Wear and Care For Your Skimmer Suit

All skimmer suits can be machine washed in cold water with a mild detergent. Line dry your suit as it is made of nylon and will only fit your cat if you put it in the dryer. The RW suits should be stored with the grippers unbent to prevent unwanted shaping of the gripper. Any suits with tye dye should be washed alone.

Checking the Fit of Your Booties

If you have purchased an RW suit with booties here is how to check the fit of the booties. Put the suit on with the shoes you wear while skydiving. You should be able to put your suit on while wearing your shoes, pulling the bootie over the toe of your shoes after you have the suit on may tear the foot cup. Make sure your foot is all the way forward into the foot cup. Your booties will look loose while standing straight up, as will the torso (remember you will use this while arching, not while standing and looking down).  Putting on a rig will help ensure the booties fit correctly. Lay down on the floor and arch, the booties should tighten from knee to toe as you bend your leg toward 90degrees - point your toes to pull the bootie taut. If you can’t point your toes or your toes are being pulled down the booties are too tight. If your feet completely straighten out, then they are too long. The goal is with a good arch, and knees bent to not quite a right angle, you can point your toes to just past a right angle and the booties snap taut.

Flying Your Booties

If the fit is right and you are having troubles with them in freefall you may need to adjust your body position and put some downward pressure in the toes, you should try to feel a lot more pressure from the new booties than you are used to without booties. If you don’t press on the air, then your booties might flap or feel loose, they need to catch the air smoothly (like a boat sail) and stay pressurized, keep them in the wind and resist bending your knees and “hiding” them from the air above your thighs. Avoid “bouncing” them in and out of the air stream (happy feet), press on the air (straighten the knees slightly more) and hold them in the wind. It’ll take more than one jump to get the hang of the booties if you haven’t jumped with booties before. Fly the booties don’t let them fly you!

Things To Know