Vladiball goes belly

[SurfFlite 0]

We have come up with a good belly speed configuration for the Vladiball. Several of our customers have tested it out and are very happy with the results. There are even instructors who are using the Vladiball with students, that's right I said students. According to them it is a fantastic training tool.
Below is an email I received from a customer in Ireland describing his findings. along with an attached jpg.


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We made a number of successful Vladiball jumps this weekend and we had
some great fun!

In total we made 8 jumps with the ball and we retrieved it every time.

I filled the ball exactly as you said: fill one half completely with lead
shot (I used lead shot, about <2mm in diameter) using the shorter of
the two tail lengths you gave me (about 6-7 inches). The ball weighed about
350g (although it was difficult to get a very accurate measurement since the
scales were very sensitive to the position of the ball on the scales).

Initially, when we released the ball and tried to catch it again, we
noiticed it would tend to fly away from you when you went up to it to grab
it. Particularly if there were 2 or more approaching the ball. The
perculiar thing was that the ball would fly "up" and then pop down
elsewhere. (This makes for a very funny video). We feel this may be due to
the deflected airflow coming off the jumper. The air would be deflected to a
much greater extend than it would with freefliers because of the amount of
their body exposed to the air.

However, we soon learned a way of catching the ball without it getting
away - we would fly up and quickly grab it with 2 hands.

On the next jump we took the ball up and released it immediately after
exit and just sat back and watched it. It seemed to float slightly after
exit but this could be due to the ball reaching terminal velocity at a
different rate to the jumper because it was fine later. It is very stable in
flight (i.e. the fall rate is constant, and it does not move around) when
you are not too close to it, however, it does have a "wobble" (i.e. it
bounces around and oscillates on the one spot) but does not move anywhere.
We were very happy with the ball at this stage but felt it the fall rate
could be increased slightly.

We filled it up with a small bit more of lead shot (still about half fill
the ball but with a slight mound) and it now weighed just under 400g
(approximately). This is now the perfect weight. (A total of 12 people of
different sizes and different skill levels jumped with the ball over the
weekend and nobody had any trouble staying with it.)

We then started to throw the ball to each other in freefall. This was when
the real fun started. We found it to be very solid and robust. It is very
easy to throw and to catch (even with one hand). We tried throwing it softly
and it would gently sail across the sky. We also threw it a bit harder and
it still goes straight across the sky but a good bit faster. It seemed that
sometimes the fall rate changed during the throw but this could be due to
either (i) the jumper holding the ball was not falling at the ball's fall
rate before the throw, (ii) the weight inside moved around on the throw and
caused it to float/sink slightly, or maybe another reason.

I wonder if the characteristics of the ball would be different if it was
full inside (i.e. no empty space - but still the same weight). Since I have
not seen the ball at freefly speeds it is difficult for me to compare the
stability, however, I was very impressed with how solid the ball was.


There is much excitement at our dropzone over the vladiball.

Please email me if you would like to discuss any aspect of the vladiball
for FS jumping. I think that it is fine for FS.

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We are still working on the freefly ball. It appears that all the really good freeflyers have no problem with the ball but some lesser skilled do. We are diligently working on making this thing user friendly for everyone. We do have a tail configuration that works great and makes the ball fly perfectly straight but it is too fast (~185mph) When we decrease the weight in the ball using this same tail it begins to wobble. We are getting close to solving this and should have something that will work for everyone in the coming months.

Kerry

[crzjp20 0]

could this be used to teach a studnet how to control their fall rate?

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Fear is not a confession of weakness, it is an oportunity for courage.

[gerryfuss 0]

I like the sky in the 3rd pic. Did you paint that yourself?