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Mleadley

After A license

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Hey guys and gals, finally got signed off on my A license today after 3 weeks of no jumping due to crappy weather here in England.

Anyone got any suggestions on what to practise that will make life easier for when I'm trying more advanced stuff later down the line? I'm playing my around with my rear risers without the toggles on opening as it takes me an age on my 260 student canopy to get down.

Also wondering how long it takes to get generally proficient during freefall? After not jumping for 3 weeks my first jump felt terrible, not hugley stable and my manoeuvres were pretty terrible, think I nailed about 1 backflip out of ten that i tried today haha most of them I think ended up rolling over midway through.

On the plus side my canopy control was good and my landings were all sweet, just looking for everyone's 2 cents :)

Thanks in advance

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Congrats on your A!

There's plenty to do in crappy weather. For example, you can read some theory (Brian's The Parachute and the Pilot comes to mind), chat with fellow skydivers about their adventures (always try to learn from their mistakes, so you can make novel mistakes yourself ^_^).

Always practice your emergency procedures on the ground. Shower-time is excellent for this, and practicing it at least once a day ensures you don't forget it when you get back to jumping.

And yes, it's normal to feel a little rusty after being away for a while, especially if you don't have that many jumps in total. Just plan accordingly and have fun. You'll learn quickly enough.

Also, get coaching in whatever interests you. Canopy control coaching is always time and money well spent, as landing the canopy is something you MUST do every single jump. Better do it right =).

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Quote

Also wondering how long it takes to get generally proficient during freefall? After not jumping for 3 weeks my first jump felt terrible, not hugley stable and my manoeuvres were pretty terrible.......



Come back after 3 weeks and have...
50 jumps, pretty rusty
100 jumps, less rusty
200 jumps, not too bad
etc

It is hard to say when a given person will be "better" or good. You should see some fair improvement by 70 or so....just guessing. Unless it takes you 4 years to get 70 and then you will be rusty 100% of the time.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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I'd suggest a canopy course sooner rather than later. You'll learn stuff you'll use on every jump after you take it. If you have someone at your home DZ who offers coaching for tracking, I'd take some time to get comfortable with that, too. I feel like tracking gets glossed over a lot in training for as important as it is.

Of course, I think the same thing about spotting after all that tracking. Tracking forces you to figure out where you want to end up, rather than taking the pilot's word for it.

I've taken a lot of people to the tunnel and they start relaxing and and looking like they know what they're doing in about 20 minutes of tunnel time. They start to look pretty proficient somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour. Then they get rushed into freeflying and never spend any more time on their belly.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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Mleadley

Also wondering how long it takes to get generally proficient during freefall?



Depends what you mean by "proficient" I guess. We have a qualification called FS1 here that is one kind of yardstick of "not a danger to yourself and others on your belly"; I have coached a reasonable number of new jumpers to FS1, and it's ranged between jump 35 and maybe 100 or so. Tunnel helps more than I can adequately describe.

By other standards of proficiency (being able to do RW on my back for example, or sit-fly worth a damn) I have 1100 jumps and I'm still not proficient. It's all relative B|
--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

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Yeah, it's all relative as said before. Hopefully with the more you learn the more you will realize how much you don't know, for thousands of jumps to come.

To be stable and comfortable you have to jump regularly, no matter your experience.

Jump numbers are deceiving, but in general, 100 jumps is basic minimal competency, 200-300 and ok, you're a skydiver, but you don't know s**t.

Think of an A and B licenses as demonstrating minimal competency to begin training with people who aren't AFF instructors. Get canopy coaching as soon as you can, and plan on getting it again in the future, even if you don't want to swoop.

Right now as far as canopy stuff goes, focus on accurate landings and solid patterns, that's it.

Don't worry about riser input, the pressure is so freakin high and the response so slow on 200+sqft canopies that it is really kind of pointless. Try it, so you know what they do, but it isn't something you should focus on, it won't be something you have any real use for for quite some time, it is only to teach you the basics of how the canopy responds. At this point risers are a basic training exercise, not a meaningful/useful skill (except in the extreme off chance you have to land with you rears).

A canopy course will teach you this stuff and give you a good foundation to use when you start downsizing.

As far as free fall, stable belly position, speeding up, slowing down, making precise 90/180/360 turns, and tracking. Don't fuss with flips and rolls except to practice getting stable after executing them. If you have the money go to a tunnel and let the instructors teach you what they want to teach you.

It takes a long time to "get good."

As mentioned earlier, if you don't jump much you will always be rusty, even after hundreds of jumps and several years in the sport. IMHO, bare minimum to maintain reasonable proficiency is about 50 a year, but 100 is much much better, say a "practical minimum."

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