OzoneJunkie

http://www.ertdfgcvb.ch/p1/fly_2_loader.html EDIT: heheh, yeah. uhm. [ u ][ /u ] is not the same as [ url ][ /url ]. Wake up, ozone.

Keep in mind here that harness fit is extremely important - more than you might think. I had a containter that I bought off the shelf, and the harness was a bit too small for me. The rig itself (a vector 3) is extremely freefly friendly. But, since the harness was too small for me, any time I'd raise my shoulders, it would put tension along the risers, and would occasionally open a riser cover. Now, the V3 risers covers are very good. I spoke with Vector about the issue, and they agreed that it was a harness/fit issue. In fact, they had seen this type of problem before, not just on their rigs. I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with the rig before I sold it, so I sent it to Relative Workshop first. They said the rig was fine. I sold it to a smaller person, and they did not report any problems or issues. I have a Mirage G3 now, and love it. They start out a bit stuff, at first, but once they're broken in a bit, they're very comfy, to me. Our team almost got a rig sponsorship (from another manufacturer) at one point, and (I'm glad we didn't) I was extremely hesitant to stop jumping my mirage.

Me and my skybro's are addicted to Red Bull. But for me, it's the taste. I get a tiny kick, but it doesn't keep me awake, that's for sure. For that, really, Mountain Dew does the trick. RB is like a quick spike, where as MD is like a wave of that you gotta ride a bit before you get off. Anyone else drink a dew, go to bed and fall asleep, only to awaken about an hour later, and stare into darkness for the next 3 hours??

Again, the purpose of describing that little exercise, resulting in your toes forward, was to help stop that bow-legged type of headdown flying. It's very common, because when you first learn to fly headdown - the main thing you're concentrating on is balancing, and often the adjustments that you make are drastic, coming from the hips. As sssbc99 points out, flying this way often reduces a large part of the flying surface of your legs - namely the lower part of your legs. That's not to say that you can't fly toes out and legs straight. It's just that if you're bow-legged, then often your lower legs are out of the equation. Now, as far as toes forward versus toes at a 45 degree angle being more or less aerodynamic - well, there is NOT a lot of difference here - so I'm not going to say "better" or "worse". What I will say is, 45 AND toes forward are both better, to me, than toes rotated completely out. Why? It's pretty meaningless when you're flying straight down, doing nothing. Strike a disco pose, for all I care. But, when it's time to do something, you want to be able to use your legs efficiently. And this means, using them in a way that benefits the goal you're trying to accomplish. I know, before I make a move, what the goal of my legs are, before I make that move - be it forward/backward motion, sidesliding, docking on a hd formation, docking on a sit (may be slower fallrate) formation, etc. Not that I really need to think about it anymore (here's where, once you're comfy with something, you tend NOT to go through the mental process of what needs to get done). So, to me and my teammates, we feel that the best neutral position is one that allows us to go into a desired leg position with minimum amount of movement, and widest range of motion. Economy and efficiency of motion. So, sometimes I will have my toes at 45, or even rotated out all the way - if that's what's required at the time. In fact, I don't fly with toes completely forward - I'd say they're rotated out just slightly - more like 20 or 30 degrees. Anyway, again, it's our neutral position, and works well for us. I hope I don't come off as trying to dictate a flying style - like I said, there's many a smokin' freeflyer out there, and many different styles. The tips I post here are from my own experience, from my own flying, and from flying with and coaching others. For what it's worth.

Well, everyone has their own style - and I'm not going to knock that, so whatever works for yah, that's fine. The main point here behind that little exercise is to get away from that legless type of flying. I've just found that for me, and my teammate - we prefer flying with feet/toes forward. It seems the most versatile to us, more so than feet/toes out, and definately more so then flying daffy all of the time. It allows one to easily and quickly go from forward/backward movement, to sidesliding, to taking docks, etc. Plus, aesthetically, to us, it looks better. Again, I'm not trying to bash anyone else's style - there's certainly smoking freeflyers out there that can fly with their legs in any style/position they want. And there are times that you probably do want to point one or both legs outward. But, for us, toes forward, with little to no bend at the knees, is our neutral position. Find what works best for you :) EDIT: btw, if you've ever seen Alaska Jon fly - well, he's a freefly technician at it's finest. He's extremely body aware - and I see him flying more with toes forward than toes out.

2003 DEC 04: Side-sliding While Tracking Just as a follow-up note to the problem of flying headdown with weak legs, in the "riding a horsie" bow-legged position. A little exercise that you can do involves, while flying on your head: 1. In one smooth motion: straighten your legs, rotate your legs so your toes are forward, and put your legs together. 2. Open your legs, but keep your legs straight, and feet/toes forward. Anyway, on to tracking stuff. The past 2 seasons my friends and I have been getting into a lot more tracking stuff. My teammate and I were working on just some fun, simple stuff - like both of us back tracking next to each other, taking docks, etc. One thing that is fun is to have one person lay base on their back, and the other person orbit the base. So, that person would pass under the base, float up a bit, and over the base, then sink down a bit, and repeat. Granted, this orbit (at least ours are) are a bit more elliptical than a headdown orbit. Now, one thing we found was that moving towards a target while back tracking, we'd often just point our bodies at our target (aim our head/body towards the person), and track at the target. This works ok for covering large distances, when you're behind (relative to the flight path) the target. However, taking this approach when someone is next to you yields some unwanted results. Aiming at the person when the person is off to your side tends to make it hard to see that person. Also, the trajectory created isn't so desirable, as your path no longer matches your base. So, instead of tracking at the person, one can side slide while tracking. To do so, first picture a standard back tracking position. This method will work regardless of whether your legs are open or closed while tracking. Now, the goal is to rotate the body, so that air is deflected off to one side. Normally in a back tracking position, your arms are at your sides, but open, in a V pattern. Now, simply pull one arm in to your side. Pulling your left arm in, and leaving your right arm out will cause the relative wind to catch your right side more, and rotate your body, so your right side will be a bit higher then your left side. This will push you to the left. What's nice here, is that you maintain a similar trajectory as the base, while still remaining parallel, body-wise to the base. To slow down or stop the sideslide, just change arms that you are putting out. Sliding left, to stop, put your left arm out, and bring your right arm in. It's quite possible, using this technique, to cover some good distance, and we've found it extremely useful for doing the tracking orbit thing. EDIT: PS, thanks skymamma :)

Wow, cool. Thanks :)

Uhm, huh? you mean this? : where you asking me, or FreeflyNeo?

2003 Dec 03: Stopping Those Lazy Legs Ok, I was thinking about posting this tip anyway, but when I saw sunnydee123's post about her headdown progress (congrats, keep up the good work), and having "lazy legs" I decided today was a good time to throw this one out there. Flying headdown doesn't necessarily require using your legs as your primary steering mechanism. It's possible to be very leg lazy, and fly mostly by tilting at the waist. However, doing so is extremely limiting. I do see a lot of freeflyers who are in the beginning stages of flying headdown get very lazy with their legs. They often fly in a "riding the horsie" position - their legs a bit bow legged, toes often pointing outward. Again, you can still maneuver this way, but ultimately it will limit you. So, the tip is, very basically, to do jumps without a jumpsuit. On those nice summer days, do some jumps in shorts and a tshirt (taking the obvious necessary precautions - tucking in your shirt, making sure your handles don't get covered, etc.). Flying with bare legs will really teach you (I hope) about using your legs. As we discussed before, about how to use your legs while taking headdown docks - without a suit you can really exagerate the leg movement. It allows you to pay more attention to your legs, because more leg action is required without a suit. Flying a suit is like driving with power steering. However, don't become reliant on your suit. In fact, overly baggy suits, especially in the legs, can be a detriment, as you may be actually fighting the suit in order to put your legs in the proper position. After a few suitless jumps, practice your legs position on the next jump you make with your suit. You'll most likely apply too much leg input. Hey, this is good - means you're leg-aware, and leg-stronger now. Just tone back the movement amounts. - o3j

2003 Dec 02: Improving Your Leg Coordination (Continuing with the idea of using your legs while taking headdown docks) Ok, close your eyes. Now, all skydiving geeks, raise your hands. Wait! Raise your hand, so it's exactly 4 inches from your left ear. Ok, now open your eyes. Were you close? I'll admit it, I'm a skydiving geek. I always hated the fact that I could only jump a couple of days a week - I wanted to be able to work on skydiving stuff on a daily basis. When I was in my first year of skydiving, I was working on headdown stuff pretty much exclusively. Just as I described in my previous tip, about using your legs to balance yourself when taking single-hand docks, while headdown, I wanted to be able to work on this while I wasn't jumping. I'm sure many (if not all) of us have done those bicycle exercises, where you put your legs up in the air, and support yourself with your arms (with your elbows and forearms on the ground). In fact, you've probably at some point seen freeflyers do this at the DZ. So, geeking out at home, I started doing this. My bed at home - the mattress itself is on the floor (no box spring or frame), so I can actually use the bed itself to support me (my shoulders and neck are on the ground, and my upper back is supported by the bed). Now, the exercise would go something like this. Close my eyes. I'd start with my legs above me, closed. Then I'd open them, in a standard straddle position. Then, I'd imagine I'm going to take a right hand, headdown dock. I'd put my left leg behind me, and my right leg slightly in front, and slightly out (to the right). Now, I'd open my eyes, and check my leg position. Are my legs where I envisioned them? Now, repeat, pretending to take a left hand dock. The purpose here is to build muscle memory, as well as your spacial awareness of where your body parts are versus where you imagine they are. It also helps you remember the leg motion/position you'll use while in the air. Now, a word about this: what you do on the ground will not be exact to what you do in the air. A number of factors will dictate a different leg position from what you practice. The leg positions may be more exaggerated, or less exaggerated, then what you practice on the ground. But still, the exercise is useful for building that coordination.

Hey all. I've been asked to keep the "freefly tip of the day" to a single thread - makes sense to keep this stuff together, so, I'm starting this new thread, and will use this thread to post new tips as I write them. Thanks to all for the PMs about the helpfulness of the tips. I'll post new ones as time permits. Also, find attached a text file of the previous tips I've written.

Wasn't docking with the skyvan difficult?? j/k :P can't wait to see those pix :)

Headdown Single-Hand Docks: Taking a single-hand dock while headdown can be difficult at first. There are actually a number of ways to accomplish this cleanly, and there are a few things here to think about and work on. By presenting an arm in front of you, you are putting a body surface into the relative wind (of course), and this can have the effect of pushing you onto your back. To re-balance the overall body position, you can put the opposite leg (opposite from your arm you are presenting) behind you. This leg, by itself, would normally push you onto your belly, so doing so with an arm in front will keep you upright and balanced. This a good thing to practice during solos. I recommend putting a hand out in front for a brief moment, then recovering. This helps you learn similar to how a child learns to walk - your body learns intuitively how to recover. However, being the thinking freeflyers that we are - you should also try exactly what I've described: put a hand out in front, for more than a brief moment. But, as you are presenting that hand, put the opposite leg behind you. NOTE: It often helps to bring your same side (same side as your docking arm) leg out, and to the front a bit. See how long you can hold that position. Then switch sides. Now realize, it is possible (and quite usable) to put a hand out in front without requiring that opposite leg behind you. That's another thing to practice - but I recommend learning to use your legs initially. Now, here's another tip regarding presenting that hand. Quite often I see people, when putting, say, their right hand in front of them, they will pull their left shoulder or arm back. This presents a problem because they're no longer really facing their target, and will often cause a body rotation, resulting in an orbit. It can be extremely beneficial, when bringing in the docking hand to the front, to also bring the opposite ARM in to the front (not down to the side, but actually to the front - as if taking a 2 handed dock). Now, don't bring it in all the way - just slightly (say 6 inches or so). This will keep you a bit more balanced, and will fight your tendency to bring that opposite arm back, and will stop an orbit from occurring. Lastly, there's a variety of ways to take a dock. You can fly the dock in to your target. Or you can fly to your target, then present an arm for a dock. Also, you can take the dock directly in front of you (your arm is brought in 90 degrees), or you can take the dock to your side - where your arm stays out to your side. You can move in to your target forward, or you can sideslide in. All of these ways of docking are legitimate, and require different skills to do so. Practice and use them all. And be conscious, before you go in for the dock, which technique you are going to use, and why.

Just too freakin' awesome :) Congrats. all.

Freakin' awesome. Congrats all.

Nice! Keep rippin' it :)

(Continuing from yesterday, the topic being sitflying) Sitflying - recovering from your back Often, when learning to sitfly, flyers will start out on their back, in a reclined position, and then move to a more "proper" sit position. Besides starting from that position, it's very common to end up on your back while learning to sitfly, be it from a flail, or whatever. Now, the normal reaction is to try to recover to the sit position by "curling" your upper body forward, like doing a crunch, or trying to sit up while lying on the floor. This actually works against you. By doing so, you create a curve in your back that is like an arch when you are on your belly. This has the effect of pushing you onto your back MORE - making it even harder to bring yourself upright. Instead of trying to do a sit-up to recover to the sit position from your back - do the opposite. Arch your back. The relative wind will catch the upper part of your torso, and push you upright. This is counter-intuitive to what you'd do while lying on the ground - so it's a little easy thing to learn that often escapes beginning freeflyers.

Thanks all for you additional information. Ah, the power of forums - I like it when things come together like this. Cutaway1 makes a good point about the soles of your feet, and their relativity to the wind. And thanks for the illustrations, freeflybella - they not only show my original point well, but show the bad side effects of not maintaining a good sit position besides hitting the right angle. So, to answer: Basically, yes. In fact, this general rule of thumb, along with the other stuff discussed here, should allow one to try some exits where your upper body is actually parallel to line of flight (say, you're facing into the plane (not facing the tail or the prop). In this case, again you're shooting for a particular angle, based on the relative wind / the hill. Now, adjustments are often needed for this type of exit, but again, thinking about the angles will get you started in the right direction. Thanks again all, for the tips/help :)

Don't have much time to replay - leaving for mom and dad's for turkey day :) Anyway, facing the prop, you should again think about the angles. I'll get back to this thread when time permits. Happy Thanksgiving everyone ! :)

Sitfly exits facing the tail - learning to fly the hill: It's common for people to do "train" exits when doing sitfly group jumps. Often, the train ends up with the people in the train flying "butt first" - essentially a leaned back sit position. While train exits are good for keeping a group together, they can enforce this butt first type of exit. When a group of headdown flyers exit, they tend to lean towards the direction of travel - in other words, since they have forward throw from the forward movement of the plane, they do not fall straight down when leaving the plane. Hence, "the hill". Sit flyers should strive to match this angle. Leaving with a headdown flyer, and flying butt first, will often present the wrong angle match. This will often result in considerable separation, unless the other person makes an effort to close the gap. With a headdown flyer, it's a bit easier for the other person to adjust, but with a second sit flyer facing you, it's much tougher. So, when exiting the plane in a sit position, facing the tail, one should actually lean forward, not back. Keeping the upper legs at 90 to the body, and lower legs 90 with the upper legs, tilt the entire body forward (torso and legs). In other words, do NOT just crunch your upper body forward. You need to get your whole body angled. This will have the effect of falling at the proper angle while on the hill. Initially, it's a hard thing to do, especially if you're used to leaning back while exiting. At first, it may help to exagerate the angle. If you lean too far forward, you can end up on your stoumach. Obvioulsy you've leaned too far. But I find that most, when first trying to master this exit, don't lean forward enough, or only lean from the upper body (they don't angle their legs WITH their torso). Once you've done a few solo exits like this, try exiting with a friend (this person facing you (facing the prop)). They can leave headdown or sit. Try to match angles and maintain good proximity.

I hear yah bro. I stayed in the plane a couple of weeks ago on a hop and pop from 2700. On a Sabre I woulda been out the door - but on a Velo, well, decided to take the plane ride down. I don't like opening the velo at sub-terminal. Seems to search a bit more on opening...

A joke? Ozone Junkies :) www.ozonejunkies.com[url]

My friends and I all jump velocities loaded at ~2.2, so opening high allows us to gauge what's going on traffic-wise, as well as allowing extra time to deal with line twists, etc. This is a bit more critical at our DZ, as the landing area is smaller than most. My group will often elect to go out last - we often pull at 4k or higher, and end up flying in brakes - again, giving us time to figure out what's up with traffic below.

If you haven't named him yet, how about "Hotey".... yah know, like.... Donkey Hotey.... OOOOOOOOOHHHWWWW

Consider changing your audible altimeter setting. My audible is set to 6000 feet. This doesn't mean that I break off at 6000 feet. Normally, if I'm doing a 2 or 3 way, it's around 5k for breakoff. However, occasionally it's 6k on big ways or long spots. So, here's the advantages of setting a higher audible setting: 1. When the alarm goes off, I know that it's "almost time" to break off. That means, finish what you're doing, check your space first, and then break off. The positive here is that there should be no need for a panic break off, since the alarm is not signaling break off time. If you're set for 5k and 5k is your break off alt., then you may rush the break off. 2. You learn to build internal timing for 6k, not 5k. This works well because, if you miss your audible, you'll likely check your visual altimeter at or around 6k. If your timings a bit off, it may be lower, like 5k, which is still better then realizing you missed your audible at 4k. 3. This kind of goes along with #1 - you'll be more relaxed duriing break off time. If you're doing a 2way, and just finishing a move, you know you have a few seconds to finish what you're doing, then leave the scene. Instead of the start of your alarm indicating your break-off altitude, it's more the end of your alarm that does so. Alarm finishes, got another second or 2, then it's time to go. 4. Don't be a robot. Think about what you're doing. Don't just be reactionary to your alarm - there's an initial tendancy to break off as soon as your alarm goes off. I don't like this reflex-type action - so, better to be a thinking skydiver than a reactionary one. I've used a 6k audible setting for years. It works well for me. For those who've used 5k for a long time, and decide to set their audible higher, be conscious of what you're doing - think about your breakoff while in the plane. Don't "set and forget" - think instead.