ziboulateur

"But you are right in that it is the guy that is out there lost or trying to get back in that is going to take you out big time. That type of situation is something you have little control over - best you can do is flock with birds you know and trust." IslandGuy, we have touched the subject of trust before (http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2709551;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#2712977) I agree, I'd be also more comfortable jumping with people I jumped with a lot before but I really think its best to count only on your eyes and instruments in the sky. >>That type of situation is something you have little control over Sorry, I disagree. You do have some control if you are at least looking where you are going. The incident that we talked about a couple of weeks ago clearly shows that a person "taking you out" doesn't even have to make an active effort to take you out. It could even be a tandem canopy, a high puller etc. The higher your airspeed - the higher your responsibility for scanning the airspace in general direction of your travel. If you are flying on your back and looking straight up at your buddy, the only person you can objectively trust for navigating and checking the airspace is him, your buddy. Blindly trusting anyone else for not being on your way just makes no sense to me. Also when shit happens, it happens fast - very hard to remember afterwards if the "actual direction of the source of the light" changed 30 degrees or not. I'm not with you, guys but I wish you beautiful and safe flocking. Can't wait to see pictures and videos.

Thanks for all the input guys. Good points, good thoughts. Lets be safe out there and not take safety for granted. Look, think, read this forum, have safe fun.

I tumbled to dodge the upper jumper that I couldn't see. Lessons to be learned: don't trust anyone. I don't think that should stop us from looking at this objectively and learning something. - Exactly. This is what my post was for. Questions are good. What would cause you to tumble to avoid another flyer that you did not see? - I was watching all 3 jumpers (2 way and video guy) until 2 of them got beyond my peripheral vision (above me). Once the lower jumper passed me I knew I had one more above me. So I rolled on my side, closing my left wing. That was an instinctive avoidance, a way to lose altitude. Also, I don't see how trust has anything to do with what I saw in the video, but, an explanation might clear that up. - This is more philosophical. You got no friends in the sky. Period. Any object or creature is a source of danger to you. Therefore if you move forward and encounter an object on your way by surprise - it means you have put too much trust in your environment without checking it. In this particular case the base has encountered me on their path by surprise. How did you come to pass so close to the base at such a high speed? Did you loose track of them (I believe there were 3 others in the flock) or did you misjudge the closing velocity as you were trying to rejoin the group? - If you watch the slow-mo, you'll see that I was not moving towards the base but the base caught up with me. We were flying in the same direction. The closing speed you are seeing is Base speed minus My speed. Impressive, isn't it? I kept track of the base the whole time. What I did wrong is that I was passively waiting for opportunity to join the base with no speed for maneuver. I should have positioned myself to be rejoining the base from the side and behind. That would put me in a situation I could control better. Also joining the base from the "inside" of the turn just isn't as safe as doing it from the outside, if you see what I mean. What I have misjudged is the speed of the base and in how little time they can reach me if they changed heading. You can see my knees were bent, so I had very little forward speed, the base in contrary punched it out. Glad you are all here with us to talk about this. - Yes, very glad indeed. I'm also glad we have impressive video and a description of the situation to avoid. Thank you!

Thats exactly what happened. I was the yellow-orange blur. I'm attaching an approximate drawing of our trajectories and a video with a slow-mo. I overtook the base and started flying slowly cutting the corner (yellow line), trying to match heading of the base, waiting for them to overtake me on a parallel course so that I could coast from the side. (dots are to show progress) Duh.. The base slightly changed heading and I found myself on their path...3 seconds...zoom...two of us were born again. We didn't touch. I tumbled to dodge the upper jumper that I couldn't see. Lessons to be learned: 1.Anticipate. Don't sit in the danger zone or drive 20 Mhr in a fast lane. It should have been very obvious that the base would turn towards me at some point. 2. Look where you are going and don't trust anyone. Your friends might be there trying to kill you. We were extremely lucky to walk away. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp3-7pbJ3WM http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4616167859921692248&pr=goog-sl

Here we go... buzzing wingsuits... who would have thought ? http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7867 ..or maybe it would be just like putting 100 vibrating cellphones on your skin...brrrr

Just picturing what a zoo it would be Ooof, docking on such a thing would be quite challenging and at breakoff everyone just flies through ...

...just a cloud of hair, shredded nylon, the occasional chunk of carbonfuckingfiber... Hehe

Here's an old flat spin thread. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1149358;search_string=flat%20spins;#1149358 ScaryPerry, it would be great to hear your experiences! Thanks

All I can say this reinforced ready to fly wing looks very sexy. I hope S5 is even sexier Thanks for the info!

I've never seen an s4. Is that it on the pic or something "else"? BTW, some awesome pictures in these galleries. http://www.ruexp.ru/photo/displayimage.php?album=18&pos=35

this summer I had great fun climbing a dry tall pine tree to fish out a "diablo" chopped by a fellow wingsuit flier. (never got my earned pound of bananas ) reason for a chop: spinning line twists possibly due to a less than ideal body position during deployment and/or unmodified javelin container. W/L: ~1.5 ... just 2 cents

If I havent tried that S1 that day, I probably wouldnt bother buying a WS at all. I'm very glad I did! Even though it felt twitchy with just 2 classic jumps under my belt (I've been advised not to do that, but did anyway. new birds, please dont be jackasses like me), it gave me that instant high (when maxing out just before starting potato-chipping), that was worth all that money and stress! N-Crack, what can I say..?! new england will be on the look out too...

Sorry to hear that I'm sure your suit is going to be back soon though. This world is too small unless it was stolen by a martian. Hey, I have an S3 just like yours ! I have ordered it after trying out an S1 demo suit last year (I guess the one you are talking about) and picked exactly the same colors (totally loved them). I'm ready for a lot of questions when I put mine on at Perris after the 4-way is over ... though I hope you'll have yours back before that time. Good luck!!! Nik

Hmmm, I'd love to read it. I'm curious how they define "buzzing"... Thanks for the replies!!!