dcfreefly

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Gear

  • Main Canopy Size
    120
  • Reserve Canopy Size
    126
  • AAD
    Cypres

Jump Profile

  • Licensing Organization
    CSPA/USPA
  • Number of Jumps
    1800
  • Tunnel Hours
    300
  • Years in Sport
    13
  • First Choice Discipline
    Freeflying
  • First Choice Discipline Jump Total
    1200
  • Second Choice Discipline
    Freefall Photography
  • Second Choice Discipline Jump Total
    500

Ratings and Rigging

  • IAD
    Jumpmaster
  • USPA Coach
    Yes
  • Pro Rating
    Yes
  1. I'm 5'6 and weight has ranged between 170 - 190 in the last few years. I've tried a bunch of suits over the years and by far my favorite is vertical. Quality is super high and service is remarkable. I have multiple suits, and the ones I wear depend on what I'm doing. For dynamic flying in the tunnel, I wear a fairly tight tonfly 630 (replacing with a vertical fusion), when I fly VFS I wear a medium fit raptor, if it's warm out and I'm angle flying, full shorty. I can do all types of flying in everyone of those suits, but what I choose to wear makes a difference in effort required and flying performance. You're new, and you're not gonna get a bunch of suits right off the bat, nor do you need them. An awesome well rounded suit is the Viper by Vertical. Super solid construction and great for all types of flying. A medium fit would probably serve your body type best and the suit will serve you well into your progression. I just ordered a new Viper last week.
  2. I live in Ontario and work about 15 minutes away from the Niagara Tunnel quite often - sometimes, I stay in the hotel directly across the street and literally could walk for 60 seconds and be there. I make lots of cash and am not shy to spend it on random shit. Point is, I would not spend a dime on that thing. My home tunnel currently is Montreal. If for some reason I couldn't go to Montreal and my options were either Niagara or no tunnel, I would choose no tunnel. Save your cash for when you'll be flying in Seattle. If you're planning to be in the area often in the near future, there is a tunnel currently under construction in Oakville, about 45 minutes or so from Niagara. The projected opening date is November/December. All of the components are currently onsite, and the foundation/footings have recently been poured. Regarding coaching, absolutely get it. It's invaluable.
  3. Skyventure Montreal has a couple of DZ's within an hours drive
  4. How long have you had it? Do you keep the visor open a lot on the ground? There are little o-ring like thingys in the closing mechanism which are what hold the tension to keep the visor closed. They come in different strengths and I've seen different types in both g2's and g3's. They also can wear and lose their strength. I recently had the issue and have replaced mine with the stronger versions and now it's perfect. Shoot cookie an email and ask them to send you some repacements.
  5. 14 footer - construction planned for spring. Been to the site already, it's not Mississauga, but it's very close to there.
  6. Ordered one in October 2010 and got it in about 5 days ( got rush order ). Suit fit perfect and seemed very solid. Since then I got about 50 hours in the tunnel on it as well as several hundred jumps and it's been perfect. My entire experience with Ouragan was excellent.
  7. Wow, you've ordered suits from most of the manufacturers to come to this conclusion? I've bought suits from 4 manufacturers in the last few years. The last two suits were from Ouragan (last year) and Vertical (this year). I had responses from both companies on the same days I made the inquiries and both called to confirm the measurements and details of my orders to make sure everything was perfect. I received my Ouragan in 6 days and my vertical in 2 weeks. The pre-purchase and post-purchase service has been absolutely excellent and has exceeded my expectations. Both suits also fit perfectly and are ridiculously high quality. I have several hundred jumps and about 35 hours in the tunnel on the Ouragan and it's still like new. Doesn't seem congruent with your experience of all manufacturers being not that great with delivery times and communicating to their customers.
  8. I tried contacting firefly several times earlier this year to order a suit via email and telephone. Never heard back from them. Would never consider this company again.
  9. Ha. First time I flew in his plane, the initial briefing point was "If you fart, he will drop you where you are" Yup, and that's no exaggeration. Back in 2001 at Quincy, he tossed us out about 4 miles from the airport cause someone crapped themselves.
  10. Like I mentioned before, while you can't directly practice these specific things in the tunnel, overall tunnel flying can help improve in these areas. Prior to my tunnel addiction, I could barely hang in a head down 4 way that left the plane together. I can only remember a few times where I exited unlinked, and actually made it to the jump, let alone docked on something. After about 25 hours in the tunnel over the winter, I was last diver on 8 and 10 ways getting into the jumps relatively quickly (relative means not quick by quick standards, but compared to before - I was docked onto the base within 12 - 18 seconds after exiting). This was only after about 10 jumps - and I hadn't jumped for about 6 months prior to this. After about 100 - 150 jumps post tunnel, I was doing 20, 30 and 40 ways. There is no way that I would have been doing this without the tunnel ( i did attend a lot of camps and got coaching from the best during my first 100ish jumps after the tunnel - and I had about 800 jumps so already had some general sky awareness) Now, I had to spend ALOT of jumps improving on diving, floating, exits ect. and still have a ton of work to do, but there's no doubt there were tremendous improvements that are directly attributed to flying in the tunnel. IMO, its best to do both. Both skydivers-only and tunnel-only peeps will be left in the dust by those who do BOTH regularly and consistently. I fucking love the tunnel and I fucking love skydiving.
  11. >>The exit itself is different than a tunnel. The wind direction and speed are different, and making the transition from the door to freefall, and flying in the subterminal air on the hill are not things you can learn in the tunnel.
  12. Cheaper than that depending on which tunnel you fly at. I've done 30 to 35 hours in the last year or so and it's the best money Ive ever spent. It would have taken me years to get where I'm at without it - if at all. It gets cheaper when you start splitting costs with other flyers. Around 200 bucks an hour if your doing 4 way. That can be achieved very quickly with belly flying and substantially longer if freeflying.
  13. Tried buying a firefly earlier this year but never got a single email or phone call returned after many attempts. Also ordered some FF pants from Freakin suits only to get them with the sized eff'd up and the wrong design. Oh, and I should mention that I paid rush for the pants which was not returned to me. I believe you get what you pay for, quality and service, and will happily dish out big coin for both from suit manufacturers like Ouragan, Vertical and Liquid Sky.
  14. I live in Windsor, Ontario also and while I do travel often for work and jump at several other DZ's, when Im local I jump at both Midwest Freefall and Skydive Tecumseh. Both are great DZ's. Midwest Freefall is a about 45 minutes from the bridge and Tecumseh about 1 hour.