Baggy or tight?

[Jasmin 0]

I'm talking about suits. When freeflying was in its baby days (before I was jumping) the trend was for baggy, now I see a lot of freeflyers going for tighter suits. I'm about to get a new suit, so I'm posing the question which is better?
I know baggier does give a lot more control but I also have the problem of falling very very fast (belly or head up/down).

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I used to be the quickest faller at the DZ (when I had an RW suit), now I use an Ff suit, I'm the slowest - the suit is very baggy. Maybe borrow one or two from friends at your dz and see what you think?
Let's go play chicken with a planet !!

[Jasmin 0]

Yeah, tried a REALLY baggy suit on for RW and still fell fast without arching. I did a jump with a girl: her in a sit, me on my belly....As for freeflying, I'm getting a lot of body out there to get my speed down, but rare is the person who can keep with me in a stand. I'll see how bagy goes for now, I've been borrowing baggy suit and ok pants.

[rapper4mpi 0]

Basically you ave to consider your fall rate. The tighter the suit, the quicker and more precise your movements will be, but also you can become more unstable. If you are a fast faller go with a suit made out of heavier material, and a little baggy. If you are a slow faller, get a suit made out of lighter material and less baggy. Unless you weigh over 200 pounds you can probably get away with a regular fitting suit. Most times when people are fast fallers it has more to do with body position than anything. The goal is to have a suit that will allow you to fly at a good comfortabel speed in a neautural position so you have room to speed up and slow down when needed. Good luck.
-Rap

[ramon 0]

Most of the people going for faster suits are fairly skinny. I know a boy who can match fall rates with anyone in jeans and a tee-shirt he is tall skinny (like Olav and Rook).
If you are a fast faller like me (220# exit weight). You will need a suit with double material in the lower arms and lower legs (Firefly and Dakine make suits with triple material there). Tony suits can come with very heavy cotton (good for tye dye) and they offer lots of drag.
Dakine and Flite suit offer little pockets on lower legs that help bigger people slow down while head down, but they can interfere a tiny bit with tracking and other fun stuff.
I would get a very thick double fabrick suit, and then learn slow fall techniques.
In a sit you can cup your arms downward a little (like hugging air), and you can butt fly (freak flying, lazy boy style) and you can back fly (takes practice hahaha).
In a headown you should put your legs as far out as you can put them and then a little further (if flying Froggy). If you can fly froggy and are still smoking, start experimenting with Daffy. Once you can fall straigh down daffy you can really slow down.
good luck
ramon
"wee girls on a skydive road trip on big bikes...... yikes, dykes and bikes kinda thing...... ", David McKelvie

[freeflir29 0]

I used to not be able to fly much slower than about 170 in HD in a daffy. Now that I have a big baggy suit I can be on my head and stay with even sorta slow sit flyers. I can't manuever much cause I'll sink out but the suit has given me a much bigger range. Totally changed my sit position too. I'm all spread out and rock stable now. I weigh about 219 with all my gear and camera.
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[IMGR2 0]

Ramon is right on the money. When I first started HD I felt like I was never going to be able to slow down. Start out with a double or triple lined FF suit and over time you will perfect a technique hence you will start slowing down with the more experience you get. Five years later and about 2000 freeflys I now jump in a t-shirt and freefly pants.
Good luck.
I like it herein this forum, those guys over in swooping have a chip. I'm so happy to be a freeflier.

[Zennie 0]

I'm somewhere in the middle-to-heavy side of things. My current jumpsuit is pretty baggy, especially the legs.
The suit has been really helpful, particularly as I've been learning head down. The one thing I've found, however, is that the extra bagginess in the legs really hoses my sit/stand. I can do it, but it's a real struggle.
So I'm thinking of picking up a pair of FF pants and working with that a little. My guess is that my sit/stand will return to semi-normal but I'll have to work more on HD again because I have less leg drag to rely on. Once I get a feel for it, I hope it will be a better general-purpose solution. The suit will still be good for "slow" flying.
What I'm coming to find, at least with me, is that clothing to the freeflier is sort of like golf clubs to the golfer... you need to pick the right item to suit the situation. Of course the really good freefliers can fly any way in anything. But I'm not there yet.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[Levin 0]

Quote

When I first started HD I felt like I was never going to be able to slow down

when i first started i thought i was never going to be able to speed up

[Levin 0]

Quote

What I'm coming to find, at least with me, is that clothing to the freeflier is sort of like golf clubs to the golfer... you need to pick the right item to suit the situation

everybody should get a firefly freefly suit and if you are unsure about how much drag or what cut you need, then you can feel confident in sherry's advice. she knows what shes doing.

[IMGR2 0]

Levin still can't speed up. Heeheehee
Love you man.

[ramon 0]

Man you aint been paying attention to all the complaints I have been hearing about them lately..
"wee girls on a skydive road trip on big bikes...... yikes, dykes and bikes kinda thing...... ", David McKelvie

[Jasmin 0]

Just for the record, I am NOT a heavyweight!

[ramon 0]

me either..byt 220 out the door (me) is heavy for a freeflyer.
"wee girls on a skydive road trip on big bikes...... yikes, dykes and bikes kinda thing...... ", David McKelvie