DSE

I must agree. I saw no evidence the slider was ever up. But damn! A hard opening on a wingsuit dive??? You can actually have harder openings on a wingsuit skydive than a regular skydive due to the horizontal component. Add that the d-bag is coming off the back at a 150-180 degree angle vs a 90 in a regular skydive...it can make a whale of a diff if the wingsuiter does not slow the horizontal.

You *are* adding risk. Just as you're adding risk when you begin jumping with a camera, a smaller canopy, raft/inflatable, Mr. Bill, CRW, 4/8 way, tertiary, going to a bigger DZ, heli, balloon jumps, flag jumps, demo jumps, etc.... It's risk that may be added once you have some basic skills, good muscle memory, and a general acumen for adding small additional risks. I'd say adding a wingsuit at 25 jumps is a "significant risk" vs adding a starter wingsuit and instruction at 200-500 jumps being a reasonably mitigated risk.

IIRC, they're from the week of March 17

60p source, twixtor (or other time-shift software), converted footage with heavy C/C... and good editing in the case of this vid. You can do this with almost any cam....just takes time, a little skill, and the effort.

Have a look at my Facebook page, there are three videos from three days of a fairly experienced, taller and lighter dude flying an Rbird. I'm in my P2. Watch me climb on him on every jump @breakoff. Yes...it's the pilot but... This guy has 150 jumps on an Rbird, is taller and lighter. IMO, it's sad that so many guys go for the "mattress" concept vs learning to fly their body, learning to be (your words) more precise, agile. Learning to fly your body is more important than anything, IMO, and once you have that down... the suit doesn't matter much. It's a tool to enhance what your body already knows to do. Either way, you'll have fun. These *are* both great suits, and that's why they're difficult to choose.

"better?" How about "different" or "more applicable?" The Phantom isn't a fat-wing suit. The way the thickness of the wing, inflation, and vents work together make it very stable/solid. The cut of the suit makes it easy for beginners to fly, but also allows for people that have skills to capitalize on those skills. It's a suit that can grow with you. It's not a mattress, so it's easy to be acrobatic. It's not a low-pressure suit, so it's easy to flock. Put on an experienced wingsuiter, he/she can easily get very long flight times and/or speed from the suit. Put i the hands of an FFC, it's difficult to generate instability, and easy to recover from instability. It's pressured, but not such high pressure that it's not easily shut down. There are many other reasons, that make it a unique suit, but it's easily said that the P2 is the most popular suit in the sport post Birdman GTI or Classic. Even at Zhills, there are a LOT of P2 suits. In my stable of dozens of suits from virtually every manufacturer...the P2 is my fave by far. For myself and for students.

At Elsinore, there is a once-a-month water training available. It's also possible to get a one-off if circumstances warrant it. At other DZ's, we've put on water training by sending out emails to potential B licencees and rent a pool for the evening. Some DZ's just pass it off and don't actually get anyone wet.

Very fun times there...Sorry you got "sick" after your 1000th WS. lots of awesome jumps yesterday and this morning. Was super cool to see a couple Elsinore peeps make it east, seeing SuperGirl hobbling around, Scotty swoopin' and hollerin, Simon's Wicked Wingsuit rental demos on quite a few peeps, and seeing Robi organizing and Boris taking it all in stride. Scott Bland did a killer job of putting together a couple jumps I was on; Shellie, Gary, Logan. Angela, Scott, Cobra, Dave, Jerry, all doing super on the newbie flocks. Skwrl everywhere with photos/video, as was Scotty. The 42 way was fun (flying orbit/rotations in Kipp and Michelle's burbles was one of the most fun experiences I've had in WS. Kathy/Morpheus and Scott herding cats, plus some very sweet clouds this morning before winds cropped up. So very many new peeps....Sweetness!

I can tell you that I've been on more than a few Cat A/B jumps for tandem candidates. One of em' flew me into a Dumpster, another flew me onto the apron, but they were both in training. So...at least some of em... So you've seen "most" coaches in the US? Or perhaps you have a poor I/E in your area? I agree, USPA has not been terribly consistent with disciplinary actions. One guy effectively got away with killing someone but USPA puts him on the cover and in the Parachutist magazine with regularity. Other than Kip Lohmiller, what I/E's have violated BSR's and "gotten away with it?" How about you tell *us* how many instructors have broken BSR's and gotten away with them. Your post suggests you have knowledge. I'd wager most agree with you, but do you think that it should be a lifetime-rating ban?

you really don't need a bad-ass machine to edit AVCHD anymore. I'm regularly editing AVCHD on my crummy apple MBP Bootcamp side (native AVCHD when it's on the PC side). it's slow to render, but I don't need to deliver a DVD in 5 mins from my laptop. The slowdown isn't in the DVD render, it's in the project render. Then again...if I'm using my laptop, it usually means I'm editing straight off the card or camera.

Are you asking about what altitude you fly the second leg of your jump run/box pattern? If so, this would be dependent on your flight skills. For students, we fly 7-10 seconds perpendicular to jump run. Then a turn that puts us parallel to jump run, and we continue that direction as a straight line until we reach deployment altitude of 5.5K. HTH.

I carry: Cell (most jumps) Pullup cord (stored in the TSO pocket on my Voodoo) Extra rubber bands (see previous) 10.00 cash (in case I land off and need to thank the driver for giving a ride).

Dunno about Jarno, but I've flown em' and own em' except Apache and X2. In my current collection; Blade, Classic, GTI, Mach1, SuperMach1, Raptor, T-bird, Rbird, Sbird, Xbird, Verso, Prodigy, Phantom, Phantom 2, Phantom 2Z, Ghost, Ghost 2, Ghost 3, Stealth, Stealth 2, Venom, Vampire 1, 2, and 4. Most of em' in blue/yellow (meaning I bought them, not sponsored). The Phantom2 is by far the most-flown suit in my collection; I'm on my third Phantom now. The Super Mach 1 is second (because it was the fourth suit I bought, and one I flew for a long while), and the Ghost is third in the mix. My first wingsuit was a Phantom 1, second one was a Blade. So...I'm not Jarno, but since I have a choice, I'll take the P2 over the Rbird. RBird isn't a bad suit, but for a few bucks more (compared to used), a more efficient and versatile suit is found in the P2, IMO). I believe that's why in these pix, you can see most everyone on the loads are jumping P2's (a Stealth, Acro, Xbird are also seen).

Can't wait to see you guys.... Been a bitch week from hell at the trades. Thanks for the daily updates. Keep em' comin'. See you Friday a.m.

Cheaper flights to: LAX SNA ONT SDA PSP LGB ~~~all within 70 mins of Skydive Elsinore or Skydive Perris. San Diego is close in there too.

I'd submit it's almost the opposite, GP... If you ask for gear advice/equipment information, you're likely to get some reasonably good responses that at least provide starting points of conversation for you and your instructors. With diveflow questions, those solutions can't really be found via the 'net. You have some unique challenges, yet very few here have a clue about them, and are therefore very, very flawed in trying to provide advice to you (especially those that have double-digit jump numbers). For example...you had a guy tell you to ask for a "relaxing release dive with no tasks" when you haven't yet successfully completed a primary level. Even contemplating diveflow advice from someone who does not yet have their A license isn't beneficial to you nor your instructors. It merely confuses the issue, gives you more things to ponder over/confuse the dive flow, things to "wish for" when you're not in the air....There is little upside, IMO. The web is a great resource, but there are a lot of things that cannot be learned without hands-on, face to face instruction (IMO).

It's gonna jello like mad, but you'll figure that out for yourself.

Just wait'll you have a student tell you "Someone on DZ.com told me that I should..." It's not hypothetical; sometimes, one doesn't find out until something less than positive has occurred.

I'm glad someone said it. Guineapiggie....everyone means well here, but they aren't familiar with your specifics. Air time and confidence will settle this out for you.Have you been practicing yoga breathing? We do want to see you succeed and move on to the next levels, and we're there to do whatever we can do to facilitate that growth.

If they are post-course, but not earned their A-License equivalent, wouldn't you want it in Student mode? A PD230 rig would likely be used by a lesser-experienced skydiver as well, no?

If the HP pilot is exiting after you (as a tandem videographer, for example, after you've just done an RW group jump) and you're lower/already under canopy by the time he's deploying, it's *very* hard to see who is above/behind you. They may well be flying faster. Hopefully they're observing the "low man" rule, but clearly, there have been several instances where the low man was injured or worse. It's just not "that easy."

YOu'll be missed.

Same advice you gave me a long while back. It helped.

There are an equal number (if not more) papers, studies, and stories from top athletes indicating exactly the opposite, too. One can present any side of any issue they want to. Is it good for inexperienced people to be jumping with the auditory distraction of an MP3 player? nope. Aside from the audio, there is also the on-off, start-stop, volume to deal with, and the ever present issue of "I don't want to listen to this song right now" too, . None of which belong on a low-time skydiver's plate. That said, one of my favorite moments was at Couch Freaks were a kid with 50 jumps and a GoPro on his helmet began lecturing me on the danger of an iPod on a solo wingsuit skydive. Not to mention that the winds were too high for his 1.0 WL. How EXACTLY is listening to music in freefall a risk for you, me, or anyone else? BTW, I love music as much as the next guy too. I have 13 albums on iTunes and two Grammy awards. I'm also a field advocate for HIP. Not sure what that has to do with anything being discussed here. Music is a distraction. Certainly no less than a camera, certainly more than a lot of things. But there does come a time (for example, 3 minute wingsuit flights) where it can enhance the experience (and has demonstrably improved performance).

Rentalcars.com often has good deals. Costco members...good. Hotwire...good opps there too. Lookin' forward to seein' y'all there!