The111

I'll believe the full breach claim when I see it. Still cool stuff, regardless. Jarno, since you're into freediving head over to deeperblue.net and check out the thread called "underwater fin surfing." There is a small group of guys expanding on the sport of "subsurfing" which is basically glorified body-surfing, but really so much more. With the right waves they can go for very long times and distances under the wave just as a board-surfer would above the wave. It requires a different kind of wave than a board-surfer needs and they're still learning where the best breaks are. They describe the visuals as amazing, and to me it sounds like the "buzz" the reefs the same way we buzz clouds. Some use fin(s), some not. I've seen a photo of a guy actually BARELY getting a full breach with a monofin after using some leftover speed from a subsurf. But we're talking a rare occurrence here, not the same as what Lunocet is claiming their new product will do. Also, somewhere I found a photo of Laird Hamilton subsurfing, it was taken from the side underwater, and he had no fins and EXACTLY the same body position as a good tracker would in the air. No surprise, of course. Hydro is hydro. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I just had a conversation about this today with somebody at the DZ. When I got my 400D a few months ago I thought it was defective and actually exchanged it for another one that did the same thing. It took me a while to figure out how to prevent the problem from occurring (but still not why it occurs). If your "auto power off" setting is set to anything other than "off" AND if you have a remote connected... when the camera auto-offs, it will lock up and not be brought back to life by shutter as it should be. It will not even be brought back to life by cycling power switch... in fact, turning it "off" you will still see the green power light on. Replacing the battery is only fix at that point, as you've found. So, there are two "solutions": 1) Don't use auto power off. Turn it off. This is my chosen solution. It's a nice feature but not necessary either since it's easy to turn camera on and off when you need to. 2) If you must use auto power off, make sure that once you turn on your camera before the door opens, you fire photos at a minimum interval of less than your auto off time limit. If it is set to auto off after 1 minute, you'll need to fire at least one dummy photo a minute until you exit, and keep doing so throughout the skydive and under canopy if you don't want the cam to lock up. It sucks, and it's stupid, and it doesn't happen without the remote plugged in, and the 350D never did it even WITH the remote plugged in. But there's no other way around it that I know. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

photo of otters www.WingsuitPhotos.com

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I started freeflying again recently and realized I will need a legstrap bungee again (removed mine long ago). I met a guy once (Fredrik from Sweden) who had an RSL shackle on his bungee which allowed him to disconnect it while hooking up his wingsuit. How many other people have something like this? What other methods are there? I was thinking of a fastex clip maybe. Do most people make these themselves or just get a rigger to do it? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Some Americans do love their cannon balls. I really like the redwood forest analogy though. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

I was wondering about that too. But it was so out there that I decided that that couldn't have been what he meant to say. (?) That makes three of us. Taken at face value, this is one of the stupidest things I've heard said in the whole race. My girlfriend nearly fell off the couch laughing. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

What I find most funny is that relative to anything else that flies, both our "floating" and our "flying" are both crap. A glide ratio of 1.5:1 vs 2.5:1 is not really a world of difference. Both are pretty much "falling at an angle"... no bird or pilot would describe either as "gliding." We are massive air deflectors at best. Fortunately, it's still hella fun, and when you have the right visual references, it still feels like you're flying (but so can simple tracking). www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Or alternately, why do others include back deflectors? I'm not so sure they're necessary. Not sure they're not either, but the "evidence" is hard to come by. Either way, they seem to be doing just fine without deflectors. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yes. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Well, if it's moving excessively then it's probably not going to work no matter what you do. But if it's just moving a little bit, or aimed in a slightly different direction every time you put it on, then a concentric ringsight will help, because of the way the optics inside work, you will always see the target floating over exactly what the camera is pointed at, even if that line is not parallel to your line of sight. The concentric ringsight actually removes parallax, which paper asshole and the orange lollipops cannot. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

This forum, in a similar fashion, offers much more bitching time in a more stressful environment. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Kind of reminds me of AOL in the 90's... everybody was convinced it was the best and only way to get online. An outstanding marketing phenomenon is what it was. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

This. Go to Amazon.com and read the product reviews. None of the headsets under $300 will cancel ALL noise. There are much higher end products for much more money that will do much better. But... in the "consumer range," the Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7 headset is far superior to Bose products. Cheaper, higher build quality, and better sound and noise cancellation. $120 from Amazon. They're on my head right now.

I always bought from Amazon.com also, but the other day I walked into Office Depot and their prices were pretty damn close, if not the same. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

If you want post on the internet anonymously, that's one thing. If you're going to cut somebody else down by name at the same time, you're a coward. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Yeh, I was wondering about that. I have the XTi too. Planned to do some test jumps and see if the buffer speed bothered me, shooting in RAW+JPEG. I guess I'd get a lot less shots out, huh? (assuming I was going for a LOT of shots which on some important jumps is the case) www.WingsuitPhotos.com

What an awesome deal. I read Slickdeals almost daily myself but would have missed this one if it wasn't posted here. Ordered 3x 8GB cards last week and got them in the mail last night. Paid $170 total and will get $160 back. That is a damn good deal, $3 per 8GB card. Now I have the space to start shooting in RAW.

Even now that I fly my SM1 most of the time, and am able to reach my risers during deployment, I still don't, usually. After so many jumps on my S3, I'm used to just keeping my hands on my chest (or chin to support camera weight). Even when I do get linetwists, I don't reach the risers right away. My first priority is making sure my knees and ankles are still locked together, making it very unlikely that my risers won't be even when the twists start. If your risers are even, the twists are a cakewalk.

"FUCK!" at 1:26 made the video. I could totally picture your face. A good weekend indeed. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

This statement is confusing, because both of those you mentioned as backups use tact switches also, and it seems like you're implying they're different (better or stronger) than tact switches. See attached photo of the Pro Mouth switch next to a tact switch. The Conceptus tongue switches use the same part too. I am not sure about the Conceptus bite switches as I've never seen one. I would be interested in a photo of that. Haven't seen it yet. Sounds interesting.

Is "solitarity" the amount of time somebody spends playing solitaire? www.WingsuitPhotos.com

You mean poop? Everybody poops. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Hey Sam. All the tongue switches I've seen on the market (Conceptus, etc) use a type of switch called a "tact switch." I've never seen one sold at Radio Shack. It took me a long time to even figure out that this is what they were called. Good source for tact switches is digi-key.com or mouser.com. The ones that are commonly used in skydiving mouth switches are 12x12mm. http://www.mouser.com/catalog/635/1519.pdf Go to the above link, look at variation "H" in the 4.3mm height... there are two versions, 260 and 320gf (different forces required to push button). I got some of the 260, or more specifically this item, and they seemed almost identical to what was inside of my Conceptus switch. There are other manufacturers too you can browse through. www.WingsuitPhotos.com

Even Jeff Nebelkopf has one. www.WingsuitPhotos.com