Giving advice

[Steel 0]

I think most people are pretty quick to offer up free advice with the best intentions. However, I don't believe that they truly put enough effort to advise others in their best interests. I will expand on this to explain what I mean.
Sometimes advice is easy to give, it doesn't take much thought. An example of this could be if you know something about bodybuilding and you walk into a gym and see somebody working out with more weight than they can handle (an extremely common site). They are bouncing the bar off their chest, swaying their body to force that rep with the dumbell curl {the dumbell which is obviously to heavy for them to have the proper form}, or maybe they are leg pressing 200 pounds more than they could handle but are flexing their legs 10" less than they should be. In this case, its easy to advise them to lower the weight and work on their form before increasing it again. Or there is the other extreme, the guy who is frustrated that he is making no gains. Upon watching his workout you see he is not even breaking a sweat with the weight, he is exercising with. You can just as easily tell him that he simply needs to increase the weight.
Now lets look at something that is not so simple. Imagine you're into sportbike riding. You have a freind with less experience that is riding with you and he asks you for advice. It appears he is drifting outward on his turns. You know that if he leans slightly more he may solve his problem. But you also know that if he slightly overdoes it he may wipe out and that can be serious. Now you realize its not an easy question to answer. In canopy control this is common as well. You see somebody start their turn to high but you wouldn't dare tell them to turn lower. (atleast not if its your girlfreind, brother, cousin or somebody very close to you) I think in that situation you would stop and think of the possible outcomes of your advice before saying a word. You would probably proceed to advise with extreme caution if and only if you were sure that your advice wouldn't make it worse for them.

If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass.
Can't think of anything I need
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound.
Nothing to eat, no books to read.

[jsaxton 0]

When people ask me for advice, I generally recommend that they give up the sport.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

LOL.

If anyone ever asked ME for advice, I'd ask them to pass the bong...

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[cocheese 0]

Pass the bong. Best advice i heard all day. And don't forget to pour out the water when you're done.
And never buy the cheap can opener. Those things never work.

[turtlespeed 226]

Quote

Pass the bong. Best advice i heard all day. And don't forget to pour out the water when you're done.

And never buy the cheap can opener. Those things never work.

So THAT's what I've been doing wrong. Thanks, I appre4ciate the advice.

Steel - I would cop out on this one and say that the advice of a "Canopy Coach" would be prudent.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[wmw999 2,589]

It's time then to refer them to someone who not only knows the subject matter (e.g. canopy control), but who can also teach effectively. A teacher will understand the likely error modes, and have a way to teach around them.

I'm a pretty good skier. I'm quite possibly the worst ski instructor in the known universe, because I have no idea of how to pass on information in a way that others will know it.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)