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sunnydee123

Learning to Sit Fly

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Well have made 60 jumps, 5 of which were sit fly attempts and just not getting it. Have a wonderfully patient friend trying to help a newbie but my impatience had to hop on here and see if anyone has any advise/suggestions for a good exit to get this thing started. Tried something he called the train - was not working for me...then we tried a face to face, hooked knee kinda exit which was better but the minute he would let me go I would tumble all over. Guessing my back is the best place to start. Got half day for Secretary's Day and guess where I am heading and would love to hop up there and at least feel a sit....Help gang - impatient yet anxious new skydiver.

Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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lol, that sucks! i should get 1/2 a day for secretaries day too, everyone forgot about me [:/] oh well. anyway, sitflying, my best advice would be to try the train a few more times to get the feel of being upright. when doing solos, lying on your back can get you spinny, so if you cork try going to your belly and bringing your feet underneath you. you may find also that you do a lot of "ass-flying" meaning you're sitting in a lounge chair position. when this happens, focus on bringing your legs underneath you once again and staying upright as long as possible. once you're able to hold stable, then have local freeflyers show you how to move forward, back, etc.

hope this helps just a little. have fun out there :)


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aerialkinetics.com

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5 of which were sit fly attempts and just not getting it.
Quote

It took me 40jumps to get a good/ok DTT[down the tube]flying position in sit. advise/suggestions

Try learning to fly 'a ball'[recovery position in freefly]first and good coaching is a definate plus.
.CHOP WOOD COLLECT WATER.

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Fly with your feet! Try not to rely totally on your arms to hold you in a sit. Push your feet down against the wind and get your knees and feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. I see many people learning to sit and their feet are too close together and they are leaning back relying on their arms to hold them up. Really concentrate on your feet and feel them pressing down. It will take a few jumps but once you get it, you will progress quickly!


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When I was learning basic sit flying I was told to curl in a ball to 'keep my speed up'. It never really worked for me. I fall kinda slow anyway.

What did work was exiting and going into a stand. For me there were fewer variables to think about. Feet are side by side, legs are at full extension, standing tall, and arms out (like a crucifix). Then going into a basic stable sit only involves bending your knees and sliding your feet apart a short distance. The stable sitting position, for the torso from the waist up, is essentially the same as the stand position. Since I fall slower, I'm usually adjusting my fall rate between a sit and stand.

If you can get a copy of Brian Germain's Vertical Journey there are some excellent photos and his instruction is concise and clear.:)
Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

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If you're in your sit and find yourself going unstable, try raising your arms a little higher (so they're no longer level with your shoulders). That worked for me to get me stable. After a while I was able to lower my arms to where they are level with my shoulders.

I'm not sure why it worked, maybe the badminton-birdie idea with your arms higher.

Good luck!

Costyn.
Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

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Oh yeah, thats a great suggestion. That really helped me too, wearing shorts and a sweater. I was always bouncing around a little wearing my freefly suit, but the shorts/sweater combination was absolutely rock solid.

Cheers!

Costyn.
Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

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Thanks for the tips everyone....I made 5 more sit jumps this weekend and was feeling really good about it after figuring out what to wear that worked. Shorts and a bigger top...right on! Granted I was a bit "sitting in the lazyboy" but at least I am getting the feel. 8 sit attempts under my belt now and already feeling it - wait until next weekend. I'm gonna hit it...over and over and over. Can't wait to fly with some of the "cool kids" and get some still shots so I can Upgrade my AFF stills...hee hee

Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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I am freshly learning to sit as well...
I found that totally relaxing the arms and letting them fly themselves helped a ton. The other thing that helped to lock my sit in was letting my legs drop a bit more. When they were at right angles or a bit lower, I had trouble with corkin' out, but once I pushed down with the feet a little, I was in total control of my column of air. Good luck.
...FUN FOR ALL!

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My opinion-

A horny gorilla or a train arent going to work too good till you figure out how your body flys. In a train you will peel out and hit someone. In a horny gorilla you wont know how to positon your arms. But you can try it.

You are in your infant stages in freeflying. Baby steps. Dont get impatient or anxious. You will have a harder time getting going if you are hard on yourself. I was & still am. Try not to be. ;)

Back is kinda easiest, you will wind up there anyway after you flip on your face. Yet you can lose alt awareness. In addition, you are not in a familiar stable position, for example, you already know how to belly fly and get out of trouble, I hope. You can roll over and try again from your belly. Get a friend to film you or get a coach and see what is going on up there. A picture is worth a buncha words and you will see what fact is versus your recall.

Get an audible alt. but dont rely on it.

WELCOME to the sweetest 14.9 percent of all skydivers. WOMEN


~AirAnn~

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To All...
I don't feel it is safe for me to go out and FF with others until I have my sit controllable and stable. I have really only gone out to sit when it is a coach or somebody who is a badass free flyer. If you cork out because you are not stable yet, relative speeds can be vaery dangerous. Am I correct in this thinking. I want to be safe, but I don't want to be a prude.:)B|

...FUN FOR ALL!

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I would stick to coaches or someone who is prificient in a sit while you are learning...nothing over a 2 way until you can recover without going belly (or slowing your speed rapidly) so yeah guess you are correct in your thinking.. I jump with some people who are not quite proficient in a sit, but I also know how to fly well enough to be out of the way if they quark...and I dont try to dock on someone who is just learning, I usually just video or do some transitions in proximity to show them my body position when I fly..
-yoshi
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this space for rent.

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10-4...
I have gotten to the point where I can fly fast the whole time and don't go to my belly, but I see others that are learning and they go out in three or four ways, and I don't think that the people that they are jumpinig with realize the potential for trouble. How long should one sit before going Head Down?
...FUN FOR ALL!

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BE PROFICIENT ENOUGH IN A SIT TO (WHEN YOU QUARK FROM HD) YOU CAN GO RIGHT INTO THE SIT WITHOUT A PROBLEM. WHEN LEARNING HD YOU WILL PROB START OUT GOING PRETTY FAST SO THE DIFFERENCE IN SPEED BETWEEN BELLY AND HD IS GOING TO BE GREATER THAN BELLY AND SIT. i WOULDNT SAY THERE IS A MAGIC NUMBER OF JUMPS JUST EXPERIENCE.
-YOSHI
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this space for rent.

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I can't begin to tell you how amazed I still am at myself that I jump out of planes AND that I am a GIRL who jumps out of planes. Been a bit conservative most of my 34 years of life but musta went thru one of those changes cause I started doing crazy things...crazy FUN things. The smiles are worth it! Having a blast and meeting TONS of great peeps. Plan to do a bit of long weekend traveling this summer and get some other jumps logged in my book aside from Sebastian...hee hee.
Have had a great friend flying video for me as I learn and in just 10 jumps, I can see the improvement and ALSO how drastically your body position makes things change. I plan to keep it simple until I get comfortable with my own abilities....But sure would like one photo opp to hang on my wall with a "cool kid" to replace those silly harness gripped AFF pics...It's all fun....Off Friday to utilize my "coaching pal" before he heads out for 2 weeks. :( Video is a HUGE plus in this learning process, without a doubt! Blues~


Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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10-4...
I have gotten to the point where I can fly fast the whole time and don't go to my belly, but I see others that are learning and they go out in three or four ways, and I don't think that the people that they are jumpinig with realize the potential for trouble. How long should one sit before going Head Down?



What I like to see, is a "b license" in sit flying. What I mean in, 360rt, 360lt, front flip, back flip in 18 seconds or less. All done from and stopping in a sit. After that, I would say you have your recovery position.

Note: I'm not a coach, and I don't fly head down well, but the above just seems like a good idea to me.

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Just had to share....after 2 weekends, 16 jumps and lots of helpful "tips", I am very happy to say that "I HAVE FOUND THE SIT - I FOUND THE SIT". Not saying I am a pro, but went out solo and stable then a few jumps I picked a heading and held it nice and stable THEN with help from random brave souls willing to jump and watch a newbie - am learning to now play with turns. I was told I am doing really well for being new at it so patience is key...that and lots of jumps. Have not tried any flips and getting back to sit but imagine this weekend will bring that challenge on.....Someone said baby steps. Good advice! This is great fun....who'da thunk it would get any better then just jumping out of the plane.....

Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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so patience is key...that and lots of jumps.


SO true.

Quote

"I HAVE FOUND THE SIT


The thing is we here in this medium can tell you all day long how I did, how they did, and how you can ... learn to sit. BUT, its for you to find, Grasshopper.

When I first was learning. My coach would sit me on a picnic table and say thats is it. He put me against a wall and said that is it. Now go and try it for a billion jumps. And for the most part it was that position. But nothing is exact. Besides he didnt have boobs and his ass was different, that kinda thing. Well, everyone is different.

I am so glad to hear you SAT, there you go. Like I said, baby steps, from here you add on to that skill. Headings are great to work on when you are flying solo. I would do mine in a square. Look at a ground item near the horizon and stay on heading, turn 90 degrees and so forth. Then 360's and stop on a dime. Then go the other way. Look up, look down. You will need all these skills later.

Get down that task of looking at your alt and not turning. I keep mine on the very side of my wrist so I dont have to turn my hand so much. (Audible Alt is a must) I have seen them on forearms. There is no law on where you put your alt.

Next proxcimity, forward and backward movement is super important. You can work solo on this but for real work you will need someone else there so you can see how you are doing. You have to have someone who can get out of the way if you cant stop as fast as you need to. (go slow) A coach hopefully or a real good flyer is ok. If you are a floatie, you can even get a faster falling RW person that is real good. Paramount concern is safety. ;)

Remember that controlled slow and small movements are key when you are starting out.

Also, when you feel like your sit is pretty well stable. Jump out in a flip and get stable again. Returning to stable is important in any situation. You can also work on flips not so much to have perfect flips but to use them as a learning tool to go from unstable to stable. And they are fun.

One more thing... try to get big in a sit. What I mean is go slower. Then also, stand a little to go faster.

From what I can tell here, you remind me alot of someone I used to know. B| You are on your way Sky Sister!!

:D

(Shih Tzu in pic is named Olav ZipsTer, Zipster for short)

~AirAnn~

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Thanks again for all your tips....I love to hear something new and then run and try it out so this weekend I'll be flipping out of the plane and see how I do getting to that sit....OHHHH, I'm so excited! I also want to try - just for the heck of it - what it feels like to TRY and stand. Should I chill out a bit or try and see what it feels like? My pal is back in town for one last weekend so I'm going to jump him like crazy....ummmmm...jump him...anyway...we'll jump and have video and have tons of fun before he is off....then I will be planning my summer get-aways. I started this adventure back in February just as Sebastian was having the Freefly BigWay. I am hearing names and seeing faces that were there and I had no clue who they were...I fondly call them "the cool kids". I'll be one of them one day.......Big dreams, high hopes, and big cheese ball grins!!

Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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Good to know....My pal has a good handle on how much I move around when I try something new. We get a good laugh out of the video from the first few sit attempts....great fun! But also big enough to admit only brave enough to jump with one person at a time when I am learning....So have you hit 100 yet and gotten pie'd? I can't wait.....I'm such a girl sometimes.....Maybe I'll see ya this summer....hoping to take a few LOOOONG weekend trips and log jumps in places other than Sebastian - although Sebastian has been a great place to start this adventure.....

Dreams become reality, one choice at a time...

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