S3 with Velocity?

[obi 0]

Hi,

I'm planning to buy a new rig soon. Just demoed a Velocity at 2.0 and liked it, but I didn't do enough jumps to be able to tell if I would want to jump it with my wingsuit. Of course the best would be to demo some more and just fly it with my WS, but I just can't get a hold of one anymore.
I know that Jari is flying with one, but are there some more people with that combination? Some very experienced WS-flyers told me that they would never even consider it, but then again I did quite some WS-flying with a Crossfire loaded at 1.9 and felt ok (still, I had to chop it once due to twists that went into a spinner....).
Thanx for your input. Obi

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I used to do it all the time with my Velocity 79. I have also successfully jumped a Xaos 69.5 and my old Velocity 75 with no problems. Before that, I jumped an H-mod Cobalt 75 for nearly two years in my old Skyflyer and GTi. All that said, I was/am very, very current on those mains and only very-rarely had/have off heading openings. It must also be noted that I have had two chops in my wingsuits under those small mains due to spinners. You roll the dice and sometimes you lose; it basically boils down to how much of a gamble are you willing to take?

I have a 107 Stilletto in my staff rig, but I am just as comfortable jumping my Velo 79 in my S3 when I need to back-to-back in BirdMan suits. I keep a rig permanently sewn in my S3 and my main of choice is a Sabre2 97 for that application. It's a brilliant canopy.

Chuck
BM-I

[LouDiamond 1]

Jari does it and a few others do. Skyone used to jump his super high performance canopy with his suit but the bottom line is if you can't expect your canopy to reliably come out square and flying regardless of twists then your just raising the the probability that you will have a post opening problem of some kind. I was there and watched Skyones from above after a flock. It is something I keep in the back of my mind as a reminder of how fast things can go wrong.It's not a day I'll soon forget nor will Chuck.

Since you just demoed the canopy, you probablly didn't get that many jumps on it or see all of it's bad habits. I would tell you that if you plan on getting a Velocity to jump it a lot without the Birdman suit first to get accustomed to the openings and how to deal with the bad ones. As most who have jumped high performance canopies with a suit will tell you. It's not a matter of IF but WHEN you will have to eventualy have a cut away. Personally, I don't recommend high performance or twitchy canopies for Birdman flights.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[bbarnhouse 0]

Quote

Personally, I don't recommend high performance or twitchy canopies for Birdman flights.

I agree and after seeing SM1 cut away last year here, I am even more pro a docile canopy.
BB

[jari 0]

All the brilliant postings before me are all pretty much right on the money, thank you. The bottom line is to remember to treat your HIGH PERFORMANCE gear as hig performance. When I jump my VE 75 or 79 I dump higher than I do my Sabre2 97, like Chuck says, there is no other capony out there that opens better with the wingsuit than Sabre2. I just wish it was smaller and faster and self packing...

Jari

Jari

"Hey, don't be afraid, ever. Because, it's just a ride."

[flipper 0]

Dudes

this to me is a real interestin thread....

i have around 25 suit jumps all on the Gti....I thought long and hard about the main i was gonna use ...

In the end i worked out that i just couldnt use my vengeance for the suit thing

I went down the route of getting another rig that lives attached to my suit.....using a sabre has given me nothing but good on heading openings ....taking a whole heap of worry out of the first jumps i did on the suit....

flipper