How to start the Blindman?

[tamagotchi 0]

Hi Guys!

I would like to learn the bllindman.

What is best way to start with this?? What is the best technique to perform a blindman??

thanks for the information

christian

[piisfish 135]

best way is to stick a fork in each eye

more seriously, before getting advice/coaching via the interweb, how are your setups, how are you performing landing-wise ?

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[tamagotchi 0]

normally i do 270 left for landing.

starting with double fronts and finishing with harness.

i jump a xf-15 from jojowings in 97.

I have done some swoopingcompetition an have around about 500+ jumps with these landingtechnique.

[ruudwas 0]

get a coach in real life that will and can fill you in on such details..
my .02

[mgattini 0]

Start working on doing "methods". After having done 50-100 of these on landings you should be able to do blindmans with much ease....

[dharma1976 0]

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Start working on doing "methods". After having done 50-100 of these on landings you should be able to do blindmans with much ease....

and from what I hear look up and think backwards with your corrections :-P

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[davelepka 4]

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I would like to learn the bllindman.

What is best way to start with this??

Start with a helmet, a pond, and a rig you don't mind getting wet.

From there it's just a matter of throwing yourself into half a linetwist, and back again before you run out of steam.

Seems simple, and the kind of thing you want to get advice about from the internet. You can always count on the internet.

[mgattini 0]

Ohh yea also do a lot of reverse kiting, especially good on weather holds. Once you have done enough of these you will not have to think about which hand controls what when you are half a turn around. If you don't know what "reverse kiting" is go and search some paragliding videos on you tube- they use this techinque to take off most of the times. Also both when doing methods, blindman, miracle...try to keep your CG low- this will make it easier to "anchor" your point and if you start carving it won't hurt as much when you fall.
I think he is just fine learning on the internet- It's not rocket science, besides he might not have a coach or someone in his area that even knows how to do them. Once you have done some post them on you tube and we can give you some tips.....

[YISkyDive 0]

Christian how many jumps do you have? What canopy are you currently flying and how proficient are you at swooping? Can you hit solid power ever jump comfortably – this is a MUST!

Big things you must be able to do before you do Blindman:

- CLEAR landing area (including runway lights and other small but hard things that shatter bone on impact. People included)
- Swoop well without focusing on it: If you’re still focusing on landing on rears, gates, or hitting the power save the BM for later. Mixing the BM with learning to land on rears will only lead to a lot of pain when you try to dig out on rears and miss.
- Can you carve? You may (probably will) start turning and need to recover the turn on your early attempts
- Can you do a solid tweaked out method (+90) – this is good for getting used to flying somewhat blind to your direction of travel
- Do you have the discipline to not try it in dangerous conditions when “your going for it?” – we all can try to do a trick because we are set that this is the time to go for it but in reality you may not have the outs you need if it goes bad.

Make sure you have those skills down patt before even thinking about a BM or your going to hurt. I have footage of a friend blowing off his camera helmet and shoes due to an impact of a blindman gone wrong; so just a heads up. He was wings level when he started too.. he caught his hip and the velo went over top of him and whipped him back into the ground. Fuuuun.

My Experience:

I learned my Blindmans over land in “soft” grass. Our landing area has a tendency to have a softer surface than other areas… so I never learned over water. That said I did wash my rig this past winter. Our landing area is soft enough that I have gone for wingovers and boomerangs and not thought twice about hitting the earth if I slid out…so there is some perspective from my experience and learning.

On my roll out from the turn I spread my legs shoulder width or so and angle both feet perpendicular to my direction of travel with my knees bent a little (remember accurate turn with consistent power band). I also may twist a touch in the harness to set up for the direction I will be turning. No more then 20 or so degrees.

Once on the deck I use my feet as rudders and generate rotational power by brining the side of my feet around to my heels – I am done the BM when the canopy wants to switch to toggles and at that point I let go of the rears pop a little harder than normal to toggles and spin back around as my feet leave the earth.

Use info at your own risk . Big points are to stay square in the harness. Use the sides of your feet to generate the turn, if you try to induce the line twist from the rears it could cause a stall or significant turn. Dropping a rear will screw you. Dropping a toggle will screw you. Think ahead of time what you will do if one of those situations happen. Finally watch some YouTube Videos or the like to see experienced people doing it. Go for water if you can, for sure. Also, try twisting up high in your harness and getting used to the canopy turning and then recovering to toggles to level flight quickly. Do this + 3K in the event you spin up.

Again, if you don’t meet the bare minimum qualifications stated by me and others just don’t f’in try it. That simple.

[davelepka 4]

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I think he is just fine learning on the internet-

I don't.

Before you can do a blindman, you better have the basic swoop down. You should be consistant with your turn, plane out, transition to rears, etc. You should have experience with carving and wingovers.

More or less, you should be close to an expert level swooper before getting into the blindman. You should be comfortable enough during your swoop that kicking yourself around isn't a big deal. It's just a matter of doing it and working out the bugs.

It's like a freeflyer who wants to transition from head down to sit with a hand dock. By the time you're ready for this, you can already fly on your head, in a sit, can transition in place freely between the two and fly a dock in both positions. Once you're at that point, you don't have to ask how to do it with the dock, you just go up and have at it.

If you really have all the tools you need to do the blindman, you really shouldn't have to ask. You're ready to just do.

[tamagotchi 0]

thanks so far for the information and adviceses.

I think too ask is never a mistake. Because you can learn out of every questiton an answer.

And you will find a person who is better than yourself. So it is not a blame to ask something.

So i hope for more information.

[mgattini 0]

You are right, I wrote it wrong. I ment to say" I think he is okay asking and getting advice on the internet" When I was ready to do them I knew I was ready (just like your FF example) but I could of used some advice and tips form people who were experienced with it and I could of got the information via a forum....

[YISkyDive 0]

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You are right, I wrote it wrong. I ment to say" I think he is okay asking and getting advice on the internet" When I was ready to do them I knew I was ready (just like your FF example) but I could of used some advice and tips form people who were experienced with it and I could of got the information via a forum....

That’s what makes me a little bummed about this forum. There is a lot of talent that reads these pages but when advice gets asked for its not responded too.

"Coaching" is Great... if you can get it. If you’re self taught swooper at a DZ where everyone is at or below your level you don't progress without outside help. I've just moved to watching YouTube videos to learn how to do things. It does help. No secrets are hidden in footage.

Edited to add: And obviously I'm talking about "qualified" pilots asking for advice. I know thats were it gets compliacted about giving advice.

[davelepka 4]

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That’s what makes me a little bummed about this forum

when advice gets asked for its not responded too.

Here's how I see it. By the time you're ready to do a blindman, I would expect that you have experience (and success) with straight swooping, swooping with unusual body positions, manuvering the canopy during a swoop, and flying with half a line twist at altitude.

Given that you posess that collection of 'tools', it's just a matter of combining them into a blindman. In truth, you should be just one small step away from a blindman by the time you try one. It shouldn't be a big departure from what you're already doing (with success), but just one evolutionary step in the process.

It shouldn't be the sort of thing that you need explained to you, it should be clear to you as the next step in your logical progression.

So when a dude pops up and says, "I'm going to try that, how do I do it?", my first impression is that he hasn't progressed to that point. As such, I'm not about to encourage it.

I'm way more inclined to adivse jumpers on the individual skills. Landing with rears, or starting to carve a little during the swoop are singular skills, and the sort of thing you might need a few tips before you get started.

I'm 99% sure that if you can't figure out how to do a blindman on your own, you shouldn't be doing one.

[skyllama29 0]

I am pretty sure I picked this hint up on CanopyPiloting.com forums at one point, but I read that you should sit in a swing with your hands all the way up. Then on the down swing practice your foot placement and your rotation. It's very similar, although it really only gives the right effect for a split second. It helped me out quite a bit.