some thoughts on racing to be hd

[velocity-96 0]

ive never fully understood peoples desire to learn hd right off student status. yes its awsome and being upside down is rad but headup flight is so fucking cool too! i feel like its the underdog but most newbies dont fully understand the possibilties of head up flight.
i started freeflying with around 75 jumps. i have about 1200 freefly jumps and 1000 of them are mostly h/u. sit came pretty easy for me and i loved the comfort of the posistion so i stuck with it. staying with it got me on alot of great freefly and hybrid jumps early on as well. theres isnt really anything a hd flyer can do that i cant do on my feet. this includes flocking! flocking h/up is very fun and if your looking to stand out in a video, flock h/u! or if you really want to get it on, lead a flock h/u! theres is a whole world out there that so many miss. its too bad. for starters i wish people would stop thinking of it as sitflying. im rarley in a standard sit when flying h/u. its just that, its head up flying. so try to start seeing it as that and it wont be so ho-hum. people get dis-enchanted with sit flying because they're usually just sitting there. well no wonder, thats not too exciting. learn to free both arms up, learn to fly in a stand but not change fallrate. learn to stand track out of the skydive and watch your friends eye's open up to something they probably havent seen you ever do! basicly rock the fuck out on your feet then learn h/d, because once your that comfortable freeflying h/u, h/d is learned very quickly. then after you get h/d pretty well your gonna be one sick ass freeflyer, flippin and rollin like the rock stars you see in vids. they arent just on their heads the whole skydive. hell no. they're flying their bodys all over the damn sky and it looks fuckin rad!!!! so many people go to their heads after very few h/u dives and then get stuck. stuck on their heads because they dont want to transistion to their feet because they're gonna flail! ive seen the best h/d flyer on the dz go low on the formation and stay low because he simply doesnt know how to fly a sit! thats pretty silly dont you think. after some freeflyers get good at one thing they dont want to backtrack and relearn sitflying because they are embaressed to not be as good at they are h/d. so they stay only on they're head, but if you already have that shit dialed your going to fly circles around many other not well rounded freeflyers.
i started learning h/d this past summer. it is awsome! im having a blast learning this totaly different way to fly my body. its so sick,but im very happy i waited until now. because i feel like once my h/d is where my h/u is, well there's no stopping all my freefly dreams from happening!
just some thoughts, im really not trying to pat myself on the back. i just wish more people gave h/u the props it deserves, and explored the possibilities.
peace all
flyfree!

[Peej 0]

I so agree dude!

I started freeflying very early, with around 30 jumps or so, and have spent a lot of time in the sky and tunnel flying feet down and on my back, it rocks the shit!

I went out on my first tandem camera jumps the other day and back on the ground the TM was like, dude, that's so rad that you're sit/backflying the exit off the porter

Just a suggestion though, stick some paragraph breaks in your post, it makes it way easier to read

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[GTAVercetti 0]

I too think too many people race to head down. I have about 130 freefly jumps and while I sometimes do a headdown exit, I am in no race to maintain the headdown position yet. I have so far to go to being a badass head up flyer that I don't want to rush it.

There seems to be a dirth of REALLY good head up flyers while plenty of decent head down flyers so I want to get good at head up to fill that space.

I mean really, what orientation are most records done in? It ain't head up. I would like to see some head up records.

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[Peej 0]

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I would like to see some head up records.

Seconded!

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[Zoter 0]

In the UK we have a progression based system for freeflying endorsed by our governing organisation.

Whilst being very basic......it does at least serve to make sure you progress the right way .....

We must get our 'FF1' stickers which is bascially showing all axis control in sitflying/headup flying before we can go on and learn the same all axis control head down....(FF2)...
Inbetween you are limited to jumping head up or head down if you are with a coach or doing a solo...

Its basic but at least its a path....and I wont say its enforced rigidly by all DZ's....but most do !


Personally for me the reason I wanted to learn HD fairly quickly after gaining a proficiency in head up flying is simply because I wanted to expolre the full range of what you can do......kinda like getting a taster.
That said....I am notcing that most of the camera stuff I am doing recently I have had to spend alot of time on my belly on my back (especially) and in a sit.....and probably most importantly....moving between all of these with minimum effort and centre point movement....ie instinctively.
I'm looking forward to developing all of them but dont like the idea of 'mastering' a position prior to moving on and learning new ones...othewise it will take an eternity as you will never really master any one position....always a new thing to learn there is...

That said....focusing on development of a certain exit/transition/ manouvre/control for a number of jumps is the way to go rather than a mixed bag of development on every other jump....

[Casquito 0]

Amen... HU is way underemphasized and neglected..
BTW they did try a big way HU during the last HD record attempt and it didn't work. HU flying is harder than HD by far.
I can fly HD but prefer HU myself.

[highfly 0]

Look at Omar Alhegelan on Crosswinds.
This is testomony on how cool h/u can be.

The way he moves across the sky is so fluid and graceful.
I want to master H/U before the H/D .

ANyway dont the blood go to your head in H/D and make you black out?

www.myspace.com/durtymac

[Peej 0]

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In the UK we have a progression based system for freeflying endorsed by our governing organisation.

We have a similar programme here that is laid down in our BSR's (like the US SIM i guess). A skydiver must obtain CAT II in freefly or RW before they can jump with anyone other than a coach. It also involves showing proficiency on all axes.

Before one can obtain a B licence you need to obtain CAT III in RW or freefly. For freefly it consists of a HU dive with a coach that goes: dock, 360 L, dock, 360 R, dock.

After obtaining CAT III jumpers are then allowed to jump with more than one person at a time and can start learning HD with a coach.

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Personally for me the reason I wanted to learn HD fairly quickly after gaining a proficiency in head up flying is simply because I wanted to expolre the full range of what you can do......kinda like getting a taster.

Agreed, just because i'm advocating HU flying doesn't mean that i haven't explored HD a lot myself.

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[GTAVercetti 0]

I wish we had a freefly progression like that in the US. I know a few people who can;t do HU but are TRYING HD. So when they start zooming uncontrollably and losing it, they have no where to go.

Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing.

[Peej 0]

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I wish we had a freefly progression like that in the US. I know a few people who can't do HU but are TRYING HD. So when they start zooming uncontrollably and losing it, they have no where to go.

Agreed. But i think it works both ways.

After spending time in the US last year i came back and was really frustrated at how regulated skydiving is here compared to you guys.

I liked the freedom of being able to get on any number of cool freefly jumps without someone asking me whether i have the right rating or not, even though i had the skills.

I guess it comes down to being honest with yourself and your abilities when asked to go on a jump, not something that every jumper does i'm afraid.

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[goose491 0]

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ive never fully understood peoples desire to learn hd right off student status

I think if you search yourself, you'll find that deep down, you do understand. Every jump is cool... but HD is the most natural flight position for the human body.

When a whuffo dreams of flying, he/she is belly to earth... but travelling horizontally. In other words, we instinctively understand that if we are to fly, it will be headfirst, body streamlined with the wind. This is how we swim too.


edited to say: That being said, I fully understand why we should be proficient sit/head up flyers before moving to HD. HD needs a safety position, that safety position is sit...

Also, Sit flying ROCKS the HOUSE!

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[highfly 0]

If you have the ability to go H/U and H/D you should carry some footage as evidence to prove you are capable.

I done this when I came out to NZ. I had some footage loaded into my laptop of me free flying.
This was shown to the DZo and I was cleared to jump H/U with other free fliers.

www.myspace.com/durtymac

[rhys 0]

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theres isnt really anything a hd flyer can do that i cant do on my feet. this includes flocking!

have you tried h/u atmonauti?

that shit tis the bomb bombdigity

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Pendragon 1]

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When a whuffo dreams of flying, he/she is belly to earth... but travelling horizontally. In other words, we instinctively understand that if we are to fly, it will be headfirst, body streamlined with the wind. This is how we swim too.

Actually, I started skydiving so I could wingsuit (preferably from a ballon )

... but then again, I came up with the idea at a hang glider festival

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

[Costyn 0]

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have you tried h/u atmonauti?

that shit tis the bomb bombdigity

I thought only Gi was capable of feet-first atmonauti. So other people have figured it out by now? That shit is crazy indeed.

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

[dharma1976 0]

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have you tried h/u atmonauti?

that shit tis the bomb bombdigity

I thought only Gi was capable of feet-first atmonauti. So other people have figured it out by now? That shit is crazy indeed.

its like a 45 degree stand with arms in algnmend with your body...

I remember my friend and I heading to a formation he head down and he looked over at me and bugged out....

on the ground he looked over at me and was like that was sick, you were in a feet first autmonaut position...
an accident, but I usee it to this day.

its a neat feeling...

Cheers

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[rhys 0]

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thought only Gi was capable of feet-first atmonauti.

there is a guy in belgium or holland that can go head up belly down atmonauti. i think there is only a handful of cats around the wourld that can do it h/u with any proficiency.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[velocity-96 0]

there are ALOT more people that can do h/u atmonauti than your guy's are thinking. its not the norm but its not like theres only 2-3 guys that can do it. just so ya know.
peace

[Dolph 0]

I agree that it is all too common to see people go for HD flying for the wrong reason - it looks cool and for whatever reason there's more status associated with HD flying than HU flying. The reasons for that are many and a tangent to the subject really.

Since HU is more or less the de facto basic position a sufficient level of performance must be obtained before moving on.

Once you can fly HU and have the necessary control, I think it's important to venture into other aspects of freefying. Not doing so could seriously put limits on what you potentially can do. There are all kinds of cool stuff that require transitions between different positions.

Which is perhaps your point. There are more positions than just HD. HD or HU aren't really positions at all but rather orientations. Within both is a wide range of possible positions and maneuvers that'll take a lot of jumps to get good at. In rushing to go HD one runs the risk of overlooking all the cool shit that can be done in the HU orientation.

To me, HU or HD doesn't matter that much. The transitions and maneuvers done in either orientation (or between them) is the cool stuff. Especially if ya add another jumper into the equation.

[uponone 0]

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have you tried h/u atmonauti?

that shit tis the bomb bombdigity

Yeah, I can backslide in a sit too

[velocity-96 0]

perfectly said! its all about being free and turning, rolling flying your body in no set way. thats the difference between flying h/u, h/d and FREEflying.

transitions, transistions, transitions!!!!

[fundgh 0]

In my non-race to be head down, I had some great jumps yesterday that I would like to share, for the simple reason that successful jumps are more invigorating than any one orientation. The jump where my buddy and I hit 2 solid foot docks (one each) and a couple transitions, made me feel like I had a ccomplished something! HU is fun, and after reading these threads I have dedicated my efforts to becoming proficient at HU before I even dable in HD!

...FUN FOR ALL!

[velocity-96 0]

good move. you wont regret it. awsome prgress!! its so cool when you get those first docks. theres a whole world waiting for you out there. go get em!!!

[Newbie 0]

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In my non-race to be head down, I had some great jumps yesterday that I would like to share, for the simple reason that successful jumps are more invigorating than any one orientation. The jump where my buddy and I hit 2 solid foot docks (one each) and a couple transitions, made me feel like I had a ccomplished something! HU is fun, and after reading these threads I have dedicated my efforts to becoming proficient at HU before I even dable in HD!

I so know what you mean. It's not the destination, but the journey, etc etc

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts