Am I current?

[L.O. 0]

How many jumps do you think makes you current? How often do you need to jump, to show improvement? Why do you think this? What have you experienced that makes you think this way?


I am just trying to see if people are on the same page about this kind of stuff. I have found as of late, that my thoughts seem to differ from most on this subject.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[skybytch 259]

Current enough to think I'm safe (not likely to screw up badly enough to hurt myself or someone else) - one or two jumps a month.

Current enough to think I can fly okay (on my belly; I'm still learning to freefly) - four or five jumps a month.

Current enough to think I can fly as good as I've ever flown on my belly (or to see real improvement in my freeflying) - ten or more jumps a month.

[scrublink 0]

Current for what purposes? Current for me and current for you are also very different. It is all about being honest with yourself with your abilities, your comfort level and how much your "layoff" has affected your ability to perform safely.

I know some people that are always "current" making jumps on a regular basis with no signifigant periods of inactivity that scare me in the air. I also know several people that take two or more months off at a time and come right back without any problems. Only you can really know if you are current. There are some things (especially in skydiving) that can't be written in a book and taken as gospel.

[dharma1976 0]

at least 40 jumps a month then I am current...anything less and I aint bringing my a game to the sky...

so right now I am uncurrent as I have only done 10 jumps this month and know that I should take it easy on the 180 turn when I go out the next time ...

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[L.O. 0]

This was my first attempt at a thread of my own, I guess its not that interesting after I read it my self.
So I will tell you what I think. I think you need to make at least a couple every week(on average) or you slip a little. It depends on your skills, if you are very experienced you can get away with longer lay offs because your so much faster then most, that they can't see it, not that your not slipping to.
To improve you need to make more then 100 a yr, if your making less your gaining experience so you just don't f-up as much. Your skills are not really improving. I know most can't find the time to make these numbers. I am being honest with everyone in this forum. Thats just the way it is. 15 yrs watching them come and go, this is what I've seen.
Of coarse everyone is different, the pace of learning is unique to each person. It's all what your after, a lot of people aren't that interested in being ubber hot, they just want to enjoy. More power toya. that sounded a lot more serious then I intended, sorry.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[bob.dino 0]

Some random thoughts:

While you're new (under 3-400 jumps?) in the sport, you need to jump regularly, to keep reinforcing all the new info you're attempting to put into practice.

When you're trying to improve, you need to jump in concentrated blocks. 3 jumps a day every weekend will be less effective than a 12-jumps-a-day-one-week training camp in getting your 4-way team to the Nationals.

So, if you've been around since the year dot and don't want to get significantly better, you don't have to jump very often. If you're new and want to be a kick-arse skydiver, you need to jump hard, often.

Does this make sense?

[pincheck 0]

no it was a decent question. i find it hard to progress during the winter as the combination of my work shift patterns where i get 4 weekend off followed roughly by 4 on means if the weather is shit i may not jump for sometime which makes it hard to stay current and progress when the summer comes it changes becaause i can get more jumps in closer together. This is another reason why i could not do 4way rw on a junior comp kind of level as i could not devote the time required to do it justice, as well as being fair to team mates.

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[bigbearfng 9]

One more thought-current for improvement really depends on how/who you skydive with. A bunch of 2ways or so with other newbs vs. 4way with the likes of Christy Fricken and Dan BC makes a world of difference for me!!! Gawd, they make me feel sooo slow! But Dans nice about it-just tells me I still suck, but I just suck less....

[L.O. 0]

That reminds me of the best jump I was ever on.
A couple of years ago, I was at a big boogie and AZ airspeed was there. I went over and since I know (have met) most of them and they knew who I was(sort of), we went on a jump. Just me and 7 of Airspeed. HOLY CRAP!!! we did 16 points in time. I was going as fast as I could and I was behind the whole skydive. I did learn a lot, and I was humbled(that should happen more often). I made sure that I thanked them all for the jump. Here comes the high point of my skydiving life. Craige Gerard and everyone else watches the video(we had their camera man to. At the end I was the only one left in the center with the cam guy. I was going for that one last point, they knew we were out of time and left. I geeked the camera as I went to military power and left to. Craige (blowing smoke up my ass I know) said "now thats how ya track right there check it out you are very good"(can you say spontaneous orgasm). Notice he didn't have much to say about my skydiving, but he did say I was a nuclear powered tracker. At the end of the boogie I went to all of them and thanked them again for wrecking my other 60 jumps that week. That was my first jump at the boogie and wow. So, if you ever happen to have a chance to go up with 7 or 8 of AZ Airspeed don't pass it up. I will remember it forever.

I've always wanted to tell that story to someone besides the people on my DZ, yahoo

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[RossDagley 0]

Thats an interesting point. I'll be coming back after a three month layoff. Will I be current? It depends on what 'currency' is - I'm a low jump number recently-off-student-status person.

Freefall wise, I'm putting in plenty of tunnel time anyway. My EP's will clearly need reinforcement, and my canopy work should be conservative, but what would I 'gain' from a 'coached' jump as recommended in the SIM? My 'stability' will likely be fine, as will my control.

Are we concentrating on altitude awareness?

(make at least one jump under the supervision of a USPA instreuctional rating holder (SIM Section 5-2, Recurrency Training))

[TrickyDicky 0]

Just general safety awareness. You may be able to fly , but can you track?

I heard there was a guy at langar a few weeks ago who had just put in lots of time at a tunnel, and he had a cypres fire. Remember that altitude!

UK Skydiver for all your UK skydiving needs.

[RossDagley 0]

Quote

Just general safety awareness. You may be able to fly , but can you track?

I heard there was a guy at langar a few weeks ago who had just put in lots of time at a tunnel, and he had a cypres fire. Remember that altitude!

Yeah, the altitude thing is something I'm planning on being over-cautious about - I'll often do 7.5 or 10 minute flights in the tunnel before needing a few minutes rest - and I dont plan to be jumping from 20k with a wingsuit be nice tho