Claude7 0 #1 March 18, 2015 Hi! I'm Claude Evangelista from the Philippines. I just want to say, one of my favorite things about this sport is how friendly everyone is in general, and how diverse a dropzone can be in terms of personalities. :) I just need some advice tho, I paid for a full AFF course at thailand last december, I got stucked at AFF LEVEL 4 three times..and didn't have enough money to continue. The problem is that I keep spinning everytime the JM would let me go. It was kind of frustrating how I had one coach from levels 1 to 4. The first time I failed, a new coach jumped with me and I wasn't used to him, and I had to repeat again, with another new coach. So after failing the last jump, my original coach (the first one) told me not to skydive for 2 days and to not think about it. My last recent coach who jumped with me told me to do a few arching and relaxing exercises. I followed my Original coach instead since I was more comfortable with him. My original coach told me he would jump with me. So after 2 days of not thinking about skydiving, I came back to the DZ. Expecting my original coach would jump with me. But I only found out when we were getting ready is that my most recent coach was the one who was gonna jump with me, and she asked "Have you been doing the exercises i taught you?" I respectfully replied "no, because my original coach told me not to think about skydiving" and she replied "well im jumping with you not him" in a slightly furious manner. So when we were doing ground training before going to the plane, she was very quiet, and she said, "well you should know what to do, since you listen to your other coach anyway" and she didnt brief me properly. When i did my level 4 jump with her, in the air she didnt let me go, she didnt give me any signals, any thumps up, coa, arch or any type of signal. and she only told me my mistakes on the debriefing video. So now, I found a small DZ near my area, with one USPA instructor and a small plane, Im going to start training with him next week. Is there any advice anyone here could give me? I'm an overthinker and I always want to be prepared cause i've been spending a lot of money on skydiving and I understand that its not cheap and that safety is first priority. The nearest windtunnel is really far so learning in a windtunnel is not really an option. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and I'm proud to be part of this skydiving happy family! :) Peace! P.s I can post videos of my level 3 and my 3rd level 4 jump if anyone needs to see it. :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlyingRhenquest 1 #2 March 18, 2015 Definitely discuss your experience so far with the instructor you've found, and make sure you understand your dive flow and objectives before each jump. The spin you mention is fairly common for people when they reach the point where their coach lets go of them for the first time. Normally at this point someone will jump in and suggest doing a few minutes in an indoor skydiving facility. If you have one near you, it's worth taking advantage of. Lots of skydivers make it past this point without one, though. Also usually people tell you to relax, which is rather difficult to understand in this context. I liken it to learning to drive. When you start out, you're all freaked out and stiff and jerky at the controls. As your body learns how to control the vehicle, you relax and all your movements become smoother. It's very similar to skydiving; you're in a new environment and you don't really know how to keep your balance or how large of a movement to make to accomplish a maneuver. As you learn how to deal with that, you relax and your movements become smoother. So right now, try taking a deep breath, hold it for a second and then let it out. Do you feel your body relax as you do? If so, that's kind of the feeling you're looking for. Before you start your count, do the same thing, and smile. Beyond that, listen to your instructor. There are a lot of common problems in AFF, and the instructors know how to help you deal with them. Maybe at 100 skydives you'll look back at this and be like, "Heh."I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpsalot-2 2 #3 March 19, 2015 On another subject. How is your canopy flying going ? Are you enjoying that part ? How are your landings going ? Life is short ... jump often. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Claude7 0 #4 March 19, 2015 Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for your wise words! I will surely keep that in mind. When I'm in the air, I make myself feel relaxed, by being aware of it and taking a dreap breathe and trying to soften my body. But In my last level 4 experience, when we watched the debriefing video it was my legs this time, one was a bit tucked and one was too out. But the more frustrating part was that my coach didn't even give me any signal, no signal to do toe taps or anything. It's like it felt she was only waiting for me to deploy at 5000 ft. And then during the debriefing she just said "Oh so theres your mistake, one leg was out and one leg was tucked." Without giving me any reason why she didn't give me any kind of signal. Because usually my original coach would give me certain signals and then would give me a thumbs up if everything was good. In level 3, they let me go for awhile and i was stable for a bit until i started to do a 180 spin slowly and then they held me again before I deployed. Anyway thank you again! Yes I can't wait for the time I'll just be laughing about the problems that I'm having now. haha. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Claude7 0 #5 March 19, 2015 Yeah! I enjoy it a lot! It gives me time to really enjoy the beautiful scenery. The only thing that's consistent with all my jumps are my canopy skills. My coaches say I always have good canopy flight and thats what remains consistent with me. They stopped giving me supervision/radio instructions after my level 2. and all my landings were stand up and soft landings with or without supervision. :) Quote Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites FlyingRhenquest 1 #6 March 19, 2015 Yeah, leg position takes a while to get used to. It's a very common problem I see with new flyers in the tunnel and AFF jumps on youtube. I had that problem as well, and just got used to doing toe-taps until my body position improved. All my AFF instructors gave me a lot of hand signals. I don't think you'll have the problem you had with that one instructor with a USPA AFF instructor.I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Claude7 0 #7 March 23, 2015 Got it. I'll be heading to the DZ on thursday and will stay there for a week, hopefully everything runs smoothly and will finally be able to get my license. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will update this post as soon as I start my training again. Cheers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites FlyingRhenquest 1 #8 March 23, 2015 Awesome! I think doing it that way is much better than trying to space your jumps out over time. I found that if I did more than one jump a day during AFF and coaching, I'd be much less nervous on the later jumps than the first one of the day. That would allow me to focus more on the jump objectives. Even now, if I take some time off, I'm a bit more nervous on the first jump when I get back. We had a month of bad weather that ended a couple of weeks ago and it took me a few jumps to get back in the groove. That's never as bad as it was in AFF, though.I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Claude7 0 #9 April 6, 2015 Hi guys! Sorry for the late reply! I'm proud to announce that I have officially got my A license! Just need to send it the USPA now. The moment I jumped I passed the levels easily. I think what I realised was that my USPA aff coach made me feel very comfortable even before jumping. Hes a really good instructor and his whole vibe simply just made me comfortable and I finally learned the real meaning of "relax" haha. Can't wait to start my skydiving career. Thank you again for taking the time to comment and share your thoughts. It has helped a long the way even before I started my training. Cheers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites drakkar 0 #10 April 6, 2015 You are right bro. Many times ago I experienced the same problem with my couch understand you I believed ur solve this problem and begin to fly btw goin cebu?hear that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Claude7 0 #11 April 8, 2015 When are you going to cebu? That's where I finished my training and got my A license. Brad is an excellent coach! Quote Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites drakkar 0 #12 April 10, 2015 Im come in october!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0 Go To Topic Listing
FlyingRhenquest 1 #6 March 19, 2015 Yeah, leg position takes a while to get used to. It's a very common problem I see with new flyers in the tunnel and AFF jumps on youtube. I had that problem as well, and just got used to doing toe-taps until my body position improved. All my AFF instructors gave me a lot of hand signals. I don't think you'll have the problem you had with that one instructor with a USPA AFF instructor.I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Claude7 0 #7 March 23, 2015 Got it. I'll be heading to the DZ on thursday and will stay there for a week, hopefully everything runs smoothly and will finally be able to get my license. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will update this post as soon as I start my training again. Cheers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FlyingRhenquest 1 #8 March 23, 2015 Awesome! I think doing it that way is much better than trying to space your jumps out over time. I found that if I did more than one jump a day during AFF and coaching, I'd be much less nervous on the later jumps than the first one of the day. That would allow me to focus more on the jump objectives. Even now, if I take some time off, I'm a bit more nervous on the first jump when I get back. We had a month of bad weather that ended a couple of weeks ago and it took me a few jumps to get back in the groove. That's never as bad as it was in AFF, though.I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Claude7 0 #9 April 6, 2015 Hi guys! Sorry for the late reply! I'm proud to announce that I have officially got my A license! Just need to send it the USPA now. The moment I jumped I passed the levels easily. I think what I realised was that my USPA aff coach made me feel very comfortable even before jumping. Hes a really good instructor and his whole vibe simply just made me comfortable and I finally learned the real meaning of "relax" haha. Can't wait to start my skydiving career. Thank you again for taking the time to comment and share your thoughts. It has helped a long the way even before I started my training. Cheers! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drakkar 0 #10 April 6, 2015 You are right bro. Many times ago I experienced the same problem with my couch understand you I believed ur solve this problem and begin to fly btw goin cebu?hear that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Claude7 0 #11 April 8, 2015 When are you going to cebu? That's where I finished my training and got my A license. Brad is an excellent coach! Quote Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites drakkar 0 #12 April 10, 2015 Im come in october!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
drakkar 0 #12 April 10, 2015 Im come in october!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
