skypuppy 1 #1 March 30, 2003 Before I begin let me explain that this thread is not about landing with over-inflated rubber blow-up toys that you take out of an airplane with you - rather it is meant to be a serious thread about the proper techniques to use on landing your parachute on a small raft in the middle of an open body water... Anyone else's experiences with landing on rafts or other small objects on an open body of water would be appreciated.... THE RAFT JUMP - the first thing to realize about a raft jump is that when you put your weight on one side of the raft, THAT SIDE SINKS DOWN, and the other side goes up!!! This can result in being flung over the side even after a successful raft landing... Therefore one of the keys to a successful touch-down is to land AS CLOSE TO THE CENTRE OF THE RAFT AS POSSIBLE! The second thing to realize is that the wet surface of a raft provides very little friction, so a person doing a high speed landing and touching down on the raft is likely to continue right across the top and into the water on the other side, sending rooster-sprays from his heels (or his bum - think splinters!).... Conversely, a person with forward speed who undershoots runs the risk of hitting the side of the raft with enough force to break ribs (or other appendages). Therefore the best way to land on a raft is to LAND WITH NO FORWARD SPEED WHATSOEVER... Good rubber-soled shoes may also be expedient... Accordingly, the best way (I think) to land on a raft is to set up coming down just off to the side of it and to flare and then sideslip over on to the raft at the last minute... This leads to a third point - IT IS USUALLY A GOOD IDEA TO FIND SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT REALLY REALIZE WHAT IS GOING ON TO DO A JUMP NEAR THE TARGET AND GIVE YOU (AS AN OBSERVER) SOME IDEA OF THE WINDS DOWN ON THE WATER... Such a person is often called a wind drift.... ALTERNATIVES TO RAFT LANDINGS Occasionally you may find yourself over an open body of water without a raft in sight... At such a time it might be a good idea to keep in mind what objects might possibly be good alternatives to a landing raft.... The first object which comes to mind might be a WATER SKI JUMP RAMP (especially if you were jumping at the Canadian International Airshow on the Toronto Waterfront in the early 90's). A water ski jumping ramp can make a viable alternative to a flat raft as long as you keep something in mind.... A JUMPING RAMP IS NOT FLAT - YOU WILL BE LANDING INTO A WOODEN SLOPE!!! Of course, this means that even if you are landing with considerable forward speed, you have less chance of bouncing over the far end of the ramp and ending up in the water.... Another possible alternative landing area might be a dock... While realizing that docks usually have one end fastened to the land and you may therefore be able to land off the water anyway, let's assume you're far enough over the body of water that you don't think you'll make the far end of the dock... Things to realize about docks are A DOCK IS GENERALLY MUCH LONGER THAN IT IS WIDE! This means that whenever possible you should probably land ALONG the dock rather than ACROSS it... Another problem with docks is that IF YOU MISS THEM, YOU WILL QUITE PROBABLY HIT A BOAT!!! This can be pretty rough, so it is a good idea that if you are indeed trying to land on a dock, you do in fact hit it.... The final alternative I can think of is an actual boat, something I think was done in the Bond film 'Live and Let Die'... While some boats may be quite large and therefore relatively easy to land on, you may want to be sure said boat is not filled with low-life drug-runners who could mistake you for DEA or FBI or some other acronym, and end up shooting you after an otherwise good landing.... For this reason a Coast Guard cutter or police boat may make the best target.... MOTIVATION FOR LANDING ON A RAFT Some of you may indeed be wondering what in the world the motivation for landing on a raft in a large body of water is.... Well, of course the number 1 motivation probably has to be to KEEP DRY!!! Next, or - well, no maybe this is number one - SOMEBODY BET YOU A CASE OF BEER THAT YOU COULDN'T LAND ON THAT RAFT OUT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT LARGE BODY OF WATER!!! If anyone has any other tips on landing on small objects in big bodies of water, maybe they could post them here before the summer... SkypuppyIf some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #2 March 30, 2003 Geez Rob, sounds just like making an accuracy landing with wet consequences !! I bet the swoopers will now be trying how to swoop and do a pop up landing on said raft!! Visions of the Calvin and Hobbes "Wanna go Spelunking?" strip come to mind. SPELUNK!! Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weid14 0 #3 March 30, 2003 that is a regular feature at the Ranch Pond Swooping nationals. it's not easy, and that body of water isn't all that huge, but fun to watch. My experience... I did a demo into Norwich Harbor CT three years running (and got on the front page of the paper three years in a row, much to the disappointment of the DZO jumping the USA canopy We jumped onto a wooden barge with a 3 foot 2x4 railing around it (well it did, until the third year, when I plowed through it), cutting down the effective landing area. the barge was probably 25'x40', add the three foot railing on top of that. Anyway, we always droped a WDI (did you see where it went, yeah, it went over there, over where, over there, oh, ok, does that mean we have to get out over the tall buildings, yeah, I think so, oh, where do we land if we can't make the barge, oh, where ever you can, there's acouple parking lots, oh, ok, are you sure that thing floated over there? no, not really, to pilot: 10 left, ok, get out.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #4 March 30, 2003 ***bodies of water as well as fixation on a target also affect your depth perception. and never jump a canopy that you haven't competely wrung out and expect to land gracefully on said raft/barge. Quote Can't stress that point enough! I've seen guys flare late an really pancake into a boat. Looked all over but I can't find a pic of me landing at the end of a 3 foot wide - 100 foot long dock, the 'skinny' way! Gotta land into the wind! Good old "252" I've done several barge jumps including one at night carrying pyro... I'll never do another one as on two occasions I saw people get hurt so bad, that never jumping again was the least of their problems! I have a demo coming up in Pittsburgh where we'll be jumping pyro at night over several hundred boats in the middle of the river off Point Park, landing (hopefully) in the parking lot at Three Rivers stadium. ...When over water, wear a flotation device...OUTSIDE your jumpsuit. Sounds like you do some cool demos...we should talk sometime! http://www.libertyteam.com/ ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites weid14 0 #5 March 30, 2003 yeah, I used to have fun doing demo's but then got into 4way, and x-braced canopies, and that was that....http://www.mohawkvalleyskydiving.com/exhibitions.htm I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites airtwardo 7 #6 March 30, 2003 *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites weid14 0 #7 March 30, 2003 Quote *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! hahahha, yes, what I meant to say, is they have been getting many more demos.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites airtwardo 7 #8 March 31, 2003 Quote Quote *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! I KNEW that's what you meant! hahahha, yes, what I meant to say, is they have been getting many more demos.... ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
weid14 0 #5 March 30, 2003 yeah, I used to have fun doing demo's but then got into 4way, and x-braced canopies, and that was that....http://www.mohawkvalleyskydiving.com/exhibitions.htm I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #6 March 30, 2003 *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weid14 0 #7 March 30, 2003 Quote *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! hahahha, yes, what I meant to say, is they have been getting many more demos.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #8 March 31, 2003 Quote Quote *** I used to jump with and they have grown pretty good since I moved. Quote I'm not sure that's really the way you wanted to word that! I KNEW that's what you meant! hahahha, yes, what I meant to say, is they have been getting many more demos.... ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
