SkymonkeyONE

Nouvelle Air generally makes four trips per winter down here to Z-hills, Florida. They bring all their students and all of their gear with them. Get with them and just sign on for one of their trips. The weather is fantastic down here in the winter. Chuck

If anyone has not got the word yet, I am coming to wingsuit organize and am bringing about 15 suits with me. PF stuff, Tony stuff, S-Fly stuff, BirdMan stuff. I am driving up Thursday afternoon and will be on the DZ first thing Friday morning. Chuck PS: Art, I better be on that skydive.

That was a great post, Dan. Exactly the way I run my program.

Both Plamer and Travis Pastrana did that stunt. I think they might have both done it on the same trip to PR since the same guys were involved.

You just made me spit on the screen!

Egggzackkkly! We have plenty of both hanging on the rack in the school. Come visit.

Phil routinely jumps a Raptor these days and I routinely jump a Phantom2. We do aerobatics together all the time in the two suits and they fly together with great compatibility. The Raptor has more lift, as it has bigger wings, but that only matters at the very end of the flock when everyone tears away. Both have equal lift on their backs in my opinion, but a better comparison might be a Raptor versus a Ghost. Chuck

Tom Noonan (DualHawk on here) of Strong Enterprises was out this weekend and finally got around to doing an FFC with me. He did two flights and killed it on his second one. What's cool about this is that Tom was one of the people that did the jumps over Everest this year and asked the organizers if they thought it would be OK if, with the proper preparations/experience, he might be able to fly over everest and all the way down to base camp next year. I can't imagine how much clothing you would have to wear under your suit, but man, wouldn't that be cool? Anyway, this is his first step in that direction. Nice. Anyway, here are some obligatory ground pics Chuck

I can promise you that no one with Tony Intro demos (like me) is going to sell them to anyone for "two or three hundred dollars." On the contrary, all of the established schools are buying up anything we can get our hands on. I actually just ordered three new Intros for my school (one in each basic size) because I like them so much.

Also, to add on to what John said: the military rig manufacturing plant of Sunpath (called SPC) has been in Raeford for several years. The "sport" gear element of the company moved to Raeford this summer in an effort to consolidate their operations. The factory they have in Raeford is huge and they were not using much of it before.

I use Pro Dytters in both of my helmets as audibles; they are great. I use a Neptune to log jumps and as my visual alti.

We wash our student jumpsuits here at Skydive City about once every two weeks. Regular cycle, not turned inside out by most people who get stuck with that duty. Wash your stinky-ass, dirty suits! I wash my RW suits when they get stinky and stiff enough to stand up. Since they are mostly white, it's easy to tell when they are dirty. Chuck

I am 5'7 and 155 pounds and have over 1500 tandems. Another thing to consider for smaller wannabe TI's is simply buying your own rig to ensure it fits you, and buying a suitable low-toggle-pressure main. My 2K3 Racer tandem rig weighs 38 pounds, fits me like a glove, and my Firebolt 350 (should have bought a 330) has low toggle pressure and swoops great. My rig has no bulky adjustable lift webs and was built specifically for me; perfect. I have a ton of jumps on Sigmas as well and never had any problems with their size. I have jumped people over a foot taller than me and over 100 pounds heavier than me with no problems whatsoever. I made the decision to jump larger people after I got supreme confidence in my own abilities and worked out what weaknesses I had. I have never, ever had a problem with the taller/heavier students; only the short/skinny girls who want to perform the pike and cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof maneuvers. If you are a small person and jump at a Strong DZ then you have your work cut out for you. It's the only US tandem system rating that I do not have and do not want. WAY to long, big and bulky for my taste. That's not saying anything about their durability and reliability; only their bulk/size. YMMV Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, PRO, S&TA

Phil lives here at Z-hills and works with me at Z-Flock Wingsuit School. Funny stuff.

I was simply asked by a couple of our suit sponsors to bring them so that they would not have to ship any from overseas. I am not sure which of my own suits will be most appropriate for the bigways, so I am bringing two. Phantom2 and S6.

The only name I have actually heard who made the first cut was Tommy Delibac JR. He totally deserves it. Chuck

I have three bikes; the biggest being a Harley Road Glide. I travel with my rig in a carry-on sized airline bag with wheels bungeed to the luggage rack on my bike. I carry wet weather gear and tools in one of my hard bags and my other boogie clothes in the opposite hard bag. Chuck

registered and ready to rumble. Anyone with a wild hair up their ass who would like to ride their motorcycles all the way from Florida to this event please PM me. Actually, anyone along the I-10 corridor can join my trip. I am planning on making it a four-day road trip. I am going to ship my gear and demo suits via UPS and just take a mind-clearing four day ride. Seriously. I will be riding my Harley Road Glide to the event. Chuck

I wouldn't dare speak for any other manufacturer, but I did talk for some time with Henri about the decision not to offer chest rings on Wings containers a few years ago. I don't miss them at all. Chuck

No biggie. Come visit, drink beer, and fly your wingsuit with us.

I am actually really surprised at you guys. I don't think that the "new" inlet system hampers PF performance in any way. On the contrary, it has added increased rigidity and inflation on every single other model. FWIW, I still have a Vampire on the rack, but it's definitely not the sharpest tool in the speed/distance category. Not in any of our experiences down here anyway. Until Robi makes a V2 (or bigger) suit with the now-common inlets of the other suits, then everyone should withhold judgement as to whether or not those new inlets "sacrifice performance." Also, regardless of whether or not you personally ever feel the need to backfly in a Vampire, there are a ton of people who do like to. Again, I would just like to see whether or not a V2 (Vx3, whatever) would post usable performance gains (front and rear) with the "new" intake system. I have more PF suits on my rack than I do anything else; they are all great. I just feel that the V series would benefit from the same updates as all of the other suits in the lineup. Chuck

I am one of five S&TA's at Skydive City in Z-hills, FL and I don't have ANY problem calling a person out if he or she is doing something dangersous. Likewise, I don't have any problem bringing up similar problems at boogies to their S&TA. Chuck

The Christmas/New Years season/Holiday at Z-hills is simply tremendous.

Scotty definitely wants more staples in his head. That's what he gets for hanging out with non-action-guys.

If the new suit has the new zip-over-the-shoulder connections as the other suits and the same inflation system as the new suits then I am sure it will be a tremendous success. If my boy Robi still thinks that customers do not want/need a back-vented Vampire than he is sadly mistaken and I will continue to covet my perfect Phantom2 for most things and my Super Mach1 for pure belly performance. Chuck