Sky Diving Gear

Flying though the air is obviously a pretty specialised activity and, as you would expect, there is some very specialised gear to go with it. Let's take a look at the kind of gear you might want to invest in should you really get into skydiving seriously:

• Parachutes - Come in two types - Mains and reserves. Different branches of the sport have different shaped and sized parachutes from larger to smaller and round to rectangular shaped.
• Altimeters - Tell you what your altitude is so that you know exactly when to deploy your parachute for a safe landing. As well as durable, waterproof models with easy to read LED or digital displays, many altimeters communicate your altitude audibly and are designed to be worn inside protective helmets close to your ears.
• Freefall computers - Go one better than altimeters, logging your descent times, acceleration, distance traveled and a host of other information. This is invaluable to the dedicated skydiver set on logging and improving the performance of each new jump.
• Skydiving helmets - Designed to keep your head warm and safe from injury. Specialised helmets are ergonomically designed to reduce drag and may have ear vents so that you can hear verbal commands from other skydivers. Some helmets come 'camera ready' should a camera need to be strapped on at any point. Flip-up visors made with anti-fog technology improve visibility, vital when you are hurtling through the clouds at terminal velocity.
• Skydiving Goggles - Designed to be airtight and protect your eyes from the wind, sun and airborne particles as you make your descent towards earth.
• Skydiving Clothing - Focus on keeping you warm, aerodynamic and usually, highly visible. Skydiving clothing comes in a range of styles specifically suited to the type of sky diving to be undertaken. Thus there are camera suits, freefall pants, formation skydiving suits not to mention birdman suits etc.