exit and fall rate problems

[freefalle 0]

okay, Im starting to get frustrated and I could use some advice. Im usually jumping from a twin otter, and exiting from the camera step. On climb out I reach out grab the handle with my right hand, put my right foot as far back on the step as I can, then I grab the handle with my left hand.then I put my left foot out on the step in front of my right. my knees are slightly bent. I try to leave at the same time as the person Im filming. I try to keep my eye on the subject, and just kinda fall away from the side of the plane keeping my legs straight. it seems to me that Im falling away from the people Im filming. Should I be leaving later? 95% of the time I end up well below the people Im filming so I have to flip to my back to try to get the film. Im alot larger than most of the people Im filming (6'2 225 lbs). Im not jumping with a camera suit yet (still waiting on it to come in) is there anything else I can do to slow down enough to stay above or on level with my subjects, is my camera suit going to fix the problem? what is the best technique for exits (Im primarly filming solos or 2 ways right now) I eventually want to start filming tandems and 4 ways. Im frustrated I feel like no matter what I try I cant stay with the smaller people Im filming any advice would be appreicated. thanks!

[quade 4]

Hey, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it!
It's also not always going to be your fault, but since you don't have your camera suit yet -- yeah, it kind of is. Later you can blame things like the exit count, but since you're not bringing all the required tools to the workshop -- yeah, it's you.
Until your camera suit comes in, you could always trail the exit -- leave {just} after they do.
If you imagine the formation presenting out of the airplane on exit like the face of a clock with the airplane at the 12 O'clock position -- then right now you're in the 6 O'clock position but well below them. This isn't a bad place to be, but it's awfully difficult to deal with consistantly and a big guy without a wing suit makes it very difficult.
Just place your body from the 12 to 3 and you'll be doing ok. As you move toward 4 and 5, you stand a huge chance of whacking them on exit.
Obviously, even this takes a bit of practice.
If you're not wearing a camera suit, then what are you wearing?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[freefalle 0]

thanks for the reply, right now, Im just wearing my free fly suit. its a little baggy but not huge. I ordered a camera suit back in Feb. from Merlin but they are so backed up its projected manufacture dates isnt until the 24th of April. with any luck it will be sooner.... well see

[freeflyanvil 0]

>As you move toward 4 and 5, you stand a huge >chance of whacking them on exit.

I might have done this once or twice

Vid
"stons fal, evrysing fals, but doesnt on purpos change its flite pas an positioning..."

[quade 4]

If you've never whacked a team on exit, then ya ain't tryin' hard enough.
Happens to EVERYBODY if they do it frequently enough or long enough. Happens to very experienced camera flyers rarely, but it still does happen.
Oh, and don't try to get on the 7 or 8 o'clock side of things . . . that will definately up the odds of whackage.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Deuce 1]

Freefalle, I don't think you have enough jumps to be dogging yourself about this. Your profile shows you have a hundred and change. That is a lot of jumps in general, but probably not enough to have the instinctive skills to start charging people for product.

(Geez, that Deuce guy is a prick!)

That said, a wingsuit exit is really different from a freefly suit exit. Just for the record, I fly a Tony RW suit , a Tony D-wing camera suit, and a Bomber FF suit. Now that I think about it, I've never been relative to a tandem without my wings....

Anyhow, exiting with a tandem is like doing a unlinked RW exit with a really big fat guy wearing a tight rubber suit. Practice some more of that to get those good close exits.

You describe your exits as having your left foot on the step, and trailing your right foot, left arm forward, right arm trailing. My experience with this position on the Otter is that when you release, you're in dead air right below the fuselage. I would drop through that dead air like a trapdoor and the team would have exited into relative wind and I'd be below them. I call my hardest track a cramp-track, cause when you're tracking that hard you get cramps in your ass-thighs-calves-and feet. Anyhow I'd cramp-track back up over them and sometimes miss that first point on the hill.

So maybe try trailing your left foot, don't release until the shoulders of the inside person or the tandem master have cleared the door and get into the relative wind.

Before you do any of that, though, read the stuff on Q's website about exits. It's the best stuff out there.

I also had a good thread a while back asking advice about filming 4 way. Find it. Good stuff.

Fly well!

JP

[Rdutch 0]

Find me at the dz, we'll talk there.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[freefalle 0]

duece,
Im not charging anthing for my films Im just learning and by no means have enough skill to be good enough to charge anyone, but hey we all gotta start someplace. for now Im praticing ALOT.

Ray, I should be at the DZ hopefully Ill be able to catch up with you there any help would be appreicated.

You were right about merlin, the production date for my wing suit is the 24TH of april...

[Deuce 1]

freefalle, that's why I called myself a jerk for you. Learning is TOUGH. Even when you think you've got it licked you'll hose an exit. Have you ever had the opportunity to lurk somebody who's good? Watching somebody else do it really has helped me a lot. Letting the other camera fliers know you want to be "just like them" never hurts either.

Take Rdutch up on his offer. See if you can front-float an exit and watch how the good ones enter the relative wind.

You're going to be fine. You're open to criticism and you listen.

[freefalle 0]

thanks for the engouragement deuce

Im going to try to get Ray to work with me. Im really looking forward to my Camera suit getting here too I think (hope) it will make things easier for me.

Theres always a great wealth of informaiton in this forum.

[Deuce 1]

Chuck, if you haven't read this: http://futurecam.com/first4wayTeam.html

Read it! I haven't seen a better explanation in print.

Thanks Quade!

Edit: Chuck this was the Q-dog's answer to my question just about like yours. It satisfied Q's "give back" quota for quite a while.