Fastest way to fall on Belly?

[tripleflip18 0]

Hey guys. I am wondering whats the absolutely fastest way down on a belly. Im asking because recently i've had about 10 jumps where i jump in 4 ways last and have to catch up. Or Cessna i jump after 2 other divers. I only have 45 jumps so i can't sit or do head down. So i was told to put my hands on my chest, max arch, tucked knees. Doing that i do fall down faster then fellow skydivers but its still slow and taking me a while to get to them. So i was thinking, If i have my legs way out straight - am i going to do more of a head down and fall faster then the way i described above? Can you help please cause i wanna catch up quick and not have to catch up for entire jump. Thank you!

[hackish 8]

Fall with a teddy bear stuffed in your jumpsuit?

-Michael

[stratostar 5]

Strapped to the back of a north american midwestern, corn fed, land whale that been stuffed into a spandex hot pink jumpsuit & no drouge.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[sraja 0]

Couple of suggestions
1. Wear a tighter jumpsuit (mine is almost skin tight)
2. I put my hands on my butt and arch - but putting your hand on chest could be equally effective
3. I dont know what kind of canopy you fly and how you fly it but you may want to talk to an instructor at your drop zone about wearing a weight belt
4. Are the others you are jumping with also in the 50 jump range? If yes, then they are also probably contributing to the problem - jump with some experienced folks and see if you still have a problem matching fall rate
5. Tracking steep towards a formation is an accepted way of approaching a formation - but this could be tricky and risky. I would suggest you practice it with some experienced folks and then go out with your group

[JohanW 0]

You're asking the wrong question. Without lead and in my regular suit, I can do >160 on my belly. But in your situation, there are other techniques and solutions.

Talk it over with (an) experienced jumper(s), in person, at the DZ. Then go jump with them. We can debate this at long, long length here, but that'd take ages and should be covered in some sort of introduction to relative work course, formalised or not, anyway. I'm not about to give you the entire course over the Internet, it'd take too long and you'd have more questions forever anyway (which is good).

Good luck, and have fun!

Johan.
I am. I think.

[Floats18 0]

It sounds to me that you need some diving coaching instead of faster belly flying...

There are lots of ways to dive down to a formation which can be executed without any freefly training and without freefly friendly gear.

You should ask an experienced jumper to show you how they dive down to a formation. Ask lots of experienced jumpers, shop around and pick the method that works the best and is the most fun for you! (I like to dive upside down )

--- and give them wings so they may fly free forever

DiverDriver in Training

[DougH 270]

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It sounds to me that you need some diving coaching instead of faster belly flying...

Bingo... you need to right techniques for the right situation. Being able to smoke down the tube at 175 mph on your belly isn't nearly as useful as being a good diver when you are trying to get down to a formation.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[millertimeunc 0]

Two words: Wind tunnel. Some decent coaching helped me sort out my fall rate issues pretty quickly.

The best things in life are dangerous.

[Remster 24]

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Two words: Wind tunnel. Some decent coaching helped me sort out my fall rate issues pretty quickly.

One word: no.

This isnt a fall rate issue from what the OP wrote. Its learning how to dive to a formation (sounds like anyways). While you can practice very short burts of that in the tunnel, its not that easy IMO.

Find a coach, jump with him/her to practice shallow dives 1st, then when you get confortable with those, deeper dives.

Remster

[rehmwa 2]

Diving advice will come. But to just increase your fall rate...

put in all these elements:

1 - roll your hands and elbows in (pretend to grab your collar bones or chest with your hands facing into your body

2 - along with your hands, make sure the elbows also tuck in to your torso (i.e., get all that hand and arm surface area into your torso and out of the wind).

3 - chin as high as possible, pubic bone pushed down (i.e., the strongest mantis arch you can, slip air past your neck and chin, use the butt muscles, not the back (arch to your pubic bone/hips, not your chest))

4 - knees together, feet on your butt - DON'T break the arch, your lowest point should stay with your pubic bone.

in otherwords - in your width direction, get as narrow as you can (to minimize your cross sectional are from width). While in your length direction do the best mantis arch you can (to get the air flow fast and clean around you) and fold up you feet and shins (booties) (to reduce even more area from length)

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Hey guys. I am wondering whats the absolutely fastest way down on a belly. Im asking because recently i've had about 10 jumps where i jump in 4 ways last and have to catch up. Or Cessna i jump after 2 other divers.

Delta. Like a track but with your arms between you. DO NOT AIM AT THE FORMATION (because that could break the cardinal rule of kindergarten/skydiving: we do not break our friends). Dive to the same altitude as the formation but some distance away horizontally and then drive in. Think about acceleration - it will take a while to stop so you have to start slowing down before you get to the formation altitude.

Get coaching.

[millertime24 8]

Arch this hard!!!

Muff #5048

[daremrc 0]

You're going to need to train for this. All great athletes do.

I would start with a steady diet of Big Macs, beer, and Pop Tarts...

Let me know how that goes for you and we'll re evaluate in 3 months

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[tripleflip18 0]

hello, thank you for input! Well i have no problem staying at the same level with other skydivers once i get to their altidude. Im pretty good on belly. i was just asking for one thing, and that is a fastest technique to fall down on belly.

Can anyone answer me if i keep my legs out streight arms all the way on chest or butt, am i going to fall down faster and therefore get to my formation quicker. And yes i do realise safety is # 1 thing, so ofcourse i slow down with plenty of room to the formation. So anymore tips?

[gearless_chris 1]

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Arch this hard!!!

The rig got in the way when I tried it.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[tripleflip18 0]

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Diving advice will come. But to just increase your fall rate...

put in all these elements:

1 - roll your hands and elbows in (pretend to grab your collar bones or chest with your hands facing into your body

2 - along with your hands, make sure the elbows also tuck in to your torso (i.e., get all that hand and arm surface area into your torso and out of the wind).

3 - chin as high as possible, pubic bone pushed down (i.e., the strongest mantis arch you can, slip air past your neck and chin, use the butt muscles, not the back (arch to your pubic bone/hips, not your chest))

4 - knees together, feet on your butt - DON'T break the arch, your lowest point should stay with your pubic bone.

in otherwords - in your width direction, get as narrow as you can (to minimize your cross sectional are from width). While in your length direction do the best mantis arch you can (to get the air flow fast and clean around you) and fold up you feet and shins (booties) (to reduce even more area from length)

really quick, why not arch in the chest?

[MagicGuy 0]

Coming from someone who is basically lighter than everyone at my DZ, I can tell you that some tunnel time working on fall rates will help you out a lot (if this is the problem, as opposed to diving).

I wear 10lbs of weight on just about every jump. I bring my arms in to my chest, and try to bring my feet in to the point where they are almost touching my ass. That and just arching like a mofo. Just watch your body position - you may be going forward/backward while in one of these positions before you get the hang of it.

Talk to your instructors about strapping some weight on. I have come to the conclusion that I will basically always have to wear weight. It's not such a bad thing.

As far as the diving out stuff goes, it's all just practice, man. Keep doing what you're doing and diving out as opposed to linking the exit. Only way to get better at something is to keep doing it.

Good luck!

[DougH 270]

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hello, thank you for input! Well i have no problem staying at the same level with other skydivers once i get to their altidude. Im pretty good on belly. i was just asking for one thing, and that is a fastest technique to fall down on belly.

Can anyone answer me if i keep my legs out streight arms all the way on chest or butt, am i going to fall down faster and therefore get to my formation quicker. And yes i do realise safety is # 1 thing, so ofcourse i slow down with plenty of room to the formation. So anymore tips?

Maybe you don't know what technique you should be asking for...

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Im asking because recently i've had about 10 jumps where i jump in 4 ways last and have to catch up.

If you want to catch up, you want to dive. You may want to know how to go the fastest on your belly, but that is the wrong tool for this job.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[blackout 0]

Are you jumping with booties? I had this problem doing a coach jump which pretty much involved catching up to my coach. He is 220+ pounds and I might be 150 out of the door. Not to mention we are about the same height. He falls much faster than me. I used what he called swooping. Sort of in between forward movement and tracking. You keep your elbows back like you would in a forward movement and your legs straight out like in a track but tilt it as much as you can, this will give you both better forward speed and fall rates. Just my opinion. Or use weights.

[brettski74 0]

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I only have 45 jumps so i can't sit or do head down.

Can I also point out that catching up to belly flyers is *NOT* what freeflying is for. Freefly on freefly jumps. Belly fly on belly jumps. I know this isn't what you're trying to do. Just want to make sure that you're not getting the idea that freeflying (ie. sit or head-down) is another way to solve this. Don't. That would be a bad idea.

[skyninja 0]

I find that an appropriately timed (and spaced from the formation) stand is quite effective.

Why don't you just play 'chicken' on the railroad tracks? It would be a cheaper way to toy with death, I'm sure.

CWR #2 - "You SAID collision!"

[DougH 270]

Effective, but wrong. If any decent belly organizer would cut you for pulling that on his or her jumps, there might a reason.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[gearless_chris 1]

How about the cannoball position? That's pretty fast, and it's not freeflying

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[brettski74 0]

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I find that an appropriately timed (and spaced from the formation) stand is quite effective.

Aside from the danger that this poses to you and everyone else on your jump, I'm also yet to be convinced of the effectiveness of this strategy. Let's say you pull it off, and you don't slam into someone's back at 50mph, what next? You're now down level with the formation, but you still don't have the skills to fly with it, so you float back up above it again.

Get some coaching on fall rate control, body position and diving down to a formation. Learn how to do these things properly and safely. Not only will you no longer need to resort to dangerous stunts like going into a stand on a belly jump, but you'll also find that they're way more effective than that dangerous stunt you wanted to pull.

[rehmwa 2]

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really quick, why not arch in the chest?

1 - longitudinally (down the body) the arch need to come from the hips (or pubic bone), the chest will take care of itself - from that and you holding your chin very high. If one "thinks" about arch with the chest instead of the hips, I see a lot of cupping in the hips as a result.

2 - as far as the chest arch in terms of transversly ('across' the chest), you can't if you are bring your elbow into your rib cage. Much more effective in making yourself narrow than trying to touch your elbows together behind your back (chest arch) - which actually makes you bigger, not smaller and only gains a little more curvature for airflow.

for speed - think length and width - curve yourself lengthwise and get smaller (narrow) widthwise. The only exception is to also get smaller lengthwise by tucking your booties out of the air behind your thighs by putting your feet on your but.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants