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shah269

Tracking speed.

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Tracking speed.

I was on a track dive with a few friends the other night.
Very fun, greatly enjoyed it.
My question is how does one go about improving their forward tracking speed without a plethora of coached jumps?
The reason I say this is because I felt as if I was going significantly slower than I should have. Legs straight out arms back hands flat shoulders forward but I felt as if I was making next to no real gain?
Should there be a bit of a slight head down to "Push" forward?
Thank you.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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My question is how does one go about improving their forward tracking speed without a plethora of coached jumps?



"How does one go about improving their ability at something without receiving instruction"
http://www.mixcloud.com/prajna
http://vimeo.com/avidya

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The reason I say this is because I felt as if I was going significantly slower than I should have. Legs straight out arms back hands flat shoulders forward but I felt as if I was making next to no real gain?



Get one of the video guys at your DZ to go up and film you. Dimes to donuts you aren't in as perfect of a tracking position as it feels.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Get one of the video guys at your DZ to go up and film you. Dimes to donuts you aren't in as perfect of a tracking position as it feels.


Ah thank you!
No I don't mind coached jumps, just don't want to drop all my money on it. But I do see great value in it.
Dave,
Thank you for the advice I will talk with the coaches at my DZ. I'm sure I'm not doing something right.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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Get one of the video guys at your DZ to go up and film you. Dimes to donuts you aren't in as perfect of a tracking position as it feels.


Ah thank you!
No I don't mind coached jumps, just don't want to drop all my money on it. But I do see great value in it.
Dave,
Thank you for the advice I will talk with the coaches at my DZ. I'm sure I'm not doing something right.



If that doesn't help you, you could always go to the tunnel...






Orrrr, maybe not.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I was going to say...tracking...tunnel? hu?
But yes I think you are 100% video of form in flight would be a very nice way of seeing what I'm doing right and wrong.
It was also my second jump of the year.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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It was also my second jump of the year.



With 30-ish jumps total, and one previous jump this year, was a multi-person tracking dive the best choice?

A tracking dive does have the one advantage to a new guy in that if you can't stay with it, everyone flies away from you. However, maybe try to focus on things more inside of your abilities until you have a few more jumps under your belt for the season. Currency is king, and one jump doesn't equal 'current'.

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Legs straight out arms back hands flat shoulders forward



They probably weren't, and I'd guess you were probably still arched as well - especially if you were on a group jump, fell behind and had to look up and forward to keep them in sight. Group tracking jumps are far from the best way to learn efficient tracking.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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It was a sesna jump, just the three of us.
The two others have significantly more jumps than I.
And I've always liked tracking so we thought why not let's have some fun.
I was able to keep up and had a very nice safe jump with awareness of who was ahead and who was below me but I just felt as if I was not tracking at the same speed. And thought I would ask if there was a common ailment to this issue.
But also, tracking away from a group of people is an important skill to have and thus I was using this jump as a method to gauge my tracking ability which in my own opinion could be significantly better.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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And thought I would ask if there was a common ailment to this issue.



The good news it, there is.

The bad news (OK not bad news, maybe just other news) is that it's "lack of tracking". Track more, and you'll get good feedback from your body on how you're doing once you've done a bit and understand what it's telling you.

A very wise man once told me, that at the end of a really hard track on breakoff, he felt like he'd just had a short full-body workout. It's a whole-body activity, you are applying your muscles to accelerate yourself to breakneck speed. It takes effort as well as technique... push.

Counter-intuitive though it may be, a good way to see good tracking is to do RW jumps with more experienced people. At breakoff, there's no messing around: you will see people demonstrating flat-out, fastest-forward-speed tracking body positions. Hopefully. And once you know how to do that, it's much easier to dial it back to the sunset track dive sort of level, rather than the other way 'round.

Don't think too hard, jump a lot, and you'll get there :)
--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

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you will see people demonstrating flat-out, fastest-forward-speed tracking body positions.
Yes I've seen this. Thus why I was on the track dive to learn from watching others.
I did well, but I could have done better, as always is the case.
I will talk to the coaches and get a video to better understand my body and to be safer in the sky.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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Get one of the video guys at your DZ to go up and film you. Dimes to donuts you aren't in as perfect of a tracking position as it feels.


Ah thank you!
No I don't mind coached jumps, just don't want to drop all my money on it. But I do see great value in it.
Dave,
Thank you for the advice I will talk with the coaches at my DZ. I'm sure I'm not doing something right.



The best trackers at your DZ may not necessarily be "coaches".
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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Get one of the video guys at your DZ to go up and film you. Dimes to donuts you aren't in as perfect of a tracking position as it feels.


Ah thank you!
No I don't mind coached jumps, just don't want to drop all my money on it. But I do see great value in it.
Dave,
Thank you for the advice I will talk with the coaches at my DZ. I'm sure I'm not doing something right.



The best trackers at your DZ may not necessarily be "coaches".


While that may be true I think he might need more info than that. At your jump numbers shah you don’t get an opportunity to see many others tracking off from a group. Ask the up-jumpers and others you respect at your dz who the best trackers are. Watch large groups from the ground. See who tracks off like a rocket. These are the people to ask for help.

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Yes I've seen this. Thus why I was on the track dive to learn from watching others.



To repeat: Group tracking jumps are far from the best way to learn efficient tracking. You will not see flat out max tracking positions from people who are playing about relative to each other.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I second this. I did a tracking dive last Friday. I exited last and only stayed with the group for about 5 to 10 seconds. Though, a couple people had cameras and my lesson was that my actual body position wasn't what I thought it was. I still have an arch, my arms are swept back, and I'm not pushing hard enough with my feet/legs. At least now I know what to work on...

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The same way that someone with 28 jumps gets 12 points on a 4-way; he got 3 friends to go jump with him.

It's what jumping is about sometmes.

And the rest of the time, Shah, it's about doing your own work. Which, by asking how you actually track better, you're starting to do. But yeah, getting video, or tracking alongside one other person and trying to out-track them by watching what they do and matching their (better) body position is the wya to go.

Practice makes perfect.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Everyone thank you. The video is a great idea. And now that every Joe and Jain has a go pro this should be good fun.
Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

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Everyone thank you. The video is a great idea. And now that every Joe and Jain has a go pro this should be good fun.



The only way to get good at anything is by doing it. And to get good you must first learn how to do it right. It used to be that someone on the DZ would make a few jumps with you to make sure you got the basics down and you would go practice. Today everyone is a “professional” and feels they should get paid for what they got for nothing. A good flat track is a little more difficult than some people think. There is a lot going on to do it right and should be learned on dedicated jumps. To get the help you need you are probably will have to pay for it.

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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You will begin to touch heaven, Shah, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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Oh, my mistake. You've got it all worked out.



Hey - Who do you think you're talking to ? This guy has almost 4000 posts on DZ.com. Show some respect. ;)
_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

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