fall rate/docking help for A

[aggie04 0]

I was working on fall rate with docking last weekend and was able to fall down to my instructor fine, and went in for the dock but when i went to stop popped up like 6-8 ft (according to him). I am only 5'1 and have an exit weight of about 135-140 with gear on. Does anyone have any advice of how to keep my rate up when stopping. My altimeter showed me going 76 while my instructors showed him at 87. So i was going VERY slow. Im going to try weights but any other advice would be great!

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A life without a cause
is a life without an effect

[Vertifly 0]

76!?

uhm..start eating lots of Twinkies.

[aggie04 0]

haha the advice i got was drink more beer. When i am just regular belly flying i was going about 114 so i CAN fall at an ok rate...just not when im stopping. I promise im not floaty

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A life without a cause
is a life without an effect

[indyz 1]

Quote

My altimeter showed me going 76 while my instructors showed him at 87.

What units are those numbers in? None of miles/hr, kilometers/hr, feet/s, or meters/s make sense. The first three are all impossibly slow*, and meters/s is really fast (170-ish miles/hr).

Quote

Does anyone have any advice of how to keep my rate up when stopping.

I had the same problem when I was starting out, and I've seen it in other people. I would have no trouble getting down, but once I shifted my attention from getting to the formation to taking grips I would relax my arch and float out. The solution for me was to practice, practice, practice. I'd be willing to bet that you are doing the same thing (*disclaimer* but of course it could be something completely different, take my advice with a grain of salt as I hold no ratings, talk to your instructors, blah blah).


* Ok, so 87 mph is probably achievable without a wingsuit, but most likely not without an extremely baggy suit and a lot of work.

[lifewithoutanet 0]

76? Dayyyyummmm! How long are you in freefall? A minute and a half?

Seriously, though... What type of altimeter is displaying this fall rate? Do you have any other context? Do you have an audible that logs your freefall time and speeds?
-C.

[BigM 2]

To answer your ORIGINAL question... a strong tendacy is for the young, light jumper to be arched enough to get on level, but when maneuvers are attempted (docking, turns, etc) they will flatten out, thus causing them to float. Just because you "can" fall at a certain fall-rate doesn't mean you can fly at that rate. You answered your own question. You will have to put on weights to be able to jump with almost everybody, so go ahead and put them on NOW while you are building muscle memory. There is a good article on that very subject on the home page of this forum.

Blue 111-
Jeff

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[hanknotdan 0]

Hate responses like this. You don't know what this person's natural fall rate is like. You haven't watched her jump. Maybe she completely dearched and that's the problem. You cannot tell. I outgrew my weights because my arch improved over time so maybe I didn't need the weights. I just needed to learn to fly better. Telling someone on student status to put on weights may be a bit premature; she is still burning the muscle memory in for her arch. Lastly, telling a student to put on weights without also mentioning the dramatic effect this can have on canopy performance is perhaps a bit irresponsible. Guess that's why they have instructors.

[aggie04 0]

thanks everyone...ya it was 76 m/hr and we all agreed it cannot be accurate, but i was sub 100 we know that. And my instructor is already going to put weights on me and go up and just work on adjusting to the weights I just didnt know if anyone else had a similiar problem and had extra advice. thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life without a cause
is a life without an effect

[skyyhi 0]

Watch your knee position. May not be the problem but it was for me. I would have my knees too wide and it would cause them to drop below my hips - thus causing me to float up on a formation. Once I practiced bringing my knees in, the problem pretty much stopped.

Of course, I am a newbie so take my advice to your instructors and see what they say.

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[ZoneRat 0]

76 mph?

I'll let your instructors handle the fall rate thang as they see fit... but consider this:

Everytime you make a jump, put a dollar into a special account. Then, when it's gets to around 500ish buck or so. Buy a birdman/ wingsuit!

You'd stay up there forever!

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[AggieDave 6]

For those who don't believe, they really did go *that* slow. Two neptunes on the jump AND a protrack. The instructor that was with her can fall that slow (he can't move much and it takes everything he's got but he can).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[larsrulz 0]

If they really went that slow, then good luck activating a expert cypres...

I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

[FrogNog 1]

There is lore at my DZ about a feather-weight jumper. They did something with her that helped either her fallrate or her stability - I can't remember which : get a NERF football and slice it in half from pointy end to pointy end. Take one of the oblong halves and put it on your belly under your jumpsuit.

The idea is to produce a bit of a nosecone in flight without having to get a beer belly.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[AggieDave 6]

Or do the same thing with a couple of packing weights...

Ok, seriously, I have heard the nerf football lore before, I'm not really sure how much it would work...especially at this point, the last thing she needs is a "cheater" trick for body position, weights is one thing, but something to change her shape is going a bit far I think.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[cruzit 0]

I tend to agree it is difficult to give specific advise about this kind of problem without having jumped with you. However, I would tend to agree with your instructor, you will probably need weights eventually, if not now. Your size is the factor in this. Heck, I'm 5'8", 175 lbs. out the door and had to add so much weight on the Texas women's record attempt I thought I was jumping a 120 Stilleto instead of a 135
I had a similar problem with docking as a student. I fell like a homesick bowling ball, out arching and sometimes sinking below the really big boys because my arch was so pronounced...but when I went to dock, I had a tendency to reach for the grips with my hands instead of using my legs to move towards the grips. This caused my chest to cup air and pop me up when I tried to dock.

My first advice, of course, is listen to your instructors. Secondly, I would advise you to pay close attention, as has already been pointed out, to your body position, especially when attempting to dock. Are you reaching???? Use your legs more. And relax...it sounds like you are well on your way.

J

[Hazarrd 1]

i wonder what would happen to her in a birdman suit.

.-.

[aggie04 0]

thanks dave for backing me up since people didnt believe me...but ya, im not looking for something to cheat with, I just though I would see if anyone else had the same problem and if they did if they had any extra advice. I am already going to work with my instructor using weights. Also a good point about using my legs more than my arms, I will have to work on that. Thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A life without a cause
is a life without an effect