Sensory overload.....Tandem the answer?

[azakeus 0]

Im quite new to this sport so please forgive my obvious shortcoming.....and the not so obvious ones.

Im a RAPS student and Im having trouble with sensory overload, Im on my 5 sec delay and have been on it for a couple of jumps now mainly because the second I leave the aircraft my mind goes completely blank.
This was never a problem on S/L or Dummy Pulls but for some reason now Im onto freefall I think myself lucky I even get to 2 in the count before I pull out of instinct rather than any form of control.

My thinking was since I did a S/L as a very first jump if I did a tandem now it would help by getting me used to everything that happens after you exit.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Aza

"If your chute malfunctions, you've got the rest of your life to fix it"

[Snowflake 0]

I never liked the idea of doing short delays. My personal preference from the beginning. I say do an AFF. It won't cure your problems, but it will help.

I was a big time swimmer on exit even after i finished AFF, if I had gone through static or some other progression. I would probably still be on student status.

It's a lot easier if you have 55 seconds to fix the five seconds you blew on exit. Than to think about trying to fix that first five seconds over and over again.

Thats my personal opinion, and it may or may not be valid to your situation, since I went through AFF. I swam all my AFF exits and only failed one.

PS if your swimming it's your hindbrain telling you to keep your feet under you. Even though your brain knows better, it takes a few seconds to get control. One way or another if you keep at it you will get control

[NickDG 23]

I'm not sure how your Static Line program is structured, but . . .

Your first freefall should be a clear and pull, not a five second delay. The whole point of your last three static line practice pull jumps are to simulate your first freefall. So you are sort of doing it right. It should be along the lines of exit, arch, look, reach, pull, check. Not count to five and then do all those things.

Doing a tandem can't hurt, but it's really not going to simulate what you are doing now.

I'd say stick with it. Hundreds of thousands of us had the same problems on static line and we overcame them and so can you . . . Look, you already have at least six exits and six canopy decents so you're learning heaps and getting good experience even if you don't realize that right now.

And if you complete the entire Static Line course you'll have a very good skill set on which to build on. Do you know which AFF level is most often the scariest? It's their hop and pop which is the last jump in most AFF programs. It's often very comical and very pathetic all at the same time.

But, if you're ever in an aircraft that's on fire and going down at 2000-feet, you'll have no qualms about getting out and saving yourself while many so called "experienced" jumpers will be crying for their mamas . . .

Keep us posted on your progress!

NickD

[billvon 2,400]

>Your first freefall should be a clear and pull, not a five second delay.

Agreed, but I've noticed that some SL DZ's call a clear and pull "a five second delay" to emphasize that a student shouldn't hurry i.e.

(exit)
arch thousand
reach thousand
feel thousand
throw thousand
check thousand

So it might just be a nomenclature thing.

But hey, it took me ten PRCP's to get it right when I started, so I'm not the best example . . .

[NickDG 23]

Took me seven . . .

I was wondering if they were using throw outs in their S/L program. So I almost mentioned there'd be no "look" in the sequence. And while he said Static Line maybe it's really IAD . . .

NickD

[Adriandavies 0]

I think that most UK s/l rigs have ripcords.

[azakeus 0]

Sorry I should have said that i had already done the 3 sec delay, that was ok since it was short and all I had to do was pull.

AFF I was thinking about but to do that I would rather wait till Im on 10 sec delays then go in at Level 3.....kind of a catch 22.

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

Aza

"If your chute malfunctions, you've got the rest of your life to fix it"

[NickDG 23]

>>then go in at Level 3.
Yikes! Please don't do that!!!!!

NickD

[Andy9o8 0]

On my first freefall it was about a 1 &1/2-count: ArchPULL!!!
Then I calmed down a bit.
Oh, and I only took 3 DRCP's .

To the OP: I, too, had a lot of trouble with "swimming legs" on my early freefalls. Several deployments while tumbling or spinning on my back. (God bless those cheapo's.) Know this: everyone and their mother will be telling you to "relax", as if it's so damn easy for a student to relax on a jump. Next time someone says that to you, you have my permission to grab them by the throat.

Oh, and I'm no instructor, but I do like the idea of having an instructor take you out on an AFF-style jump, just to get past the overload and get your lizard-brain accustomed to the sensation of sustained freefall. That was my problem at that stage, too, and if someone had done that for me, I'd have probably gotten my A license 25 jumps sooner.

[billvon 2,400]

>I was wondering if they were using throw outs in their S/L program. So
>I almost mentioned there'd be no "look" in the sequence.

I've used ROL throwouts, BOC throwouts, ROL ripcords and BOC ripcords for SL students. I was the poster child for why the ROL throwouts didn't work that well. I kept bending over to try to see it on the "look" part of the count. Once I started teaching and we switched to BOC ripcords (and then later throwouts) suddenly students stopped spazzing out on exit so much when they were doing their DRCP's!

[tbrown 26]

I came up through static line and short freefalls back in the seventies. My first freefalls were a lot like yours too. My favorite logbook entry from that time is, "stable by coincidence only".

What solved the problem for me was a Jumpmaster who told me to take the time to look UP at the plane (a Cessna) when I exited. This did a number of things. It takes your eyes off the ground for starters. Plus it's REALLY cool to see the underbelly of an airplane rising up above you. PLUS, to do this you have to pull your head back, which causes your entire spine to follow in a lovely stable arch.

This simple bit of advice solved my stability problems. From that day on, I moved ahead into 10, 15, 20, and 30 second delays. It was fun enough to see the plane for just that second or two that I could relax and go about the business of looking for, reaching, and pulling my main ripcord. Your BOC drill is a little different, you don't need to look, can't see it anyway.

But just look up at the plane and enjoy it for a moment. See if you don't have a big improvement.

P.S. I you're already on freefall, fuck tandem. Tandem is for tourists !

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[mircan 0]

That worked for me. I found some thing at the plane to look at (a sticker, instructor`s face...) and just kept looking at it while i jumped. As tbrown said, when you see the bottom of the plane for the first time, then you are going to be relaxing more.
Worked just fine for me.

OTOH, sometimes now when I`m dropping SL students I tell them this trick. Lot of them watch my face on exit but the second they let go, they stop looking at me and start looking at the ground (with everything else that follows...)

dudeist skydiver #42

[azakeus 0]

Just a quick update on my progress, I did another 5sec delay and nearly got it, I arched like a....well a stone arch, but managed to go into a standing position, panicked and pulled....looking back wasnt the smartest thing iv done.
Then last week I jumped looking at the plane the whole time and finally got this whole relax idear, went for the pull and for the first time actually got into a nice position (i.e belly to earth as opposed to on back) during deployment.
Iv got to say the frustration makes getting it right so much more rewarding, I couldnt help but grin like an idiot walking back to the hanger.

Thanks for the advice it was most useful.

"If your chute malfunctions, you've got the rest of your life to fix it"

[mircan 0]

dudeist skydiver #42