Rauk

As have I, many times, but this jump was enough for me to decide to encourage people not to do so. To each their own.

We had a girl at our DZ fracture a vertebrae from a hard opening after pitching off the rodeo's back a few years back. I agree.

In both cases Id recommend a small wingsuit for a good 100 to 250 jumps before (if one even has to) upsize. 201 or 5000 jumps doesn't make any change in that recommendation for me.. Agreed.

I agree with Jarno. The Shadow or Phantom are spectacular to start and (especially the Phantom) can keep you busy for hundreds of jumps, at least. I have taken probably 100 people for their first flights and I can say that 90% of those were Phantom's. The other ~10% were Shadow's and a few random suits were mixed in there.

I have heard from many people who have jumped both, the Carve is a superior suit. A guy at the Moab boogie this year was going to order a Funk, had been jumping one and was convinced that it was what he wanted. I let him jump my Carve and after one jump he ordered one straight away. Just sayin'...

I have around 200 jumps in my Carve this season. The suit is amazingly easy to fly, very easy pull, not squirrely one bit and can do everything under the sun. It is incredible at back flying and acro as well as regular belly flying. The suit has great float and is also capable of going fast. Obviously do some practice touches on your first flight but if nothing else just go and have fun. You will love it :)

Lead times, from my experience recently, have been around 11 weeks. HOWEVER, I have a handful of stock Havok Carve's available right now if you are interested in going that route and the sizes work. Send me a PM if interested and I can give you further details

***But I guess in this case "it's not the arrow, it's the indian!" *** Without a doubt

I agree with this. I have led a lot of jumps on my back lately and I have no problem at all leading this way and navigating at the same time. I don't even request a secondary spotter. People obviously know to give me feedback if needed but this rarely/never happens. I have even had to give people the "talk to the hand" (wait for it...) in freefall because they were nervous of our position, and giving me corrections I ignored. I had already led two jumps prior to this that day and had an idea of where we needed to be (EVERYONE landed in on the jump as well) in relation to the "no fly zone" our DZ has. Given I have been jumping at this DZ for 12+ years so I am VERY familiar with the terrain/landmarks. I feel if you are leading jumps on your back, the ability to successfully navigate these jumps should be a mandatory prerequisite. Honestly if you can't navigate successfully on your back without a spotter, maybe you shouldn't be leading on your back. Not directing this at anyone in particular, in fact I have had this conversation with many newer jumpers at my DZ that landed off due to backflying "blind". At the same time if you have trouble looking over your shoulder (a quick glance should usually suffice if you have landmarks and are familiar with the terrain) without compromising your flight/performance, again, maybe you need to take it back to the drawing board. Just my two cents, for what it is worth :)

This was my assumption as well but because I am not very familiar with the system/suit I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. It seems without having something to hold on to (grippers), or having thumb loops, this RAD system is less than perfect (at least in this scenario), to say the least? That picture looks horrible, by the way! Yet it is not the first I have seen like this of a suit with the RAD system. I recall seeing the Swift having this issue, assuming mostly when students/newer jumpers use the suit without holding the grippers? I can't imagine it would be very easy to take a dock if this happens every time you let go of the gripper. The whole wing characteristic changes. Not to mention, if this is the case, what would happen if you lost a gripper on a BASE jump, or more importantly on a terrain flight, and "this" happened? That seems like a VERY scary situation that I would not like to be in...

Thank you for the info above :) As for bagless system I more mean a BASE rig ;) Not sure on the semi-stowless bag but I do like them and want to get one myself.

Missed your last paragraph. Honestly I wouldn't be able to help much there. I wonder a lot if skydiving canopies in bags are just a lot more unreliable than a bagless system as far as heading performance and line twists ;)

It seems to me as though if you would have been spreading the risers on opening it could have (in similar experiences for me, did) stop the canopy from spinning up further and even start to unspin, before diving, even. This is of course just my opinion and my experience, but on my openings I always reach to my risers, as much as possible, and help steer the opening a bit. I have definitely prevented what I believe would have been a chop on several occasions. Now, mind you, I am not experiencing exactly what you did, so I cannot be sure in my assumption. Honestly, and again this is me, I would have fought that if I had the ability to reach up initially. Another question, about the thumb loops on the Funk. What is their purpose and do they prevent the RAD system from working properly? Thanks

Why didn't you use the "RAD" system to fight the line twists? It seems with a little input you could have saved the cutaway but your hands never touched even the risers.

I am one of the lucky ones to have had a Carve for 8 weeks or so but I think the other guy's here are right. Not many out there yet, even less of the Funk I would expect. Not to mention the chances of someone having flown BOTH are slim to none at this point in the game. That being said, all I can give an opinion on is the Carve (around 50 jumps on it I think?).

I have two flights on the Venom Power and I also have limited experience in "big" suits. I did about 75 jumps in Vampires and then around 400 in other suits, P2, P3, Havok, Carve and Ghost. One flight in the original Venom. The suit was VERY easy to fly, no unstable tendencies, no slide in turns. VERY crisp when turning and VERY fast. I have never flown a suit so fast, hands down. The pull was very different for me and I did about 6 practice touches on the first flight in different body positions. The second flight I felt comfortable after the first practice touch. I was super surprised how easy it was to handle and fly, I expected it to be hard for me but it was not. A friend followed me in the V4 on the first flight and I disappeared horizontally into the horizon about ten or fifteen seconds after exiting. He had NO CHANCE of keeping up, float (obviously) or speed. I was very impressed and I think anyone who tries one of these suits will be a VERY happy wingsuiter :)

For future reference, and for what it's worth since you have already "converted" ;) I have replacement parts (Phoenix Fly parts that is) on hand in the U.S. at any given time and can easily send almost any parts necessary rather quickly. This includes but is not limited to cutaway's, zippers, snaps/tabs, extra fabric for repairs, thumb loops/hand loops, 5.10 soles, track suit Velcro inerts, etc. Also if repairs are needed I have a guy in Colorado that can do ALMOST (honestly can probably do anything) anything as far as wingsuit mod's and repairs go. Jewbag can attest to this ;) As well as many others. Also I am happy to answer any questions or concerns with any order or needed repair to the best of my knowledge in the event you are having trouble getting in touch with someone from PF direct. I will say, though, cutaway cables are rather easy for most any rigger to build if they have the raw materials (webbing, Velcro, cable). Anyway, just throwing it out there :) Adam Foster Leading Edge [email protected]

I imagine it is because they are amazing suits. That is my experience at least. I do, however, have a few in stock on top of my personal Carve if you are interested in one ;) Send me a message at [email protected] if so.

Oh, my mistake. Is there video of this jump?

"You are jumping to conclusions" Looks to me from the video that the bridle did in fact rip off of the canopy and was still tethered (or wrapped to) the antenna.

"The bridle ripped clean off". That is a fact, correct? Well, by all means, if you know what happened, then, please, enlighten us. Anyway you look at it, there is no good reason for a bridle to "accidentally" rip clean off of the system. No matter how it happened. Oh, and for your information, if anyone was flamed by me, it was this "potatohead", and I think he deserves a little heat for almost getting someone killed. I PM'd Andy and gave him constructive criticism, not flames. I think (or hope at least) that he will take something positive from all of this, so don't be so defensive. I have met five people since I started BASE jumping three and a half years ago who are now on Nick's list. There is no reason for anyone to stand here and let Andy become a statistic when all he needs is a little guidance. Can't you see from at least Tom's posts alone that people are trying to bring something constructive out of this? Adam 921

"There was an unforeseen equipment problem." The bridle wrapping around the tower and ripping off is most certainly not an "unforeseen" problem. It is a major issue that could have been solved by a simple gear check and/or a little common sense. I'm sorry, but the day I don't notice a problem as serious (and avoidable) as this, is the day I quit. Also, I would bring into question the person who PCA'd on the jump. Did he have his eyes closed? That is not something that a competent jumper would easily miss.

Matt, you don't even have enough jumps to be cool.

no, you turn around.