Quality vs Quantity

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Curious what you think..

I've jumped with ppl who have 1K+ jumps who have the skill of someone at 200 jumps..so it seems apparent to me that quality jumps vs quanity seems to be in question. My question here is how to make sure every jump or most jumps are QUALITY! Do you set a learning goal? try something new? perfect a skill that you are working on? what?

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[Kbone 0]

A lot of jumpers do nothing but RW so their freeflying skills need work.

It works the other way also. Most freeflyers couldn't turn points on a 4 way to save their lives.

It depends on what disciplines people have worked on.

There are no wasted jumps. If you are doing solos, then practice your transitions.

[spidermonky 0]

I think it also has alot to do with currency.

[happythoughts 0]

What have you been working on lately?
Any special training? FJC perhaps?

[ianmdrennan 2]

Quality every single time over quantity for sure.

Have a plan (even if it's the most basic of one), try and dive the plan. Watch video of your dive and have an experienced flyer look over your shoulder and teach you how to debrief yourself.

Try and keep groups small (in FF'ing) for a long time, you'll learn more.

Have fun
Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[CanuckInUSA 0]

You can work on your canopy control every jump you make.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Peej 0]

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I think it also has alot to do with currency.

Most definately.

WRT Quality vs. Quantity, i'd say Quality every time. It's another reason i like jumping with LO's at big DZ's and at boogies.

Regardless of your skill level they'll set objectives for the jump and actually make you "work" on building formations, whether they be difficult or easy stuff like a simple four way campfire sit.

And the advice they impart afterwards is almost like free coaching.

Then again, there's nothing wrong with a little no pressure stuff every now and then. And i find even chasing my mates round the sky helps me perfect movement.

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[Shark 0]

I try to have fun regardless of who I'm jumping with! Don't limit yourself.

Most of the people I jump with have never jumped before or are students.
Besides, I can always twist someone's arm to go to the tunnel.

[grega 0]

it also depends alot on the talent the person has.
And of course if you're mixing type of jumps like FS and freefly all the time, the progress of learning will go slower too.

We have a lot of skydivers with 3000+ jumps that barely know how to fly stable (unfortunately), but they can hit a coin at landing almost every time...

"George just lucky i guess!"

[skymama 37]

I also think it has something to do with who you are jumping with. If they have higher standards, your quality will naturally get better as you are trying to keep up with their skill level.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Dougiefresh 0]

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FJC perhaps?

LOL

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

[PrairieDoug 0]

Like you suggest, I have also found that there is not a perfect correlation between jump #s and ability. Taking advantage of coaching, skills camps, and tunnel work can really accelerate the learning process.

For the jumpers I admire and try to emulate, the learning process never stops, even when they have 4-digit jump numbers.

[jumperconway 0]

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I also think it has something to do with who you are jumping with. If they have higher standards, your quality will naturally get better as you are trying to keep up with their skill level.

Totally agree Andie. If I'm organizing I usually put myself outside center as I am in 4way but recently Tom Jenkins has been lo'ing and he moves me to i. center, tail,point,f.float or whereever. I find it much more challenging and fun to fly all the dif. slots no matter how big the jumps! It's nice to get a complement from someone like that when you are flying outside of your comfort zone!

[skygod7777 0]

i go for quality for sure.

in my opinion the best thing you can do to keep this is set goals for the summer. nothing too high but set some goal and try to reach it. that's what i do anyway.

later

[Ron 10]

Damn fine question.

Best answer? Its both.

You can only have 5 jumps and they might be with Airspeed, and you are still not going to do well in an 8way.

You could have 8,000 solos and suck at RW.

The BEST answer is to try and get as many good jumps as you can.

How to do that?

*Stay on smaller groups. You will fly more in a small group turning points than you will on a one point big way. (Yes, you will learn how to swoop on the big way, but you can always freefly launch a 4 way, you can't always do 10 points on a 12 way.) Smaller formations will teach you more. I have found 3 ways are really good for this. With a 2 way you never know who is moving when someone turns...With a 3 way if one guy is moving away...He is moving away.

But you need jump numbers to get the experience and the skills.

So try to jump as much as you want and try to make them quality jumps.

*Take advantage of tunnel if you can...I have a camp coming up if you want you can PM me for details.

If I had to choose between a guy with 1,000 jumps and one with 200...Saftey sense tells me that that the guy with 1,000 jumps has more experence and has done more. the guy with 200 may be a tunnel rat and a great flyer, but this is not the tunnel, this is skydiving.

Tunnel makes a skydiver better, it does not make a skydiver. I had a teammate that was honestly one of the best flyers I have ever seen, he could fly circles around me....He died on a jump, He had a perfect reserve in the container, all he had to do was pull his reserve and he never did. His death killed me.

A manager of the tunnel started AFF...He broke himself before he graduated. The tunnel is great..But it does not provide you all you need to be a skydiver.

So you must jump.

*Strive to do well and learn.

*Accept feedback. Ask for it from people with more experience.

*Buy beer...You ask what this has to do with anything? I see a trend today where people comeout make 5 jumps and go home. They do tunnel, they amke jumps, but the feel left out...Well thats cause they don't try to belong. You don't have to try to fit in, but you have to be known before people want to jump with you.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[skr 1]

For me it is many years of close observation
about what I like, what I want, what has meaning.

That gives me some idea of what "quality" might
mean, and involves a lot of shedding of false
shoulds and oughts that I've picked up, or made
up and inflicted on myself.

At one time technical quality was an aspect, but
that faded in the late 70s and other facets, like
vibes and sharing and art and human experience
and turning people on became dominant.

I think that is why I mostly jump with new jumpers
now, it is rich in the aspects that I experience as
"quality".

Skr

[Lindsey 0]

When I was jumping regularly, I worked a lot on RW with the same 4 people, and got pretty good at 4-way. I think those were quality jumps, even though none of us had extremely high jump numbers. I thought they were quality jumps.

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[NWFlyer 2]

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When I was jumping regularly, I worked a lot on RW with the same 4 people, and got pretty good at 4-way. I think those were quality jumps, even though none of us had extremely high jump numbers. I thought they were quality jumps.

Actually, that brings up an interesting question that I'd be curious to get thoughts on...

What do people think about variety vs. working with the same people? I'll use a (radically) unrelated example - in dance classes, the instructors usually have you switch partners fairly often so that you can easily tell if you're getting into bad habits as a dance pair. Are you going to learn faster/better by working with the same people over and over again and perfecting your work with them, or are you going to learn faster by mixing it up a bit so that you recognize bad habits more quickly?

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[larsrulz 0]

That's a really good question. I would tend towards both sides. If you want to become proficient at say 4-way RW, then jumping always with the same 3 other individuals will definitely help you get more point with those 3 people. You'll know how exactly to react in situations, whether a certain person is floaty in certain situations, and how much input to give when cranky a piece with those certain people. This will of course overall make you a better 4-way RWer, but I don't think it would make as good a 4-way RWer than if you took 40 people at the same experience level and shuffled them up on every jump. The later case requires you to be able to react to many different situations that you may not experience with your single group of 4. That said, I don't think it's as much an issue of getting into bad habits as it is recognizing different situations.

I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

[Reginald 0]

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...but I don't think it would make as good a 4-way RWer than if you took 40 people at the same experience level and shuffled them up on every jump. The later case requires you to be able to react to many different situations that you may not experience with your single group of 4.

Well, IMHO I’d disagree with this. In my personal experience, doing 4 way with the same people taught me much more about 4 way and allowed for a much steeper learning curve than when other people were introduced. In fact my basic recommendation, from personal experience, is that if you want to get good at 4 way get on a team (even a rookie team) and jump over and over with the same people. Of course you need proper coaching too.

Opinions vary....

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[ianmdrennan 2]

I agree Reginald. While there's no need to be exclusive, generally jumping with the same people over and over again will yield faster results. Especially if there's a coach available to look over the footage.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[chrisgr 0]

Skratch the Sage … You are so right on.

When I exit from the plane with a simple grip on my friend and partner, we transition onto our heads and fly until we can relax and release the grip. I am so very happy when we can get back together and share a kiss.

I really don’t care how many points other people with 200 jumps can turn … those 2-point head-down skydives have been the most rewarding experiences because they were shared with someone I love and we are sharing the learning process together.