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Hey all,

I've just started skydiving my tracking suit (PF power tracking suit).

I'm working on maximising time in the air and getting more distance but not really sure what I should be working towards.

I've heard a few different things specifically relating to time but I'm curious what the general consensus is?

I'm not able to measure exact distance yet but in terms of time I'm getting about 85 seconds (exiting at 14,000ft and pitching in a track at 4000ft).

Of course I'm working to build on this time as much as possible but curious how this compares?

Is this good? Dismal? What should I be aiming for?

Cheers,

Lex

 

good luck I plan to jump my in a few times out of a plane and then tune in of the Terminal Tower

doesn't it seem more logical to take the suit off less technical objects such as Brento or a Terminal Tower? I wouldn't think you could really judge distance covered in skydiving environment...... I do not know everything's tho

Maybe with gps?

This is training for my fjc from Brento...

I've just borrowed a flysight so I'll be using that but curious what to be aiming for in terms of ideal glide ratios, speed etc.

I might think I'm doing great but in reality I'm shit.. get me? Haha

Just looking for averages or an idea of 'good' performance in a tracking suit.

Work on going steep and fast.

If you focus on time in the skydiving environment you'll usually end up too flat and the distance won't happen. Instead just try and go as fast as possible and fine tune from there.

The flysight is a good tool to teach you what good glide "feels" like. You need the headphones though. Be sure to modify the parameters on it for a tracking suit.

Also, I would practice going into dives and flaring out of them. This will give a good feel for the range of your suit. Also, pay attention to your openings as a full track pitch can lead to dipping shoulders, which leads to off headings.

Last summer I bought a PF tracking suit from Valley Base Gear. The dude that sold it to me spent a lot of time talking to me about how the suit works and how to fly it. He emphasized keeping it steep - keeping your head down - to get the best performance. If you take it too flat, (like you would in a skydiving track) it will start to get twitchy.

Super nice guy.
His name was Dan Vicary.

Fly free brother. Thank you.

(Basic PF suit)

Thats awesome Lex. You are doing fantastic with your skills but you need to learn to be comfortable with where you are at Now. If we are comfortable with now, we learn more easily.

You will get better performance when you get to Brento.

If you are sky jumping your new suit now i would recommend front looping, back looping, barrel rolling and learning to fly smoothly out of these. This is a great skill you may need to save your life one day.
Base is not a competition.
Learning to be the fastest tracker sky jumping with your new suit may not save your arse on that shitty exit in the mountain.
Take your time and be super kind to yourself ;)

 
Vertical speed = Horizontal speed.
So if you want distance, you're going to need to sacrifice airtime.

When I started skydiving with a TS, I was going after max time as well, But when you go for time you lose horizontal speed and lose some distance.
Here's one of my best times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExlIwbHxTiY
118 seconds from 13,100'
fall rate ranged from 59-65mph with an avg of 63.
But because of this, I wasn't going very fast horizontally. The distance I covered was roughly 2 miles which means my horizontal speed was only around 50-60mph.

You're going to want to learn how to hall ass forward.
But also get comfortable with flips and backflying in the suit. If you ever tumble on an exit you're going to want to know how to regain control FAST! So do some flips and shit.

So yea, time doesn't mean crap(unless you're just trying to get two skydives for the price of 1 ;p)
Practice flying fast. Fast. And faster.



Oh, and don't forget the flips and shit.

When you skydive the suit, make performance your second goal.

Focus on doing some rolls and front flips. Not that you'd ever need them, but they teach you a lot of awareness and ability to correct for any instability that may happen.

Focus on practicing pull, and doing so in a symmetrical manner that allows fastest pull (not going back into freefall, wasting altitude), while not introducing any instabiltiy.

As others already said, distance wise, work most with trying to feel yourself getting good forward penetration. You can use gizmo's as a guide to learn, but they are by no means a must. And try to not let those gizmo's distract you too much.

Due to the overhung exit at Brento, even a modest track (even without a trackingsuit) allows for enough clearance from the wall to safely open, and the only thing a better track (distance wise) gets you, is a bit more time in freefall due to out tracking steeper parts of the wall/talus.).
All of that is good fun, but the stability drills and being super comfortable in the suit at any angle you may find youself in, is a super important basis you need to have first. Much like driving a car, you dont go full throttle from the start. You first tackle the basics.

For when you do want to play with performance, try and maintain a good angle/pitch to keep forward speed up.
This video is a nice reference, showing Eli Gerris from Belgium with one of his winning tracks at the hungary wingsuit competition (filmed using a small wingsuit). Check the video from +- 1:40 onward. 2:05 shows the pitch angle really well.

The body position itself should be nice and streamlined. Flying your body like a jet, and not trying to grab/cup/push on the relative wind like on RW dives. Its the speed that gets you lift.

But remember that the stability stuff is equally important to work on. And biggest thing, try to have a reference. Another person. A wingsuit pilot chasing/flying with you.
Dont spend every skydive 'planking' in one body position. Be active in your flying and explore the full flight potential/envelope.

Hey, sorry i will not answer your question , i will ask mines: are you going to learn base with a trackpantz???
Is there any base-teacher that will allow you to learn base with a trackpantz( mostly a power ts) ???

What the hell is wrong with slick jumps??
If you know how to track with regular jeans, then you can think using a trackpantz .
Ok ok brento is hight, overhung blah blah .... Will you jump only there??

Don t come with security shit like i need to get away from the cliff , if i am twisted or 180' , this is not right !! You gonna have twist and bad heading also(mostly) with pantz!!

Just go slick this is the réal shit!!!

67 seconds from 13 000ft....
but I like to go steep as fuck and practice diving out of it ;) Normal PF track suit, about 30 jumps total on it so I'm still learning ;)

 
Speed - yes, work on speed and glide.

For skyjumping reference, see the tracking results section in the links below. Look at speed and glide.

http://paralog.net/ppc/showevent_compact.php?event=Z-Hills+Performance+Cup+2014

http://paralog.net/ppc/showevent_compact.php?event=U.S.+Performance+Cup+2013

http://paralog.net/ppc/showevent_compact.php?event=Australian+Wingsuit+Performance+Race+2014

Before jumping your tracking suit from Brento, I would try to do some jumps with it from a balloon with a lot of height. It can be helpful to do a dead-air exit with tracking suit with some safety margin first.

Why?

because

unacceptable answer haha. seriously why are you recommending that? I understand the recommendation to jump wingsuit of a balloon a few times before taking it off an object but I don't understand needing to jump a tracking suit of a balloon before taking it off brento...

if you can jump Brento in jeans then why couldn't you jump it in a tracking suit? is there some serious risk or danger that I'm overlooking here?

Quite simple. Have you ever jumped a tracking suit??

It has obviously much more power than a jeans and thus also more potential to destabilize you while starting to track or to become unstable during the track. So, instead of finding out at Brento with 10s rockdrop (or whatever it was) that you problems to have a decent track or even get unstable with your track suit which you never jumped in dead air before, it might make sense to try that from a balloon with more height.

I am obviously not saying that doing the first tracking suit jump from Brento is "certain death", just "it could be helpful to first jump from a balloon".

because thats how things work, YOU PEASANTS!!!!!!!!

I understand where you're coming from now. You're trying to be very conservative giving advice that's cool.

Going for a first basejump with tracksuit is not the best idea.... But after many jumps or someting like a season of slick jump, a tracksuit can be used without any skydive or ballon. Anyway it is not bad idea anyway to take it from dead air somewhere else than in a basejump.
I beleive in this post the wrong stuff is " FJC WITH TRACKSUIT"

I would disagree that you need a full season of slick jumps to jump a tracking suit because honestly, there aren't a whole lot of very safe slick tracking jumps for a beginner. Until you have your exits fully dialed and feel comfortable in a tracking suit (like the op seems to be trying) it's not a great idea. I 100% agree that a big tracking suit like a pts/tube/sumo does need to be treated with the same respect as a wingsuit because they absolutely are very powerful and can become unstable toward their max. I've seen very experienced base trackers have difficulty flying big track suits in their first attempts. I would put a first BASE jump in a pts in the same category as someone doing their first wingsuit BASE jump in an aura/apache. Sure people get away with it, but it's not a good idea.

..

"I guess the wingsuit analogy works best, even if you are current in a bigger suit it is best to start in small suit to give you more margin on your first few jumps."



Bingo

Ok maybe not a full season, ( but I am sure the cliffs doesnt get more positive since the first tracking gear....)
I did maybe 2 years of slick before tracksuit, and did a lot of safe subterminal and terminal jumps without no problem. The sketchy jumps arrived later.... With track suit.
Someone very humble says once :"they are shitty little wingsuit" this is not true (free arm, free legs no wing...) but it is true if you look to their actual performance.
So it will take more skills: angle of attack , speed, lift bla bla bla
And those skills will be needed as soon as you want to perform in track. And if you want to be far from the cliff, you need to perform....
I am sure their is so much to do before tracksuit/wingsuit. And trust me, I LOVE TO TRACK , but I beleive their is some rules to follow, dicted by logic, to access to fabulous tracking....
My 2cents....

i did a couple years of tracking jumps without a tracking suit...

probably because back then they didn't exist yet though.

now we have so many, it's just another thing to be douchey about and a good way to start more brand wars! yay! i love faceless internet opinions!

Thanks for all the info everyone.

The advice about getting unstable and stable is really good.. I'll definitely try and do some 'flips and shit'.

I definitely noticed in the pts that when trying to flatten out and bring my legs down it was way more twitchy than when I relaxed into it and flew it steeper. It makes sense about steep and fast as opposed to flatter. I'll start working on all of that stuff.

In regards to FJC, I'm not doing my first jump in a tracking suit... or my first 20 for that matter. I want to be current enough in a tracking suit in the sky to give myself the opportunity if it comes up. It will ultimately depend on my skill up there when I'm slick and whether I want to put the suit on (and whether my instructors recommend it or not).

I've also got some balloon jumps lined up too. :)

My FJC isn't for 6 months so this is all stuff I'll be working on up until then.

Again thanks everyone for the advice! Super helpful!

6 Months, ay...
Do I smell Bridge day? ;p

Haha I wish! Maybe next year! I'll be in Europe for the FJC. :)

Europe > Bridge Day

Unfortunately I don't have enough time off work but I'm planning on going next year after Europe and once I have some good jump numbers. :)

good jump numbers for bridge day?

well presumably she wants to do another jump or two thats not at the bridge when she's in the USA ;)

you know after flying thousands and thousands of miles ;)

Being a big crowd at bridge day and lots and lots of jumpers, I just want to be super current and confident. Don't want to get lulled into a false sense of security because there's lots of people jumping.

Slow and steady :)

Perfect Just remember that once you get going

I'll get it tattooed on my forehead

Presume is like assume

what about that spot on your back just above your bottom?

Hahaha, lmao

As others have already said, my opinion is getting 110% comfortable in the suit from a plane is the first step. For me this took about 50 skydives. 5 or 6 jumps to overcome instability, then another 45 dialling my track (or so I thought) and doing flips and shit. I did another 25 or so on top of those for good measure.

I did 12 bridge jumps then 2 slick jumps at Brento before getting in my tracking suit. I felt more comfortable and more stable in my suit than I did on the slick jumps. Also, as you have the ground as a reference, I found very quickly that my tracking performance was shit compared to what I had thought from my skydives. But being 110% comfortable in the suit meant I could concentrate on tracking performance and having some fun :-)

A couple have mentioned instability caused by tracking suits in dead air, I may be a little ignorant and inexperienced (flame on cunts :-)) but aren't tracking suits and clothes pretty much the same thing for the first 2 or 3 seconds anyway (or until suit inflates)?

Yea thats a great idea! If I get it on my back I wont be able to see it and then i can totally ignore my plans to go slow and steady...

Speaking of which... I'm off to buy an Aura Squirrel Suit and take it off a 400 ft antenna. Wish me luck!

You wouldnt have been able to see it on your forhead either.

Well i figured I'll see it in all my photos.

I'm planning on taking heaps of selfies on top of cliffs and antennas to put on facebook. I never actually plan to jump off anything, just to create the illusion you know...

Cool, what colours did you pick for your aura?

Black and khaki green. I want to make as difficult as possible to find me

 assuming people are gonna go looking for you,
Anywho i dont think squirrel do a khaki green.

Hahahaha true dat!