DRP jumps & leg straps

[JackC 0]

I keep screwing up dummy ripcord pulls. The exit and initial arch are both good, then I reach but can't find the handle and I seem to have developed the habit of grabbing the risers as the S/L deploys the canopy. However, I've been told that I am not content to just grab one riser with my left hand, but have been known to grab with both hands before going for the handle. A habit I have to break ASAP.

So disscussing this problem over a pint, I finally put two and two together. I'm absolutely paranoid about the fact that leg straps are the only things that hold me into the rig. So now that I've figured out that a nice set of risers will present themselves at head height, I subconciously grab them just in case the leg straps fail. Fat lot of good that'll do.

Has anyone got any tips on getting it through my thick skull that the leg straps are more than capeable of holding my fat ass up off the floor and/or how to keep my hands out of the risers so that I can do a DRP jump without it going tits up? Cos it's really frigging annoying.

Cheers

[wmw999 2,447]

You can convince your body by practicing DRPs. Again and again and again. Have friends tell you "go" out of the blue until it's automatic for you to arch, look, reach, pull (or whatever your official count is).

I have no idea how you can convince your mind, but if your body's automatic response is to go for the ripcord, it's more likely to happen.

I have no memory of my first jump. They tell me I arched; they tell me I counted. I went to a 6-week class, so we practiced that a whole lot.

Good luck
Wendy W.

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)

[freeflir29 0]

Practice it over and over. It has to be muscle memory. I had a little trouble getting the rip cord too. Mostly because of the S/L pulling me all over the place and the container being deformed after the bag left. Well...on my last one I definately showed EVERYONE I could do it. I let go of the strut (C-182) and reached so fast I had hardly moved. I still had time to look over at the JM....and the pilot.... The pilot was chuckling pretty good over beers later. Practice practice practice....and then practice some more!!! Practice the whole opening sequence WITHOUT grabbing the risers of course.

[TomAiello 26]

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I seem to have developed the habit of grabbing the risers as the S/L deploys the canopy.

Here's a thought that might help you break this habit.

I've sprained two fingers doing this, and I know a guy who actually broke his thumb grabbing his risers.

Obviously you already know this, but I'd say you really want to break this habit, before it breaks (parts of) you.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[pds 0]

relax.

pull it or throw it and go back to flying until your canopy butts in. i dont know about static line, but seem same. do your prcp and then just fly until you stop flying. don't forget that you DO have silver there, though.

namaste, motherfucker.

[masher 1]

How about just doing exits with no DRP?

Just arch and let the plane do the work. Keep in the arch, and stay there. This should get you over the "must reach for risers" thing.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[quatorze 1]

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How about just doing exits with no DRP?

With the static line progression the student has to show that he is aware and capable enough to pull his main on his own before he is removed from the static line

I'm not afriad of dying, I'm afraid of never really living- Erin Engle

[masher 1]

I know that. I did S/L.

What I was suggesting was to go back a stage. Just do an exit. Not havig to worry about a DRP, just concentrate on keeping the arms/hands away from the risers.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[quatorze 1]

Ah, missed it, sorry, it's just we who started S/L sometimes get weird looks from people when we say that a hop-n-pop from 3.5k or so is no big deal. It seems that the majority of people out there to day are all AFF grads. And good idea by the way, step back and regroup.

I'm not afriad of dying, I'm afraid of never really living- Erin Engle

[daveom 0]

When I was doing DRPs, I found that putting the ripcord through your right hip belt loop is a fair approximation of the real location on your rig. At home, practice, practice, practice. If you do it enough times (perhaps 100's!) you will do the same in the air. Remember to get your arms back out into that arch after getting the handle!!!

Dave

[councilman24 37]

Doing a jump with your arms folded across your belly, back arched, legs spread would get your hands away from the risers. Might be a way to break the habit. It's not a good thing to get your hands in the risers. I've had a finger ripped to the bone through receiver gloves, without ripping the glove!. Another friend almost had his finger ripped off by his hand mout altimeter getting caught in a riser.

Another option might be to do another activity to get used to trusting a harness. Indoor rockclimbing comes to mind. Just don't grab the rope. You could also use a skydiving harness and some climbing rope to make short jumps into the skydiving harness. You might feel better if it's caught you a few times on the ground.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[smooth 0]

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. . . then I reach but can't find the handle . . .

arch, LOOK, reach and pull.

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. . .Has anyone got any tips on getting it through my thick skull that the leg straps are more than capeable of holding my fat ass up off the floor . . .

have the leg straps failed on you yet??

If needed, I can give you a more detailed explanation after you've pondered my responses a bit.

[JackC 0]

Cheers guys, lots of things to think about and try.

I know that the risers can bite which is one of the reasons I want to break this habit. I practice DRPs with a juggling ball stuck to my shirt tails with velcro because not pulling a handle teaches you how to not pull a handle. The count I've been taught is... arch... two... reach... pull... I might try ..look.. instead of ..two.. but I will have to make sure this doesn't inspire a de-arch just to complicate things, years of judo taught me where that the head goes, the body usually follows. The thing that got me over my door terror was constant visualisation of the perfect jump. I'm still fizzed up in the door, but not to the point of busting a blood vessel anymore. I'll try this and if all else fails to break my riser addiction, I'll drop DRPs for a jump or two to get some perspective, which I don't want to do but sometimes you just have to suck it up.

Thanks again.

[JeffGordon 0]

The thing about student gear is it can be hard to see the rip cord even on the ground. Looking for it probably will cause you to lose your arch. I always tell students to find your ass, then slide you hand up the side of your body. Your hand will cross the rip cord. Practice this on the ground, hundreds of times. Just ARCH, ASS, REACH (slide), PULL. You need to train your body to do the right thing and NOT think. Thinking is generally a bad thing for skydivers to try anyway.

[Hooknswoop 19]

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arch, LOOK, reach and pull.

Do you look for your handle? teaching students to look for the handle causes them to de-arch, everytime. They rarely actaully see the handle anyway and when they are jumping by themselves, they don't look for the handle anymore. I have taught AFF w/ BOC's for a few years now and haven't had very many problems w/ students finding the handle. They could look all they want and they would never be able to see it.

Best advice I have for DRCP's (and this applies to all your skydives) is to visualize the skydive on the ground, going exactly as it should. I'm sure you've seen up-jumpers "dirt diving", do the same thing. If you can picture it correctly on the ground in your mind's eye, the actual skydive should go exactly the same way.

Hook

[riggerrob 643]

Grabbing one riser with both hands is a habit that will get you in trouble later.
First, grabbing risers can lead to torn fingers.
The other problem will rear its ugly head a few hundred jumps down the road. Any assymetry during deployment (i.e. both hands on one riser) can produce un-recoverable line twists.
Now that I have scared you ... here are a couple of tips to improve your performance.
First of all, recognize that many people find DRP to be the most difficult stage of learning how to skydive. You are asked to perform a complex task while experiencing massive sensory overload. Some days, I believe that my primary job as a PFF instructor is to hold the student stable until he wakes up from sensory overload. It took me a dozen DRPs before I convinced my instructors that I was going to pull and pull stable. My main problem was fixating my eyes on the (chest-mounted) ripcord handle and pulling too soon.
Recognize that the handle will shift as soon as you leave the plane. Do plenty of ground practice - under the supervision of an instructor in a variety of positions (standing, laying on a hammock, suspended harness, etc.). The suspended harness will increase your confidence in leg straps.

Once you understand harnesses, you will understand how rarely people fall out of their harnesses and how silly grabbing risers is. No matter how strong your arms are, you will not be able to hand onto risers through opening shock!

[smooth 0]

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arch, LOOK, reach and pull.

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Do you look for your handle? teaching students to look for the handle causes them to de-arch, everytime. They rarely actaully see the handle anyway and when they are jumping by themselves, they don't look for the handle anymore.

After re-reading the replies I now understand that you all are talking about BOC deployment. My personal experience with DRCP's were on chest mounted, right hand pull ripcords.

I learned via the S/L method and yes, I used to look! The JM was looking for ripcord awareness, not stability... by the time you got the ripcord the canopy was already getting line stretch and stability was a moot point. Better to pull unstable than not pull at all. (but one will learn to make these moves without going unstable)

My current rig has the pilot chute ROL. I don't always look when I pull but I do have that option.

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I'm sure you've seen up-jumpers "dirt diving", do the same thing. If you can picture it correctly on the ground in your mind's eye, the actual skydive should go exactly the same way.

yea, ..right

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Hooknswoop 19]

Even on non-BOC deployments, looking for the handle causes a de-arch. Better to be able to pull stable w/o having to look while on the S/L that to get wrapped up in your deploying PC and bridle.

I learned the S/L method w/ the ripcord on the M/L/W too, and SOS. Wish I didn't now.

ROL leaves exposed bridle and needs velcro that has to be maintained. It is diffucult to replace the velcro for ROL on rigs. I don't think I have ever seen anyone actually maintain ROL velcro. Not to say that no-one does, but they are defiantely a minority.

BOC throw-out seems to me the wat to go, for students and experienced jumpers alike. The closer the student gear is to eperienced/up-jumper the gear is, the less re-training and better trained the student is.

Why train someone to drive an automatic, when their first car is a stick-shift?

Hook

[masher 1]

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Ah, missed it, sorry, it's just we who started S/L sometimes get weird looks from people when we say that a hop-n-pop from 3.5k or so is no big deal. It seems that the majority of people out there to day are all AFF grads. And good idea by the way, step back and regroup.

I've heard stories of AFF grads going white on their grad jump. "What jump from 4k? I should be open at 4k!" ;)

.

I'm jumping with a chest mounted ripcord. The count for me was "Arch, look, grip, pull" The "Look" bit consisted of just moving your head. I had no problems with that. It just took me about 10 jumps to get my exit stable.

2 jumps to go! then I'm off student status :)

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[mccordia 74]

Try going to your local swimmingpool and practice exits from the waterside (30 cm above the water of or even at water level..don't do it from a dive-board or too high up..it hurts:)
Your body will automaticly want to reach out to the water to 'break' your fall. Instead of doing this, try to do a DRP and hit the water in a good arch.
it will sorta train you to do a dummy without reacting on your bodies instincts

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[dragon2 2]

You forgot to mention all the interesting looks you are going to get doing that

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[DYEVOUT 0]

It's a bummer that we have to learn with ripcords, when 90% of us are going to wind up with BOC rigs. The dropzone where I started my training (closed) used ripcord Manta 288s (my first 11 jumps). The dropzone I'm currently using has me jumping a Sabre 230 BOC. No matter how much I practiced on the ground, I still went for the belly band (ripcord) on my first BOC jump. I guess some DZ's feel the extra deployment handles on the student ripcord rigs make them more suitable for AFF.

----------------=8^)----------------------
"I think that was the wrong tennis court."

[freeflir29 0]

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I still went for the belly band (ripcord) on my first BOC jump

On the newer rigs the rip cord handle is on the back corner of the container anyway. Not far from the BOC throw out handle location. The only real difference in the two is that you have to "LET GO STUPID!!!"

[Cajones 0]

Another problem, I've seen in the past, is the ripcord can move. Doing DRCP/PRCP's with static-line progression, the canopy is almost always clear of the packing tray before the student can reach the ripcord. This makes the ripcord move around, so it's not exactly where they practiced to find it.

The laws of physics are strictly enforced.