zerospinskier

This is what I do. It works quickly and the closing pin is always within reach.

The PD videos helped me a lot when I first learned to pack. Really watch the videos and what he does with his hands/arms/legs. One thing that helped me was that once you begin squeezing out the air for the s-folding process, you can never let go of the canopy and lose top skin tension until it is in the bag. Anytime you let go, air gets in and you lose clean folds. Part 1http://youtu.be/vhEHdKemr1M Part 2 http://youtu.be/jqNsFPbKIw8 Part 3 http://youtu.be/pHSpnXCShs0 Larger canopy Part 1 http://youtu.be/5JiAegc8EOw Part 2 http://youtu.be/qyM_LkW8DVI

You are right. I didn't mean to come across as if I was saying it was safer to be on a smaller canopy. My fault. My DZ almost always has a turbulence filled wind shear layer around 2000ft. When I was jumping a 240, I would get bounced around through this layer a lot. As I made steps down I noticed less and less bouncing around. That is what made me say what I did. But I do understand it is much safer to stay on a bigger canopy and deal with a little bumps in the flight, than to progress too fast and injure yourself on landing. I apologize if it came out as unsafe and wrong information.

You're right. I guess I was more just talking about being bounced around rather than actual canopy collapse. I thought I could help, but I have no problem sitting out and keeping my mouth shut.

Yes. Downsizing is exactly what you need to do to fight turbulence.... Fuck me. That's not what I meant. Obviously your answer of waiting it out when the weather is bad is the safest and best answer. But now moving into the fluid dynamics of the canopy, yes lighter WLs will get knocked around in the wind more. You should keep this in mind and maybe sit out even more often with this lighter wing loading. Then as an additional piece of info, a slightly higher (but still reasonable and safe) WL will be able to handle staying inflated with bumps in the air better than a lower WL. I'm not saying someone should. I am just saying that is how it works.

Anyone is susceptible to canopy collapse due to turbulence, but lighter wing loadings are more vulnerable since the have less pressure keeping the cells inflated. Going into partial brakes can help keep the canopy inflated more strongly. Do you own this Sabre 210? or was it rental gear you were using? As a light person your canopy progression will have to be slightly slower than someone who is heavier since canopies will fly more aggressively even at lower wing loadings for you. But you should be able to get up to the 0.9-1 WL area safely. That would be a better (more common) place to hang out rather than the 0.7 you are at now if you want to be able to cut through turbulence a little better. (Edit: Only relevant if you have maxed out the canopy control on this current wing loading and feel ready to downsize. You certainly don't have to. Your current setup will work great for many more jumps if you so chose.)

At least it can serve as a nice drying room for wet jumpsuits... That is odd that they would spend so much money on something that is so outdated.

Just pull it out and take a look. It's just a helmet, not a rig. You can go pulling any tabs you want. They use a red tab to adjust the spectra line that tightens the helmet down.

Some excellent advice there. My FF coach gave me pretty much the same advice. He explained that (in as nice a way as possible) that the 618 was a very technical suit and that as cool as they look and as much as I wanted one, it's too technical for my skill level right now. I'm so glad you backed that opinion up. I was already struggling to fly at lower speeds in the tunnel, a 618 would have made it worse. Last weekend, at a tunnel in the UK, I saw a REALLY thin and small girl wearing one. She was learning to sitfly and she was really struggling. Thanks for the info. VERY much appreciated. While I do agree that it is bad to get something that is too tight and fast, I think it really depends on body type. I am skinny with long legs. When I first began sitflying I used the suits they had at the tunnel. I flew very slow and the flapping material made things difficult, especially when trying to go faster. Once I got my hands on a tighter suit, I flew much better and more controlled. It made things a lot easier. If I were a heavier person, this wouldn't be the case. But I think the extra material on baggier suits ultimately make things harder. Ideally you would be skinny with a tight suit to have the best/easiest time in the tunnel. That way you can fly forgiving slower speeds, but not have flapping material throwing in another difficulty factor. However, since not everyone is like this, compromises need to be made, i.e. baggy suits. You will have to deal with some turbulence from the baggy suit in order to fly at appropriate speeds. Baggy suit + skinny person will not necessarily make it easier like it does on a heavier person.

I did something similar that I used last year with my analog alti. I bought a little bit of elastic and made a band to put on my forearm. It always worked great. I wouldn't think a standard fuzzy wristband would be tight enough to stay on.

I decided to throw together a highlight reel from my first 5 hours in the tunnel at iFLY Utah. It spans about 6 months. This stuff is too much fun! http://youtu.be/XUaa7YLWW2w

This thread is hilarious.

That depends on what you want to spend, what type of flying you want to do, and your body type. There are some pretty good threads you can search through. You can also go to the Jumpsuit section of the Gear page to see all the brands and read reviews.

It requires a lot of experience to do...unsafely. Skydiving today is very common and very safe. Even wing suit skydivng is easy to get into. Lots of people do it every day around the world. However, base jumping is a big step into a very different sport. It involves a big commitment to the risks involved. People die doing it, often. Then you add a wing suit to that, whew, you've got a whole different world again. It is going to be a huge mental and physical step to begin down that road. Don't worry about that now. Begin skydiving and do it for the insane fun that is skydiving. Then when you get to 200 jumps, decide if you want to try a wingsuit. Take everything in smaller steps. There is a lot of fun to be had on the way. These aren't just stepping stones on your way up. Each of these steps is actually a vast world you can spend a fulfilling lifetime on. Just realize that and enjoy it. You're not going to jump out of a plane for a 3 minute wingsuit ride down around the clouds all while thinking to yourself, "God, I can't believe I have to do 76 more of these dumb things before I can finally move on to base. Lame......"

An important point. Everyone goes an watches Jonathan Pears' amazing edits, and wants to accomplish the same type of thing. The problem is that it is not easy to make skydiving look good. First you need to be very good at flying, then you need to be very good at positioning yourself to capture that awesome flying you and your friends are doing. Other than the really really good guys, most video you see at the DZ, especially the low experience people, are most often shakey shots of 3 other specs sitflying because everyone is backsliding away from each other and the GoPro has a super wide lens. First learn to do some skydiving that is worth filming, then work on capturing it. (I say this as a someone who is really looking forward to filming and making edits. The way I am working towards it? By spending a lot of time learning to fly in the tunnel and in the sky.)

Wait a minute.... 2 people with sub-200 jumps asking about GoPro mounts? (-_-) I can sense the old timer posts already. You needa be careful 'round these parts.

First, I ordered my suit through Chelsea at GrenLightIsOn, who did a great job of relaying all my information to Sherry at FireFly and keeping me updated. Definitely go through her to order any FireFly product! This is my first suit, so I did not have much of an idea what to expect. My freefly coaches told me to make sure I get my suit tight, because I am a pretty skinny/tall guy and fall very slowly. I did not have a lot of money to spend, so I decided to go with FireFly as they offered the cheapest freefly suits. Now, nothing on the site looked like something that would be super tight like a Tonfly or Liquid Sky, but I assumed I could get something that would work. I added notes to my Rigby order that I wanted the suit nice and tight, with t-shirt length sleeves, and didn't really need/want the stripes on the side. Sherry told me it was all doable, but would require a different cut on the suit with elastic panels and an extra $50 charge. She sent me a mock up of the design to be approved before it was made. Soon after I had the suit at my door. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. The quality is awesome, and it looks sweet! The only cons I could possibly add would be the fact that an extra tight suit like this may benifit from some extra body measurements when placing the order. Compared to other manufacturers, FireFly's order form has fewer measurements to fill out. It seems this added a little more assumptions to the order, which if eliminated, could add more comfort and better fit to the design. This is being fairly picky though. It still fits great and I can't wait to get in the air with it! I am waiting on a healing shoulder at the moment, but I will post again once the suit gets some use with how it feels in the sky and the durability.

UPDATE: The suit has been acquired, and it is great! I just wanted to add a closing statement to this thread now that everything is done. I couldn't find any recent info about FireFly when I was thinking about placing an order, so this may help others. I just got the suit today, and it looks great. It can't be beat for the price. I had an awesome experience dealing with Chelsea at GreenLight. She did a great job keeping me updated with Sherry at FireFly. Definitely go with her if you are wondering where to buy a FireFly product!!! As for the suit, I said I wanted it tight, and she definitely delivered. I won't have any problems comfortably keeping up with others anymore. The delivery time was quoted at 4 weeks, and it arrived in 5. Very fast lead time compared to most other companies, and that is even with adding my special needs (extra tight, spandex panels, short sleeves, no stripes). Overall I was quite confused and unsure how this would turn out when I first made this thread, but I am definitely pleased. Maybe this info can help the next person be a bit more at ease if they find themselves in the same position as I was.

If your goal is to learn to freefly, the tunnel is an amazing tool that will teach you faster, cheaper, and easier than in the sky. I only have an hour in the tunnel at this point, all working on freeflying, and the amount that I have learned is insane. I would be no where near where I am this quickly without the tunnel. Best money I've spent.

If I had a clue what to ask for it, I would. All of it will sell. Scan the classifieds for pricing ideas. If there aren't any similar items listed, start high and see what offers you get.

Well it turns out those who said to go through a dealer were correct. The questions I had were answered much more easily being relayed through the dealer than contacting Firefly directly. GreenLight processed it right way, and confirmed my special needs on the suit to Firefly who responded right away describing how they can work to accommodate what I need.

I had originally tried to submit it directly to Firefly, as I had a couple special things I wanted to make sure got across. But now I just placed an order through GreenLightIsOn. Its in God's hands now.

I'm pretty sure I've shot a call over to them on all days of the week by now. I completely understand if she is out and about doing other things at the moment though. I just want to be sure my order has been acknowledged, and there isn't anything else I need to add/change.

This is what I originally did. But I asked for some sort of reply to know that they actually received it and will make the suit. At this point I'm not sure if it was received and will be made, or if I am waiting for nothing...