Skwrl

Likely right in terms of the outcome, but not necessarily right on all the reasons. For what's it's worth, the Jedei is called Jedei [edited to add: and not Jedi] due to Lucasfilms, not because of poor spelling. And the R2B2 isn't the droid you're looking for... As a guy who does IP law for a living (and teaches it), one word versus two doesn't help you, and the commonness of the name only really helps if you were using it to, you know, hunt ghosts. But in any event, it's highly unlikely that they would bother chasing it, and their mark rights would only protect against a liklihood of confusion on the source (low risk there - nobody is going to think it's the same source) but that doesn't stop big players (like Disney) from lobbing lawyer letters whenever they feel like it and preventing imports just to fuck with people. What WILL protect PF (and other WS manufacturers) is they are ridiculously small makets and unique products. There aren't buik shipments to stop and no real lawyer money to be made (except for the in house guys, but those guys are pricks). Good luck trying to protect Wingsuit designs via copyright - at least in the US (and, without checking, I think the EU, too), it doesn't extend to articles of clothing, fashion, etc. Design patents might be available, but those are a pain in the ass and limited and not worth it. Edited to add: not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing. Just saying what is. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

"Ghost Hunter"? They might want to re-think the name given the possible trademark issues of a TV show in the US... (Yes, there's really no likelihood of confusion in the relevant market, but I could see their lawyers being a pain in the ass.) Then again, there's always these guys... [Edited to add attachment.] Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

So I was down in Puerto Rico for the boogie, and I saw a wingsuit manufacturer that I’d never heard of setting up a table to sell his suits. Figuring that they were going to be complete and utter crap (I’m a skeptic at heart), I walked over and started talking to the guy behind the table, who turned out to be Walter Dec. Walt was the founder of Redline Aerosports, a new wingsuit manufacturer based in Tampa, Florida. I took a look at some of his suit designs and build quality. Some of the very large suits had some funky features that Walt said he’s still working on (so I won’t get into those). The large (but not super large), medium and smaller suits looked similar to what we all know and love from manufacturers like Tonysuit, Phoenix Fly, and Squirrel (I call those guys the “Big 3”, because in the US, those are the three manufacturers that dominate the market. (No offense intended to other manufacturers – I just don’t see as much of your products near me). The mid- to large- range suit (comparable to a Squirrel Funk or a Phoenix Fly Carve) were more or less similar to those products, with a couple of tweaks in their shape here and there. The build quality looked very good, at least as good as the Big 3. The idea of a new kid on the block was interesting, but I wasn’t really interested in jumping one – I had stuff I wanted to accomplish in my jumps (photography and video), and I didn’t want to be screwing around with a suit that I didn’t know. (Ain’t nobody got time for that.) At that point, Scott Callantine wandered over and mentioned that he’d jumped one of the suits, the “Swurve”. It was one of the suits that I mentioned (similar to a Funk or a Carve), and his only comment was “you should try it out.” Scott sometimes knows what he's talking about, so I figured I’d give it a shot on a small group where – worst case – I might lose out on a few good photos. I was really glad I did. In short, the Swurve flies fucking phenomenally. It had amazing “pop” (lift to get over and around flocks), more than I found on my Carve. Forward speed was comparable to those other products. It backflies as well as a Carve or Funk, but it was a lot easier to transition than I’ve found with the Funk. I didn’t have any “innie-outie” problems with the suit design. Overall, I was surprisingly impressed with the suit – for me, it gave me everything I wanted for flying a camera. I had the power I wanted to get over and around a flock, the agility that I wanted for backfly transitions, and a solid backfly performance. This very well could be the suit that causes me to retire at least some of my old ones. Having said that, there’s a lot I don’t know. Redline is a new manufacturer, and I haven’t yet ordered one. (Walt offered to send me an updated demo model of the Swurve to see if I prefer that, and since I’m in the great white northeastern United States, it’s going to be a while before I get a chance to jump it.) I can’t tell you what delivery times will be or what my experience ordering one is like (since I haven’t), but so far Redline seems to be very accommodating and willing to help convince skeptics like me. It will be interesting to see if the market can support four manufacturers, whose sales Redline might impact, etc. In my opinion, Redline definitely needs to work on its marketing – unlike Squirrel’s launch (which was pretty slick, fun, and drew on a large network of people who had already been conditioned to get excited about the launch), I knew nothing about Redline until I bumped into them at the Puerto Rico boogie. My impression is that it’s mostly operating in “stealth mode”, and saving the powder for a big launch to come (I might have let the cat out of the bag with this review, I dunno.) In any case, they’re worth checking out; I’m glad I did, and I fully expect that I’ll be adding a Swurve (or whatever the new prototype is called) to my arsenal. The suit is that good - at the very least a potential option for those looking for a very powerful flocking suit that can still handle lots of acrobatics. * * * My disclaimer – I’m not sponsored by anybody. I pay full freight for all my suits, with the exception of a fleet of Phantom 2/3 suits that were purchased at a bunk discount that I co-own with four other people through Northeast Bird School. I didn't know Walt before this weekend, and I'm not getting any special deal from him. I’m not a “friend of” any wingsuit manufacturer, but I call Tony Uragallo “old man” from time to time on his Facebook page and he makes fun of me for being a “lawyer” (quotes intentional). I own an Sbird, Xbird, Carve, Funk, a Mach 1 that dates from an earlier geologic era, and the co-owned fleet of Phantoms I mentioned before. I’ve jumped many of the suits sold by the Big 3 and couple by Alien suits, but have never jumped an S-fly (not because I don’t want to, but because I just don’t see many of them around here). I’m a Leo who likes long walks on the beach, romantic poetry, and porn. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Often, because that's an additional jumper who could be in the formation and many organizers (not Callantine or Gilaad, mind you) have the opinion that bigger is better. If you have an Otter that fits 21, you can get 19 with 2 camera or 20 with 1 camera. People often opt for the latter. Edited to add: Don't get me wrong - I agree with you. Dynamic shots look nicer. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

To get a properly grid-able shot you need someone who is flying a consistent, static position. Carving makes for good photos but not if you are trying to put a grid on it. Personally I get bored as Hell when I'm filming grid formations for just that reason, but unless you are willing to sacrifice another seat on the planes for an additional camera dork, it's better/safer/more reliable to fly static until you get "the shot". The problem is that you never really know on any given jump if you've got a record-compliant formation until you land and put it on Photoshop... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Northeast Bird School. Andreea Olea, Rick Hough, Billy DelGuidice, Brian (Lurch) Caldwell, or Mark Krasinski. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You're welcome to, Michal - at least until I sell whichever one I don't like more. I'm also planning on ordering a R2B2 (or whatever the Tonysuit version will be called) for the same purpose/use. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Massachusetts (US) state record attempt (formation), Sept. 12-14. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

yah I agree, these systems have been implemented on 100s if not 1000s of suits without any known issues. Whys everyone freaking out now? Nobody is freaking out. We're discussing a problem that some people have encountered in those 1000s of suits. Personally, I've found this discussion useful - for example, the fix that is described in the attachment earlier in the thread was not shared with me when I first contacted Squirrel. Again, most people probably don't have an issue with the design. But some do. Anecdotally, based on messages I've received, it's not a very small number. Once I get back to jumping in September, I plan on implementing the fix and I'll report back. Once I have enough jumps on the Carve, I'll share a review of that as well. [I'm not jumping for the rest of August because I have a bunch of other stuff going on in my life (wedding, honeymoon, Burning Man). Looking forward to getting back in the air with you guys in September.] Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Tony thinking proactively about trademark concerns? Isn't that one of the seven signs of the apocalypse? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

As I mentioned, it likely relates to my body shape more than the rig brand. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Just to add another comment - Squirrel saw my comments about the innie-outie and sent a very thorough follow up email. They provided additional tips and suggestions, and offered to take the suit back via FedEx (at their cost) to get modifications done - if possible by the weekend. [I'm not taking them up on the offer at the moment because I'm out of skydiving due to other life stuff for the month of August, and I loaned the suit to my buddy, but this is a hugely nice offer.] That is some seriously quality customer service. If we can resolve this issue, I'd buy another Squirrel suit without hesitation, due to that alone. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'm sort of surprised that you haven't heard of this issue before. I've heard of these problems on Colugos, Auras, Funks (obviously), and a whole bunch of different Tony Suits designs (I even personally experienced it with a Scorpion). Although I haven't yet heard of it with the new PF designs, that's probably because I don't know too many people with those suits. But I have no question that they'll have similar problems if they are done the same way. Do any of you folks with the new PF suits have any similar issues? More anecdotes would be useful. Like I said before, this isn't about brands. This is about an approach to suit design that - at least a few people feel - is a potentially hazardous one, for some people in some suits with some rigs. For skydivers, I question the benefit of the design when compared with the risks. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Yes; if I keep the suit, I'll likely do a modification. It might be like what you've described. Another option is to make a "panel" that sits behind the hole to prevent the handle from entering the suit. (That was Lurch's solution to his innie-outie problem.) I would buy the shit out of that option, and I know at least five other people who have said more or less the same thing. Squirrel would be the awesomest company ever if they came up with a skydiving-only option. Errr.... While I agree they do have great customer service, I did email them (and they replied quickly). That's how I found out it was a known issue on some rigs. There's no real "fix" to it that they offered up other than making sure you check your handles before you leave the plane. I think this is right, but I haven't wanted to switch away from the traditional D-ring on my rig, however, for the reasons people usually say one should stick with a D-ring (I don't want to derail the conversation with a sidebar on the pros and cons of the soft handle over D-ring; that was basically just my decision.) I'm sure lots of free-fliers woulds say I'm wrong about wanting to stick with a D-ring, but... In my case, it's because I want to be able to reach up to my risers (like I can with my S-bird and Ghost3) to try to avoid stuff like this: http://iloveskydiving.org/view/videos/friday-freakout-crunch-parachute-collision/ (Keep in mind, I'm not sure it would have made a difference in this guy's case, but this is - personally - my biggest fear in skydiving.) Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I'm actually much less bothered by your set up than I am with the one I have (but that's obviously a personal comfort thing, I have been known to be comfortable doing dumb things). When I'm not in the middle of preparing to get married and heading to Burning Man, I'll gear up and post and video of mine. Using no hands, I can get it to cover at least part of the reserve handle with enough standing up and sitting down. Can I fix it before I leave the plane? Duh - Picard Maneuver. Easy. I'm just not sure I want to have to remember to do that as well. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I wish you were right. I've got friends who have told me about problems with innie-outie system (Squirrel's and others') for a while now. The problem isn't really rare. A guy at my DZ who received his Funk a week before me has the same issue. Hell, Lurch even made a major modification to one of his (non-Squirrel) suits to deal with the issue. Add to that the messages that I've received after my initial review of the Funk from a bunch of wingsuiters (here and on Facebook) saying that they've faced similar concerns, both with Squirrel suits and with non-Squirrel suits... The point is that it isn't as much of an outlier as you imply. And if you really did dance around and failed to get it to suck in the reserve handle, your rig and suit fit each other well (or you're painfully white). You don't have the problem. To your point, the cutaway on my set up looks pretty safe. It's the reserve D-ring that I worry about. Could I change my D-ring? Sure. Do I feel I should have to in order to address this sort of problem? I'm not sure. In the case of the Funk, I knew about the potential problem with innie-outie, but I ordered the Funk hoping it wouldn't be an issue for me. I wanted to try out a suit that looked interesting (and still is an interesting suit, as I mentioned earlier). But now I need to decide my comfort level with it, given this issue. To be super clear, what I write isn't brand war - "innie-outie" isn't limited to Squirrel. (And really, I couldn't give a shit about what brand suit people fly.) I prefer to jump safely, though, so I'm going to point out what I see (and what others saw when they looked at my suit) as a problem. If you're comfortable with it, cool! Yay, you! I'm not as sure as you are. P.S., talk to your physician about Albendazole or Mebendazole to treat your microbial infection. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I have no doubt the suit can fit on a Vector 3. When I say "some rigs", I don't mean some manufacturers/models. I mean that rigs are sized to the jumper's body, and some of the variation might be the cause of the problem. I should have written "some bodies". For example, my tailor tells me that I'm long-waisted (which means that, for my height [5'11" or 180cm] I have a longer waist and shorter legs than a typical person) and I have broader shoulders than one would expect for a guy with my height. It's possible that the issues I've had to deal with are due to those variations (which aren't huge, mind you - I'm not a circus freak, at least in this regard). But the point still stands - there are some other people who have the issue I have been faced with due to the design, and that's a known thing. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Well, since this was directed at me, I guess I'll bite. On the cutaway/handle issue, yes, it was rigged up properly. I'm glad that you don't have this problem in your rig; as I mentioned, my friend didn't have the problem, either. Great for you guys. However, I've heard from Mike at Squirrel that some rig/suit combos do have a problem. And I know several people - including a "Friend of Squirrel" listed on their page - that has a similar issue. (His is maybe not as bad as mine, but he adjusts his zippers every time before leaving the plane.) But the bottom line is that Squirrel isn't pretending the problem doesn't exist - you don't have to either. Overall, I found your response really humorous. I basically gave the suit (more or less) 3 or 4 stars out of 5 and you freaked the fuck out. Just because I don't think your girlfriend is the hottest ever, that doesn't mean I think she's a pig. She just might not be the right one for me. And like I said, I am not even sure she isn't the right one for me. I am looking forward to seeing how the Carve compares to it. Unlike you (obviously), I sincerely don't give a shit which suit wins that face off; I don't have a dog in this hunt. If Squirrel wins, great. If PF wins, also great. In either case, I'll keep whichever one works for me better and fly happily on. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

With Tony and Squirrel suits you can adjust the pressure inside the wings with zippers inside the sleeves. Right. Note that in my review, I mentioned that I had my pressure zips (or whatever they are called) completely open (meaning, they should be de-pressurized) for the last three jumps and it nevertheless inflated far more than a Ghost3 (or S-bird, for what that's worth). The suit inflates. Whether that's good or bad depends on your opinion of highly pressurized suits. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You should lift your knees up and punch forward with your arms to "release" the sleeves. Otherwise the wing will keep your hands inside the sleeves. I'm doing that and have absolutely no problem reaching above toggles on my 24'' risers. Yes, I'm aware of how they should work. But, compared to, e.g., my S-bird, it is far harder to do that in the Funk. The difficulty could be a combination of the size of the wrist on the suit (I remeasured to make sure my measurements were correct; they were) and the fetishwear/sailing boat cover material the upper part of the arm is made with. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I tried that when I first discovered the problem; another Squirrel owner had suggested it to solve the problem. Unfortunately, it made little difference in my case. My rig is a Vector 3. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I've got really mixed feelings about my Funk. I'm going to write up a full review when I have more time and more jumps on it (I've only done 5 so far), but here are the observations to date. - The purchasing experience was great, like everyone else has said. Not much to add there other than it was nice to get delivery dates quote with specificity (and the dates met). I even got emails in response to questions and comments in the same day. I appreciate that. - Build material is very good. Again, not a lot to add. I think would have made the leading edge with a stiffer material (or otherwise had a foam stiffener in it); I'm curious if they tried that before settling on the materials that were used. - It's a heavy suit, and I expected to sweat insanely in it, although it turned out no worse than any other wingsuit in that regard. - The lack of cutaway in the arms (like PF) and the lack of a real safety sleeve (like TS) is a little unnerving. Even with thumb loops off, it's hard to reach up through the suit to above the bottom of my risers. Sharp emergency turns by grabbing the base of the riser are tricky for me to do in it. Given it's marketed to BASE types, I was sort of surprised at this aspect. - Speaking of BASE, the innie-outie zipper system fits some skydiving rigs well, but not mine. Rigged up on the ground, it's fine. When I first put the suit/rig on, it's also fine. However if I sit down on the plane, holes appear. Then I stand up, and sometimes handles are covered, sometimes not. You need to then adjust the zipper or make sure you do the Picard Maneuver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2o77i74T48) right before exit to avoid having gaps that can potentially swallow handles. [My reserve handle was more prone to being gobbled up than the cutaway - to the point where a friend of mine said I should put googley eyes on each side of it and write "I hunger for handles!" around it. Lots of people kept telling how dangerous it looked, but from conversations with other people who have jumped innie-outie systems (Squirrel seems to use them on all suits; Tony on some suits), I'm not alone in this. I tried moving the bungie to opposite different sides of the main lift web, but that didn't change the situation.] Having written that, I let my friend jump the Funk once, and he experienced none of these issues. It simply works better with some rigs (and jumpers) than others, and Squirrel acknowledges that. Will it work for you and your rig? I have no idea how to check it. I wish they sold the innie-outie design as an option and made a skydiving only version of the suit; I would be a lot more comfortable with it. - It inflates like it is on Cialis. On my first couple of flights, I jumped it with the vents (arm and leg) half open; on the last bunch, I jumped it with the vents fully open. Even fully open, I felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. More on inflation in a bit. - It likes to go very fast forward (whether or not you want to). Filming flocks required a lot of dirty flying, even when the flocks were fairly "legs out". It has decent (but not super) "pop" to it. I was expecting it to be more of an agile suit than it turned out to be; I'd give it a B+ on agility. - Like others have said, it sure does fly stable on its back. From what I'd read, I expected to fly it sort of "neutral" on its back (i.e., relax and don't strain the suit). Perhaps because I jump with a lot of heavy camera gear, when I did that I went head low. I then used the same approach to backflying as I do with my Ghost, and it gave an impressive performance in terms of both forward speed and fall rate. Maneuverability, on the other hand, wasn't quite as easy. - Transitions from belly to back (and vice versa) aren't trivial. Unlike other suit designs, you really need to force it to flip over (or flip back), due to pressurization. I'd imagine carving in this suit would be more challenging, but I haven't tried that yet. - Pull time wasn't a problem. I could get at my hackey just fine, but the extra pressurization does require additional effort if you deploy by closing your wings (as opposed to flying through deployment). Since the suit wants to inflate, you need to make sure you're really closing it down at pitch time (if you close your wings on deployment) to avoid a turn. - Unzipping/maintenance is easy. Even though the bootie lanyard is much smaller than on a Tonysuit, it's enough to easily grab (and much easier than the PF tab). As I mentioned before, I want to get more jumps on it. I also have a PF Carve on order that I'm going to compare it to (I'll probably sell the loser in that comparison). I've figured out a modification I can do to solve the innie-outie problem, although I've been told that nobody has done such a modification in the entire fleet of Squirrel suits. I'm not sure I want to have to modify the suit, however, and I'm thinking that the innie-outie concern will likely mean that I'll sell it, but we'll see. Disclaimer/Background: I've got about 1875 jumps, about 1650 of which are in wingsuits. My "go to" suits are currently an S-bird and a Ghost3. I'm not sponsored by anybody, and I don't get free (or discounted) suits or anything else for anything I do. This was my first Squirrel product. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I've heard stories of 2 AAD fires, line overs and closed end cells being landed, a unsupervised newbie tandem packer, tandems landing out, and a customer with a broken hip due to a rough landing during that weekend. Sounds like it went great. Supposedly some of the footage was sent to Strong and FAA. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You may find this video interesting. https://vimeo.com/37998866 Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Lowest comfortable is 0.192 leagues, usually closer to 0.22 leagues (for those of you who don't like Imperial units, that's 716 Smoots). Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork