Driving "fun" jumpers crazy

[rehmwa 2]

I remember how frustrated everyone would get when I'd use the formation names instead of just saying 'stand here and take these grips'?

Then everyone was frustrated for a little bit when I used a verbal shorthand like "buds" for sidebuddies and Can-T instead of Canadian Tee or S-Fot for SFO-Turf?

Now that everyone has learned the formation names, I'm now driving them nuts by using the letters and numbers of the dive pool instead of the formation names. I waiting for a mutiny, but in the meantime it's for my personal amusement.

(really, I'm hoping this enables them to see the dive from overall view and not just their slots. As well as to be able to think faster with the mental shorthand, but it's tough right now.)

And once everyone gets that down, we're inviting just regular 'fun' jumpers to play with us for a couple fun jumps some weekend - this should kill them outright with confusion during the dirt dives. If they don't kill us first.

Is that wrong?

You can't see it, but I'm hugging myself and chuckling in joy at my own crapulence.

Edit: Try it at your own DZ, it can be fun if you are sadistic (a little)

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[skyyhi 0]

Dude, you are a very bad boy. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[skyminxx 0]

Rehm: You are a hoot!
The sad thing is that i (and the rest of my team) do it too. Even with our alternates I got askew glances when i call out the letters and numbers, then quickly followed up with the names and then with.."that means you have this grip with your right hand..etc.."

It makes our team seem even more sad when we use our own little nicknames for the points..
Ho-Bow, jelly Donut, Mr Bundy etc :)

We walk and creep using only the letters so it must seem a little odd that we have to stop and think of the full name for the formation

You are led through your lifetime by the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self.-Richard Bach

[rehmwa 2]

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Rehm: You are a hoot!

'Hoot' is a Minnesota Thing - that's just scary.

I actually am starting to 'think' in the numbers and letters and I'm sure my anticipation (of the next point) is faster as a result. Wierd. I want to completely forget the formation names eventually with all of us.

Darcy - I am a bad man, true, but you absolutely rock. I saw the weight loss/fitness threads. That kind of drive belongs on a 4-way team if it's already not on one. FWIW. And yes, I'm that old too.

This forum is slow right now. Hopefully I have some technical questions to bring here after our first practice this weekend (weather permitting). At least one whole day before our first meet. Thinking of trying 18's with the initial inside hop, maybe switching 8 to the shear instead of cog.

There used to be a good thread on 4way.org about block 22 standard slots - good read there too.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[skyyhi 0]

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Darcy - I am a bad man, true, but you absolutely rock. I saw the weight loss/fitness threads. That kind of drive belongs on a 4-way team if it's already not on one. FWIW. And yes, I'm that old too.

Thank you! And I am working on that 4-way thing. Since I was licensed I have pretty much done nothing but 2-way skills camps - lots of drill dives, creeper work, body position, etc. I am loving learning all this formation stuff. In fact, I was flying with a guy from Australia (who has a few hundred jumps and does a lot of RW) who was shocked to see me flying mantis and doing centerpoint turns without sliding away. . .I love shocking people. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[Samurai136 0]

Bill, I'll return the courtesy when I ask "who do I have a cat, sidebody, open/ compressed grip on? Or is someone docking on me?"


You can have your fancy names. I'll keep it simple.
Really simple.
Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[jverley 0]

One of my team mates was commenting that she had trouble learning the Letters and Numbers.

Dan BC told her not to use them, he doesn't. He said, he was still able to turn 39 points in time going "Sidebody... Meeker... Bundy....Donut..."

John
Arizona Hiking Trails

[Stacy 0]

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Bill, I'll return the courtesy when I ask "who do I have a cat, sidebody, open/ compressed grip on? Or is someone docking on me?"

that's the sad thing about being tail. chances are, no one ever wants to take grips on you. Too busy fighting over the point.

that's ok. i flew tail, and err, i've got clean grippers since no one wanted to touch them!

__

[Possum 0]

Dude, I hate to break this to you, but the unbridled use of letters and numbers (which can be quite useful if you're on a serious team trying to turn points) just makes you look like a 4way dork to the rest of the skydiving population.

[rehmwa 2]

Ken - You need to show up on Friday to practice with your team. Someone will swoop that slot.

Possum - No problems. Some days I'm a 4-way dork, some days I'm a freefly dork, some days a CrW dork. Hmmm, there's a common thread here I need to study......

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Mad47 0]

Isn't it easier to think N-C-K-4 instead of Crank-Murphy Flake-Hook-Monopod-Monopod when you dirt dive, visualize or make a real skydive? After several month of every day (really) watching Airspeed tapes and visualizing I come to the point when I can clearly and quickly picture any skydive randomly selected in my mind as a combination of letters and numbers (from both my point of view and cameraman's point of view) during spontaneous visualization. Interestingly, it takes much more effort to remember the actual 'long' names of every formation and being able to quickly reproduce them in my mind. Frustration? Long ago, when we started our first team (February 2004) I was trying to help everyone by telling where to place the bodies on creepers and what grips to take. Not anymore. Not knowing the dive pool by heart should be frustrating. This of course only applies to those who do teams.

Just my 2 cents

[quade 3]

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Isn't it easier to think N-C-K-4 instead of Crank-Murphy Flake-Hook-Monopod-Monopod when you dirt dive, visualize or make a real skydive?

Both ways work well enough to win gold on the international level or get world records for the most formations turned in time.

It would be difficult to say one is "better" when it comes to actual performace.

Letters and numbers are easier to write as far as notations go, but to say which is better for the actual performance is perhaps a moot point.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Mad47 0]

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Isn't it easier to think N-C-K-4 instead of Crank-Murphy Flake-Hook-Monopod-Monopod when you dirt dive, visualize or make a real skydive?

Both ways work well enough to win gold on the international level or get world records for the most formations turned in time.

It would be difficult to say one is "better" when it comes to actual performace.

Letters and numbers are easier to write as far as notations go, but to say which is better for the actual performance is perhaps a moot point.

I was about to add this to original post but you were faster
What really makes a difference, I believe, is the way how each individual imagines the objects which comes to the differences in fine synaptic organization. I was not trying to suggest that simple letters and numbers is easier for absolutely everyone.

[rehmwa 2]

Mad47 - I wrote this post to appear facetious, but this is really the discussion I was looking for. I'm having the same experience you did. It took awhile to pick up the memory, but previously, I could barely follow a Majik video and call out the names in a timely fashion, but with the numbers/letters it's a piece of cake no matter how fast they go. It just leaves more of my concentration to focus on the work at hand.

Dirt diving, mental visualization, and in the air, everything is greatly simplified. I will attibute that to learning this, (of course some to just another year's practice.)

So my personal experience would say that this is worth it to try to learn for a semi-serious team (serious does not necessarily = fast) and to give it an honest shot and not give up the first day just because it's awkward at first. As Quade notes, it might not work for all people, but I'm betting it would help most.

and we would call "N-C-K-4", crank, murfle, hook, mono-mono so already we were wanting a shorthand anyway. This is just cleaner and more universal.

Edit: I'll take a guess and throw out a theory here why I think a shorthand is important. In short, whatever it takes to do two things mentally is necessary: 1-each teammate must see the formation, not just their slot to learn it instinctively; 2-The mental shorthand must be good enough to think in faster than real time so we can anticipate the next point(s).

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Samurai136 0]

E is Meeker. That's all I remember.

As far as the first NSL NPSL meet; my team will most likely have an alternate in my slot. I can't get the vacation day off for friday practice/ coaching w/ Chromy. Work has also only given me a 'maybe' for working the saturday of the meet.

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[Possum 0]

Also, if you ever plan on doing 4 way in the tunnel, you basically have to know the letters and some of the numbers, as that is the best, bordering on only, way to write your dives out on the white boards.

[Mad47 0]

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It took awhile to pick up the memory, but previously, I could barely follow a Majik video and call out the names in a timely fashion, but with the numbers/letters it's a piece of cake no matter how fast they go. It just leaves more of my concentration to focus on the work at hand.

I remember this very well since I have been "seriously" working on theoretical/mental aspects of the game for only a few months. The first attempts to follow Airspeed competition dives in real speed and call every move were so frustrating. I am absolutely sure that switching to one-letter/number code helped a lot, hoewver there were other factors too.

[rehmwa 2]

Ken - no excuses. You will show up Saturday.

Possum - Don't I know it. Just got back from the tunnel. I really noticed how much easier it was to do the mini-dirtdives this way when were doing every other turn. It was huge.

Mad47 - Seems we've followed the same thoughts lately. I look forward to comparing notes. Send your team name sometime and I'll watch your performance on the NSL site.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Mad47 0]

Our dives aren't posted anywhere - we are very new intermediate team and this is our first 4-way season
I hope we meet and have chance to talk at Nationals

[rehmwa 2]

Kurt posts all the scores of the regional meets on skyleague.com I'm talking about watching the scoring progression through this season.

If you don't plan to compete in the TSL, I'd recommend you reconsider. It's a blast.

good luck

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Mad47 0]

Oh we are definitely doing TSL. BTW, the first meet is next weekend.

[rehmwa 2]

there you have it, our first meet is also next weekend (May 15 - NPSL). It is likely that the first round will be the first time all 4 of us on my team jump together this year. Ack.

Simple enough, we'll be able to directly compare notes if you'd like.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[skyminxx 0]

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there you have it, our first meet is also next weekend (May 15 - NPSL). It is likely that the first round will be the first time all 4 of us on my team jump together this year. Ack.

Simple enough, we'll be able to directly compare notes if you'd like.

Now you are such a copy cat!

You know that there is nothing like a new team format to get some giggles at a meet!

Let me know how ya get on then, eh?

You are led through your lifetime by the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self.-Richard Bach

[rehmwa 2]

I'm hoping for anything between a 20 and a 60 for 6 rounds.

But I wouldn't want to hedge my bets too much

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Mad47 0]

So far we only practiced less than a half of the blocks so our first scores will probably not be very impressive I am thinking of the first meet as another chance to practice and also establish the starting point for team average. Hopefully, by the end of the season we will look at the results of the first meet and laugh.

Do you guys plan to do advanced at Nationals?