outrager

Yo ! No it is not. I personally have it but don't use it. Others like BASE pouch and find it very convenient. I believe it depends on your body and your rig. For some, a regular pouch is fine. For others, BASE pouch works better. It does complicate your system a bit - keep that in mind, and make sure you understand how to install and use the bridle shrivel flap correctly! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Going to Caracas for a couple of days next week. Would appreciate any local contacts/info. Unfortunately have to stick to the city, no time for an obvious AF trip :( My email: base416@yahoo.com bsbd! Yuri.

Other than the Pick ? ;-) Actually many people did in the early skydiving square days before sliders were invented. Ouch!!! My current terminal setups: vented and unvented Foxes (couple hundred jumps), vented Troll MDV (pretty new), unvented Impy (SouthAfrican BASE canopy, about 50 jumps). All large mesh sliders. Pack job: over-the-shoulder propack, stabilizers rolled, tail wrapped around stabilizers, nose left outside and 3 outer cells on each side rolled - tighter or looser depending on a particular canopy and delay. BTW rolling the nose is a pretty powerful tool that allows to fine-tune an opening speed quite a bit while being totally predictable and consistent. It also greatly improves on-heading perfomance, which is a funny side effect since i generally don't care about on-headings ;-) No Multi, i do not like it but that's a separate subject. A variety of containers, they do not matter as far as opening is concerned. Same Troll packed BR-style opens noticeably harder, so your pack job/slider combo needs to be tuned up for your own style. I have owned Mojo, a couple of Pegasus and Cruislite canopies with small mesh sliders before. They would have probably worked better with large mesh, now thinking about it. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Please post your canopy data (i.e. vents, # of jumps) and packing preferences (rolling the nose, etc) if you wish. This may be a good educational subject we didn't grind too much yet... bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I do not believe that the first dozen of the baddest jumps that come to mind should be mentioned in Outside magazine ;-) Well, maybe Thor Alex NYC story... it fits the "baddest ever" from every angle three times over. Just a brief outline: Coming and jumping 3 of the best, most famous and secure buildings in the country that nobody dared to touch for years (WTC, Empire and Chrysler) Exchanging insults with a nazi mayor Gulliani on prime-time TV, then coming back to jump more Getting away with it, while having a team of detectives working 24/7 on the case ...a bit later a TV program sets up an interview with Owen Quinn but instead steals the video and sends cops. Still, it takes police an hour to find and arrest Thor Alex after they arrive at his hotel room: it was too low to jump from the window but he climbed up and managed to hide for quite a while. Finally he is taken in to face multiple felony charges, prison time and a personal wrath of Gulliani. Then the most amazing part follows: Getting out of jail a few days later Partying like a rock star for a month waiting for a trial Having all charges dropped (nothing is more corrupt than NY) Having TV station sued for 7-digit numbers and taking a very, very substantial settlement Coming back home a hero having made the best jumps on Earth, a hardcore month-long party and more money than anybody i know ever made on a base jump. Oh, and he did have a dinner with Owen Quinn before leaving New York. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I would rather have helmets as "highly recommended", as opposed to mandatory item. bsbd! Yuri.

50m Now thinking about it - the same number both scuba diving and in a wingsuit ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I've done some scuba diving recently and noticed that visuals (and the entire sensation) of passing by and over a coral reef are exactly the same as flying a wingsuit in the mountains... especially when nitrogen narcosis is kicking in ;-) Just another little bit of life to enjoy ;) bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Like Tom said, a rough number is somewhere around 1000 ft. It takes much less to start the suit (3..4sec or 300' vertical) but to really enjoy it you need to add another 300' for a safe deployment and some altitude for an actual flight between these two. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! If you pass through DC area, make sure to check out the new Air & Space Museum that just opened at Dulles. As a topping on a very sweet cake they have "Adrenaline Rush" (IMAX skydiving&BASE movie) playing right there in the museum. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Vertigo's Merlin should fit you nicely. It's designed with wingsuits in mind, long and narrow - must be very comfortable for taller people. I am about 5'10" and love it. bsbd! Yuri.

Just read this on Aussie BASE Board... http://www.basejump.org/discus/messages/1/443.html?1070848942#POST1282 Luckily they didn't designate him an "enemy combatant"! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo Mike! Doing a trip as we speak, beautiful snow scenery! Still waiting for a call, would ring you from the exit if your damn cell had service... Some old faces here, everybody says hi ;-) Let's party and chat soon! bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Here is a couple of bits: #1. Once upon a time, riding an elevator up and down between 300' and 600' in a solid cloud at night over a tiny LZ, trying to determine if there is any potential for a slider-up jump... finally giving up and deciding to create one with a high-powered flashlight pointing straight up from the ground. After a while a little star appears in the white emptiness, triggering a classic "go into the light". On the way back from the tower, a local jumper is riding a bicycle in the middle of the night on a redneck southern country road to pick up his van, parked off-site. A cop pulls over to question the jumper, who immediately points out the nearest house and explains that he just scored with an old lady who is married so he couldn't really park in a driveway... amused cop procedes on his way. The night concludes with a 6am visit to a neibourghood bar, a climb up a fire escape pole, quick pack job on the top floor and a sweet building jump. Any hopes of daytime rest are shattered when a sugar cube is pushed into an innocent jumper's mouth, prompting a very surreal experience... but that's another story #2. Once upon a time, sitting on top of a very scary and very high cliff - the highest known then - in a snow cloud, freezing and feeling that a human being just does not belong here. This feeling is frequently interrupted by a cell phone that also does not belong here, but nevertheless rings every other minute with weather updates and friendly chit-chats. Eventually a message comes: clouds have lifted up a bit and the bottom half of the wall is now clear. Without further discussion a jumper gets up, points out a ridiculous direction and leaves with a classic "see ya". His friends look at each other in disbelief and carefully listen for a sound of impact. After a minute of silence they follow into the fog. It is the most surreal visual tracking away from a brown spot in this all-white world. When brown disappears, a warm sense of peace and survival replaces an intense rush. 13 seconds later an enormous valley suddenly developes, like an image on photo paper. The view is breathtaking, and there is plenty more time to enjoy it in freefall. Canopy ride is uneventful and a speedy getaway proves unnecessary as conditions make anybody reporting a jump to authorities a fool. Unfortunately, we have to leave the next day - without ever seing the great wall, still cloaked in dark clouds. The first words coming out of my mouth after returning to the valley one sunny afternoon are censored by this Board

Yo ! Just like any other pilot, a birdman ought to look in front of him and avoid obstacles - be that a wall, a canopy or another birdman. Not quite a rocket science, just basic VFR ;-) You have unbelievable amount of control in a wingsuit - something most jumpers don't understand until they begin to fly. Seriously, though: it is naturally very easy to avoid things in front and under you, but there is a large blind spot on top of a birdman. If you fly under another exit point there is a potential of something hitting you from above. However, if this something happens to be another jumper he ought to see and avoid you as well. I would be more scared of a rock, or bird shit for that matter ;) Incredibly unlikely, but this risk does exist. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! The highest in terms of exit to landing is actually not that easy to answer ;-) Current objects in this category tend to have a fixed exit altitude and rolling hills down below - better you fly, more altitude you gain. At the moment an altitude gain of 6500' (1950m) has been achieved in a wingsuit but the object can be pushed much further. Same can be easily done under canopy, mixing up BASE with a lot of paragliding. There are other spots where you could potentially get an even longer canopy ride, with a short freefall or static-line jump. Regular freefalls in 1300m (4300') range are routinely made from multiple objects, with additional canopy time on top of that. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! I believe if you work on both strength and endurance the same day, it is more efficient to do strenght excercises first and endurance loads second. A simple solution: work your arms before running on a trademill ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! It seems that everybody has forgotten a discussion going on a while ago about PC hesitation. The outcome of that discussion: basically, a combination of going stowed with a large PC and a short delay produces occasional PC hesitations that range from uncomfortable to nearly fatal. It appears to be a matter of statistics. Having seen ugly hesitations on 300'-range stowed jumps and reading many more stories, i personally don't like to go stowed under 400' or stow PCs bigger than 42". bsbd! Yuri.

More details have been posted here: http://www.dropzone.com/forum/Skydiving_C1/General_Skydiving_Discussions_F18/No-contest_plea_in_thefts_at_airport_--_Press_Clips_P622567/ bsbd! Yuri.

This has been changing as wingsuit glide ratios approach and match that of BASE canopies: i generally arrive to LZ in a suit. Higher pulls only mean that we are getting old and conservative, or simply run out of landing areas ;) Current vertical speed hovers around 14..15m/s (32..34mph). bsbd! Yuri.

...watched his plane taking off on my way to Denver. Still in shock and crying. bsbd! Yuri.

Yes, same as Warlock. bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! Equipment was an old S3 prototype (smaller wings) and Vertigo's new Merlin. S4 proto i had didn't fit perfectly, but i'll give it a few more tries in Norway. I believe a well-fitting S4 (or even a regular S3 on a good day) can cross 5km mark from the same spot ;-) bsbd! Yuri.

http://www.skysport.ru/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=246&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 bsbd! Yuri.

Yo ! If you don't have much forward speed you'll have lots of vertical - there's no way you can slow your total airspeed below, say, 70..80mph. Even in your case "hardly any forward movement" is a significant number ;-) Wingsuits just don't create enough drag to go slow. Maybe ;) but i'm on a slower side - pretty much everybody else flies faster than me in terms of total airspeed. The very reason we put a slider on is to slow the openings... ;) Starting at 5..6sec i take additional care to slow it down further (rolling the nose etc). I don't want anything making my openings harder, they are fast enough as it is. Vents require extra measures to slow the opening down, like fine mesh, more nose rolls etc. Not really a problem, just not a benefit either. Wingsuit openings at full flight at any speed consume very little altitude anyway, since most of the deployment happens horizontally. bsbd! Yuri.