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draygoneslayr

On The Edge

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History: Fifteen years ago I started my initial skydive career using the static line method from 3000'. I was enjoying it very much, I had three jumps in before certain circumstances dictated a change in my enjoyment direction.

Present: I was encouraged by a budy to go and make a tandem jump from 13K. The hook sunk deep. I asked my jumpmaster to do something nuts as I had had past experience jumping. We did a series of backflips out of the plane. There's the plane, theres the ground, on and on. I'm pretty sure I swallowed the hook that day. So I signed up for AFF, which brings me to my new problem.

I started my AFF in June of this year and I'm finding with every successful jump passing me to the next level comes a failure. My initial failure was in AFF2 where everything I practiced in my head, on the ground, and in my backyard flew out the door. Gratefully, everything ended, right as rain. My next try at AFF2 went well, but now I'm out an additional $200 bones. Fast forward, levels 3 and 4 go well, and I find myself more relaxed in FF, gaining a little bit more confidense. OK, so here I am yesterday waiting around for my load #8 to be called out. It was no big deal that I sat around for appx 4hours as tandems came and went. Finally, my JM and I go over the dive flow, 360L, 360R, dock. I'm thinking this'll be fine I just finished 90's with flying colors.

The Dive: So we exit at 13K, I had a good arch got stable by the end of my count and felt fine. Then my JM gets in front of me and I start thinking of what I'm gonna do. 360L then I drop my left leg (first time this happens to me) and I whip around. I restabilize and finish my 360L. My 360R goes well. Now it's time to dock. I bring everything in and start my forward motion, got within ~4ft, my left leg drops and I spin off to the left. I recover face my JM and try again. This doesn't work either, time ran out.

Delima: So here I am failed AFF5 and need to come up with another $160 to continue. Some have said to go get some tunnel time to work on your leg position. I don't like failing or quiting but it only gets more difficult through the program. I'm not excactly a spring chicken either and I don't want to hurt anyone nor myself. Any comments? This was mostlty a vent for my aggrevation towards my mental and physical preparation
Cheers,
Dray

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Hi! You have more jumps than I do, but I have a ton of tunnel time and if people are suggesting it and you have a tunnel in your vicinity, I would tend to agree that it's a good idea. It won't just help for purposes of your Level 5--it'll help overall. I'd say it's money well spent.

Good luck! :)

TPM Sister #102

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Although ive never done any tunnel training, the ppl ive talked to who have had problems with AFF levels have said that its helped them a lot. 1st of all it takes the pressure away from the whole jumping out of the plane and canopy control, so you can concentrate on the freefall aspect, and that as its such a small area, your body position will have to be that much better. Meaning in the air you will be that much better.
Also it works out cheaper than doing another retake.
Good luck in whatever you choose

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I don't have enough jumps to give you a fair answer to that question. I will say that the video of my Level 1 is horrendously dull, and I like it that way. It shows three of us passing time while I do things like check my altimeter and do practice pulls. I wasn't receiving any signals to correct my leg position and freefall was very stable.

If you do invest in some tunnel time, you will work on stability first but can then move on to work on turns and the nuances of your leg position. It sounds like you're already turning, but the tunnel can help you with control and can help you with the body position awareness that you're talking about.

Oh--and I highly recommend that you get a DVD of your time in the tunnel, because what you FEEL and then what you actually SEE are not necessarily the same thing. Go over the video of your tunnel time just as you would with your AFF jumps. Your instructor might be able to take the time to debrief it with you and that's very helpful. You'll see a lot of discussion about this sort of thing in the Wind Tunnel forum. Many people like to buy time and split it into a couple of blocks so you can do some preliminary work, debrief, and then go back in for a little more practice. I think it's a good idea!
TPM Sister #102

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Delima: So here I am failed AFF5 and need to come up with another $160 to continue. Some have said to go get some tunnel time to work on your leg position. I don't like failing or quiting but it only gets more difficult through the program. I'm not excactly a spring chicken either and I don't want to hurt anyone nor myself. Any comments? This was mostlty a vent for my aggrevation towards my mental and physical preparation



Once you have control of your turns and reasonable free fall stability, I think it gets easier. Level 5 (of 7, or 6 of 8) was the peak for me.

The tunnel may not cure the leg awareness problems - I still backslid in open air) - but it should remove a lot of your tension and fears about losing stability. Before I had a jump where the first 90 was fine, the 2nd one went to shit and for then on the dive wasn't really productive.

If the tunnel is conveniently close, it's worth 10 minutes of time.

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There's a tunnel up in Perris, not to far from San Diego. If you want to try the tunnel then go, it should be fun.

As far as your AFF goes, most people have to repeat a level or two. It's completely normal, and nothing to be worried about. Ease up on yourself, and go make another jump. Pass or fail, as long as you have a good time that's all that really counts.

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I wish I could get students to stop thinking of having to repeat an AFF level as a "failure". It's a pity the expense of each AFF jump reinforces that idea. I always urge students not to use that word. Needing more than one 45-to-60-second chunk of time to practice performing a task you've never done before - and an unnatural one at that - is hardly a failure.

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I wish I could get students to stop thinking of having to repeat an AFF level as a "failure". It's a pity the expense of each AFF jump reinforces that idea. I always urge students not to use that word. Needing more than one 45-to-60-second chunk of time to practice performing a task you've never done before - and an unnatural one at that - is hardly a failure.



Well said! B|










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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So here I am failed AFF5 and need to come up with another $160 to continue.



You'd have to come up with $160 to continue if you had passed the level 5, wouldn't you?

You might be surprised to learn how many world champion skydivers, top notch instructors and other "big name" jumpers took more than 7 jumps to get through AFF. Don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't "fail" as long as you learned something.

Tunnel time is a great tool if there's one near you.

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All,
So I've thought a little about what you've said, and you're right I failed nothing, I landed successfully and no one got hurt, and hell I was FLYING albeit like an albatross takes off (awkwardly) but flying nonetheless.

Level 5 will be revisited, I made my mind up a few days ago.

I've made an appointment for some tunnel time up at Perris for this weekend to work on my leg issues. The only problem, the other half thinks "it's" consuming me. Yea it is. What a challenge.

I did notice my concern on the cost of repeating a course. I'm getting over that as it's better to be safe than sorry. I just wish students could get a discounted rate for our perseverance and determination.

One note that may bring a smile to some is on the debrief with my JM. We started talking about the missed docking and she starts laughing a bit. I'm all what!? She says to me, after you missed the first dock got stable, turned and tried to re-dock the second time, that look of determination on your face was classic. She's a good egg.

Cheers

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I did notice my concern on the cost of repeating a course. I'm getting over that as it's better to be safe than sorry. I just wish students could get a discounted rate for our perseverance and determination.
Cheers



Dude skydiving is an expensive sport, if you cant afford to get quallity instruction, you cant afford the sport.
One thing a lot of students forget is that you only get 50-60 seconds to do your stuff. there is not a sport in the world were your profiency is expected on the same sort of time scale as skydiving. For some reason many of us think that 5 10 20 50 or 100 jumps is enough time to master the sport. 50 jumps is about less than 1 hour, name any other sport where you would excel 1 hour after starting it?
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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I did notice my concern on the cost of repeating a course. I'm getting over that as it's better to be safe than sorry. I just wish students could get a discounted rate for our perseverance and determination.
Cheers



Dude skydiving is an expensive sport, if you cant afford to get quality instruction, you cant afford the sport.
One thing a lot of students forget is that you only get 50-60 seconds to do your stuff. there is not a sport in the world were your proficiency is expected on the same sort of time scale as skydiving. For some reason many of us think that 5 10 20 50 or 100 jumps is enough time to master the sport. 50 jumps is about less than 1 hour, name any other sport where you would excel 1 hour after starting it?





And on that note, also realize that you need to be 100% focused on the task you are trying to accomplish.

As Squeak said, this isn't just another sport... it's as much mental as it is physical.

Visualize yourself doing the dive correctly, visualize it over & over.

Don't put unneeded pressure on yourself, relax and do what you've visualized.

Get the tunnel time training, but use it to it's fullest...think about what is happening and why.










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I wish I could get students to stop thinking of having to repeat an AFF level as a "failure". It's a pity the expense of each AFF jump reinforces that idea. I always urge students not to use that word. Needing more than one 45-to-60-second chunk of time to practice performing a task you've never done before - and an unnatural one at that - is hardly a failure.



you can't, Andy. The cha-ching in the DZO's eyes when you pay out another 160-200$ tells you it is a failure. (Though since the jump still counts to the 25, it's really that price minus the cost of a ticket and rental, so it was more of a $110 failure)

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The tunnel made all the difference for me getting past AFF V. I made it to level V twice in a 10 year period before starting over again and going to the tunnel after AFF I. I had no leg awareness at all but after being coached by my AFF I instructor in the tunnel for a total of 10 minutes I banged out the rest of the levels with a new found confidence.

I have my original logbook still and when I started you only needed 20 jumps for A. 10 years later and I just sent in the paperwork for my B...no rush.

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Hi mate

I failed one of my AFF jumps cos of leg position - AFF instructor suggested tapping my toes together (not heels - apparently toes easier to do to maintain arch)... sailed thru the repeat...

That is not to say that tunnel time with a good instructor is not a good investment - am sure it is - but the advice I had just might save you $$$$$$$$$$ IF (AND ONLY IF) the problem was feet at different levels causing spin etc

Goiod luck mate - and dont give up unless you really have to for other reasons (family, cost etc)(would be my advice

***********************************************
I'm NOT totally useless... I can be used as a bad example

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What dave said is the important part. As long as you are having fun and staying safe... thats all that matters! Having to repeat a level is somewhat costly but it isn't failure. At some point it will just click and you will relax a bit in the air. That time should come pretty soon. :)

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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To those that recommended Tunnel Time (TT),
This last weekend I went up to Perris and had four minutes in the tunnel. I was able to observe my arch and complete AFFV. I learned from that experience, so thanks for the recommendation. So the problem that I created was improper arm position during my forward movement. On the real jump at altitude, I brought my arms in to my torso, creating instability and probably a faster fall rate. I found (in the tunnel) that all you have to do is basically pinch those shoulderblades together a bit and you'll move. Leg position looked good also in the tunnel. I just have to relax at the time of release and not try to over compensate. Slow is fast. So here we go again I'm gonna try and knock out AFF5-7 this weekend and then make a solo. Time and body permitting.
Cheers

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