Slower in track?

[rocketfeuille 0]

According to my ProTrack, I fall more slowly in my track than in the rest of the jump (RW). Is this a mistake? Is that even possible?

[hookitt 0]

Yes and it's very probable that you are slowing down vertically many MPH.

Look at all the extra surface area you use while tracking versus an arch.
Cheers
-

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[rocketfeuille 0]

Thanks, hookitt... I guess what threw me off is that almost everyone else at the DZ speeds up at least a little in their track... But if I'm slowing down that means I'm tracking pretty flat, right? So that's good...

[hookitt 0]

Who gets more horizontal distance ?

More than likely you're tracking just fine

C-ya

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[skycat 0]

Quote

Thanks, hookitt... I guess what threw me off is that almost everyone else at the DZ speeds up at least a little in their track... But if I'm slowing down that means I'm tracking pretty flat, right? So that's good...

If you get skydiving there is an article in it this month on tracking.

Fly it like you stole it!

[billvon 2,435]

If you fall _faster_ in your track something's wrong. Tracking is about covering the most horizontal distance in the minimum vertical distance; falling faster has the opposite effect. Even on the 300-way, a dive that fell very slowly, I would see the outer hoops break off and rise above the formation as they began their tracks.

[skr 1]

> According to my ProTrack, I fall more slowly in my track
> than in the rest of the jump (RW).

Good, that's how it's supposed to be.

You have your maximum surface area shaped in such a way
that you cover the maximum horizontal distance.

That's what "tracking" means.

(I don't know where the phrase "flat track" came from.
(If you're not covering maximum horizontal distance,
(then you're not tracking, you're doing forward motion.

(Maybe it came from AFF where the instructors mistakenly
(told people they were learning to track when they were
(really just doing forward motion, and after a few generations
(tracking started to mean forward motion and people needed
(a new word like flat tracking to mean tracking.

Skr

[Hooknswoop 19]

Quote

(I don't know where the phrase "flat track" came from.
(If you're not covering maximum horizontal distance,
(then you're not tracking, you're doing forward motion.

(Maybe it came from AFF where the instructors mistakenly
(told people they were learning to track when they were
(really just doing forward motion, and after a few generations
(tracking started to mean forward motion and people needed
(a new word like flat tracking to mean tracking

A lot of experienced jumpers track, but either speed up or maintain their fall rates, this is tracking. Good trackers slow their fall rate for the track, this is flat tracking.

Hook

[quade 3]

Quote

(I don't know where the phrase "flat track" came from.
(If you're not covering maximum horizontal distance,
(then you're not tracking, you're doing forward motion.

(Maybe it came from AFF where the instructors mistakenly
(told people they were learning to track when they were
(really just doing forward motion, and after a few generations
(tracking started to mean forward motion and people needed
(a new word like flat tracking to mean tracking.

The term "Flat Track" was in use many years before AFF. You'll find the term "Flat Track" in a lot of stuff written by Pat Works that was written in the mid-70s.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skr 1]

>You'll find the term "Flat Track" in a lot of stuff written by Pat Works
> that was written in the mid-70s.

No, I remember the phrase "max track", but I never heard
"flat track" until somewhere in the 90's.

"Tracking" always meant trying for maximum horizontal
distance. In the distinction hooknswoop made above
if you were deliberately going steeper or faster then it
was diving, not tracking.

"Max track" was used for emphasis, the track was really
good in a technical sense.

Of course, maybe that was just the way I used it and I
naturally assumed everybody else was also using it
correctly :-) :-)

Reality is slippery at best.

Thanks for that Pat Works URL, I hadn't thought about
that stuff for a while.

Skr

[quade 3]

I coulda -swore- he wrote something about a "flat track" in one of his Godfrog stories.

http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf8.htm

HERE WE GO . . .

It's in United We Fall . . .

Quote

Then in the midst of near disaster (89 feet) came the glimmer of the idea which was later to make Clyde the Godfrog. Putting his hands to his sides, he started into the Froggian Swoop. Now since the initial stages of the Froggian Swoop cause a surprising amount of horizontal displacement, people types on the ground were heard to remark, "Man, wouldya watch that crazy frog! He's flat trackin'!"

And that would have been 1978.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Mad47 0]

According to my protrack I can slow down up to 90mph when track. It's 25% slower than terminal on belly!

[quade 3]

Just out of curiosity, how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bmcd308 0]

!!!

----------------------------------
www.jumpelvis.com

[skr 1]

>wouldya watch that crazy frog! He's flat trackin'!"

Yes, I searched on "flat track" and found that too.

I believe he's using the English slang use of flat
for really or extremely, as in

He's flat haulin' ass or he's flat broke or he's flat
out of luck. I don't believe the phrase "flat track"
was used back then.

But that's only because I don't remember hearing it
until the 90's.


I notice in your profile that you jump at Perris.

I haven't talked to Pat in a while and don't know
whether he's made any more jumps or not, but you
might ask him.

Anyway, onwards, I see several other threads around
here to have opinions on :-) :-)

Skr

[Mad47 0]

Quote

Just out of curiosity, how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

191 cm (still trying to figure out how many feet and inches), 182 lb without gear (up to 215 lb with rig and weight vest). The number 90 mph was given for track dives in regular RW jumpsuite (I like to practice tracking on solo jumps). I don't think protrack shows the actual speed for normal track after break off since we only get to track for several seconds and device averages the speed.

[quade 3]

Pat is out at Perris on a semi-regular basis.

I coulda swore I've seen him out there in the last few weeks. These days when he heads out to go freeflying he looks a bit like Yoda wearing gangsta rap threads. Most of the freeflyers look up to him as a god. Pretty freekin' cool.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Zenister 0]

hmm i'm confused (not unusual)

so when i slow down and sink to hang with the rest of the flock i'm not tracking anymore?? less flat than my usually floaty self.. (82 mph is my low speed in a good track) but still moving out...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[kallend 1,651]

Quote

Quote

(I don't know where the phrase "flat track" came from.
(If you're not covering maximum horizontal distance,
(then you're not tracking, you're doing forward motion.

(Maybe it came from AFF where the instructors mistakenly
(told people they were learning to track when they were
(really just doing forward motion, and after a few generations
(tracking started to mean forward motion and people needed
(a new word like flat tracking to mean tracking.

The term "Flat Track" was in use many years before AFF. You'll find the term "Flat Track" in a lot of stuff written by Pat Works that was written in the mid-70s.

Yes, but a lot of what Pat wrote in the 70s was allegorical, concerned frogs, or was otherwise influenced by chemicals (as he freely admits).

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[skycat 0]

Maybe think of it this way. There are different kind of tracking that you do. Tracking dive tracking, birdman tracking, and tracking away from a formation.

Tracking dives - are about flying in the tracking possition relative to the person leading. Rarely is this the flatest track possible, I know for me it is far from it. So I would call this just plain old tracking

Then there is tracking away from a formation, which involves getting as flate as you can to get as much distance which is dictated on your body possition and build. I would call this flat tracking.

Fly it like you stole it!

[mjosparky 3]

Quote

>wouldya watch that crazy frog! He's flat trackin'!"

Yes, I searched on "flat track" and found that too.

I believe he's using the English slang use of flat
for really or extremely, as in

He's flat haulin' ass or he's flat broke or he's flat
out of luck. I don't believe the phrase "flat track"
was used back then.

But that's only because I don't remember hearing it
until the 90's.


I notice in your profile that you jump at Perris.

I haven't talked to Pat in a while and don't know
whether he's made any more jumps or not, but you
might ask him.

Anyway, onwards, I see several other threads around
here to have opinions on :-) :-)

Skr

Scratch,
Pat probably does not remember writhing the book and you are to damn old to read it. LOL Pat is still jumping, I talked with him and Jan a couple of week ago. He is walking with a cane though.
Sparky

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals