Short Answer: Tracking = No; Free-flying = yes; Angle flying = second-place, podium finish.

One of the most-commonly asked questions from skydivers who want to wingsuit is, you guessed it, “Which skills should I practice while I’m getting to my 200 jumps?”

A common misconception is that tracking is the skill you want. This makes sense though, right? Tracking is like wingsuiting, right? You’re flying forward instead of down, right? The body position is the same, right? To all these, I answer a resounding “No.” Tracking is not like wingsuiting. You might think the forward movement is similar to wingsuiting, but it doesn’t translate well.

This is because tracking is a flat, stiff body position that doesn’t require much actual flying. Tracking is something you learn in AFF, and it is a skill to use when gaining separation from other skydivers. It is well-suited to forward movement, but it doesn’t really give any flying skills.

The answer I always give to this question is “Free-Flying.” People look at me almost stunned, and they question this advice. “How can free-flying help my fly a wingsuit?? Head-down isn’t like wingsuiting at all.” Also, people think spending a bunch of time in the tunnel to get good at free-flying is too expensive, and they would rather spend that time in the sky. Let’s do some math to dispel this notion. Here’s a little mini-lesson on learning in the tunnel.

No shit, there I was… I wanted to learn how to sit fly (still not very good at this btw). I figured I could just practice in the sky until I was good. Cause, that’s how they used to do it back in the day, right?

Assume it will take 100 skydives to learn this skill, 45 seconds of practice per skydive (generous assumption), we get 4,500 seconds, or 75 minutes, or 1.25 hours. If you do 10 jumps per week, it’ll take about 10 weeks. At $25/jump, it’ll cost $2,500 (buy blocks, they’re cheaper) and 10 weeks of time.

If we had gone to the tunnel, we could buy 1.25 hours of time in the tunnel. We could do this in 1 day. We could do this with a 1-on-1 coach. Assuming $700/hour for the tunnel, $3/minute for the coach, we get $1,100. In the tunnel, it costs $1,100 and takes one day; in the sky, it costs $2,500 and takes 10 weeks. Your choice bro…

Back to the topic at hand: prepping for wingsuiting.

The goal of free-flying is flying your body in all orientations. My friend Zoe shared this perspective with me (even tomboys look sexy in dresses btw). Wingsuiting is flying your body. If you can fly your body well, you will be better prepared for flying your body in a wingsuit.

What you do with your arms matters, what you do with your legs matters, what you do with your core matters; head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes (throwback to elementary school). It all matters in a wingsuit. Every part of your body is an input.

When you can fly your body in every orientation, you will have a better sense of how the suit will react when you move each part of your body. Do not be deceived here. You will still need to learn how to fly a wingsuit, even gangsta free-fliers need to learn how to fly the suit. From my observations though, free-fliers pick it up quicker than belly fliers (personal experience speaking here).

Angle flying is a close second on the list. Angle flying is close to free-flying, so that makes sense. Before some free-flier jumps all over me for saying this, all I’m saying is it’s close. Angle flying is not free-flying in the purest sense of the discipline. But them free-fliers get the steepest of angles, just saying.

I wanted to add something else, for support of what I’m saying here. When you order a Squirrel Wingsuit, they ask these questions….

There you have it pre-birds. Free-flying skills are the best thing you can practice to prepare for wingsuiting. And you should do it in the tunnel to save yourself some time and money.

Blue Skies,

WSL