Volare500

Great value especially if you're new to the sport and aren't ready to drop a small fortune on a high end FF suit. Custom colour combinations available. Sizing is not fully custom, but they can adjust certain measurements +/- to fit your body type. My custom colour XS with longer torso fits like a glove and flies great!

28. Was sitting around a campfire with about 10 friends having some beers, talking, laughing. The topic of skydiving came up and the group was divided. Half said no way, the other half said they would totally do it. I always wanted to when I was a teenager but sort of forgot about it through my 20s. I sat there by fire thinking to myself, "I never did that, why haven't I done that?" The next day I called up my local DZ and signed up for a tandem jump. As someone who suffers from anxiety, this was an insane thing for me to do. The whole ride up, I put on a brave face but was scared shitless inside. The second we left the plane, something clicked and I was in love. Been jumping every week ever since. Just bought my first rig and have a goal to do at least 100 jumps this season now that I'm off rental gear.

I'm just shy of 100 jumps now. Thinking back to my PFF, it seems silly now all the simple things I lost sleep over back then. PFF was a huge hurdle and very stressful, but once I got past that, that's when the real fun started. There's a good section I found in one of the CSPA manuals that covers anxiety and stress management. It pretty much covered everything I was going through at the time and really helped me deal with the stress.

My PFF (AFF) was, to be honest, an emotional fucking roller coaster. Horrible, crippling, anxiety throughout the day when I was going to jump. Self doubt like you wouldn't believe. My heart rate would always shoot up close to 140 and stay there for hours. The drive to the DZ, it would get worse. I had no one to talk to about it either and felt like the only one at the DZ feeling that way. Everyone looked so relaxed, and here I was a total mess inside trying to stay cool. The days when I screwed up a level and needed a retake were the worst. I felt like a failure, going home with my tail between my legs. Feeling like I would never figure it out. "Why am I even doing this??" But despite all that, the good days always made up for the bad ones and kept me coming back. The days when I passed a level, I was on cloud nine. My endorphin levels through the roof. Hit with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment that few things have ever given me. As a matter of fact, I still get that feeling today after good jumps when I accomplish something new, and it's why I keep jumping. It makes me happy! :)

Contacted a local master rigger who will take a closer look at it.

This is what it looks like. It all fits in the container like a glove, no problems there. Closes up just fine and is not overstuffed one bit. Maybe I'm truely horrible at packing, but I swear you could bounce a quarter off this thing. The rig has a 170 main and 170 reserve, giving me a 0.95 wing load. It's older, but in great shape. And the harness was made for someone exactly my hight and weight. Unless my research has lead me wrong, it all sounds like a good starter rig for someone like myself with under 100 jumps.

I put about 50 jumps on mine this season and overall I'm happy with it. It's very accurate, I hear it just fine and the app on my phone works well. The only downside I find is that you can't change the altitude settings on the fly, and you do have to turn the unit on each time you get to the DZ. I had one jump where I forgot to turn it on and only realized when I didn't hear the usual climb beeps after takeoff. Other than that, it's a great value and does what it needs to do well.

Makes sense. I still have very little experience packing so it seems difficult for me. Once the the lines are stowed, the bag fits nicely into the container and I have no trouble closing everything up.

I'm looking at picking up a used rig (first rig) from a regular at my DZ. The price is too good to pass up. A concern I have though, I tried packing the thing, and noticed the dbag just barely contains the main chute. Like it's wanting to burst out of there. Getting the S-fold in the bag wasn't a problem, but getting the elastics around to close it was a bit of a challenge. Mind you I still have very little packing experience at this point and know it's always difficult at first. I've packed a few other rental rigs that were a breeze, but this one put up a fight. Is this something to be concerned about? The rig was inspected and signed off on by a rigger last May and every year before. Thoughts?

Any advice? I've been jumping for a year now and it's time to get serious about purchasing my own rig. Buying all new gear probably isn't an option for me. I don't have that kind of coin... I'm down with buying a complete used rig, if the right one pops up for sale. As long as it fits right. I'm tall/slim. What about piecing one together? Going used for the reserve, main and AAD, and then ordering a new container. I like the idea of being able to pick my own colours and having a harness that will fit perfectly. Pros/cons? It's a lot of money, so any tips are greatly appreciated!

35km from home. 30-50 minutes depending on traffic but only 15 minutes from work. I used to think that was far!

Finally got my custom Focus suit in the mail yesterday. About 3 weeks production time, 1 week to ship to Ontario. I haven't jumped it yet but my first impression of it is very good. It feels really well made for the price. The custom colour combo I went with looks killer in person. Very happy that they could do that for me. I'm sure it will fly great too once I hit the DZ on the weekend. I definitely think it's a great deal for the money, especially for someone starting out in the sport and not ready to drop a small fortune on an advanced FF suit.

I went with the Pebble for my first audible since I'm not exactly swimming in cash, and I'm super happy with it. It's pretty basic, but it works well, is accurate and does exactly what I need it to do. Let me know IT'S TIME TO PULL!!!! I had the same issue at first with the defective cable that came with it, but I just swapped it for a spare Samsung cable I had lying around and it works just fine. The app works well and I like being able to plug it into my phone.

I was curious about that too. It sounds like it's something that wouldn't be hard to have altered.

Decided to go for it. I put my order in yesterday for the Focus with one of the measurements altered to fit me better. I spent a little extra to have them do my own custom colour combo too. All in with shipping to Canada, I paid €218. I think that's pretty decent for a made to order, semi-custom sized jumpsuit.