SkymonkeyONE

The Radicals that I saw James and Robi jumping at the last flock and dock flew very nicely.

You mean Karl "Stinky" Stenger? He's way more of a wingsuiter than a freeflyer. We just had out first "fire" incident. Drunk NAKED guy warming himself up around the fire after skinny dipping in the swoop pond fell backwards into the fire. Not hospital-bound, but ugly nontheless. Fire kills, people. Don't fuck around near fire. Chuck

I have a brand-new bottle on my bar right now. My dad has a pair of patch pants made out of Crown bags (mostly special reserve with his name embroidered on the bags).

You bought it, so I hope you like it. Personally, I love my Sabre2 97. It's the best tool for the job (wingsuiting) and I load mine very heavilly. I also swoop the piss out of it. My other main is a Velo 84. Chuck

I know at least one "well known instructor" who would routinely take hot chicks with far less than 200 jumps on their first flight if he thought it was going to get him laid. Seriously. No, it's definitely not me.

Make no mistake, we are killing it here at Z-hills. Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Russia, USA, Finland. Very, very nice 8 and 10-way shit going on everyday. Lots of suit sales and trades going on everyday. Our own "BlindBrick", Jack, who IS in fact a tremendously large boy, has been busting it out regularly in his new Prodigy. Yes, he still comes out of the sky like a bomb, but believe me when I tell you that he is also rocketing across the sky. The man has lowered his vertical velocity 50 MPH in the last three skydives. That's cool. He's also a great guy and I am proud to be including, even if it's only for five seconds, on our larger dives. He sinks fast, opens high, then we swoop him. He loves it and so do we. Myself and Heffo1 (Nebelkizzy) are busting some rotational 2-person video on every dive. We are tremendously busy here in the BirdHouse. How many others of you have your own team room/ training room/ video debrief area? I know that they do at Eloy. It's great here! If you are not busting nine or more a day where you are, then you are at the wrong boogie. Peace to all. It does not suck here at Z-hizzy. Chuck BMCI-4 PS: I will be qualifying at least three great wingsuit pilots this week for their BMI. This includes Jeff Nebelkopf. No he does not own a BM suit, but he does recognize that it is important to "fill in the blanks" for his program. I love him for it, as do I Tony Uragallo who was initially very hesitant to take anyone's advice. It's brilliant that such a well-known jumpsuit/manufacturer would take my "thorn in his side" advice seriously. His product is infinitely more retailable and popular than it was before my "interdiction." Everyone benefits from "tough love" when it's presented in the proper manner. Oh, and by the way, Fat Scotty got his shit on the cover of the Parachutist this month! Yes, he bought beer. Yes, the guy in the middle picture was flying a Nebula, not a Mach1. That's Art Schefer from Palatka flying the suit over the Keys. Blicky!

We will miss you, Avery! Thanks for the hat last trip, my brother.

All of you in the USA need to look at the cover of this month's parachutist. Scotty Burns gets the credit for taking the cover shot. The center-of-shot pic is a shot of Art Schaefer (from Palatka) flying a Nebula over the Keys. As you can see, it's a big fucking suit. Almost as big as a Mach1, except with "handbags". Chuck

I don't like any of the "hand bags", but there are those here who really groove on them. Scotty Burns flys a Nebula primarilly; Jeff flys a Mach1. Scotty likes the Nebula best; Jeff likes his Mach1 best. Scotty feels he has more "control" in the big Nebula than any of his other suits. Both suits have tremendous range and both suits fly fine on their back since they have the same back inflation system. The legwing is wider on a Mach1. The total wing surface area is greater on the Mach1 than the Nebula, but the Nebula is a massive wing as well. It's bigger than any wing on any other suit by any other manufacturer except the GS1. The Mach1 has more wing area than a GS1. Ultimately, I think either of the two suits you mention are acquired tastes. Both are tremendously large, but neither would be described as "difficult to fly" by experienced pilots. Both are "expert" suits for sure. If you are comfortable in the webbie-gloved Tony's, then the Nebula might be your favorite choice. If you like open hands and grippers then the Mach1 might be more to your liking. Chuck

I was taught by Kim Griffin, BMCI-2

Come on down! We will be doing all the FFC's people need at the event.

I charge zero dollars for a FFC, but I do charge rent on my suits sometimes. Why, because they get fucking trashed (right, Jason?). I charge zero dollars for coaching because I am a full-time wingsuit organizer and am going to be on damn near every load anyway. Also, I don't need the money. No one gets left behind at this dropzone. No one got left behind at my last DZ either. I am not sure what you are using as your frame of reference, but it's definitely not me personally. Also, I do have a big problem with under-qualified people (with less than 500 jumps) just finding a suit and going for it. I really have a problem with people with under 500 jumps and no ratings of any kind teaching people to fly wingsuits. None of you are going to change my mind about that. It is irresponsible. It might be OK at your DZ or on your rock, but it's not OK most places where people actually fly wingsuits much. Once again, none of you are going to change my opinion about that. I have been at it far too long and have seen the consequences.

There are a few "former East Germans" here skydiving at Z-hills right now. I have never had a problem with people from other countries and, in fact, have had some of the best times of my life in "sketchy" places. The boogie sounds great, but my point is that those are very high jump prices for a boogie.

I currently own an S6 and a Vampire (V1). I just gave my old S3 to Moe Villeto (the BASE jumper).

Whatever he gets, I can promise you it will be covered in his company's banners.

Good story, Sam!

Not unlike the "advanced instructor rating" that Rob Laidlaw successfully petitioned the USPA to implement, there have been at least three different people petitioning USPA to implement what they believe to be a single USPA wingsuit rating. Whether or not any are successful will depend, ultimately, on the individual's "schmooze power." I think it's a great idea personally. It might end all the BMI versus PFI nonsense here on the forums. Shit, nowadays it's fairly rare that folks don't have both ratings. Don't be confused, Glen, Jari sells a lot of suits. You don't get backed up on orders unless you are selling. Regardless, the BMI rating (particularly the current version), is free-standing and is a great course. It would not lose validity as a reputable course of instruction even if the company were to disolve (as you seem to predict). It was the first course, is still the most challenging course, and anything else anyone else has is a copy of it. I really like the fact that PF decided it was in their best interest to have their own program. It's the responsible thing to do. The days of letting a guy with over 500 jumps just read a one-page slip of paper on how to sew up a suit and then go give it hell without any supervision are over. That's irresponsible. Hell, there are some companies out there selling suits without so much as shipping any sort of instruction manual with them! That's nuts. Still, I do know that Robi didn't care about the BMI program at all when he was with the company. So, in conclusion, I could give a rat's ass whether or not the parent company (any parent company) fails. If you are rated; rated by ANY company or national organization; then you are immensely more qualified to teach the discipline than some Joe on the DZ who bought a suit in the classifieds and taught himself how to fly without dieing. I equate that to some fool asking a stinky freeflyer who jumps a crossbrace with under 1000 jumps for "canopy coaching" ,instead of the PST pro-rated guy who is also an AFFI and has a PRO demo ticket. It's simply not the smartest way to learn. Chuck don't fuck with me; I'm retired.

All of us who live on the DZ (and that is a LOT of us), plus about 60 Fins already, and various and sundry other foreigners and american vagabonds. We are busy here.

Socks and Tevas do not mix unless you are gay, or a Soccer player (which also makes you gay).

That is alot of money to spend in a former "eastern european" country.

As it is a PD sponsored swoop meet, I would expect that they all would be there. Same for all the newly-sponsored "other than factory-team" swoopers. Chuck

I think I will put one of my BMCI patches on my Vampire just for shits and grins. Actually, neither of my current suits have any markings on them whatsoever. The stickers on my S6 started peeling off on the 2nd jump, so I just finished the job. Very stealth and quite stylish.

That's where you got it wrong, Glen. I go no faster or farther in my Vampire than I do in my S6. My arms don't get as tired in the S6 either, but that does not mean that I don't really like my Vampire. I swap back and forth fairly regularly just to mix things up. I am going to get a Tony Suit as well; I just haven't decided what model I want. This, of course, is totally off-topic and has nothing to do with "instructor ratings." PS: as someone else has already stated, this horse has been beat to death many times.

Do you mean during flight or at pull-time? I have never been unfomfortable during flight, even when my times weren't as good as on other suits, but I have been a bit uncomfortable on some suits at pull-time. It took me some getting used to the extra force required to shut down my Vampire legwing. It took me a few jumps to get used to the armwing shutdown on my S6.

Just a quick caveat to say that I think it's only proper that anyone who is doing any type of "coaching" in the USA ought to at least possess the bare-minimum USPA Coach rating. You want to call yourself a "coach" because you refuse to allow yourself to believe that manufacturer-specific "ratings" are valid, then at least get off your ass and get a Coach ticket. I won't train a guy for BMI if he does not possess at least that level of "official" recognition. Not these days anyhow. Chuck