Thanatos340 1 #26 February 2, 2006 First and foremost.. Talk with your instructors. Second.. See if there is a Coach willing to jump with you. Your profile is Blank so no-one knows where you are jumping. Fill out you profile and just maybe a Local Experienced/Coach jumper will see this and offer to help you out. At my Home DZ there are MANY coaches that do not charge anything for helping newer jumpers out. I have been fortunate enough to have many highly qualified Jumpers willing to jump with me at no charge to help with similar problems. Ask around the DZ and see if you can find someone qualified that is willing to do a couple jumps with you. Third.. Relax!! Fourth.. Don’t listen to 100 Jump wonders like me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomvailco 0 #27 February 2, 2006 WINDTUNNEL!! I'm going to a 3 day tunnel camp at the end of march before I even go to AFF. I am in no position to be telling you what to do just giving my 2 cents! good luck bro! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yamtx73 0 #28 February 2, 2006 I have the same problem, my instructor even got it all on video and we spotted several problems... I'll be spending time in the tunnel this weekend...The only naturals in this sport shit thru feathers... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomvailco 0 #29 February 2, 2006 QuoteIf you need motivation, download the Halo - Freefall warriors show off of skydivingmovies.com - the guy who spins and fails the course - a year later, is a top instructor... Some times it just "clicks". Did he really? that's great man. he was bummed he didn't make it. good for him. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleOne 0 #30 February 3, 2006 I totally feel your pain since I had the exact same experience. I went spinning my way through my first four or five solos, including a delightful jump where I forgot my pull priorities and ended up pulling low. Since I had trouble with spinning during AFF, I was discouraged, disgusted and mortified. I finally went up with a coach who helped me with establishing heading reference. On the first jump, I used him as the reference. On the second jump, he stayed behind me while I used a cloud as a reference. After that, crisp turns came back and I was stable again. This was not the only issue. I was also simply scared because I was completely on my own. On my first solo, I instinctively looked to my right for my instructor but he wasn't there! The two coach jumps helped relieve this fear. Fast forward 200 jumps and I'm coming back after a two month layoff. Ok, I'm not spinning anymore but there is a clear degradation in my "skills" (emphasis added because I am not and never will be God's gift to skydiving). I've done seven jumps in three weeks since that layoff so it's been slow going. I am a little frustrated now but I'm trying not to let it get to me. I do remember how and when to pull and how to get my butt back to the ground in one piece. The rest of it is gravy. They say every jump is fun but that has not been the case for me. I am sorry if that is the case for you but I think there are plenty of people who experience frustration. The worst thing about fear and frustration is the snowballing of it. Going up with a coach helped me with both the physical and mental aspects. I hope this helps. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thesaint 0 #31 February 4, 2006 Dude relax and relax some more. 2 Things: Don't give up Pull on time "If a thousand people agree on a dumb ideal, it's STILL a dumb ideal." Skully Bro #1 - POPS# 10440 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yamtx73 0 #32 February 5, 2006 If you can get to a wind tunnel it's well worth it... I just spent 15 minutes in one today and the improvement I saw was amazing... I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.The only naturals in this sport shit thru feathers... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chillin 0 #33 February 7, 2006 Quote How do you overcome from a bad jump? Get back on the plane. If the chute fits...JUMP IT!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerd137 0 #34 February 7, 2006 Aside from all the other advice you've gotten, try not to get overly frustrated and/or beat yourself up. Right now flat spins might be an issue, but 200 jumps down the line they'll be a fading memory and you'll have new hurdles to contend with. There's a lot to learn in skydiving. This advice is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black 'cause I get the same way (if any of my friends are reading this, surely they are rolling their eyes and chuckling at me ). I'm very prone to negative thinking. Actually, this advice is directed as much at myself as it is toward you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites dzjohn 0 #35 February 7, 2006 Hey we all have trouble whith some part of our training at some point, Mine was with backloops, first one was a front flip secound was a barrel roll and third well didnt go any where just stayed flat finally got it on my fourth attempt with practice, One thing that really helpped with me was to relax more and think about it all during the dive not just go through the motions. BTW good stand up landings up till now and I made a real hash of my first yesterday, smoked in with a low turn luckely dug it out. Its all about a never ending learning process. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Dougiefresh 0 #36 February 7, 2006 Quote Aside from all the other advice you've gotten, try not to get overly frustrated and/or beat yourself up. Agreed. If you're chastising yourself when you get on the ground, you're going to hurt your performance and not have fun. Breathe, relax, and remember we all suck at this. Some of us just suck less due to experience.Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Eule 0 #37 February 10, 2006 QuoteI'm so frustrated with my jump today that I was pondering why do I even jump when I'm not having fun out there. Your post sounds familiar to me, probably because I wrote a very similar one four months ago. To continue the story since that post: I made a few more jumps at that DZ, then I switched to one further away. I didn't expect that someone at the new DZ would push a button and fix my skydiving, but I was thinking that maybe a new instructor would see something differently or explain something in a different way that would help. I did pick up some helpful ideas there, but my progress was still slow. I started jumping in June 2005. After noticing that I was a slow learner, I went to a wind tunnel in late July 2005. I had 30 minutes and that helped somewhat, but I didn't have the "Eureka!" experience many people have talked about. I switched to the further-away DZ at the beginning of November 2005, and lots of people there said I should go to the tunnel again. I got sort of hard-headed about this and halfway decided that I was going to jump my way out of it - after all, didn't people learn how to skydive before wind tunnels existed? I passed L-4 on jump 39, exactly six months after I started jumping. (39 jumps total, not 39 just on L-4.) I was starting to break down and think about a tunnel trip. Since I passed L-4 in early December 2005, I decided to lay off for the holidays and ponder my options. By the first of January 2006, I had made my decision and booked 30 minutes at the wind tunnel - a different one than I visited before. I went to the tunnel in mid-January. My 30 minutes got split into two chunks over two days. After the first session, I felt a little better, but I still wasn't sure. After the second session, I felt a lot more sure of myself. I came on back home and went for a jump and my instructors were impressed with the change; so was I. :) I'm not doing one-jump-per-level yet, but it's taking a hell of a lot fewer than it was. Remember, it took me six months and 39 jumps to pass L-4. Since I got back from the tunnel, it's taken me three weekends and 6 jumps to pass L-5, L-6, and *almost* L-7. So I am happy with the results so far. This is my full report on that tunnel trip. Here are some random pieces of advice. You've probably heard many of these before, but here they are again. Note that I still have a low jump number, so take with a grain of salt: - Relax! This is not the easiest thing in the world to do when a large planet is coming at you at 120 mi/hr. But when you do, everything smooths out. - Practice your arch. First do it at the dropzone, maybe on a creeper but definitely in front of a mirror and with an instructor, so you know what a "good" one looks like. Then practice it at home, during the week. What I did was arch for twenty seconds, rest for more than that, repeat nine more times (ten in all). I did this once a day, and it helped. - Consider some tunnel time. When you first look at the price tag, you will freak, but then work out how many jump tickets you'd need to get that much free-fall. I'm talking about regular "experienced jumper" tickets, which run US$20 plus or minus here in the US. You'll probably find that the tunnel is about half the cost of the jumps. This doesn't seem to be your situation, but if you compare the tunnel to an AFF jump, the tunnel is usually less than one-tenth the cost of the jump. - Try to get video. I tried this a few times earlier this summer. I just paid for the camera guy's jump ticket. Of course, the first time I tried this, my dive went fine. The second time, the camera guy fell off of the plane a few seconds before me and my instructor left, so no video. I decided I wasn't destined to get video of my jumps. But if you have better luck, it may be helpful. - I found that my jumps seem to go better if I'm not rushing around on the ground before the jump. I'm not talking about the normal thing of watching which load you're on and getting ready in time; I'm talking more about things like "I have to hurry and do this jump because I have to be back home in an hour" or "I want to try and get one more before sunset". - If I had a bad jump on Sunday morning, sometimes I would try to end the weekend on a good note by trying again Sunday afternoon. This worked about half the time - I'd have a good second jump. The other half - not so good. I may have been trying too hard. - If you've been going every weekend, take a weekend off and see how you feel. I tried this and by Sunday evening I was kicking myself for not going to the DZ. So I figured I really did like it. :) Anyway, I hope all this helps. Keep chipping away at it; you'll get there. EulePLF does not stand for Please Land on Face. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 1 2 Next Page 2 of 2 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. 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. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
dzjohn 0 #35 February 7, 2006 Hey we all have trouble whith some part of our training at some point, Mine was with backloops, first one was a front flip secound was a barrel roll and third well didnt go any where just stayed flat finally got it on my fourth attempt with practice, One thing that really helpped with me was to relax more and think about it all during the dive not just go through the motions. BTW good stand up landings up till now and I made a real hash of my first yesterday, smoked in with a low turn luckely dug it out. Its all about a never ending learning process. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dougiefresh 0 #36 February 7, 2006 Quote Aside from all the other advice you've gotten, try not to get overly frustrated and/or beat yourself up. Agreed. If you're chastising yourself when you get on the ground, you're going to hurt your performance and not have fun. Breathe, relax, and remember we all suck at this. Some of us just suck less due to experience.Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eule 0 #37 February 10, 2006 QuoteI'm so frustrated with my jump today that I was pondering why do I even jump when I'm not having fun out there. Your post sounds familiar to me, probably because I wrote a very similar one four months ago. To continue the story since that post: I made a few more jumps at that DZ, then I switched to one further away. I didn't expect that someone at the new DZ would push a button and fix my skydiving, but I was thinking that maybe a new instructor would see something differently or explain something in a different way that would help. I did pick up some helpful ideas there, but my progress was still slow. I started jumping in June 2005. After noticing that I was a slow learner, I went to a wind tunnel in late July 2005. I had 30 minutes and that helped somewhat, but I didn't have the "Eureka!" experience many people have talked about. I switched to the further-away DZ at the beginning of November 2005, and lots of people there said I should go to the tunnel again. I got sort of hard-headed about this and halfway decided that I was going to jump my way out of it - after all, didn't people learn how to skydive before wind tunnels existed? I passed L-4 on jump 39, exactly six months after I started jumping. (39 jumps total, not 39 just on L-4.) I was starting to break down and think about a tunnel trip. Since I passed L-4 in early December 2005, I decided to lay off for the holidays and ponder my options. By the first of January 2006, I had made my decision and booked 30 minutes at the wind tunnel - a different one than I visited before. I went to the tunnel in mid-January. My 30 minutes got split into two chunks over two days. After the first session, I felt a little better, but I still wasn't sure. After the second session, I felt a lot more sure of myself. I came on back home and went for a jump and my instructors were impressed with the change; so was I. :) I'm not doing one-jump-per-level yet, but it's taking a hell of a lot fewer than it was. Remember, it took me six months and 39 jumps to pass L-4. Since I got back from the tunnel, it's taken me three weekends and 6 jumps to pass L-5, L-6, and *almost* L-7. So I am happy with the results so far. This is my full report on that tunnel trip. Here are some random pieces of advice. You've probably heard many of these before, but here they are again. Note that I still have a low jump number, so take with a grain of salt: - Relax! This is not the easiest thing in the world to do when a large planet is coming at you at 120 mi/hr. But when you do, everything smooths out. - Practice your arch. First do it at the dropzone, maybe on a creeper but definitely in front of a mirror and with an instructor, so you know what a "good" one looks like. Then practice it at home, during the week. What I did was arch for twenty seconds, rest for more than that, repeat nine more times (ten in all). I did this once a day, and it helped. - Consider some tunnel time. When you first look at the price tag, you will freak, but then work out how many jump tickets you'd need to get that much free-fall. I'm talking about regular "experienced jumper" tickets, which run US$20 plus or minus here in the US. You'll probably find that the tunnel is about half the cost of the jumps. This doesn't seem to be your situation, but if you compare the tunnel to an AFF jump, the tunnel is usually less than one-tenth the cost of the jump. - Try to get video. I tried this a few times earlier this summer. I just paid for the camera guy's jump ticket. Of course, the first time I tried this, my dive went fine. The second time, the camera guy fell off of the plane a few seconds before me and my instructor left, so no video. I decided I wasn't destined to get video of my jumps. But if you have better luck, it may be helpful. - I found that my jumps seem to go better if I'm not rushing around on the ground before the jump. I'm not talking about the normal thing of watching which load you're on and getting ready in time; I'm talking more about things like "I have to hurry and do this jump because I have to be back home in an hour" or "I want to try and get one more before sunset". - If I had a bad jump on Sunday morning, sometimes I would try to end the weekend on a good note by trying again Sunday afternoon. This worked about half the time - I'd have a good second jump. The other half - not so good. I may have been trying too hard. - If you've been going every weekend, take a weekend off and see how you feel. I tried this and by Sunday evening I was kicking myself for not going to the DZ. So I figured I really did like it. :) Anyway, I hope all this helps. Keep chipping away at it; you'll get there. EulePLF does not stand for Please Land on Face. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
