2 2
Cocowheats

Butt padding?

Recommended Posts

I'm amazed that skydiving suits and pants are not offered with some sort of butt padding!

Let's face it, you won't walk off every landing. Nothing wrong with sliding in, but a reality of sliding in is you risk your tailbone!

I'm sure we've all whacked are butts a bit harder than we'd like. I know I have.

Which leads me to ask if any of you wear butt padding(like baseball shorts)? I know a few people on here say they slide the majority of their landings due to physical limits. I might be in this category for awhile as I'm still re-abillitating from an ankle injury.

 

TL;DR - Looking for suggestions on butt pads.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Cocowheats said:

I'm amazed that skydiving suits and pants are not offered with some sort of butt padding!

Let's face it, you won't walk off every landing. Nothing wrong with sliding in, but a reality of sliding in is you risk your tailbone!

I'm sure we've all whacked are butts a bit harder than we'd like. I know I have.

Which leads me to ask if any of you wear butt padding(like baseball shorts)? I know a few people on here say they slide the majority of their landings due to physical limits. I might be in this category for awhile as I'm still re-abillitating from an ankle injury.

 

TL;DR - Looking for suggestions on butt pads.

April 1st was almost three weeks ago.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
(edited)

Thought it was a reasonable question since in many sports athletes wear padding over areas that they know are likely to make hard contact.

Thanks for the not serious replies. What a grand way to help someone get back in the air...

Edited by Cocowheats

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 minutes ago, Cocowheats said:

Thought it was a reasonable question since in many sports athletes wear padding over areas that they know are likely to make hard contact.

Thanks for the not serious replies. What a grand way to help someone get back in the air...

Oh oh, I'm so sorry you are "butt hurt"! Realistically many or even most jumpsuits have Cordura  reinforced buts to protect the jumpsuit from damage. If you want body protection from poor landings you need to do what people in sports where falls are common do.  Armour. Look at skateboarding equipment. What skydivers do instead is learn to stand up landings. As a rule we do not have areas we "know are likely to make hard contact".

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Cocowheats said:

Thought it was a reasonable question since in many sports athletes wear padding over areas that they know are likely to make hard contact.

Thanks for the not serious replies. What a grand way to help someone get back in the air...

you should do a plf rather than slide.  if you choose to slide, sew a patch of cordura over it.  put a cool picture or a saying on it.  market them and sell the idea. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A lot of people slide in landings without any special jumpsuit additions.

Things to note:

- Certainly some landing areas get very hard or are bumpy, making the situation trickier.

- Normally one tries to slide while twisted a bit to the side, trying to slide on one butt cheek. (Pretty much the 'baseball slide' if I have the terminology right.) Thus if you drop down suddenly a bit, or you hit a bump, you don't smack down straight on your tailbone or compress the spine as suddenly. It might still hurt, but the shock to the spine will be less.

- Some jumpsuits actually have padding and not just heavy duty cordura or ballistic cloth on the butt area. But that tends to be pants for tandem instructors. And if the instructor slides or sits down, it tends to be without that twist I mentioned, due to having the student there.

- Part of the sliding landing is to gradually transfer weight from the canopy to the ground. So if coming it at speed, some of the slide will be with legs out in front, sliding with one's shoes, without one's butt actually being on the ground yet. Eventually yes as one slows down, the side of the leg and butt will be sliding on the ground too. But one tries to delay that. 

- So padding can help, but it is more about technique than padding!

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

you should do a plf rather than slide.  if you choose to slide, sew a patch of cordura over it.  put a cool picture or a saying on it.  market them and sell the idea. 

Thought was that a plf would be stressing a bad ankle more than a slide to butt.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
(edited)
5 minutes ago, Cocowheats said:

stressing a bad ankle more than a slide to butt.

In your first post - you stated you were still re-habilitating. I would encourage you to make sure it's fully healed. Once injured; the ankle is susceptible to reinjuring fairly easy. I've reinjured mine more than once being a dumb ass. But, you could be a Doctor and I should shut up now. :)  

Edited by BIGUN
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Cocowheats said:

Thought was that a plf would be stressing a bad ankle more than a slide to butt.

it may, but the threat to injuring the spine is real.  i have had broken ankles three times and plf every single landing that isn't stood up with no issues.  i had an issue once when i did a plf off of a fence when i almost made it to the dz and the one that had been broken twice swelled up a little.  i use a brace on that one now, just in case.  if the ankle is fully healed, it is fully healed.  i have heard that breaks are stronger than original bone, but am not a healthcare professional.  a good plf when done correctly is always the right choice over sliding in a landing, unless you are a ti. 

 

i have heard folks say plf's are not designed for high speed canopies and the higher horizontal speed, but this is simply not true.  folks who say that have never landed a round canopy in winds higher than 10 knots.  i did one in 22 knot winds once, and had it not been for a good plf, i would have been hurt for sure.  i also did a plf at a dz i was new to when i took a downwind landing rather than chance hitting powerlines.  it was a plowed field that was dry as a bone.  again, sliding would have injured me badly, but i got a scrape on one arm.  i have also seen a guy do a plf from ~50 feet when his air got stolen by another jumper.  he walked away with bruises on his feet. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

i have heard folks say plf's are not designed for high speed canopies and the higher horizontal speed, but this is simply not true.

Yes and no. I'm not going against you here but am putting it in a different way:  I would say sliding is superior for high speed landings in a general sense-- but as you would agree, there are limitations, where PLF's are better. I'd far rather slide a fast downwinder under a crossbraced canopy, than PLF and go tumbling along. But there are those limitations:  High vertical speed requires a PLF, and a PLF is good in rough terrain where you don't want to pile into a rock hard clump of dirt or whatever, while sliding with one's body down low.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, pchapman said:

Yes and no. I'm not going against you here but am putting it in a different way:  I would say sliding is superior for high speed landings in a general sense-- but as you would agree, there are limitations, where PLF's are better. I'd far rather slide a fast downwinder under a crossbraced canopy, than PLF and go tumbling along. But there are those limitations:  High vertical speed requires a PLF, and a PLF is good in rough terrain where you don't want to pile into a rock hard clump of dirt or whatever, while sliding with one's body down low.

i am pretty sure i would plf every time, even the one you described, but have no experience there so cannot say for sure.  sounds reasonable to me, as long as it is done correctly, and in the right location, it can be safe.  the thing is, sliding in can cause issues when the terrain is uneven, and if you get in the habit of doing it, it may cause an injury when you really need to do a plf and forget.  muscle memory is hard to override, like when you're off the dz after a mal left you on your reserve.  this is often overlooked when discussing the merits of plf vs. sliding.  i know i haven't given it much thought until now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, sfzombie13 said:

i am pretty sure i would plf every time, even the one you described,

In any case I think we agree that one shouldn't forget to be ready to PLF, even if one moved on to also using sliding landings, a landing technique considered to be 'more advanced' (due to it being learned later, and being associated with cool canopies).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
(edited)
6 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

it may, but the threat to injuring the spine is real.  i have had broken ankles three times and plf every single landing that isn't stood up with no issues.  i had an issue once when i did a plf off of a fence when i almost made it to the dz and the one that had been broken twice swelled up a little.  i use a brace on that one now, just in case.  if the ankle is fully healed, it is fully healed.  i have heard that breaks are stronger than original bone, but am not a healthcare professional.  a good plf when done correctly is always the right choice over sliding in a landing, unless you are a ti. 

 

i have heard folks say plf's are not designed for high speed canopies and the higher horizontal speed, but this is simply not true.  folks who say that have never landed a round canopy in winds higher than 10 knots.  i did one in 22 knot winds once, and had it not been for a good plf, i would have been hurt for sure.  i also did a plf at a dz i was new to when i took a downwind landing rather than chance hitting powerlines.  it was a plowed field that was dry as a bone.  again, sliding would have injured me badly, but i got a scrape on one arm.  i have also seen a guy do a plf from ~50 feet when his air got stolen by another jumper.  he walked away with bruises on his feet. 

THOSE folks are 100% CORRECT!  The Parachute Landing Fall comes FROM the round parachute community. RAM AIR chutes are VERY different animals.  And yes, while a parachute is a parachute is a... They fly AND land with very different circumstances... 

Hi, I'm formally known as SGT Ski, 82ND AIRBORNE.  I've performed (still do for training) a couple PLF's in my day. 

That being said, modifications to translate that from round to ram isn't hard. The forward drive is of course the major difference. 

 

Pchapman said it best, think modified baseball slide. And yes, I know a few broke dick jumpers who maybe should hang it up, but keep grinding, and sliding it in on purpose. 

BIGGUN however gave the BEST advice: no shame in UP sizing and jumping in IDEAL conditions. 

Set yourself up for success.  

We've all seen tandems land, right??? 

Edited by timski
more...
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, timski said:

THOSE folks are 100% CORRECT!  The Parachute Landing Fall comes FROM the round parachute community. RAM AIR chutes are VERY different animals.  And yes, while a parachute is a parachute is a... They fly AND land with very different circumstances... 

Hi, I'm formally known as SGT Ski, 82ND AIRBORNE.  I've performed (still do for training) a couple PLF's in my day. 

That being said, modifications to translate that from round to ram isn't hard. The forward drive is of course the major difference. 

 

Pchapman said it best, think modified baseball slide. And yes, I know a few broke dick jumpers who maybe should hang it up, but keep grinding, and sliding it in on purpose. 

BIGGUN however gave the BEST advice: no shame in UP sizing and jumping in IDEAL conditions. 

Set yourself up for success.  

We've all seen tandems land, right??? 

i had a discussion about this over a beer or two a long time ago and i recall one thing that stuck with me.  the guy said something about protecting the important parts and mentioned that in hockey, they had cups for almost 100 years before they had helmets.  that struck me as odd, until he finished.  he said "it works that way landing a parachute.  you just fucked up the stand up landing, what makes you think you're gonna get the next part right?  fuck up the slide and there goes your spine, fuck up a plf and you femur or break an ankle.  i know which one i'd prefer."  i don't think i agree on which part to protect more in hockey, but i don't skate well enough for it to ever be an issue.  again, not that you're wrong, and things do evolve all the time.  sliding can be safer under some circumstances, but dangerous under others.  when newer jumpers see nothing but sliding, they can set themselves up for injuries that a proper plf would have prevented.  i don't want anyone to get hurt or killed and would like to figure out a way to stop landing injuries and fatalities.  i just think we need to encourage the newer jumpers to plf all the time, until getting into situations where sliding is better.  but a plf or a slide won't save you from a low hook turn.

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.

Guest
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.

2 2