peacefuljeffrey 0 #1 February 16, 2004 Heyo, just shouting out my jubilation -- I went head-down today!!! All on my own, after getting reasonably comfortable in my sit. I used the techniques I saw in Virtual Journey (the video and the book). Yeah, I'm sure it was sloppy and ugly and not real stable, but I was fo'-sho' upside down after doing a cartwheel transition! Totally F-in' Awesome!!! Now for a few coaching jumps to work on it some more... Virtual-beers all around for DZ.commers! --Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #2 February 16, 2004 I was reminded this just this last week how important it is to continue to learn new skills and techniques. Myself and another camera flyer were doing some CRW jumps with a team from Canada. I watched the other camera flyer exit and was sort of scared and in awe of his exit technique to capture the CRW guys. He'd do a diving exit and deploy head down while on the hill. Looks totally wrong from just about any way you want to look at it, but after he explained to me how it worked he said I should give it a shot. Now, mind you, I have over 1800 jumps so exiting an airplane stable in just about any position is really no big deal, but the idea of deploying while head down and with a helmet full of cameras did have me in a fairly aware state. In fact, I begged off doing it for a couple of days. However, after a couple of days of watching him do it over and over I did it and added another tool to my bag of tricks. It's not for every jump and in fact not even for every CRW jump, in fact, I probably wouldn't use it for most CRW at all -- just ones with longish spacing and delays, definately not for speed, but damn it's cool and actually useful for what we were doing at the time. Oh, and one more thing, kids, don't try this at home unless you are absolutely and totally confident in your ability to be stable in any position on every exit. Obviously a pilot chute wrapped around your ankle or helmet is a bad thing.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #3 February 16, 2004 Hey, who says you need a boxcutter to pull off a hijacking? Quade, I musta pissed you off something fierce in the gun-threads for you to hop on in here, not congratulate me on my first head-down freefall, and then make a post that has, shall we say, the most tenuous connection to mine... 'Sup, man? --Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #4 February 16, 2004 Quote . . . not congratulate me on my first head-down freefall . . . I'm sorry. I don't recall you buying beer. Seriously, I thought we were talking about new skills and I was totally on topic. BTW, congrats on nailing the head-down thing. I might be able to to do a lot of things, but I still flail quite a bit when head down.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #5 February 16, 2004 I didn't say I didn't flail. Well, maybe I didn't exactly flail, but I sure as hell wouldn't bet that I was graceful. I remember feeling my legs go over one way, and then I sent them back the other way (as I've seen people doing in videos). I can't wait to get some coached jumps done with video, and really get to see what the hell I've been doing in my sits and head-downs. And um, just to clarify, I really was fishing for "way to gos" when I started this thread, not "Oh, hey, how about this other skill one can learn?"... I don't beg for compliments and attention too often, but head-down is a fair one. I notice you did not say that I didn't piss you off with the gun threads... --Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #6 February 16, 2004 Believe it or not, it's actually pretty tough to piss me off. For starters, it's usually not worth it to me to actually be pissed off. I may sound like it sometimes on-line but mostly that's just for effect (or possibly due to misinterpretation by others), but the reality is that I only really get pissed off thesedays when I've been screwed over or my life placed in jeopardy and I try not to let either one happen very often. If anyone wants to call me names on-line -- freekin' go ahead. Because of my status here, I know I can always have the absolute last word if I really want to. I have yet to use that power for my own purposes because I think it's really a pointless exercise anyway. BTW, I do NOT recommend calling anyone else on dropzone.com any names since I will defend them almost instantly (or as soon as I wake up and realize what's happening). Anyway, the point of this little side bar is to let you know that in no way do I hold a grudge to anyone that I've ever argued with on-line. I prefer to think of on-line arguments as logical arguments and not emotional ones. If A+B=C, then C-A=B. When people start taking things personally and believing that I hate them because they like GWB and I don't like GWB therefore I must not them as well, then, we all need to step back and really look at things differently. Same with any of the "hot" topics here and I'd wager a guess it's the same with most skydivers here as well. Folks are having a bit of fun arguing with the good Professor over in the gun threads right now, but they'd be freekin' idiots to hold it against him and not skydive with him at a drop zone because of it. First of all, he's a really interesting guy to get to know -- that's worth a heck of a lot more than any grudge over some interpretation of the semantics of the 2nd Amendment -- at least for the time we spend at the dz.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
