First time jumping with glasses

[colognebilly 1]

Hi from Cologne, i have 193 jumps now, the last years my eyes are getting worse, now i have got glasses, for watching Tv it feels realy good, riding my bike and E-scooter is also good but all looks much nearer for me, i want to start to wear them also at jumping but im a bit afraid for the first landimgs because i think the ground looks also more near so i think i flare to high, any recomands or advise what is important to know for my first jumps / landing with glasses? 

Thanks! 

[IJskonijn 45]

Rent a student canopy, flare when you think you should flare, hold it and do a landing roll. If your perception of flare altitude is indeed significantly different, you'll roll it out without injury just like any first-jump student. In either case, it's probably a good plan to do a couple more jumps on the student canopy before switching back to whatever you were jumping. Get some airtime with your new glasses and new visual perception on nice safeish canopies.

And yes, different glasses or optical corrections have quite some effect in how we perceive this world. I've been using both my glasses and soft contact-lenses for several years, and I still get dizzy for 5 minutes if I switch between them.

 

[piisfish 140]

I am a little nearsighted and also some other little visual defects...I drive with glasses and wear my glasses for most of the things I do. 

When I was jumping, I always jumped without my glasses. Each time I jumped with my glasses I flared lower and had lots of grass stains because of that.

When starting jumping with your glasses, I recommend several very conservative approaches to get used to your "new" vision prior to going back to your "more enhanced" landing techniques (if any)

[fcajump 164]

Been there, done that.  Most notable when I got my first Rx for astigmatism...  it visually "raised" the ground ~5' when I first started wearing them.

Let us assume you are flying fine now with out them...
Let us assume you are coming up on the winter season and jump much less during the "off season"...

Then I would suggest, keep wearing them day-to-day, but NOT for jumping for now.

When you come back full time in the spring, THEN follow our colleagues advice on how to get used to jumping with them and use them on EVERY jump from then on.

That way, your eyes will get used to how they perceive stairs, curbs, etc... before you need to "see" when to flare (over the winter).

Personally, unless you are already using a full-face helmet, I would also recommend something like "Bugeye Bobster" from SportRx.  (I can't hit their site right this sec, but I think mine are the 2).

Good luck and refresh your PLF training.

 

JW

 

[riggerrob 643]

Bugeye Bobsters look good. A dozen other companies offer prescription goggles for motorcycling, bicycling and other high-speed sports. I have worn Wiley-X prescription goggles for the last decade. Most prescription sports goggles already come with an elastic strap that routes around the back of your head.

Perhaps you should get a pair of bicycling-specific prescription goggles and wear them for a few weeks of cycling before wearing them on a jump. Just remember that skydiving exposes goggles to far more wind than the fastest bicycle.

Your dilemma reminds me of a pilot emergency parachute customer who owned two airplanes and four pairs of glasses. One airplane had a nose-wheel (CJ-6) so landed almost flat while his other airplane was a tail-dragger (Globe Swift) which landed nose-high. He had prescription reading glasses and prescription driving glasses. He had two more pairs with dark lenses and said that the most frustrating part was when he was flaring for landing - at dusk - and suddenly remembered that he was wearing the wrong par of glasses! Hah! Hah!

Fianlly, when flaring for landing, keep your eyes on the far end of the runway/landing field.

[colognebilly 1]

Thank you all!