sitfly practice

[falxori 0]

Hi ,
i've started sitflying recently and i know all of the theory on how it should be done , but...
during freefall, even if i find myself sitting, i start to spin and dive sideways like a F-16 on a strike run...
at that point i just arch , get stable and try again...
i think the problem is mostly my legs...
-what is the best way to get to the position ? from belly to earth or from on my back ?
- any good exercise i can do to make the right muscles to work (beside squats against a wall..)
thanks
O

[freeflir29 0]

I always found it easiest to just exit in a sit. That way....you're already there. You'll turn and face the plane as it goes away but that just looks cool....so don't worry about countering it just yet...
"I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"
Clay

[apoil 0]

get coaching!
You think it's expensive? It's the price of between three and four jump tickets.
If you made those jumps yourself you would maybe get stable, but you'd also be developing bad habits.
And don't try to muscle it too hard. Freeflying requires that you feel it out a little more, but that said, try to keep your feet flat and pressing down hard against the wind with your back straight. Don't take shit from the wind. It can't push you around like those bullies in grade school.

[Kirils 1]

It's less thinking than than you think. Free flying is being one with the wind. ie: relax....
The best instruction on the art of freefly is the Relative VRW tape by Pat Works.
Skydiving is not a static excercise with discrete predictability...

[Kelly 0]

alright,
Red flag being raised.
okay, we all have problems w/ sitflying (at first). me and heath refered to it as "my inborn ability to naturally make slow turns". basically, i was doing the same thing. He just had me go back into a sit stable. legs together, knees bent. arms out. get back into a regular sit that way.

*** you said that you usually just arch etc etc.. please, please please dont go back to youre belly. dont get into that habit. if youre freeflying, going to your belly before breakoff can lead to deadly results. so please dont go to your belly.
some good advice a very experienced FFer gave me (he's a freefly coach, on a team the whole 9 yards). watch your altitude, it goes by a lot quicker. Stay small if you cant get stable. DONT GO TO YOUR BELLY. It can be a deadly habit to get into
http://kel197.tripod.com/skydivefriendsTRIPOD/html Updated!!

[Zennie 0]

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DONT GO TO YOUR BELLY. It can be a deadly habit to get into

Amen to that. That was drilled into my head early on. Going to your belly in a FF situation can kill (well, not if you're solo, but don't do it there anyway).
If you get unstable, get into the vRW stable position (knees up and tucked, arms out) or go into a relaxed backfly. Get in the habit early and it will become natural after a while.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[skybytch 273]

I'm so happy; did a jump yesterday with Steve and didn't go to my belly once. I was sliding around in my sit for the first half of the dive, lost the sit a couple times and spun on my back but recovered right back to the sit. Best part of the dive was the last half; Steve went head down, flew up to me, docked on my foot and we stuck our tongues out - and I didn't tense up and cork out! The key for me seems to be relaxation. As soon as I stopped trying so damn hard I quit sliding around and was able to hold the sit through the last part of the dive.
pull and flare,
lisa
--
Life is tough, but I'm tougher

[Jimbo 0]

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I'm so happy; did a jump yesterday with Steve and didn't go to my belly once.

Right on! Staying off of your belly is the hardest thing to learn (or maybe unlearn) while freeflying. The belly is what we learned to fly on, it's our 'safety' position, it's where we go when things aren't going well and this is usually by instinct or habit, finally it's the one place you don't want to be when learning to freefly.
Congrats.
-
Jim

[Zennie 0]

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Best part of the dive was the last half; Steve went head down, flew up to me, docked on my foot and we stuck our tongues out

Heh. Quite a while back when I was just dabbling in sitflying, I was up at Richmond and the owner's son John & I did a little impromptu 2-way (my first actually). I'm there in my sit and he flips over onto his head and flies up to me just laughing. I'm thinking "This is the freakiest thing I've ever seen.... I love it!" That pretty much sealed it for me. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[Aviatrr 0]

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Staying off of your belly is the hardest thing to learn (or maybe unlearn) while freeflying. The belly is what we learned to fly on, it's our 'safety' position, it's where we go when things aren't going well and this is usually by instinct or habit

A few weeks ago I was on a 10 way RW.....it went to hell when somebody made a Powerdock that sent the entire formation(8 in at that point) tumbling.. Before I even realized it, I found myself in my "safety" position......a nice, solid, stable fast sit.. DOH! I never made it back up..
Mike

[Kelly 0]

i forgot to tell you..
before i did my coach jumps i was told to go up and do a couple of skydives where i just got comfortable flying on my back, experimenting with my legs and arms. I did it and found that i had developed a tendancy to go right to my back when my sit went unstable. That helped a lot, and now im working on going to a sit stable instead of right to my back. Its a step in the right direction...
http://kel197.tripod.com/skydivefriendsTRIPOD/html Updated!!