Slow fall rate

[mww115 0]

Bought a perfect Tonysuit. Love it. The pattern, the fit. Problem is it is slow and I'm above everyone in RW, despite a mean arch.
Besides a weight belt, any other ideas?

Mike

Until you've stepped out at 800' in the dead of night with 100 lbs of chute and equipment.. you haven't jumped. AIRBORNE !

[Amazon 7]

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Besides a weight belt, any other ideas?

McDonalds, Burger King... Pizza.. lots o f beer... Donuts.... you get the idea


Jeanne

[grega 0]

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Besides a weight belt, any other ideas?

McDonalds, Burger King... Pizza.. lots o f beer... Donuts.... you get the idea


Jeanne

You forgot to add lots of TV wathcing and remote control is a must !

"George just lucky i guess!"

[happythoughts 0]

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despite a mean arch.

Here's the problem, you arch down to be level with the group, then you reach out to take grips... you pop back up.

Even if you don't pop up, you will be unstable because your feet will be washing back and forth creating havoc to the sides of you. You will see it on video easily.

Get some weight. You want to be in the middle of your range when turning points. That way you can go up and down and be more reactive.

[WrongWay 0]

I didn't look at your jump numbers, but I'm going to explain this as if you were a newbie. I see a lot of newbie jumpers come out to the dz and have this "I'm too floaty" problem. Hell, I had the same problem!!

The key to going fast on your belly, (IMHO, this is how I do it, but then again, I'm a freeflyer), besides that mean arch, is relaxation. In the sky, conciously take a deep breath in, and let it all out, letting all your limbs go limp. You'll speed up with the others with no problem at all.

Hope I helped!!

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[Emma 0]

Hi,
It's not just about arching, it's also about body position. It depends if you fly boxman or mantis (ish). A lot of slow-fallers I know who were trained in the box (scourge of RW) tried to go faster by moving their arms further and further back. This isn't very effective in increasing your fall rate and crap when you want to take grips.

Make sure your suit fits tightly, is made of fast-fall material, get some coaching in a good mantis position and learn how to increase fallrate by bringing your arms IN instead of trying to push them further back.

Make sure your weight belt is around your waist and not on your chest, and don't be scared to load up on lead - most of the top teams have at least a few members who wear lead. I wear around 21lbs in the tunnel.

:)

[flyangel2 2]

What kind of material is the suit made from?
What is your weight?
How baggy is the suit? (meaning, how much extra material in the sleeves and under the arms?)
Besides being a Tony suit, what kind is it? (comp suit?)
Booties?

Need to know a little more information to give you a better answer.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Blahr 0]

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Besides a weight belt, any other ideas?

McDonalds, Burger King... Pizza.. lots o f beer... Donuts.... you get the idea
Jeanne

This sounds funny but the idea is sound.
I fall fast. Not because I'm fat, but because I am a bodybuilder. Lot of muscle.
This means basically higher density. More mass packed into nearly the same volume.

The junk food idea isnt quite as good because you gain a lot more size by getting fat than you do adding muscle. Added size means added friction, which DECREASES the benefit of gaining mass.

Of course adding fat is far easier and can feed the need for instant gratification
for those of us that love to eat :-)
But then this thread isnt about that. Its about falling faster :-)

This makes adding muscle the far better solution.

Same amount of air resistance as any other 5' 11" guy but I'm heavier so I fall faster.

Put on some muscle. Not only will you fall faster, but you will feel better, look better, be stronger and healthier, have quicker reflexes, and be more resistant to injuries.

Its a win/win/win/win proposition.

Oh yeah, you have to work hard too.
Dammit! There just HAS to be a downside to everything, doesnt there?

[darkwing 5]

Without getting into the construction details of your jumpsuit, it is often possible to alter a suit to make it faster. Check with Tony.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[mww115 0]

So it's a Comp suit with spandex lower arms. The front is NOT ripstop nylon, but thicker; not so slick. When I was at Richmond I was told I was a quick faller and went with a slower fabric.
BLAHR. I'm in the gym 3-4 times a week and am weighing in at 165 for 5'9".
EMMA. I am a traditionalist and I'm sure adopting the mantis would help.

Thanks guys. And I'll drop tony a line darkwing. Thanks,

Mike

Until you've stepped out at 800' in the dead of night with 100 lbs of chute and equipment.. you haven't jumped. AIRBORNE !

[jsaxton 0]

you can get them to sew some ZP on the chest.

[mr2mk1g 10]

on the outside though, not the inside.

sewing it on the inside is a common way of slowing yourself down... i have it in the front of my suit.

[flyangel2 2]

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The front is NOT ripstop nylon, but thicker; not so slick. When I was at Richmond I was told I was a quick faller and went with a slower fabric.

Okay, now this is where it gets hard to give you advise if I've never jumped with you. You said in an earlier post that you were falling too slowly, and then another jumper jumped with you and said that you fall too fast. I think having different people to jump with to get a better idea will help you. I wouldn’t depend on one person to tell you your fall rate. I know it's been said over and over, but body position will also help. Jump with someone that has more experience than you and do some fall rate drill dives. Yes, jumpsuits help with fall rate, but body position is the bottom line.
I hope it works out for you.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[mww115 0]

Stupid question of the week follows: Do formations fall QUICKER or SLOWER? Cause I can't get back to those either. But I'm trying to figure if the formation falls quicker then the individual, or the individual quicker than the formation. Either way, I'm above both.
And Tony said $60 to cover the front with ZP. Thanks.
Mike

Until you've stepped out at 800' in the dead of night with 100 lbs of chute and equipment.. you haven't jumped. AIRBORNE !

[billvon 3,090]

>Stupid question of the week follows: Do formations fall QUICKER or SLOWER?

Dense formations generally fall more slowly than a solo jumper. A well designed formation falls a _little_ slower but not by much.

[Remster 30]

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>Stupid question of the week follows: Do formations fall QUICKER or SLOWER?

Dense formations generally fall more slowly than a solo jumper. A well designed formation falls a _little_ slower but not by much.

But in real world terms, with most casual fun jumps, formations will always significantly slow down, mostly because people stop to fly and just hang on....

Remster

[flyangel2 2]

I still suggest getting with someone that knows what they are doing when it comes to fall rate. To me it sounds like it's just more than the jumpsuit. Just as a more experienced jumper to go up with you, cover their slot, and have them do a fall rate drill dive. If you can also cover the cost of video that would help.
Good luck

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[kallend 2,118]

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>Stupid question of the week follows: Do formations fall QUICKER or SLOWER?

Dense formations generally fall more slowly than a solo jumper. A well designed formation falls a _little_ slower but not by much.

But in real world terms, with most casual fun jumps, formations will always significantly slow down, mostly because people stop to fly and just hang on....

Formations fall slower because of a phenomenon called "interference drag". The "hanging on" explanation is popular with organizers, however. They don't blame the people in the base because their body position has been constant, so it has to be the people who just docked, right? BOGUS!

Even flying close to a formation (or another jumper) without taking grips will slow the fall rate due to interference drag. As Bill said, formation designs that leave a lot of space between jumpers are less susceptible to slowing down; this is because they have less interference drag. Or could it be that the last jumpers to dock just fly their slots better on open formations?


Physics strikes again.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[happythoughts 0]

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In the sky, conciously take a deep breath in, and let it all out, letting all your limbs go limp. You'll speed up with the others with no problem at all.

Actually, there is one problem with the body position that you described, taking grips. The whole point of getting down to them is to take grips. Once you reach out, you pop up in a hurry.

I was asked to jump with a very floaty girl and advise her. She was tall, thin, and very limber. She could arch into a U. However, when she reached out for grips, she would flatten and zoom...

When we landed, she felt embarrassed. I told her that she didn't understand what was going on. I told her to add 8 lbs of weight and we would repeat the dive. She did, no problem.

Flying using the mantis will cause people to shift their center of gravity back and spill more air, but it will not solve the problem.

A good friend of mine weighs 105 lbs and wears a skin tight suit and 17 lbs of lead. Without the lead, she would never show up.