prcastro 0 #1 March 11, 2003 Waddup, all you freefly freaks? I'm relatively new to skydiving (only a year in the sport w/130+ jumps) and I was bitten by the freefly bug immediately. Nothing thrills me more up there than watching you experienced cats make flying on your head look so easy, but DAMN, it's frustrating. I'm pretty decent with holding a head-down, if I do say so myself, but being my own worst critic ... well, you see where I'm going with it. I've tried daffy, "holding the pizza boxes out to the side", delta wing, all that stuff. I seem to fall straightest and with more control flying like a delta wing, but being 225 pounds, I fall like a waxed safe and it's hard for others to keep up with me even in a stand. When I put my arms out to the side to slow myself down (pizza holder style), I tend to compromise a bit of control and I get squirrely. Daffy is out of the question for me. I suck at it. Any opinions on what works best, or how to modify either of these styles so they work a little better for me? Help me out here, folks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazingcannon 0 #2 March 11, 2003 Having not seen your flying, of course it's hard to know exactly what's happening, but I can make a few guesses based on what's typical in new headdown flyers: First of all, go out with a qualified coach with video to see what you need to improve on. That'll be worth its weight in gold as far as dealing with frustration. New HDflyers tend to fall fast at first- lack of body awareness making it so that you may be upside down, but presenting very little surface area. (edited to add:) Get your legs out there, not bent at the knees, you can hook your feet into the wind too. You may have your legs out to the sides, but you may not be actively holding them there with your muscles. If you've got them way out there, you should feel a burning in your hips. This is why I find daffy way more comfy. ouch! It could be your jumpsuit- is it giving you enough drag appropriate to your size? Are you sure you're flying straight down the tube with no movement? It could be you're backsliding and so the people in stand are having to lean into the wind to move toward you, causing them to catch more air and float, making it seem like you're flying real fast relative to them. : ) If you're having stability problems when you pizza-pie your arms, I'm guessing you're probably arching. Practise with a mirror on the ground to get your upper body straight while your hands are out to the sides (arms straight out, not bent at the elbows) With the delta wing thing (if I'm understanding you correctly as to what you mean by that,), get your arms out even farther to the sides, making sure to bring your shoulders only out to the sides, not back or up. As far as daffy, don't let your frustrations make you give up on it - it will come with time. Daffy is great for going really slow headdown- your legs can present a shitload of surface area front and back, and all your "flying surfaces" get nice clean air to push against. With the "x-man", your arms can burble your legs, making their surface area less effective. Again, get video to see what you need to improve on. It's probably a mix of arching and asymmetical body position while you're doing it. Otherwise, search this forum for "headdown" or "beginner" or what have you. There's plenty of info in here that can be helpful. Cheers, Glen."Spread your legs and fly" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflyguy 0 #3 March 11, 2003 Cool. Like that word Yah, what he said. With me, I couldn't go slow enough, until I learned to Daffy. It is odd at first, but in time, it becomes more natural. It is also more comfortable, and easier to get more 'stuff' into the wind, to slow down. keep working on it and have fun. ---------------------------- bzzzz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FreeflyGoat 0 #4 March 11, 2003 Quote I've tried daffy, "holding the pizza boxes out to the side", delta wing, all that stuff. I seem to fall straightest and with more control flying like a delta wing, but being 225 pounds, I fall like a waxed safe and it's hard for others to keep up with me even in a stand. When I put my arms out to the side to slow myself down (pizza holder style), I tend to compromise a bit of control and I get squirrely. Daffy is out of the question for me. I suck at it. A faster fallrate tends to add some stability so when you are experiencing a squirly feeling when putting your arms and legs out into the wind it's cuz you are slowing down. It just takes some practice at holding this new and slower body position. At 225 you need to get as much surface in the wind as possible so your gonna have to learn daffy and get your arms out. You only suck at daffy cuz you havnt practiced it enough. Like Glen said, get a competent coach to go out with you and video your body position cuz you dont really know what postion your body is exactly in unless you see it from the outside._________________________ goat derka jerka bukkake jihad Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
