Looking Back: Five Years After Red Bull Stratos

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<p><a href=”https://www.facebook.com/notes/velocity-sports-equipment/velocity-sportsinfinity-containers-builds-world-class-rig-for-jump-from-outer-sp/126044614093858″>Velocity Sports/Infinity Containers Builds World Class Rig for Jump from Outer Space!</a></p>
<p>Sky diving from 120,000 feet<br>
<br>
Sunriver company playing role in world-record sky diving attempt<br>
<br>
“Fearless Felix” Baumgartner, an Austrian sky diver, will attempt to<br>
<span class=”text_exposed_show”>jump from more than 120,000 feet this summer, breaking the world record<br>
and the speed of sound. If he succeeds, it could mean fame and glory for<br>
Velocity Sports Equipment, the small but fast-growing company in<br>
Sunriver that is making his harness.<br>
<br>
The jump is being sponsored by Red Bull, which has branded it “Red Bull<br>
Stratos.” Velocity is one of several companies contracted to build<br>
different parts of the project – the hot air balloon, the parachute, the<br>
electronic monitoring and recording equipment and the capsule from which<br>
the sky diver will jump at nearly 23 miles above the ground.<br>
<br>
Kelly Farrington, Velocity’s founder and president, says he got the job<br>
because his cousin, Luke Aikins, another sky diver, is a consultant on<br>
the Stratos project. Aikins steered Red Bull to Velocity after problems<br>
arose with another company that was originally supposed to build the<br>
harness.<br>
<br>
Velocity builds harness and container systems for recreational sky<br>
diving – “pretty much everything but the parachute,” Farrington said. He<br>
started out about 12 years ago in Washington state, where he spent his<br>
adolescence at his aunt and uncle’s sky diving center. He moved back to<br>
Central Oregon, where he was born, at the end of 2006 “for the climate,”<br>
he said.<br>
<br>
Farrington and six employees design and sew harnesses, or “rigs,” in a<br>
shop behind his house in Sunriver. The rigs cost between $1,800 and<br>
$3,000 each and Velocity usually sells about 300 a year.<br>
<br>
Farrington has been working on the Stratos rig for about 200 hours over<br>
a year and he says it’s between 90 and 99 percent done.<br>
<br>
The Stratos system is similar to the custom rigs Velocity usually<br>
builds, but with a few modifications.<br>
<br>
The Stratos rig has to have extra pockets for oxygen bottles and<br>
electronics, and be sized to fit snugly around Baumgartner even as his<br>
pressurized suit deflates during the fall.<br>
<br>
The Stratos rig also includes a unique emergency parachute called a<br>
drogue that will deploy to slow Baumgartner if he falls too fast. The<br>
plan is for Baumgartner to break the speed of sound at 690 miles per<br>
hour in high altitude, but he could lose control of his descent if he<br>
goes much faster.<br>
<br>
If Baumgartner falls too fast and the drogue parachute deploys, some<br>
will say the jump wasn’t a true free fall. That’s one of many small<br>
things that could go wrong, causing him to have to abort the jump or<br>
miss the record – his helmet could fog over, for example, or he might<br>
start turning forward flips and be unable to stop.<br>
<br>
But the great fear is that something fatal could go wrong – a tangled<br>
cord, a loss of oxygen or a drastic change in pressure.<br>
<br>
There’s not much that can go wrong with the harness, though. Farrington<br>
says if something awful happens, it won’t have anything to do with<br>
Velocity’s rig – it would most likely to be due to the shock waves<br>
created at transonic speeds.<br>
<br>
“My main concern is going to be with the shock waves when he actually<br>
goes supersonic,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of effect the shock<br>
waves are going to have on different parts of his suit that are flapping<br>
in the wind. … The worst thing is that his pressure suit would get<br>
damaged and he’d lose all the air pressure in the suit that’s keeping<br>
him alive.”<br>
<br>
The project has already brought attention to the small company.<br>
Farrington has gotten several inquiries from people who heard about<br>
Velocity because of the project. And it could be the reason the company<br>
got a sudden rush of orders this year.<br>
<br>
“We just had an explosion of orders starting around the middle of<br>
February,” he said. “In the beginning of February, we were kind of<br>
twiddling our thumbs wondering what we were going to do. Now we’re<br>
sitting on about a six-month backlog.”<br>
<br>
If Baumgartner breaks the record, it would give Velocity more<br>
credibility in the industry, Farrington said.<br>
<br>
But if Baumgartner fails – or worse, if he dies – it could temporarily<br>
associate Velocity’s excellent name with tragedy, even though its<br>
harness is highly unlikely to be the cause and its involvement has been<br>
behind the scenes. Velocity is mentioned on the website for the Stratos<br>
project, <a href=”http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.redbullstratos.com%2F&amp;h=eAQFpO7Th&amp;s=1″ rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>www.redbullstratos.com</a>, but not in any of the mainstream coverage.<br>
<br>
Baumgartner will attempt the Stratos jump this summer, Red Bull has<br>
said, but no specific date or place has been set.<br>
<br>
In the meantime, Farrington has plenty of work to keep his mind off the<br>
“what ifs.” He hired three new employees, who are working to get the<br>
backlog of orders closer to the usual six-week wait. And he and his wife<br>
just had their first baby in April.<br>
<br>
But like millions of others this summer, he’ll be holding his breath<br>
when “Fearless Felix” jumps.<br>
<br>
Adrianne Jeffries can be reached at 541-633-2117 or at<br>
ajeffries@bendbulletin.com. </span></p>
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