Andrewnewell

QuoteBeing a flat flyer does not necessairly mean they do not have an understanding of a disipline. Are you suggesting that to become a CCI someone has to be competent at every skydiving disipline including FF, RW CrW, VRW, Wingsuit, Speed Skydiving, Ball Jumps, Freestyle, Sky Surfing, etc etc ? I think what Fedykin in suggesting here { in his uniquely sarcastic way} is that there is a lack of control in reguards to who gets to coach freeflying on a particular DZ. It is my opinion that we should have a coach's rating so that CCI's who don't have a good understanding of the dicipline have some way of controlling individuals who wish to coach. As for the other stuff, Id just take it with a pinch of salt. Its good to have as many opinions as posible {however extreme}.It would be a dull world if we were all PC. Fedykin, are you gonna play nice?

Yeah man gotta agree with ya on that one. A good mate of mine there jumps there alot and had invited me down. I went, I saw, I legged it. In my humble opinion headcorn is with out a doubt the most unhelpfull, unfriendly and depressing DZ in the country! The mate of mine, he dont jump there anymore but prolonged exposure to deadcorn has wounded him deeply. We don't expect a full recovery!

Yep know where your comin from bro! But you guys have a large pool of very talented coaches in the US. Is it really need over there? Can you explain to me what the 3d award is? " WE ARE THE PILGRIMS MASTER, EVERY DAY WE STRIVE TO GO A LITTLE FURTHER"

Woh woh, wo! Whats that all about bro?Hey man why dont you get your self to Nethers and feel the love buddy. Thats right bro, come in from the cold! *** you should put that on the back of a comercial for you guys tow the line*** We allready got it on pack lunch boxes and pencil cases, way ahead of you bro.

Hi'ya everybody, Im big in favor of getting a freefly coach rating introduced to the UK. Just wondering if anyones got any ideas relating to the following? 1. what should be the criteria to gain such qual. 2. Is there already a current model/ system in place in other countries{ discounting the AD tests, as we can't jump the ball in the UK } 3. Who would assess the persons trying to gain this qualification?{ i.e. examiners}

Will increase controll by having a larger surface area at the extremities, But to be honest do you really want to wear them? I think its more benificial to just learn to fly your body naturaly. The more gimmics { tracking pants/ webbed gloves ect } we use, the less "free" freeflying becomes, It just turns into aided flight!

Use a process of selection to weed out the less skillfull / showboating types I guess? Failing that there should allways be a member of the group who is respected by all the other members and who can lay down the law. To come across the individuals that can control a group of freeflyers and manipulate people on a dive is a hard thing. It takes a very experianced person to do it well. Check out the load organizing and the caliber of flyers at the last X fest and you'll see what I mean.

The thing about Piers teaching me everything I know is certainly true. I shall allways be indetted to him for showing me the road to enlightenment through freeflying and gobbing off on this site. Hail master Fedykin!{ cheers for that} Further more to my last, the AD tests are probably the only non biased tests you can do within the sport. The ball does not lie, cheat, give a s@%t who you are, it just shows how much control the student/ competetor has in the air. This really does make it { in my opinion } the only licence worth having in reguards to freeflight. Im just chinstrapped that we can't jump the ball in the UK!!!! ***"Remember it's like a finger pointing to the moon.DON'T concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory".

What your gonna need is a suit that gives you the most range to fly with as many different people as posible.{ unless on a team where your lookin at trying to dial in with your other team mates fall rates}. Matter suits make nice strong suits that are usualy quite tight. they are hard work if your a bit heavy though. If your worried about going too fast get a more baggy suit with the drag in the right places. at the end of the day, if its too much you can allways get it taken in.

I disagree that the AD test means less than the FF stickers. you need to have developed a much higher degree of skill to obtain an AD licence than you would to get a FF sticker! To have obtained a AD licence means that you have a higher degree of understanding for sure. Ok the tests are expensive, so what. your not paying Olav for a ball test as such but paying a qualified person to go up and assess your skill level and to keep the test fair and safe. OK it isn't much of a "licence" because it enables you to do what? jump with a ball? No it is a qualification that shows what specific skill level you are. To say that the AD licence means practically nothing is a bit silly, as most of the best flyers today hold one.

Ok, so the general consensus is that the UK needs less stickers/gold stars and all that good stuff. More focus on coaching and education. So what about a freefly coach "rating". What would be the criteria to gain this "rating"? Also, who would assess the people who would attempt to gain this qualification? Any suggestions?

Dam you fedykin, I thought you were gonna bite...

I jump a voodoo, which is fine and I've never had a problem with, but in my opinion the Micron is by far the best container on the market! The amount of R and D that has gone into this piece of kit speaks for it self.If you are after security I would look no further. The Atom ledgend is a good strong container. I would Stay away from jav's{ main cover issue] and if your a gambling man go for a teardrop. the manufacturer is renound for it's quality control,NOT.

Yeah see where your comin from bro. It's just that just speakin to these people is in my opinion a short term solution to a long term problem. Yeah, no one likes going through the hassle of getting poxy stickers and ticks in boxes. so what do we do? do we stick with the current system but make the criteria to get FF1/2 more comprehensive and drawn out? I think if we did that it would just put people off starting freeflying as it would take a longer time to obtain the FF quals. Or do we make the system more modular and have a national {BPA approved} system of coaching that requires coaches to cover from the very basic stuff { ground briefs, exit order ect} to the more in depth stuff at the "FF2" end of the scale? As for the " if I dont feel comfortable on the dive sketch", thats all well and good for the more conscientious flyers in the dicipline, but what about the individuals who use the term "free"flight as as excuse to do what ever they want. Ok, I'm not suggesting the SKY POLICE, but freeflying in the UK needs to be controlled in a better way.

Yeah, that would be more like the thing i'd have in mind. I would certainly make it more modular. IE FF1,2,3,4,ect. I also think that there is also room for having to cover tracking. how to track in groups.separation and flying in steep angles{ Atmonauti}. And what is the deal with the BPA not introducing a freefly coach rating? would it be an idear to get certain well established coaches { Alaska Jon, Omar, Max Cohn, Babylon....} to vet current brit freeflyers who feel their ready to coach. This would certainly take a bit of pride swallowing from certain "established coaches" in the country, But I think it would be worth it in the long run.

The FF system is the British freefly rating system. Its my personal view that the FF system in place in the UK is out of date, it is not comprehensive and leeds to people with a small amounts of experience getting involved in jumps that require a much higher level of understanding. IE to obtain your FF1 {licence to fly head up with as many people as you want}... Show a sit exit, fast fall,slow fall, forward movement,turn in place, and a transition. FF2 requires a much higher level of skill?{ all of the above but doing it on your head}!!??? Who said a little information is a dangerous thing?

Hello to all you Brit freeflyers out there. do you think it's time for the three monkeys at the BPA to start taking there hands away from their eyes/ears/mouths in reguards to freeflying. I'd really like to hear your opinions about the current ff1/ff2 system. Is it a good licencing system that allows people of similar skill levels to jump together safely? Or is it a poorly thought out and badly designed system that reduces safety by allowing persons with low experience to make group jumps,etc? Any suggestions on a better way of controlling freeflying in the UK? looking forward to fedykin's comments,... bring it on Robbo.

The tunnel is an exellent tool and used in conjunction with coaching{ flat, or freefly} can really speed up your progression. Be realistic about what you want to achieve in the time you've allocated your self. make a list of the things you want to improve on and only work on one or two them in a session. use mental visulisation in your down time on the bench to go through what your gonna do. go over and over it in your head just as you would in the air craft, no point wasting time in the air thinking " what should I do next". If ya real serious get a coach, out line your goals to him or her and let them worry about the technical side, you just concentrate on the instructions/flying. failing getting a coach you can allways approach one of the tunnel staff, they should be willing to help you out. I would recommend Steve Blinko and Sean McCormac if your interested in getting some freefly coaching, they run a tunnel programme in conjunction with freefly coaching at lake wales, check those dudes out. Keep a open mind, have fun and stay away from them walls.

Me and the guys did about 3.5 hours each, concentrated on head up and back flying. I went in there with the attitude of doing abit of head up stuff and then getting on me head.unfortunately that was an obvious case of thinking I could run before I could walk. It turned out that my head up stuff was alot worse than I had thought, and after seeing how poor my head up stuff and back flying was, I decided to just crack on with that. It would have been cool to get on my head but I still had a great time on my feet. Ithink it took all of the 3.5 hours to learn how to fly in there comfortably. Maybe with a little more time I would be happy getting on my head, jeez what a pussy! It was cool to see you and Sean doing your thing in there, that was some mental stuff, big respect. P.S. the DVD rocks, cool sound track!

I think the tunnel is a very valuable tool that can be used by either novice skydivers just getting started, or by more experienced dudes who would want to perfect a certain drill or manouver. me and my bro's recently did a bunch of time in the orlando tunnel getting some freefly coaching by Max Cohn. We used the tunnel as part of a freefly training camp and were being coached by M ax and the tunnel staff. Max was more hesitant to let us get carried away in the tunnel and was very safety concious. this was for good reason as if one of us had knocked himself in there, it would have jepordised the rest of our training. the tunnel staff were very helpful and were not shy about getting in there and giving us some technical pointers. Just getting in the air for an extended period of time was very helpfull in learning to fly in a more diciplined manner. Also our learning curve was in my opinion enhanced by having a structured programme to follow and a very capable coach to make sure we were sticking to it. I feel the tunnel time did improve us individualy and did make us more diciplined. I think that at the time we were all quite tired and did not really see the benefit of the tunnel time, but I can honestly say that it payed off in the long run. There are obvious differences with tunnel flying and freeflying, kit does make a difference and you find your self allways trying to slow down in the tunnel as opposed to speeding up to do a transition like you would when freeflying. To me tunnel flying and freeflying are like two extreme opposites giving two very simmilar enviroments, maybe Im talkin bu@%*&hit? I thought the tunnel was a blast. but I personaly prefere skydiving dispite all the admin we endure before exit. anyhow Im biased, Im big into tracking!!!

Just been to lake wales in january to do a training camp with Max Cohn,did about 170 jumps over 13 days{ did 19 in one day}!! What can I say, this place is seriously dedicated to getting you in the air!!!! The staff were helpfull, the turn around is fast, they've got basicaly everything from the bar to the rigging room in the same place{in the hangar}. If your intention is to go to DZ that can support a pretty hard core training camp then look no further... It's also a great place to fun jump and there is a dedicated freefly school there run by Sean McCormac and Steve Blinko, if you require any advice or training in the dicipline. and on top of all that those dudes get some wicked sunsets!!!!!

Nice one bro, cant wait to find out , gotta get organized.....cheers.

Cheers for that mate, come down to nethers you can try to put two large holes in the landing area like ya did at empuria last year! Hey by the way have ya stopped kicking your heals together on landings yet ?{ theres no place like home dorothy} ha ha! Bring it to the games, we play for the ashes of the brown horse...chamon!

Hey does anyone know if there's gonna be a space games any time this year? BROWN HORSE DOWN ROCKS!!!!!!!

should I be a bit concerned about doing board jumps when my main is a stilletto. Or am I just being a fagola. Im thinking that it may not be the ideal main to jump when sky surfing? p.s. long live the members of the freeflyers jihad!