riggerrob 643 #1 April 30, 2003 Yesterday I saw a huge improvement in one of my students and thought I would pass along my advice. "A" had never done a stable PFF exit up to this point. But the boy is persistent, so he did his fifth and sixth attempts at PFF Level 4 with me yesterday. The difference between the two dives was like night and day! His fifth attempt was typical, with an unstable exit followed by lots of kicking, flipping onto his belly, then spending the rest of the freefall backsliding like crazy. He was slightly de=arched at the waist. With his knees too wide and bent at 90 degrees, his lower legs were contributing nothing to the skydive. His turns were more like backsliding orbits around the sky than any textbook turn. His backsiding was so bad that my main contribution consisted of flashing him the "legs out" signal as I roared past him several times! Hee! Hee! Fortunately "A" has good altitude awareness and always pulls at a reasonable altitude, so I did not have to worry about that. Ground school for our second jump together emphasized "wind on the shins." We dirt-dived toe-taps and leg extensions. Heck, I even suggested jumping without socks! He did a hanging exit from the Cessna, I tapped his left foot to remind him to lift it off the step and gave him a "legs out" signal. He smiled at me and intiated the exit count. Then the boy surprized me by exiting stable! He completed his first circle of awareness and did some toe-taps on his own. Even more surprizing, he stayed on his belly for the entire freefall! It was easy to fly up in his face and give him signals (smile, thumbs up, legs out) long enough for him to recognize them! By fifteen seconds into the dive, I began to wonder if I was following the wrong student! In conclusion, if your students have problems with backsliding, tell them to focus on feeling the wind on their shins. It worked for "A." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poohbeer 0 #2 April 30, 2003 shins? what's that You you mean a chin (the thing that's made of your lower jawbone)? I could be the one with spelling errors here but I wanna make sure... good preperation for my own AFF next week (if the weather permits) ------- SIGNATURE BELOW ------- Complete newbie at skydiving, so be critical about what I say!! "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #3 April 30, 2003 Lower legs dude.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fundgh 0 #4 April 30, 2003 NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, Those are FINS! ...FUN FOR ALL! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andy2 0 #5 April 30, 2003 this is actually really good advice. I have been told leg awareness, keep them symetrical, etc etc, but it wasn't until my instructor told me to try to feel the wind and feel the differences in wind pressure against my legs that it finally "clicked". --------------------------------------------- let my inspiration flow, in token rhyme suggesting rhythm... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
f1freak 0 #6 May 1, 2003 "toe-tap's" is something that I picked up way back in my S\L training (you know not having an instructor with you for the jump it can be tough to progress), and it's something that i try to pass on to people that are having problems.... I like to spen a bunch of time on the ground trying to develope muscle memory and having them do toe-taps to "Feel" where their leg's should be. It's amazing that more people dont use that when working with students. That rocks man, it feels good when you can really help someone that you know has a love of the sport like "A" does.....HAVE FUN... ...JUST DONT DIE Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sid 1 #7 May 1, 2003 a real good friend of mine uses a canvas belt with 2 pieces of light bungee attached. The belt goes around the student's waist during a training/dirt dive and the bungee goes to two loops which slip over the student's feet. Then while they're on the creeper or horizontal trainer they have to exert pressure against the bungee simulating "wind on the shins" - I've seen that it really helps the learn leg awareness as most students have no idea what their lower limbs are doing in freefall. sid http://www.sidsrigging.comPete Draper, Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
porter1 0 #8 May 1, 2003 he ment shin. you have to have some presure on wind with you shins or you will be going backwards. you chin should be up anyway in a good arch otherwise your doing something wrong Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
