wyattoil

The Hatch is a versatile suit. I began my first 80 jumps on a Phantom 3, and that was perfect for awhile. But I needed extra power and speed, so that I could fly in the back of a 61-way world record. When the time came to haul some tail, the Hatch got me to my slot on time. I now have 180 wingsuit jumps and I'm still enjoying the Hatch, learning all of its capabilities. I'm not a big fan of the innie/outie zipper system, I struggle terribly when taking the wingsuit on and off of my rig, it takes me at least 5 minutes. Small price to pay for so much fun though.

The cordura bootie design with an elastic cinch is simply genius. The suit I bought also came with a tunnel zipper, magnetic flap, arm/leg pockets, and large cordura grippers. It's comfortable and flies like an absolute beast. Highly recommended.

If you love the tunnel, this is a great investment. I have spent 5+ hours in various tunnels with this suit, making a lot of progress in freeflying, and I think having a well-fitted suit made of the right materials makes a big difference. It's thick and heavy, so if you get cold easily, or jump in the Midwest/Northeast, it's nice to wear anytime except July/August.

I've put 20+ jumps on a brand new demo Fusion 120 at 1.12 wing loading. Previously, I was jumping a Sabre1 135 which always slammed open but at least stayed straight. On the Fusion, every opening has been absolutely terrifying. It always starts with a nice snivel, then as it finishes inflation, it dives and whips 180-270 degrees, sometimes throwing me into chop-worthy line twists (whether I grab the risers or not, whether I pro-pack or shake it). I've discussed packing techniques and body position with many different riggers. We troubleshooted the entire thing from top to bottom, untwisted the brake lines, adjusted stows, made sure the lines were not catching the edges of my reserve container, nothing helped. Finally, a rigger told me to deploy and drop my arms to my sides, in order to rule out uneven shoulder position as a cause. When I tried that, the canopy dove and went into at least 6 line twists. Wacky openings aside, the handling is fun and fast. Landings are swoopy and the flare is very powerful. Too bad I'll be sending this demo back and trying something else...

I had a terrifying experience doing RW with my friend who was wearing an Oxygn helmet. Soon after we exited, the lens ripped off from one hinge, so it was flapping around (thank goodness he was also wearing tight sunglasses underneath or his eyes could've been injured) I spent the whole jump holding this sharp piece of torn plastic away from his face. When we broke off, he had to track and cover his face w/ his hands. Having read about incidents like this before, I bought a Cookie G2 last year. Now that I've seen what can go wrong first-hand, I am so glad that I did not buy the Oxygn for myself.

I chose this as my very 1st helmet for a ton of reasons. 1) My friends had open-face Cookies and liked them. 2) I can't survive losing my contact lenses in freefall because I'm pretty much legally blind, so I needed a helmet which had absolutely no chance of randomly opening. 3) Gotta look cool 4) Needed something warm and toasty for cold jumps So I've put ~70 jumps on this G2. I followed the size chart and at first it was kindof tight but it's broken in now, so it's loosened up perfect. It's well ventilated, and the lens is so clear, I can't tell when the visor is down. It doesn't fog or distort vision. It's so quiet, I can hear myself giggling in freefall. I like wearing it in the plane just to protect my ears from the noise. The padding under the chin/behind the head are so comfy, it's easy to take naps in the airplane. The dual audible pockets are very nice, there's a cut-out in the foam so the Pro-track sits flush like it's not even there. The chin strap isn't really necessary, as in the helmet won't fall off if you forget to buckle it. I just got the tinted lens for my birthday! YAAY! And it's so Top Gun. The tinted lens looks extremely dark from outside but when you put the helmet on, the tint is quite moderate, so I'd be okay using the tinted lens even if it was last load of the day. I really recommend the helmet, it's a great value. ***Follow-up: Now that I'm up to ~150 jumps on this helmet, my lens has the same problems others mentioned. I tried washing w/ mild soap, but the crackles won't go away. I could hardly see through it, so I bought a new clear lens. Maybe I will also buy the mouthpiece that is supposed to help. (So far, my tinted lens is fine, but I haven't put it through the same wear n' tear yet)

I'm one of Jaime's A-license "babies" and this is my home dz. Ever since I first visited SWC (back in 2008, while they were still in Richmond) I knew for sure that if I got licensed, I'd do it thru them (regardless of living 2 hours away). Why? because Jaime doesn't screw around one bit when it comes to safety. Also, they really make you feel at home. More on that later. If you come to SWC now that it's in Lebanon, it's really easy to find. The packing area is clean and plush, we have a C-182 and C-205, and the landing area is a set of fields at the far end of the runway (they fetch you with a truck). There's a separate smaller landing area for tandems located in front of the hangar. You're allowed to land there with a C-license. Most important part: the people are quite welcoming, even if you're a low-timer. As soon as I got stamped, they invited me on RW loads and started teaching me everything they could. And now these people have seen me thru everything from my 1st whuffo breakup to my 1st Z-hills trip! Their support made these novel experiences so much easier to deal with. So if you want to jump with genuinely nice folks who make great year-round friends, come here!

It takes a few minutes to familiarize oneself with navigating this wonderful little device, with just the two buttons. But, there's a quickstart menu guide that is SO helpful! I'm a rookie jumper and quite paranoid about altitude awareness, and that's why I decided to purchase this. The only bad thing I notice is that during RW jumps, I tend not to look at my wrist as often... Anyway, this is a great product and it fits perfectly into my Cookie G2 helmet.

Just spent a week down there and had the best New Year's Eve ever! The atmosphere is great, the people are quite friendly, and it's fun to hang out (there's no reason to leave the dropzone) which is nice because the surrounding area of Zephyrhills is a boring, run-down retirement community. The food they have is delicious and decently priced, the camping is free, and they've got parachute packing for only $6. The only downside to the whole experience was the filthy bathrooms. They could stand to be maintained better. Also, I recommend showering in the middle of the night (like 3 am) to get hot water. This was my first time outside of my home dropzone, first time in big airplanes going above 10,500 feet. It was an incredible experience. I'm definitely planning to come back next winter!