discovery4

No, it does not mean that I have mad skillz. I never said anything about wanting to fly a Velocity or even a Sabre2. I'm very happy on my Spectre. It is just an analogy I have seen used several times and while I know I'm capable of driving a high performance car, I never said I was capable of flying a high performance canopy. That is why I asked specifically about the analogy and not, "I can drive a high performance car so, I can fly a high performance canopy, right?" I was fairly certain the analogy didn't apply but, because I have no experience with high performance canopy's I didn't know why it wasn't an accurate analogy. Hence, why I asked.

A common metaphor I see used is, "Would you have wanted to be driving a Ferrari when you were 16? Knowing, now, everything you didn't know then." While I can see some logic behind this point it raises a question. I have been driving for 10 years. My first car was a VW Golf and my current car is a 2011 VW Jetta Wagon TDI. Both of these cars would fall in the light wingloading and very forgiving canopy category. However, with very little experience with high performance cars I would feel very comfortable walking out my door, getting into a Ferrari, and taking off down the road. For an example,I have a friend who races a highly modified Corvette. He has let me take it out on a track and I did so with no training other than in my VW's. While there is a respect for what the car is capable of it isn't going to do anything that I'm not aware of. It accelerates faster, turns sharper, rides rougher, and overall everything it does, it does to a more extreme degree than my VW but, it isn't going to do anything extraordinary. It's very possible that this is just a bad metaphor that doesn't apply. There are certainly many of those floating around but, I wanted to see what the consensus was. Disclaimer: I'm not trying to troll and I don't want this to end up as another typical canopy downsizing thread. I would like to keep it on the subject of the specific metaphor and how it does or does not apply.

I don't see where you live. It isn't filled in your profile. Where exactly do you live? How did this guy figure it out? I can't from your profile. What he said is SW PA... I believe I said that in the post I made about wingsuits.

In my short time as a member of this site and with very few posts, I have received several PM's with a "disclaimer" of sorts. Basically, the sender will preface whatever the main point of the PM is with, "I'm sending this in a PM because it goes against traditional wisdom and I don't want to be bashed by random people or judged by those who know me." Paraphrasing of course. My opinion on the matter is even if what you say is nontraditional, unless it is wrong, you should not only be able to, but to want to defend it. I can say, or believe, that gravity doesn't exist. However ,if I try to argue that with a skydiver, or a physicist, that person would quickly shoot holes in my argument.

That was the hook to get people to read the post...I hope it was obvious from what I said that I know it is bad advice. I also said "disturbing PM".

A few months ago I started a thread about recently receiving my A license, getting into a wingsuit as one of my main goals, and the best advice to get to that point. About a week ago I received a PM from a member, who’s handle I will leave out, that disturbed me a little. It follows: I was reading your thread, and thought I would give you some advice on wingsuiting. A PM seemed more reasonable being that the advice I am going to give you is frowned upon by everyone here. Take it with a grain of salt. First off, everyone has their own pace for things. Some people are absolutely retarded on student status, and others breeze through it. Be honest with yourself and your skill level before listening to anything I am going to tell you. Secondly. F**k recommendations. I started wingsuiting with 70 some jumps. Bought the wingsuit, came out to my home dropzone excited as can be, only to be turned down. They said I wasn't ready, and wingsuits are a death trap. Possibly true. Anyway, I took that wingsuit and went to a different dropzone. Told them I had a few hundred jumps, and a good number of wingsuit jumps. My first wingsuit jump was with no instruction, solo. Scary shit, until you realize wingsuiting is easy stuff. (goes back to the whole "were you a retard on student status?" or not.) Either way, there are ways around recommendations. I have a good bit of wingsuiting knowledge now, just from self teaching and learning from others. I would be happy to give you any help you need. Remember, it all comes down to being honest with yourself. I knew I was ready, and if you know you are too, I say go for it. Don't let the uspa get you down. Blue skies. A second PM that came a few minutes later read: Just saw that you live in ____. I am in ______. Read my other message, and let me know what you think, and we can go from there. I checked this members profile, which was created less than 6 months ago, and nothing was filled out. While some of his advice could seem reasonable coming from someone who has the right credentials, who has coached or mentored you in some capacity, and intimately knows your skills; it seems very disturbing for someone to offer advice to someone, who for all he knows just received the bowling speech, to go to a dz where you aren’t known and to lie about your experience. He prefaces his advice with, “be honest with yourself”, which a lot of people aren’t. Some people believe they are already better than everyone they know. Some people believe everyone they know is jealous of their skills and they are trying to hold them back so, they come to this board looking for someone to say exactly what this guy said to me. When they read, “be honest with yourself”, they answer with, “I’m a natural at skydiving and I’m ready for the next step.” While I don’t think many people will agree with lying about your experience or donning a wingsuit with a low jump number without coaching, some people will agree with, “everyone has their own pace for things.” I’m not going to argue against it and I have done a few things faster than would be recommended as a rule. However, I did them under the guidance and advice of someone who I trust and who knows what my abilities are. Not, a random person who I know nothing about and who knows nothing about me. I’m not sure exactly what the point of this post is but, I believe I just want to hear what everyone else thinks about it.

I'm thinking about taking a trip to a tunnel and I was wondering if all instructors are skydivers? If not, what are the qualifications that they have? Are they certified like an AFF-I? Also, if not, is it better to have an instructor that is a skydiver if the goal is to work on skydiving related moves?

Does anyone have a picture of someone wearing the Bonehead Havok? I can't quite figure out how it sits on the head.

While I know next to nothing about skydiving as I just graduated from AFF, I spent 12 years competing as an amateur and pro wakeboarder. There are ZERO wakeboards that are manufactured to be able to float a rider anywhere near your size. I would call it a safe bet that there isn't a board manufactured that COULD float you at a speed of less than 30 MPH. It would be impossible to overcome the forces of the water resistance on the board and yourself (400+ lbs is displacing A LOT of water) to achieve anywhere near 30 mph. I am fairly light and I can pop up at 5 mph. Anyone who wakeboards will be up before 10 mph and if they aren't up, they aren't holding on to the rope anymore because it was ripped from their hands. If not obvious, dock launching would be impossible. On top that there isn't a boat that is designed to pull skiers or wakeboarders, that could pull you out of the water. Sure, a go-fast boat has the power to get you out and I've even seen a few people ride behind one just for the hell of it but, I really doubt that's what you "did." You are either A: troll or B: delusional - although I don't know how you could be SO delusional that you believe you could wakeboard so you say it to try and fake credibility. Who knows, maybe you're on a wakeboarding forum saying you believe you are able to wakeboard because you've been skydiving.

Thanks for everyone's help! I'm not necessarily looking for a suit that will give me the fastest fall rate. What I'm trying to figure out is, what suit is a good all around suit for a beginner? I want a suit that will be as versatile as possible allowing me to do RW, FF, tracking dives, and anything else that I discover while I'm still a noob. I don't need a super slick, booties with a tension cord, turn on a dime RW suit. I just want a suit that I can do beginner RW as well as beginner anything else in. This deepseed suit seemed like it might fit that bill, or maybe not. That's why I was asking. If this suit isn't a viable option to do RW in at with my frame (6', 160 lbs), is there a suit that will allow me to do RW but also be useful in other aspects of my new skydiving adventures? Thanks again!!!!

My fall rate definitely isn't very fast being I'm tall and skinny. I just thought it might be a good all around suit to have that would work for different disciplines. What would be a good first suit?

http://www.deepseed.com/skydiving_equipment/freefly/multispeedsuit.php# I am looking to buy my first jumpsuit. This seems to be a good choice but no one at my DZ knows much about this manufacturer. Would this suit work well enough for beginner RW? It doesn't have booties and it isn't skin tight but it seems to be a good option because it can also be used for solo's and FF. For a little info about me I'm 6' and about 160 lbs...Pretty skinny.

Please leave personal opinions toward the Red Bull Air Force off of this thread!

Love that! Thanks for everyone's input especially mccordia and DSE What you guys said really made sense and hit home for me. Also, thanks for nobody bashing me for asking about WS just off of student status! Thanks!!!!

1.5 years seems like a long time for 200 jumps. I was hoping to do at least 10 jumps a weekend pretty much every weekend. Of course, there will be weather days but, is 10 jumps a weekend too optimistic? High performance canopy flying is also a goal of mine but it seems to be farther down the line. Right now I'm on a Spectre 170 @ 1/1 and I'm just working on my landing pattern and learning as much about the canopy as I can up high.