mrken

No problem man. As far as track suits goes I had tried out both the PF Track and Birdman Impact. Both are very the good and have advantages over each other IMO. The PF I seemed to cover more distance/get more spee because you can use it at inflation while in the "bullet" style track. My legs felt like they were on power steering. Plus its purdy :) The BM requires you to be in well, a more mock wingsuit body position to get proper inflation...legs and arms out more. It allows for a very stable track. You will know when you got it right because you will feel the mini sail wing and the jacket will puff up; like someone suddenly pulling on you and going "No No, you fall slower now." It reminded me of like Marty McFly's auto drying jacket in Back To The Future 2 (NERD ALERT). Another side factor is it does simulate wingsuit flight in that it adds another chore to deal with; which is unzipping the leg wing. You don't have to but I felt like it was good practice and a heads up for me. As an OCD person the most stressful part of my first flight was unzipping the arms and getting the legs out and booties tacked up (after looking for traffic, of course). I found it easy to lose track of my altitude those first few jumps because I was struggling with trying loosen a chest strap, getting a leg zipper unstuck, a snap to stay, whatever. I mean you're adding extra crap to what is now statistically the most dangerous part of the jump; the canopy flight. I'm still very naive and the whole experience of wingsuiting has me back to that feeling of being in AFF again. Those tracking suits are powerful, definitely learn the lay of the land and making a flight plan. I would not suggest visiting a dz in europe, getting on a 15 minute call, not looking at an aerial photo, deciding to put on your track suit because hey..im a good tracker and totally badass..exiting, tracking to the wrong hangar...and crossing the autobahn at 300 feet and actually seeing cars freak out to land in a pile of rose bushes on the other side. Not that any of that exactly happened to me in 08 :) (Cough, Sorry Nuggets, Cough) K sorry ive had alot of espresso and started drinking. In short, don't be in a rush to play on HARD mode :)

Hey, If you're impatient and have a few extra bucks you may not want to overlook a track suit. Or a high drag FF suit and spend some time learning to fly your back. Backflying skills will help pretty much with every discipline in freefall. plus theres something totally zen about keeping your heading on a back track and relaxing into it. OOoOooOOhhhhmmmmmmmm OOoohhhhhhmmmmmm

Hey, So I just finished squeezing my damn fist for an hour while slamming gatorade. One plasma donation earned me enough for two lift tickets . Got me wondering what else all of you have done to earn those precious tickets that may be whacky/sad? :P

Glad you guys all had fun. Im freezing my ass off here in Germany. Geh I've had to go with my lady's family to so many damn operas i've tuned out half the time and thought "I wonder whats happening at the boogie right now?" :) Glad to see you had so many new fliers that could FIT in those suits Scott :P Doing situps and freezing in Deutschland, Ken

Thanks Scott, It rocked and can't wait to go again. My shoulders this morning are crazy sore. :)

I can say for sure that shopping around as an individual vs your work places you under an F'in microscope. The problem is the fact that it is a damn business in the first place. Since finding out I have the big "C" ; my PPO has smelled blood in the water and I've received 2 outbound calls asking me about things ranging from my diet, lifestyle, and frickin counselor visits when I was 14. I wish they'd just be up front and say "We really just need to find a way to drop you so you can go bankrupt or die." Even with coverage, my 20 percent copay is going to result in me selling my car and going from 12 to 18 credits so I can get a couple extra grand on my student loans so I can hopefully afford treatment. Like hell i'll sell my rig though :P Plan B is fleeing to Germany (the irony does not escape me) and marry my lady in a rush since the state plan does not deny coverage for any PEC.

I just know its getting annoying watch that damn bottle of dirt slide across my screen for 5 seconds before I can interact with the site at all. Oh well, somethings gotta pay the bills right?

You likely won't keep your first suit for too long and may want a tighter cut or different style as you develop your feel for the air. I'd say go with the bottom dollar new suit. If you go with a stock design or a used suit at your dz/gear shop you can get a deal close to your budget. A new Freak N Suit can be had for under 200 bucks, Firefly for 250. Both are great companies. It gets easier control your fall rate later. I'm actually 6' 1" and 235 lbs, my best friend is like 180, wears my old suit, and I can still manage to stay above him while i've got on a t-shirt and cargo pants. Indian not the arrow. Save what coin you can on the suit and use it for tickets and canopy coaching. Oh yeah, I recommend cordura butt and knees. It will eventually come in handy :P

Yeah, I shouldn't have read the stupid user comments, I am super pissed off now.

im a total facebook slut btw going totally nuts here, so close to 200 i can taste the WS.

My jump numbers in profile are actual, so I tend to be a quiet observer here. My past 120 jumps have been largely group tracking dives (some solos) and I recently purchased an IMPACT track suit since I've decided I need to focus more on school right now and don't want to add more difficulty to the dive. That being said, when I even exited with this thing the first few times out of the otter I was taken back by the quick inflation and even that was enough to make me very wobbly and spend some time getting in control, guess Im not as cool as I thought I was. I assume I would have flipped over or god knows what with a real WS. Just an opinion, YMMV.

My boss isn't a jumper but he came up with this costume for his baby! Thought ya guys might dig it...

Hey, As I am now car-less (long story), I was wondering if anyone carpools to SAZ from Tucson? Obviously willing to put in for travel expenses. Ken

Yeah they're playing it on CNN and n-tv here in Germany.

Crap man, if I were in Tucson right now I would give you a lift. Might be worth calling the DZ and see if you can mooch a ride from a Tucson jumper. How long are you in Tucson for? I could make a couple calls here from Germany to see if a couple of my friends are on their way up to there (or at least passing by there on their way to another dz) if you like? Ken

The title says it all. Eloy is my home DZ and I am currently looking for places jump. Most of the dropzones near me in Germany I have called seemed to be understandbly closed for this cold winter. I have a BahnCard 50 with Eurail Plus, can anyone reccomend some places (perhaps warmer) that I can visit? Anywhere huge? I was considering going to emporiabrava when my first college class is finished in a couple weeks. I last jumped at the Eloy christmas boogie, its been three weeks and I am starting to go a little nuts help plz - Ken

Thanks again Scott! I remember playing with my arm position on the IMPACT. Once I found that sweet spot, the thing just inflated up and I yelled to myself in FF "This is F#k!ng awesome!" Had a blast, see you up there Friday morning! Heard the wind picked up today? Things to buy: Engagement ring for m'lady IMPACT suit which comes first?

I have been in this sport for a little more than a year now; and it has really given me some much needed peace in my life. I am in a bit of a dilemma, entirely caused by money. I have been working part time while going to school full time, I also receive a small grant. As you may have guessed, most of my money has gone into the sport. I am at a point where my checking account is going down to the triple digits. I have messed around with RW, both here and with several Germans I met while studying abroad. I've recently been pouring my money into tunnel time since I wanted to begin the freefly path. I have been doing okay with backflying, and walking around is cool too. Right now I am working on getting up off my back and into a sit; but thats still tough for me right now since I seem to keep driving forward. Anyway, to pay for this, I have been craigslisting and ebaying crap. Luckily enough, I have been able to pay for nearly an hour thus far that way and have not had to dive into those last precious funds. However, I know there is only so much stuff left to sell. To further increase the difficulty, I am moving to Germany for almost a year in January. I will have student loans and a partial scholarship. Unforunately, I discovered that lift tickets are more than double the cost there vs where I have jumped in the States. I guess I am concerned with skill depreciation, and whether or not I should continue this freefly route right now since I am likely to be in the sky about half as much as I am right now. At the same time I want to be able to jump and learn from other freefliers, so I know the skills I am practicing right now is so that I am at least not/less of a danger to them. Has anyone else been in a similar situation like this? I find it surreal how much I am letting this move me

This is going to sound really damn nerdy; but I used to weah 383 lbs and am down to 215 now, all from playing Dance Dance Revolution :)

Completed my first 15 minutes on my back in the tunnel. Wow, I felt retarded . Felt like my first belly all over again, all tense, no wind perception and lots of big movements. I think I used 2/3rds of the time just figuring out how to not drift or hump a wall :P For some reason I have a bitch of a time moving my feet correctly for a left turn, but its much easier going right. Whats bizarre is when my back felt straight, I guess my left hip was cocked out. It felt really unnatural when I corrected for this and held it, but it worked. Anyway I still had fun and I am off to see my chiropractor now . Thanks SVAZ

I had to raise my WL the other way. Lost 20 lbs. Surprised how much easier the landings are now!

If you're 185 without gear, im guessing you're weighing in around 210 with student gear on. Jumping a 170 canopy would put you at around a 1.2 WL. I'd watch the following: http://www.uspa.org/safety/fly_to_survive.htm

Does anyone have the contact info for a Matter rep in the US, or just one that actually responds? I wanted to keep this off the forums but its been 8 weeks beyond the eta I was given (I called them long distance to confirm before ordering). The phone rep of the dealer I ordered them through has become belligerent and doesn't really want me calling them to see if they have gotten a response from Matter Clothing. I'm not entirely sure what my rights are in this situation (if I can cancel my order, get a refund, etc), and I want to avoid becoming sh**ty myself since this dealer (leaving unnamed for now) has been great to me in the past. Any info would be appreciated, Thanks

Welcome, Anything you read here, don't assume to be true. Always ask your instructor first. You're gonna have a blast. Just remember to take a look around every now and then and realize just how damn beautiful it is up there. Viel Glück, Ken

Totally, my lady knows I get gradually more depressed the more days go by between jumps. One week Im pissy. Two weeks I'm not even worth talking to. I guess I am blessed to have a lady that read the entire SIM and browses here just to learn more about my world. One time she bought me a new neptune battery pre-emtpively when she saw my current was half-empty. I had to put-out :)