pr0ject42

Actually Eliana is Tail or rear inside (not too up on my 8-way stuff) on the 8-way team and she started out as a tail on the older Airspeed stuff.

Fuckin A dood!

I'm going to hang it out there and say it doesn't show the intent of the block. If you look at the divepool, it has a rotational requirement. Sure you can build the top and the bottom of the block, however the inter is considered another "point" you have to build to get the 2 points for the block.

It is a matter of judgement. I think a long recovery arc is where it is at for learning. The big thing is that you need to repect what your canopy is capable of (killing you) and learn to fly it within its requirements. I think a Samurai (Big Air Sportz) is an awesome canopy to start swooping on. I think it is about like a Katana on the PD scale of canopies.

Well I don't know how many hits you are going to get for VRW here, but I think that is SICK! I saw some guys training in the Eloy tunnel last weekend. Looks like they were doing random drills. Pretty freaking sweet if you ask me..

Just grip switch the Q exit for the tail. Most likely you've got the OC and Point taking a cheater grip out the door, so while they are fumbling around, have the tail swap grips. Easier to present off the door and since you have a higher chance of being stable off the plane, the grip switch should be fairly fast. Or just get a tail with monkey arms who can reach the bar and the OCs grip with arms crossed..

I think you're spot on with the online thing. If you're editing video and compiling your stats, chances are you've got a decent internet connection as well. My team used our stats as a planning tool, not as a real-time evaluation. While in a camp, you shouldn't be thinking about specific numbers (in my rookie opinion) and more focused on visual quality of what is working. Dood, I apprecaite your continued development, I think the CSV step was a good one and I think if you just added sessioning with a login for a team and MySQL support on the back end, you could possible charch a subscription for a season. Good job, please keep it up when you've got the time!

WERD!! Now to just write a post-processing script to warehouse the data...

While he was still raving about the Bedford tunnel, size isn't the issue. It is lack of riding to altitude in a plane, no exits and too many points of reference that make it dissimilar from your average competition day. Don't get me wrong, I love tunnel time and I'd be super stoked to get in the Bedford tunnel, but so far nothing tops being able to drill something for a bit in the tunnel then head right to the DZ and put it into practice. Also, as stated before, canopy control is just as much of a requirement of doing 4-way as being able to turn points. Frap in and the rest of your team is going to have some troubles building any formation.

You can not replace freefall with tunnel. I've seen it with my team where we will do blocks well in the tunnel, take them out into the sky and even at terminal we get tweaks in them that aren't allowing them to close properly. Like it or not, your subconcious goes off of the visual cues given to you in the tunnel (i.e. how close the walls are) that you won't get in the air. Hell, 2000 pounds for all of that is a freaking steal! It is always about $2000 US for an Airspeed camp and that is without any jumps, airfare or accomodations. Take advantage of your exchange rates and be a better team when it comes time to compete! BTW the above opinion was fostered directly by Mr. Gary Beyer himself. Feel free to ask him about it when he is out there.

Try on a 13" monitor with no slow mo and only three replays. I'm not saying I didn't see it, in fact I think that Fire had a 48 pt jump, but I am saying it isn't very clear and if 3 out of 5 judges take issue with it, its out.

I really don't think that second point would be awarded at Nationals. Junebug wouldn't have given it to em. "You've got to show it to me!"

I've heard a rumor that Thomas Huges and a couple others got "stuck" in the Orlando tunnel many moons ago when their operator went to do some paperwork in the office and fell asleep at the desk. It is my understanding that they experimented with trying to fall asleep on their backs in the airstream. He said it almost worked except when you would almost be asleep you'd bump into the wall.

Who cares how one team engineered something? What is more important is what engineering works for you team? Double slotswitchers or mirrors? Pick one and stick with it for the season!

Not to dog you guys out, but just from looking at two snapshots of time in the tunnel, I'd say you guys need to make sure you've got a lot of awareness of eye contact. Consider it your responsibility to monitor your opposite's eye contact with you and debrief each other on it after each jump. If you don't remember seeing eyes, then your contact wasn't good. If you never got eyes from your opposite, they were grip fixing or something similar.. Good luck in A class! It will be a blast!

In the picture of you "belly on bed" your booties look a bit too long. I'd pay attention to how well they stay inflated while you're actually doing 4-way, instead of laying on a bed concentrating on keeping your toes pointed to the sky keeping them tight. Those were the exact colors of my first suit, and those booties were too long as well ;)

Well as wishy-washy as it sounds, I'd say do what works best for your team. Getting coaching early in the season to give you things to work on, then focusing on those things and trying to clean up mistakes of the previous season works. After you feel like you've gotten over the hump of the coached camp, get one more to really tweak things and finalize your techniques for the season, then just polish everything up. No matter how much coaching you get, make sure you still make your own decisions about how to engineer or at least understand why the coach is telling you to do something. Nobody likes the coached automotons who can't line up a meeker in the door if they were on their own. The big thing I would say is make sure you either have coaching at all times in the tunnel or be sure to have good game plans set up before getting in the tunnel, or you could waste a good bit of money.

Sadly, I think it should be up to personal discretion. The people who count know really what is going on. If you are just competing to get a chunk of metal on a cheap ribbon, it is time to re-evaluate. Go compete for yourself to fill your own needs. Get to that point average or get your block times down to whatever, those are the goals you have in your control, but what place you get in what division really is out of your hands. If you want to take it to the next level, this community is small enough that you will be noticed if you are doing the right thing and doing it well.

Holy sh-t! That is bad ass. How would you creep or walk the head down stuff? I'd say that would be very possible in the Eloy tunnel. I also see freeflyers staring to wear full-faced helmets if they are going to be that close doing transitions. Still, that is just sick! Hats off Camera people are going to have to really work their asses off to really show the formations to judges though.

You've just about covered it for blocks in a 12 ft tunnel. You missed 3, 5 and 15, I've seen those done a few times. You can also do a three person 22 drill, where the cat piece spins and you can do either of the two solo flyers. If you roll down to Eloy, you can fit 1, 2, 8, 10, 18, 19 and a full 4 way 21 as well. You can even put a full 22 in there, but get ready to man up for that one.

My favorite exit is a bow. I suppose the only tricky part about the bow is the tail has to head jam. I'm the tail and it is one of my more solid exits. It is just rad to watch the whole thing form up right out of the door. This one tends to spin less than a meeker or stairstep. Not sure how to describe it other than just stand the random up and put it in the door. If your OC isn't super beefy, have them grab the bar with both hands and have the point and IC take grips on them. Me "So I take it that I take the OC's grip and pick up the IC's grip out the door?" Todd Hawkins "Head jam, you pussy!" At any rate, it is round enough to transition to a meeker or stairstep quickly, but long enough to transition to a 1 or bundy pretty quickly too. Good luck this season!

Todd, my thoughts are with you dood. Now hurry up and get your ass out of the hospital. Paul G