ManBird

YES, YOU MAY! You might be able to jump it this weekend. I'll be in Idaho jumping my "other" canopy. Coming from a VX 84, you might not have as much fun, but at least you'll get to check it out. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'm with my Uncle Charlie on this. Glide is what determines the difference between flying and floating. Granted, some people really enjoy the floating aspect of some wingsuits. Others, including myself, want to be able to travel far and fast. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Demoed a Katana in 107 (1.84:1) and 97 (2.03:1) flavors this last weekend. The 97 was one of the yellow and red ones with the giant logo, which was rad. I don't have enough jumps on the Katana to give a complete review, but I can tell you what my experience was and that within 14 hours of my last jump on the Katana 97, I bought one off the shelf from Square 1. I have about 300 jumps on the Sabre2 107 I bought last year. It's great for flying a wingsuit, and for awhile, was a lot of fun to swoop, but it's start to feel like a dog, and I feel that I've wrung it out pretty well. Time to move on. Vladi Pesa showed up on the PD tour right when I was in the market. So that's where I'm coming from. My first opening was at 10,000', at terminal, and I figured it'd be fast and stingful. It was smoother than anything -- which defines everything about this canopy. The 107 had a lot of characteristics I wanted. It dove like a mother with very light front riser pressure that builds very slowly. The rear riser pressure is perfect -- low enough to trim in easily from a fast dive, but high enough to make stalls difficult. There's enough power there to easily land 100% on rear risers without stalling (which I did on jump #3 with only a little slide (into a 10 knot headwind)). It handled turbulence very well and a long spot with a headwind was cake on rear risers (passed other canopies very easily). The toggle pressure is high, but not much input is needed in turns or flares, and I found the toggle range to be huge (bigger than I needed or had the chance to use). Toggle turns are very fast. It doesn't take much to throw yourself up above the canopy. Spiraling loses altitude very quickly. Pull one toggle down about a third stroke and just watch the needle on your altimeter drop (need new Neptune batteries). Harness input results in a slow turn. It's enough to make harness corrections during a dive and get you facing the right way after opening, but not enough to spiral or do aggressive turns. The downside is that harness doesn't help a swoop a whole lot. The upside is that I can fly it with my wingsuit. There's essentially no "oversteer". When you finish an input, the canopy stays right on the heading you let go at. Correcting the path mid swoop was easy and non-detrimental to the dive. Letting up a toggle in the middle of spiral just stopped the turn right on the heading where I let up (my Sabre2 has a lot of oversteer compared to this). It DIVES. A lot of people have wondered what the recovery arc is like on a Katana. That was what I was most curious about (though after finding out how much fun this was to fly in general, the long dive was just a bonus). It dives and dives and dives. When it's done diving, it dives some more. The front riser pressure is light, and the dives are super smooth and easy to control. I do my 360s from around 500' on my Sabre2, over a period of about six seconds (when I'm doing it right), and even then, I often end up a little high. A 180 from 550' over about five seconds was perfect for getting on the rears and trimming the canopy out of its recovery arc (on the 97). I played with everything up to a 720 up higher. My usual left hand 270 lost about 700' (from 2,500' to 1,800') over nearly eight seconds (also on the 97). It builds up a lot of speed in the dive, as well -- I felt my shoes wanting to fly off my feet. However, the 107 still just didn't "feel" like what I wanted. It felt a little doggy in full flight (not much different than my Sabre2), so I tried the 97. The 97 is EXACTLY what I was searching for. It just felt like an extension of my body. Nothing felt slow, but nothing felt so fast that it was too much. I have about 35 jumps between the Crossfire and Crossfire 2, both of which I also considered for purchase. With that little bit of experience, I'd say that the Katana is, in fact, in that same "class". I did find the Katana to have only a little longer recovery arc, but the dive built up a lot more speed. All controls felt a lot crisper and more natural -- you don't have to force anything. The Crossfire 2 probably gets the opening award. The Katana had soft openings, but they weren't entirely consistent -- especially subterminal (noticeably more heading hunting at low airspeeds). However, I DO like the fact that the openings aren't quite a snivelly as the XF2. The openings were smooth, but not excessively long. Two other people complained about hard or wild openings, but I experienced no such thing -- body position . This is just my opinion with my limited data sample -- your mileage may vary. I don't feel quite ready to go all out on a small X-brace. I feel very comfortable with this step. I'm a weekend jumper that makes about 50 - 70 jumps per month in the jumping season, and about about 5 - 20 per month in the super-depressing Oregon winter. Given my overall annual currency, I feel that I could stay with this canopy for a long time. If I ever do go cross-braced and/or smaller, I think I'd have to keep this around as my "early season" canopy, even if I do get something else dialed in over the summer. Here's the safety disclaimer: I do have to say that this canopy is not for someone who wants to start swooping -- it's a swoop machine for someone that already knows how to swoop. There is definitely a chunk of the dive that would be very, very difficult to recover on a low turn. Not knowing when to abort on this canopy can very likely end up in a PLF -- parachute lands first. As soon as I have this hooked up and flown, look in the classifieds for a nice-looking Sabre2 107 with only 300 jumps.

I'm willing to bet this suit floats like a mother. Looks like a tricky pull. I can see how you'd have to pull, but it'd be sketchy getting the technique dialed in for the first few flights. Not a lot of leg, which generally translates to little forward drive, but we might be proven wrong. I does sort of look Crossbow-based -- just way bigger. That one looks pretty cool, actually. More refined than what I'd seen in the past. Looks almost ready to market. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I've had three terminal reserve rides in a wingsuit. PC in tow (burble + tight pack job), impossipull on my BASE PC pouch (which I pack meticulously now), and a bizarre entanglement hop + pop thing. No actual canopy malfunctions with a wingsuit. 450 flights on three different canopies -- Sabre 120 (x200), Crossfire2 130 (x30), and Sabre2 107 (x220). Once I have a canopy over my head, I'm good to go. The only canopy malfunction I ever had was at 38 jumps on a rental Spectre 150 -- spinning line twists. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Oh, OK. I thought maybe there was something weird. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Really? I haven't bought a ProTrack in awhile. I got mine for $200/in the box. Maybe it was just the Square1 hookup, or maybe the price has gone up. Not saying that the Neptune's battery life is bad (it's not). I've changed my ProTrack batteries twice in three years. A lot of people run into battery issues because they don't change the default settings. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

That was freaking great. If I was wearing a dress, I'd send a curtsy your way. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

What were you guys doing for pull altitude last year? Just curious as to what it was and why. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I use both: PROTRACK PROS: - Accurate and consistent (jump with multiple ProTracks with the same settings on the same spot on your body, the data will almost always match perfectly) - In SLO mode, the likelihood of an incorrect deployment report on wingsuit jumps is really low - JumpTrack is fast and easy to use - Awesome customer service - Unit is a little cheaper than Neptune - LONG battery life (in econ mode) - My favorite audible CONS: - 119s max log time - More work to set up / interface isn't as intuitive - Not a visual altimeter - Unable to upgrade firmware - JumpTrack is expensive (Paralog can be used instead) - Proprietary batteries :( - Not waterproof NEPTUNE PROS: - Unlimited freefall time logging - Upgradeable firmware - Fast and intuitive interface - CANOPY MODE! - Backlighting for night jumps - Software is cheap - Waterproof - Lots of data (time is a good one) - Awesome customer service - Can buy batteries at the grocery store or Radio Shack - My favorite visual altimeter CONS: - Data isn't nearly as consistent as ProTrack - Battery doesn't last as long - Likelihood of reporting a deloyment during wingsuit flight is pretty high (seems to report around 40 MPH) "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the whole Fensler thing. And I had them as QTs from Heaven Gallery before they ever got on eBaum's World. That's right. I'm old school. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

"Mr. Body Massage Machine, GO!" I love that shit. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I agree with tree here. The mix between nine-cell elliptical and x-braced was much more even than it is now. People were competing on Crossfires and Vengeances, and even a Spectre showed up here and there. Giant eggs thought for themselves and black was a type of toothbrush. Point being, there's no freaking way that anybody on a Cobalt is going to make it anywhere in today's competitions. Check out PSTs results page. Look at the canopies, the competitors, the distances, and the speed. And then look at those tamales. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Warrior -- not much info. According to one web site, this canopy was forst developed in 1997. That's all I know. http://www.paraavis.com/parachutes/main/warrior/ "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I have fun scaring the shit out of stupid motherfuckers. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Where is the "I am male and I watch porn with my significant other" option? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Boy, KB sure is in a lot of movies with Kyra Sedgwick coming up. Weird. 1. I met Vince Vaughn (and Vincent D'Nofrio) at "The Shanghai Tunnel", a dive bar in Portland, OR. They were in town filming "Thumbsucker". 2. Vince Vaughn was in "The Anchorman" and "Old School" with Luke Wilson. 3. Luke Wilson was in "My Dog Skip" and "Telling Lies in America" with Kevin Bacon. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I call bullshit. Tetris is yet to be beat. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I liked the music in the trailer a lot, actually. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Damn, Ed. That really sucks. I'm glad that didn't end up worse. With the forward speeds we get in these suits, a t-bone collision can definitely be deadly. I've learned these few basic rules for avoiding collisions in any form of skydiving or 3D traffic: - Do not lose sight of your fellow jumpers. If you do, do not make any aggressive maneuvres. - Keep your head on a swivel. Look in every direction that your neck will allow before making a big turn. - When approaching another jumper, get on level and then move in. Do not charge or swoop directly at the jumper. Put on your brakes before reaching your target. - Have a plan and stick to it the best that you can. Have a backup plan in case you fall out. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Or just click here: http://www.180plus.com/skydiving/video/swoops/SwoopingTheFarm_Episode_1.wmv "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

http://www.phoenix-fly.com I've already ordered mine.

You can order them now! http://www.phoenix-fly.com "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

WTF? Where were you? Ray, did you go to Acrop? We had a last-minute fake bachelor party there on Saturday night. Fucking great time with a 14-person strong attendance. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I usually dump in a full track on non-wingsuit skydives (usually with BirdMan BASE Pantz). When I have my 10' bridle and 32" PC hooked up, using my BASE PC pouch on my S3, I dump in full flight. I'm only doing this as practice for wingsuit BASE, and because I like to dump a little lower (fast horizontal speed can take a chunk out of deployment altitude). I recommend against these practices. I pack my Sabre2 really damn snivelly (nose in middle of pack job and slider really, really quartered and cupped), and don't wear a camera helmet when pitching like this. Dumping in a full track without these precautions can definitely result in some pain. Even with a "snivelly" pack job, you can still get line dump (had it twice in a row last week!), and bam, sore neck and back for a week. To avoid pain and injury, slow your total velocity down to 120mph, or basically, fall more than fly... yadayadayada. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click