The111

I'm not even a 200 jump wonder plane jumper... I agree with your point to an extent, but your post comes off with even less taste than the quote you are criticizing. There's a large difference between a tight-knit, loving community (the picture you're trying to paint of BASE), and an exclusive separatist one which calls others by names to strengthen segregation. I'm not claiming to know a damn thing about the BASE community as a whole, but you say you don't want to create flames, then repeatedly refer to skydivers as "plane jumpers", which to me seems like the equivalent of skaters calling rollerbladers "fruitbooters", or surfer calling body boarders "spongers". It would be more tactful to stick to your point, which has nothing to do with how many jumps Lazyfrog has, or what he has exited from. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Me too. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[cough]I'm ignorant and content with it leave me alone[/cough] www.WingsuitPhotos.com

JTB is very good as well as their predecessor Jawbreaker. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Zennie, listen to the new album DeLoused in the Comatorium by the Mars Volta. Not sure what your taste in music is, but if you like any rock at all you are sure to love this. It's probably the most original album to come out all year. As far as death metal, the only bands I've listened to are Dimmu Borgir and Opeth... both fairly good if you're in the right mood. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Is there something going on in the country that I'm not aware of? I'm in Orlando, FL, and as far as I know, our electricity and cops are behaving. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Sounds pretty crazy. "No harness required?" www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Dude, obviously I am not a BASEr, but I have never even heard of a jump like you did (holding your canopy deployed off the edge of the cliff). Where can I read more about that? Does it make on heading openings more likely? Something about it just seems crazy to me... but then again that's just me. :) Also, why did you cutaway? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yeh, I thought about that, but there are several threads where it appears in SUBJECT AND BODY, but doesn't appear in the search results. Also, search for the word "Guner" (Gunner mispelled) in SUBJECT AND BODY, and you'll get results, even though it only appears in the body. Oh well, it's not a big deal, I was just curious. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I spent hours trying to find an old post about the Bonehead Gunner. The SUBJECT of the post is "Bonehead Gunner". If you search in SUBJECT ONLY, and enter the word Gunner, you will find the post. But if you search in SUBJECT AND BODY and enter the word Gunner, you won't find the post! Makes no sense that expanding your search field narrows your results... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Above all else, ASK YOUR INSTRUCTORS. But one thing I can say, is that whatever you do, don't change from a 220 to a 170 all at once. If you've been jumping a 220 student canopy (and are comforable with it), put a good number of jumps on a 210 ZP canopy, and don't downsize again until you're very comfortable with the current size. Only downsize one size at a time! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Like most other people here, I never met Pops... but reading all these threads about him and seeing the emotion people pour out in their posts makes me a little bit teary eyed, almost in a good way, because it gives me an even greater respect for the beauty of this sport and its participants. He sounds like a great man. Blue Skies Pops. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I only have 60 jumps... I used to get motion sick after several jumps, I think it was moreso from the canopy ride with crazy turns at altitude, rather than anything else. I take Dramamine in the morning before jumping now and I'm fine. But still after 4 or 5 jumps I start to get a bad headache, not sure if it's from the pressure change or the stress of packing in the hot afternoon or what. But I take Tylenol for the headaches. :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Ok, 3rd post in a row and a thread hijacking. Question: I'm a pretty new jumper at DeLand and I've heard a LOT of people (including some of the most experienced jumpers on the DZ) tell me that 45 degree rule, even on jump run as I'm spotting my own exit. Are you implying it's not a good rule? I always kinda wondered about it, I thought personally it wouldn't always be valid depending on how the person flies. Freefliers for example take forever to get to 45 degrees. I usually just give 7-8 secs. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Not sure I understand what you mean... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Just my thoughts: you are saying a frap hat is not as good as nothing because it localizes the pressure to one region? Well, what do you think happens when you smack your bare head against something? Unless that something is the EXACT inverse shape of your head, and you fit your head inside that mold perfect (sarcasm obviously), then the wound is going to be inflicted to one small point on your skull. Even distributing over a thin padded ridge is better than a single non-padded contact point, in my opinion. If my reasoning is wrong feel free to point it out. :) EDIT: Oops. Andy beat me. I agree, even a small increase in area helps (not to mention the fact that it is padded, which your skull is not). About the only exception I can think of is if your skull started crushing and changing shape, in which case you're fucked already, so I won't even bother trying to explain. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Danke. :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Ha, I noticed in an earlier thread that you were swooping 62mph with only 400 jumps, I was pretty impressed. Now I see why. :) I don't think I'll try swooping until at least 1k, but that's cool that you're doing so good. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

That is AWESOME, quade. (I'm a math nerd...) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hey, Songmeanings.net used to be the best lyrics site ever but it seems to be down... so the next best alternative is go to Google.com and type matchbox twenty unwell lyrics and you'll get tons of results. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Well then how can they say there were no injuries? Doesn't seem too right to me... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

WFFC is Rantoul, right? And 2002 was last year? I'm confused because I saw the Rantoul 2002 DVD recently and they had a bunch of stats listed at the intro, like # of spectators, jumpers, jumps (around 42k!!!), and then the last one was skydiving-related injuries: 0. Are you saying there were two fatalities there? I'm a total newbie so I'm just genuinely confused and trying to clear it up... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Not sure I understand why, but I'll admit I've never even looked at a suit up close. In my ignorant mind I imagine once the wings are cut they would just flap behind you in freefall like streamers. Guess this isn't the case? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I've never really understood this misconception. After you open, you unzip your wings. That's it as far as what to "deal with". A lot of people, even when I'm wearing the suit in front of them, say, "if I need to chop, I want full access to my handles". You always have access to your emergency handles, even with everything zipped up. You only need to pull the handles to disconnect the arm wings if you have something you need to fix (eg, line twists) and aren't comfortable with the zippers yet and don't feel that you need to chop. Out of over 200 WS jumps, I've had line twists several times, and even chopped once. I have never chopped the wings, and have never needed to do so. There really isn't a lot to deal with. After not too long, you can connect the suit in just a few minutes. It usually takes me three or four, and I often have someone doing the other side, cutting it down to just a couple minutes. For me, it's only about eight to ten seconds (about 150 - 200 feet) from the time my canopy is open to the time that I have my arms and legs out of the suit, slider collapsed, toggles unstowed and am flying the canopy. I have another newbie question... why not just chop your wings 1k before main deployment? Go into a regular freefall for more stability... or is there something horribly wrong with that idea? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Another thought on this thread... As seen in my thread on the gear forum about Skyhook, I've been spending a lot of time debating whether to get no RSL, RSL, or Skyhook RSL on my new rig. I ended up ordering regular RSL after changing my mind about 50 times. I still feel kind of iffy about it, but the deciding factor in my choice was being honest with myself that I *am* inexperienced and there's a high possibility I could freak out in a malfunction and not respond as well as I like to think I would. So if that actually happens, the RSL could possibly help me out. BUT... I'm still worried I'll end up spinning on my back, with plenty of altitude, and actually keeping my cool enough to just be thinking "shit, I'm gonna cut away and my RSL is gonna pull for me before I can get stable, this is gonna suck..." IF those hyptheticals were all met (i.e. spinning on my back around 3000 ft (I pull at 3500) and being fully aware of what is going on and not freaking out... would it be a bad idea to reach down and disconnect my RSL, THEN cutaway, THEN gain stability, THEN deploy reserve? I know this is a question I really need to ask an instructor (which I plan on doing next time I'm at the DZ), and I also know one response I'll probably get here is that the procedure above gives me too many "different" emergency procedures to pick between and confuse me. I agree, which is why I usually won't think about that situation. If I malfunction, and I can't see my alit or know I am low, or am scared/freaking out, I will simply do my "failsafe solve-all" double handle pull. BUT... if for some reason I know I am very high, in a very calm state of mind, and spinning on my back and actually have the time and clarity of mind to think "DAMN, I wish my RSL wasn't hooked up"... I kinda think it would be acceptable to reach down and disconnect it. I can't say whether or not I'll ever be in a state of mind that clear which is why I opted FOR the RSL and in the event that things are happening fast and I'm freaking out, I'll just execute my normal procedures no questions asked. www.WingsuitPhotos.com