rasmack 0 #1 October 17, 2005 As my profile indicate, I am a newbie flying ariound under a Spectre 210. I have ~50 jumps on it. It took me a while to dial in the flare. For a long time, I would start the flare to early and surf along with my feet a few feet of the ground. At the end of the surf I would be put down a bit hard, so I decided to practice flaring a bit later. Straight in approaches only, of course. This has now lead to some immensely enjoyable landings, where I pull my legs up a bit and drag a foot through the grass to keep track of the ground level. At the end of the flare I pop up and put down my feet with nearly no horizontal speed left. While these landings are very fun (ground rush!) it worries me a little that I am reducing my safety margins by initiating my flare so late. If I am too slow I will loose the opportunity to PLF and that might hurt my butt a lot My question is if it is OK to have to pull up the legs on landing at my level, or if I should always conserve the possibility to PLF during the entire flare and thus stick with flaring earlier?HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gulaz 1 #2 October 17, 2005 The best way to get feedback on your landings, is to get an experienced canopy pilot to watch a couple of your landings, and give feedback. Unless somebody on the forums has seen you land, its really difficult to provide feedback. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 140 #3 October 17, 2005 haven't seen your landings, maybe next time, not that I'm THAT experienced, but could maybe give some advice... better 1m high than 1m low scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rasmack 0 #4 October 17, 2005 Quotehaven't seen your landings, maybe next time, not that I'm THAT experienced, but could maybe give some advice... Might take you up on that... Quotebetter 1m high than 1m low But the tall grass you have in Gruyeres is sooo god for dragging your toes through. HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 140 #5 October 17, 2005 QuoteBut the tall grass you have in Gruyeres is sooo god for dragging your toes through. and it can also capture your foot it only capured my suit for now scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #6 October 17, 2005 Quoteand it can also capture your foot Which might be a reason to not drag your foot on the ground. Whether it's a good or bad habit depends on personal risk tolerance. If you're okay with the risk of your foot catching on something and possibly creating mild to severe pain, it's not a bad habit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
goose491 0 #7 October 17, 2005 Granted I haven't seen any of your landings either but what I think is If you're not frappin' in, and your not "Stabbing" the breaks... then it's not "Too Late". My Karma ran over my Dogma!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,049 #8 October 17, 2005 >But the tall grass you have in Gruyeres is sooo god for dragging your toes through. It's OK to slide a foot, but be very cautious about dragging toes. I've done some serious damage to my feet doing that (also the reason I don't wear Tevas any more while jumping.) Nowadays I get one foot in front of the other, and 'drag' the back foot (with the bottom still down) and slide until I have enough weight on my feet to run it out. Another nice thing about doing this is that once your feet are on the ground, friction slows you even more. A big help during downwind landings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #9 October 17, 2005 QuoteWhich might be a reason to not drag your foot on the ground. What she said. I've known people that have broken feet/legs from dragging. I don't think it's a bad thing in the right circumstances - I would have no problem sliding my feet along the nice grass in Eloy. At Mile Hi, there are some big gopher holes that a few people have broken feet/legs in. A few people have stubbed toes on frozen cow shit in the winter.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HydroGuy 0 #10 October 17, 2005 QuoteA few people have stubbed toes on frozen cow shit in the winter. I learn something new about the hazards of skydiving every day.Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWPoul 1 #11 October 18, 2005 Quote A few people have stubbed toes on frozen cow shit in the winter. Ýòà ïÿòü!:)Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davelepka 4 #12 October 18, 2005 Quote For a long time, I would start the flare to early and surf along with my feet a few feet of the ground. My question is if it is OK to have to pull up the legs on landing at my level, or if I should always conserve the possibility to PLF during the entire flare and thus stick with flaring earlier? Really? Has the idea of flaring at some point inbetween the two not occurred to you? How about you flare so your canopy levels off with your feet a few inches from the gournd? This way, you do not have to move your legs to prevent an impact, and at the end of your surf, it's a comfortable step onto the ground. Flaring at the right time, what a concept. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
phoenixlpr 0 #13 October 18, 2005 Quote Really? Has the idea of flaring at some point inbetween the two not occurred to you? How about you flare so your canopy levels off with your feet a few inches from the gournd? This way, you do not have to move your legs to prevent an impact, and at the end of your surf, it's a comfortable step onto the ground. Flaring at the right time, what a concept. Really? How simple! How would you like this piece of advice 3900 jumps before? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rasmack 0 #14 October 19, 2005 Quote Really? Has the idea of flaring at some point inbetween the two not occurred to you? ... Flaring at the right time, what a concept. Ehm... I guess that's a "bad habit" answer. Did I do something to piss you off since you chose to word it like that?HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227 “I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.” - Not quite Oscar Wilde... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tonto 1 #15 October 19, 2005 It's a bad habit. In Africa the long grass has ant hills. In the US, soya will bring you down really fast, and a habit is a habit. In swoop competition a foot touch indicates the end of your swoop in everything but freestyle, I think. tIt's the year of the Pig. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davelepka 4 #16 October 19, 2005 QuoteFlaring at the right time, what a concept. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ehm... I guess that's a "bad habit" answer. Did I do something to piss you off since you chose to word it like that? So, by your own addmittance, you had a habit of flaring too high, and your solution was to flare lower. I'm with you so far. You start to flare so low, however, that you have to move your legs out of the way of the ground rushing up to you to prevent an impact. In fact, it's so low that you couldn't even PLF if you wanted to, and you're wondering if this is a good habit or a bad habit? To top it all off, out of all the posts previous to mine, not one mentioned just flaring in the middle, where your legs were out of danger, and yoiur set-down at the end would be gentle (and you could even manage a PLF it you needed to). I really want to ask. "Is it just me, or isn't this really the obvious answer", but I guess looking at the other posts, maybe it is just me. Seriously, though, re-read your post, and see if what I'm saying doesn't seem like the most obvious, practical, and safer solution. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 2 #17 October 19, 2005 QuoteIt's a bad habit. In Africa the long grass has ant hills. In the US, soya will bring you down really fast, and a habit is a habit. In swoop competition a foot touch indicates the end of your swoop in everything but freestyle, I think. t Nah you can touch and even run all you want for speed, just keep your canopy overhead, and try to run fast BTW we have rabbit holes and mole heaps and stuff here, I got rid of my sliding habit real soon after seeing someone catch a foot ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dougiefresh 0 #18 October 19, 2005 QuoteIf I am too slow I will loose the opportunity to PLF and that might hurt my butt a lot This worries me. You (all of us, really) should be able to perform a good plf from any position. If you can't, then practice until you can. Even in my short career, I've seen bad injuries that a PLF could have prevented. It's such a simple tool, there's no reason you should not know how to do one.Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GravityGirl 0 #19 October 19, 2005 I'ld like to add: Always keep your legs in a position to best absorb impact should/when it occurs. Don't get in a habit of coming in with what I can the femor stance. One leg sticking straight forward. I personally like slightly bent legs with feet off to the side for swoop style landings. That way the impact will be on my upper thigh and I could continue that into a PLF if I need to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peace and Blue Skies! Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
