aesalon

not reporter. i'm a novice, but not current. the reason my inquiry was so thorough and specific is that i have a friend who was asking me all these questions and i realized i could only guess about so many of the answers. i remember that falling speed is like 120 mph belly down and terminal velocity is something like 160. and tracking in delta position has a glide ratio of like almost 1.1. so i started searching the forums and found that the info was very scattered and had a lot of holes in it. so i figured it might be nice to have a post where all the info was in one place, so if anyone else was curious, when they went to search, they would have a much easier time than i did.

i'm curious about a few things. maybe some of you could provide me with a few figures on fall time, descent ratio, ground speed, air speed for a few different types of wingsuits. also, i would like to know similar figures for flying without a wingsuit, say for a person of average size, flying belly down, as well as for flying head down, feet down, sit flying etc, for comparison. also what kind of distance is covered. i'm interested in figures for average flights and record flights as well. figures can be in feet, miles, minutes, hours, whatever (or even better, all of the above) i know its a lot to ask all in one post but i was having a hard time finding it all by searching. i would appreciate this very much.

skydive arizona in eloy. sky's always blue, air's warm mid-day even in winter, wind tunnel, nice free camping and facilities, bar, swimming pool, awesome people. all in one place. and movies are free for skydiver's in nearby casa grand (shhh).

i'm new to forums and stuff, not exactly a computer whizz. figured it out though. wasn't toooo hard for me.

there. i fugured it out (i'm a little slow). and since there's supposed to be a hottie, i included one of my girlfriend and me.

here's me and my cool new haircut.

tigra, you and me should agree to agree. i'll start: you're absolutely right. for a totally comprehensive learning program, its best to just use rosetta. rosetta covers all the bases (and has an excellent marketing campaign). but as for the "travel basics", "learning in your car", "cheaper methods" that you mentioned, the best of the best of these is the pimsleur method. if you want to just talk to people in the given language as soon as possible its the one. but again, after further consideration, i agree: rosetta is where its at for the whole package, no question. as long as you don't mind dropping a pretty penny.

millertime24, by "free climb" do you mean free-soloing? you probably know that free climbing actually involves ropes and protection which usually (but not always) prevent injury when taking an 80 foot whipper. i hear downhill mountain biking has the highest rate of injury of all bicycle sports. looks sick though. skiing is fun, but i haven't done it in ages. anybody do paraskiing?

but i've actually seen some pretty flabby climbers send some sick routes on lead way better than i can.

yeah, i have a hard time with not being able to choose. if i wasn't so scattered about my passions, i'd probably be pretty good at one of them by now. as it is, i'm no more than moderately proficient at any of them. don't think i'll ever give up climbing though. especially since i'm starting to get up there in years, wouldn't want to start getting flabby.

you're right deibido, there is the option that doesn't include reading with rosetta, but i doubt most students use that option exclusively for long, which would be a detriment to their speed of learning basic conversation skills. rosetta's more bang for your buck. and more suited to people who want to do more than just converse (i.e. business, etc.). but if conversation is the biggest concern, pimsleur is cheaper and will be a quicker and an easier, more natural feeling method. and you can probably get the first eight lessons on cd for about 2 bucks on ebay. that's enough to get talking with a flawless accent to dutch people, on a basic level. and from there you can wing it for free, if your in holland. i hear the cool thing about dutch is when you learn it, you make it 60% easier for yourself to learn german later.

pimsleur method is better. i've used both. two separate parts of the brain are used to learn speach and reading. so using pimsleur, which has no reading involved, and is 100 percent conversational (no rote memorization), means that you will learn to speak and comprehend the given language at a more accelerated rate. with pimsleur, you can become totally comfortable speaking with a native speaker on a basic level very quickly, and then learn to read later. really though, i guess it depends on your needs. if you absolutely must be able to read the language, right now, i suppose rosetta would be better. both are available for cheap as cd's on ebay. especially dutch (popular languages like spanish go for almost retail on ebay). the mp3's look cool too, but haven't used them or checked their availablilty on ebay.

i figured that was a given

action parts? you mean like the wheels on your turtle?

yeah, there's lots of stuff left out, for sure. bullriding and rodeo is cool. been to lots of rodeos, but never rode myself. however, we had horses when i was a kid and i used to ride in playdays (barrels, poles, triangles, jumps and stuff.) my sister is a major cowgirl she has horses and trailer and pick-up and a bunch of pasture land. i used to be into hunting a lot. i was a professional hunting guide in alaska, where i grew up. used to harvest caribou and moose and dal sheep and bears (that part probably won't make me many friends here). it was good money earned in a beautiful environment but i couldn't stand babysitting assholes (some clients were cool though). i drifted out of it. archery is really cool, i won an oneida eagle compound bow in an archery contest when i was thirteen (one of those wierd, space-age looking compounds). but never used it to hunt, they say they're too noisy for it anyway. never got into bowhunting at all. if i ever get back into hunting for deer or moose or something (no bears), i'll probably use a bow like the one i have now, which is a traditional long bow (65 lb draw weight). but i'd like to have one that takes down into two pieces. but i have to agree, bowhunting doesn't really count as an action sport. it is a more admirable way to get your hamburger than by pulling up to the drive-thru though.

vote for more than one. don't vote for what you want to do but haven't tried yet. don't vote for what you've tried but don't plan on ever doing again. do vote for the ones you have a passion for. my favorite is climbing, specifically, crack climbing (even more specifically, offwidths), though where i am now i can't do it. so, i freedive. i am certified for SCUBA, i just like freediving better. lots of kiteboarding here in USVI but don't want to spend money on it as it will cut too deeply into my savings for getting back into skydiving. wanna BASE jump someday though. i'll probably learn with apex BASE in moab utah, my favorite place to climb. i do like a game of foosball or ping pong now and then, but to be honest i'm not really into playing with balls . that would be a post all on its own anyway: basketball, baseball, football, futbol, rugby, etc. this is the poll i originally wanted to create but i made the "fun on the ground" one at the last minute to see what responses i'd get. i was glad to see so many responses about action sports and other physical activities.

It we to me that women almost cannot think for themselves. We construct our lives around nest-building. We're like male birds building nests and showing them off to attract mates. It's pathetic. Everything we do is to get women. It is a fucking shit deal. *** it sounds like someone is dabbling in misogyny. and yes, the whole world revolves around women, all of it: ice cream, toilet paper, cars, money, and skydiving. nothing but women on the we channel the oxygen channel and the lifetime channel. also mostly hot, half naked women on the spike channel and on the old "man show". its all about women. but look on the bright side, at least its not all about sheep and pigs!!

just wondering how most of you spend your time in the winter while you aren't falling out of the sky. remember, it's how you spend your time, not how you wish you were spending your time! multiple answers allowed. i myself like to multi-task, especially when it comes to the eating and screwing. and no I don't mean I like to eat bacon and eggs off my girlfriend's belly.

thanks for the advice everyone, i've recieved some imformative PM's to satisfy my interest for now. and the checklist link was extremely helpfull. i will definitely not be doing anything stupid like trying to swoop right away once i get back into skydiving. i'll probably take a course on canopy control, and get lots of input from qualified swoopers, and i'll probably not be attempting to swoop until i rack up at least a hundred new jumps after i return to the sport. blue skies

is it possible for a pilot lose his or her license for allowing you to jump through that hole to the west, knowing you wouldn't be able to make it to the landing area?

i have to admit my off landing was due mostly to my own inexperience as a canopy pilot. one of the instructors at the DZ later taught me how i could have got back to the landing area by doing a pull up on my front risers and curling myself into a cannonball. the plane was a 182 (no green light). i did know beforehand that spotting myself was ultimately my own responsibility. i took spotting a lot more seriously after that (this was my fifteenth jump). as to the chest beating referred to in earlier post, that was exactly the experience i had on my first jump. the DZ i learned at by S/L required us to have at least one tandem before hand to make sure we wouldn't totally freak out. when i went to take my tandem, there were three frat looking guys, one of them was taking a tandem. the otheres had apparently already tried one. they were shouting and posturing and getting him all excited. once we got in the plane and his buddies were gone, his whole demeanor changed. he was swallowing a lot and his eyes were darting all over the place. as i watched him go out the door, he looked like he was about to shrivel up into his own arsehole. i only hesitated at the door because i wanted the moment to last longer, to savor it, my first time jumping out of a plane. i just tried not to think about the dude who was strapped to my back! when we reached the landing area, the frat guy was screaming, cussing and beating his chest with his buddies like he was some kind of hero. i just looked peacefully back up at the sky from which i'd fallen, with the same expression i'd had on the way up and on the way down, a simple smile. i don't want to be fearless in order to be a bad ass. i just like to be able to control my fear so i can enjoy myself.

yoshi, it sounds like you spent $140.00 on a good story. and that will last much longer than the memory of the wine's flavor would have. nicely written too. and airtwardo's story is equally worth the wasted lire, with a wittily economical use of style in the telling. honestly though, did these things actually happen to you guys?

i could always sell the canopy i want to move on from though. it would be a little more tedious but more cost effective in the end. however, trying lots of different rentals would be a better experience, maybe worth the extra money. i notice you're from near hibaldstow. my S/L instructor at marana in arizona was from manchester. and my girlfriend lives near belfast. i traveled all over the UK last year. nice place, bad weather though. i also notice it looks like you might just be off student status too. a fellow padowan. thanks for the advice. happy jumping.

yeah, no DZ on this little island (st. croix). i won't be visiting the one on the neighboring island (puerto rico) anytime soon either. just saving my money till i can go back to skydive arizona in a year or so. hence the "academic basis", "primer in theory", "armchair skydiver" talk. just keeping my mind busy and getting intelectually prepared for the fun ahead right now.

i certainly won't try it without doing a lot more jumps or without personal instruction from a qualified person. for the time being, i'm only interested in knowing the mechanics of the actual execution of the technique on a sort of academic basis if you will. like a primer on theory, not as instructions for practice. i realize that such information would be available to anyone who wants to read it here though, so if swoopers don't feel comfortable divulging it, i understand. i can wait.