When...

[bugger 0]

Ive just got my A licence and i was wondering wen its time to start tryin out a bit of freeflying. Formation looks cool but the head down looks ALOT more fun.
ive only got 25 jumps to my name at the moment, but i wanna know if i need to a wait until ive done more jumps.
Cheers

[bertusgeert 1]

Been discussed many times before...

see: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1041542;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed; this

I am in the same boat man, and here is what my conclusions are...

Some will advise you to get good at RW before you FF. Others will tell you opposite. As long as you do have FF safe gear (very important), I dont see the harm in trying.
Its your money, spend it like you want to. You might not learn as quick as when you would have done RW first, but then you spent a bunch of jumps on RW. So get some gear and go for it in my opinion. I have seen several people FF very weel with not very many jumps to have learned it in.

The biggest concern remains safety, and if in doubt, dont. Talking to your instructors is also invaluable.

Watch a lot of video too, I have learned an incredible amount from videos.

I know i will probably get attacked here, so go for it. Remember, Safety first!

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As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

[karenmeal 0]

In my opinion, at your level its OK to mess around every so often with freeflying... but you really should be working on your RW skills.

If you take the next 100 jumps to work on belly skills, it will make you such a better freeflier in the end! The same skills and concepts from RW apply to freeflying and they are easier to learn while you are on your belly and going slower. It's also likely that you will have more fun learning RW right now. Your jump will probably be more sucessful than if you tried to learn freeflying this early on.

Besides... you may end up doing tandem video or want to be a coach or an AFF instructor one day... it's hard to do all that if you never learned RW.

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[GravityGirl 0]

At Skydive Lake Tahoe our Level 8 was a sit fly exit.

If you go slow and maintain spacial and altitude awareness, it is my opinion that freefly moves are just as safe as learning backflips.

Make sure you ALWAYS work to improve your tracking and good stable pull position.

Make sure you have good safe gear. If you have any question in regards to "freefly friendly" gear, PM me.

And please have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[jmfreefly 0]

Quote

If you take the next 100 jumps to work on belly skills, it will make you such a better freeflier in the end! The same skills and concepts from RW apply to freeflying and they are easier to learn while you are on your belly and going slower.

Dang, did I log on as you and post this? Exactly what I say when newer jumpers ask me this.

Well put.

j

[tandembrent 0]

for what it's worth. if you aren't absolutely 100% perfectly able to fly on your belly, ie; stable at pull time, then ff shouldn't even be on your mind. you will have to have the ability to slow down in- order for your main/ reserve to function. if belly to earth is not an unconscious act for you, please don't make your dive more complicated by ff.

BABY STEPS ar nothing to be ashamed of!
remember, there is no finish line in this game, it's all about the journey, not an un-reachable destination.

brent

~~~~Green grass and high clouds forever~~~~
no matter where you go, there you are!

[IMGR2 0]

DITTO on Karen and J's comment.

Besides when you become a good freeflyer its always cool to go on an RW jump and show up the bellyflyers.