The111

Do it Ed, do it!!! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

The original poster said he flew his S3 with the two SG's, so maybe he could comment on how he was flying. Granted, they were learning to fly the suits so it won't mean a whole lot, but it would still be interesting to know... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I think he did ok. :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Ok, on the topic of no-footed pushups... That seriously looks impossible, and I'm not basing that on strength, I'm basing it on balance. I watched the video and it looks real, but I tried to even balance myself like that and it's simply not possible. Your arms are so close to your head that you have WAY more weight behind them than in front of them. Like I said, I watched the video, but I don't know what to conclude. It doesn't seem physically possible. PS I am drunk. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Do yourself a favor and check out some of the older Modest Mouse, like This is a Long Drive or Lonesome Crowded West. Their new stuff isn't bad (which is surprising since it's getting played on the radio), but I'm really fond of their early stuff. The song Shit Luck makes me laugh out loud every time... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Off topic, slightly. When my avatar used to be my face (and pretty much the only place I post is the WS forum usually), I went to a few big boogies and had literally like 5-6 people per day come up to me and tell me they recognized my face from DZ.com. They also sometimes noticed "The111" on my mudflaps... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hell yes to all of that. (nice signature too) I haven't heard of WIG but I will check it out. Do you have a good quality version of Frances the Mute? As I'm sure you know it will not be on the streets for quite some time... the only pre's I found were crap quality. New music for me: Lou Barlow's solo "debut" (after a decade of insanely prolific songwriting with Sebadoh, Sentridoh, and the Folk Implosion)... worth checking this album out for the folk style cover of Ratt's Round-n-Round alone... (yes you read that right) The Fucking Champs Isis Opeth, Katatonia, and Anathema (still haven't tired of these 3 yet) Iron & Wine the new Bright Eyes is phenomenal (as expected) and I'm seeing them in 9 days The Good Life's new one is still really fresh too The Arcade Fire My Chemical Romance Thrice's Illusion of Safety has not left my car in some time... all things Steve Wilson - Blackfield, Office of Strategic Influence, and very much looking forward to the new Porcupine Tree (w/ guest appearance from Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth) it's hardly new, but I've been listening to Rush and Neil Young a lot... and some old Bad Religion :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

click After my first few shaky S3 flights I was certain I was too weak and started doing those isometric shoulder exercises. After 30 more flights I realized I just needed to learn the suit. If you're a reasonably strong guy you shouldn't have any problems, but the workout can't hurt if you have the time. I'm just sticking to my normal workouts for now. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I whole-heartedly agree with this one. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I'll be there as I've said before. It does suck we will lose so many good flyers to the Dublin boogie. Wish we could change it a week but that's hardly my call. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

KOA tent sites are $37-$56 according to their website. Not too cheap for some dirt to put a tent on. I found a state park 5 miles from Marco Island that has tent camping for $18/night. I have reserved a site for Friday and Saturday night. I checked ahead, and there are two tents and two vehicles allowed per site. I'd prefer to sleep alone in my tent (unless you're hot and can get my g/f's permission), but if someone wants to split the site costs with me and put up their tent, they're more than welcome. PM me! www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I would guess the same thing. If we're going to look at 3-rings as efficiency killers, we may as well start looking at our faces and ears and helmet construction (which was mentioned in another post with those funky bullet looking helmets). www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Here is a little trick I use for finding out song titles. All you need is a unique string of lyrics from the song. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

True Ed, but it seems to me with my S3 that there is an "optimal" position for the grippers, with regards to keeping the wing in the best non-distorted shape. I'm crazy, I know, but I actually stood in front of the mirror in my S3 and checked this out. It's possible to move my hands to a very comfortable position and still hold the grippers, but I have put some torsional tension on the end of the wing and it doesn't look nearly as efficient that way. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

In this post, the difference between the S3 and V1 grippers was discussed. I agree that the V1 *looks* to be more ergonomic than the S3 in this aspect. However, there's more than 2 ways to design a gripper. Whenever I see pictures of people flying suits with grippers (99.9% of the time S3's) I take note of how they hold their grippers, since it varies from person to person a bit. Take a close look at the cover of this month's Parachutist. AFAIK, Jeb flies an S4 prototype. I could be wrong, but that gripper design looks radically different than the S3 or V1. The grippers appear to be along the "trailing edge", so to speak, which seems to promote a "palms up" (up being toward your back and the sky) hand/arm position, while both the S3 and the V1 seem to promote a "palms in" (in being toward the sides of your body). I like the idea of being able to fly palms up (this is how I flew my GTi since I had no grippers)... it seems to me it is more natural to roll your shoulders when you are palms up. It's also easier to see an alti on your hand this way. Thoughts? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

What, you want special recognition just for being a girl? It was a good jump though. I've tried that over under thing with lots of good fliers (planned ahead of time) and it never went off as smoothly as our impromptu version. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Thanks for the reply Scott. Those speeds were in knots, right? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

See, this is why I'm asking. I have no frame of reference... I don't even know what a normal jumprun speed is (I'm sure it's plane dependent but there's probably also a generic range). I always assumed it was around 90mph or so, but I'm just guessing. The 3 figures I gave in my example were all "hearsay" from one of the other flockers. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Also... technique? I didn't do them enough to really notice what I was doing exactly, but in theory, it seems to me you should try for max forward speed (which is "upward" speed in this case), NOT max glide nor min sink. So a "headlow" position to the relative wind, which would seem like a steep dive in a normal orientation relative to the ground. I would think this technique would help you get higher above the plane and LESS far behind it... both which would give cooler visuals. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Two questions about these high speed passes: 1) How bad for your suit are they, really? I know someone who has blown up two suits in his career *cough* ScaryPerry *cough*, but I probably shouldn't be comparing mere mortals to him. 2) What is a good speed, in case I have to be the one to coordinate with the pilot in the future? On the first one, I heard it was around 100 knots, I nailed it and got way above. Second one, I heard (afterwards) it was close to 140 knots! I stepped off a bit assymetrical, got instantly rag-dolled into 3 barrel rolls in just a few seconds, pulled out of them, looked up at the plane, maxed out, and still had enough forward speed to get back UP to the plane (but not above it), even AFTER a few seconds of rag-dolling. That was pretty amazing, but I think maybe it was a bit too fast. Third one I heard was around 120 knots, but even though I nailed it, I didn't seem to get as high as I did on the first one. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I jumped with him @ Zhills a lot this New Years... I think he told me he had 800 jumps and either 300 or 500 WS jumps. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Had no idea these were so much fun. Nailed the first one perfect, got pretty far above the plane. The zero g feeling at the top of the hill is awesome. I want to do it every time from now on. :) Beer for me. Another fun first was 10 seconds of zero g in the plane on the ride to altitude for that same jump. I've wanted to do that for a LONG time. Best quote from the weekend: "I can't see the ground at all... ready set go!" Followed by a 1:30 flight through icy clouds towards where we thought the airport might be. Came out of clouds at 6k right over LZ. :) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I feel the same way... hence "I have heard rumors". www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yeh, I like to pull at 4k or slightly above when jumping WS. But I have heard rumors of 1 minute skydives from 5k with legal pull altitude... www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Many people seem to jump nothing but WS, but there are always exceptions... I'm pretty sure Cancer Chris told me he had to do a freefly jump a few weeks ago to take some pictures, and Perry has turned down WS jumps with me because (1) he was asked on an RW jump by old friend (2) he wasn't sure if his main was hooked up forwards and wanted a freefall deployment to test (I saw him 20 minutes later with his reserve out). Which is why I'm wondering if anyone has an actual number of how far they've gone. Just a stupid curious question. If you're known on the DZ eventually someone will ask you to jump without your suit and you'll have to say yes. I want to see how long I can get away with saying no. :) Of my past 135 jumps, 112 have been WS. But my biggest streak is around 60 and is still going. www.WingsuitPhotos.com