maretus

I've heard they can go way higher... 7:1 is not uncommon! :D Jokes aside, you can find quite a bit of footage from the net with performance data overlay on the flights. This should give you an idea about the possible (sustained and peak) performance. For example : Ludo & V4 : https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1970794388051 Ludo & V3 : https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1186336617097 Charley & Apache : http://vimeo.com/24207597 http://www.ufufreefly.com

For what it is worth... When I still skydived I used to jump Icarus Extreme FX 88 sqft loaded at 2.1 - 2.2 for all of my jumps, including WS. I recon I made 100 - 150 ws jumps with it and had no problems. I also know a friend who regularly jumps 70 sqft FX loaded around 2, has maybe 300 ws jumps with it and is super happy (can´t recall if he has chopped it yet or not). So it can be done for sure but obviously if you can afford a seprarate WS rig x-braced highly loaded canopies are not your primary choice. If you need to choose 1 canopy for all of your jumps, then it´s a trade off between the length of the swoops or the cost of occasional reserve repack after a chop. :) http://www.ufufreefly.com

Hi Jeb, the flight you have posted in the attachement shows landing in a field which is NOT official landing area. Please read the sign posted up to the exit by the locals showing the designated landing fields. Use either the higher LZ or the one further up on the town. One mamber of our local crew landed on that field on your attachement and had a very unfriendly discussion with a local citizen after it. I always land up since I suck and cannot make the lower one. Maybe I should consider tony suit... :D Edited to add : I have nothing against your performance numbers and I do not say you are giving out fake claims. I personally know I'm very much an average WS pilot and I'm having fun on my own skill level. It's also amazing to see some of the better flyers do their thing. Regarding performance numbers, I really have no clue and personally don't even give a f*ck. I've never flown with GPS and most likely never will since I really do not care about the numbers. Like Douggs once said, at the end of the day the best base jumper is the one who has most fun. :) http://www.ufufreefly.com

I took the values with a distance tool in another map service. See the attachement. http://www.ufufreefly.com

If my math serves me right .91 miles is 1.46 kilometers (the thingies we use here in euroland to calculate distances you know). I do not know where you openen on this particular flight but the distance from the grassy "shoulder" on left on the exit of the crack to the intersection of the roads in the closest corner of the upper landing area is about 750m (that is 0.46 miles) and the distance from the point where the crack starts to "open" and turns maybe 30 deg to right to the same point in landing area is 940m (0.58miles). 1.46km from either of these points would put you pretty much between the upper landing area and the PG landing area in the city, the distance from the grassy shoulder on the exit of the crack to the landing area in the city is 1650m (1.02mi) and from the upper point of the crack where it starts to open up it is about 1850m (1.15 miles). As far as I have seen your videos you have been landing on the upper landing area where most of the people land after flying the line through the crack. I have also seen this spring couple of really good flyers fly it all the way to the lower landing area after flying the line through the crack. For me this is pretty impressive feat since the vertical difference between the bottom of the crack and the landing area in the city is about 600m with the distance of 1850m. This would yield over 3:1 GR for this part of the flight (since you neeed some room for opening as well although you most likely are flying also a bit above the bottom of the crack). This of course for a good pilot is achievable by using the speed gathered on the dive through the crack to make a gigantic flare. http://www.ufufreefly.com

If you start listing all non commercially available / prototype suits the list of course will be endless. I for example flew somewhere in the early 2000 a birdman "S2" which was a prototype prior the launch of S3. It had bigger armwing than the original skyflyer but was not the same suit than the S3. Also there were couple of S1's floating around with "BASE leg wing" (a wider legwing mod for BASE purposes). And speaking of mods, there is of course the well famous "Lordi mod" by our Visa "the rocketman" Parviainen on his Blade : https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/179643_495379314929_600639929_6139955_6259681_n.jpg Edit : Also looking at the list, the hungarian Intrud Air also at least had a tracking suit in some point of time. I jumped it once off the High Ultimate in LB and it didn't feel too bad to be honest. No idea if it is commercially available today or not. Also on the Tony Suit order form (http://www.tonywingsuits.com/wsd/WingSuitForm_apr11.pdf) there is a check box for a tracking suit called tracker but I've never seen any pictures of this suit let alone to see it in action. Maybe somebody in this forum can share a bit more info on this suit? http://www.ufufreefly.com

Speaking of the non-commercial / prototype ones, we flew couple of 2 -ways I think back in 2002 or so with Ode flying this : https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/179420_494787814929_600639929_6129249_691087_n.jpg. It's one of the early wingsuits made by Jno, as far as I know he made several of those in the early 2000. http://www.ufufreefly.com

I thought that the Apache was a BASE specific suit because of the "semi integrated" desing would cover your skydiving emergency handles? Looks like an interesting desing though and I love to see people thinking "outside of the box". The Apache is for BASE jumping ONLY. Not for skydiving. Your NORMAL BASE RIG fits inside the front of the suit, which makes for an extremely clean lower surface. As you can see in this photo, there is not even a chest strap exposed (I am wearing my normal Asylum Profile BASE rig in these photos). ... If you haven't jumped a large wingsuit already for at least one season then you might consider ordering the X2 (new X-Bird) instead of the Apache, because the X2 can be used to practice in the skydive environment http://matttg.com/new_apache_wingsuit.htm Edited to add : Seems that the suit is also already on the tony suits webpage : http://www.tonywingsuits.com/apache.html where tony also writes : NOTE: This suit is for BASE jumping only. Having the harness inside the suit excludes it from being used for skydiving. Expert wingsuit skydivers could choose to modify the Apache to mount the emergency handles on to the suit itself under the guidance of a qualified rigger but TonySuits does NOT recommend any modifications! http://www.ufufreefly.com

Please understand that the 20k (or something) might be just the cost for a pair of turbines. We're not talking about out of the shelf box product that you can just buy and start flying. Visa has spent countless amounts of time and money to work on his project. To improve the reliability of his setup and make it as safe as possible to use. It's not like he just strapped pair of turbines to his feet and gave it a go. :) The result you can see on the video is the result of years of R&D on the ground and in the air. So be prepared to fork over some serious amounts of cash and time before you can plan to achieve what he has achieved. And for the other poster, I know another finnish guy who has made (at least) one flight on the same system but nothing as thorough as Visa has done. http://www.ufufreefly.com

Not really, I wasn't there all the time and didn't pay that much attention on the times. If I remember correctly Ludo had the overall fastest times and was consistently fastest athlete but had a bad run in the semi's and didn't make it to the top pair. Livia was the fastest girl in the competition and also gave the organisers a good lesson how to fly with top speed on the 3way demo jump before the finals. :) I'm sure Hubsi will come out with detailed scoresheet in near future. http://www.ufufreefly.com

Final ranking : http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs172.snc4/37933_437241802843_350551857843_5361388_4084831_n.jpg I think the top3 were all flying V3's and Oliver in 4th place was flying a Tony Suit (don't know for sure which one, normally he flies X-wing). Other TS's in the competition were at least Markus (6th) and Rob (14th). Reinier in 9th place was flying V2. Very nice event, no incidents and high quality of flying! http://www.ufufreefly.com

Adam was honest and kind person who was very much loved in the international BASE jumping community. During his travels he also spent some time in Finland, time which formed a special bond between the small finnish BASE crew and our friend Adam. Last I met him in KL 2009 where we enjoyed some nice jumps togther. He was very talented jumper and most of all overall nice guy. World is so much emptier place without him and he will be in our memories always. http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs558.ash1/32513_418885775131_688070131_5924458_6008709_n.jpg http://www.ufufreefly.com

With that caveat allowed, then the lowest I've heard of in a wingsuit is 160 ft. http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2568/154/43/672241601/n672241601_1466346_219934.jpg Fastpete "flying" his prodigy2 from 33m (109ft) for a first ever wingsuit base jump in Finland. :) The height was lasered (somebody will ask anyway). http://www.ufufreefly.com

I'm sorry for your loss and I too was devastated when I heard that Eli had lost his life while skydiving in LB. Such an inspirational flyer, a terrible loss indeed. But please don't blame BASE jumping for the loss of your friends. Eli died while skydiving, he was performing an extreme type of skydive (proxy flight) and something went wrong. He (like Stefan in his fatal BASE jump) surely knew the risks involved in it and decided to go and do it anyway. I've lost several friends while BASE jumping and skydiving but I do not blame the sports for it nor feel angry for them because they did something they knew can cost them their life. That extreme activity they participated is what made them to be the persons they were, beautiful persons who loved life and lived it to the fullest every day. I did not know Eli personally but I'm 100% sure that for him that was the case for him also. Now it is time to mourn the loss of one of the greatest flyers of all time but at the same time cherish his life and his impact to the sport of skydiving. Blue skies Eli! http://www.ufufreefly.com

In BASE enviroment people have been generally paying way more attention to PC's (for obvious reasons) and the outcome is that heavy hackey handles are a big no no. Also if you go for tube type handle you want to check how the tube is attached to the PC. On BASE PC's the tube is always attached so that there is a piece of webbing going through the tube which is then bartacked to the load tapes on the PC (http://www.basearco.com/images/img_2.jpg). On many skydivng PC's the tube is attached so that there is a hole in the center of the tube and the PC is attached through that hole creating a single attachment point and therefore creating a possible snag point (for example bridle wrapping around the tube). http://www.ufufreefly.com

I have not flown both but I personally have about 40-50 BASE jumps on prodigy1 and a good friend that I've jumped with a lot has a P2. We've done some comparison between the two so I might share my opinions. The two suits are totally different suits to begin with. P2 has much longer legwing and inflatable ram air arm wings (where P1 has single surface arm wings). I cannot comment on the performance part, between us there isn't that much difference on the performance but then again I'd think that a really good P2 flyer would outfly a really good P1 flyer. On skydiving we've done some flocking jumps with my friends flying V1's and V2's and the prodigy seems to work there as well pretty good. I'd say there is a choice you have to make, wether you want a tool for BASE which will work in skydiving as well or a skydiving suit that you can BASE jump as well. If you primarly want a BASE suit, I'd say go with Prodigy. Either one, P1 or P2, you can get your hands one. Both will keep you happy there for long time. They are amazing BASE suits and offer comfort in sketchy exits and tight flights like no other suit in the market. If you want a flocking suit, I'd say go with Phantom etc and accept the fact that you do not have the "perfect" starting suit in BASE. I know there are plenty of people who have done their first WS BASE jumps in bigger suits but personally I think the Prodigy is the tool for the job. Lat summer I flew V1 but still occasionally like to fly the Prodigy, it's just that good of a suit. Prodigys rule! http://www.ufufreefly.com

Personal attacks are forbidden in this forum and therefore I feel that the warning from TomA towards me was more than deserved. My post contained obvious and deliberate personal attack towards NickDG (calling him an a*****e). No problems from me towards Tom about that, he did his job as a moderator of this board like he should do. Even banning me from this forum could have been in order. But what I would really like to get (and what this topic maybe should focus on) is a response from Nick about why did he feel necessary to start this whole name calling in the first place ? I'd say that is the key point of this topic, not the moderator work of TomA. http://www.ufufreefly.com

By all do respect for you mr Nick DG but that's just pathetic. Maybe you are just bitter 'cause you were not invited to that event ? Maybe you are not that big of a hero in base scene you thought you were ? Truth hurts but please, don't call other jumpers assholes if you even try to consider yourself as jumper as well. You have been jumping in front of hundreds thousands wuffos in BD and "selling out" BASE for some wannabepussy or a blow job before even some of the "assholes" on X-days were even born. So perhaps you are the last people who shuold be giving that glory hound crap to anyone. I used to have most respect for you because of what you have done for the sport but commets like that are just total bullshit. We should be brothers in this sport, not flame each other and make personal attacks (aren't they actually forbidden in this forum or is it ok to call a group of jumpers assholes but when you aim it towards one person it's forbidden ?). p.s By the way, the event was whole lotta fun! edit to remove personal attack ~TA http://www.ufufreefly.com

It might be taken off the context but in your earlier post you wrote "I wish someone had pointed out to me that freeflying and high performance canopies didn't have much skill translation" and that was the only point I'd to comment in this thread. I agree that there are much more crucial skills to learn and you can learn them better from other forms of skydiving then freeflying (like CRW, accuracy). I still have to disagree on the idea that we should guide people to only do CRW and accuracy, I'd like to think that being most versatile and all around skydiver with wide range of skills will pay off eventually when getting into BASE. But then again, I've always said to people that take minimun 500 skydives, preferably more. With 500 jumps one has had much more time to experiment with different things and develop different skills in skydiving. If one is to do only the minimun 200 skydives he probably is better off with 100 accuracy jumps and 100 CRW's than 200 freefly skydives with swoop in the end. :) With my referral of Jeb probably being able to become a world class freeflyer I did not mean to encourage anybody to start doing aerials nor did I not mean that aerials are any primary skill to learn in BASE. What I only meant is what I wrote that in both enviroments, BASE and skydiving, body control, body position awareness and motorical skills are important skills as well to master and there from my opinion is a clear skill transfer between the two sports. Granted I do look this thing from European perspective where probably the skill set I'm looking on is different from people living elsewhere. But that's primarly one of the advantages of this thing called Internet so when can compare our views with other people. http://www.ufufreefly.com

Consider the difference between where you live and where he lives. My guess is that his initial BASE experiences were off a terminal cliff in Norway, where you are likely to get some relative wind to work with, eventually. That guess is correct. :) I do know that Tom and I'm fully aware that probably majority of first base jumps annually made are off low stuff (PCA's or HH's). I peronally started in terminal wall but have done my fair share of slider down stuff as well. My last 50 or so jumps for example have been slider downs and haven't done SU jump since last october. I still claim that overall body awareness and body control (a skills that are vital for a freeflyer) help you out with low stuff as well. Relative wind or not, knowing your motorical skills and being able to work with your body position is a nice skill to have for a base jumper. Think this other way, a person like Jeb Corliss for example probably would become a world class freelfyer (he even could be, don't know) very quickly due to his motorical skills and awesome body control he has lerarned through his extensive aerobatics training in BASE. Is there a skill transfer from BASE to freeflying ? If there is why there wouldn't be the same transfer the other way ? http://www.ufufreefly.com

I agree with Tom that CRW and Accuracy skills are one of the skills to train while skydiving before getting into BASE but I wouldn't say that freeflying doesen't have much skill translation. What I've found out is that all that body position awareness and body control (that are essential skills in freeflying) have come very handy in BASE. If you only jump flat-and-stable accuracy and CRW exits out of ariplanes and never have to learn how to recover stability out of different unstable positions (a skill that you will learn while practising freeflying) how are you supposed to do that on a BASE jump ? http://www.ufufreefly.com

Where is that video? I can't find it. Thanks, Gus Hey Gus, It doesen't seem to be on BM website anymore but you can find it from skydiving movies, http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3989. http://www.ufufreefly.com

If Lauterbrunnen last weekend was anything to go by, there were many people jumping PF tracking suits but not a single Impact suit in sight... in fact I've never seen anyone BASE with it (but that's not to say people don't...) I'd say that PF still is the market leader by far in BASE world but there are people using the impact as well in BASE. (Other people than BM employees too :) ) I jump PF pants myself but I've done couple of flights with Impact in LB. I also did video when fastpete jumped that suit in LB and the footage can be seen in Impact trailer in BM website. http://www.ufufreefly.com

Sorry to say but your friend isn't much of a tracker or he is deployed somewhere around 1500m. :) We have achieved longer freefalls on normal freefly tracking dives with freeflypants only and with any tracking gear you should be easily able to beat that. You can get more than 60s from 4k with doing 4-way relative work. :) Regarding the performance and usability of Impact, I'd recommed on doing search on this forum (and probably BASE board as well). http://www.ufufreefly.com

If there are any locals or if anybody has done any jumps in Latvia or Lithuania, drop me an PM or email at markus(a)ufufreefly.com. Might be planning a trip at some point somewhere around there. Any help would be highly appreciated! http://www.ufufreefly.com