FFlyer

We dont have any tunnels here for practicing freeflying (that i know of) and im really battling to get a basic down the tube HD position. I keep zooming forward because my legs are bent at the knees. So would getting upside down in a pool and practicing HD be worth it or just a waste of time? I think it might be good since the water will present a bit of resistence on the legs which will hopefully build some muscle memory. If there are any other things that can be practiced on the ground to help get a basic HD position, id appreciate hearing them. Thanks, cheers

0:4:0 Me and two friends entered a freefly mini-comp and came last But we were the most junior team competing and have only done about 25 jumps together so we learnt a lot. Lots of fun!! It was a real eye opener to how much we still have to learn in terms of sitflying (it was a head up competition only,....no headdown allowed)

4 * 2way freefly jumps on saturday. We are making some awesome progress now. We are able to fly together while in a sit and keep our levels and proximity close all the time. Time to start working on those docks!!

I was getting over having mild flu and was slightly conjested. Thats all it took I didnt notice anything was wrong untill I was under canopy and I then noticed that I couldnt hear anything. I landed on the ground and still couldnt hear anything but had a slight ringing in my ears and it felt like they were filled with water (which I later found out was blood). I had to take 2 months off while my ears healed.

Ok great, thanks for the replies.

Yes, been there, done that. I ruptured both my eardrums earlier this year. Very unpleasant. Im now far more cautious when it comes to skydiving with even something as small as a blocked nose.

I would have normally never even bothered about this, but since I ruptured both my eardrums at the beginning of the year skydiving, im far more cautious when it comes to things that might affect my ears. My current job involves a lot of travelling and I am sometimes out of the country all week and arrive back on friday just in time to go to the dropzone the next day to skydive. Does airtravel affect you in any way that I should be worried about in terms of skydiving soon after arriving back? Does anyone have any knowledge about this sort of thing? Thanks

0:4:0 All freefly jumps with 2 friends. Lots of fun. But next weekend is what I really cant wait for,...my dz is having a mini meet and a seriously huge party weekend with an extra plane and a helicopter coming. Plus my camera helmet just arrived (FF2 from 2KC) so I cant wait to jump it. Its going to be an awesome weekend!!

Thanks, ill play around with different settings on each jump and decide what I like best.

All of them! Thanks!! That sure cleared things up for me

Hi all, Ill hopefully be jumping my camera (sony hc42) for the first time next weekend and just want to get your opinions on what settings to use. There seems to be quite a few different ways to set things up. I did a few searches and one thing that seems to be standard, is that you should set it to manual focus and then to infinity (not too sure how to do this yet, since I havnt had time to play with my camera settings, but im sure ill figure it out if this will be the best way of focusing it). Most of my jumps are freefly jumps if that makes any difference to which settings I should use? What other settings should I know about and what should I set them to? Any advice here would be great, thanks

I agree with what's been said above, especially when it comes to flying skill. I dont think that just because someone has a lot of jumps and has a camera, they should become a coach. I think you first need the flying skills and the right type of personallity to be a coach. And another thing which is not critical but still important to me is that I prefer jumping with coaches who are actually having as much fun as I am. Its great to land from a jump and both you and the coach are smiling and cant stop talking about how cool the jump was (even if it didnt go all to plan). Plus, I always seem to fly better if the people on my jump are smiling and having fun instead of making me feel like my flying skills arent good enough. Just my 2c

0:5:0 Three * 3way freefly One * 4way freefly One * tracking dive (Trying to fly my ass off to keep up with Tonto who was leading the tracking dive ) Lots of fun!!

Well done, thats great!! Just as bmason81 said, 2ways are definitly the way to go. But make sure you are comfortable and completely stable so you are not a danger to anyone else in the sky. Solo's are great to learn the basics, but I made the mistake of doing too many solo's and now im definitly seeing how much I need to learn in terms of flying relative to others. Have fun!

I didn't think of that. Good idea, thanks!!

0:4:1 All freeflying, all fun

Thats unforgivable,...they must be punished!!

Howabout simply looking above and around you while still in a sit (maybe 500ft higher than when you are planning to go flat). Then once you have checked above you, then you can go into a steep track and barrel roll before you open? There's no reason you cant look up while in a sit? If your HD skills are good enough then 1/2 cartwheeling into HD and tracking is fine, but for me im not confident enough in HD yet to do that. I would rather stick with things that im good at when it comes to break off time. what do you think?

Yeah, backtracking skills are a definite must. I think I will do some practice jumps and monitor how much altitude I lose each time I transition from my sit to a backtrack. Try and get the technique perfected because getting onto my back from my stomach is easy enough, but from a sit is a bit different.

I have been doing mostly 2ways, so when we break off while in a sit, we just go flat and track away (and do a barrel roll to look above). But when jumping with more people I can definitly see the benefit in going onto your back first from a sit and tracking away so you can look to see if anyone is above you. The problem that ive seen with this is that as soon as someone tries to go onto their back from a sit,...they just fall like a rock. They end up not going very far (horizontal seperation is minimal) and they end up dropping like a rock instead of actually tracking. What is a good method of breaking off after a sit jump? If going onto your back is the prefered method, then how do you slow your fallrate and track away? From what ive seen, you get much better horizontal seperation from going onto your stomach first and doing a barrell roll. Any help here? Thanks

Well I just got the camera today

Ok, thanks for the links and suggestions. Ill have a look. I think ill wait till I jump the camera a few times so I can decide how wide the lens needs to be.

Hi all, Im going to buy a new Sony hc42 before the end of the week and the only concern I have is the 25mm lens. I will be using the camera for freeflying 99% of the time so would you recommend getting a wide angle lens? and if so then which one? This is going to be my first camera so im very new to all this. Which kind of lenses do you need for which kind of jumps? I presume if you are flying very close to someone else then you need a wider lens than if you are flying a few meters apart. Any help here would be great, cheers

Thanks for both your replies. Miami: emailed you

I see there is a thread about the FF2 helmet from 2kcomposites going on but I didnt want to hijack it with all my questions. I haven't saved up enough money yet but by the time I have enough to buy a helmet and camera, I am expecting to have around 280 jumps, so I want to start the process of getting my first camera helmet and I cant help but notice the good things that have been said about the FF2. And I think it looks awesome It is also the only helmet that I know of that has custom sizes ie: not just small, medium, large. Im quite a small guy so this is quite a bonus. (any other companies have this?) The only thing is the price,...eeesh, its not cheap. Which brings me to my first question, would I be stupid buying a helmet that costs this much for a first helmet? Should a first timer such as me rather invest in a more expensive helmet later on rather? If so then what other helmets would you recommend instead? I will contact someone from 2K directly about shipping etc, but has anyone ordered a helmet from them who lives somewhere other than the US or UK? I live in South Africa so im a bit worried about it getting here safely. I see it comes in carbon fibre and glass fibre. Is there much difference aesthetically or functionally speaking? There is a fair difference in price. Thanks