NeedToJump

There are people with the rating who cannot even do that... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

No, but it's been discussed... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

This is a good drill for learning to be able to fly while using your arms for grips, however you still may be driving forward or back sliding. The next step up from this would be to have someone else in the air present a grip. You take the grip, turn 180 while still holding the grip, switch the grip to the other hand and turn 180 back to face them. Basically you would pass their hand from one of your hands to the other. After that both flyers would do it at the same time. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Agreed Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Do a search in this forum for posts by Ron, he's posted a ton of great 4-way and team information up here. Also click on the "Airspeed Articles" link at the top of this forum. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

So that's why he's not around to help split my tunnel time with me this weekend! Chromy is a great coach, I'm sure you guys will get a ton out of having him up there. You should ask him to bring some biltung (no idea how to spell it but it's basically South African jerky) up for you guys, he's great at making that too! Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Huh? I'm not sure how you're thinking of competing without needing to fly a slot or without a structure. Freeflying has randoms and blocks just like RW does. The free rounds in freeflying allow you to do whatever you like, but you and your teammate(s) still need to practice the same routine over and over so you can do it well. Freeflying and RW can both have as much or as little structure as you want depending on what you want to do with them. If you want to jump out with 5 other people all belly flying and just fly around and not have any structure then you can do that. Similarly if I want to go out with another freeflyer and do a double spock, vice-versa, double joker reverse, soles and try to get as many points as possible I can do that as well. There's no rules about how much structure one needs when flying in a particular orientation. edit to add this link about the freefly divepool: http://home.tiscali.be/breadhead/freefly_divepool_2003.pdf Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

When taking grips in a sit you need to compensate with the arm not taking a grip. Basically if you were to take a grip with your left hand then you'd need to move your right arm back as you move your left arm forward. Leaning back slightly will help this as well. You can also try digging your heels into the air a bit for some added pressure on the wind. The best way to practice taking grips is to go up with a good freeflyer and have that person hold a base and present a grip for you. The other really good way to practice is in a wind tunnel where you can break the move down. You can stand on the net and take grips so you can feel out just the uppder body. Then you can practice it in a sitfly position with your feet still on the net. Finally you can practice it flying off the net. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I agree with everything that has been said here already, however to answer the question about the minimum skill level needed to be a coach - very low. There are people with the USPA coach rating that have absolutely nothing to offer to anyone with more jumps than them and would be very dangerous to people with less. I know people with a coach rating who are absolutely horrible flyers and I feel would be a danger to anyone in the air. Trust me, you don't want to be like that... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Is anyone in the zhills area planning on going to the tunnel or DeLand sometime before Friday? A friend of mine has a rig at Wings and is leaving Friday afternoon, just wondering if someone would be able to bring it out this way. Thanks

One thing about that site - it says that Skyventure in Orlando, FL is 11ft and 120 mph. I believe that it's actually 11.5 feet at the narrowest and 12ft at the widest (it's not a circle.) It also does more than 120mph, I don't know what the max is but I've been in there at 140mph. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I've seen people in there with "fake rigs" on, mostly AFF students so they can do practice pulls. Personally I wouldn't want to fly in there with one because I'd rather fly my body (and my suit...) I like being aware of the wind of my back when I'm in the tunnel. There are different ways of freeflying in the tunnel - you can fly for the tunnel or you can use it as a tool for training your air flying. I do both but am more leaning towards the latter. The way that I sit fly in the tunnel is exactly the same way I sit fly in the air. The only difference between my HD flying in and out of the tunnel is that I huse a much bigger (slower) body position in the tunnel but the way I do everything is the same. I personally feel that it's better to fly in there without a rig so you can learn to fly with every part of your body. Depending how you approach tunnel flying there is very little difference between the way you fly in and out of the tunnel. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

I have a Cypres it my main rig and no AAD in my other one. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Hey Ian, I'll throw my thoughts into this and I'll talk about my personal experiences. As I've said on these forums I was one of those 200-jump wonders who got really lucky. For me it was definitely ego and thinking that I was special. I'd shop around until I got the answer I was looking for. It wasn't that I thought anyone else was trying to hold me back, it's that I thought that I could progress faster than they though I could. Billvon's post describes my progression perfectly As this point I've learned to throw out the ego and be humble and actually listen to the advice given to me and I've become much safer and learned a lot faster. I am ALWAYS asking questions to the more experienced jumpers around (which is easy because there's a lot of them down here.) I see people who are in the mindset that I had making all the same mistakes and being spoken to by some of the best skydivers in the world and still blowing off the advice. What can we say to actually get through to them before their luck runs out? Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

You can kill yourself under any canopy. The smaller / higher loaded / more aggressive it is the easier it is to do. Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

You were looking good in there! Next time we'll work on getting you off the net

I guess you didn't see that it's in my sig line then, huh? Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

Happy Birthday Jerm

Right on Paige! It was definitely fun jumping on your birthday jump and having you come down and play with us in the tunnel. I can't believe it, I don't think you smacked into the walls once! We'll definitely be ready for that wrath..

The tunnel ROCKS!

The air isn't the best place to try to work that out, especially on a 7 since you want to cog... I'd say go up and play with some 2-way drills and have her do really slow eyes closed turns focusing on keeping her body straight and turning on her center point. She should open her eyes after turning 360 and assess where she is. I think having her build confidence in not needing the eye contact is key, that and more tunnel time When's your next tunnel trip? Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

It definitely does sound crazy, but its physics. I can't properly explain it in physics terms , but it makes sense in my mind... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

LOL, thanks for the approval Ron Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

One of the problems with keeping very strong eye contact is that the head switch can throw off your turn. Say that you can keep eye contact until 135 degrees and then pick it back up again at 225 degrees (45 degrees before and after the 180 point.) If you are doing a really fast turn you are going to have to do the head switch very quickly. I believe the average human head weight 9 - 11 lbs. Moving that much mass that quickly is going to add its own momentum into the turn and change the rotation of the turn. Watch your own tunnel videos in slow motion when it looks like you are not doing a center turn (360 or more.) It is very common to see the first 180 or so on the center point and then the rest of the turn around the chest as the head switch occurs. For learning purposes it is much better to be able to keep your head straight in front of you (lose all eye contact once you start the turn) with either your eyes open or closed and be able to turn in place. You have to be able to trust yourself to do a turn in place. Once these are happening then you can add the eye contact back in with a gentle head switch. Tunnel is the best way to practice it. Solos can help you get used to the feel of not making a head switch but you have no reference as to whether you are turning on center or not. During 4-way you want to keep eye contact so you can stay close to the group. Also the formation could be moving so again you would not have proper references. Hope this helps

At somewhere around 200 I went to a Stiletto 135 loaded at 1.25 Hell no! I am definitely lucky to have lived a few times... Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com