Pobrause

I own one pair of swoop pants from Intrudair. They survived a crumbled femur, some ruptured crucial ligaments and meniscus and about 800 jumps in total, half of them sliding in downwind on my but and still look like they would do it all over again without complaining.

Also I own a comp freefly suit from Intrudair that survived about 150 jumps on it and two tunnel hours. Still looks like new.

Additionally quite a few of my friends own and jump Intrudair clothing quite regularly and I've yet to see a suit blow up.

Most of these suites were bought within the last three years so for older models it might have been different.
I also haven't seen their RW-model so can't say aything about it.

Regarding Vortex containers I'd highly reccomend them as an inexpensive alternative to the big 5. Nothing wrong with them, build quality is awesome, better than some wings containers I've seen recently, correspondence with the manufacturer works flawlessly, it's TSO'd and Skyhook approved and rigging them is quite easy. Of course it lacks quite a bit of the finetuning that went into modern javelins but thats the $1200 price difference.
I'm actually thinking about buying one as a second rig for swooping

for the record I'm not sponsored by any of these companies

nice trolling with the link, I tried to click it a couple of times before I got it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdWsD1iAR1s

"How do I use the search funktion on dz.com?"

I lengthened the lower steering lines of all my canopies so far by roughly 5-8 inches to avoid any tail input when pulling down the front riser. I use 24" riser btw.
All of them were PD canopies, ranging from a Spectre 170, Sabre 2, different Katanas down to a Velo 90. I have long arms and could still pretty much stall them all effortlessly.

I testjumped them all before any adjustments to figure out the required lenght I needed to add.
From my experience the smaller the canopy the longer I had to make the lower steering lines to get the desired result.

Thanks for sharing your story and glad you made it out alive =)

some trees are brighter than others and some fields are darker than others. I'd highly doubt sth was wrong with your perception of either. Doesn't sound like you are night blind, too. And you would already know that, wouldn't you?

Just a couple of questions:
How many jumps in total?
How many at that particular DZ?
What kind of (clear) goggles were you using?
Exit altitude?
Deployment altitude?
Wheather conditions during the night, any moon?
Were your lights set up in any way where they could blend you during the jump?
What were you doing during freefall?
How much time went from you last seeing the DZ and your exit?
Any reasons why you didn't check the landmarks that were shown to you inside the plane once in freefall/under canopy?
Did you look out and tried to find the DZ by yourself prior (like 5 seconds) to exit?

I'm glad your decision to land in the (smallish?) river worked out for you but I don't think I'd advise anybody to do so during the night and actually in general. Drowning due to unforseen strong currents and getting drifted far away sound like a horrible scenario compared to a broken leg because of some rocks... You had your cell phone with you, didn't you?

@stayhigh is this one of your trolling accounts?

degeneration

Related to the OP, but also a general question to those more experienced, if your 90 turns are completely off, would going back to double fronts, learning and becoming decent at those be a beneficial progression, or just stick with 90s but learn to do them properly?

If your setup and procedure is way off, like in the video of OP, a step back to doublefronts would be the way to go as you can fokus on improving your initiation technique without having to worry about groundrush too much. Also a fucked up straight in is way easier to abort than a fu 90° turn. Learn to do everything smoothly, without yanking and stabbing. Thats the goal of a SIDFA
straight in doublefront approaches, though they are a must have in your skill set prior to adding a turn, won't give you the necessary sight picture and ground rush experience you are going to need when adding a turn. But a solid set of skills will make everything so much safer and easier when progressing

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Edit: saw you booked a course with Nick (Bartholmew?). So great I think that's the best plan of action.

Nick James Batsch and Curt (Bartholomew) FFS!
Don't you dare mixing up the names of my heroes
They're in the same team, Alter Ego, though. So I will be generous with your punishement...

10 jumps with a T10 should teach you some humility.

hodges

The thing that grips me is that I need three devices (Viso, Protract, Optima) to achieve the following:

1) Audible with canopy alarms
2) Digital alti
3) Jump logging with cumulative freefall count (a working viso would log jumps but I'd still have to add them all up every weekend)

I actually found at on point I don't mind having those three gadgets. The more redundant systems I have the less likely it is that all of them are going to fail. And also less likely that I forget all of them I actually think about adding another viso to one of my jumpsuitlegs as it is easier to read under canopy without having to look away from my spot/traffic.
I do understand your point, though. It would be a lot easier to have an all in one sollution.
I like the added safety

gnihihihi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_pReTcnLHk

It makes me sad to hear you only read the last third of my initial post. Ungreatful scum, pfse!

Now weren't you already on your way back to the real world?

I'm surprised nobody told him yet to add some more Gopros, so that we can watch his

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extremely well planned out routine

from more angles and learn from him =D

To the OP:

Yes, it is beneficial to learn to swoop under a canopy like yours.
You don't need more of an answer and we don't need more of your landing videos.
Now go back playing in the real world =)


is anybody on the internetz so quickly offended nowadays?
I'm having the fun of my life reading the responses, am I going to hell for it?

You're interested in a very exciting and for me next to MX the most beautiful sport and you jump fairly often, keep up the good work =)

Soo...

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My routine is extremely well planned out.

You went through 2 canopy control courses plus additional coaching and you don't even manage to pull your slider down/ widening up your chest strap or to calculate your correct WL? Additionally your approach looks overly frantic. Yanking here, pulling there, wondering why it didn't generate any power/ popped out of the turn to high...
Give it more time and most importantly more altitude.
Clean up your turn, understand the concept of smoothly turning an airfoil and I bet you can up your initiation altitude to at least 400+ ft (and finally resulting into something you could call a swoop)

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The Safire2/Sabre2 will frustrate you at times because any mistake you make during the turn will seem to cause the canopy to "auto-recover", but it's a wing/progression that shouldn't be tossed aside for convenience's sake.

I'd love to shake your hands for that sentence!
You need to become very consistent and clean to manage good swoops on those canopies but you will be so much safer of on more advanced profils.


Internet swoop coaching is stupid and dangerous. If you didn't learn basic canopy control until now go off the internet and do those canopy classes again, maybe with a different coach, as the last one seems to have failed
Knowing where I and many of my friends were swoopingwise with 250 jumps I also kinda doubt this number. No offence intended, but you wouldn't be the first one tampering jump numbers to avoid discussions about stupid fast downsizing

HIGH1

Interesting dialogue about Tony Suits WWL President ~Espen Fadnes
https://youtu.be/w3QOXUbNZWo?t=2m15s

Don't forget about Tony http://tonysuits-online.myshopify.com
http://www.tonywingsuits.com

Our current champion Julian Boulle, Mike Swanson and Noah Bahnson left Team Tony Suits to compete with Squirrel.
http://worldwingsuitleague.com/uncategorized/last-minute-changes-with-wingsuit-teams/

The Scorpion II and C-Race are very comparable suits and time wise, too but those top athletes from the sponsored Dubai regime....May have a chance by chance....
Lets go Team Tony; Its not the size of squirrel in the flight, its the size of the nuts in Tony! (aka its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog)

clickification

Call Hans Ostermünchner at fallschirmdepot.de (speaks englisch, french, russian...)

He should be able to help you out.

The111

***A headsup jumper

How is this for headsup

let me rephrase that into situational awareness... yes, he fucked up bevorehand when donning his suit improperly, yes, he might have been able to solve this malfunction without needing to rely on his AAD, yes, he should have had a RSL... But when he realised he fucked up bigtime he didn't freak out like so many others but was thinking ahead and chose a solution, albeit unconventional, that saved his life.

Again, I'd be happy to go to war with him anytime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFJK5yPoJH4

what a badass I'm not even kidding

"so I went headdown in my wingsuit because my suit swallowed my reserve ripcoard and I had to reach sufficient speed for my AAD to fire"

an RSL might have been a less exciting solution

A headsup jumper, fully aware and calm, nice video

anybody in the know of the suit model?

stayhigh

Rear riser trim sets are much easier to adjust when under load.

okay, I'll admit it. I actually laughed ^^ the more I read from this kind hearted person of yours the more I'd like to actually get to know you

better dead than uncool

you're never too low for an awesome swoop

if in doubt, add 180° and evaluate again

If you're dumb, you gotta be tough

never date the packing bitch/your rigger

just because you have a dick and act like one doesn't mean you're not a pussy

what could possibly go wrong?!

ETA: Just because you have the keys and nobody is going to hinder you doesn't mean you should drive the DZO's offroad bike over the landing strip... during the night... foggy as hell...drunken and intoxicated... right into the drainage trench... breaking not only the damn bike but also inflating your balls to the size of grapefruits, requiring a midnight visit at the emergency room

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The DZO is THE only person allowed to empty the trash can on the packing mat.

I'd really like to hear the story behind this

ryoder

It finally happened;
Gear has become so expensive that the newer jumpers must share a canopy.

If I am ever going to tell you my story it will start like this:

I was just like you

You got more from this thread than you could have ever asked for.
Now you just need to understand.


Go out and jump, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

I already thought you were a dumbass for posting such a question, with your replies you erased every doubt about it

pretty forgiving canopy... HA!
You know nothing, Jon Snow!

Go ahead and be a man that can make his own decisions!
I did and it was awesome. Especially the part where I could't shit for 7 days and a fat, ugly nurse put a suppository inside my anus.

I like my drama as I like my coke

sparkling...


ETA: 12.09.2017 jump 587

I couln't care less whether you jump a Velo 75 with 300 jumps or a Navigator 260. I really don't care if you hurt or kill yourself.
I give about zero fucks on you and your pathetic life.
And as long as YOU are the ONLY person affected by your own decisions you can do whatever the fuck you want.

BUT:

You are NOT independent, you are never alone, you are not autarkic and you are NOT only responsible for yourself,
and you just CAN'T the fuck clean up after you when you pounded your sorry ass in at whatever place you decided to 'play it safe'.

The worst is not the pain, the rehab or the part, where you have to shit in your own bed because you can't get to the toilet by yourself.
The worries and horrors you infused your buddies, girlfriend and family with because THEY had to watch and THEY had to clean up after you are the worst.
You let them down because you thought the little rush was worth it and you didn't think ahead that one time.
You are not feeling anything when you are dead but others are. Have you prepared them properly?

Been there, done that.
I made my friends think they just watched me die. Accomplishement unlocked!


The thing is, I also don't care for your family and friends.
Not only because I'm an asshole but also because I will probably never get to know them.
But what I do care about is when I come to a DZ and they don't let me swoop there because some sorry ass pounded himself in while playing it safe under whatever small canopy he could find.
Other DZ see this and ban swooping and smaller parachute sizes alltogether. The media coverage leads the whuffos to think that we are all a bunch of adrenalinjunkies and that jumping should be banned in general because its just irresponsible and dangerous.

You see where this is going... I'm exaggerating but you might get the point

There is no race to win and if you don't know how to speed up the landings on your 150 pay somebody to show you.


*rant off*

There is no such thing as a tandem passanger harness for sb your size.
And a TI the size of Peter Dinklage isn't going to help either. You'd need to find a guy that is able (and willing) to control both of you during the skydive. For that he/she'd need quite a range so theoretically you should search for somebody that resembles slenderman. I'm 6'3, 187 lbs and my weight limit for a tandem passenger is around 240lbs athleticaly build, less if they are more fat than anything else. I Know of a few that jump with even heavier students but nothing in your class thats for sure.

Still thats just theoretical as there still is no harness certified for your size.

Your best bet would be to find a DZ that has a Tandem rig converted to a solo one. Still you'd likely have to reconfigure/enlarge the harness as there obviously is quite a lot of body to strap around.

So, I'd say it's definitely doable but still there is the question whether you actually should?!

Landing is quite rough if you don't know what you are doing. With an exit weight of 400 lbs every mistake can and will break you badly, even under a really big tandem canopy. Not only hurt but break. Your bones are still only biologicaly certified for around 220-260 lbs of normal use (yes I made that up but you get the point?!)

So... no, I don't thing you could find anybody on this planet that is willing to teach you how to skydive

That being said...

Go to a Windtunnel and learn to fly your body there. It definitely lacks the view and most of the rush but boy, its fun as hell =)

I truly believe this is the closest YOU could ever get to real skydiving... if... you don't loose any weight.

get rid of at least 100lbs (yes, also some muscles) and it should be a peace of cake for you to make your livelong dream of jumping a reality ...


ETA: lots of stills, should reconsider my writing style

you need to add swoop wings, swoop wings fix everything!

not if you just loop the part with the cateye through the original ring, so that it releases from it once you release the toggles.. easy fix without needing to replace anything =)

If you don't have those rings at hand in Eggenfelden call Hans Ostermünchner at fallschirmdepot.de

Still like the Lookma RDS on your Katana 120? Might soon have a 107 with appropriately sized RDS-slider for sale, if you're interested =D

that looks shitty indeed. But how do they achieve the obviously much more appealing quality of those specific internetvideos, we all think about, when talking about spy glasses but nobody dares to mention?!

rhetoric question btw