Freefly all grown up?

[spindal 0]

Seeing some of the recent freefly formation stuff recently really impressed me. But it seems that freeflying is still a minority and that RW, especially in the UK, has made a bit of a comeback. Why.

A year ago you couldnt move for freeflyers on my home DZ but the numbers are starting to dwindle leaving a small hard core group continuing to develop that particular discipline.

What happend to the freefly explosion? Has freefly become as technical as RW and knocked the fun out of its self??

Whos the Daddy???

[ccowden 0]

The uk IS on this planet, right?

[Hawkins121 0]

I'm really new to the sport and I have heard nothing but "Dude, I want to learn head down"

[Dougiefresh 0]

No. VRW is just in its infancy. Wait and see, there will be some kickass freeflying coming soon.

And "technical" does not equate to "no fun". Planning and engineering jumps is interesting and challenging, and I'm glad to see the freeflyers coming around to the importance of a well-planned jump.

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

[Remster 30]

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The uk IS on this planet, right?

Is really depends on the DZ Chris.

Even Eloy: apparently, besides AS, there wasnt much RW up until a couple year ago. Now, I'd say on the weekends, there is about as much RW as FF.

I think its great to have both happening at a DZ.

Remster

[ccowden 0]

I agree it is great that there is a balance and more and more people doing both. But the original post made it sound as if freeflying was dying, and I feel as though it is the strongest it has ever been.

[spindal 0]

Im glad that its thriving in most places and that there is a healthy balance between both disciplines. However It certainly don't feel like thats happening in the UK.

Would I be right in saying the reason that it is not more popular is because it requires a good amount of skill and takes a considerable amount of time, more so than RW, to achieve the the basics?

Whos the Daddy???

[Dougiefresh 0]

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Would I be right in saying the reason that it is not more popular is because it requires a good amount of skill and takes a considerable amount of time, more so than RW, to achieve the the basics?

I don't know about that. I spent all summer (200 jumps worth) learning the basics to RW. None of this is easy.

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

[apoil 0]

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Would I be right in saying the reason that it is not more popular is because it requires a good amount of skill and takes a considerable amount of time, more so than RW, to achieve the the basics?

I don't know about that. I spent all summer (200 jumps worth) learning the basics to RW. None of this is easy.

Wait till you try to do some VRW. In fact it will take you another several hundred jumps before you can dock on a stationary VRW formation.

The good news is, the 200 jumps you spend learning RW were not wasted. They provide a valuable foundation for all group skydiving. All the rules and techniques you've learned are the same when you go vertical. Plus it's no longer acceptable for freeflyers not to be bad-ass on their bellies as well as their heads.

So yes, the first poster has a point. Becoming a hot shit freeflyer is a huge commitment. I compare it to learning skydiving in the first place. Just as a new skydiver is constantly abandoning friends and family on the weekends in order to jump, the new freeflyer must abandon his or her RW friends and do a huge amount of solos and two ways in order to safely develop skills.

[happythoughts 0]

Ten years ago, I asked how freeflyers did "points" or planned their dives. I was told, "Dude, we aren't into points. We just do it."

The fact was, there weren't 3 freeflyers who could dock. Now there is.

With 80 RW jumps, I can put you in a successful 6-way jump. With 80 freefly jumps, I hope you leave enough separation. So, the socialization is different.

The general skillset of freeflyers is growing and the big-ways will get larger. But it will take more jumps to progress into groups. You'll hear, "That dz is so clique-ish, nobody will jump with me".

New jumpers do not understand the aspects of both disciplines. They make comments, but haven't got any experience in either.

Think about it. When someone with 20 jumps says that freeflying is more exciting than turn-and-burn 4-way, what are they basing that comment on?

[Canuck 0]

One word - competition.

Competition adds visibility and energy to a discipline. RW competition is as hot right now as it has been since I've been jumping. Look at the number of sponsored 4 and 8 way teams out there right now. Look at the number of teams that competed in RW at this year's US Nationals and this years WC in Eloy. Now look at freefly. Maybe VRW will turn things around, but for now, it's pretty hurtin.

Freeflyers - gone swoopin...

Canuck

[Dolph 0]

Kinda strange - in this country there used to be almost no freefliers. Now they're at every DZ and small groups are getting their levels up and training pretty hard too.

I gather it is easier to put together a jump-together-every-now-and-then 4-way RW team that can actually do competitions than it is to put together a three way freefly team with enough experience and skill to be able to compete.

I know at 100 jumps, I could do four ways and actually turn a few points. It's only now, around 800 free fly jumps later that me and my two buddies have started to do the freefly thingies with any degree of consistancy - eagles, HU/HD grips in various configurations and so forth. I suspect bringing a freefly team up to a level where it can actually ponder competing takes longer than doing so with an RW team.

There's also a bit of cultural attitude in it. I don't know how many RWers who've dismissed hard training freefliers with comments such as "but they're just up there doing fun stuff for the fun of it". There is (here at least) a perception that freefliers are just fun jumpers who really don't know what to do on a jump other than to stay in relative proximity of each others - and sure, there are a number of such freefliers. There is also a growing group who "really wanna get good at this stuff" and who invest as much time and money in it as serious 4-way RW teams do.

I dunno. FF seems to finally be moving forward here. The situation in the US may be another one.

[VectorBoy 0]

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What happend to the freefly explosion? Has freefly become as technical as RW and knocked the fun out of its self??

All of the freeflyers have moved on to the atmonauti.