lurch

I'm busted! You're not going to believe this, but thats exactly where I got the idea. At the DZ, watching a bunch of little birds land on a hawk's back trying to take it out. Couldn't believe what I was seeing at first. Hawk over the runway. Bunch of birds hassling it. One by one the little birds flew over it, and...disappeared. Hawk started wobbling. I realized all 5 birds had landed on it and were most likely pecking at the back of its head trying to drive it away. Hawk's probably thinking "Get off me!" After a bit, one by one the little birds gave up and took off. Thinking about it later, I was kinda thinking it might make for a good skydive. So... Anyone gonna put up video of the guys whove done this before or what? Wheres Chuck Blue...he find this thread yet? I gotta see the old VHS tapes Scott was talking about. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Thanks, guys. I've been doing a lot of work with burbles lately, and got the idea one strange night over a beer, thinking "No WAY anybody's ever been dumb enough to attempt that..." Thought about it a bit more and realized with a really stable "horse" experienced in full contact combat wingsuiting, if I can suss out what the burbles gonna do and get my wings into it clean enough we might actually be able to pull it off. Next day I'm out at the airport... "Hey Reed... I got this REALLY stupid idea for assembling a rodeo in midair." Took a bit of trust, for him to sit still for that and let me deliberately crash his burble. I still can't fuckin believe he managed to keep flying through that, but WTF, it worked first try. So megaprops go out to Reed for taking a hit for the team and staying airborne like he didn't have some yahoo just crash-land on his back, Rick, our premier camerabird for managing to keep the whole thing in frame through what had to be some interesting fallrate variations, and J-SHO! For chewing up the footage and spitting it out "all dressed-up like" into an actual video. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

After a little more thought I realized only way the airflows enough to hold him up is if that was one seriously high speed exit. My verdict: A second after that pic was taken he dropped clear of the fuselage, tail angle or no tail angle. Still a wicked cool shot. In years of flying suit it has never occurred to me to interact with the doorway itself in such a fashion. Quinn gets creative exit points big time. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Agreed. After thinking it over for awhile if I had to guess, I'd say it was momentary. Although the airflow under the guy might be enough to hold him up, I'd bet the side forces would be too much to compensate for. I've actually got some experience with a similar situation on the ground...when I was a teen I got around in the Philippines by hanging onto cars trucks and jeepneys on a mountain bike. I'd grip with the right hand, keep the handlebars straight with the left, and lock my leg through the frame of the bike for rigidity. Up to about 45-50 mph it worked ok but by 60-70 mph the wind loading and side loading were too much and I'd have to let go for fear of being pulled sideways off the bike, even with my elbow planted against the side of the vehicle for leverage. That, and between 70-80 mph even if I could hang on, the tires expanded from centrifugal force enough to hit the top of the forks and I'd get spattered with burning melted rubber. But I had pavement to use for traction to fight the side loading, and all this guy has is airflow, and very dirty airflow at that. If I remember right Scary Perry once tried to dock on a Caravan's wingtip, got a nasty burble surprise when he got within grabbing range of the wing and was almost thrown back in the door. I still wanna know... Did the guy in the photo get slammed into the fuselage a split second after the photo was taken, or what? -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

No, Shit. That is just...cool. I'm having a hard time reading the photo. The tension in his fingers and the angle look like he was flying a steady dock but the angle of his body and tail look like he was in the act of getting blown back into the fuselage with his grip on the doorframe as the pivot. Whats the story... was he actually able to hold that and fly it? Or was it a momentary shot? -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

No offense taken, Pierre. Aside from creative exits and pursuing 300 lb WS students about the only real use for HD I've found has been for surprising the hell out of my rodeo passengers after they bail off. I took Ken Murphy on a rodeo years ago, he bailed and went HD, I inverted and stayed with him. You should have seen the look on his face when he turned around and I was still right next to him. I don't do that too often because its a bad idea to do that around inexperienced freeflyers, but Kens an old-school hardcore and he was good for the surprise. The changes in direction when you carve out of it can be violent, though. About the only suggestion I'd have for wingsuiters wanting to try freeflying is, learn it on solos only at first so you don't kill anybody cause when you cork you can catapult yourself a mile across the sky in seconds. Wingmonauti...angled wingsuit! Wheres Yuri? He'll be all over this. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Wouldn't call it silly, Pierre. Headdown and freefly stuff comes in handy and sometimes necessary for us lighter birds to get down to formations or stay with students doing weird stuff. Had a student here years ago who just didn't take to wingsuit and was trying to do an "RW" body position with his feet up on his ass falling straight down, I had to kneefly/sitfly to stay with him and headdown to stay with a few of the heavier students. Freeflying a wingsuit is neither silly nor new and revolutionary, its just another tool I use to get somewhere I need to be. No big deal. I'd just wonder why bother sticking labels all over it and making like theres something special or different about it. If we keep this up we're going to start sounding like those "atmonauti" guys making a big deal out of steep tracking, which must have been the shortest-lived "discipline" in the history of the sport. Yawn. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

You know, you aren't the first bird to tell me this one. Got another bird around here feels the same way about it, perfect speed is being there. He don't flock much, but brother Murphy is all about the cloud surf and he usually gets one. J-sho's back in town so the order of the day for us is probably gonna be scary rolls, for me perfect speed is getting in a couple cloud surfs before I go to work. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Yeah and weren't you supposed to wait till I got there to check it out and see you barbecue yourself? I already had to turn down Rick on making him a Lurch special simply cause with all the hacks I've got under construction right now I couldn't guarantee delivery inside of this season. Now I got TWO of you need brackets made. Dunno about you and fire up there, man. Sure you don't wanna stick to the yellow construction stripe tape I scrounged last season? Or maybe we can get you a small kite to tow... or a stuffed animal. A Skwrl maybe? -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

I just checked out that link about "ban all phone use." Just to prove how incredibly fucking stupid banning cellphone use while driving would be, if they ever outlaw talking on the phone while driving I will buy a cheap phone, gut it, install the guts in a CB radio chassis, hook up an old-school CB mike to it, and talk on the phone while driving all I want, in a manner that has not been outlawed yet. I I want to get hyperliteral about complying with the letter of the law I'll build a repeater out of a phone and a CB and mount it in the trunk and talk to it through an unmodified CB radio transmitting the 5 feet to the box in back so that I am literally not talking on a phone at all, just on a CB whose intended recipient is a CB thats hooked to the phone network via standard phone hardware. Oh, no, hes evading the law, ban CB radios! Christ, people are stupid. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Another original Sabre fan here. Keep the line stows small to avoid spinning up the bag and its the most consistent openings I've gotten from anything I've tried. Been jumping a Sabre 135 for the last couple of years and the openings have been very reliable since I figured out the packjob. Its not a flashy ride but you can't beat the sense of security you get with it after awhile. On-heading 99% of the time, and very tolerant of bad body position on opening which comes in handy when trying new suit variants. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

I'll throw in a couple tips I think might help a bit here. As was already mentioned, gainers tend to string out the exits so they're fun but they do slow down flock assembly. If you're running mixed experience levels I'd suggest staggering the exits, left-right-left instead of side by side simultaneously, to avoid the blow to the head Scott mentioned. Although alternating exits introduces a slight delay to an already strung out exit, its better to have an orderly delay in which there were no collisions, and disoriented flyers have less to worry about without having to concentrate on not hitting someone right next to them during a maneuver in which an offheading exit is likely. Besides, if your timing is tight alternating the exit only costs you about 3/4 of a second, which is a lot less than you'll spend getting reoriented while on the hill flying in a less-than-ideal direction after you just got smacked in the head by your wingman. Side by side would seem more efficient at first glance but it doesn't do you any good if theres either a collision or offheading exits introducing confusion and reorientation time. The birds all hit the air sooner but spent that time getting straightened out anyway and trying not to hit each other. If you alternate and accept a bit of delay and separation you can get the chase and assembly underway quicker and safer and wind up coming out ahead in terms of time conservation. Alternating exits is an inefficient use of the door but an efficient means of confusion and collision control. Also, people unfamiliar with the feel of a gainer tend to fight it a bit because you tend to come out of the exit steeply head-down. If you keep a slight arch afterward it can help bring your nose up to a more familiar angle and get you a more fluid recovery, allowing you to begin closing on the flock in a controlled manner a little sooner than you otherwise would be able to if you allow the dive to persist. This also conserves a bit of altitude. You'll have more options for choosing your approach. Hope this helps. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Congratulations, Spot! BRAVO! From what I understand, AFF is the toughest job in the sport and the rating is NOT easy to come by. Fly safe, man. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Ok shove over and make some room for me in the list, chemo sabe. Last one in buys the beer! Is it too early???? hehehehe 1) Rick (dzjnky) 2) Lurch Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Tail end of '03, Tikibar burning, Lebanon. I'd seen a clip of a couple guys in red and white Classics surfing a cloud. Chasing each other in circles in and around it. It was freakin' awe inspiring and the second I saw that I knew what I was skydiving to do. Took a bit over another 100 jumps, and the opportunity came unexpectedly. Woke up in the morning at SNE and suddenly POOF a wingsuit booth appeared. I had 218 jumps and suddenly wow heres my chance! So far as I know everyone who saw how I reacted when I reached the ground still remembers it. I screamed. I want more!!!! I bought a new GTI without hesitation on the spot. Exiting felt exactly like I'd imagined it would. Just spread the wings and stopped falling, suddenly the air became like another new set of arms I could actually DO something with instead of just plummeting. Supported me instead of just letting me punch through it. Still one of the most unforgettably intense, gratifying sensations I have ever experienced. Instinct and joy took over from there and I racked up hundreds of solos experimenting-distance, time, both, acro, exits, you name it, but mostly going for fallrate and airtime. This was back when jumping a wingsuit at under 500 jumps was considered almost unthinkable and the 200-jump first timers were still just a rumor from Europe. They didn't want to let me fly it at my home DZ either-nobody else around who knew anything about em except Dave Godin and he was seldom around, I'd only seen him jump a suit once here... so I got a note from my BMI (Asaf Fishelson...remember him?) and a few of my mentors spoke up on my behalf and said, we think you should let him fly. So they did. I never gave any of them a reason to regret it. That was about 1000 jumps ago, almost all of them wingsuit. After several years of flying alone, a few more came. Then many. Now I've got half the population of the DZ to fly with. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

What? Aw, come on, man, nobody could even surf that. The pics quality is good but I give it 2 thumbs down for breaking the rules. I mean come on...forest fire surfing? Ok, only one thumb down cause skydiving anywhere near a forest fire is cool anyway. Fair? -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

For an elegant exit, if you're either the only wingsuit or exiting last, you can just try duck-walking in a hunched crouch the 2 steps to the edge and hopping out sideways facing forward with everything tightly bunched up and closed down. I think of it as a miniature somewhat cramped version of the standard Otter exit, plus of course, mind the tail. Its neat and no worries about spins-just make sure you stay closed down with your elbows pressed to your sides and your knees tightly together for at -least- one full second after exit so you don't risk flirting with that tail and you're flying immediately when you're about 30 feet clear of the plane. Works for me. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Yeah!!!! Were there actually any holes through that stuff or did you have to make your own and punch a solid deck? It'd be worth landing out, for THAT sight... -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Excellent video, man. And you know, I never did get around to shaving the cat... -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Call me crazy all you want man, but the next time you come home from a night of drinkin' and whorin' and find yourself scratching at yet another classic case of Black and Decker Pixie Pecker, while you're waiting for the lotion to kick in just remember, you have only our cordless appliance industry to blame. All the pixie dust is gone. Poor little buggers got to get around somehow. .01$! -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

Scotty B... I knew I could count on you. I've been expecting you to show up in here and waitin' to see what you've got cause if you were gonna put up anything, it was gonna be good. And all I gotta say about THOSE pics is... Right on.... Closest thing to temporary immortality a human being can experience. That golden colored one is just IT. Thanks bro. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

I suppose I should have seen that coming. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

The leprechaun doesn't actually go anywhere. With a normal rainbow theres an exit at both ends, and the leprechaun can arrive or depart at will and presumably does. But obviously when we generate those circular ones by throwing shadows on clouds, there is no exit. Now, I'm not sure what the bandwidth of a glory is, the speed of reality inside of one or just how fast the leprechaun is spinning, but I think every time we surf a cloud and cast a glory with our shadows theres a leprechaun temporarily trapped in it, spinning like hell, pukin' up his breakfast cereal and beer and cussing us out like nobody's business. Wingsuit flight is a somewhat unnatural act and has unforeseen consequences to the ecologies inhabited by small legendary quasi-mystical Irish creatures. Up until we came along, all rainbows were more or less linear and therefore of use to such critters. Most glories were either 747-sized, ( which are big enough to provide some living space and room to move) or bird-sized, which are too small to trap a 'chaun in. Imagine the chaos we caused to the poor bastards when we had our little 71-way (ahem) surf going on. Accidentally nauseating leprechauns on an industrial scale. They must have thought we figured out that whole elaborate event specifically to fuck up their world. So if you were a participant and found green piss in your cheerios, THATS why. I'm not even going to get into the horrible effects dustbusters had on Tinkerbell and other pixies when they were first released into circulation, if they're not extinct by now I assume they've figured out how to avoid such appliances, or taken up hitchhiking. This may in fact be the explanation of the origin of scabies. my .02$. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

I regard this incident as proof that if there is a god, he is not only an amoral bastard who doesn't mind his critters dying if it makes a good joke, but he has got the most wicked sense of humor and dark irony of any entity, anywhere, anytime, ever. This'd be a lot funnier of a joke if it didn't involve such a bad death. If I ever meet god, I'll try to remember to tell him this one was in particularly bad taste. -B Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

THUMP. Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.