Mar 20, 2006, 1:06 PM
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Turning Points
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I just have a few stupid newbie questions. What is a good definition of the term “turning points”? Does it mean the number of times you touch different grips in your group?
I was told that there are four moves a four-way can do and that you practice them over and over. What are they and are there diagrams in a publication, etc?
Finally, what type of points can be done in a three-way?
I checked the online version of the SIM and searched the forums and could not find this information. I will run any information you tell me by my instructors.
A point is a single formation that you build. Turning points = doing many of them.
There are two types of formation:
Random: build a single formation.
Block: two distinct formations, with a defined move (aka inter) between them.
Building a random gets you one point, building a block gets you two - one for the first formation and one for the second. If mess up on the inter you don't get the second point.
There's a lot more than four formations - look at the Fastrax link above for nice graphic demonstations of the randoms and blocks. On any one dive, five or six points are drawn randomly. You then do these as many times as possible in the 35 seconds from the first team-member leaving the plane.
There's more to it than that, but that should give you a basic understanding.
You can find pictures of 4-way and 8-way formations here: http://www.fai.org/...nts/sportingcode2006 (scroll down to "formation skydiving" and you can download pdf files with the diagrams)
You can make up moves (called "points") for any size group of skydivers, but for serious competitions the points are chosen from the official dive pools and you have to complete those points in order as many times as your team can. You usually have either 30 seconds or 50 seconds to do so. The judges look at video of your jump, count your points, look for any mistakes, and give you a score.
We don't have 3-way competition at the national level of formation skydiving it's just 4-way, 8-way, 10-way, and 16-way with their related dive pools, but at some fun local meets you may find 3-way competitions. (oops, see bob.dino's link below. Other countries may have 3-way at the national level, I was just thinking about the U.S.)
Make some sense?
--Heather
(This post was edited by HeatherB on Mar 20, 2006, 9:03 PM)
Thank you for your responses. I will read the links provided and discuss with my instructors. I want to begin to start working on the requirements for the B license and I want to get good at RW.
Thank you for your responses. I will read the links provided and discuss with my instructors. I want to begin to start working on the requirements for the B license and I want to get good at RW.
Ok, 'turning points'. A lot of the above is all about competition 'turning points'. The best thing to get a feel for it is to go to http://www.skyleague.com and click the NSL TV section and watch the videos of people turning competition points. LOTS of vid, go to the 2005 archive and there are more.
Watch a sample of all the teams posted, especially the lower classes. It's easy to just watch the high scoring pros, but turning points as a beginner is about having a ton of fun and learning to get there. You'll see the whole gambit.
turning points as a new person is just about going up and working on building formation with your friends - you'll get better as you gain experience. The best way to do that is to jump with your locals once you've graduated.
well .. you always seemed to do a good job explaining simple things
thats cause I'm simple
Don't you have some 'light work' of mine to get working on? (People are still asking if you are one of our tunnel camp coaches two weeks from now FWIW - nevertheless, looks like Chromy will take good care us anyway with, again, very cool coaches, only taller this time I think.)
I could never work out how the three way thing focussed. I guess the "long axis" focuses on the center? Also I was never sure about the APF including piece moves with the 3-w/novice/junior category. It's a fun dive pool all the same.
What are you up to this year Chris? We could use an alternate.
well .. you always seemed to do a good job explaining simple things
thats cause I'm simple
Don't you have some 'light work' of mine to get working on? (People are still asking if you are one of our tunnel camp coaches two weeks from now FWIW - nevertheless, looks like Chromy will take good care us anyway with, again, very cool coaches, only taller this time I think.)
I wasn't asking that.
I'm confused, tho... do I still need to brush up on my russian?
