PRE-Crossbow suit

[LouDiamond 1]

While at the Eloy Holiday boogie I was fortunate enough to see Omar Alhegelan again. Even though I could see he was busy coaching other Dz.commers, I invited him to join me and others on the sunset flocking dives I was organizing every evening. Low and behold, Omar asks me if he can join the sunset flocking dive one day out of the blue. I was glad he did. Omar showed up to the dirt dive in his wingsuit with all the others at the mock up. To my amazement, what did I see? What I thought was a Crossbow/S-fly actually turned out to be a custom made pre crossbow suit made for Omar by Loic and Zunni(sp?) for his participation in the Crosswinds video. The flocking dive was small, about a 6 way, it went well and I got some decent in air photos with my Digital rebel. Once on the ground I asked Omar if I could examine his suit and get the history on it. I took pictures of the suit for comparison purposes as well as historical, since this suit seemed different from the actual crossbows I have seen. This suit actually looks more like the current S-fly than the baggy crossbow and the materials appeared far better as well.

The overall design was the same but lacked some of the current suits features. Of interest were the vents on the back of the suit installed for back flying. They function just like the vents on the front but also have an airlock installed on the inside of the vent to keep air from escaping. Omar did not think that they functioned very well or as well as hoped for. The suit material was a combo of neoprene and a heavy quality nylon coated ripstop material. I was quite impressed with the material itself as it seemed appropriate and very functional looking. The overall construction of the suit was well done and of high quality, it seemed very sturdy. Some of the noticeable differences were the arm cut aways. While they employed the same cutaway loop and cable system as the current suit, they were not covered with material, but exposed. The cutaway handle itself was small and did not employ a pocket to retain it in place, but velcro. Part of the arm cutaway cable was also sheathed in a thin,soft yellow plastic sleeve. Also of note was the arm zipper location. It was directly on the leading edge of the arm, it has since been moved further down so that the zipper is no longer on the leading edge and is more aerodynamic. Omar also mentioned his personal Mod on the suits cutaway/reserve handle openings, which consisted of a snap system along with the velcro tab much like what is used on the current suit.

The suit has all the familiar air chambers in the arms and leg wing as the current suit as well as cross ports. Unfortunately, the pictures I took were with my helmet mounted camera after sunset in the packing area. The close up pics I took are a tad blurry but you can tell what you are looking at. I will get some better ones next time I am in AZ for sure. Right now the pics are are huge in size so I have to scale them down to a decent file size and I will post a link to them as soon as possible. The aerial pics of Omar in the suit look great due in part to the suits colors over the AZ ground and I will post some of those as time permits as well. This suit seems to lack the floaty-ness of the current suit as Omar commented on sinking out even though he was with the group for most of the flight. Hopefully next time I see Omar I will also be able to jump the suit so that I can compare it to my flight in the Matter suit and determine if it is floaty or not. Overall, it was a fun jump for me because I got to fly with Omar and see a piece of wingsuit history first hand.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[PerFlare 0]

Hi Lou,

Some years ago I flew the "pre-crossbow". I got it from Zunni as well. I like the suit but if you see some of the old ones there are some safety modifications (or at least some things to think about) the owner of the suit might like to ad to it. If you, or some one else, like someone who owns the suit like to discuss it feel free to e-mail me. My e-mail is found on www.linetwist.net.

PerFlare

[LouDiamond 1]

The pictures can be found HERE

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[VectorBoy 0]

They don't approve yet.

[LouDiamond 1]

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They don't approve yet.

Viking is slacking again LOL The pictures of the suit in flight are HERE

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Access denied, monkey lip.

[lazyfrog 0]

any pics with omar inside ??

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Fumer tue, péter pue
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ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[LouDiamond 1]

Check your settings , it's working for me. There are pictures of Omar in it , check the above link.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[lazyfrog 0]

nice nice, thank you...
did you get to try this suit ??
what does Omar think of it ?
is it comparable with the other suits in terms of performance ??

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Fumer tue, péter pue
-------------
ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[LouDiamond 1]

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did you get to try this suit ??
what does Omar think of it ? is it comparable with the other suits in terms of performance ??

No, I was extremely busy at the time and Omar was leaving for an art exhibition in Jordan. I will ask Omar if I can give it a try the next time I am out there for sure. As far as comparing it I can tell you that it doesn't do as good as the current suit due to some of the reasons I mentioned, that's just the evolution of things. Omar said he had a hard time keeping up and was sinking out, which is contradictory to my experience in the Matter suit. He appeared to do fine on the flock as the pictures illustrate but it was apparent that those in the Birdman suits were not maxing it out. It may be due in part to his not jumping the suit that much or the suit design. I lean toward the later since Omar is capable of things in the sky that defy explanation. As I told Omar, I think the suit is a fantastic piece of history and it is in excellent condition. I will also try and get Omar into a Birdman suit to see what he can do. If Omar's experience is anything like Hookandswoop's recent wingsuit flights it will be extremely fun to see what he can do.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[lazyfrog 0]

would be interesting to see indeed... And you tried the S-Fly yet ???

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Fumer tue, péter pue
-------------
ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[LouDiamond 1]

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you tried the S-Fly yet ???

No, have not done that yet. I spoke with Loic about this a while back and he has told me that the New S-fly has even better characteristics/workmanship than the old suit and the facsimile Matter suit.


Edited to add picture

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[VectorBoy 0]

Loic told me that the New S-fly has even better characteristics/workmanship than the old suit and the facsimile Matter suit.

[Supergeil 0]

How does it fly up with a GTI?
Have one jump in a GTI with a pal in a Matter suit but couldent catch up with him.....

[LouDiamond 1]

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How does it fly up with a GTI?

Well, if you look at the pictures, Dave is the one in the white and orange GTI, well above everyone else. Which just goes to show that the pilot can make a big difference in how a suit performs. On that flight Dave and I ended up kicking it out while everyone else sank out. I wasn't maxed all the way out but I was getting on it. Dave was just killing it in his GTI and was having no problem staying with me. As for the suit Omar was wearing and how well it performs along side a GTI , it would be pure speculation until I fly that suit.

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Have one jump in a GTI with a pal in a Matter suit but couldent catch up with him

That pretty much mirrors my experience in the Matter suit when I jumped with Billvon at WFFC. Beau Coup lift but no forward drive to keep up with Bill. I felt like I was floating along, even more if I maxed out.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[Supergeil 0]

***That pretty much mirrors my experience in the Matter suit when I jumped with Billvon at WFFC. Beau Coup lift but no forward drive to keep up with Bill. I felt like I was floating along, even more if I maxed out.

That was my experience too....was not falling under but couldn't reach the same forward speed.