This article is dedicated to all those who send it before knowing how it should be sent. In wingsuiting, and in life, we do things before we know how to do them. If we want to be good at something, we must allow ourselves to be bad at it first. This is the humility, courage, and patience that training requires.

We begin with a goal in mind.

Our goal can be whatever we decide. Some of us want to carve head-down around a tandem to get sick outside video for the tandem; some of us simply want to maintain a formation slot; and some of us want to be able to do everything this suit can do, more than what is “possible” today.

Put this in your mind: One Thousand (1,000). That is the number of repetitions it will take to get good at something in a wingsuit. Personally, I believe a thousand might be too little, but to many, it appears an impossible feat. Just keep going and be patient with yourself.

There are many books dedicated to how we train, practice, and learn. A common thread through the writings is a concept called deliberate practice. We aren’t just flying the suit in already known configurations, we are pushing the limits, expanding what’s possible. The idea being, if we never do the thing, we will never be able to do it. We must allow ourselves permission to be bad at something. We must accept that we are bad at it. We must proclaim from the mountaintops, “I don’t know how to do this! But I’m doing it because I want to know how.” We learn by doing. Reading all the articles and books only prepares us so far. I can’t tell you how your knees will react during a barrel roll; you must do a barrel roll and review what happened to know what happened. Then we can fix things.

We know where we want to be, but we sometimes forget to realistically assess where we are. This results in wasted training time. We need a map to get from where we are to where we want to be. First step though, determine where we are. Then, we figure a path to get there. Finally, we start down that path, and keep going.

I support the Full Send. I don’t care if you “can’t do it.” Do it anyways. Be bad at it. That’s how we get good at it.

Learning is an emotional process, filled with ups and downs. We want to be better. Wingsuiting is more fun the better we become. Safety goes up with knowledge. The sendy-ness goes through the roof when we have the skills. The skill development will test your patience and your resolve. There is always someone better than us. We must not let ourselves get distracted or depressed by slow progress. This is particularly evident when we see our friends excelling at things with relative ease that are much more difficult to learn for ourselves.

We’ll wrap this up with a message of hope for the future. We’re all getting older each year, and there are more new wingsuiters than there are veteran wingsuiters. These new folks will be better than we are, and probably in less time too (just a little salt for the wound lol). This doesn’t matter. We are here for ourselves and others. We share freely that which was shared with us. We encourage the baby birds to leave the nest. As we help others improve, we likewise improve. It’s a vicious upward spiral of skills! We all get better, share memories, and fly the fucking skies together. If MLK Jr. had a wingsuit dream, “I have a dream that one day baby birds and big birds will fly together. I have a dream that my children will one day fly in a sky where they will not be judged by the size of their suit but by the content of their skillset.”

That could keep going, but we get the point.

Keep it Full Send, no matter the skills my bird friends.

Blue Skies,

-WSL