Advice please

[Magistr8 0]

If you look at my profile and you see my low jump numbers you'll see that I am still a student and that means I am seeking answers to what are probably some simple questions.

When I am comming into approach I am getting really nervous as of late. No it's not ground rush. I am flaring my canopy ( manta 222 Student gear ) and am not seeing the slow down that I would like. It feels like my canopy is not slowing down as it should. I have done 5 jumps prior to this and have seen great responses in those jumps. Am I just psyching myself? What can I do to prevent this from happening again?

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." Napoleon Bonaparte

[AggieDave 6]

Have you asked your instructors about this? You probably need to talk to them, have them watch you land a couple times, since there could be a few things happening, one of which could just be a mental thing, or maybe you're not finishing your flare out correctly.

Basically, this is something that is hard to do over the internet and needs to be looked at by one of your instructors.

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

[Magistr8 0]

I asked him about it this past weekend and seemed to think that I am just suffering from ground rush. Basically he says that it looked good from his perspective.

I guess I'll wait to see what happens next jump.

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." Napoleon Bonaparte

[jerry81 10]

How are your landings? If you stand them up without a problem it's probably just ground rush, but if you slam down hard or have to run them out, you might be flaring too late or too little.
Another contributing factor might be the control lines, which are usually longer on student canopies so that you can't stall them- which can also mean you can't slow them down as much as you'd like to on landing, especially if you're a heavier person. This can be remedied by wrapping the control lines around your hands (once is usually enough) when you're coming in for the landing, but you should not do this until you have tried it at a safe altitude (I'd say above 1000') a couple of times.
At 7 jumps (if your profile is current) simply flying the canopy might still be a thrilling task, but I suggest you get into the habit of playing with it (again, at a safe altitude) as soon as possible if you're not doing it already- try turns, braked turns, 360s, practice flaring and flaring with the control lines wrapped around your hands, but of course- talk to your instructor before you do this.
If it's your landing technique that's causing those fast landings it should improve with your canopy skills, and if it's just fear it should go away as you get more familiar with the way your canopy flies.
Hope you have fun!

---

[dterrick 0]

Hey Peter!

You can PM me on this one if you like - I doubt you have serious 'performance issues' but so much of skydiving is psychological... When I went through progression I found that some instructors were better at 'getting inside my head than others - and still are. That's just the way it is. And, don't think that some of us "veterans" (hah! 130 jumps a veteran???) don't still have issues at times - especially at season's start.

Anyway, congrats on getting back in the air after the winter layoff and snowboarding chow - see ya at DZ soon

Dave T

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[NinjaBiscuit 0]

I'm a low number jumper myself and quite the newbie, but let me suggest a simple solution. Get someone to video tape your landings.

I just did my 3rd jump where I had a slow left turn for most of the ride, and my JM's and I used the video to realize that a huge tear in my jumpsuit had me off center. It's a great tool to see what may be going wrong.

Play - Watch - Rewind - Repeat

Gary B.
http://www.ninjabiscuits.com

[f1freak 0]

I tell ya, i was so happy to see my old DZ trash the mantas and get modern (well relatively, this was back in 98) canopies....
It was night and day looking at the number of accidents they had using the manta, compared to the turbo-zx....
but thats just my obsevations.....

HAVE FUN...
...JUST DONT DIE

[Magistr8 0]

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I think my landings are pretty good for the most part. I have only had one minor incident so far. I can stand them up without having to run them out. I think your right in thinking that the canopy is jus not slowing down as fast as I would like. when I am 12 feet above the ground and starting my flare I feel like I am moving just as fast when I am at 3 feet as I was when I was at 12.

I'm going to take Aggie Daves' advice and just talk around a bit and see what it looks like in a few jumps from now.

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." Napoleon Bonaparte

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