blazingcannon 0 #1 February 13, 2003 Recently I put together this document for my home dropzone regarding "getting down the tube" for people starting to fly headdown. I had to take the neat pictures out and zip it to keep the file size low enough to post here. It's just a rough draft so far so there's no references, though a lot just came from my own experience, and a lot of it seems plain obvious to me. It's only supposed to be a basic guide to inspire people to get headdown quicker by practising on the ground, so I realize it only covers some basic safety ideas for headdown. It's assumed that the candidate can already fly a stable sit and has the awareness to start thinking about flying headdown. I'd love your constructive criticism, so I'm hangin it all out here. Lemme know what you think. Thx! Glen. (edited to fix a spelling mistake) : )"Spread your legs and fly" stability030213nopics.zip Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
listo 0 #2 February 13, 2003 I have talked with a lot of instructors about this, but I feel that you have done one of the best jobs explaining in detail that I have seen to date. Great Job! Live today as tomorrow may not come Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
geanky 0 #3 February 13, 2003 If somebody can email me this doc unzipped that would really be great. learn to fly in 3d Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #4 February 13, 2003 I sent it off to ya, dude. the version I sent has the cool pics in it that don't fit on this site. : ) Ths G."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflyeuphoria 0 #5 February 13, 2003 Top document well put together gets the message accross very well to the masses good job buddy Grant a.k.a "The Wookster" Euphoria freefly http://www.freeflyeuphoria.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #6 February 14, 2003 Why didn't I think of this before?.. Here is the doc unzipped with pictures up on the web. http://www.promovoices.com/client/stability/stability030213.doc I'll keep it up there for a bit. thx! g."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hookitt 0 #7 February 14, 2003 [url "http://www.promovoices.com/client/stability/stability030213.doc" ]Clickable linkMy grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #8 February 14, 2003 Interesting read, Glen. I'll try a few of those tricks this weekend. She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #9 February 14, 2003 Hope it works for ya. Lemme know how it goes : )"Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnPolk 0 #10 February 14, 2003 Hey if you could email it to me to i would appreciate it. BLUE SKIES Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seagull 0 #11 February 14, 2003 Hey well done, I sort of started doing headdown in my student days, had no Idea what I was doing or Getting into.Could never get into a proper neutral sit (below Knee Amputee),but worked on a sort of Armchair Nuetral, Works, But have never had the problem of corking unless watching other's ,and way off to there side, to see what they were up to. Your Paper explains it wellBe Kind to White Pionter's,Killer Whale's, and Tiger's If you play in there envroment, Your Fair Game. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masher 1 #12 February 17, 2003 Looks the goods to me. I did my first head down (linked with an instructor) on the weekend. 'twas quite good... I'll have to investigate further.-- Arching is overrated - Marlies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallingILweenie 0 #13 February 17, 2003 ahem... BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
listo 0 #14 February 17, 2003 uh...............did someone say "FIRST" .....and did it involve free flying........I think that means........GOOD BEER Live today as tomorrow may not come Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masher 1 #15 February 17, 2003 aforementioned alcoholic beverage is on its way...-- Arching is overrated - Marlies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #16 February 17, 2003 Ok, so I went skydiving over the weekend and had your article in the back of my mind as I jumped. I decided to do a solo drill dive before I went out with one of my friends. On my solo, I worked on transitions over and over going from a sit to HD, holding it for a few seconds and back to a sit. Your pointers about body position really helped, especially the part about tucking your chin in a little. But, the part about flipping my hands over in the other direction really screwed me up, I just couldn't get used to that. Maybe I've just been practicing it the other way too long. On my jump that I did with my friend, we exited HD, flipped to sits, and then I tried my transition to HD. It worked great and I stayed stable no problem. My biggest problem before was that I was backsliding. I thought I had over corrected it too much and was moving forward because my friend started coming at me in his HD, so I flipped back to a sit. He laughed at me after the jump when I told him why I transitioned back. He said I was stable, not moving and especially NOT backsliding, so he had decided to come over to ME! Woohoo! So, thanks for writing that, I really think you helped me! She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #17 February 17, 2003 Hey Andrea that's awesome! You should see the smile on my face! Glad I could help. edited to add: Ya...the hands down thing screwed me up at first too- I felt out of control cause i didn't have the wind "in my hands", I guess. So maybe that idea may not work for everyone at the start... What I found was really useful about the hands-down in the end was that when transitioning from sit to HD, my hands stayed in the same configuration...which made my flying more smooth, I guess. Anyway, cheers and free beers! G."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #18 February 17, 2003 I'll definitely try the hands down thing again, it just threw me off a little. But, I think I'll concentrate on one thing at a time, and not backsliding has been a biggie for me. I may be on the right track now though. She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #19 February 17, 2003 I agree- that's how I did it too. one step at a time. : ) G."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflyanvil 0 #20 February 18, 2003 Glenn, I sent you a PM to the address in your profile. DaveVid "stons fal, evrysing fals, but doesnt on purpos change its flite pas an positioning..." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #21 February 18, 2003 Dave, my friend, alas, I have received no PM... perhaps send again or something : ) Cheers! Glen"Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDekker 1,123 #22 February 19, 2003 Hey Glen, Great Article, I'll be sure to practice before the summer season starts. Hopefully you will be able to give me some in the air pointers by that time.... Justin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Costyn 0 #23 February 20, 2003 Quote Ya...the hands down thing screwed me up at first too- I felt out of control cause i didn't have the wind "in my hands", I guess. So maybe that idea may not work for everyone at the start... This actually helped me a lot in the beginning. After a couple coach jumps my coach told me to try it with my hands down, because when I had my hands up, my arms weren't relaxed. I was straining to keep my hands facing "upwards" (towards the ground), and it was screwing up my upper body posture. having my hands down helped a lot in relaxing my upper body. After like 10 jumps I felt sufficiently relaxed with everything else that I was able to just switch my hands facing down again and everything was just fine and I was stable. So now I can fly both ways. Great article, by the way. I have a question: I can fly HD pretty well with my legs wide apart, but having them front and back (daffy) I'm finding a lot harder. Any tips on this transition? I would like to be able to fly both ways with my legs. I'm sort of getting the idea that my leg muscles might not be strong enough... Perhaps I need to do some exercises to strenghten just those leg muscles. What do you people think? Cheers! Costyn. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #24 February 21, 2003 Great to hear you're improving! I learned to fly a daffy kind of by fluke. the first step was me looking quite silly, flying around with one leg bent at the knee 90degrees backward, kind of teetering sideways and always somehow flying forward... haha and then I kept coming forward and was going to hit my jump buddy, so I stuck my other leg forward to block his body from hitting mine (haha) and there I was, very wobbly, and very daffy. Use a mirror, stick yer legs out front and back and make sure you're moving just your legs, not torquing yer hips so you end up turning. otherwise, do a search in here for "daffy"..I"m sure you'll find lots of tips. Cheers and good luck, Glen."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WrongWay 0 #25 August 28, 2003 Hey man do you still have that article?? If so, can ya send it to my email?? Thanks bro!!! Wrong Way D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451 The wiser wolf prevails. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
