey breast was unbelievable ... it was tasty, tender and had that sweet smokey tang to it. Jeff, Flora and I started picking at it before it got off the grill!

I think the Salt Lick ribs had a little more spice to them than the County Line ones. I liked them better for sure.