verticalflyer

I am pretty serious on the wingsuit side of BASE that is my ultimate goal, however meticulous as I am with Packing Kathy from Morpheus gave me the following advice. "But we think that a modified Gargoyle with the soft yoke, Streamlined Stealth riser covers and dynamic corners are a better choice than the WSX. The WSX is for very experienced and hard core ws fliers who don´t mind the extra care that needs to be taken when packing to allow for the lowest profile that the container has to offer. We also normally recommend going a size smaller to allow for optimum contour of the container. You will find the modified Gargoyle great for wingsuit flight and other jumps as well. This is the choice for many wingsuit pilots and makes a great first rig choice." I took Kathy's advice and have recieved loads of help from them , the best way to decide is chat with the experienced jumpers and the manufacturers. Once I have built up the experience I would definitely go for the WSX but for now I cant wait to get hold of my Gargoyle. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Thanks everyone, will check out the products, though I may have a solution in the form of a very tough tandem paraglider kit bag I have found. Thanks again Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

I need a decent gear bag, its crazy using my backpack which is crammed full wingsuit, 2 rigs, camera helmet camera gear etc. I also feel sucha hobo when I ask for a repack and have great kit but no bag for it. So something tough, good straps, will travel well with wear from airport baggage monkeys and capable of taking 2 rigs plus camera gear ideally or two bags. Any recommendations greatfully recieved. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

I have a Sam 105, it opens beautifully, however I would not jump it with the wingsuit at my wing loading of 1.8. I have had 1 cutaway in 500 jumps on my wingsuit at the herc boogie 2002 and that was on my Silhoutte 150 and you can see from the video that was funky enough. Its personal preferences and certainly dependant on experience, canopy preference and container set up. Also having 2 rigs makes life very nice;) Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Excellent, hope to see you over the summer sometime. Cheers F Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Closing speeds for that square on eye to eye shot front angle can be a real bitch!! Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Mine should hopefully arrive in a couple of weeks, since my lowest average to date has been on a skyflyer at 48mph I cant wait to get hold of the V1, never tried the S3 so could be fun, will probably need a trip to the gym. Jim have your 30 jumps been mostly in still air ;) Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Yes of course, variety is the what makes the different discplines more challenging. Life is too short to just stick to one discpline, whilst you might do 70-90% WS jumps there is so many other areas which you should try. With 89 jumps no offence but you have barely dipped you feet in the water and its a very big river. You will gain key skills from other discplines also, back flying, 3dflight, RW, tracking, CRW etc etc its alll air awareness. Have fun and fly lots whether with wings or without. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

As the Skymonkey says, tension is the key, if you can tension the suit, and close the zippers shoudl be fine, a cm should not be a problem on biceps, but inches obviously will, but for a first suit, put it on rig it up, do you practice pulls and drills, adopt flight positions and if you feel comfortable go for make sure you get an experienced WS pilot to check it all out for you. Have fun hope your flights are good. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

I tend to use my hands, they seem most adapted to the task... Generally pick up out of the door, or you can exit with grippers, though if the gripper is thin can slip out slowly in some manouveres. First time you start using grippers the angle between your wrist and you hand will dictate how much you feel the burn. The great the angle the more work you'll have to do keep the gripper tension constant. You'll disciver muscles that you did not know existed near the wrist. Controllability in flocking maybe improved, but need to be able to flock without grips if you want to take docks for obvious reasons. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Or you could just take it to a good rigger and ask there advice, if its only an inch difference it should not have a dramatic effect on wing dynamics for the leg wing. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Aside from all the arguments flying back and forth, Zeemax, dont take offence but if as your profile says you have 210 jumps why would you want an S3 let alone an S5 you can pick up a GTi or Skyflyer if you must or any other Gti like intermediate suit. Just because its the newest does not mean you will get the most out of it. I know we have seen this argument befpre so dont take it personally but 210 jump is not a lot to be flying the state of art wingsuits that are currently coming out. Translate this into any other domain and you'd be laughed at, ie canopies, I have 210 jumps now should I wait fot the new Z brace etc etc Apologies if your profile number is merely a typo, this sport only interests me because we never stop learning, does not mean we have to skip the basics, and start at the deep end. Wingsuit flight is about fun and expanding our boundaries and the journey is a lot of fun, dont rush it.

Just out of interest how have you managed to blow every zipper out on suits, lots of jumps, very tight fit or high speed swoops with plane outs and high loading of the suits? I have made 450 jumps on 2 suits and never had a zipper problem other than one breaking, all my zippers now have a split ring with 2 inch elestic which loops over my thumb. would be interested to know though how they got blown out failed, seam zip, tight fit, wandering around the bar with wingsuit still on trying to get beer to mouth with wings zipped Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Dont get me wrong, sarcastic british humour hat off, I wish them well but unless a very big clever technological cat is being kept in a very tight bag I dont see how at this time, how this is going to happen without serious injury. I also wish them well and have no doubt there flying is excellent, however as said current technology with regard to wingsuit evolution is in its infancy. I am personally more interterested in taking off rather than landing, I quite like the canopy ride;) If he is successful he should be recieving a very large number of beer cases! Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Yes it true they are planning a landing in formation with a flock of pigs and apparently Elvis is leading the flock...... Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Totally agree gary, also a few crosswind landings would be good so people learn to really land in any dircetion, so when the time comes they are not phased because the direction of wind and there flight path are not exactly opposite. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Being in the Uk this happens from time to time, note where the sun is when you get out and fly a circuit, finishing with the sun in the same position. If its on the wrong side you might be walking back! Dont personally jump when its total cloud cover due to Gliders and having seen one up a little too close and personal on one flight. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

29 measurements to take wow, thats got to be the most precise wingsuit on the market from the tailoring perspective, does look remarkably similiar to the Classic I Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Cheers mate, and if you ever have the bizarre urge to come to the UK there's a spare room waiting. Cheers F Dont just talk about it, Do it!

I thought I recognized the subtle orange canopy Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Sweet, cant wait to try one out, just bought a house so should not be spending but the V1 is a small price to pay for human flight ;) Hope to see you soon James, will be travelling a lot in 2005. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Yeah thats a great attitude, just because you can buy does not mean you should, its for this very reason that within the canopy market people have bought beyond there piloting abilities with the 75% of fatalities now attributed to death under fully functioning canopies. If people are seling wingsuits with 10-75 wingsuit jumps on there suits then yes I would think they are newbies and yes whilst some might be able to fly a V1 others maybe biting off more than they can chew, thats not elitism its seeing people flying suits they are not ready for and missing the sheer joy of flight because they are not ready for the suit they have. As for your car analogy, do you drive your car to max, foot to the floor, all of the time irresepective of brand, I doubt it. What is the point of buying a V1 if you dont have the skills to fly it to its limit, and if you get in trouble with a big wing and cant handle it these things dont come with airbags and a little voice to remind you to buckle up, other than to say oh yeah I have got the V1 its got this that and the other aerodynamics arent I cool. Far better one learns to fly the earlier models before stepping up to the most advanced wing of the day. Everyone seems in such a rush these days to move on we are fortunate enough that there is the talent and creative vision out there to create these wings but it does not mean they are for everyone. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Once in 400 flights, used the lot on the first jump of the herc boogie 2002, its on the end of the 2002 movie as the credits role up. Did not help too much since the twists had gone into the risers and the sun was becoming a white line rather than a round shape! Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Kris, that was exactly what I meant, Paul Housley is right on terminology but I am not getting into discussion on arm rotation etc which really is the angle of pitch on the arm wing if you represent the human body with wingsuit as an aircraft realtive to the horizon, I could ramble on about all the different dynamics etc and relative airflows but most users of this forum they would probably fall asleep before they got to the bottom. What I have personally found is when flying fairly high "angles of attack" we can achieve the longest flights in distance and time, average speed of 42mph while racing cars on the motorway cant be too bad on a skyflyer. Most people find this through feel and watching the ground race by with a big grin on there face;) Anyway for those who would like a little more on basic terminology :http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0165.shtml Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!

Not neccessarily if the angle of attack is at its optimum which is nearly always greater than parrallel, you will be generating greater lift as you fly forwards this coupled with your forward speed should give you a decreased descent rate. This is the whole point of finding the sweet spot, if you look at any basic wing lift diagram you will see what I mean, there are some good interactive models on the NASA website. Your wing profile is entirely dependent on your leading edge arm , body shape and how you fly. So its different for everyone. This is why when going for longest flights the slowest vertical descent velocities are generally achived on the distance flight. not when trying to maintain a rigid wing parrallel to the horizon. Hope that helps. Cheers Fraser Dont just talk about it, Do it!