ManBird

I might be able to make it there, actually... sans blades. I need to get my car's paperwork in order before travelling that far (registration just expired... not much need to drive in Portland, OR). Any Portlanders headed down there? "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Snideness aside, snap turns don't give you all day to plane out. Snap turns commit you to the canopy's natural recovery arc all at once. Done correctly, you get a lot of speed and a nice surf (usually shorter than a long carve). Snap turn low, and you'll have to fight like hell to dig it out. If you were to snap turn regularly, you would definitely be low on occasion. Not that you can't hurt yourself on a carve, but snap turns lead to femur injuries and death. Pulling off those quick low turns are something to which you must graduate. Master carving it down, surfing it in, at any angle. Get to know your altitude within inches, and then take advantage of quicker turns (if you so desire). Give it another 1,000+ jumps. It's easier to control a carve, you still get a lot of speed (it's a different kind of speed), you almost always get more distance, and you have the chance to bail out. Those guys that you see flying little cross-braced canopies have (hopefully) a lot of experience. They've (hopefully) paid their dues in order to fly them, and they (hopefully) respect their canopies. Don't be in any rush. Get all you can out of your canopy and don't move down unless you really need to. You're doing 90s on your Stiletto. When you've front riser 360ed on final a hundred times or so, maybe it's time to move on (that doesn't mean start 360ing right now). I wanted to downsize quickly, as well, but finance led me to get what I could out of my 1994 Sabre 120. I'm now think I've got 100 - 200 more jumps on it before I move down to a non-cross-braced elliptical that's 10 - 15 square feet smaller. That will have been about 500 jumps on this canopy. People see it as an old outdated square, but I'm consistently getting a 200 ft (no wind) swoop out of it. I highly recommend taking a canopy control class to find out how to get the most from what you already have, and to get a more fundamental understanding of parachutes and high performance landings (no offense). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I released them twice and realized how much I like them. I found that if you are holding the grippers, then your arms are basically in the right position. One thing I really like about this suit (and there are very many) is that you can't go "over" the perfect frame. On the GTi, you have room to be less efficient in either direction. The S3 basically gives you a collapsed to perfect frame on both the legs and the arms. Now having the strength to keep everything all the way out the entire time... whoo... that'll be awhile. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Is this a joke? I mean... I laughed. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I don't know... even then... "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

So... here it is. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

If you buy stock, you'll get them fast. But with your colors you'll probably have to go custom, so expect 6 - 8 weeks. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Just flew it. OH MY GOD! It was actually not too tough to fly. A little wobbly on max-out attempts, but I'm sure I'll smooth it out. Shut my ProTrack off at 8800 feet. :) I only did that once after a big swoop in my GTi, but managed to do it in standard flight (yes, it was in SLO mode)! Definitely the quietest dive I've been on. Took a lot of strength to get the arms all the way out and hold them there. I also had to fly knees down a bit while I was getting the A-frame, but then straightened the legs out and all went silent. Amazingly stable. Got the hackey on the first try. Much easier in the air than on the ground (did at LEAST 75 practice reaches and a few pulls on the ground). And it's really, really comfortable. Easy to remove everything under canopy, as well. I'm in love. Pics soon. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'm wondering what the winds were. My honest, no wind swoop is 200 feet. But when the wind is 20+ knots on the ground, I can scream it to almost/about 300 feet, but there's no way I could get that without the wind assistance. In a hurricane, I could probably get 1,000 foot swoop and then explode. And then these giant red bears would start fighting. Man, hurricanes are awesome. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

E-mailed you the latest, but you should contact BirdMan. There are option and price changes every so often, so it's best to go right from the source. The form I sent you just so happens to be only a few days old. Call them. They're good people. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

S3. Oh, yes. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Definitely. Several line adjustments took a lot of pressure out of my Sabre. When I've worn weights with it, I've found it to be noticeably lighter, as well. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Soon. Very soon. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Try opening one wing a bit before the other to counter to rotation. For example, if you roll clockwise, throw your right wing out a before you hit the horizon (pretty much as soon as you've seen blue for a split second) and get your left wing out on the horizon. Start opening your tail at the same time you put out your right wing, and finish opening your tail by the time you have your left wing out. Go big on it, too. I'm assuming you're flying a Classic or GTi. You can put some muscle into your maneuvers without the suit biting back (too hard). It takes practice, but done quickly and smoothly, you'll get a nice tight barrel roll without rocking or any fall rate gain. You can then apply this to as many barrel rolls as you'd like. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Buy Jump Shack's Firebolt and tell us what it's like. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

The vids in this post are good. Note that this is the same place they are flying over at the end of the SoulFlyers trailer. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

OK, my actual answer is this: It will swoop as well as you make it swoop. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

I'm just being snide. There's innovation and quality coming from many manufacturers, but I just really like PD as a company. Personally, I hate seeing canopies getting compared. A Crossfire 2 is pretty damn different than Vengeance, and a Vengeance is pretty damn different than a Stiletto, and a Cobalt is... what the hell is that? ;) I can take my 1994 Sabre coast-to-coast-and-then-some on our 200 ft pond. Someone in a Velocity always bails out. Someone on a Merit 160 can kick all of our asses. This basically says to me, fly what you enjoy flying, and you'll find a way to kick ass at it. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Dropping like a rock (for a wingsuit)... maybe 90 - 100 MPH? Forward speed is somewhat less of where it could be. Body is arched, legs are back, and wings are in half flight, so the flyer is definitely pushing down. Arms are "drooping", and thus inducing drag, which would slow the forward speed down a bit. But there's some drive. If the legs were under the body with the knees bent, then there'd really be no forward speed. The short answer to your question: The wingsuit flyer is compromising their flight a fairly great deal. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Hadn't seen this one before... nice pic: http://members.chello.at/fallschirmshop/birdman/bird-surfer-gr.jpg "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

No, I am just saying that they have a much longer track record, and that they have earned a hell of a bias from me. ;) I basically see parachute manufacturers like this: PD and imitators. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

That's definitely too low, even for a Sabre 170. Even for a Sabre 170 on a cold and muggy day. Even for a Sabre 170 on a cold and muggy day loaded at 1.2. I'm assuming you're snapping your turns. Rather than turn aggressively, or try to hit an exact degree of turn, see how long, in seconds, you can stay in a turn. The longer you are in it, the more vertical speed you will get, whether you're doing a 90, 180, 270, 114, whatever. Different degrees of a turn are more helpful for accuracy than speed/distance. Be patient, slow, and smooth with your front riser turns. You'll get more distance, as well as the option to bail out if, I mean when, needed. My 1994 Sabre 120 is loaded at 1.5. I can drop it 400 feet and get a 200ft+ swoop on a no wind day. 300ft is even there on a day like yesterday (landing downwind with about 20 knots behind me). "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Stilettos don't dive 700 feet. Always go with PD always. You canopy will last for thousands of jumps, customer service will be top notch, and seldom needed maintenance will be cheap. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

Amen to that. The ride is easy. The dismount isn't too tough. What makes a good rodeo is the exit. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click

No, sorry. I think we didn't want any distractions and while we were hoping to get as close as we did, we weren't sure we'd be able to pull it off. We never even brought up video at all. It was more of something to try and feel out. We didn't even plan on a dock at all, so even if we could have (and we almost could), we wouldn't, because we didn't plan on it. With that much dock potential, though, we'll figure out ways to dock, should the opportunity arise. Video would be nice, but having it embedded in our memory is even nicer... for us anyway. ;) Maybe this weekend. "¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click