RW

[adventurechick 0]

I have come to realize lately that I am in love with RW. I tried freeflying a little bit, but I much prefer doing drills, 2 ways, 3 ways, and 4way. I've been doing some tunnel time lately to sharpen up my skills and learn more and I would like to try maybe getting a team together to practice together and learn. So what are some skills I should be working on right now to develop more skills that would be helpful in a 4way team?

PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860
SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233

[Icon134 0]

The best practice for RW is to jump with others. (ok, at least to start with )

for example my initial recommendation would be to try and get into some "smaller" organized formations when you're at the Freeflight boogie.

if the groups that are being organized by Chris Spence and Scotty Carbone are too big then look for me and I'll help find/organize some smaller formations.

There are drills that you can do once you get a team formed and ultimately your best bet is to get instruction from an experienced 4-way coach.

oh and personally I think its great that you are interested in RW... cause your excitement can only do good things for Formation Skydiving.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[HeatherB 0]

Some stuff off the top of my head, without knowing what you do or do not already have down pat:

-falling straight down (not backing up or sliding around. no-contact proximity dives are good for this, especially if you have one solid flyer as a reference)
-fall rate control (again, helpful if you have someone to use as a reference for you to play follow-the-leader in the sky, or to have tunnel walls as reference)
-forward and backward movement
-side-slides
-center point turns (90, 180, 270, 360 etc)
-outfacing moves
-superpositioning (eventually) (this is side-sliding and turning at same time)
-grip drills (especially fun for 2-ways in tunnel or sky)
-grip discipline (talking about grips, who is picking up who, who is presenting what, etc during dirt dives)
-keys (talking about these during dirt dives too...who's giving them, what they're looking for, etc)
-eye contact, eye contact, eye contact!

Some mantis work will help keep your arms more in front of you and help you use your legs to fly more. (It's easier and faster to take grips if you are not flying in a big ol' boxman position)

You can probably find some articles on this site or on the old 4way.org site. I remember some fairly recent articles about beginning 4-way in Parachutist too. (Ed Lightle was the author perhaps?)

I'm sure some of the more experienced folks will chime in...they're probably just all at Nationals.

• Quote

[GQ_jumper 4]

2 ways!!!! and lots of em, find a friend about the same skill level and do tons and tons of two ways, you can do a lot in a day and when if you can afford it get some coaching, try getting to a tunnel and maybe doing a camp, or even just having a coach watch some video of your two ways can make a difference if you find the right coach.

good luck

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Samurai136 0]

Goto DeLand. Talk to the Skydive U staff or Chromy about doing tunnel time. The tunnel is the most cost effective way to develop individual RW skills. Stop in at the NSL office and talk to Kurt Gabel (also on the DeLand airport). The NSL is a great format to learn 4-way.

Smile and Have fun competing!

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[Reginald 0]

Yep what everyone said. I do recomend that you spend a little time in the tunnel learning to fly a good Mantis. It's not required for RW but I'm not aware of any top notch RW 4 or 8 way guys that fly a box. Plus it looks cool!

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[elightle 8]

All of us belly flyers are glad you're one of us! But don't try to listen to all of us at once. Opinions are like ___holes; everybody has one (including me). So here's my opinion:

By the way, you are doing the right thing with tunnel time and small-way drills. As you progress, you might find that super-positioning (the ability to side slide and turn at the same time (as HeatherB already mentioned) will serve well in 4-way as well as on big-ways. But you shouldn't try this until you can consistently turn in place, maintain a good body position and fast fall rate, and stay in position. In 4-way, the goal is to get to your next position as quickly as possible but with total control. Super-positioning helps you do just that.

You'll get tons of advice but there's no substitute for getting out there and doing it.

Blue Skies!
Ed Lightle

[Avion 0]

Heather got most of the drills. Some others include digging knees down to stop quick, and a varity of stability drills, one arm straigt forward with the other straigt down. I got to watch the airspeed and magic camps for hours and hours, and actually took notes on all the drills when I stated last year. The camps were too much for me to spend, but I was able to get in the tunnel and practice all the drills for hours. Sometimes I could get a rat in there too to practice docks with. I'll have to get up to the tunnel when your there sometime.

Cheers

[druspork 0]

1. Get another three people together at the DZ at the same time [who want to do 4-w].
2. Camera
3. Even if you stick with 2-w drills, see if you can con a camera.

Dru

[adventurechick 0]

So far I've done 1 hour and 20 minutes in the tunnel and I will be doing another hour in the tunnel in the next month. I'm working on it!!

PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860
SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233