LetsGoOutside

Shadow *screams* compared to the S3S. Could really feel it on the first few flights after many, many S3 jumps. Very underrated suit, that Shadow.

So so good.

Looking at things again, I'd like to downgrade my +1 to a plus 0.5. Exit was a bit lopsided, but the wing never came online either. One could have helped the other.

+1. I don't know how people aren't seeing it. Lopsided exit. What's good is that he didn't fight it into the ground.

Seems way too high for a blue devil, but the way it spun up looked like one.

Well, being that FlyYourBody posted a video of the suit and called it "Elite" right in the title, it probably is one. Obviously a prototype. Looks nice! Big flight!

He contacted me as username "d_12". I should have checked this forum before asking for a payment. Received a check for $3,000 for a $1,300 sale. Reading back through the emails it should have been obvious, but I've been unloading a ton of gear and it sort of slipped by. Never sent the canopy or tried to deposit the check, of course. EDIT: I should add that he never offered a higher amount. He actually tried to bargain on the price. It wasn't until I actually received the check that I saw he had added $1700 for "shipping".

That's *really* clean.

I think our ammo stock is about evenly matched. However, I am a raging democrat -- so my guess is you'll need a *lot* more. ;)

Opposite. Affects larger canopies less. The "I really felt it" comment had me thinking you liked it, and wondered why. Ah, "it" in this case was the tug/drag of the PC on the canopy. Also, I think a lot of the bridle knots have to do with using a hackey or other "heavy" handle. I always used either a practice golf ball or a cap on the PC so there wasn't any weight on it.

You were the first guy I thought of.

Opposite. Affects larger canopies less.

The front side of each canopy has pretty similar characteristics. The toggle side of the Velo is more responsive than Katana. Velo definitely has more dive. My first 90s on the Velo 84 (2.25:1) were almost the same altitude as 270s on the Katana 97 (1.95:1). And even 90s were very, very fast. Velo is by far the most fun canopy I've flown -- absolute speed demon in a class on its own. And of course with that speed comes responsibility. As much as I wanted a Velo, I had to pass. About 25% of all my skydives have been hop and pops (most from full altitude). I did a ton of full altitude H&Ps on my KA97 before trying the Velo, and all of my ~30 Velo jumps were H&Ps (most from full altitude). I also have a ton of speedflying experience. I'm very comfortable under a canopy, and under fast canopies. The Velocity really is a different beast altogether. I grew into it and really loved it when I had the sky to myself. But it was a little more than I was ready for, and definitely more than I was ready to fly into traffic -- something you really need to consider when downsizing. I seriously doubt you've pushed your "Katana to the limits". Flying a small canopy in all weather conditions is a terrible gauge of your ability. Smaller canopies have less drag to be affected by the atmosphere -- they cut through the air better -- making them easier to fly compared to big wings. That's why paragliders and kiteboarders downsize when it gets windy. But a 720° to final downwind? Barrel rolls? Bailing from a low swoop? Getting back from long spots and holding your place in traffic? Using rears to eek out a little extra distance? Not needing rears after perfect gate entries? Not suggesting to go try those right now, but did you know it could do those? When you've slowly, slowly, safely worked your way up to truly learning and exploring every parameter of your wing, not the weather, that's when you're ready. BTW, for those who have moved to faster wing to "look cool", everyone at your DZ actually thinks you look like an idiot. It does not impress anyone to fly a wing you can't handle.

Longer bridle and larger PC is good! But to a degree. For medium to large canopies, it's fine. But for smaller faster canopies, you can really feel them affecting the flight. Not so good. I jumped 120s and up with a 11.5' bridle and 32" PC for awhile. It was very close to what I ended up using for wingsuit BASE jumps. Fantastic, clean openings in full flight. When I went down to a 107 I switched back to 9' + 28" PC because of the drag. Tried the bigger setup on a 97, as well and I could really feel it. My experience, anyway.

Jesus, that's terrible. What kind of WS BASE experience did he have? Exit actually looked good, but took awhile to get going and probably got sucked in by the water. Shame.