How Long Did It Take You?

[Guest]

So with winter coming in, I've got a funny feeling that rather than jumping all the time, I'll become a tunnel rat for the winter months.

Anyways, I've got about 40 minutes in the tunnel so far, all belly work--2-ways, burble hopping, "tunnel tag", etc, etc...

My goal is to be able to get a solid sit and possibly stand or head-down in the tunnel before spring. How many hours do you think it would take to get a sit? stand? head-down?

Thanks!

[skycat 0]

Replace stand with walking on the net, they won't actually let you stand due to the wind speeds needed.

So you have the option of joining the adult league where you pay x amount (you need to call the tunnel for prices) and you will have one hour a week that you share with up to 10 people. Your other option is buying blocks of time, it's $14 per minute so you could buy just 10 minutes and they will fit you with a class you would just need to tell the instructor what you are working on.

The amount of time it takes to work on something depends on the person, they will make you follow the IBA progression www.tunnelflight.com so go to the website and get familiar with the skills you will need to progress.

For me personally I was sit flying after 2 hours, but have spent the last hour working on transition, docking and advanced sit fly stuff. When my tunnel suit gets here in next year I'm going to start head down, but learning head down requires two instructors or an instructor and a good coach, so it can be more difficult to get started.

Fly it like you stole it!

[freefalljenn 0]

I can be somewhat slow sometimes, but I have just over 5 hours at two different types of tunnels (L1 vs SkyVenture). I JUST got my sit to be rather solid. I am starting to be able to turn and move in the sit, as well as carve. But, before they will let you sit fly at a SkyVenture tunnel, you must demonstrate that you can back-fly because that is the "recovery" position for when things don't go as planned in the sit position.
Check out: http://www.tunnelflight.com for more information about the flying progression used at SkyVenture tunnels. I don't know much about flying progression used at European Tunnels. The L1 tunnel instructors access you as you go and work with you on skills they think you can handle. I hope that helps. Enjoy the tunnel!!!

jenn
Tunnel Junkie Since November 2005! ;o)~
TPM #46
Paraclete XP TPM Delegate

[flyangel2 2]

Or we could get a group together once a week during the winter months and have poor Derek work his ass off teaching us

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Guest]

Cool, thanks for the replies.

Quick question, would you reccommend the adult league? Or just get some friends together and book an hour?

It seems that the adult league may be cheaper in the long run...

[skycat 0]

The adult league can be a toss up, it really depends on how many people show up that night. There was one night only 3 people were there and they split an hour, another night where there were 10 (class was maxed out) and each person got about 6 minutes. So your flight time depends on the night, and with it getting more popular the classes are going to be maxed out more often (although I bet it was dead tonight with all the snow).

Booking time with friends can be a lot more fun because you can do two ways and such as you get better in the disciplines. Right now I'm having a blast doing two way and 4 way sits, true pretty much everyone else in the tunnel with me is an instructor or staff but it sure makes it easy when they can compenstate for lets just say some of my less than graceful docks. (Mary you will laugh your butt off of the video of me rodeoing Derek when I was trying to back up from a feet on top of knees dock)

No matter what own your time, know what you want to work on communicate with your instructor what you want to work on and if you pay for a coach make sure he/she isn't using the time you bought so they can just mess around.

Here are some screen grabs of the video from last weeks instructor/staff session, being Derek's SO means I get to participate in these. Sorry about the quality, but to give you an idea on how long it can take for head down, the head down pic is of Derek, he has a ton of hours and in just the last few weeks has he really started to get solid at head down.

Fly it like you stole it!

[Guest]

Hey!

Thanks for the excellent post and pictures!

I haven't been down to the tunnel for so long that I forget how cool freeflying looks as I don't get to see that too often in the sky, lol.

Hmm, so I think I need to work more to get some $$$ so I can start up the winter-tunnel habit, or I could just eat ramen for a few months...lol.

Thanks again!

[yardhippie 0]

I think a lot to do with how fast you pick up tunnel flying has to do with your current skydiving progression.
I've got 40 min in the tunnel.
The first 10 at Eloy all back flying.
The next 30 at Orlando. all back and sit.
My docks are sketchy at best. My forward movement is fine, but back is a little weak. I can trasition from back to sit and vice versa. But ive got almost 800 jumps and most of them freefly.

I was in the tunnel with a friend who has well over 1000 jumps, been to big way HD camps, and is a top notch freeflier. His transitions are solid in the tunnel, but watching him try head down in the tunnel made me tired.

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[RossDagley 0]

It'll boil down a lot to how fast you learn, and your coach. I'd take 10 hours with Fabian over 20 hours of "play time"...

[skycat 0]

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It'll boil down a lot to how fast you learn, and your coach. I'd take 10 hours with Fabian over 20 hours of "play time"...

Switch Fabian with Rusty and I agree 100%. In one 5 min session with rusty I was doing things I didn't actually think I could do.

Fly it like you stole it!

[ptwob267 0]

I have a similar concern...I would like to become a tunnel instructor. How much time am I looking at? I have an aff rating and a couple of hours mostly spent freeflying in the tunnel.

[skycat 0]

As Derek likes to call it, it's 4 weeks of flying hell.

Your best bet is to call Skyventure Orlando (since you are in FL), being able to fly in the tunnel has nothing to do with being an instructor.

Fly it like you stole it!

[Guest]

So since this weekend (cept for saturday) was all crappy weather, we decided to go to the tunnel.

16 minutes later, and wow, it was a blast! Did back, walking the net, and a few rotations of sit.

It went much better than I had thought! Lol. Minus the part that it stole a lot of money, haha. Good time though.

[mattjw916 2]

The question usually isn't how long it will take, but how much money...

Personally, I think it is possible to get on your head within 10 hrs, if that is your goal and you stick to it.

I agree that quality of instruction makes all the difference.

I think it took me a couple hours to get decent on my back and twice that to have a solid sit plus all the various transitions down. If I actually had free time, I'd continue working on carving which I suck at and eventually supported headdown.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[sclosoma 0]

I went to the Eloy tunnle for my first time ever and I didn't think that I would have that much fun! I did 10 min for my first session and was cleared on my belly, back, and walking on the net. My second 10 min session was all sit and by the end of that I could hold a sit and bearly dock and on my 3rd 10 min session I could dock well, carve both ways, and go from my back to my sit, to my belly, to my sit and so on and so forth. It was awsome!!! Thanks Dusty!

"Don't mistake common stupidity for common sense"
-Bill Dause

[freefalljenn 0]

Judging by what others have said, evidently I am a little SLOW, so disregard what I said

Anyway, have fun at the tunnel!

jenn
Tunnel Junkie Since November 2005! ;o)~
TPM #46
Paraclete XP TPM Delegate

[skycat 0]

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Judging by what others have said, evidently I am a little SLOW, so disregard what I said

Anyway, have fun at the tunnel!

You aren't slow, you might be like me and want to get really solid in every aspect of flying. I won't let myself move on to the next level until I'm proficient at the level I'm at. I've even taken a step back to get better at backflying at high speeds so that when I cork from a sit I don't move out of my quadrant (super important when you are doing a 4-way sitfly).

Fly it like you stole it!

[sclosoma 0]

No your not slow. It was a shorter time for me because I have a few more jumps on you, everything I did in there I can already do pretty well in the sky. But you'll get there too!

"Don't mistake common stupidity for common sense"
-Bill Dause

[sartre 0]

Talk about slow!! I won't even reveal how much time I've had in the tunnel because for that amount of time, I should be much much better than I am.

As for the league, if there's room, I would recommend it because a)it's the least expensive way to get some routine time in there, which accelerates your learning curve, and b) we're just so much fun to hang out with!!!

And Kelli, I agree, Rusty is one hell of a good instructor. I've actually digressed on my belly to belly flips since working with him. I need some Rusty time!

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[skycat 0]

front or back flips? I was a gymnast so when I get tired or something doesn't feel right I go back to my roots and tuck up and use momentum rather than flying. Which causes me to sink out, luckily I'm solid in the attitude I'm trying to get to and get get myself out of trouble.

Fly it like you stole it!

[Jewels 0]

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Talk about slow!! I won't even reveal how much time I've had in the tunnel because for that amount of time, I should be much much better than I am.

As for the league, if there's room, I would recommend it because a)it's the least expensive way to get some routine time in there, which accelerates your learning curve, and b) we're just so much fun to hang out with!!!

And Kelli, I agree, Rusty is one hell of a good instructor. I've actually digressed on my belly to belly flips since working with him. I need some Rusty time!

Oh, please. Pinkie, you're doing FABULOUSLY well in there. It's just takes time, any way you look at it. I'll second the league recommendation, though. I usually supplement league with my own time on the weekend and it seems to be a pretty good combination.

TPM Sister #102

[flyangel2 2]

We need to get a week night outing together again and either have dinner before or after flight time.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Jewels 0]

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We need to get a week night outing together again and either have dinner before or after flight time.

YES! That would be great! Eating AND tunnel time . . . doesn't get much better than that.

(Case in point: Yet another good reason to do adult league.)

TPM Sister #102

[rehmwa 2]

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We need to get a week night outing together again and either have dinner before or after flight time.

YES! That would be great! Eating AND tunnel time . . . doesn't get much better than that.

(Case in point: Yet another good reason to do adult league.)

what about eating in the tunnel?

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Jewels 0]

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We need to get a week night outing together again and either have dinner before or after flight time.

YES! That would be great! Eating AND tunnel time . . . doesn't get much better than that.

(Case in point: Yet another good reason to do adult league.)

what about eating in the tunnel?

Only if it's possible to do in conjunction with some RW--a point for every bite of food out of someone else's hands, for example. But we digress. . . .

TPM Sister #102