Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Skydiving tips for beginner?

Options
  • 19-05-2015 2:30am
    #1
    kapisko1PL
    Registered Users Posts: 277 ✭✭


    Hey Guys!

    So after completing 3 S/L jumps and few more to go, there will come a time when we will have to come to a free fall. I have watched numerous videos of people spinning out of control and being thrown all over the place even in the AFF and this is my major concern.

    Apparently, after completing few S/L jumps, dummy rip cord pull there will be a time for a delayed free fall (2,5,10s etc).

    My major concern is that jumping out of an airplane without an instructor for the first time in solo free fall is not a good idea as it might end up in an uncontrollable spins and you being thrown all over the place. But if this is the common practice and everybody seems fine... why should I be worried?

    Do any of ye experienced skydivers have any tips for a "noob" like me in relation to arch and good body position and what causes these spins?

    Thanks,
    Kacper


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    PCX
    Registered Users Posts: 433 ✭✭PCX


    I learned to skydive through the static line progression route a few years ago and have done a few hundred jumps since. I haven't jumped in two years (babies take up too much of your time!) but ill get back to it at some stage. Its great sport to be involved in. I'm not an instructor but I'll give you some of my thoughts.

    Psychologically it is a big step from S/L to freefall but its really not that difficult. Generations of jumpers have made that transition safely before you.

    Your instructors will have looked at your body position on your static line jumps and won't let you move on to freefall if you're not ready. You'll be given more instruction before your 1st freefall which should answer your concerns. The reason the freefall jumps start with such short delays is so you won't have time to develop dangerous spins in the early jumps. Easier said than done but it is important to stay as relaxed as you can as being too tense makes a good body position difficult.

    The advice i would give would be to maintain the count and pull on time whether you are stable or not. On the ground practice the exit you'll be using on the mock ups and practice your arch count and pull over and over. Get an instructor to look at your body position on the ground and practice it.

    Freefall is so much fun you'll love it! Remember that statistically the majority of skydiving accidents happen after freefall is finished and under a perfectly good canopy. Stay switched on until you are safely on the ground ( actually until you are away from the landing area)


    You might also find the USPA Skydivers Information Manual (free here)to be interesting reading and helpful but remember there are differences between the US and our training and rules so what the Irish instructors tell you should take precedence over anything in there.

    The most important thing you can do is listen to your instructors! They are the experts. Do what they tell you and ask them about anything you are unsure of. There is no such thing as a stupid question. (And ignore advice from random strangers, like me, on the internet who may or may not have a clue on what they are talking about!)

    Blue skies!


  • Options
    #3
    HopsAndJumps
    Registered Users Posts: 304 ✭✭HopsAndJumps


    PCX wrote: »
    I learned to skydive through the static line progression route a few years ago and have done a few hundred jumps since. I haven't jumped in two years (babies take up too much of your time!) but ill get back to it at some stage. Its great sport to be involved in. I'm not an instructor but I'll give you some of my thoughts.

    Psychologically it is a big step from S/L to freefall but its really not that difficult. Generations of jumpers have made that transition safely before you.

    Your instructors will have looked at your body position on your static line jumps and won't let you move on to freefall if you're not ready. You'll be given more instruction before your 1st freefall which should answer your concerns. The reason the freefall jumps start with such short delays is so you won't have time to develop dangerous spins in the early jumps. Easier said than done but it is important to stay as relaxed as you can as being too tense makes a good body position difficult.

    The advice i would give would be to maintain the count and pull on time whether you are stable or not. On the ground practice the exit you'll be using on the mock ups and practice your arch count and pull over and over. Get an instructor to look at your body position on the ground and practice it.

    Freefall is so much fun you'll love it! Remember that statistically the majority of skydiving accidents happen after freefall is finished and under a perfectly good canopy. Stay switched on until you are safely on the ground ( actually until you are away from the landing area)


    You might also find the USPA Skydivers Information Manual (free here)to be interesting reading and helpful but remember there are differences between the US and our training and rules so what the Irish instructors tell you should take precedence over anything in there.

    The most important thing you can do is listen to your instructors! They are the experts. Do what they tell you and ask them about anything you are unsure of. There is no such thing as a stupid question. (And ignore advice from random strangers, like me, on the internet who may or may not have a clue on what they are talking about!)

    Blue skies!

    What PCX said but I'll add my few cents.

    I'm was an instructor for a few years but it became too much like work. Im just do sport jumps now.

    getting off the rope (static line) in the beginning messes with your head, it builds up and is a little terrifying but actually doing with it so much fun. When you get onto a three second freefall, you might do a half turn, or a little bit more of your body position is really uneven.

    Pretty much the worst thing that can happen is that you end up on your back when you deploy your main parachute. This is very very bad if you had a normal sport jump rig, as the pilotchute can get wrapped around you pretty easily. On student gear its still bad but you have a spring loaded pilotchute, it will or 'should' launch out past you and flip you back in the right position. I've seen this umpteen times when dispatching students. I've don't it myself back in the day when I was learning. If this happens you will be back on static line until you can relax.

    When you start nailing jumps you will move on to 3,5,10,15 etc second delay jumps.

    One great way to prepare for your training is the wind tunnel. Its an amazing tool for skydivers, you can learn to fly stable now before you go on to freefall. I'm just back from a tunnel trip to Russia, you can learn great skills in such a short amount of time. The closed tunnel is manchester. Tunnel is very expensive and addictive. I actually prefer tunnel to skydiving now. They call it the giant crack pipe.


  • Options
    #4
    PCX
    Registered Users Posts: 433 ✭✭PCX


    I completely agree with HopsAndJumps says about the wind tunnel. It is totally addictive and a great tool for learning to skydive well.

    If i was starting out new in the sport knowing what i know now i think i would save up and do some tunnel time and then go straight into AFF. The tunnel will help whatever way you learn though. AFF is a more expensive way of doing it but it took me a long time to qualify through the SL progression route and you need to be really patient in my experience. I got a bit sick of seeing AFF students qualify so much quicker than me even though i was down at the DZ every weekend for ages.

    If you ask around the dropzone you will usually find a group organising a tunnel trip. You'll get a shock when you find out the price but its totally worth it.


  • Options
    #5
    kapisko1PL
    Registered Users Posts: 277 ✭✭kapisko1PL


    Thanks for the replies guys! I have actually returned from a two week skydiving boot camp in France... what a great experience!

    I left Ireland with 3 jumps and now have 27 jumps completed just in France! It was an unbelievable experience especially my first free fall! Now I am on full "alti" and enjoy every second of my freefall and stuff like loops and barrel rolls! I feel quite confident now and my fears are nothing compared to when I started! I actually realized it is not that hard to arch and hold your position. In fairness after few delayed freefalls it became a habbit to arch and fly belly down all the way!


  • Options
    #6
    GoingBonkers
    Registered Users Posts: 26 ✭GoingBonkers


    That sounds scary ahah. When doing it with aff, we went solo in freefall, but not solo solo our first times. We had instructors holding on to us.


  • Advertisement
Advertisement