Viss

I'll jump on the bandwagon and say that I've had good experiences with him as well. I have bought and sold a couple items from him, and payment, shipping etc was done in a very timely manner. I've also called him a few times looking for gear for our freshly licensed jumpers and he shoots me a list that day! Keep up the good work Paul, its good to have someone reliably recycling and redistributing used gear back into the system. Paul Visser D-29574 S/L-I

i think it's important to hit on the fact that you are now controlling your body in a third dimension, not just two like RW/FF... In addition to controlling fall rate and side to side or front/back movement relative to others, you have to control horizontal speed. I like to explain the safety rules of tracking as if we were briefing for a CRW jump, as CRW/Wingsuit/tracking are all the same thing when it comes to approaching other jumpers. Never approach at more than a 45 deg angle to the formation, get in your slot slightly behind and then move in, if you sink out move to the side and hug the beach ball and keep tracking, if you fall behind increase your angle slightly as you're flying too flat/floaty etc etc. My favorite tracking dives are the "flocks" where you fly with the other people at a medium pace, allowing easy movement and transitions to back/belly etc. If you want to have a drag race or work on your maximum tracking, do a solo or a small group of similarly skilled people. If you take a large group out and dust all the "low timers" then that can put a bad taste in their mouth or make them feel like they can't do tracking dives well enough to dedicate time and jump $ to it. Possibly turning them off to my absolute favorite things (CRW/WS/Tracking) :-) I like this thread, lets keep it going for a while WamegoPaul

I feel you want to maximize your surface area looking from the "top" to trap as much air as possible and create "potential energy", while minimizing your surface area when looking from the "front" to keep from creating drag during your horizontal movement and make the most efficient use of that potential energy. (run on sentence) Think of tracking in terms of doing head down sideways, substituting fall rate for horizontal movement. This is how i visualize it. When i teach tracking, i would prefer to see a student track straight over tracking fast in the beginning. Going fast is pointless if you're unknowingly tracking in a big circle over/under/around other jumpers. It would almost be better not to track at all if that's the case. To those that think teaching the "jesus track" or "iron cross" track in the beginning is pointless, i would disagree. I explain WHY the student is tracking, not just the body position they need to get in. I explain that what they are learning at first is less efficient than a max track but more stable and easier to control heading. I tell them that as they start their track and feel stable/comfortable, to start slowly moving the arms back a little at a time and dearching more and more. If they feel unstable or heading control is an issue, move it a step back towards the Jesus track or arch a little more. If they feel stable, sweep the arms a little more and cup harder. I explain it like its a gas pedal that can be pushed farther or let up on as needed. As they gain experience and stability over the course of jumping, the Jesus Track will be left at the wayside naturally when speed is the goal. All tracking is basically the same, you just need different mixes of "top area" and "frontal area" and arch to get the desired effect, be it forward speed, diff fall rate, or just stability. With the big picture approach, as opposed to just teaching body position, i have had some good successes. As a disclaimer, i only have 800 jumps, although over half have been as JM at my small time Cessna DZ. My teaching methods and explanations evolve as i find better ways to present the material, so please comment or correct where you think it would be helpful. Hope i wasn't TOO long winded but tracking and wingsuit is my passion, behind my students of course. Paul

If you want a great place to learn how to jump, this is the DZ for you! I would never have been able to get into skydiving had it not been for this club. It's a reality that skydiving has become too expensive for the "normal guy" or college student and i think that is a shame. Their most expensive student jump is $34 all together, vs. $100 plus $25 gear rental at many other DZs. I received my A lic for around 800 dollars. The overall vibe there is incredible, in large part because the affordability opens our sport to a wider range of personalities and talents as well as ages. I know several jumpers who trek the 100+ miles from Kansas City to jump with the KSUPC crowd, passing many other, closer DZs by. Go visit and make some jumps!