Wingsuit Opinions

[base675]

Where I'm from, it's mostly towers. I'm going to be purchasing a wingsuit in spring. I will be getting training from a local wingsuit flyer and of course, seeking other people's opinion. My goal will be to jump big walls in europe about 9 months after that. So, let's skip the formalities of "how many jumps you have, what's your experience, etc. When I get confortable jumping out of planes with my wingsuit, I'm wondering if tall towers are a possibility. I have jumped in Florida and in down south. One favorite was a 2000 footer. I was surprise how the wind put me almost in to a head down position. So, would jumping a tower not be advisable? Does anyone currently take a wingsuit off of a tower?
Next, i'm looking at many wingsuits, considering a phantom or an acro. Is it neccesary to have the turning and carving abilities of an Acro wingsuit, or are turns subtle enough just for an intermediate wingsuit for walls.
All opinions are welcome.
Let me know.

[d_goldsmith]

Finally a new comment on here.

I figure it would be fine depending on wind obviously. You have 2000 feet, so if you can fly it you won't be anywhere near the antenna. As long as you don't jump a huge head wind (best not to jump a headwind at all probably). I've seen video of DW flying a wing suit off an antenna. Not that that's a reason to do it.

[base_rigger]

For BASE I'd pick the Phantom over the Acro.

Get in touch with James or Robi. They for sure will guide you in the right direction.

[BASE 700]

Yo,
I have about a dozen WS flights mostly from 1500'-2000' A's. I like the tailwind for exit and flight. Make sure you scout your LZ's and plan a flight pattern, with or without turns depending on LZ's, and pull high at first. We don't have cilffs where I live so A's are my favorite.
I started with GTI and its great for learning this stuff.
Enjoy,
700

[KrisFlyz]

Get really comfortable with the deployment in the airplane jumps.

Practice opening in full flight.

Do not rely on your eyes for opening altitude...always err on the safe side for opening altitude.

Kris.

P.S: My choice of wingsuit is a Phantom. Since I am giving 'advise' I have 39 Base jumps and 28 WS BASE jumps(400+ WS airplane jumps), FYI.

[Faber]

Blair i thourght you were too fat to get your arse up in towers theese days or you only take thouse nice elevator rides?

How are ya bro?

I have no clu on the subject(12 slider up jumps on 32xjumps) i flew a classic 2 as i skydived regulary which i thouurght migt be a good beginers suit,but thats a few years back i guess

[Tornolf]

All of my WS BASE jumps are from a 1550' A, around 30 or so with most on a Prodigy and a few on a V2. Be wary of high tailwinds with exits. If they're strong (25+) then you will most likely go head low no matter how good your exit is. When I first jumped my V2 the winds were doing 30+. As soon as I cleared the exit platform (which shields the wind from you till 30ft below the exit point) I immediately felt myself being pushed head low until I was vertical. I had the leg wing completely closed the first few seconds. Another experienced WS jumper observed my exits and said that they were fine and should have stayed head high. I wasn't able to get into a normal flying position until around 5-6 seconds. You will also feel this effect with a small wing suit, but the recovery seemed much easier in the Prodigy than the V2. Another jumper jumped a Prodigy in the same conditions and observed the same thing, but to a lesser degree. We've found that if tailwinds are high and you're in a small wing suit, it's much much easier to just launch a gainer than fight the wind.

With a Prodigy I have no issue getting over 1500+ ft of seperation pulling around 300ft. I'm still learning with the V2 (all of 1 skydive on it ) and am not getting the same distance as the Prodigy. This is probably simply due to my inexperience flying the suit, but I've also noticed it doesn't start flying until 100-200ft later than the Prodigy.

Sorry for not being able to comment on suits other than the V2 and Prodigy, but those are the only ones I have first hand experience with in the BASE environment.