Looking for opinions/help

[willingtofly 0]

Hello everyone...
Im looking for advise or opinion from experienced flyers...
I have 160 jumps and 100 of them are freefly.
Ive learned to back/sitfly in the tunnel. In total, I have like 5 hours of tunnel. In the sky I can take grips, turn, move and fly in level with others skydivers. Since I live close to a small DZ, with no Freefly coach, I have to travel for training.
This been told, here is my dilema: I´m planning a trip to learn HD. Im not sure what to do:
A) about 3 or (if I can save enogh money....hope so) 4 hours of tunnel.
B) like 30 coached jumps and maybe 30 or 40 solos.

Im happy with the results of the tunnel, but for what Ive heard and read, maybe 3 hours will not be so helpfull for learn HD...and also, the sky is funnier.

Anyway, any idea or opinion will be most welcome.



Ps: As you may note, english is not my first language.

[dharma1976 0]

go to arizona

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.

[buff 0]

Go see Mr. Bones or PM him about what you will get out of the tunnel HD vs what you need in the sky HD.

It's called the Hillbilly Hop N Pop dude.
If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough.
That's fucked up. Watermelons do not grow on trees! ~Skymama

[davelepka 4]

No contest. Do the 70 actual jumps. If 30 of them are with a live coach, and include video and good debreif, you'll learn a ton.

You'll also get to fly your canopy 70 times, ride in a plane 70 times, see the sun 70 times, hit on the hot tandem students 70 times, and basicaly remember that it's good to be alive 70 times.

You could even cut it back to 68 jumps, and get an outside camera to shoot stills of you and your coach on your last jump. There's nothing like a few badass stills to show off what you accomplished on your trip.

[TaylorC 0]

best bang for you buck is tunnel

[punkd 0]

You will learn better in the tunnel. You won't build in any bad habits since your starting from scratch. Expect to be frustrated though. You will seem like your wasting a lot of time hanging onto the net just wobbling all over the place. Took me about 3 hours of HD (no prev experience in the sky) to be able to to transition and hold a neutral HD without smashing into the walls. Once you get to that point it gets better since you don't have to reset on the net every time.

Heres 3 hours of HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4N1HJj1Vkg

Heres at 5 hours of HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab2Q8_eEbNE

[NeedToJump 0]

It really depends on your goals. If your goal is to get a good, solid foundation for head down in a short period of time, then go to the tunnel and get a good coach.

If you want to learn head down at a leisurely pace and have fun relaxing and hanging out as well as learning, then jump (with a good coach).

The bottom line is you will learn more in shorter period of time at the tunnel and spend more money in that period of time. The price per minute of coached flight time is way less than skydiving, but you spend more in a short period of time.

I think the best way to learn head down is to do both. For every hour you fly in the tunnel, do about 10 jumps, preferably with the same coach. This way you can apply what you learned in the tunnel to skydiving. Also be sure to put some uncoached tunnel time/jumps in there so you can just relax and play around.

Whichever way you go, ask around and find yourself a good coach. You're already spending a lot of money jumping/tunneling. It's worth it to spend a little bit more and get a lot more value out of it all.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[Rstanley0312 0]

Quote

It really depends on your goals. If your goal is to get a good, solid foundation for head down in a short period of time, then go to the tunnel and get a good coach.

If you want to learn head down at a leisurely pace and have fun relaxing and hanging out as well as learning, then jump (with a good coach).

The bottom line is you will learn more in shorter period of time at the tunnel and spend more money in that period of time. The price per minute of coached flight time is way less than skydiving, but you spend more in a short period of time.

I think the best way to learn head down is to do both. For every hour you fly in the tunnel, do about 10 jumps, preferably with the same coach. This way you can apply what you learned in the tunnel to skydiving. Also be sure to put some uncoached tunnel time/jumps in there so you can just relax and play around.

Whichever way you go, ask around and find yourself a good coach. You're already spending a lot of money jumping/tunneling. It's worth it to spend a little bit more and get a lot more value out of it all.

Feel free to PM me I have been working with a really great coach since August and what I have been able to accomplish so far has been awesome. We are heading to the tunnel in Feb.

Life is all about ass....either you're kicking it, kissing it, working it off, or trying to get a piece of it.
Muff Brother #4382 Dudeist Skydiver #000
www.fundraiseadventure.com

[Ironmanjay 0]

Quote

go to arizona

Im with him, why dont you go to arizona. You split it up, 2 hrs of tunnel and 35 jumps??? And I bet you could use a world class coach that could coach you in the tunnel and in the air.....

I personally am learning to fly HD in the tunnel by flying weekly there but I do jump (weather permitting) in between the tunnel sessions

[Helmut 0]

How much are you guys paying per hour in the tunnel??? Including coach?

[RackJR 0]

Average coached jump=$75 per jump.
30 coached jumps=$2250
average time per coached jump=45 seconds
minutes of coached time in 30 jumps=22.5
cost per minute coached jump=$100

average coached tunnel hour=$750
3 hours=$2250
minutes coached time in 3 hours=180
cost per minute coached tunnel time=$12.50

# of coached jumps jumps needed to get 180 minutes of coached time=240
cost of 240 coached jumps(at $75/per)=$18,000.00

# of coached tunnel hours purchased to spend $18,000 (at $750/hr).=24 (1440 minutes)

each coached jump separated from the next coached jump by the amount of time to pack, manifest, ride to altitude, and canopy ride. 45 seconds of coaching, 20-30 minutes down time, 45 seconds of coaching, etc. maybe 5-10 jumps per day? 3.75-7.5 minutes coached per day.

tunnel time is 2.5 minutes coached, rest 2.5-7.5 minutes, another 2.5 minutes coached, etc. get out for a break and watch video. 30 minutes to 1 hour coached time a day?

add to that the benefit of instant communication, significantly lower stress level, and nearly flawless video coverage. if you're not getting what your coach is telling you, you step into the antechamber, he/she explains it, and you step back into the wind. can't just stop a skydive in the middle if you're not getting it. the camera records everything except the top of the tube. no wear/tear on your rig.

if your goal is to improve quickly and economically, as well as safely, the tunnel is a hands down winner. i personally feel that everyone needs to train both in the tunnel and in the sky. but it is a no brainer on cost and effectiveness to use the tunnel as a training tool.

play with the numbers. see just how expensive the tunnel time has to be, before it matches skydiving.

not sure what kind of coach you can get for $750/hour? Mike Wittenburg is hosting a tunnel camp in (i believe) march at Ifly Utah. coached hours are $750. Mike's a pretty solid coach

happy flying

Edited to add: the math is: for tunnel time and skydiving to be equivalent on a cost basis per minute, tunnel time would be $6000.00 per hour. and i would still argue that you could learn faster in the tunnel, so it might still be a better deal for flight training. of course, then you'd have to weigh in the benefit of the canopy ride. which is fun.

Say what you mean. Do what you say.