How much progress can i expect?

[Proximity 0]

Hi guys

I'm at 70 Jumps and did some first jumps trying to get into sitflying. I'll be going to Bedford in 2 weeks and got myself 2 hours in the tunnel. I have never been in a tunnel before, so my skydiving is all the experience i had so far. I finished my swiss skydiving licence at around 55 Jumps.
How much progress can i expect to do in Bedford aprox.
I think good belly flying + some decent sitflying? What do you guys think?

Blue skies

[adamUK 3]

Normally tunnel instructors get you to learn backfly before sit because that the default 'bail' position (if you bail to a belly then the higher wind speeds in sit could cause injury). Then they'll often do back to belly and belly to back transitions so you can then go from your back to a sit. After that they'll get you onto sit.

In 2 hours ? I dunno. It depends on how fast you learn but you might be getting into sit in 2 hours.

With 77 jumps though it's well worth concentrating on belly flying. It's all 'body flight' whether it's on your belly, back, sit or head. Being a great belly flyer will make you a great freeflyer and also enable you to learn FF skills more quickly.

The other thing is see if you can split your 2 hours over at least 2 days. Don't go in for more than 5 x 2 min rotations and leave an hour between sessions to recover, debrief, eat, etc. If I'm doing a day then I don't do any more than 40 minutes. After that I am usually knackered and it's really hard progress when you're tired. Especially sit for the first time I found to be a killer on the arms and shoulders.

One final thing if you've not got one yet, get a coach. I've burnt hours in the tunnel not getting anywhere (having a blast though!). Having a coach to give you drills, a brief, watch you then good debrief is worth the money. They normally cost £150-£200/hr.

Have fun! It's very addictive.

[Bignugget 0]

All good advice.

I did 3 hours across 5 days in Feb, doing another 3 hours across 4 days in May.

That is my limit for awhile, I was pretty wasted at the end of the Feb trip.

I had 17 jumps and 0 tunnel time, I got comfy on my belly, stable and comfy on my back, sit flying but not very stable, and transitions back/sit, belly/sit, back/belly

I would say if you are already pretty solid on your belly and want to JUST to freefly you could get to sit in 2 hours.

I wanted to develop my belly as well so we spent a bit more time on it than I "needed' for tunnel safety....which is why as mentioned they want you to be able to bail to your back as well.

Anyways like he said, its addictive!

And get coaching!

[EOCS 0]

I did an hour of tunnel time after about 100 jumps and i can say that i was already attempting FF before that and could hold a stable straight down position before the tunnel but not move around much. During the tunnel time we worked alot of back flight after the belly basics were done, last 15 min or so i was working on going back/seat. To be honest i think that those last 15 min actually hindered my FF progress slightly. as it was just the beginning the air speed was low so i learned a slow falling seat which in the air translated into a nice back slide when trying to catch up to anyone. Its since been corrected but i can say that i wish i had spent more time on my back. If you are already trying FF jumps i would htink that you can get to seat in 2 hours, best advice i can give is dont take more then 30-45 min max in a day unless you are always doing physical training anyway, one hour in a day was far too much and it ruined me for the next 2 days of my trip :S

Either way you can expect to learn ALOT
Good luck!!

[zerospinskier 1]

The best thing to do is to have no expectations. Just show up and take it one 10 minute session at a time. Don't worry about what you learn or don't learn in your trip. A relaxed and fun environment will lend itself to the best learning. No matter what progress you have flying in that damn tunnel is the most fun you can ever have!

[3mpire 0]

Quote

The best thing to do is to have no expectations. Just show up and take it one 10 minute session at a time. Don't worry about what you learn or don't learn in your trip. A relaxed and fun environment will lend itself to the best learning. No matter what progress you have flying in that damn tunnel is the most fun you can ever have!

^ this. all day. If you go in with expectations you will be disapointed.

Everyone learns at different rates. Count on hitting a wall and being "stuck" while other people don't. Count on having a shitty session and then when you step away and come back you absolutely rock it like it's no thing. These things are hard to predict.

So just put in your time, and take each session individually, and you'll get there.

Edited to add: this is not to say you shouldn't go in with GOALS. Goals are imperative at the macro and micro level. You should have high level goals you are aiming for (ex: fly efficiently, fly sit at 73%; take docks). You should have low level goals (first flight: work on back to sit transition; second flight: work on turns left AND right).

If you are just in there with no agenda you're wasting time.

But the key is don't go in saying "By the end of this session I will be sit flying at 73% taking docks and I won't be tired because I'll fly efficiently and not fight the wind." Good luck with that

[GooniesKid 0]

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Hi guys

I'm at 70 Jumps and did some first jumps trying to get into sitflying. I'll be going to Bedford in 2 weeks and got myself 2 hours in the tunnel. I have never been in a tunnel before, so my skydiving is all the experience i had so far. I finished my swiss skydiving licence at around 55 Jumps.
How much progress can i expect to do in Bedford aprox.
I think good belly flying + some decent sitflying? What do you guys think?

Blue skies

it all really comes down to is "how much money can i dump into wind tunnel training?".

the more money you can dump into it, the more time you can get, the more quickly you can develop the skills.

[adamUK 3]

Quote

it all really comes down to is "how much money can i dump into wind tunnel training?".

the more money you can dump into it, the more time you can get, the more quickly you can develop the skills.

Whilst I agree to an extent I burnt a lot of money on time that I could have not wasted by spending it getting coached. Yes it costs a lot but spending it wisely to get the best out of it and progressing quickly is the aim of the game.